Merry Christmas!

HoHoHo Merry Christmas! This Christmas certainly was different for us this year with two very mobile little infants. Luke and Olivia woke up this morning having no idea the fun that was in store for them.

The babies wanted to leave milk and cookies out for Santa as well as a note, so we made sure to do just that before they went to bed. We were going to leave Santa's favorite, Oreos, but it seemed as if Dan got to them first and there weren't any left. So we left a very traditional chocolate chip cookie along with some whole milk. Santa must have liked his treat because when we woke up the next morning, half of the cookie was missing and the milk was all gone. We also let Luke and Olivia open one present each on Christmas Eve, and they chose their pillow pets. Luke got a puppy and Olivia got a ladybug. They really enjoyed diving into them and giving them "hugs."

Once the babies drifted off to sleep, it was time to get ready for Santa. Dan and I had so much fun getting everything ready for Christmas morning. Santa's gifts magically appeared underneath the tree, and his presents were easy to spot because they were wrapped in completely different paper than the presents from us. The stockings were filled with lots of goodies as well, including their favorite-a banana =)

Olivia was the first one to wake up around 6:30am. I got up with her and had some mommy/daughter time before the boys woke up. We played and I took some pics of her in her Christmas pj's in front of the tree. The boys got up around 7:30am, and after taking a couple of pics of Luke in his Christmas pj's, we had their favorite thing for breakfast, pancakes.

After breakfast, it was time to dig into our stockings. We bought a small tree for Luke and Olivia's room, so each year Dan and I decided we would include an ornament for their tree in their stocking, along with a book and other fun toys. This year they each got some new bath toys, too. It was priceless to see the excitement on their faces as they pulled things out of their stocking.

Once they played with some of the things from their stockings, it was time to open presents from Santa. It took Luke and Olivia some time to open their gifts, and they sometimes needed help from us, but we were in no hurry. We were videotaping and snapping pics the entire time; I will remember those smiles forever. They loved the crinkling of the paper and playing with all of the boxes and bows. Who needs toys? They seemed to appreciate everything, and were not interested in taking a nap until well after 11am.

When they woke up, Dan made some delicious omelets (my family tradition) and they loved every bite. Then we spent the remainder of the day playing and waiting on the snow to begin. Yes, snow on Christmas day. It didn't start until after 6pm, but it was so pretty to see it falling and nice to know we would be able to play in it for a bit the next day.

We truly enjoyed our Christmas as a family of four in our new home, and we know we will have so many memories and traditions to be born here for many years to come. It's surreal to think last Christmas Luke and Olivia were only a few weeks old, and now they are walking and into everything. Dan and I are completely blessed to have them as our babies, and we are glad they chose us to be their mommy and daddy. We love them to pieces, and being parents only gets more fun every day.

We hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours. Merry Christmas!

Christmas with the family

Since we are living in NC for the first time in many years (about 11 years, actually), Christmas was a little different this year. Normally we are traveling and we come up for a few days before the 25th to see as much family as possible. This year=no travel. YAY!

Dan's brother, Jay, and his two sons came to town Wed to have Christmas with MauMaw, Paupaw and us. Jay and I took Jacob, Luke, and Olivia to Discovery Place Kids for the afternoon and then we hosted everyone that evening for dinner and presents. It was a nice, relaxed evening and all of the kids had fun opening their gifts and playing.

Christmas Eve it was time for my side of the family to get together. Oma and Opa came over for the afternoon to spend some time with us, Luke and Olivia and see them open their presents. They loved their sit and spin and pillow pets. Dan and I received a year pass to the Biltmore, which we are very much looking forward to using lots throughout the coming year. After Oma and Opa left, my sister came over with my niece and nephews. The kids enjoyed playing while us adults enjoyed some time just talking. Before we knew it, the day was almost over and it was time to get ready for Santa. More to come on that later...

Christmas Day we went to Dan's brother's Wyndal's house for a bit to exchange gifts and chat. It was supposed to start snowing that evening, so we didn't get to stay for very long.

Although it was very different this year, it was wonderful to be able to see so much family without having to travel almost 500 miles round trip. We look forward to many more memorable holidays here in our new home, and less miles on our car!

Link to 1 Year Pics

We just got the website up for Luke and Olivia's one year pics. There are A LOT of pics (almost 300), so feel free to look at any, all, or just a few when you get a chance. We had to take pics 2 times, and that is part of the reason there are so many pictures. She got some great photos of the babies and of our family.

We used a new photographer this time, and I'm really pleased with her work. Lauren was great to work with and very accomodating to our schedule. If you are in the NC area and need a photographer, check her out at www.laurencardwellphotography.com

1 Year Pics

Olivia's walking...and fast!

We knew it would only be a short matter of time before Olivia took off walking, and tonight, it happened!

Olivia has always had really good balance and pushes boxes and her walker so quickly she is practically running. She could stand for a long time unassisted but would just bend down and start crawling. Once she figured out how to bend her knee, we knew she wouldn't just take a step or two but she would take off. And take off she did!

We were getting them ready for their baths and I was bending her knees showing her how to move. For the first time, she bent her knee on her own. I told Dan to grab the video camera because she was about to walk. She balanced herself, and took about 10 steps towards me. Then I turned her around and she walked to Dan. Olive was so proud of herself, and of course we cheered and cheered!

Here is some video we took today of Olivia's newfound skills. Luke is taking 4-5 steps at a time, and once his balance gets just a little better, they will be chasing each other around in no time!

One year shots

We took Luke and Olivia for their 1 year well check and shots today. I thought they were only going to get 3 shots, but they each ended up getting 4 shots and a finger stick. Luke does not like to have his hands held against his will, and his poor little finger just wasn't giving too much blood, but nurse Jenn was able to get enough for their anemia test. Olivia did a little better, and thankfully the iron levels for both babies was great. They cried some during their shots, but quickly recovered after some hugs and a bottle.

We spoke with Dr. Colyer about Luke's constipation issues and she told us to mix a little Miralax with some liquid and see if that helps. We are also going to change baby shampoos because he is getting bad dry patches on his little body. She was glad to know they have already had both flu shots as well. Other than that, we are really lucky we didn't have any other major problems to discuss.

We are transitioning from bottles to sippy cups, and this has been a whole new challege for all of us. They have made the switch from formula to whole milk without much trouble, but they much prefer drinking their milk from a bottle, which comes as no surprise. Dr. Colyer said she thinks it's best to give up the bottles cold turkey, so we will see how that goes. She said it's not uncommon at all for babies to go on a temporary "milk strike" and she to just make up for the calcium, etc through yogurt, cottage cheese and cheese. I think what will work best for us will be sippy cups during the day and only a night bottle until they get more comfortable with the sippy. We hope over the next few weeks we'll eliminate the night bottle completely and begin a slightly different nighttime routine. The weird thing is they love to drink water or juice from a sippy, but as soon as they see it's milk, they throw it on the ground. We are also going to alter their meal schedule to 3 meals (finger food meals) and 2 snacks, which means no more pureeing baby food for me. Yay! And they will get their milk along with their food instead of at separate times.

Once we get them on sippys "full time", we'll then work on getting rid of their pacis, but we only want to tackle one major hurdle at a time. Luckily they only take them when they are really tired and sometimes as night, so hopefully it wont' be too tough to overcome. Lots of changes for Luke and Olivia, and for mommy and daddy as well!

Dr. Colyer said both babies are right on track and growing well. We can't turn the car seat around yet because Olivia isn't at the weight requirement and we don't want to turn one and not the other. We are actually ok with waiting because it's safer for them to be rear facing anyway. At her currrent growth rate, it'll probably be at least 18 mths before we turn them, so we'll decide that when the time comes.

Here are their latest measurements:

Luke
21.9 pounds; 27%
30.51" long; 51%
Head circumference: 47cm 65%

Olivia
17.13 pounds; 4%
28.5" long; 24%
Head circumference: 43cm 3%

Unless something comes up, we won't have to venture back to the doctor until their 15month check-up.

One year pics

If you would have told me it would be 18 degrees the morning we tried to take Luke and Olivia's 1 year pics, I would have thought you were crazy. I mean, we live in NC, not NY for goodness sakes. Unfortunately, though, that was the case the morning of December 7th. We were supposed to meet our photographer-someone we haven't used or met before but is super sweet-at 9am in downtown Huntersville. We got Luke and Olivia dressed, fed and out the door in time, and 20 minutes into taking pictures they both had a major, I'm freezing outside meltdown. So we decided to reschedule pictures for Thursday afternoon when it would be a little (fingers crossed) warmer. We tried and tried to find a place indoors and there really wasn't a good option. Dan and I joked we should turn our house into an indoor studio that looks like it's outside in the winter and we could make a forture!

We decided to meet in downtown Davidson this time because they have lots of little shops we could go into periodically to warm up. We had better luck this time, and Luke and Olivia were troopers for over an hour. At the end, we took them to a local bakery and let them have a mini cupcake for being so great and appeasing mommy =)

I'll post the link to the pictures once I get them (in about a week), and I'm hoping Lauren was able to get some good shots. I can't wait to see how they turned out.

Party Time

It seems like I've been planning for Luke and Olivia's first birthday party for months and now it's finally here. There was lots to be done, but I loved every minute.

My good friend Sabrina came over Friday to help me tackle making their cakes and smash cakes. What a lifesaver she turned out to be as it would have taken me ALL day to make the 4 cakes I needed to make. I'm not a cake maker nor cake decorator by any stretch of the imagination, and I never want to compete on a contest on The Food Network-I would lose for sure! Since the babies love to play with blocks, I decided to make the theme of their party a "block party." So we made their smash cakes to look like blocks, and made 2 larger sheet cakes for everyone else to eat. We made their names our of square rice krispy treats to go on top. It took a lot of time and patience, but we think they turned out well.

We decided to have their party at our house since this is where they are most comfortable, and had lots of family and some close friends celebrate their big day. My sister helped me make their shirts and had their names embroidered underneath an "I am 1" applique. They turned out great, and after lots of stain remover from the cake, they can wear them throughout the winter. The party started around 1pm, which worked out perfect because they were well rested from their morning nap, and full from lunch.

After chatting for a little bit with everyone, it was time to open presents. They had SO much fun pulling tissue paper out of bags and playing with the boxes. We questioned whether we even needed to assemble any toys =). Luke and Olivia got some great presents, and were very appreciative of everything. They played well into the evening with all of their new toys and they will be sure to keep them busy for many days and weeks to come.

We thought it would be best to to the cake and ice cream last, since we knew things would get pretty messy. We were so right! We sang happy birthday first to Luke and then to Olivia and let them dig into their block smash cakes. Luke dug into his cake, and made a massive mess. Olivia wasn't too clean, either. They really enjoyed themselves, and I think we definitely have 2 sweet eaters on our hands. Afterwards, we put them into the bathtub for a quick rinse and let them get back to playing.

They also got some great items for their time capsule, and we really appreciate everyone's thought and effort. I know Luke and Olivia will really enjoy opening them when they turn 18. It will be very interesting to see what has changed in all of those years.

All in all, it was a wonderful and memorable 1st birthday party celebration, and we hope Luke and Olivia will enjoy seeing all of their fun memories through pictures. Enjoy!