A Weekend of Firsts

We flew to Florida this past weekend for Julie and Spencer's wedding. It was such a wonderful time with family and close friends (the babies met lots of new family members, including their great-grandparents), and we couldn't be happier for the newlyweds. The twins had their first flights (they did pretty well, with only a five-minute meltdown on the way down), their first long car drive (two hours, and Jane loved to cry for the first twenty minutes or last ninety), their first boat ride (they seemed to enjoy the wind, despite evidence to the contrary in this shot taken afterward), and their first babysitter to put them down for the night (they slept until 8 a.m. every morning!). I wish we had taken our camera out more often, but click here for some photos from the weekend.

Little Ol' Baldy

What happens when you give The Shake-Off (see Collected Words of the Day) a little too often...

Bathtime for the Buckheits

The kids enjoy their baths now (they hate being changed afterward, but that's a story for another post), but it always takes them a second to get used to being submerged. And then they usually spend the entire bath with their hands clenched in fists. It's better than crying, but still. (P.S. Tanner's on top, Jane's on the bottom.)

A Note to the Boos

You guys are three months old today, and it's really hard to believe. You've been (pretty much) sleeping through the night for a few weeks now, and we're finding a good schedule for your days. It was touch and go for a while there, but we are out of survival mode (not to say we don't still have bad days and bad nights sometimes). You guys are becoming more alert and awake during your "play" times, and it's fun to try to get you both to smile. We've had a few babysitters so far, and you've charmed them with your cuteness. We're hoping they come back.

Tanner, you give us lots of smiles (especially when you're in your crib getting ready for a nap, as if your sweetness will make us let you stay up a little longer). Sometimes, for no reason, you get totally worked up and cry as if you're on fire (you know the cry I mean: red scrunched-up face, real tears, halted breathing), but you are usually easily soothed. You sometimes get so anxious before a feeding that you pump your legs and arms and then latch on as if the nipple is a chew toy. You sometimes turn your arm into a slot machine lever when being burped. We call you a "licky" when you lick your lips a bunch, and you love to burrow in your daddy's chest (while grabbing chest hair) and suck furiously on your fist. And speaking of fists, you tend to clench them when eating or taking a bath, and it's all we can do to get you to relax.

Jane, you are getting quite silly with your pacifier. Sometimes you slurp on it so much that you make a ton of racket, and you love to suck suck suck and then let it dangle out of your mouth for a half second before sucking it back in (we call this "lollipopping" and often beg for you to lollipop for us). You seem to be trying to hold your pacifier in your mouth with your arm and/or hand, and you've even started sucking on your fist a little à la Tanner. You're working on tracking things with your eyes, but sometimes you go out of your way not to look at what we're trying to get you to look at (if we try to get in your line of vision, you will do anything you can to avoid eye contact with us). You're smiley when you want to be, and sometimes you would prefer to be in your bouncy seat or just sitting than in someone's arms (you hate to be manhandled). You've got the fist thing going just like your brother when eating and bathing, and you hate to be changed after a bath (also just like your brother). You've had a voracious appetite lately, and you drool like crazy.

We love you both tons. The past three months have been quite a trip, and we can't wait to see what the next three months hold for us.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Mike turned 34 today and enjoyed an evening of cheesesteaks and basketball with his kids, his dad, and his wife. As you can see from their shirts, the babies love their daddy.