Merry Christmas to all!

We spent several days during Christmas in Henrietta with my mom's side of the family. We had a great time together and it was the first time my parents had Christmas at their house since Casey and I have been born. It was very special for them and then of course they loved having Matthew and Caleb there to celebrate their first Christmas. The boys were actually sick over the break and Tim and I ended up getting sick as well. We were thankful to be with family because they were a HUGE help as we were all recovering. We couldn't have gotten through that time without them! Unfortunately, I think we passed around the bug to all of them...but, they would probably all say it was worth it to get to love on the boys!

This is Nick (Emily's cousin) and Caroline, the newlyweds who were married in June, hanging out with Caleb.

This is Papa and Chooch playing on the floor while Mommy and Daddy were probably napping...

Grandma and Graunties did lots of breathing treatments on the boys to help them get over their respiratory infection. Papa got out his own breathing machine to convince Caleb that breathing treatments were lots of fun!!!

Daddy arrived in the RV on Christmas Eve and we were all happy to see him!!!

Special deliveries...

Well, it has been forever since we have posted! Things have been sooo crazy around the Bates household. After we got back from Utah for Thanksgiving, we moved into a new house. It is our first Glendarroch home to live in and we love it. It was pretty crazy moving with two little ones but it gone done with help from friends and family. The week after we moved, we headed to Houston for Christmas with the Bates and then left a week later for Christmas with the Stanfords. We are now home and it's great to be a little more settled. I will post more pics from the holidays soon!!! Our sweet Caleb...our nickname for him these days is Cabers...he continues to be sooo smiley and has a really pleasant disposition overall. He is our cuddle bug and is always up for watching a ballgame with his dad. He does not like to sleep as much as his brother, though! Tim says he just doesn't want to miss anything!

Here is Matthew, who is better known as "chooch" these days! One of our favorite things about him is his giggle. He is soo ticklish and laughs out loud all the time now. He is our active and energetic child and always wants to be standing and on the move when we are holding him. He is a great sleeper and we've decided he uses up so much energy during the day that he needs the extra sleep!

Tim and I could not be more thankful for these guys during this Christmas season. It is such a blessing to share Christmas with them. God is so gracious to give us these little miracles.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

This is a pic ofTim with Caleb and Papa with Matthew. There is a lot of smoochin goin on!

More smoochin from GranMary...this is Mr. Chooch-Clause.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Solid foods...

We tried solid foods with the boys for the first time on Tuesday, Dec. 9th. It was sooo much fun! Caleb opened his mouth like a birdie every time the spoon came near and kept trying to grab the spoon from us. Matthew grinned everytime we put the spoon near his mouth and then spit out all the food. It was hilarious watching them eat the rice cereal for the first time. By the second feed, they kind of got the hang of it but not really. I know it is a process! I never dreamed eating could be so messy, though. They were covered in rice cereal when it was all said and done. I have a feeling we are going to be doing a lot more bathing around the Bates' household!

Caleb with his "me first" bib on...

Matthew with his "i'm next" bib on and the rice cereal everywhere but his mouth!

Thanksgiving in Utah...

We were blessed to have the opportunity to go to Park City, Utah over Thanksgiving to visit Tim's family. It was a great trip and the boys did great on the plane both ways. We were sooo thankful because we have heard some horror stories! They slept like champs while they were there and adjusted well to the altitude and slight time change.


For those of you wondering, Matthew is doing great with his helmet. He is such a champ and has not seemed to be bothered by it at all. He wears it consistently 23 hours a day and we are going to Dallas once a week to have the helmet adjusted for his growing skull. His torticollis is much improved after stretches 5x a day over the last few weeks and continued time on his tummy. We haven't gotten too many weird comments about his helmet. Most people are just curious as to why he is wearing it and I am happy to explain it.

Grandpa and GranMary with the boys...

Caleb, Tyler, and Matthew hanging out on the couch in pjs...:)


These were the boys bear/snow suits that kept them warm on our walks in the mountains. Matthew looks like he's just seen a bear!!!

The Premiere of Choo-Choo's helmet...see it here first!

Well, we got Matthew's helmet last Thursday and it went surprisingly very well. Tim and I were both nervous about whether or not it would hurt him, if it would be uncomfortable, and how he would adjust to it overall. Thankfully, he did great! The Lord really helped to settle our anxious hearts and we found out that kids are so much more resilient than you think they are. Other than a few restless moments at night, Matthew has not seemed to bothered by wearing the helmet.

The evening after Matthew got the helmet, I headed off to Michael's craft store to find stuff to decorate it with. I was hoping to do a half Texas Tech/TCU football helmet with a little more Texas Tech decals on there than TCU...:) I was frustrated that I couldn't find the right stickers and paint to turn it into a football helmet and had to go a different direction. However, in retrospect, after Texas Tech's ridiculous loss Saturday night, I was kind of glad we didn't go the football helmet route for our debut at church on Sunday!!! I would have really gotten some great comments from our OU friends!!!

Anyway, we decided to go the choo-choo train helmet route because Matthew's name has evolved into several nicknames (all stemming from Jack Davis, 2 years old, calling him Matt- chew when he was born) including "Chooch," "choo," and "choo-choo." So, his helmet has a big train on front and says "choo-choo" on the back. When Jack saw it Sunday night, he got so excited and said "Matt-chew!!! Football helmet!!! Choo-Choo train!!!" It was great!!!

This is Matthew with his GranMary a couple of days after he got his helmet. You can't see it, but Matthew's onesie says "I"m bring chubby back." I laughed out loud when I saw the onesie on him with those big chubby cheeks of his...it was really cute!!!

The boys hangin' out in their usual photo spot!

Caleb felt really bad that Matthew had to get a helmet and he did not, so he decided to show his support for "Choo."

Still best buds! Look at all the leg rolls...they are MY favorite!

Happy Halloween...about one month late...:)

Tigger and Pooh Bear!!!
Matthew is on the left and Caleb on the right.

Caleb in his winter gear ready to go on a walk with Daddy...

Matthew is all serious in preparation for the walk with Daddy...