Collin & Carter: 9 Month Update

The time is here - my boys are 3/4 of a year old.  They are closer to the age of one than they are to being my newborn sons.  I feel that with each passing month, the moment I welcomed them into our lives is getting further and further away...which, I know it is and that is the way things go.

 

AW!  Independence...it's a beautiful thing :)

They are both so much fun.  We wouldn't trade anything for the world!  These months are going quickly - which in a way is good, because the one thing we want more than anything is summer time so we can spend the months together as a family!

Nine Month Update

Food - These boys LOVE to eat!  My parents bought them animal crackers (they are a certain kind that my mom buys our kids.  No clue where she finds them, but whenever I see that box with the string attached, I think of my parents!   I think they're my dad's favorite too!  Kind of special!)  but they could eat the entire box of these if I let them.

The boys are drinking about 5-6 bottles a day (5 ounces each).  And eating three meals a day!  They're growing strong, and putting on lots of weight - believe me, my biceps can tell you all about it :)

Sleep - ALLELUIA!! 
They are sleeping!  Yes, both boys, all night long, in their cribs!  I will tell you, when one wakes up - typically the other will as well, but we have successfully managed to have both boys sleeping in their own cribs...THANK YOU JESUS!

 

Collin :)

Clothes - One thing I absolutely LOVE about all of my children is that they are in the clothing size of their age!  Yup - 9 month old boys in 9 month clothing.  I'm not sure why I enjoy this so much, but I do!  I have noticed that some of their clothes are starting to get a little snug, so we will have to transition them to the next size here, but that's okay, because we have made a nice run in these clothes :)  I'm sure Jessica is sick of seeing the same rotation of clothes on these guys everyday at daycare, but I'm happy we at least get their use out of them :)

Weight - I am currently unsure of their weight, but I can tell you, when Callie and the boys and I are leaving dance class together, because daddy is at basketball, it's just the 4 of us...and it's freezing outside, extremely windy, iced over parking lot - I mean to the point where the insane amount of potholes covering the parking lot is actually smooth, because the holes are covered over with snow and ice...
My biceps are BURNING when I get everyone to the car from carrying both boys and having Callie hanging on me some way!  So what is their weight?  I don't know, but they are HEAVY!  I'm guessing about 20 pounds each (which means 20 pounds in each arm PLUS their car seat PLUS Callie's dance bag, my purse and sometimes their diaper bag...and Callie hanging on me...I'm like a female version of The Incredible Hulk!

Carter

Height - One of these days I'm actually going to have this stat!

Diapers - Size 3 diapers and still going through a lot...

Health - Both boys have recently gotten over a cold.  They had started out with runny noses and then high fevers.  This actually happened while Callie, Josh and I were in Walt Disney World.  Josh brought the boys in and sure enough - they both had ear infections.  Go figure :-/  After some medication, they are on the mends!

Fun Facts - Carters started crawling!  Yes we are so very excited for him, and he is so proud of himself :)  Here is a fun little video that we captured of his accomplishment.  He doesn't have to just sit there and take Collin's picking on him anymore.  He doesn't have to lay on his stomach on the floor flopping around like a fish out of water - he can actually crawl around the room and explore!  He's getting VERY close to standing up too...that's crazy to believe!

Carter & Collin

Collin has been crawling all over and pulling himself up onto EVERYTHING.  He absolutely LOVES going into his big sisters room to play with her and her toys.  She lets him right now, and sometimes she includes him in her play (she will give him Beast to play with because he is a boy).  Typically Collin just plays with the characters in his hand and then transfers them to his mouth!  Callie doesn't seem to mind...but give this a few years and we'll have full on battles!

Brotherly Love and Snuggles :)

The boys are also busy playing with each other now!  Man are they funny.  The other day, I was in the kitchen and the boys were in the hallway & all I could hear were their sweet little giggles.  I turned the corner and Carter was sitting alone crawling towards me - then he stopped, turned around and Collin appeared and they started laughing at each other and almost head butted!  Then Collin went back into our room and they did the whole thing all over again :) I did catch part of this on video - which I am so thankful, because their sweet giggles are my absolute FAVORITE!

Disney World Video Fun

Here are a couple videos from our trip!

Callie was Chip - and a perfect Chip was she :)

Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride - Callie and I sang "A Whole New World" every time we rode on it :)  Daddy wouldn't sing...

Cinderella's Royal Table announcement :)

Walt Disney World Day 4

(Yes, I am updating this later than I planned, but we were EXHAUSTED and had a ton of stuff to do when we got home)...

On Tuesday morning, we slept in and took our time getting going for the day.  It was about 9:45 AM I decided to call reservations and see if they had any openings for Belle's castle, "Be Our Guest".  They didn't, so I thought I'd throw out there "Cinderella's Royal Table" - knowing I had called 4 times the day before, I figured they wouldn't have any openings.  Well I was completely proven wrong!  She had a 2:40 PM reservation...I spoke with Josh and we booked it!

She looks every bit enthused! 

We were all ready and set for our 2nd official day at Magic Kingdom!  We had our stroller packed, Callie was Cinderella for the day, and snacks were ready to go!  As soon as we arrived, we were walking down the main street, and being pushed to the side.  It was time for the Mickey Mouse Jamming Parade!  We had front row view of the parade & Callie loved watching it!  It was such a fun way to start our day :)

We decided that since Callie was completely content sitting in her stroller that we would wait the 40 minutes to meet Tinkerbell and Periwinkle.  By the time we got to the front of the line, I was so excited to meet Tink (she's one of my favorites-she's sassy like me!) but Callie wanted nothing to do with her.  She did go to Periwinkle no problem, so that was nice :)

We decided to go to this bird show that they had, because the wait time was 5 minutes.  I am not going to lie, I thought they were going to be REAL birds!  Instead it was those damn fake birds that talk (remember those parrots that would talk and mimic whatever you said?!)...Callie thought they were pretty cool, but it is not something I would recommend (it's right by Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride).  Since we were by Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride - guess what we rode on...again :)  That's right!  Daddy video taped mommy and Callie singing "A Whole New World" - I have yet to watch it :)

Daddy really wanted to go on the "Haunted Ride" or experience, whatever it is - so he went and did that while Callie and I wondered around.  We ended up buying some popcorn to munch on, which was a very tasty treat!  We also found ourselves near Tiana's pavilion again.  Callie and I started dancing and being silly (I was singing Disney songs to her) when I noticed someone taking pictures of us.  It was the Photo Pass man.  I didn't have our photo card because Josh had it, but he was nice enough to give me another one.  He then started singing all sorts of Disney songs to Callie!  She was eating it up!  He even started dancing with her :)  What a man!  When Josh came back, he took pictures of them dancing too!  So much fun!  I waited in line for Callie to see Princess Tiana again while Callie & Daddy went to watch the Mickey Mouse show on the Castle's stage!

Callie was so excited to see Tiana again!  They chatted for a little bit, but Callie heard the Photo Pass people tell us to go see Peter Pan!  Ever since Callie saw the light show on the castle the night before, she has been Peter Pan obsessed!  We walked over, daddy waited in line while Callie and I played a game of "shadow chasing".  Oh man did she have fun!  Finally it was our turn to meet Peter!  She was so excited she almost didn't go to him at first, but she eventually did!  I'm not sure why she decided that Peter Pan was going to be her infatuation -but it has become that way.  She has been telling us we need to watch that movie!

We went and rode the Carousel a couple times as a family before our big lunch!  Now Callie was getting tired and we weren't sure how she was going to react to seeing Cinderella today, so we decided a little bribery would be an appropriate move :)  We had bought her these Disney Princess collection pieces to play with, but we didn't notice that we missed one...so we bought Snow White and told Callie she could have it opened when we were sitting at our table!  Perfect :)

Cinderella's Royal Table!  Royal indeed!  What an experience. I don't care who you are, if you have a chance to eat in Cinderella's Royal Table, I highly recommend doing so!  It is very expensive, but so much fun!  And to be inside of her castle is memory alone :)  Callie was greeted by Cinderella!  They talked, played with Callie's wand, compared shoes, sat together and took pictures :)  Callie was so excited to meet her!  When we were waiting, the lady in charge rang the bells and called the Royal McRae Family to the table - AWESOME  We walked up the windy staircase to the Royal Dining Room.  We were seated at a table next to a window, so we were able to look out and see the land :)

Callie was excited to see the other Princesses that were in the dining room, but she didn't want to stand up and take pictures.  That was okay-they sat down next to her!  Ariel was by far the greatest!  She will one day work with children (the girl playing Ariel)!  She was interacting with Callie, playing with her toys and bringing Snow White over to show Snow the "7 Dwarf toys!"  It was awesome!  I could tell Callie felt important!  She met Ariel, Snow White, Aurora and Jasmine.  I will be honest, I did not like the Jasmine in the castle - she was short and kind of stuck up!  Josh said she had gained a lot of weight from seeing her the day before :)  He knows the right things to say to make me feel good :) :) :)

Our waitress kept calling us "Lord and My Lady and Callie was Princess" -I loved it :)  I think Josh should start calling me, 'My Lady'!  She was so nice and friendly!  I played a trick on Callie - took away her toys and told her that every bite of chicken that she ate, she got one toy back!  At least I know she ate 9 pieces of chicken, because there were 9 toys :)  The food was absolutely amazing - both Josh and I were pleasantly surprised by the deliciousness of their meals.  I had the chicken and he had the ribs.  The dessert was great too - we felt like royalty!  

Upon leaving the castle, we had gotten Fast Passes for The Little Mermaid Ride :)  We zipped on and off that ride so fast!  I waited in line for Ariel's Grotto while Daddy & Callie waited for me to wind the line and come back to them (a tip I recommend doing if you have little ones).  She just sat and colored!  We weren't 100% sure what was going to be inside, but guess what...it was Ariel - the real Ariel - with her tail and everything!  Callie was so excited!  She told Ariel that she had a tail just like hers, but mommy made it for her!  And she got to touch Ariel's tail!

Callie and I went on the "Mad Tea Cup" ride 3 times in a row.  For someone who can't handle spinney rides, that was pretty good!  Man was she laughing hysterically   I was laughing so hard just listening to her!  At one point, I had us spinning so fast that she slid right off of her seat!   She loved the Tea Cups!

Daddy took her on the race cars!  I remember going on this ride with my dad as a child :)  How fun for her to drive her daddy around!  I guess she was telling Josh that she was driving like Mommy and Daddy!  Haha!  I'm surprised Josh didn't get whip lash with her side to side driving skills!!!

Our evening was coming to an end - which meant that our Disney Vacation was almost over :(  We went to Belle's Story Time one more time, so daddy could have a part.  Callie REALLY wanted him to be the beast, but a little girl beat him out - which we were totally okay with, because she was a really cute beast!  Josh got to play the part of Maurice, Belle's father!  He was a good Maurice too :)  Callie enjoyed watching daddy perform!

We took Callie on Peter Pan's Flight - this was our last ride (we had Fast Passes for this ride), and it was awesome.  We sat in what looked like a flying boat!  We flew above everything, so we had to look down at the town, and the characters and the story line.  Callie loved it and was very pleased with the wait!  As we were exiting Peter Pan's Flight, we headed over to the front of Cinderella's Castle to enjoy our second and last night of fire works!  Callie LOVED the light show again (this time I video taped the whole thing) and the fireworks were superb!  The magic in her eyes allowed me to capture this special moment!  I wish our boys could have been with us to share in this experience, but we will be coming back...and they will be coming with!

I love this photo!  Taken by yours truly :)

Here Callie was flying like Peter Pan :)

Still flying as we leave the park!

We arrived in Austin safely on Wednesday night around 11:00 PM...it was a long Thursday and Friday, but it was nice to be home with our boys!  Callie cried in the car because she wanted to stay in Disney World, and I think she's FINALLY starting to get her energy back!  This trip really wiped her out!  

Her darn balloon needed to be deflated for the darn airplane ride!