It's Christmas Eve, so I figured I'd write a quick update to wish you all a great Christmas and to post a few pictures before I flood you with pictures of the girls in Christmas dresses and other Christmas pictures.

The biggest news since the last update is that we got a whole week to ourselves in Antigua (Caribbean) without the girls! Byron’s parents watched the girls for the first weekend and then my mom kept the girls 24 hours a day all week…I can’t believe she didn’t go insane. We went down with our friends Justin and Lisa Grant to Sandals Antigua. I’ve become addicted to yearly Sandals vacations since our honeymoon to the Bahamas. I would like to continue the tradition of taking a vacation as a Christmas gift to each other every year (until the girls are a few years older then we can bring them too). Byron isn’t feeling the same way (due to cost, not lack of fun). Maybe I’ll win the lottery or something to keep feeding my addiction. Most of our week was spent diving, lounging by the pool or beach and eating but one day we did a tour of the island. This is at a place called shirley heights that has great views of Antigua.

From update 3

Though Abby has been standing and taking a couple steps for a while now, Emily decided that it was time to catch up while we were away to punish me for leaving J. The girls often have standing competitions. One will be standing and the other will come over and stand and start dancing or showing off in some way. It’s really funny.

On Saturday we cut the girls off from bottles cold turkey. The doctor said to do it by the time they were 14 months old, so we decided that Saturday was as good a day as any. They were very upset for the first two hours. Abby sat crying at the bottle cabinet crying and saying “baba baba”. Emily didn’t really seem to care. They went for a nap mid-morning and woke up quite happy with the sippy cups and haven’t really looked back since. It was a really good transition. I expected it be a multi-day fight, but I was very wrong.

At about the same time that we took away bottles, Abby seemed to mature a lot. She suddenly prefers to be very independent. She doesn’t really want all of our attention any more, rather she likes to play and do her own thing while checking to make sure we’re still around every so often. This development combined with the transition to sippy cups made me realize that I don’t have tiny babies anymore which made me a little sad, but excited to know that it won’t be long before we can do all kinds of fun things together.

We went to get Christmas pictures done, but they didn’t come out very good, so here’s what we went with instead:

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Last night the girls had a little dinner picnic on the floor with their booster seats. When they were done eating I let them out of their chairs and started to clean up. Unfortunately I forgot to pick up the bowl of green beans during my first trip and Emily found them. She dumped them over her head and Abby quickly made her way over. They had a great time picking them off of each other, eating and throwing them everywhere. When I saw what had happened I decided that the damage was already done so I might as well get a picture.

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From update 3

Then, then next night I was making dinner and turned around to find the girls playing in the lazy suzan like they usually do, but this time they emptied a box of cheerios.

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From update 3

The girls have been sick this week. Emily has been fairly lethargic when she isn't getting into trouble. She lounges on her couch just resting a lot.

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The girls love watching the washing machine run:

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Again, have a great Christmas! I'll update you all in a few days with pictures of the girls all dressed up.

The girls have been keeping us very busy lately. They are always on the go trying to find something fun (usually dangerous, messy or in some way mischievous) to do. Two of their favorite activities are climbing stairs if they find an open gate and getting into the bathroom if they find an open door. Sometimes things will get very quiet around the house and they we'll hear a sudden burst of giggling and squealing. That is almost always a bad sign. It usually means they're half way up the stairs or they're playing with the toilet.

They love to play in the clean laundry:

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This video is really old (probably 2 months old now), but it shows how they get into everything:



Even though they are a handful they are awfully cute and loving. Abby has come to love back rubs and scratching. She'll plant herself on her stomach at your feet expecting a back rub. She'll do it on the tile kitchen floor, wood floors, carpet...she doesn't care. She just loves having her back rubbed.

Emily loves to get hugs now. She is completely capable of standing on her own but she only wants to when she's going to get hugs and cheers for doing it. It's really funny.

The girls had a second birthday party with Taryn's family a few weeks ago. Here's Abby celebrating:

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From update 3

At the second birthday party they got some great gifts including a drum, xylophone and ball that they play with all the time. They also got a little princess couch. They love to sit on it, but sometimes one will claim it as her own (most often Emily) and will throw the other off and kick her as she crawls away. She'll then sprawl herself across it.

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Though they can be violent they also take care of each other. A few days ago Abby fell and was crying. Emily went over to her and startred rubbing her arm, head and back. It was SO cute.

One Saturday morning the girls were up early so they spent the morning with us in bed. They were very happy to snuggle:

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Abby being held up by her overalls:

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Emily dressed up as an 80's baby with a leotard, tights and leg warmers (she thought it was AWESOME):

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Abby loves to look at you through her legs:

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From update 3

The girls got new sneakers last week (Adidas Sambas which were the coolest sneakers when I was in 6th grade - they've made a comeback) and Emily loved them. Her first reaction was to hold them up in the air to celebrate and then she snuggled them for hours.

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People are often surprised when I tell them how silly Abby can be because in public she's very serious. Here's a quick video of her being silly with Byron:


Emily thinks it's funny to be pushed by the vacuum cleaner:

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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From update 3

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):

From Collages

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:

From update 3

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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From update 3

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.