Super fans!

Well, our girls have experienced great football games in their short little lives so far.  The Gamecocks had a wonderful season and won their bowl game and now the Giants have won the Super bowl, yay!

They've been doing so many things!  Samantha has a tooth on the top and when she smiles (or yells) you can see the bottom ones very clearly.  Catherine finally has her first two teeth on the bottom and you can see them if you really look when she smiles.

Some nice person at Walmart gave them pretty headbands, aren't they cute?  Catherine likes to take hers off, but Samantha leaves it there and I think it makes her look so pretty.

The girls have also spent a lot of time with Heidi.  Heidi is so confusing to us.  She loves the girls, especially Samantha, and is so protective of them.  She lets them pull on her and no matter how hard they pull, even if Heidi growls or cries, she just gives them a kiss, says "It's OK" and just stays there next to them and lets them do it again.

Recently the girls have been sick, a lot of snuffly, runny noses and Catherine spiked a fever one night.  But, all seems to be mostly back to normal, we just have a few extra tissues on hand.

There has been a lot of standing and walking going on around here, too.  Samantha especially loves to let go and stand on her own.  Catherine doesn't take the initiative as much, and if you hold her and don't let go as quickly she will just bounce and expect you to throw her in the air.  Both of them are great at holding fingers and walking around, but Catherine still takes oversized steps.  Samantha looks ready to go any day now.  Samantha also seems to be getting frustrated recently with her lack of vocabulary.  Sometimes she just sits there and raises her fists and yells.  It seems like she is trying so hard to say something and gets mad that there's nothing coming out that sounds right.

Nana and Grandpa went to Italy and all we got were these t-shirts ;-)

 Recently we've been having a lot of fun with the doorway bouncers.  Samantha is especially good at jumping up and down in hers.  She gets so excited and looks like Tigger bouncing both up and down and back to front and around in a circle.  I would have thought that Catherine would quickly become a pro at this because she loves to bounce three times and then wait for you to throw her in the air, but it took her longer to get the jumping part down.  At first she just really liked to leave one foot on the ground and use the other to push herself in a circle and wind herself up.  Then she would pick both feet up and unwind, weeeee! The girls get so excited now I worry that they'll bonk their heads on the doorjamb, but I guess that's a part of how this growing up thing works.

Bath time is over, good night!

Gymboree!

(Written by Catherine and Samantha)  This week was kind of boring until the end.  Lots of the usual playing, talking, climbing, crawling fun we usually have.  Catherine is now kissing people by putting her mouth on them, she does it to me all the time now, and sometimes she blows raspberries too.  Then she gets all excited about it and yells AAAAAAAAAAAAIIIII.  I am now dancing too and I get so excited, but I yell OOOOOOOOOOHHHHH.  We are also both starting to use furniture and things to move around the living room.  It makes life much easier, but slower.  Mommy says that I, Samantha, am stealthy.  Catherine’s hands make slapping noises on the floor so you can always hear where she is, but not me.  And I’m getting faster, so look out!

Catherine trying to eat the strap instead of her food.

 We tried new food this week, don’t know why, we like the old stuff.  This new stuff has chunks of stuff in it and that is yucky.  Mommy also tried giving us smushed up potatos (ick!) and bananas (not so ick, but not good).  We want to stick with the old stuff, especially the sweet potatos, mmmmmm.

EWWWWW!  What was that, a lemon???!!!

Then end of the week was the best part, we went to Gymboree for the first time.  It was a lot of fun.  We got to climb ramps and stairs and go down a slide.  I, Catherine, loved going through the tunnel.  Samantha did too, but she preferred to roll it around.  We both went down the long ramp and played with the balls and jumped off the tower (with Mommy and Daddy’s help).  There was a log that all the babies pushed together.  I didn’t move my feet that much, but Daddy helped me.  Samantha did much better once she got going.  Then there was parachute time with bubbles, we love bubbles!  We got to sing and explore and climb and it was great!

I'm going to be a Bond girl one day

Beep beep! Coming through!  

Up the stairs!

Bubbles

Happy New Year!

Well, we have entered a new year and we can’t believe how far we’ve come in 9 1/2 months.  Samantha has 2 teeth and is pulling herself up on everything, even her crib.  We have no idea why it took her so long to do that last part, she was pulling herself up on everything else but her crib, which I thought would have been the easiest.  She loves saying ‘da da’, though she says it all the time so we don’t think she has specifically associated it with Dave.  She is so loud when she talks, once again highlighting a difference between her and Catherine.  

Catherine is quiet when she talks, but so loud when she squeals ‘like a dinosaur’.  Sam is so much happier now that she’s not sick or reacting to the flu shot or whatever it was before Christmas.  She got very clingy and didn’t want to be out of sight of me or Dave, didn’t even want Nana to feed her if I was feeding Catherine, but we think she’s getting better about it now that she’s feeling well.  She’s actually become so much more independent recently, playing and exploring on her own, it’s wonderful to see.

The girls are crawling at quite a speed and we are being double-teamed often.  When I tried to wrap presents, when we eat, when we do anything.  

It is difficult to feed one girl at a time because the other wants to climb up and touch the bottle or her sister’s face, and putting them in the exersaucer just makes them mad.  I think they are bored with it because they can’t get out of it.  Their aunt and uncle got them a walker and I think it will be wonderful for us, especially because they can move but not get at the dog food.  Both of them have managed to get a piece in their mouth and made a yucky face, but they still keep trying.  Go figure.  We often have a little train in our house as they follow each other and/or the dog around downstairs.  Usually Catherine is in the lead, not necessarily because she’s faster, but because she’s nosy and wants to be involved in what you’re doing.  Neither of them like to be alone and I wonder if that is a twin thing.  They’ve never been apart except the 3 weeks when Catherine came home from the hospital and Samantha had to stay, and it still breaks my heart to think about it.

We now have high chairs, which has been great.  The girls love to sit at the table and eat cheerios  or mushy bananas while we eat lunch or dinner.  They feel like they are close to us and involved and we have them stuck in 1 place, so score 1 for both sides.  We took them to their second restaurant and they had a great time.  Samantha didn’t cry at the waiter when he talked to her and Catherine flirted with him.  Oi.  We had cheerios and extra salsa dishes on the floor but it wasn’t too bad.  It did help that Uncle Mike was making faces and keeping them entertained.  

The girls had so many new experiences.  Catherine now claps her hands, dances, and makes kissing noises with her mouth.  The rubberducky tub is fun!  They played with empty boxes, tried on Daddy’s hat,  had a group bath, our first cold, and got to wear Rangers gear and sit at the ‘big people‘ table.  So much already, and so much more to come in 2012.

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.