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...

The Bates' Men

Tim's grandfather (Papa) was in town a few weeks ago. The men got together and had a great time watching football and hanging out. The kid's great grandfather (Papa) is world famous for his cooking and the boys are not far away from getting to try a few bites here and there!!

Tyler (the Twinker's cousin) was catching some Z's on grandpa's lap

Papa is so sweet with these boys...he would hold them for hours on end and shower them with kisses. Which twin is this????

Getting Matthew and Caleb to look at the camera was the easy part...the hard part was getting their 82 year old Papa to look!!!

FYI - Caleb was in the first picture with Papa and Matthew was in the second one. Also, these may be the last pictures you see of Matthew without a helmet for a while. He was diagnosed with flat-head-a-sitis (really it is called plagiocephally - a flat spot on your head). This is a pretty common outcome when you combine a twin pregnancy and premature babies. They are typically born with it and sometimes it will correct itself within a few months, but other times it won't. Unfortunately, we are in the "other times" category. We already have some ideas of how to decorate his helmet so we will have to post pictures of the new head gear. He should only have to wear it for between 8-12 weeks.

This could spice things up because Matthew is already a little more challenging (read: fussy) and I am sure that sporting a helmet 23 hours a day will not mitigate this. Either way, we are excited to get his head whipped into shape (literally).

Cold Days...correction---Cold Day...it's back to 80 degrees...

The first day it got cold in Fort Worth we put the boys in their thermal hoodies...can you guess who's in green and who's in navy???

Caleb is in blue and Matthew in green :) Hopefully our faithful followers are getting really good at figuring out who's who!!!

Go purple!!!

Tim and Matthew decked out in purple for the Frogs' game.
Our neighbors, the Weeks, had a block party and "sip and see" for the boys. Caleb is being held by Mrs. Ernestine whom he loves.
Matthew and Caleb with their pumpkins and "boo" shirts on.
Papa is holding Caleb as his eyes are glued to the t.v. The kid LOVES to look at the television if it's on and he's in the same room. Matthew couldn't care less but I guess Caleb likes the sound and movement. We are going to have a real problem with this kiddo being a t.v. junkie already!!!

Grauntie and Gruncle Visits...

We have had lots of visitors the last few weeks which has been really fun for all of us! Grauntie Sharon flew in from Colorado to meet the twinkers and then Grauntie Nelda and Gruncle Steve drove down in their fifth wheel RV to see the boys again. They came down when the boys were in the NICU at Cooks, but had not ever gotten to see them at home. We loved all the help with the kiddos and with cleaning and cooking...it was wonderful!

Our nephew, Tyler, came over while Steve and Nelda were here to hang out with his cousins...he showed off for the crowd by performing "where is thumpkin" and by dancing and bouncing the basketball. He is so much fun and always makes us laugh!

Matthew is a happy twinker with his Aunt Jennifer. He was all smiles for his Aunt as she was talking to him!

Matthew is working on some modified tummy time on the boppy to help that neck strength. He can't decide if he should smile or cry!

Grauntie Nelda is playing with Mr. Caleb on the floor...

The boys loved seeing their grauntie and gruncle. They discovered that Matthew loves the tree in front of our house and so they would go on adventure walks with him outside.

This is Matthew with his Grauntie Sharon. She prided herself in being able to get Matthew to go to sleep and STAY asleep after the last feed of the night. We have a lot of competition around here in case you haven't noticed! Poor kids!!!

Uncle Casey's visit...

My brother drove down from Lubbock to see the boys in late September. It was great having him around to help and the boys loved him!

Matthew is grinning at his uncle...
The boys are having down time...no girls allowed!
We dressed the boys in their TCU gear for the TCU vs. OU game but unfortunately it didn't help the frogs pull off a victory!
The golf polos are from Grandmary and Grandpa Big Tom. The boys are pretty handsome in their polos!