Abby finally has teeth! Last week at 7.5 months Abby got both of her bottom front teeth in one day. They are so cute, but still a little small and hard to photograph. I'll try to catch something soon.

The girls are SO vocal now. One morning before church Emily was sitting in the office with her Frog and we were spying on her from the hall. We caught her having a long conversation with the frog. It was adorable. When she noticed us there it was even more adorable.

From Update

From Update

That same morning Abby took a nap with her monkey. The girls love their stuffed animals.

From Update

Abby still pretends to be camera shy

From Update

I've mentioned in the past that I've been visiting a twins message board since I was pregnant - this past weekend we went to meet one of the women from the board at the mall. Here are our girls with her girls (Peyton and Delaney). They are about a month younger than Abby and Emily, but were born about 3 weeks further along.

From Update

From Update

From Update

When Abby gets too tired to sit she just folds in half

From Update

For fathers day the girls fingerpainted for Byron. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures while the painting was underway or the final product. I'll have Byron take a picture of the finished good for the next posting.

From Update

The mess wasn't as bad as I expected. The paint was washable so no permanent damage was done and the girls had TONS of fun while painting.

From Update

My little cousin Timmy recently turned 8 and we had the party at our house. Here's a picture of my grandmother (the girls' great grandmother) with the girls that day:

From Update

The party was a pirate theme. Abby the pirate:

From Update

Emily loves chocolate cake:

From Update

Emily with my cousin Rachel. Rachel is really great with the girls. We hope that she'll come visit us for a weekend this summer!

From Update

Liz came and stayed with us for a night last weekend. Here she is with Abby bright and early in the morning. Abby's middle name is Elizabeth because of this Elizabeth (and one of our other friends, Liz D)

From Update

Last week was a LONG week for us. On Tuesday night I got home from work a little late and my mom was feeding the girls dinner. When they were done I picked Emily up from her high chair to go change her diaper. She flailed her left arm and leg, whipped her head to the left and kept closing her eyes. She did this a few more times, all the while I thought she might just be playing. Then I realized that she was lethargic and the flinching was happening approximately every 15 seconds. We then realized that it was likely a seizure. I wasn't sure what to do when a baby has a seizure so I called 911. This went on for probably 5 minutes. The ambulance arrived and brought Emily and me to the hospital while my mom headed over with Abby. After about a half an hour she started acting normal and playful again, but the doctors decided to keep her overnight to run some tests. Her CAT Scan turned out fine, however her EEG showed some activity in the right side of the brain that indicated that she had a seizure (also explaining why the left side was jerking - each side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body). Because the CAT Scan showed that she wasn't bleeding or anything the doctors let her out after about 24 hours of observation. We spoke with the pediatric neurologist for a long time (she was VERY nice!) and she basically said that everyone is allowed one seizure in their lives without having to worry too much. She also said that non-specific seizures are VERY common in babies as their bodies are growing so rapidly. The cause for concern, however is that my mom had an AVM (arterio-venous malformation, similar to an aneurysm) which was removed when I was 3, and my great-grandmother died when her AVM burst. Some symptoms of an AVM would include seizures and black-outs, so that was cause for concern. AVM's are formed at conception (they are congenital) and are hereditary so they would like to screen Emily to make sure that she doesn't have one. Over the next few weeks we'll be having some more tests run on Emily including an MRI and MRA. Emily is still young and can't sit still during the MRI, so she'll have to be under general anesthesia for the tests. Though there are some risks associated with anesthesia, it is worth it to make sure that Emily is completely healthy. The doctor ensured us that if Emily were her daughter she would absolutely do the tests. After all this, Emily is back to her normal playful self.

Emily in the emergency room before being moved up to the pediatric floor:

From Update

To help ease our minds the doctor prescribed an anti-seizure medication for use if Emily has another seizure that lasts more than 5 minutes. The medicine will stop the seizure and prevent any brain damage. Though it's another thing that we need to carry around (traveling with twins requires a VERY large diaper bag as it is), it is well worth the peace of mind.

Things are now mostly back to normal at our house. The girls have had a great weekend. Here are some pictures:

Emily playing with a mirror

From Update

From Update

From Update

She loves playing with the camera

From Update

Abby playing outside:

From Update

From Update

From Update

From Update

Abby loves to relax outside:

From Update

From Update

From Update

The girls think Dad is SO funny

From Update

Emily feeling the grass:

From Update

Abby loves the swing:

From Update

7 Months Old!

Abby and Emily are 7 months old! I can't believe how quickly they are growing and that I will never have tiny babies again.

Once again this is just a picture update, although I expect to be making a post any day now announcing the girls' first words. They are getting SO close. They are babbling away, making lots of complex sounds.

We were out on Saturday night at the girls' bedtime so we put them to bed together on a blanket on the floor for a few hours. I kept checking on them and found them babbling away. They love to stick their tongues out and spit now. One time they were spitting at each other and cracking each other up. I'm really having fun watching them bond.

Playing on the floor:

From Update

They love their baby doll and sometimes fight over who gets to play with it:

From Update

Abby won the fight because she tackled the doll but Emily didn't care. She was just happy to laugh at mom playing peek-a-boo behind the camera.

From Update

Tonight Emily was VERY tired at dinner time. She took a big bite of food and then drooled it out. She went on to wipe her hand through the drool and then spread the food all over her face:

From Update

Then she fell asleep in her high chair:

From Update

Not much has changed over the last few weeks. As always, the girls are learning lots of new things, but no big milestones recently. They are great at sitting and will sit for about 10-15 minutes before they get too distracted and tip over. They love to sit together and play with their toys.

From Update

They are also getting very good at jumping in their jumper. They loved the one that we had so much that I had to go out and buy a second because they would sob if you took one out to let the other have a turn. It buys us a lot of time to eat dinner, do things around the house or just sit and take a break. Our living room has become a play room for the girls and is over run with baby toys. Someday we hope to have another couch and chair in there, but for right now it's a play area. We could put their toys upstairs, but it's easier to have them playing on the main floor where we usually are.

From Update

Last weekend our friends Bev and Mark Krans and their daughter Lydia (~9 months old - 2.5 months older than Abby and Emily) spent a day with us while they were visiting from PA. You may remember a picture from Thanksgiving where the girls were on the floor with Lydia. We re-created this picture to see how things have changed:

Then (Abby and Emily were 3 weeks old, lydia was about 3 months):


Now: (Abby and Emily 6.5 months, Lydia 9 months)

From Update

You would think that Abby would be used to having someone touch her as Emily is constantly around, but she was a little moody when Lydia starting tugging at her arm:

From Update

Then Lydia gave her a noogie and she was FURIOUS. Meanwhile Emily was in her own little world off to the side.

From Update

Lydia was frightened by Abby's temper.

From Update

From Update

During their visit we went for a little hike. This was Abby and Emily's first hike. They seemed to enjoy sucking on their baby bjorns and checking out the woods.

From Update

From Update

From Update

From Update

We're excited to see Bev, Mark and Lydia again later this summer!

*if you would like to see larger versions of the pictures, just click on them.*

The past week has been a little rough for us. The girls are still learning new things all the time, but they have been fussy and sick and now Byron and I are also sick. I'm all congested and I'm sure nobody at work wants me here, but given that I was out of work from September to January I'm trying to just get through this cold without missing any more work. Poor Abby has been up in the middle of the night a few times lately because she's so congested. Once she wakes herself up coughing she realizes that she can probably get a bottle and then starts crying. Because they are normally such good sleepers I feel badly trying to make her cry it out. I figure that if she's awake she's probably uncomfortable (and I'm a sucker). So I get up and give her a bottle. Byron has also gotten up a couple times lately. I'm definitely spoiled with sleep now - it used to be so easy to get up in the night, but now that I'm not used to it it's REALLY hard.

Emily has two teeth now. They are both on the bottom, the two front bottom teeth. It's so funny to see them coming in. I'm pretty sure Abby should have some popping out any time now.

This week I realized that I don't have much to talk about that doesn't involve babies anymore. Maybe someday I'll have something to talk about other than how much Emily poops in a day, which brand of diapers are the best or how I found an awesome deal on baby clothes :) Until then, here are some pictures.

The girls love swimming lessons:

From Update

Abby warming up after swimming

From Update

Emily loves her feet:

From Update

Abby's first time playing in the grass

From Update

She was so relaxed

From Update

Abby likes staring contests:

From Update

Staring contest with dad:

From Update

Emily wasn't so sure about puffs:

From Update

She found the camera

From Update

Emily sits like a big girl now:

From Update

Over the past week the girls have learned so many new things. The biggest thing is that they can both sit up all alone now and play with toys while they're sitting. Also, tonight we noticed that Emily had her first tooth poke through! You can't really see it yet but you can feel it - it's REALLY sharp.

Here's a video of the girls going crazy. They think it's so funny to flop around. (I know the quality stinks, I'm trying to fix it)



Crazy girls