Memorial Day Weekend

   This weekend was filled with many fun activities for us.  On Friday we started the weekend out by going out to eat with my Dad.  Saturday was spent with my mom in the morning, and we concluded the day by going to Muncie.  Sunday was a nice relaxing day, and on Monday we went to visit my grandma.

Dad and Jubilee

        
 On Friday all four of us went out to eat at O'Charley's with my Dad.  Dad had not seen the girls since they were born, so he was excited to see them.  O'Charley's is one of my favorite restaurants.  I was really excited because I was finally able to get the girls in their first 3 month outfits.  Three month outfits still don't fit them very well because they are not quite tall enough for them.  We had a great time talking and visiting with my Dad.  We look forward to it happening again!

Dad and Katie



Katherine and I

Mom and Jubilee

     Saturday morning my mom and I went to a place called Kiln Creations.  I really wanted to get the girl's footprints done on a tile.  The footprints from the hospital were accidentally thrown away, so I wanted a more permanent medium.  My mom came and helped keep the babies occupied while I painted.  I love to paint pottery, but it tends to take me a while because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist.  I often overthink it.  I really wanted them to look perfect.  Luckily, the footprints came out pretty well.  The clerk helped me get the footprints on the tiles because she has had a lot of experience trying to get little hands and feet on pieces of pottery.  Neither one of the girls really enjoyed their feet being touched!  I'm hoping that they come out alright out of the kiln. I get to pick the pieces up in one week.   We spent the rest of Saturday in Muncie with our Londt family.  We had a great BBQ dinner over at Kelly and Aaron's house.  Following dinner the Gnap children had a great time on a Slip 'n Slide, while the adults watched and conversed.


Mom and Katherine

     Sunday was a nice, relaxing day.  Our pool opened, so James and I spent a half hour at the pool.  We kept the girls in their car seats and out of the sun.  I sat on the edge of the pool to be close to the girls.  James splashed around and had a great time swimming.  Monday was an even more relaxing day.  All of us packed up and went to visit my grandmother in the hospital.  She had spinal surgery at the beginning of this month, and she is not recovering as quickly as anticipated.  She had a lot of fun holding the girls.  The rest of the day was spent relaxing.  I was even able to sneak in a long nap!  This weekend was a great start to our summer.



Smiling Babies

     The girls are smiling!  They have been smiling for a few weeks when someone would touch or kiss their cheeks, but I had been waiting for the day when they would look at me and smile!  Katherine did it for the first time on Sunday shortly after eating, and Jubilee smiled at me for the first time yeserday.  It was so adorable.  What made it even better was that when I smiled back at them, they did even bigger smiles!  Jubilee continually smiled at James yesterday.  James had a great time talking to her and watching her face light up with a huge grin.  Luckily, I had my camera with me both times they first started to smile. I can't wait until I can get both of them to naturally smile at once!  Here are the pictures from their first smiles.

Katherine

Jubilee

     

Tummy Time

First Mother's Day

Mom holding Katie.  I'm holding Jubilee.

   Yesterday was my first Mother's Day, and it was a great day.  James let me sleep in by feeding both of the girls.  James and I also made it to church for the first time since the girls have been born.  My mom was able to come with us!  I was very glad that she was there because the girls needed fed during the service.  James and I quickly realized that we might not be ready to start going to church until the girls are 1-2 months older.  We think we will feel more comfortable leaving them in the nursery when they are three months old.  It was great being able to see my mom at church!

     After church we met Susan and Dennis at Johnny Carino's for a delicious lunch!  I even had calamari for the first time, and I didn't think it was that bad!  We then headed back to Royal Oak Drive to spend the rest of the afternoon with the Londts.  Susan did a photo shoot because I really wanted some family portraits.  James and I then went on a motorcycle ride.  I wanted to go pretty badly because it had almost been a year since I had been on one!  Due to Jim's work schedule, we had to leave Royal Oak before dinner was done.  Susan gave us some ribs to take home and finish cooking.  They were delicious.  It was a very memorable first Mother's Day!!!

 

One Month

Our girls are officially one month old!  I can't believe how quickly the month went,and they are already growing up so much!  As of yesterday Kaherine weighed 7 pounds and 11 ounces.  Jubilee weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces.  Here's a video of the girls about a week ago.  It's mainly of Jubilee because she was awake at the time.  We love our little girls, and we can't imagine life without the two of them.

School Update

     Yesterday I found out that I finished this semester with all As!  I took four online courses this semester because I did not want to push my pregnant body too far with clinicals.  James and I both agree that there was no way that I could have carried the girls to term if I had done twelve hour clinicals.  As sad as I was that I would not be graduating with my class, I knew it was the right decision for the girls.  I was definitely worried about doing online courses because I sometimes have the tendency to put things off that do not have definite due dates.  Online courses proved to be an obstacle because I did not have internet at our apartment for most of the semester.  It was definitely exhausting waddling to the library carrying all of my books and laptop.  I was able to get two courses done one month early.  However, the other two classes required me to respond to other student's posts.  Therefore, I couldn't finish those early.  I had to compose a five-page research essay about one week after having the girls!  My plans are to use this summer break to get the girls on a well-established routine and to enjoy my time with them!  I will start my final semester in the fall, and I will graduate in December.  The girls are four weeks old today!!  The time is already flying!!

The girls clean and ready to meet Great-Grandpa and Grandma Cole
Jubilee (left).  Katherine (right).

Jubilee

Katie