Happy 1st Birthday Abby and Emily!

The girls' first birthday has now come and gone. We had a great day celebrating our first year with Abby and Emily on Saturday. We had lots of friends and family come and help us celebrate and we still have more celebrating to do next weekend with some more of Taryn's family!

Emily the horse:

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Abby the chicken:

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Of course the party was a costume party since the girls were born on October 31 (Halloween)! We did a farm theme for the family - Byron was a farmer, Taryn was a pig, Emily was a horse and Abby was a chicken. The girls didn't seem too upset with their costumes and for the most part went about their business as usual, even with all the people around.

Family pictures:

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We started the party with lots of pizza and hanging out - the girls LOVE pizza! Then we sat the girls in their high chairs with their own cakes. Emily was not happy about the cake at all. We tried to put her hand in it but she wanted nothing to do with it. She cried and refused to eat any. We know she likes cake, but she just refused to get messy. Abby on the other hand was a little reluctant at first and then she went crazy. She seemed quite happy with the cake and dug right in, eating it up. She didn't even realize that we had taken Emily out of her chair. After a lot of playing Abby's eye got itchy so she tried to itch it and got frosting all over her eyes. That was the end of that. We cleaned her up and served cake to all our guests.

Farm cake:

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Abby testing the cake:

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Emily not enjoying the cake:

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Abby eating:

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Quite pleased with the cake:

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End of the fun:

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We then opened gifts. The girls got all kinds of great toys and clothes, but they weren't particularly interested in opening them. Abby was more interested in sitting and reading her bible on the floor while Emily was very excited to play with every new toy that was put in front of her. The girls have played for hours and hours with their new toys since the party. They have been having tons of fun playing with everything!

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Abby busy with her bible:

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Checking out a new toy:

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We made two walls of pictures of Abby and Emily from birth through 1 year. Here's the birth - 3 months wall:

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4-12 months:

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Decorations after the party:

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The girls have changed so much over the past few weeks. Their personalities are really starting to develop and they are so much more interactive. One of their favorite new activities is to be chased around the house. They love it when we get down on the floor and chase them and growl at them - they laugh hysterically. Sometimes they turn around and growl back and team up and charge at us!

They are getting good at repeating words. Their favorite words:

- kick
- stinky (their favorite, they usually say it "tinky")
- hi
- mama
- dada (Abby actually says Dad instead. She says it very clearly, it sounds so funny as she overemphasizes the D's)
- cheese (they sometimes say deese instead as they aren't very good at "ch" yet)
- this and that (usually dis and dat - they say these words when they are asking what something is: dis? dat? they like pointing to my rings and saying "dis?"
- Pats (Patriots - they say "dats")
- Hi

I love when they repeat words, but my favorite new trick is when you ask them how old they are they hold their index finger up (1). It's SO adorable!

Abby has taken a recent liking to walking behind their push toy (finally). Something must have clicked in her head because she went from sitting as soon as you put her behind it to running behind it over night. She thinks it's the greatest thing.

We want to thank everyone for coming out to celebrate the girls with us on Saturday. We appreciate all of you - even those who were unable to be with us this weekend - and are thankful that you have been part of the girls' first year! We're looking forward to what the next year has in store for us.

Pictures from the day (the collage is difficult to see on the blog, if you click on it you can see it better):

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I don't know where the time has gone. 1 year ago at this time things really started to go downhill with my pregnancy. Just 11 days later the girls were born. I spent those last 11 days completely unable to get from the basement (our home theater) to our bedroom without a serious break on the first floor. I couldn't really sit up because I was so swollen that my feet would nearly explode. I couldn't wait to evict those little girls from my body. Well, one year later I am amazed at how far we've come. In just 11 days we will be celebrating the girls' first birthday! That means that about 4% of my life to date has now been spent as a mother to Abby and Emily\.

The girls are just so funny now. The things they enjoy most are:

- dancing
- chasing each other
- throwing food on the floor
- emptying milk on to their high chairs and painting with it
- throwing up on the hard wood floors and painting with it
- playing with power cords
- emptying boxes of wipes
- banging on the computer keyboard

Abby loves playing basketball:

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The girls really seem to enjoy each other. Emily tries to put a diaper on Abby:

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Drumming with bowls and spoons:

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They just crack me up. They've figured out how to "trick" us. If I'm sitting on the couch and Emily can see that I have the computer up there she will fake cry, rub her eyes and act like she's tired and snuggle my leg until I pick her up. Once I pick her up she immediately perks up and lunges at the computer.

Abby likes to copy us when we cough. We've been pretty sick lately so, there's lots of coughing going on. If someone coughs Abby immediately copies it and waits for a reaction.

Abby found the monitor and thought it was a phone:

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While Emily was napping Abby was watching her intently on the monitor.

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They haven't completely figured out how to blow kisses yet, but they're trying. If you blow kisses at them they will put their hands on their eyes or ears to copy you. They don't understand that the kiss blowing is supposed to come from the mouth.

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Sometimes they take a break to smile for the camera:

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Abby's crazy face:

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The girls have been watching Patriots games with me lately and Abby is trying so hard to cheer for the Pats. She can't quite say it yet, though. She calls them the "Dats".

As for standing and walking, they seem to be a bit scared of it. They can cruise along the furniture and are plenty strong but when you let go of them they sit right down. Abby recently decided to stand alone for a little while and was very happy about all the cheers she received.

Though they can't walk they are definitely very mobile. It was quiet in the house one afternoon and I went looking for the girls to find them playing in the bathroom with a whole roll of toilet paper. They then went on to empty a full container of wipes:

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On Columbus day weekend we went to a little farm in town. They had a petting zoo with goats, horses, mini-horses, llamas, a turtle, and bunnies (which you couldn't pet). They also had apple and pumpkin picking, hay rides and other things geared toward slightly older kids. While there we got a cone of animal feed to give the animals. The animals didn't seem to be very hungry but were good sports and hung out around the girls anyways. The girls were sort of interested. They pet for a few minutes and then looked around. Emily was mostly interested in eating the feed. She had one bite and I figured she'd stop after that. Nope. She tried to eat the whole cone. The girls were good and enjoyed the horses and goats, but I think they'll enjoy the farm a little more when they are a bit older.

Abby the sheep:

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The girls meet a goat:

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Feeding the goat:

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Emily checking out the animal food:

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Emily tasting the Animal food (she liked it and tried to eat more):

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It's hard to get candid pictures of the girls these days. The second they see the camera they run right over:

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They are very busy most of the time. Here they are inspecting the bases to the car seats that they outgrew a few weeks ago:

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One day while Abby napped Emily and I played outside. She was too busy to pose because she was checking out a dried up leaf:

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But of course touching wasn't enough. She had to taste it as well:

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Byron thought it would be a good idea to teach the girls how to escape from the house. It has been said that he will regret this when they are teenagers.

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Given how slow I've been about updating the blog lately it's probably safe to say that the next update will include pictures of the girls' first birthday! Thank you all for sharing the last year with us. The girls are lots of fun, so I'm sure some great stories about all the crazy things they do will start coming soon.

We've had a busy week. Last weekend I made my return to triathlons and the girls came to watch. I wanted to do one before the end of the season so I picked one that fit our schedule and after I registered I realized that it was a fundraiser for the UMass NICU where the girls were taken care of when they were born, so I was very excited for this race. It was a cold morning so we got the girls all bundled up.

Abby looked so grumpy.

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The girls really were great all morning, though and were very happy to watch all the action.

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Abby looked so cute and grumpy. This picture cracks me up.

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Me during the run:

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After the race:

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The girls weren't into posing for pictures

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The girls love dancing. Abby is still a little camera shy when she dances but I'll try to get a clip of her. She has some awesome moves going. Emily doesn't seem to be camera shy, though. The one problem is that she only seems to like dancing to songs that have trashy lyrics (it is SO funny, though).

The girls are now into EVERYTHING. They are like little puppies. They chew on power cords, they try to get into poop diapers and they leave a trail of water from their sippy cups and food everywhere they go. They cling to your legs and climb up them. As tough as it is, it is also SO cute!

On Labor Day we went took the girls to the beach for the first time. I know, for someone who loves the beach so much I'm doing a horrible job at introducing the girls to it. We went with Liz and Mike. The girls required a lot of attention but it went much better than expected. Emily napped very well in the tent while Abby crawled around in there for 1.5 hours. She crawled on Emily, kicked her poked at her and sang while she was in there and Emily slept through it all!

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The girls weren't very excited about the cold water

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Playing in the sand

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On Monday night I enjoyed the start of the first full football season that the girls will be alive for! Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite professional sport is football and I love the Patriots. Of course the girls had to get their first Tom Brady Jerseys to mach mine. I had to crop this picture because my hands looked GIANT in it. Unfortunately cropping it meant that some detail was lost, but I'm ok with that as long as my hands don't look so crazy. To see the real image check out facebook.

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Abby figured out how to cheat at her basketball game. Normally when you put a ball through the hoop it either cheers or plays a song. The girls love to dance to the songs. Abby realized that she could just press the button to get the music. Oh, at only 10 months old she already knows how to cheat. It's ok - seeing them dance is worth the cheating :) I'll try to catch a video soon and post it.

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Emily hiding in the laundry basket. She looks a little creepy.

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Abby realized that her bib catches food so she tips it up to "drink" from it or she goes rummaging through there to pick out good bits of food. Emily saw her do it and then also started doing it. It's funny to watch them teach each other things.

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Abby is very suspicious of those around her. In this case she was unsure about Byron.

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I'm really starting to enjoy the girls. They do things that are just so funny and they love to play now. They love attention and hugs and kisses, though they refuse to kiss back.

I find it particularly funny to think about how their personalities have shifted. Emily used to be the calm one who didn't need any attention as a tiny baby while Abby needed attention all the time. Abby is now very laid back while Emily loves attention. I never would have expected the change. I feel like it happened overnight.