Crawling Everywhere

 One morning Dave left for work when Nate was still asleep. Nate came downstairs and I said "Nate, Dad just left!" He flew down the stairs and ran outside yelling "Daaaaaaaaaad!!" Dave heard the scream just in time and stopped to say bye to Nate. I had to take a quick picture. Don't mind the port-a-potty in the background. We are getting some work done in our backyard so they've planted their bathroom in our front yard for a little while. I don't know why they put it right next to the trampoline.

 We gave the babies their first bath in the real bathtub. It was really fun. Anna wasn't sure about it at first but then she warmed up to it and had fun. Audrey loved splashing. They both have two top teeth and two bottom teeth. It's pretty cute! They were so cute in the bath and the older kids all wanted to capture it! Dave and I were each holding a baby's hand to make sure they wouldn't slip. At one point I looked back and saw Ash, Sadie and Nate each with a different device to take pictures/video. One person had my phone, another had the real camera and Nate had the video camera. We wills surely have enough footage of their first bath! As with pretty much everything, it's so fun having double. Baths are always cute with babies but then when you have two little babies sitting by each other in the bath (that look so alike)…it's just so cute.

 Anna

 Anna kept looking at Audrey during their bath. I'm sure they would have lots to say if they could talk.  It's so fun to watch their little relationship develop. The other day we were shopping and I could hear them both cooing quite a bit in the stroller. It really seemed like it was their way of chatting with each other. If one starts laughing, the other joins in quickly. Sometimes it happens with crying, too.

 Anna pulling her favorite position…snuggling on top of Audrey. Audrey is so nice to put up with it! It doesn't look very comfortable to me!

 We can even tell them apart from the back of their heads now! Audrey has her little hand on Anna's back for some balance.

 They found me in the kitchen! I love watching them crawl to me.

 Nate was making a fort with two little sisters there to tear it down!

 Anna and Audrey watching the work going on outside.

 Anna is on the left. She loves sitting like that and just digging in the toy basket.

 They find a way to touch no matter what! Now that they are so mobile, we usually leave them in their crib when they are still moving around. They are busy little girls (especially Anna). But when we check on them and they are asleep, they are always snuggled up in some way.

The babies love playing on the ground. Sometimes they spot me in the kitchen and smile so big you think their mouth will crack. Then they start crawling as fast as they can to come to me. I love it.

Sometimes for a second I think "what if" the birth mom didn't choose us. It always makes me cringe for a second. Anna and Audrey are such an integral part of our family and we can't imagine life without them. I am forever thankful to Jennifer who was incredibly unselfish and sacrificed so much for these babies and gave us the most precious gifts. I'm still in awe of the beautiful thing that adoption is. I remember way back when…when I really didn't want to adopt. I cried so much about it. I wanted more children so badly but I wanted "my own". But wow, Anna and Audrey are "my own" and I couldn't be more thankful for them. It's hard to believe that I ever didn't want to adopt. Now I consider it one of the most incredible experiences of my life.