Christmas...I mean...Martin Luther King Day with the McGahas

Paul's parents and his little brother and sisters came to visit on MLK weekend.  We hadn't really gotten to see just them since Thanksgiving so we exchanged Christmas presents too.  We also went to the cheesecake factory and after a really long wait we finally got to enjoy the yumminess.  We are so blessed that the girls are so easy going and happy babies. They were champs at waiting sleeping the whole time and woke up to eat right after Paul and I ate. They love restaurants and watching all the people.

After eating we went back to our house to play a game. The next day we introduced Paul's brother and sisters to the show Once Upon a Time. We watched several episodes before they had to go back to Tyler.

 

Bethany with her pesent

Jacob enjoyed his cash present

Megan with her goodies

Anne with her goodies

Jessica with her goodies

Paul's dad

Paul's mom

Jessica with the game

Jessica is amazing at entertaining the girls

Part of my team for Disney Cranium...we won of course

Paul's team

with Vovo and Vovo

We had a good visit and look forward to the next one.

We're 4 months old!!!

On January 4th Hadley and Hailey turned 4 months old!!! I can't believe a third of their first year is now over. I also can't believe that they should only be 11 weeks old. They are so big and have changed so much since the day they were born. We are so proud to be their parents, and couldn't have asked for better babies.

Hadley (left) and Hailey (right)

This month Hailey and Hadley are:
- still wearing size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes

- eating 4 oz roughly every 4-5 hours; however they do go through random growth spurts and eat 4oz every 2 hours on occasion.

- They are still sleeping well in their own room in their own cribs from about 9:00pm-3-5:00am

- They are trying to roll over from back to belly

- They are able to support their own heads for long periods of time while supported sitting. 

- They have started laughing and giggling at the silly things Paul and I do.

- They love to play with the toys hanging from their jungle gym.

- They love love love to talk and play.

- They are becoming more independent and don't like to be held as much :(

- We got them a jumper and both are doing well practicing to stand!

- They also took their first bite of rice cereal this month. It will take sometime before they start eating it as a meal, but they are practicing.

- We also started going to daycare while mommy works hard.

Hadley: 11lbs 4.5oz and 23 inches long

Hailey: 11lbs 10.5oz and 23inches long

Don't know why this one won't turn right, but them after their first day of daycare! They got a great report card for their first day and were so tired when they came home. Also, the day care ladies asked for them to be dressed differently so they could tell them apart. We'll give them a few weeks and then hopefully they will see how different they really are.

We love to talk to each other

Look we sit up now

Hadley taking her first bite

Hailey taking her first bite

Hadley demonstrating the jumper. She actually likes it better than Hailey does right now.

We are so blessed by them each and everyday and cannot believe they are right on track developmentally. It is very common for preemies to be behind developmentally, but our girls are so strong and smart. We are so proud of them!

Ringing in the New Year Brazilian style

We headed back towards Houston on New Year's Eve. We were originally only going to stop for a few hours in Dallas before continuing on home, but at the last minute we decided to stay the night in Dallas with 'Aunt' Beth again.

We dropped Dasher off at Beth's house when we got into town then headed over to Paul's Titia Mattie's house for the girls to meet some of Paul's Aunts, Uncles and Vovô and Vovò for the first time. There were lots of people there and the girls also got to meet cousin Josiah for the first time since he was headed back to Beaumont too. We had fun meeting and catching up with new family members.

Hadley with Paul's Titia Lisa

Hailey with Great Vovo and Great Vovo

Titia Mattie

Hadley, Hailey and Josiah

I love these outfits

More cousins to meet.

After dinner was over we headed to my friend Holli's house to stop in and say Happy New Year real quick. Holli and I used to work together until she ditched me for a guy and moved to Dallas. Luckily she comes to Houston to visit still and we drive through Dallas a lot so we still get to hang out.

This is from when they met Hollie for the first time in Houston. We didn't take a pic on New Years.

We got back to 'Aunt' Beth's house just in time for apple cider and hot cocoa and to tell Happy New Year!! We are so lucky 'Aunt' Beth lives half way between Houston and Minco so that we can break up our long drive.

However, I must say that we are very blessed because the girls are great travelers and either sleep or enjoy watching the cars go by in their mirrors. They are such sweet good babies. We hope you all had a wonderful New Years!

Mark got Married!

My little brother got married over Christmas break on December 29th. My little brother and my new sister-in-law Mallory have been dating since they were in the 9th grade. She has been apart of our family for 8 years and this December she officially became apart of our family and we are so happy to have her.

It was a very beautiful wedding. As I mentioned in a previous post I made the boutonnières and corsages for the wedding as well as Mallory's bouquet, and not to toot my own horn too much, but I think they turned out pretty beautiful.

Boutonierre

corsage

corsage

Mallory's bouquet

The day before the wedding us girls got to go get out nails done, and Paul had to stay home and take care of the girls (thanks Kayla for the extra help). Addelynn and I both got snowflakes on our toes. It was lots of fun getting to hang out and do girly things.

Addelynn and I getting our toenails done

Me, Addelynn and Kourtney getting our nails done

As with any wedding there were lots of preparations. We prepped for the rehearsal dinner, made some signs, made programs, and tied ribbons on the programs too (Paul even got to show off his future surgeon skills by tying the ribbons with some suture knot, and since no one else could tie that knot he ended up tying most of the ribbons). It was a crazy time getting it all done, but in the end it turned out beautiful and it was all worth it.

My mom, Mallory, and Mark making programs...Nick was not helping

The "doctor" tying knots

final product

Sign for rehearsal dinner

After the rehearsal dinner Tyler had a bump on his arm so naturally "Dr." Paul had to investigate. Tyler was such a trooper letting Paul poke on him.

Hadley and Hailey playing with their reindeer

Playing Headbands for adults

It was lots of fun

Kourtney and Ben guessing what they are

Grandma and Hadley took a nap while we played headbands. The rehearsal dinner wore them out.

When the wedding day came we were all ready. The girls did pretty well during the wedding too. We started out sitting, but then Hadley started fussing right before the bridesmaids came in so I rushed her to the back. Then we snuck back in when Mallory had got to the front of the church and I thought we were good until she heard her dad when Paul got up to deliver a reading and she decided she wanted to scream hello to him. So we headed back to the back of the church for the rest of the wedding, but we had a pretty great view.

Our family at the wedding

Our view at the back of the church

Mark's cake

Mark and Mallory cutting the cake

We wish Mark and Mallory a blessed marriage and all the luck as they start their life together in San Antonio, and we are glad that they are not too far away from us.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in Oklahoma with my family. At first we were gearing up for the long 8 hour drive up there with the girls, but then we were so excited that it worked out for us to stop for the night in Dallas and stay with my best friend Beth. We were very excited for the girls to finally meet their 'Aunt' Beth. While we were there we got to enjoy dinner with our college friend Dave and his wife Phebey. It was good to catch up them and hear about their upcoming plans and move to India to work with an organization that trains pastors and runs an orphanage. We're excited to support them on their journey and hear all about it.

Hadley and Hailey with 'Aunt' Beth

The next morning we were finally in our way to OK. We went straight to my mom's work to show the girls to all her co-workers. They are such celebrities and everyone loves them. But I mean how could you not. After meeting all my mom's co-workers we made our way home to meet the uncles for the first time! My brothers were so good with the girls, and they had fun hanging out with them all week.

Uncle Steven with his favorite baby Hailey

Nick feeding Hailey

Uncle Brett working out by holding both babies.

The next day was my little brother's bachelor party so my mom, the girls and I packed up and stayed the night at my grandparents with my sister-in-law, nephews and niece. It was so much fun seeing the girls play with their cousins for the first time. Even if Trevor didn't really enjoy playing with them just yet.

Hanging out with cousin Addelynn

Hailey taking a nap with Uncle Ben

meeting Addelynn for the first time

Trevor was curious from a distance

Addelynn playing under the jungle gym

Trevor did not want to play with the girls at all

Addelynn was such a good big cousin

Tyler with his arms full of cousins

Hadley snoozing with Aunt Kourtney

Great Great Aunt Norma and Great Great Uncle JT came to visit too. (with Hailey)

The next day we opened up presents with my older brother and his family before they went back to Tulsa.

Trevor opening presents

Addelynn with presents

Tyler with his present

The girls got cheerleading outfits.

Trevor helping his dad open presents

Aunt Kourtney got an OSU Santa

That evening we decided we couldn't wait any longer either and opened more presents at my mom's house. It was hit or miss with the girls this year. It worked out that someone was always sleeping, but they have enjoyed playing with all their presents once they woke up.

Hadley and Kayla are excited to open presents

Steven got a Yankee cup

Hailey helped Aunt Mallory open presents

Dasher even got a present

Hadley opening a present

Steven and Nick opening presents

Oh my look at all those goodies

playing with my new giraffe teether (Hadley)

Paul got his Pistol Pete shirt he had been wanting

Checking out her walker

On Christmas Day we woke up to white flakes falling from the sky. The girls first Christmas ended up being a white Christmas. How amazing is that! We went to my grandma's and had a great Christmas meal.

snuggling with great grandma

Christmas is tiring for Great Grandpa too

Meeting Great Uncle Randy

Meeting Great Aunt Lisa

Playing in the snow!!

Paul and Dasher like to lay the same way

It was a great first Christmas for the girls and it was nice to be home and have the snow and feel of Christmas all around. The rest of the break we spent preparing for my little brother's wedding. But more about that in the next post. Hope everyone else had a truly blessed Christmas like us.