Portrait Innovations

I have wanted professional pictures done of the girls for a long time. We know a photographer who is AMAZING (plug) www.neiconiphotography.com but we have not been able to get together with him. So for Christmas I decided I really wanted JUST ONE picture of the girls... together... smiling.

So I convinced Matt to accompany me and the girls to Portrait Innovations, where they sell the whole "no sitting fee - one pose package for 10 dollars" bit. And that is awesome. But I havent had any pictures done of the girls, so I couldnt choose just one. Still walked away with only 4 poses so thats not bad. I could have done some damage.

I must say they did a great job. The girls behaved well and the photographer helper people were great with kids! Leah was belly laughing, she thought they were hysterical. Hannah on the other hand, as usual, was a little more reserved. She would look at them like "Ok, I know my sister thinks you are funny, but you havent won me over just yet." They finally got some good smiles out of her.

We did some cute Christmas poses and we also went ahead and did some 2 year pictures, with the so cliche little blocks. Yes, I know they are 2 months more than the 2 year mark but oh well. I now wish I had taken them when they were one. Oh well.

This is a preview of what we got. Of course these are just the proofs, so I cannot do a thing with these since the quality is not any good, unless I take them back to the store. And please visit our flickr site if you want to see more at www.flickr.com/photos/matthewmccay



















Its amazing to me how different they are in personality and looks.

Snuggling

The girls are really into "snuggling" now. Its adorable because they will run up to me and say "I love you, Mommy. I LOVE to snuggle". So now that is our evening routine. One day this is going to fade and they wont want to snuggle with Mommy anymore but right now I will treasure this. Only problem is when it is time to go to bed they (mainly Leah) adamently screams that she still wants to SNUGGLE WITH MOMMY.

Last night I made the mistake of letting Leah snuggle with me in our bed. She has been waking up crying, saying "Im sceeeerred (scared)". Normally we do not go in there, even though that seems cruel, but sure enough the minute one of us goes to the rescue with either girl, said child is now perfectly happy, awake, and wants to play. Then upon returning to their beds the crying starts all over and we may as well have not had gone in there.

Well I went against better judgement and last night I went and got Leah when she woke up after giving her 30 minutes to try to cry herself back to sleep. Of course when I got her, all was well with the world, but she didnt want to go back to bed. I was tired so I thought maybe she could lay with us for a while and she would go to sleep and I would return her to her bed. HA. She talked nonstop while in the bed in between us. I couldnt rest and neither could Matt. I really thought she would settle down at some point but at 2am, I gave up. I do not know how many times she stated "I snuggling, I snuggling with Mommy!" as her little body would inch closer and closer to me to where I was almost off the bed. Adorable, but not so much at 2am when she was for some reason wired. So, much to her dismay she returned to her crib, screaming the whole time "I WANT TO SNUGGLE". Tug at the heart strings much? I had to talk to her through the monitor but we all did eventually fall asleep. So much for that.

NO SANTA!

Poor Leah has an irrational fear of Santa this year. We went to a birthday party last week and there was a gift bag with Santas picture on it. Leah saw it and lost her mind, and woke up with nightmares that night. Then a few days later my sister was babysitting and Santa came on TV in a commercial and my sis had a "siamese twin" as she put it. Again, nightmares that night. In fact, Leah has not been herself since then. Very clingy, wont go to sleep easily, wont stay asleep. Not sure what to make of it. Anyway I am thinking of skipping the Santa picture this year - not because I just dont think I will get a good one but because of actually traumatizing my child. She seems ok with tiny Santas, and when she is in a good mood he doesnt bother her as much. Either way, I think I should play it safe.

And then I found this picture from last year on one of our attempts at a good Santa picture and I am thinking this may not be a new fear. Maybe I started this last year!!!



Hmmm.....

Football night with the cousins

I just think this is adorable. Jason, Katy, and the boys came over for a football game one night. The kids always stay up late these nights, so when it was time to wind down I put in a movie and they actually all stayed still for a few minutes!!! Amazing...

Mischief

The girls are really tag teaming things now. Especially if there is trouble to be gotten into. I let them have 5 minutes of relative no supervision as i finished getting ready one day. I left them on the couch watching mickey. This is what I found ...







Apparently they had been eyeing this drawer - where I keep wipes and such - just for such an occassion where Mommy wasnt looking.
And it seems I need to change out this drawer liner... ah, another day.

Halloween

I have been trying to wait to post this blog without pictures, but I am not allowed to upload pics while Matt is working because it bogs down the internet, and that seems to be all the time now a days. I tried last night and Ill have to do more tonight.

Anyway, Halloween this year was hilarious. First things first, the girls got to ride the train again to the pumpkin patch, thanks to Mimi and Dandy who have now made it a tradition. The girls talked about this for weeks. "Ride the train on Saturday! See pumpkins! With Dandy! Saturday". Everything is going to happen on Saturday.

The day was pretty cold and Leah was not in the best mood until she got a gummy snack (you do what you gotta do) but we ended up getting some pretty cute pictures. And both girls did help me clean out the pumpkins which i was surprised about. Even more surprising, Hannah - my OCD child with cleanliness, was the one who actually put her hands in the guts to pull it out. Leah had to use a spoon which proves to be quite ineffective. Never the less, they had a great time at the pumpkin patch and I think they are looking forward to riding the train again when it becomes the Polar Express.

Trick or treating was a riot. The girls REALLY got into the whole concept of ringing the doorbell and asking for candy. Or rather, reaching their little hands into the buckets themselves and pulling out handfuls. The walked the entire circle of our street. Which is no small task. We had a great group with us, since we have wonderful neighbors. The funny thing is, everyone wants to walk around together with their kids, so very few people are actually at HOME. There were many bowls on the front porch and the girls liked that equally well.

I had two little Minnies again, keeping with the birthday costume from a few weeks before and this mommy ended up wearing Minnie ears for a good 2 hours. Oh well.

We had more candy than I knew what to do with but the we had a blast!

Family pic - these are so rare


Pumpkin Patch


Painting Halloween cookies


Our group for trick or treating




Ready to go - Leah wouldnt wear her ears

Matt's Birthday

Well I wish I could say Matt had a better birthday, but it didnt go quite as expected.

We woke up this morning and realized our dog, Abby was in a lot of back pain. So Matt had to quickly go pick up some of her pain medication.

Then we headed to my parents to watch the Auburn game, which we REALLY lost. Bad. Matt was so frustrated at one point he jumped up yelling and hit his head on the low ceiling fan.

Tonight while we were leaving to go to dinner, he missed a step on the front porch while holding Leah and fell down. Of course he protected Leah and took the full fall on his knee (which is pretty busted up).

And I am on call so we couldnt go out for his birthday (didnt want to waste the use of a good sitter if I had the possibility of getting called in).

So now he is chilling watching football while icing his knee.

Tomorrow we get a redo with his parents. Hopefully it will be better. Happy 27th anyway Baby!

Botta Getta

Words if you dont know them:
Botta Getta Botta Getta
Botta Getta Bah
Rah Rah Rah, shish kum bah
Weagle, weagle, War eagle
Kick em in the bottom big blue!

(edited version for a 2 year old)

Give me an A-U-B-U-R-N

Aunt Laura teaching the girls a new cheer

Go to Time Out!

As I was folding some clothes in the laundry room today, I overheard Hannah yelling at Leah "No, Dont Do That! No! Go Time Out!!!"

I then saw Leah running to the "Time out" corner of choice.

Hannah came into the laundry room requesting a rag. I gave one to her and curiously followed her to the "scene of the crime".

Sure enough, Leah (apparently, since she was the one punished by Hannah) had drawn on the wall with chalk. They know it only goes outside. Hannah wanted to clean it up.


On a similar note - the girls were playing outside on the swing set/ slide yesterday. I apparently call them "honey" frequently because I overheard Leah telling Hannah "Thats a Ladder, Honey."

Bedtime Antics

Hannah always cries when she is going to bed. Always. Leah is in the other room across the hall and both bedroom doors are closed.

The other night Hannah was doing what she always does, and Leah who had been quietly talking to herself in her own crib started YELLING "Hannah!!! Be Quiet Hannah!!! Hannah!!! Quiet!!!"

Thanks Leah...

2 year checkup

The girls did very well today. They were a little fussy but overall behaved. The worst things were getting their weights (on the big kid scale) and their head circumference. Beats me! Anyway, they did not even realize when they got the shot - which was just a flu shot - and only cried for about 30 seconds.

Dr. Bo is very impressed with their language skills and predicts Hannah to be much taller than me. (not hard to do). Everything else checked out fine and its hard to believe I dont have another appointment until they are 3 years old.

here are their measurements

Hannah:
Length 35 1/2 inches - 90%
Weight 30lbs - 75-90%
Head circumference 19 1/2 - 90-95%

Leah:
Length 33 inches - 55-75%
Weight 28lbs 12oz - 75-90%
Head circumference 19 - 75-90%

Other than that nothing new to report!

My babies are two!

Wow. My little girls are growing up so fast.

Two years ago today, at 5:13pm Hannah was born. 5 minutes later at 5:18pm Leah arrived and our entire world felt complete. It was the most memorable life changing day of my life. And now two years later, they have morphed from the little 5 and a half pound babies to such spirited, loving, active children who make me smile every day.

We had their party today and it went wonderfully. We have such a loving family and as always, everyone did too much. The girls got a swing set as a joint family gift and it was a huge hit. They will gladly sit in those swings for hours while we push them.

They decided on a Minnie theme. Yes, it was the girls decision. I thought it was going to be Elmo up until about a month ago, and they got really into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. All the characters are well loved but they really like Mickey and Minnie. So when I asked them what birthday theme they wanted and giving them a huge list of choices, it was Minnie they chose.

So I, being the way that I am, went overboard as usual. I got the girls some Minnie dresses (costumes) to wear - that will also be their halloween costumes. Unfortunately they didnt wear the ears but I didnt really expect them to.

I made the cake as well. Thats kind of my thing. I always want to make the cakes. This time I decided to try a 3 tier cake based on a picture I saw. All I can say is THANKS Wilton supplies. And cake decorating is an expensive hobby.

The entire family came it seemed, and the house was full. We missed Aunt Katy and Uncle Jason though who were out of town. But the girls always enjoy playing with their cousins who were able to come.

I am exhausted after such an eventful day. My babies are two. I am going to have to keep saying that. My babies are two. And I am so grateful that I plan only 1 party a year instead of two! Ah the perks of having twins!









go to www.flickr.com/photos/matthewmccay for more!

A new job

While I am updating the blog I figured it was worth mentioning that in 2 weeks I will be starting a new job! For those who need a reminder of what I do, I work in heart surgery as a scrub nurse. I love the job overall but it is very unpredictable. I really never know when I am going to work or what time I will be off from day in to day out. Even when I get to work that morning i do not know when I will be leaving. I take call once or twice a week plus some weekends. So as I said, unpredictable. There are some perks. I do get days off (maybe). So it has been worth it thus far.

But it is now time for a change. On a whim I applied for a job as a physician liason for UAB. Basically I will be the go between for UAB and referring physicians in Alabama and surrounding states. Monday through Friday 8-5, no weekends, no holidays, and NO CALL. I will NEVER miss a Christmas morning with my children. It sounds like a fun job, and a little less stressful than what I do now. So we will see! I start Oct. 19th.

Telling my team at work was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I am leaving them in a bad position. But I am doing what I think will be best for my family. At least I know I will be home for dinner every night.

We will lose our nanny because of this new job and increase in daytime hours, but by the grace of God we found someone else in a pinch and I am very excited. A friends of mines little sister will start next week and I hope this will last for a while. I feel so lucky that things have worked out the way they have, and please pray that this move will be the best thing for us.

I am excited about the change! I am going to have to wear actual professional clothes instead of scrubs so I have been doing some shopping!!

Auburn girls

Of course we are huge Auburn fans. And the girls are completely following in our footsteps. Yes we are brainwashing. We went to Auburn this past weekend and on top of the wonderful win we really enjoyed walking around campus with our mini cheerleaders. Here are some pics from the weekend, and then some random pics of them in their Auburn dresses!

Turrets anyone?

This video is funny to me because Hannah is mad at Leah for singing the alphabet song and Leah could care less and happily sings anyway. Of course, mid song she sees a truck and she has replaced her TR's with F's. Hilarious...

M&M catastrophe

I am in the process of potty training the girls, and M&Ms are the reward of choice. I have a candy jar (sealed) in the bathroom for when they go "pee pee in the potty". They only get them at that time.

I have a huge Sams bag of M&Ms in the freezer, and I felt like I needed a few one day. As I was getting the bag out, a TON of them spilled onto the floor. Luckily the dogs were locked in my bedroom.

It was time for me to get the girls up for nap and I thought they were going to enjoy this. I went in Leah's room and told her there were a bunch of M&Ms on the floor and I needed her help cleaning them up. OKAY! she said and quickly ran to the kitchen where she stared... in awe.

Hannah was next and I told her the same thing. "Ceem up Ceem up" she sang as she literally skipped to the kitchen where Leah was still standing in awe.

I had to give them bowls so they could pick up some candies and "clean". Two went in the bowls, then two their mouths.

Dont think I am a terrible mom here and let them eat their fill. I did go get the vacuum and got the rest up so they probably had about 10. But I think they were in heaven.

Little Quirks

At this age the girls crack me up constantly. It always amazes me what they have picked up and then start repeating. I wish I could get everything on video so I always remember it but since I find most everything amusing that seems a little ambitious. So this is some of the things they say/do,

ThankYou/Welcome! - Leah says this if she is giving or taking something from you. Sometimes she just says "welcome" when forcing you to take something from her.

Buzz gone - my poor Hannah has been traumatized by our Rhoomba or little robitic vacuum (named buzz). I ran him one day in the dining room while they were eating in the kitchen. They kind of freaked. I had to put buzz back in the master bedroom where he "sleeps" and now whenever they walk by the HALL that goes to the master, mainly Hannah actually, she informs me that Buzz is bye bye, gone, night night, sleeping, or off. I tried to hide him but then they were concerned where he went so now he is where he should be but Hannah wont go near him. Yes, its personified. Sad thing is we will be out somewhere and she will randomly say "Buzz gone". Ok Hannah, I get it.

"I fix it" - both my children are very OCD and little things really bother them. Whether it is something out of place, or they have a spot on their shirt, they will let me know with a BIG uh OH! So I guess I got in the habit of telling them I would fix whatever was wrong. "Its ok, Mommy will fix it". Now Leah says it for everything too which is good because she does attempt to correct the situation as best she can. Spill her cereal? "I fix it. Napkin?... (wipes it up)... All Better!" Thank you Leah. (rather, thankyou/welcome)

Gate Gate!- this goes with the OCD but both girls must close the gate at the top of the stairs inside or out. If it is open they get very upset. At least they dont try to go barreling down the steps...

"Auburn song?" - This is so pitiful but one day I was singing the Auburn fight song to Leah. I sang it once. Now she asks for the "auburn song" frequently. Her other requests are "tinkle tinkle" (twinkle twinkle obviously), "Jesus song" (Jesus loves me), "pat cake". "Ity bitsy pider", Baby song (this is normally "hush little baby" but has lately also been "hes got the whole world - because He has the Itty Bitty Babies in His hands), Rock Baby (rockabye baby), Elmos song (which is just Lalala la Elmos world), and ABC song. I am not allowed to sing a song that she does not approve of. If I try she will quickly tell me which one she prefers. Hannah wont let me sing AT ALL unless it is Itsy Bitsy Spider which is only when she is in the mood :)

This doesnt scratch the surface but this post is long enough :) At least I will remember these little things now!

She still looks like a mini me

I posted a similar post about a year ago but thought I would do a comparison again. I still think Hannah resembles me a lot. Probably the eyes. Again, this is a picture from an old movie of when I was little, stilled on the computer so its not the best quality but you get the point.

Hannah is about 2 months older than I am in these photos

Bible Characters

I know my videos are a little Leah heavy but Hannah never sits still long enough for me to tape her doing much other than running or yelling for Mommy, let alone actually getting her to concentrate on something other than playing with the camera or phone while i try to tape her, so Leah is the performer at the moment.

Here is one of her telling us who did what :) Noah, Jesus, Jonah, and Moses

One more War Eagle Video

What does Aubie say?

Gammy and Dandy are just trying to prepare the girls for football season. Leah actually performed. :)
War Eagle!

Canon in D

The other day I laid Leah down for her nap and accidentally hit the button on her crib aquarium that changed her music. Normally it is on Canon in D but it changed to Twinkle Twinkle. Leah urgently started telling me NO NO NO, and i realized she was mad the music changed. So I kept changing it until it was back to Canon and she laid down satisfied.

Tonight Matt put her to bed and accidentally hit the button again. She told him Uh Oh! and stood up, pressed the top button (one of 4 total buttons) and flipped through the 10 other songs quickly until she found Canon in D again. Then she laid back down.

I just thought this was crazy! I did not even know that she knew what button to push, and the fact that she recognized the first half second of each song to know it wasnt what she wanted impresses me. Apparently she has very particular taste in music!

Loving sisters

Sorry for the girls nakedness - no real need for swimsuits while swimming in Papa's jacuzzi.

check out the loving sisters at the 40 second mark. This is constant...

Ring Around the Rosy

cute video of the girls playing ring around the rosy, then telling the dogs to shush at the end...

Pudding Painting

I am always looking for little things to do with the girls that will pass the time joyously. So one evening I made some vanilla pudding and dyed it blue, red, and yellow. The girls have not really painted so I was interested in what they would think/do.

I tried to prepare by putting on of Matts old shirts on them and laid out a blanket. Needless to say we still had pudding everywhere, but they had fun!

It took Leah a really long time to realize the paint was edible. And it was all over for her when she did! Hannah never cared too much about eating the pudding since that would make her messy, and she was very intent on her painting.

Baby Colin is here!

The newest member of the McCay clan, Colin Joseph, arrived June 10th at 7:08pm. He was a WHOPPING 9lbs 14oz (poor Katy!!!) and came just one day before his due date. He is precious and we are so excited for Jason and Katy. They are now a family of 5. Props to you Katy! You truly are supermom!!

Disney World 2009 part 3 - the rest

As always we enjoyed some wonderful food in Disney World. My favorite was Le Celier in Epcot and I do not think I have seen the girls ever eat better. We did not do any more character meals given how the breakfast went, but we ate very well.

Here are some random restaurant pics. It was dry in the restaurants so we could bring the camera out!



playing peekaboo

We did get to enjoy the light parade as well, but the dancers could not perform because of the rain (shocker). Both girls were enthralled and covered in stickiness from a sucker. And of course they got a light toy for the parade.

watching the fireworks

watching fireworks

watching fireworks

As much as Hannah and Leah enjoyed the parks, their favorite was the water park which we FINALLY got to the day before we left. And it was sunny!! Hannah amazed me by going down a pretty big slide (until the final time when she turned the wrong way and that was it).

Hannah wanted to go down this little innertube slide but I think she had second thoughts on the way down. There was no emotion as she rode. She just laid there. She chose ot to ride again but it was funny to us.



Leah needed some Gammy time so we took Hannah to the lazy river and let Leah play in the sand. She was concentrating so hard!


This may have been their favorite part of the trip. (Well its a toss up between this and stepping on and off the curbs of the sidewalks - hey, its why we went to Disney right?)

Yes Hannah is a bit OCD and does not like to get messy and hates spills. She gets very worried.

We really had a great trip in spite of the 16 inches of rain Orlando got while we were there. We cannot wait to go back in 2010!