Akens Family: July 2013

Just typing the title of this post is making me a little sad. This has been the fastest seven months of my life that's for sure! I do love each new phase and all the fun cute things the babies are starting to do, but it also makes me realize how fast it's going. I just wish time would slow down just a bit. Our days are so busy and hectic trying to take care of things and keep everyone happy that documenting the babies life has been a challenge. I definitely did much better with Scout. I do try to take pictures as often as I can. Pictures are basically the only way I remember the first two months of their lives. I was so sleep deprived and physically exhausted back then. Man! The babies are doing great and growing so fast!!! At their 6 month appointment Abby weighed 19 pounds and 10 ounces and Colton was 18 pounds and 9 ounces. Yep! They are both so much bigger than Scout was at that age. Abby is 90th% for weight and 75th% height and Colton is 75th% on both.Scout was always 10th % for weight and between 50-75% for height. Needless to say I didn't think Abby would get to wear many of Scout's Summer clothes since she was going to be premature and born in December and Scout in July...well Abby gets to wear all of Scout's 9 month Summer clothes. They are both sweet, sweet babies! I don't know what Kris and I did to be blessed with such wonderful, healthy babies but man have we ever been blessed. They are amazing and I love them so much!

What we have been up to:

Colton:
Colton is such a sweetheart. He reminds me of Scout a lot when she was a baby because he is always moving his legs and can not be still. He absolutely LOVES the water! We lay him down in the bath tub and he moves his arms and legs just as fast as he can! It's pretty funny. We joke about his killer back stroke. He is pretty much happy most of the time but when he is hungry or sleepy he doesn't have much patience and his temper shows up. He doesn't usually take long to calm him down though so that's good. He has this little grin that just melts my heart. He giggles when you whisper in his ear. He also gives great kisses! Kris cannot deny him that's for sure. Occasionally I can see me in his eyes, but other than that he really couldn't look much more like his Daddy. It's kind of freaky.He hasn't started crawling just yet but he can roll around the room likes its his job. He covers a lot of area just rolling around. He is a funny little man.

Abby:

Abby is the happiest baby in the morning! She has the sweetest little smile and her ice blue eyes are quite breathtaking. We don't know exactly where the color of her eyes comes from. Kris has very blue eyes and so does Kamden. We also have other siblings/parents with blue eyes, but Abby's eyes are a color you don't see very often. They are white in the middle and they spread to this vibrant blue. In the sun when her pupils get really small she literally looks like she has those freaky contact lenses in that people wear. It looks kind of bizarre. Abby loves for you to sing to her. She is also a bit of a Momma's girl right now but I don't really mind. She gets a little overwhelmed in crowds but she warms up after a while. Our Awesome summer nanny just sent me a video of Abby crawling for the first time. She has been on the verge of crawling for a few weeks now but finally today she took off. I don't know how I feel about that. I am excited, scared and sad all at the same time. We laugh at her because when her and Colton are playing in the floor she will almost immediately try to take away whatever he is playing with and he finally learned to roll away and it makes her mad. It's really funny! I think they are going to be a lot of fun when they really start playing together.

Scout:

Oh Scouty! Where would we be without Scout!? She has grown up so much in the last few months. It's crazy! She is super independent and really funny. She also has become very argumentative which is not always fun. I'm thinking age 3 is going to be a bit more challenging then age 2 but we will see. She is a pistol! She LOVES to sing and dance and her current favorite song is "Hey Ho" by the Lumineers. Which is probably more appropriate for a 3 year old than her last favorite song which was "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore. She likes to go through my phone and listen to my music. She discovered "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash recently too so we sing that a lot as well. She is also really in to princess stuff and this past Saturday we had her 3rd birthday party. It was a Cinderella party and it turned out really cute. I will post more about that later. Scout challenges me daily but I can't imagine life without that spunky little cotton top. She is such a gift!

Kamden:

Kamden will be starting Jr High in the August which I think he is both nervous and excited about. He will be 13 in October. Crazy! He is still playing his guitar all the time and he keeps getting better and better! Scout thinks the world of him and she copies everything he says. (which is both good and bad :) They are actually really close despite the almost ten year age difference and the fact they don't get to see each other every day. They still have a very close relationship and Kamden is a great big brother to her. She is basically his shadow when he is at our house and he enjoys it most of the time I think. They are very sweet together. Even when he is purposely aggravating her or she is taking things out of his room she isn't supposed to. Well...maybe not then...but most of the time they are really sweet together.

Kris and Jill:

Basically our motto is to keep on keeping on. We are so tired. I can not even begin to explain how crazy our days are sometimes but I am thankful for a husband who is always willing to help and someone that keeps me going when I don't have an ounce of energy left. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE being a Mom and I love my kids more than anything...but the stress and energy required to keep up with a busy job and a busy home is a challenge. But we do it. And in my opinion we do it well. Not to brag about ourselves too much but I think we deserve it. I know we make mistakes and will make many more, but the important thing is we love our kids and we thank God every day for choosing us to be their Mom and Dad and some how some way...we make it. We end everyday with a smile on our face...even if it's because we are half crazy, half asleep and we are so exhausted all we can do is laugh...it's still happiness. Sometimes I STILL can't believe we have twins!!!

Weekend together in Austin

I still have a lot to update on including our trip to Tennessee and Scout's 3rd birthday party, but until then here is a LOT of pictures I have taken over the last few months.

Cousins