Christmas gift?

Came across these awesome rings today and have given the hubby a wink and a nudge ;)

http://mybabyfaves.blogspot.com/2009/10/you-takeover-tuesday-ring-around-mommy.html

She always has great posts! It's definitely a blog to follow!

I know, I know...

I know, it's been awhile since I've posted pics and I also have some video I need to put up. Just have to find the time to do it!

The girls are now on their 3rd week of sinus infections. They started on one antibiotic and it wasn't working, so they are now on another. I feel so bad for them - they are always sniffling. And it has meant not getting to have play dates with their younger friends.

They girls are eating all adult food now and love it. Not sure what their faves are, as it differs day to day. They love grilled cheese, grilled and rotisserrie chicken, pasta, peas, and squash. We managed to stay away from breaded chicken until our visit to PF Chang's this week. And of course, they loved it.

Emma is now able to stand and pick up objects while maintaining her balance. She can take about 3 steps when only assisted by one of us with one hand. Mady is practicing standing more and loves to use the walkers we have... especially the shopping cart. They are both are starting to point and Mady points at everything she sees and says "wass tha"? Very cute.

They are both sort of sporadic with sleeping through the night at this point and I truly blame it on the sinus infections/colds. They have been going to bed at night with no issues 6/7 nights, which is great! I think all that crawling at super speeds and trying to stand/walk is exhausting.

They love music class, which we started a few weeks ago. We all sing along and the girls get to play with maracas, drums and bells. We also get to dance and they get to hang out with the other twins (2 boys) in the glass as well as 2 other little kids.

We took them for a hayride this weekend and they loved it. I think this weekend, we'll head to another to pick some pumpkins and see the animals at the petting zoo.

Trip to the beach!

We went to Myrtle Beach the second week of Sept with my family (brother and SIL and nephew and my parents). We had a great time! I was worried about the drive, but it went well! We stopped about 6.5 hours into the trip and stayed at a hotel and did the same on the way back. The girls slept almost the whole time and really only whined a few times... which is less than the whining I did about the drive :)

They loved the sand and thoroughly enjoyed eating it. YUCK! Mady loved the waves and Emma took a little longer to get used to it. We had a condo, so we were able to eat breakfast and lunch in most days. The weather was great. We already are booked again for next year! I'm not sure if next year will be easier or harder. The girls will probably hate being in the car next year, but they will probably enjoy the beach more and hopefully will be over putting everything in their mouths.

The girls are doing really well. They are both attempting to stand on their own, but Emma really loves to show of her skills. Mady would much rather sit down and crawl off. We actually have a physical therapist coming in to evaluate Mady because the developmentalist noticed a slight red flag with the way Madelyn stands. She stands with her feet and legs pointed out. We are not overly concerned, but love that we have this support system right at our fingertips. The girls really aren't saying any words yet either, but it often sounds at though Mady is saying "what's that?" Very cute.

They are now both waving and Mady plays peek a boo and covers her eyes. Mady will point out to anyone that is holding her where their nose is :)

The girls will be 13 months tomorrow! Unfortunately they are both sick with colds yet again.

Oh, and we are now fully on milk and adult foods! Yay girls!

I will post some recent pics soon. I'm just glad I was able to get this post in!

One Year Check Up

The girls had their one year checkups on Sept 4th. Everything is right on! Mady was 21.5 lbs and Emma was 18.5 lbs. All their blood work came back good. Emma is in the 10% percentile for weight and the 25th for height and head size. Mady is in the 50% percentile and the 75th for height and weight. (I think I got that right.)

The doctor talked to us about Swine Flu and about RSV. The girls will most likely not be covered for RSV shots this year since they are healthy. The doctor is ordering in swine flu vaccines but will not administer them until she feels 100% secure with the vaccine. She just told us to keep a look out for the signs of both of these.

They were allowed to stop formula and move onto milk! We were all very excited about this, as formula costs us about $100 per week. Emma loved whole milk! BUT, from day one the girls started having loose stools and it only got worse on vacation. So, after a full week of milk we were put back on formula. We can slowly add milk back into their diets as soon as they are clear of any loose stools. We are hoping to add it back in this weekend. I'm not sure why the doctor didn't have us do this slowly from the get-go.

The girls now have tons of teeth! It's crazy. Emma has the cutest gap between her two front teeth. Her top ones show the most and Mady's bottom ones show the most.

The girls had a great time on vacation. We all did. I will update more on that, and hopefully soon. I wanted to at least get their doctors information posted!

The party!

As promised, I am finally posting some pictures. Unfortunately, I think you never get quite as many photos as you hope to. We didn't get many pictures of the details of the day. We also didn't get the most important shot... a picture of the girls together in the onesies and tutus I made them. We'll be taking some portraits at the beach next week and that will be one of the pictures we take.

A lot of twin mom's have been asking about the party and details, so I'll try to go through the day for you!

We invited friends and our siblings. No Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etc. the list would have just been way to long. Our initial list was at about 42 adults and 15 kids. In the end, we had about 32 adults and 13 kids at the party. I would highly suggest not going over the 45 mark. It was a wonderful party and so much fun, but anymore people would have just been too overwhelming.

We decided on a Rubber Ducky Theme for the girls because they LOVE bath time with their duckies. This is the invitation we sent out a month before the party...

I, of course, made them myself. The color scheme of the party revolved around these, so the main colors were Bubble Gum Pink, Orange, Yellow and Blue.

The party was scheduled from 1-3pm. We wanted to keep it short and sweet to let the parents of the children be able to scoot out without feeling guilty! In retrospect, 3 hours would have been a much better time window because we did feel really rushed.

We had the food ready for 1:30. We let people eat as they wanted, keeping the food warm. We did the cake smashing around 2:15 and went straight into opening gifts. Before we knew it, it was over! For food, we had macaroni and cheese (a favorite of the girls), applesauce and hamburgers and hot dogs. Simple, but enough for a good lunch. We also had rice krispie treats, mom's cake and cookies.

The cake...
If you don't know... my parents own a bakery and work as a team on fondant cakes like these. They not only look incredible, but are super moist! (www.creativecakespgh.com)

And of course the smash cakes had to be just as cute. Notice Emma checking out Mady to see what she's doing with the cake.


Some other details from the party... we had a little duck pond with dollar store gifts for the kids.

We also had bubble favors with little rubber duckies on top. We had a bubble machine making bubbles over the swimming pool. No photos of this :(

What they are really fighting over in this picture is not a toy, it's a water bottle!


The girls had a great time and I don't think either one of them fussed at all until after the party when they were beyond exhausted. My sleepy lil' Madelyn passed out on Uncle Fritz ...

They got a nice mix of clothes and toys and we had nothing to return! With some of the gift cards they received, we got them some stacking blocks and a bongo!

This week they will officially be one and we are having a low-key family pizza night at our place. They girls still have 2 gifts to open from us and of course they want to try Grammie's cake again.

Friday, Mady has an appt with the eye doctor. The eye with the hemangioma seems to be a tiny bit lazy, so we just want to make sure it's okay. Then they have an afternoon appt at the Pedi for their 1 year visit and shots. We took them for 1 year bloodwork on Saturday. They did so great. Poor Mady had to get stuck twice because they couldn't find a good vein.

Saturday we leave for the beach!

1st Birthday!

The girls had a great first birthday party yesterday. The weather even held out for us. We got a few raindrops a half hour or so after most of our guests left. The loved the cake! They got a ton of really cool toys and clothes that I am trying to figure out where to put :) I need a MoM (mother of multiples) to have a blog about organizing a house with multiples!

Big thanks to my parents for not only creating an awesome cake, but also for having the party at their house.

I will post pictures as soon as I can gather them from mine and my fathers camera.

We'll either celebrate their actual birthday (Sept 2) with dinner out with our families or maybe some pizza at our place.