2009: A year in review

January

We worked hard on head control.

And we had our picture taken with mommy.

February

We tried solids for the first time.

We didn't really like it.

March

Smiling became a daily thing...we did it A LOT.

April

We celebrated our first Easter.

 May

We went to the park for the very first time.

 

June

We found out that we really don't like grass.

Mommy started teaching us how to play basketball.

July

We had lots of fun playing in the crib together.

We started sleeping with our butts in the air.

August

We wanted to be outside all the time.

 We caused a lot of chaos.

September

We enjoyed tearing apart the towel drawer.

We acted silly.

October

We celebrated our first birthday.

 November

Mom and dad left us to go on a cruise.

We had a little Thanksgiving snack at Grandma and Grandpa L's. 

December

We opened Christmas gifts at Grandma and Grandpa J's.

Santa Success

Well we were finally able to see Santa on Tuesday.  We weren't quite sure if it would be possible.  We got there around 3:45pm and they already had the sign up saying that Santa would be taking his break from 5-6pm.  So being the non-rule followers that we are, we ducked under the ropes and got in line.  Five minutes later, Santa's little helper came to the end of the line, asked us how we were doing, and moved the sign closer to us.  Whew.

Ten minutes later, Santa's little helper came back.  Only this time, there were 3 more sets of people in line behind us.  She graciously told them that Santa would be back at 6pm and that they were more than welcome to come back at that time -- that we were the last people who would be seeing Santa before he took a break to feed his reindeer.

Fast forward another 10-15 minutes, she came to move the sign again and there was a mom and daughter in line behind us.  She told them that we were the last people in line.  After an hour and a half of waiting, we were finally able to sit on the jolly old man's lap.  I have no idea why Santa's helper was so nice to us.  I'm almost certain she knew that we were in fact *not* in line when she first put the sign out.  It's kind of hard to sneak a set of twins with a monstrous stroller into line.  Maybe she was in the giving spirit?  Whatever the reason, I'm so thankful she let us slide by.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Patiently waiting in line.

Finally it's our turn!!

This is where I expected the tears to start...but they never did!

A look back at last year's visit. We were exactly 2 months old!

Visit with Santa - Strike 1

We took the girls to see Santa tonight and failed miserably.  We got there just after 4:00 knowing that Santa took a break from 5-6pm to feed his reindeer.  But we were told that the people they just let through would be the last to visit with Santa before he took his break.  And you can bet that the girls weren't going to wait two hours for the jolly old man to return. 

So we went to Sears to buy a new dishwasher instead.  Yeah, ours conked out on us about a week ago.  Darn thing was slightly less than 3 years old!!  Grrr.  It's been an expensive Christmas season for us.  A couple weeks ago we bought a treadmill as a gift to each other...had we known that we would then be buying a new dishwasher we may have passed on the treadmill.  Oh well, what can you do?

We're going to attempt Santa again, either tomorrow or Christmas Eve.  Unfortunately, we're not going anywhere for Christmas because I work bright and early that morning at 6:30am.  Such is the life of working for a facility that never closes.  But at least the time and a half will help pay for the unexpected expense of a new dishwasher, right?  Focus on the positives, focus on the positives.

Since I don't have any Santa pictures, here are some bathtime pictures instead.

By the way, we did celebrate Christmas with Nate's family this weekend but I haven't downloaded pictures yet.  I'll make sure to share them when I do!!  And then we'll be having a small belated Christmas with my family over the New Year...so don't feel too sorry for us!!  Fortunately, the girls don't know Christmas from any other day of the year just yet. 

We're making sleep progress

Well hello blogworld, it's nice to meet you again. I feel like I haven't written in ages! So much to do, so little time.

In the middle of my long work stretch, we had a 3 day span where both of the girls slept straight through the night!! Holy moly, are you kidding me?! It was fantastic. The past two nights, Adalyn's been up once and Alivia's been up once. Overall I can't complain. But I think they're finally catching on to this whole sleep business!

In more disheartening news, I give up. Little Miss Addi gets a nasty, nasty diaper rash every 2-3 weeks. No matter what we do or how fast we change her it rears its ugly head. That poor little girl. Makes me so sad for her that there's nothing we can do for her. This all started back in June and we've been dealing with it since. And it comes on so fast. At one diaper change she looks as clear as day. Just hours later, she's flaming red. Just breaks my heart.

On a brighter note, little Miss Alivia has become so good at mimicking what you do. If you raise your hand, she raises her hand. If you growl at her, she growls right back. And she loves playing peek-a-boo, being chased and hiding in corners. Their little personalities are really emerging (as you can see from the video posted of Adalyn).

Here are some classic pictures of Alivia. She's always trying to carry around more than her little hands can. So she's found another way...

What?!

Look at that smile emerging from that mouthful!

Even during a diaper change she was NOT going to give up her 4 nuks!

What you can't see can't hurt

This is Adalyn's new "trick." Make sure you have your volume turned up. The video was taken this morning, so I thought I would post it to tide you over until I'm back among the living. I work the next 9 out of 10 days, so you might not hear from me for a while. I try not to be on the computer too much during my work days because I need to spend some time with the girls either before I leave for work or after I come home. So blogging is usually reserved for my off days (not always, but usually). Enjoy!!

Wordless Wednesday on a Friday *wink*