Big babies!

Luke and Amelia went in today for their 9-month appointments -- Luke weighed in at 22lbs (69%) and was almost 29 inches long (62%).  Amelia was 19lbs, 6 oz (57%) and 27 inches long.  No wonder my arms are always tired :)  It's hard to believe that they started out at 3.9 and 4.2 pounds!  This was the first appointment where there were no extra labs or specialist appointments due to their prematurity -- a huge milestone!  Pretty great that our biggest concern was the fact that both babies are getting over colds (which I gave them ... ugh).
The babies have started scooting everywhere -- but in reverse.  They're very good and very quick at moving backwards though.  They haven't quite coordinated the crawling motion but they both scoot all over the house.  We've put a gate up between the dining area and kitchen and one between the living room and closet area so our whole living/dining area is fair game.  We've definitely learned to be creative with space -- 4 people in 700 square feet sometimes makes me feel like I'm living in an IKEA commercial :)  Thankfully we have great storage space in the basement.
I've gotten much more adventurous recently with taking the babies out by myself to run errands or for fun outings.  There's a great coffee shop near our house that's all set up for kids and the babies love going to story time or going to play and watching the other kids.  I braved church yesterday alone (okay, so I texted Ally when I had parked so she could help me carry one of the babies!).  That's one tricky thing for me right now, the babies have gotten so heavy that it's really hard for me to carry them both along with the diaper bag.  I can use the stroller but I've realized that many places have stairs with no ramp which is obviously a problem.  So if I can't park within a block of where I'm going it's too hard for me to carry both car seats.  Soon enough though they'll be walking (yikes!)
Tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny and 70 (amazing for Oregon in late October!) so Scott and I are taking Luke and Amelia hiking in the gorge.  They've seen Mt. Hood and the coast ... but since they're true Oregonians -- the gorge is next on the list.  Thinking about hiking with kids has reminded me recently of the "trail fairy" (aka my parents most clever bribing tool!).  They got my brother, sister and I to hike MILES ... one of them would get ahead of us on the trail and then come back to meet us.  Shortly we'd come across three pieces of candy in the middle of the trail, left there by the trail fairy of course!  Amazing.  The trail fairy will definitely have to show up again in a few short years.  Now for a few pictures ...

Okay, so maybe I staged this one in hopes that she'll get interested in soccer!

Double saucers :)  These are amazing to buy me 10 minutes to get ready in the morning and 10 minutes to prep dinner!  Thank you to whoever invented exersaucers!

Luke's new favorite ride!  (Scott barely approved this pic but Luke was so cute he had to!)