Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy 5 months, and so much more!!

Oh brace yourself b/c this is going to be a long one! We have had so much happen over the last month in a half and it has all been very exciting and fun! I hope everyone had a great break during the holidays and got to spend much needed time with family and friends, we did! Here goes....

Our Ears are Pierced!

So we decided, along with De and Paisley (our neighbor and her little girl) that we wanted to get the girl's ears pierced now so they wouldn't grab on them afterwards like they might if they were a little older. I loved that my mom pierced my ears when I was a baby! So we scheduled an appointment for all three girls and Michael and De's grandma went along to help. All three did so well (only cried for a little bit after it happened)! We have never had any issues with the ears bothering them so we are very happy we did this when we did!

Jaxyn and Michael getting ready for the bling ;)

Paisley and De

All of the troopers!

Such pretty girls!

Jaxyn

Kairyn about to feel it eek

yep...it hurt a little bit :(

the results! Kairyn

Jaxyn and her pretty new ears :)

 It finally started to get cold outside so our little angels had to bundle up! Thank you Aunt Kendl for our super cute panda bear hats!

Kai

Jax

Kai ready to go outside to play with Colt

The girl's turned 5 months old on the 20th of December!!

Jax on the left and Kai on the right

Christmas season!!


Oh man Christmas is so much better with children!! We spent all month preparing for Christmas including Christmas shopping, company parties, baking, gatherings, and getting ready to travel for the big weekend.
We were able to go Christmas shopping with the help of Cindy, Michael's mom coming one weekend to watch the girls while Michael and I went to San Antonio and shopped til we dropped. Cindy comes once a month to spend time with the girls and to let Michael and I get out. Thanks so much for doing this Cindy, we appreciate it and I know the girls love it!
So to start of the Christmas festivities we attended my company Christmas party (Himmel Home Health, the best company ever). We had a blast at an awesome resort in SA. The food was fabulous and the band was so much fun, also the open bar was pretty amazing too ;). Did I mention I work for the best company ever?

Heather usually parties with her eyes closed ;)

We also attended a Christmas gathering for Michael's networking group at a restaurant in Shertz. It was great to finally meet a lot of the people I have heard Michael talk about and the food was really good too!


We packed up and went to our first Christmas with my dad's family, Meme's Christmas in Bernardo! First we stopped at Drymalla (where my mom and step-dad work) so all of our Drymalla family could finally meet the girls. The visit went great after Kai had a little episode and got over herself ;) have I mentioned that shes our drama queen? No really I think she sometimes gets a little overwhelmed. The girls decided that they would love to go back to Drymalla in the future, the faces were so friendly!
At Meme' Christmas we enjoyed spending time with family we don't get to see enough and eating plenty of good food and we even got a few presents. Santa's stop at Meme's is always a good one.

Me and the girls with Dad and Meme

Uncle Russ practicing and cousin Grace making sure he does it right.

 That same weekend Mom and I joined Kendl and her mom, Tina for our annual mother/daughter shopping day in Houston. We had a lot of fun but we didn't have near enough time together (Michael and I had to get back for mass and Meme's Christmas). We now know that when we plan this in the future we need at least one full day!  Love you girls and I love every second I get to spend with ya'll

Next was our own family Christmas on the Thursday before we hit the road for Christmas weekend. This was the girl's first Christmas. Seeing as though they were only 5 months old we didn't expect them to jump up and down with joy for the stockings or gifts, but we loved starting new traditions with our new additions. We made an excellent dinner and then did stockings and gifts. A few years ago Michael and I started a tradition of going to look at Christmas lights after gift exchange so we continued this this year and loaded up the girls. They slept the entire time, but maybe in a few years they will learn to love it :)

Santa even left something for Colt

Kairyn's stocking

Jaxyn's stocking

She loved her traveling buddy

Kai excited about her traveling companion

 

The big weekend finally arrived! We left on Friday and headed to Flower Mound, where Michael's dad, Alan, step mom, Louann and sisters Amalie and Mary live. The girls did great traveling and loved when we stopped at Braums to feed them (Michael also loved this). We got lots of stares and met some interesting people during this stop. We also had the chance to stop at our friend's Brian and Melissa to see their two week old baby girl Taylor. She weight 6 lbs and when I held her I couldn't believe my girls were ever this small and smaller, seemed like a life time ago. From there we headed to the house for some very eager family members to get their hands on Kai and Jax. The next day, Christmas Eve we went to Alvaredo to Uncle Jame's and Aunt Sweet Pea's home (Louann's Aunt and Uncle). We were met with another group of eager family members waiting to meet Kairyn and Jaxyn for the first time. I must say that these moments are so special for us! We love watching our family fall in love with the girls for the first time! This was also the first time they met Mimi (Louann's mom)! We had such a great day getting to spend time with everyone and play Chinese Christmas. From there we went to Mass in Grapevine. This mass is always such a wonderful way to remember the reason for the season <3

After Mass we went home to do our gift exchange with Alan, Louann, Amalie, and Mary. We loved getting to spend more time with them and got some really great presents as well. They did NOT open any presents with t-shirts this year ;)

Uncle James and Jax

Mimi and Jax

Jax with Mimi and Aunt Tutu

Mandy and Jax

Rob with Jaxyn maybe

Aunt Sweet Pea with Jayla and ?

Jaxyn with Jamie

Aunt Sweet Pea and Nick with Kai

Michael and Jax ?

Jax and Santa

Kai ready for Mass

The next morning Santa had come and we must have been really good this year b/c he left us lots of wonderful gifts under the tree, including a walker for the girls!! On the road again, we left after breakfast to head to Brenham for Motl Christmas! The girls slept almost the entire trip which made us very happy and thankful. We spent the day at Michael's grandparent's house and enjoyed the company of aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grandma and Grandpa! Everyone prepared a dish to serve and it was all very very good!After food came gifts, gifts, and more gifts! Again, the girls must have been really good babies this year ;) After we said our goodbyes we headed to my mom's house in Cat Spring/Bernardo. Needless to say we didn't get very far down the driveway before Cece opened the door to get the girls out. We spent the rest of the night opening gifts with my mom, Bobby, Jamie, and Russell. The girls 1st Christmas was so special! They got to see almost everyone, met some more family, traveled a lot with Mom and Dad singing Christmas music the whole time, got lots of hugs and kisses, and even got to spend a little time in God's house to celebrate Jesus' birth!

Great Grandpa Motl with Jax

Great Grandma Motl with Kai

Kairyn loves laughing at Aunt Linda :)

Kairyn

Bethany and Kai and Christine and Jax

In case some of you didn't get to see the Christmas pictures we had taken here they are:

Jax on the left and Kai on the right in all pics

We decided to spend New Years Eve with our babies (even though their schedule definitely doesn't call for them to be up at midnight) so we had a nice quite evening at home. We made dinner and watched all the New Year shows on TV. Man how your life changes when you have kids ;) I wouldn't have asked for anything more! The night was perfect!

What The Girls Are Up To:
 As I am typing this I'm thinking how much they are growing so fast. They are almost 6 months old already! They continue to be the joy of our lives and are becoming little people right before our eyes!
We started veggies and eventually fruit with them about a month ago and they love them!! They eat carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, apples, and bananas. 

Kai wasn't too sure about carrots at first

Kai thinks she can do it herself :)

They get rice cereal and fruit in the morning with a 5 oz bottle, veggies and fruit at lunch with a 4 oz bottle, a 5 oz bottle in the afternoon, and oatmeal, veggies, and fruit with a 4 oz bottle for dinner around 7. My girls love food that's for sure! Since they are eating their own weight in food ;) I decided that I better start making their food to save some money (I had been thinking about his for awhile and spoke with my friend that informed me that it was super easy and saved her a lot of money). 

When I saw this I got real excited and headed to the store

First food I made...$12.50 worth of food made for under $3.50!

 I had a blast making the food and I couldn't believe how much we would be saving. Not only are we saving money, but it is healthier for the girls b/c the veggies and fruit is fresh and nothing but water is added. So this is my new hobby :) 
In their free time they still love to play on their mat and hold hands and are really working on rolling over for fun, although they have no idea that they are working on that b/c they hang out on their side a lot (they have both rolled over in their cribs from front to back, but have not done it for fun so we are waiting patiently).

Kai just doesn't want it bad enough

yep, they have discovered that they can get their hands inside the others mouth.

they have also started sleeping with their little animal blankets on their face (thank goodness for the angel care monitors!)

Kairyn

Jaxyn

 Recently they have started enjoying a jumper with a music mat under their feet, but they need to grow a little bit more to really enjoy their walker. The girls LOVE watching baby Einstein (they are DVDs made for babies....genius!).

When it is nice outside I like to take them out to watch Colt play...hehe its like watching a tennis match.

I have also started putting the girls in reusable diapers called Fuzzibunz. www.fuzzibunz.com I really like them and its way easier than I thought it would be. Jaxyn has developed a rash since we started using them so I'm praying that it was coincidence and she isnt allergic to the fabric or something.  This is also save us a lot of money when we are just around the house. We will keep using disposable diapers when we are out and about.

The girls are teething! So far it hasnt been so bad, just the usual hand in mouth and a few tears shed every now and then. Jaxyn seems to be having a harder time, but we are hoping, as any parent does that it doesn't get so bad that it wakes them in the middle of the night. We are so use to getting our sleep that we will not be happy campers to have to start waking up in the middle of the night again. Our angels sleep from 8:30 to 7:30 which allows me to hit the gym from 5:30-6:30 :)

teething much....Kai left and Jax right

We are sad to announce that Megan, the girl's nanny will be leaving us :( Her schedule for school did not work out this semester so we will be losing her. She caught on so quick and the girls just love her! She was so great and we are very sad to see her go. She will definitely be babysitting from time to time so shes not leaving us for good :) With that comes a new nanny! Ashley will be starting on the 16th of January and will eventually be watching both of my girls and Paisley (the girl's neighbor BFF) in the afternoons. She is super sweet and has gotten to train with Megan so we are confident that she will fill Megan's big shoes. De and I are also every happy to be able to have all three girls under one roof. This will allow for some great social skill development! Also, De has known Ashley for years so rest assure that our angels will be in good hands!
We love you Megan and will miss you very much! Welcome Ashley!!
Our big girls are growing up wonderfully and we are eating it all up and savoring every second! 

Jax during our January 80 degree weather stroll

Kai was a little annoyed by the glasses

baby blues! Their eyes have remained a beautiful blue! (Jaxyn)

Kai on left and Jax on right....they love their vacation time at Cece and grandpa's

Thye love each other! Jax is the one smiling real big

My girls love their baths!

Hope you enjoyed this super long post...until next time, God bless!

Parents of Breaths of Heaven