Our first Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We had a wonderful day.  I was so worried that Samantha would be unhappy because she still had been running a fever all week, but it finally left and she was her smiling self.  She and Catherine had fun opening presents, and helping others open theirs.  They got to open 1 present on Christmas Eve (our tradition) and it was Rangers stuff from Dan and Kris!  So excited to wear it on Jan 2nd for the outdoor game.

Nana and Grandpa gave them a play mat, which makes great teethers, and a piano and a guitar (which they like, even though it doesn't look like it).  The farm activity center is tons of fun in a small space, which is awesome.

Uncle Mike and Aunt Alyssa got them a kitty cat that runs away from when chased, which is fun and frustrating all at the same time.  But, it keeps them occupied, so I'm not complaining.

In the holiday spirit!

Daddy got a shirt that says "Real men
 have twins".  That's right!

This was their favorite thing, a gift for Grandpa (not from, for!).  A Frosty doll that sings and dances and lights up.

Uncle Mike, Aunt Alyssa, and Penny,
who was such a good dog all weekend.

Hello Heidi! Did you have a good Christmas?

Naked babies, and Santa, separately

These past two weeks have flown by us!  We felt like we barely had time to take pictures or decorate the house.  So, we took some naked baby pictures to make up for it, because everyone loves these and the girls will be embarrassed one day, so everyone wins :-).

 

Catherine standing up in her crib.  Samantha is almost there.  She'll use my hands to stand up, but not inanimate objects.  No idea why.

We did, thanks to our great friend, Beth, manage to get to see a Santa.  Samantha seems to not like men so much.  She cries at Grandpa and Uncle Bob for the first several hours until she gets used to them.  So, it didn't surprise us that she cried at Santa.  She wouldn't even get close without crying and the picture at the bottom is the best we could get.  Catherine was fine until the very end when Sam got upset again got her going.  So, here's to my last week of school before 2 weeks off when we can hang out, laugh, and take a ton of pictures.

Progress, progress, progress!

The last two weeks have been full of great things.  First, we went to Duke Gardens to take pictures for our Christmas card and finish our calendar.  I know, it is cheesy to all be matching, but it is our first one and I couldn't help myself.  I was so pleased with the way things came out.  My dad took these and did a great job, who knew?  My neighbor came over and took some too, and that also went on our card.  My dad was bragging because not only did we get a great photo of all of us, including Heidi (can you believe how great it looks?!), but he picked out the dresses in the other photos.  

They wore these for Thanksgiving.

The girls winter hats are just adorable and I had to put them on, even though it was 75 degrees today and there seems to be no reason for the girls to wear them any time soon.  Doesn't Catherine look like she's posing?  She liked it for a little, and then she pulled it off.  Samantha liked it, but not for long. To give her credit, she was sleepy.  Doesn't that hat make her face look round and pudgy and adorable!  I love it!

  Samantha has been doing such a great job catching up to Catherine.  It took her a very short time in comparison to go from rocking on her knees, to army-man crawling on her elbows, to actual crawling on her hands and knees.  Catherine is faster, but Samantha is gaining on her.  I think she's letting Catherine figure it out first, watching how she does it, and then copying her.  Such smart babies we have!  Catherine is now so thrilled that she can escape into the kitchen.  She has also learned how to give raspberries, and when she does she laughs hysterically.  It was so funny to watch her try to do it, and then look at me and smile, and try again.  When she finally got it she was cracking herself up and I was in tears laughing at her.  Samantha is also holding her bottle by herself and she still tries to feed herself with a spoon (such a mess!!!).  We're so proud, but not surprised, eating is her life mission.  The girls are both getting good with puff cereal and cheerios.  It was a little tricky at first, they would get stuck to their fingers because they were wet with drool, but they got it.

Samantha with her favorite nap-person, Great Grandma.

Catherine on her way to honking Grandpa's nose.

Our first Thanksgiving was a little crazy.  Catherine was so excited to be some place new and look at everything that she didn't nap.  Not a good thing.  We also got to hang out with another set of family twins, Theo and Finn, but we didn't get a picture.  We were too distracted and the boys were not up for photos.  They were too afraid of Heidi and all the new, loud adults to really be up for much at all except the iPad.  Samantha seemed to find a perfect nap-person in Great Grandma and it was that way for the rest of the weekend.  I'm so glad she got to spend time with the girls.  Samantha also got her first tooth!  She wouldn't let Nana see it, though, she kept sticking her tongue out instead.  Catherine was distracted by Grandpa the entire time.  Every time she saw him she wanted to crawl to him or raised her arms to be picked up (first time she did that and it wasn't for Mommy!).  Then she would bounce up and down until he threw her in the air or swung her around like she was flying.  Grandpa was also excited that Samantha didn't cry at him.  For some reason she seems to be scared of him when she first sees him, but after a day she is fine and smiles.  Nana, Grandpa, and Great Grandma all have decided that Samantha is just a little angel, especially when she smiles, and Catherine has the devil in her eyes.  Now I know what they'll be next Halloween.  All in all it was a wonderful time.  Now, to bed.

8 months and another trip to Duke Gardens

The girls are going to be 8 months old this week and they are doing so much now.  Real food, real crawling, and they're both walking well holding onto your hands.  These last two weeks I've finally taken the pictures of Catherine's silly smile that I was trying to get last time.

Samantha is doing quite well holding up all that mass (4 lbs between them now!) on her hands and knees and she's starting to get the hang of forward motion.  She also really likes the fish on the play mat, so much so that she pulls it off the ring to suck on it.  Catherine, by the way, has been pulling off her bib, which is not helpful, because she sucks on it and so not only needs a new bib, but a new top.

Fall in NC is not usually pretty, and it never is as good as it was back home in the Hudson Valley.  However, this year it tried really hard and I got something that proved to be quite wonderful.  Dave and I took the girls to Duke Gardens again and took more pictures, which was much easier and had more options now that the girls can sit on their own.  This was also our first day wearing shoes, which was much cause for exploration because they were quite different than socks and also were shiny silver, but at least their curiosity seemed satisfied by the time we left church and got to the gardens.  There was one tree that had shed almost all of its beautiful yellow leaves in one spread around its trunk and once we started taking pictures everyone else seemed to think it was the place to be.  I still can't wait to go in the spring when the girls turn 1.  Here are our best shots.

Catherine was very interested in the yellow leaves and Samantha kept picking up the pine straw.

Eventually we got everyone looking in the right direction, but it was tricky.  Too many things to look at and explore.

smiles and halloween

Just a quick update.  Don't the girls look cute in their matching Thing 1 Thing 2 jammies?  Samantha has been helping me clip coupons.  She slobbers all over the ones she thinks I should clip.  She really loves rolling all over the room to get where she wants, but today she did get up on her hands and knees for a little.  Catherine, in the meantime, has been 'army crawling' on her elbows towards anything electronic, and trying to play with the dog. 

 

Cute matching-but-not-really Church clothes. Then Samantha has been giving us the greatest smiles so I set on a mission to get some from Catherine too. So, here they are, smiling and laughing. They are such wonderful babies and we couldn't be happier and more blessed.