It is amazing how fast the girls are growing - they are now 8 months old! They are babbling a lot and Emily now says "hi dada" all the time, but she doesn't know who dada is. She says it to everyone who walks into the room. Abby is very good at imitating sounds. They are both able to feed themselves cheerios and other finger foods (although they are lazy and prefer to be fed). They are able to move around and are starting to pull themselves up to standing on things.

We had a great 4th of July weekend. On Friday we hung out around the house with the girls and then went to see some fireworks at night. We woke Abby and Emily up after they had been asleep for a few hours and they were surprisingly OK with it. Abby was very happy with the fireworks. Emily seemed to be very afraid of the noise but liked the lights. We also gave them some cotton candy, which Abby did not like but Emily loved.

The weather has been pretty awful here - we're really only starting to see summer like weather now. It rained for just about all of June, but we were lucky enough to get a couple nice Saturdays so we took advantage of the sun and spent a lot of time outside with the girls.

The girls play outside in their baby sunglasses:

From Update

Emily loves to pose:

From Update

Abby was FINALLY willing to smile for the camera!

From Update

The girls were so happy to play outside after a LONG month of rain:

From Update

Emily the ham:

From Update

From Update

From Update

The girls are very interested in each other these days. They crack each other up. Every night on the way up stairs Byron and I each carry a baby and they look at each other and laugh all the way up to bed. They are also enjoy poking at each other, checking out each others feet and talking. Below Emily is checking out Abby's hat.

From Update

We recently got a baby tent to carry along with us when we are out so that the girls can have a place to nap. It came with the cutest sleeping bag ever. The girls have great time snuggling together in it.

From Update

Abby snuggles with Byron:

From Update

Emily and Byron check out the back yard:

From Update

Last weekend we spend Sunday with our small group from church at Justin and Lisa Grant's apartment. They have a great pool that we were able to enjoy. Emily had a great time playing, but Abby was as relaxed as we have ever seen. She is definitely my daughter - I can see us lounging together in the pool and ocean in the Caribbean in a few years. Abby was so relaxed that she fell asleep in her float. Unfortunately our camera went a little crazy and some of the best pictures came out way over exposed :( but we do have a few good shots:

Abby napping on the float:

From Update

From Update

Emily enjoying the water:

From Update

From Update

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