Mini vacation

We took the girls out to my parent's house in Kiawah this weekend for a much needed getaway. It was awesome. We were all spoiled rotten and the weather was perfect. We took a long walk, went out to lunch and dinner and just had fun playing at Nana and BopBop's house! My mom has a huge basket of toys that she keeps in the family room and the girls LOVED it. They crawled up to it (well...Riley crawled to it...Reagan still just scoots around but she sure is getting good at it!) and pulled out all of the things they could reach. I thought that Riley might actually fall in a few times but she didn't. It was just a great weekend. We took the girls to The Ocean Course for lunch (where the PGA Championship will be in August!) and let them crawl around the putting green after we ate. It might be one of the most beautiful spots in the world. I mean it. It's unreal. We took a billion pictures and I'm pretty sure Riley didn't smile for one of them. She smiles ALL THE TIME...I swear! But point a camera at her and it's like taking a picture of a statue! Oh well...they still looked adorable in their tutu ballerina outfits from Auntie Liza!!! We loved them!
Hope everyone else had a great weekend too! Nana Susan comes tomorrow so lots more spoiling is on the way I'm sure!!

All quiet....

I haven't posted in forever...sorry! We've been so busy but honestly, there isn't much new to report. The girls are doing great. Riley is crawling all over the place...she's gotten really fast! She seems to be attracted to everything in the house that we DON'T want her to go near. Inevitably we'll position her somewhere and she'll end up heading toward the gas fireplace, or the tv stand or falling into a basket to reach something. It's definitely keeping us on our toes! Reagan, however, is still content to just slide around on her tummy. We think it's so funny that she's figured out how to roll around to get to where she wants. I wish she'd start crawling (I think) because I think she'd have even more fun than she's having now. But she seems just fine with what she's doing so we're not pushing it. They are both pulling up on things and have pulled to standing a number of times. They hang out on their knees a lot now. They both still LOVE bouncing around and just laugh and laugh. They interact with each other so much more and are constantly talking and smiling and reaching for each other. The other day I was feeding them in their high chairs and turned around to do something. When I turned back around they were holding hands. It was precious. And of course there's no picture of it...I can never seem to get those moments in time!
Riley had her follow up with the cardiologists last week and everything is looking GREAT! We don't have to go back for 6 months!!!!!! We continue to just be amazed at how well she's doing. It's unreal.
The weather has gotten to be fantastic again. We had a few chilly days..mostly just mornings. The girls and I went out for a walk and I actually put coats and hats on them (my Cleveland friends/family will laugh so hard at this...I think it was 55). The hats didn't stay on too long but I thought they looked so cute! It's going to be 75 today and looks like it's going to be incredible all week. We're so excited because my parents are coming back to Kiawah on Monday and we're going to get to spend time with them! Yippee! The girls have changed a lot just since the last time we saw them so I can't wait for them to see them again.
I'll try and be better about posting!

We're 9 months old today

Happy 9 month Birthday to my sweet little girls! The biggest news to date is that our little Squirty (Riley) is crawling!!!!! She's been on the move for a while now but went the farthest today. What a great 9 month birthday gift! Reagan is still not very interested in the crawling...she lays on her belly and kind of pivots around to where she wants to go. She's much happier having us move her! Riley has also started feeding herself. More goes on the floor and all over her and her high chair than actually gets into her mouth...but occasionally she gets lucky and gets something in there. It's hilarious. Again, Reagan is not so interested. She, again, would much rather have us do the work. Smart kid! They are babbling nonstop and their favorite thing to do still is to bounce. The weather is amazing right now (and will continue for awhile!!!) and so we spent almost the whole day outside today. Reagan has become quite attached to Mommy and Daddy and we're going through a bit of separation anxiety right now. I'm hoping it's just a quick phase...fingers crossed! When we're with her though, she's still the happiest little kid I've ever seen. Her smile looks like it would hurt her cheeks because it's just so big. I love it so much!
I know I keep saying this but I can't believe I have 9 month old little girls. They are growing up so fast. I'm fine with it because they are getting more and more fun every day...but, wow. Time really does fly. Another great example of this are our nieces and nephews. How is it possible that Cooper is going to be 2 years old this week? He was just born...I swear! And Grace and Greta are so grown up! They are reading Harry Potter!!!!! We're enjoying every day with R & R because we know that time is going to keep going by super quickly. Happy 9 month Birthday sweet girls! We
love you with all of our hearts!

Christmas #3 in Cleveland

Well...it was definitely a trip to remember! Let me start off by saying that it was so great to see all of the family that we did when we were there...we didn't get to see everyone enough, but it was nice to see everyone in person and not through Skype! The Cleveland weather even cooperated while we were there and held off of on snowing too hard until the day that we left.
The trip was....interesting! I won't even begin to go into our trip there....it involved cancelled flights, an hour sitting on the runway, screaming babies and lost luggage. But once we landed we were happy! We had to stop at Babies R Us on the way to Nana Susan's house to stock up on everything that we had in our luggage for the girls. Once we got to Susan's it was relaxing and so nice to be there! Aunt Kylie, Uncle Matt and Grace and Greta came over and Grace and Greta played with their cousins and even fed them their dinner. They are amazing and I just wish they lived closer....they'll be the BEST babysitters ever one day!
The next day was really the beginning of the end. Another long story short...we ended up with 3 different visits to Urgent Care over the span of a couple of days (both girls have croup...I had a terrible sore throat). We are assuming we picked it up in the plane...traveling at the holidays is always crazy. Somehow Matt escaped all sickness...lucky guy! Poor Grace, Greta and Kylie came down with the stomach flu so we couldn't really spend time with them either! Aunt Liza and Uncle Mark were there though, and the whole DelTorto clan all came over Thursday night (our anniversary...my gift to Matt was that I lost my voice) and while it was so great to see everyone I just wish we'd all felt better! We joked that next year we'll all just Skype each other a Merry Christmas!
The girls were spoiled rotten and everyone loved seeing them. With both of them now sitting up on their own all of the time it makes my life so much easier and they seem to have more fun too! We thought that Riley was going to start crawling on our trip there...but she decided to wait until she felt better!
All in all, a memorable trip and one that we'll definitely remember for a long time! We hope everyone will come and visit us next time....traveling with babies is NOT that easy. How did my parents do it?!?! Matt and decided that the next time we fly with them will be when they can carry their own luggage. (I'm only sort of joking).

Christmas #2 in Kiawah

Reagan and Riley's first Christmas morning was spent at my parent's house in Kiawah. It was a beautiful morning and an amazing day! The girls were spoiled rotten and did a great job opening presents. They were much more interested in the wrapping paper than in what was inside, but they had a blast and especially loved playing with their cousin Cooper. Cooper LOVES trains (he calls them "choo choos") and it was a very Thomas the Train Engine Christmas for him. But, Uncle Matt and Aunt Stacey bought him his very own train that he could ride. It was hilarious. When he first opened it he drove it around the house (we took it outside after that). He had some very cute passengers in his train though...it was absolutely hysterical. We laughed so hard our stomachs hurt. Reagan and Riley LOVED it. Reagan laughed out loud and Riley was just happy as a clam to be driven all around. It was a very, very, Merry Christmas! We are headed back to Cleveland tomorrow for Christmas #3 with Matt's mom, sisters and their families. We can't wait!!!!! The packing is insane with two babies...but it's going to be SO MUCH FUN! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Christmas #1 in Hilton Head

We had the girl's first round of Christmas today! We drove to Hilton Head to visit my grandparents (the girl's great grands) and had presents and fun and then went out to lunch. It was such a fabulous day!!!! The girls were on their best behavior and were spoiled rotten by GG and GG! Reagan couldn't have been any more cuddly. She cuddled up to her Great Grandpa right away and we had to pull her away. They are BEST BUDS! It was so sweet. They hadn't seen Riley since her surgery in October and were amazed at how well she's doing and how great she looks. It was a great kickoff to the Christmas week/weekend. Next stop...Kiawah to my parents where Aunt Lola, Uncle Nathan and Cooper will be, and then to Cleveland for Christmas #3 to visit Matt's family. All of the girl's aunts and uncles will be there and their cousins Grace and Greta too. We are SO excited to see everyone!

We actually paid for this

The girls visited Santa for the very first time today! It was one of the funniest afternoons that Matt and I have had in a VERY long time. We waited for close to two hours to finally meet the Big Guy. The girls were amazing the whole time in line. We had them dressed super cute and everyone in line was entertained by them and kept saying how good and happy they were. And they were so right...until they sat on Santa's lap. I'm not actually sure if Reagan even made it to his lap before she started screaming. Everyone was in hysterics. Riley just sat and stared at Reagan and then at Santa. No screaming, no crying (but definitely no smiles either). The photographers kept snapping away attempting to get a picture (and I thought I was annoying when I try and get the girls to smile for a picture...these people were ridiculous!!!!). Riley eventually caught on from watching her sister that crying seemed to be what was supposed to be happening, so she joined in. It was so funny. We gave up, picked the girls up, and they were completely fine in about 2 seconds. Santa looked like the REAL Santa...no joke. (except that he smelled like he'd just had about a carton of cigarettes...maybe that's why the girls were crying?!?! Santa doesn't smoke, does he?!).
Anyway...great memory for Matt and I and a great picture to someday show the girls of their first visit with Santa. He even gave the girls these sweet charms of his sleigh. I'm putting them in their baby books along with the 55 pictures of them crying with Santa that we had to buy. Ha!