October was a fun month!
We played at home, and played with friends; we went for walks and rode the carousel at the park. We had hosted two playdates for our twin playgroups and one with our Vienna playgroup at our house. Our friends Lily and Helena turned two this month and we had a great time playing with them at Clemyjontri Park! At the Vienna Moms Halloween party, we got to see some of our playgroup friends in their costumes, and joined in some songs with Music Together. And at the Multiples Halloween Party, we saw some of our twin playgroup friends, met some new friends, saw Rocknocerous play, which was really cool, and got our picture taken by a photographer – Here's a link for all the adorable pictures of twins in costumes. You will see an appearance of our sweet little witch and skunk!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/slideshowFinishPage.jsp?sourceId=179909816903&cm_mmc=Share-_-Event-_-Email-_-Invitee-_-Add&upload=1&token=G723192163213%3A432476163213&_requestid=516805
(FYI - This is slightly different from the gallery we attach every month - that one is later in this post. For this one, paste this link, then click "Play Slideshow" when the page pulls up.)
We unfortunately ended the month with a week of being sick (darn party germs!), and then we were better, and then sick, and then better, and then sick, and then better again – and we’re all better now, which is the best part! BUT we had to miss out on trick or treating this year. So we were glad we gave those costumes some mileage first at the parties!
We passed our 14-month birthday this month, celebrated the one-year anniversary of our homecoming, on October 16, and our actual/gestational one-year birthday, on October 21! Katharine is 19 pounds, and Christopher is 24 pounds, which is amazing, when we think about once being 3 pounds, and 3 pounds, 5 ounces a year ago!
We spend most of our time playing together. We love to walk around with our push toys and sometimes we even push each other around, with a little supervision. We love to take things out of containers, and this month we started enjoying putting things back in, too, which sometimes is very helpful, and other times means that Mommy and Daddy find strange things in strange places. We love the “open & closed” game, where we open and close things while Mommy and Daddy say “open…..closed… oope….cloooos.. open….closed!” And Christopher loves to hide behind books, his sippy cup, almost anything he can peer from behind and surprise you with a game of “peek-a-boo”.
We love to make “talking” sounds even more now. Mom and Dad have heard us exclaim a few things, which were clearly meant to mean something important, including Dadada as Daddy leaves the room. We are becoming great mimics and love to repeat things you say or noises you make (especially clicking our tongues and blowing kisses). Katharine’s favorite is “Laddle-Laddle”, and Christopher varies, from “guggle-guggle” (and other things we can’t pronounce), to “Aah-Aah-Aah-Aah”.
And our personalities seem to emerge more every day. Our facial expressions and body language say so much for us, the captions for our photos tend to write themselves. ☺
We’re still working on walking, while holding onto one or both hands or our push toys. Mommy and Daddy have seen us balance while standing without any help, for 30 seconds or so, and then we need to sit down again.
We’ve started taking baths together in the tub, which is a lot of splashing, and fun. We’re learning to stay seated, but there is so much fun stuff to see, it can be hard to remember.
And we’ve started practicing with spoons at the end of meals, learning to put our spoon in our mouths, dip it in the bowl, and back to eating. So far, thickened yogurt, oatmeal, and hummus have worked the best. And Katharine is holding her sippy cup all the time and is off of thickener, as of the end of the month! Time for a victory lap for our little girl!!
We are looking forward to November and December, because these months mean time spent with our Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. And we can’t wait to see everyone!
Until then, here are pictures of some of the fun things we did in October. Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharer-_-Images&_requestid=655920
(The format of the email Kodak Gallery sends us when we want to share an album was a little different this time. Try pasting this in your browser. Please let us know if it doesn’t work! Thanks!)
Love,
Katharine and Christopher
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
September 2011
We are 13 months old (translation one year, one month)! And Katharine is now 18 pounds and 13 ounces, while Christopher is 23 pounds and 8 ounces.
September was punctuated by wild weather and wonderful fun! We had a lot of rainy days, with some wild flooding! (One weather report said there was one day in the month without rain!) So we broke out the rain shields for our stroller! We had some chilly days, and some nice, sunny, warm ones. So we enjoyed quite a variety of indoor and outdoor activities, as well as just playing together at home.
We celebrated Mommy’s birthday with dinner out on a beautiful day, and took a walk by the Potomac in Old Town Alexandria. We had lots of fun looking at the boats and all the people around. It rained a lot (and flooded!) the week of Mommy’s birthday, so we went to two demonstration music classes, which were a lot of fun. Katharine liked observing, while Christopher loved throwing his arms in the air and crawling around the circle to try all the other babies’ instruments. All-in-all, a good time was had, and Mommy learned some new songs to sing with us.
Then Mommy took us with her on a pilgrimage to Georgetown Cupcakes, associated with the DC Cupcakes show on TV. She’s always wanted to go, so we braved driving into Georgetown on a very wet day. We were fortunate to get a parking spot right in front, during a break in the rain. We were one of the first 100 customers to get a free cupcake for knowing the Secret Flavor Of The Day, thanks to a tip from Mommy’s smart friend, Cristen. ☺ We had plenty of time to sit and enjoy playing with spoons while Mommy enjoyed cupcakes, because it poured and poured once we got there. Eventually, it slowed down enough for us to make our escape, but we were there long enough to take plenty of fun pictures! And we remembered to take some yummy cupcakes home to share with Daddy too!
Finally, the rain stopped, and it was sunny, but chilly. So we put on our jackets and warm fall outfits for our very first trip to the National Zoo! Daddy took some time off from work to meet us there, and we had so much fun! We were lucky enough to arrive just in time to see the elephants walking past us at the bottom of the hill. They were SO big! Then we got to see the apes, along with the little baby, out playing in the grass! And best of all, we arrived just in time to see the lion cubs open their birthday presents. They are one year old also, but they’re a LOT bigger than we are, and louder, too! They got to open colorful boxes with an icy meat treat to chew on, and were very excited about their gifts. We were SO interested in watching them, especially Christopher. Katharine sometimes gets nervous about big animals, but she was very brave on our trip! We can’t wait to go back again soon to see more!
We also went to a couple of picnics. The first was our neighborhood picnic in Clark’s Crossing. We got to meet some more of our neighbors, and saw our friends, Chase and Ashton, who are also one year old twins. They live up the street from us and we can’t wait to play together this fall!
The second picnic was to celebrate the beginning of the fall season at church. Mommy and Daddy took us to play in the nursery for the first time. Mommy kept us company for a little while, until we got to know the nice ladies there, and then we had a great time on our own. There are SO many new toys to play with there, and we can’t wait to go back! After playing, we went outside for the barbecue picnic. We had lunch on our picnic blanket, and got to meet some of the girls in our church who came over to play with us.
We celebrated Daddy’s birthday by going out to dinner at Lebanese Taverna, which was so pretty. At home, he got to open our gifts – our first bike helmets - so we can start getting ready to go biking with him! He was really surprised and excited about them.
One morning last week, we woke up to loud pounding and whirring sounds at our house! And there was no front door! The painters were here all day cleaning up the trim and repainting our shutters and front door – Mommy’s favorite color! You’ll have to see the pictures of our “new” house!
The first weekend of fall here was partly rainy and partly sunny (like most of the month!). In between rain showers, we were able to go out and enjoy some fun together at the Cox Farm Fall Festival. We saw lots of animals, went on a hayride, and took a lot of pictures as we explored all the neat things there for kids. We can’t wait to go back next year when we can ride the giant slides!
And the last day of the month, we went for a walk in Reston with Mommy and Miss Cindy. And it was so nice out, we went to dinner in the Town Center and see the fountain and listen to the School Of Rock concert warming up and doing sound checks. It was very interesting - our first exposure to electric guitars!
What a busy month we had! Also, we were really proud this month to see that Christopher started crawling, pulling up, and cruising the furniture all in the same week! Katharine has been crawling and pulling up for some time now, but not really cruising (taking steps while holding onto the furniture). She started cruising when Christopher did, almost as if she had been waiting for him! We continue to practice taking a few steps while holding on to things, or Mommy and Daddy. We even have let go of support for a second or two before grabbing hold again!
Photos for all of our September fun are in this Kodak Gallery:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=8899813890105%3A445723754&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
You can copy and paste this into your browser to see the photos.
Enjoy, and Happy Fall!
Love,
Katharine and Christopher
September was punctuated by wild weather and wonderful fun! We had a lot of rainy days, with some wild flooding! (One weather report said there was one day in the month without rain!) So we broke out the rain shields for our stroller! We had some chilly days, and some nice, sunny, warm ones. So we enjoyed quite a variety of indoor and outdoor activities, as well as just playing together at home.
We celebrated Mommy’s birthday with dinner out on a beautiful day, and took a walk by the Potomac in Old Town Alexandria. We had lots of fun looking at the boats and all the people around. It rained a lot (and flooded!) the week of Mommy’s birthday, so we went to two demonstration music classes, which were a lot of fun. Katharine liked observing, while Christopher loved throwing his arms in the air and crawling around the circle to try all the other babies’ instruments. All-in-all, a good time was had, and Mommy learned some new songs to sing with us.
Then Mommy took us with her on a pilgrimage to Georgetown Cupcakes, associated with the DC Cupcakes show on TV. She’s always wanted to go, so we braved driving into Georgetown on a very wet day. We were fortunate to get a parking spot right in front, during a break in the rain. We were one of the first 100 customers to get a free cupcake for knowing the Secret Flavor Of The Day, thanks to a tip from Mommy’s smart friend, Cristen. ☺ We had plenty of time to sit and enjoy playing with spoons while Mommy enjoyed cupcakes, because it poured and poured once we got there. Eventually, it slowed down enough for us to make our escape, but we were there long enough to take plenty of fun pictures! And we remembered to take some yummy cupcakes home to share with Daddy too!
Finally, the rain stopped, and it was sunny, but chilly. So we put on our jackets and warm fall outfits for our very first trip to the National Zoo! Daddy took some time off from work to meet us there, and we had so much fun! We were lucky enough to arrive just in time to see the elephants walking past us at the bottom of the hill. They were SO big! Then we got to see the apes, along with the little baby, out playing in the grass! And best of all, we arrived just in time to see the lion cubs open their birthday presents. They are one year old also, but they’re a LOT bigger than we are, and louder, too! They got to open colorful boxes with an icy meat treat to chew on, and were very excited about their gifts. We were SO interested in watching them, especially Christopher. Katharine sometimes gets nervous about big animals, but she was very brave on our trip! We can’t wait to go back again soon to see more!
We also went to a couple of picnics. The first was our neighborhood picnic in Clark’s Crossing. We got to meet some more of our neighbors, and saw our friends, Chase and Ashton, who are also one year old twins. They live up the street from us and we can’t wait to play together this fall!
The second picnic was to celebrate the beginning of the fall season at church. Mommy and Daddy took us to play in the nursery for the first time. Mommy kept us company for a little while, until we got to know the nice ladies there, and then we had a great time on our own. There are SO many new toys to play with there, and we can’t wait to go back! After playing, we went outside for the barbecue picnic. We had lunch on our picnic blanket, and got to meet some of the girls in our church who came over to play with us.
We celebrated Daddy’s birthday by going out to dinner at Lebanese Taverna, which was so pretty. At home, he got to open our gifts – our first bike helmets - so we can start getting ready to go biking with him! He was really surprised and excited about them.
One morning last week, we woke up to loud pounding and whirring sounds at our house! And there was no front door! The painters were here all day cleaning up the trim and repainting our shutters and front door – Mommy’s favorite color! You’ll have to see the pictures of our “new” house!
The first weekend of fall here was partly rainy and partly sunny (like most of the month!). In between rain showers, we were able to go out and enjoy some fun together at the Cox Farm Fall Festival. We saw lots of animals, went on a hayride, and took a lot of pictures as we explored all the neat things there for kids. We can’t wait to go back next year when we can ride the giant slides!
And the last day of the month, we went for a walk in Reston with Mommy and Miss Cindy. And it was so nice out, we went to dinner in the Town Center and see the fountain and listen to the School Of Rock concert warming up and doing sound checks. It was very interesting - our first exposure to electric guitars!
What a busy month we had! Also, we were really proud this month to see that Christopher started crawling, pulling up, and cruising the furniture all in the same week! Katharine has been crawling and pulling up for some time now, but not really cruising (taking steps while holding onto the furniture). She started cruising when Christopher did, almost as if she had been waiting for him! We continue to practice taking a few steps while holding on to things, or Mommy and Daddy. We even have let go of support for a second or two before grabbing hold again!
Photos for all of our September fun are in this Kodak Gallery:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=8899813890105%3A445723754&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
You can copy and paste this into your browser to see the photos.
Enjoy, and Happy Fall!
Love,
Katharine and Christopher
Monday, September 12, 2011
Our First Year Album
We are SO happy to be one year old! We had a great time celebrating our birthdays with everyone last month!
As we looked back on our first year of life, we enjoyed reflecting on how much we grew and changed, and looking over photos and blog posts of everything we did, and saw, and learned. It was quite a year!
Mommy and Daddy decided it would be nice to make an album for us to remember it all when we get older.
And we thought you might also enjoy seeing the photos, with the highlights and major milestones of our year compiled into one gallery. Hopefully you'll see some of your favorites and some others that we loved too!
Here is the web address for it. You can copy and paste it into your browser.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=3965697390105%3A363730015&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Enjoy!
Love,
Katharine Leona and Christopher Lewis
As we looked back on our first year of life, we enjoyed reflecting on how much we grew and changed, and looking over photos and blog posts of everything we did, and saw, and learned. It was quite a year!
Mommy and Daddy decided it would be nice to make an album for us to remember it all when we get older.
And we thought you might also enjoy seeing the photos, with the highlights and major milestones of our year compiled into one gallery. Hopefully you'll see some of your favorites and some others that we loved too!
Here is the web address for it. You can copy and paste it into your browser.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=3965697390105%3A363730015&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Enjoy!
Love,
Katharine Leona and Christopher Lewis
Monday, August 29, 2011
August Was Wonderful!
Our twelfth month has been full of exciting and fun things!
The weekend of our birthday, we got to go to an ice cream social for Northern Virginia Parents Of Multiples, where we met a lot of other twins.
The next day, we went to our very first park, Clemyjontri, near here. It is a very special park for children, brightly colored, soft surfaces, and completely handicapped accessible. We got to try out swinging for the first time, and explored some of their other fun equipment. The next time we go, we want to ride the carousel with Mommy and Daddy!
Later that week, we went with Mommy into DC to meet Daddy at work. We got to meet some of his co-workers, and we all went out to lunch together at Firefly in DuPont Circle. The crazy thing was that it was restaurant week, and we were seated right by the hostess station in front. But this was a great vantage point for us to study everyone in the restaurant, and for Christopher to monitor “command central”! Mommy and Daddy did a pretty good job of grabbing all the extra china and knives before we could, and even helped us decorate cookies with sprinkles our waiter brought us. After lunch, they brought them back, all baked, and they were a very messy, yummy treat! ☺
And then last week, we had our playgroup friends over, and we had special treats (animal cupcakes, and some goldfish and puffs!) to celebrate our birthdays and our friend Lexi’s birthday! We played inside, and then sat out on the lawn to eat treats and play with bubbles and our cool birthday bubble machine! We learned that Katharine is afraid of the bubble machine, but we both love to watch regular bubbles being blown.
The next day, in the middle of our pre-afternoon nap diaper change, we were listening to music and picking out a book when our windows began to rattle. When Mommy saw the huge TV in front of us begin to shake, she grabbed us and headed for the closest doorframe. It lasted about 45 seconds, and then a phone call from Daddy confirmed that we had just experienced our first earthquake (Mommy’s too!). It was the biggest earthquake in this area since the year 1897, and tied that one at 5.8 on the Richter scale. There were two aftershocks, but we did not feel those. Daddy was able to make it home on the metro, but it took two hours. We didn’t have any damage. An elephant fell off of the Noah’s Ark in the kids’ room, and a picture fell off our mantle downstairs. But we were fine, and had great naps afterward!
And then this weekend, we had our first hurricane! Sort of. Hurricane Irene caused lots of excitement for all the grownups. When Mommy went to get groceries for the week, the lady at the store laughed when she asked what aisle the water was in. We took one of the last three containers of water left, and mommy found extra batteries the next day at another store. The morning of the hurricane’s arrival, it was gloomy but warm, so we went to the farmer’s market and the store, and then headed home for the rest of the weekend. Irene luckily downgraded to a level 1, and it was just really windy and rainy here at our house. The lights dimmed once on Saturday and once on Sunday, but we were really thankful not to lose power. And on Sunday, we enjoyed the beautiful sun by sitting out on the front step and blowing bubbles.
And this week, we are going to visit Mommy's school and have lunch with Miss Lauren and our friends Alex and Ela at Miss Kathie's house, and meet baby Mila!
Other big news!
Katharine is seventeen pounds and nine ounces, and Christopher is twenty-two pounds and ten ounces. Christopher is too tall for his infant car seat at 30.5 inches, so we both got new car seats last week. They are HUGE! They are supposed to last us until 59 inches and 70 pounds. Can you believe that? Since we aren’t using our old snap-out car seats anymore, we get to start using our stroller seats when we’re out! They’re so cool, because one of us sits up higher so we can both see. And we can face forward or backward, or face each other, which we think is so fun!
Christopher started truly crawling (although he still sometimes needs some reminders, as he still likes to belly crawl when he’s in a hurry or excited), and pulling up on his own last week. He loves to stand, and seems to be thinking about taking steps sometimes! Daddy even caught him dancing a little bit at the music table tonight! He is getting the hang of the snack trap, and is almost a pro at holding his own sippy cup after only about a week of practice! Katharine loves her snack trap, but is not loving the sippy cup as much. We recently tried drinking milk without thickener, and lets just say it’s not her favorite thing. We’ll keep working on that… We’re hoping the reflux is behind us! And both of us are bringing in another new tooth in our bottom front row.
Well, that pretty well catches us up for this month! We have a photo gallery for our birthday celebration with our playgroup, and another one for all the fun stuff we did at home for our birthdays this month. Here they are…
August and Our Birthdays At Home
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=7010268980105%3A1665264563&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Playgroup Birthday Celebration
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=1110268980105%3A1798024512&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Enjoy!
Love,
Katharine and Christopher
The weekend of our birthday, we got to go to an ice cream social for Northern Virginia Parents Of Multiples, where we met a lot of other twins.
The next day, we went to our very first park, Clemyjontri, near here. It is a very special park for children, brightly colored, soft surfaces, and completely handicapped accessible. We got to try out swinging for the first time, and explored some of their other fun equipment. The next time we go, we want to ride the carousel with Mommy and Daddy!
Later that week, we went with Mommy into DC to meet Daddy at work. We got to meet some of his co-workers, and we all went out to lunch together at Firefly in DuPont Circle. The crazy thing was that it was restaurant week, and we were seated right by the hostess station in front. But this was a great vantage point for us to study everyone in the restaurant, and for Christopher to monitor “command central”! Mommy and Daddy did a pretty good job of grabbing all the extra china and knives before we could, and even helped us decorate cookies with sprinkles our waiter brought us. After lunch, they brought them back, all baked, and they were a very messy, yummy treat! ☺
And then last week, we had our playgroup friends over, and we had special treats (animal cupcakes, and some goldfish and puffs!) to celebrate our birthdays and our friend Lexi’s birthday! We played inside, and then sat out on the lawn to eat treats and play with bubbles and our cool birthday bubble machine! We learned that Katharine is afraid of the bubble machine, but we both love to watch regular bubbles being blown.
The next day, in the middle of our pre-afternoon nap diaper change, we were listening to music and picking out a book when our windows began to rattle. When Mommy saw the huge TV in front of us begin to shake, she grabbed us and headed for the closest doorframe. It lasted about 45 seconds, and then a phone call from Daddy confirmed that we had just experienced our first earthquake (Mommy’s too!). It was the biggest earthquake in this area since the year 1897, and tied that one at 5.8 on the Richter scale. There were two aftershocks, but we did not feel those. Daddy was able to make it home on the metro, but it took two hours. We didn’t have any damage. An elephant fell off of the Noah’s Ark in the kids’ room, and a picture fell off our mantle downstairs. But we were fine, and had great naps afterward!
And then this weekend, we had our first hurricane! Sort of. Hurricane Irene caused lots of excitement for all the grownups. When Mommy went to get groceries for the week, the lady at the store laughed when she asked what aisle the water was in. We took one of the last three containers of water left, and mommy found extra batteries the next day at another store. The morning of the hurricane’s arrival, it was gloomy but warm, so we went to the farmer’s market and the store, and then headed home for the rest of the weekend. Irene luckily downgraded to a level 1, and it was just really windy and rainy here at our house. The lights dimmed once on Saturday and once on Sunday, but we were really thankful not to lose power. And on Sunday, we enjoyed the beautiful sun by sitting out on the front step and blowing bubbles.
And this week, we are going to visit Mommy's school and have lunch with Miss Lauren and our friends Alex and Ela at Miss Kathie's house, and meet baby Mila!
Other big news!
Katharine is seventeen pounds and nine ounces, and Christopher is twenty-two pounds and ten ounces. Christopher is too tall for his infant car seat at 30.5 inches, so we both got new car seats last week. They are HUGE! They are supposed to last us until 59 inches and 70 pounds. Can you believe that? Since we aren’t using our old snap-out car seats anymore, we get to start using our stroller seats when we’re out! They’re so cool, because one of us sits up higher so we can both see. And we can face forward or backward, or face each other, which we think is so fun!
Christopher started truly crawling (although he still sometimes needs some reminders, as he still likes to belly crawl when he’s in a hurry or excited), and pulling up on his own last week. He loves to stand, and seems to be thinking about taking steps sometimes! Daddy even caught him dancing a little bit at the music table tonight! He is getting the hang of the snack trap, and is almost a pro at holding his own sippy cup after only about a week of practice! Katharine loves her snack trap, but is not loving the sippy cup as much. We recently tried drinking milk without thickener, and lets just say it’s not her favorite thing. We’ll keep working on that… We’re hoping the reflux is behind us! And both of us are bringing in another new tooth in our bottom front row.
Well, that pretty well catches us up for this month! We have a photo gallery for our birthday celebration with our playgroup, and another one for all the fun stuff we did at home for our birthdays this month. Here they are…
August and Our Birthdays At Home
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=7010268980105%3A1665264563&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Playgroup Birthday Celebration
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=1110268980105%3A1798024512&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Enjoy!
Love,
Katharine and Christopher
Friday, August 12, 2011
We're One Year Old!
Hello everyone! Can you believe it? We’re one year old!
One year ago, Mommy and Daddy got surprising news – that we were coming, ASAP!
On August 11, 2010, Katharine was born at 11:20 am, at three pounds, one ounce, and 16.5 inches. Christopher was born at 11:22 am, at three pounds, one ounce, and 17.5 inches. And we were both taken promptly to the NICU, where we stayed for seven weeks, until we moved to the NICU at Fair Oaks hospital for two more weeks. While we were there, we learned to breathe on our own, eat from a bottle, and regulate our body temperature outside of the controlled isolette environment. Mommy and Daddy were thankful to watch each of these developments. And when we were ready, we finally got to see our room at home on Saturday, October 16.
Through this year, Mommy and Daddy were thankful to see that the PDA in Katharine’s heart had disappeared, that our eyes and ears and lungs were healthy, and that little-by-little, we would begin to overcome the severe reflux that resulted from being born so early.
This year has been full of doctors’ appointments, developmental assessments, therapy sessions, and follow-up visits. There have been medicines and therapy, special formula and thickeners. There have been nearly sleepless nights (we slept great, but Mommy and Daddy have been yawning a little!), and worry.
There have also been overwhelming blessings and joy. Our laughter fills our home more often than our cries. We are tolerating the entry of our new teeth as bravely as we can. Our bodies are growing and strong. We have learned to roll over, sit up, crawl, and stand. We love to feed ourselves solid food in our high chairs (especially when icing is involved!). We can hold our sippy cups and even sip a little from them if we like (which we normally do not). And Katharine has become a master of the snack “trap”!
We love to laugh and babble to each other and to Mommy and Daddy, and say lots of interesting things, with increasing intensity and volume! We are very curious about everything! We love to move, investigate closely, experiment, and reach in and out of things.
We have seen so many new things this year, traveling to Ohio and California. We’ve learned about cats and dogs, trees and mountains, water and sand, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We’ve made lots of new friends to play with, and have had fun meeting Mommy and Daddy’s friends too!
And we are SO big now! On our birthday, Katharine is seventeen pounds and 28 inches, and Christopher is 21 pounds and 30.5 inches.
And we had a great birthday!
While we were at Fairfax Hospital (or as Mommy and Daddy used to call it, “Hotel Fairfax”) for our one-year follow up appointment, we decided to make some visits! We dropped off flowers and a photo thank you card at the NICU, and at Perinatal Associates, where Dr. Nies surprised us by coming out to see the kids for the first time since she delivered them! And we had a fun reunion with Mommy in the HRP wing, where we met a lot of the wonderful nurses who made such a difference during her stay there; Julia, Judy, Wendy, and Christine, who was her nurse the morning we were born!
It was a wonderful way to remember our journey into the world!
And after a great nap, we had a special dinner at home with Mommy and Daddy, and got to blow out birthday candles one more time and have a special animal-shaped birthday cupcakes Mommy made and decorated herself! ☺
And that is how we ended our journey to this one-year milestone! We still can’t believe it, but we’re so glad we’re one! Thank you for all your hugs and love this year!
And we can’t wait to share this next year of growing and adventures with you! Who knows what it will hold for our family?
Until then, here is a link for our Kodak Gallery of our birthday fun! Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=9935327480105%3A1248595606&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Love,
Christopher and Katharine
One year ago, Mommy and Daddy got surprising news – that we were coming, ASAP!
On August 11, 2010, Katharine was born at 11:20 am, at three pounds, one ounce, and 16.5 inches. Christopher was born at 11:22 am, at three pounds, one ounce, and 17.5 inches. And we were both taken promptly to the NICU, where we stayed for seven weeks, until we moved to the NICU at Fair Oaks hospital for two more weeks. While we were there, we learned to breathe on our own, eat from a bottle, and regulate our body temperature outside of the controlled isolette environment. Mommy and Daddy were thankful to watch each of these developments. And when we were ready, we finally got to see our room at home on Saturday, October 16.
Through this year, Mommy and Daddy were thankful to see that the PDA in Katharine’s heart had disappeared, that our eyes and ears and lungs were healthy, and that little-by-little, we would begin to overcome the severe reflux that resulted from being born so early.
This year has been full of doctors’ appointments, developmental assessments, therapy sessions, and follow-up visits. There have been medicines and therapy, special formula and thickeners. There have been nearly sleepless nights (we slept great, but Mommy and Daddy have been yawning a little!), and worry.
There have also been overwhelming blessings and joy. Our laughter fills our home more often than our cries. We are tolerating the entry of our new teeth as bravely as we can. Our bodies are growing and strong. We have learned to roll over, sit up, crawl, and stand. We love to feed ourselves solid food in our high chairs (especially when icing is involved!). We can hold our sippy cups and even sip a little from them if we like (which we normally do not). And Katharine has become a master of the snack “trap”!
We love to laugh and babble to each other and to Mommy and Daddy, and say lots of interesting things, with increasing intensity and volume! We are very curious about everything! We love to move, investigate closely, experiment, and reach in and out of things.
We have seen so many new things this year, traveling to Ohio and California. We’ve learned about cats and dogs, trees and mountains, water and sand, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We’ve made lots of new friends to play with, and have had fun meeting Mommy and Daddy’s friends too!
And we are SO big now! On our birthday, Katharine is seventeen pounds and 28 inches, and Christopher is 21 pounds and 30.5 inches.
And we had a great birthday!
While we were at Fairfax Hospital (or as Mommy and Daddy used to call it, “Hotel Fairfax”) for our one-year follow up appointment, we decided to make some visits! We dropped off flowers and a photo thank you card at the NICU, and at Perinatal Associates, where Dr. Nies surprised us by coming out to see the kids for the first time since she delivered them! And we had a fun reunion with Mommy in the HRP wing, where we met a lot of the wonderful nurses who made such a difference during her stay there; Julia, Judy, Wendy, and Christine, who was her nurse the morning we were born!
It was a wonderful way to remember our journey into the world!
And after a great nap, we had a special dinner at home with Mommy and Daddy, and got to blow out birthday candles one more time and have a special animal-shaped birthday cupcakes Mommy made and decorated herself! ☺
And that is how we ended our journey to this one-year milestone! We still can’t believe it, but we’re so glad we’re one! Thank you for all your hugs and love this year!
And we can’t wait to share this next year of growing and adventures with you! Who knows what it will hold for our family?
Until then, here is a link for our Kodak Gallery of our birthday fun! Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=9935327480105%3A1248595606&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Love,
Christopher and Katharine
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
July Into August - Our Ohio Birthday Celebrations
We Can’t Believe It – We’re Almost One Year Old!
July flew by, along with our eleven-month birthday. We had one more cold at the beginning of the month, so we stayed home a lot with Mommy for a week or so. But soon we felt better and were ready to so back to see our friends in playgroup. And we got to have lunch with Anne, Doug, and Zachary, and try our hand (or shall we say our feet?) at painting our own pottery, with Mommy and Daddy’s help.
We were so excited that the end of the month came quickly, because we were really looking forward to spending time with all of our grandmas and grandpas in Ohio, and playing with our aunts, uncles, and cousins, with the kitties and Zoe Dog, and seeing some more of our family and friends from home. While we were there, we got to share two fun celebrations with everyone for our upcoming one-year birthday. We learned that we LOVE cake, and Mommy and Daddy took lots of cute pictures of us trying that out. We also got so many new fun toys to chase and rattle and roll around. We are having SO much fun with them now that we’re back at home, because we love to make noise, take things apart, and be on the move!
Katharine still loves to walk with anyone who will hold their hands out for her to grab on, and she loves to climb the stairs when Mommy and Daddy spot her from behind. She laughs and giggles with glee every time, and is starting to try out holding on with only one hand. She can get herself up and down near furniture, but is not yet into "cruising around" on her own. Christopher is doing a really fast army-style crawl everywhere he wants to go. He even started to get a little blister on one foot from pushing himself around so much with his toes. He’s doing a great job getting his knees under him for a little while, but is not using that position for traditional crawling yet. He’s also getting better at climbing the stairs, getting all his movements coordinated more easily. His greatest fun this month happened while we were in Ohio – He is now able to sit himself us whenever he wants to, and does this all the time to look at things that interest him. When we got home from our trip, he even started pushing up on his knees and on one foot by himself while playing at his music table. Mom got some pictures of that because it was pretty cool!
There was something else new for Christopher this month. At his follow up with his eye specialist, we determined that his tracking issue is more noticeable, even though it was almost non-existent at his last follow up appt. So for the next three months, he gets to wear a cool sticker over his right eye for an hour or two a day. In some of his photos, you might notice it on the left side. He doesn't mind it when he's playing and distracted, but it is all about timing. When he's really not in the mood, he knows how to get it off. Hopefully, this patching approach will help the other eye grow stronger, so that the two work together more consistently without further intervention.
And we keep growing! Christopher is about twenty-one pounds now, and Katharine is close to seventeen. But Mommy will do an official weight on our birthday (TOMORROW!). And we’ll find out about our height and all kinds of great developmental progress when we see our pediatrician later this month for our 12-month appointment. So more good news coming soon!
But let’s face it; this post is really about the photos! We have a ton of photos to share, of all the fun things we did, and wonderful moments spend with our loved ones! Here’s the address…….Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=3301599380105%3A385101228&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Thank you again to everyone who celebrated with us, held, fed, comforted, and played with us while we were visiting. We miss you all so much, and we are so thankful to be blessed by so much love!
We can’t believe we’re almost one!
Love,
Christopher and Katharine
July flew by, along with our eleven-month birthday. We had one more cold at the beginning of the month, so we stayed home a lot with Mommy for a week or so. But soon we felt better and were ready to so back to see our friends in playgroup. And we got to have lunch with Anne, Doug, and Zachary, and try our hand (or shall we say our feet?) at painting our own pottery, with Mommy and Daddy’s help.
We were so excited that the end of the month came quickly, because we were really looking forward to spending time with all of our grandmas and grandpas in Ohio, and playing with our aunts, uncles, and cousins, with the kitties and Zoe Dog, and seeing some more of our family and friends from home. While we were there, we got to share two fun celebrations with everyone for our upcoming one-year birthday. We learned that we LOVE cake, and Mommy and Daddy took lots of cute pictures of us trying that out. We also got so many new fun toys to chase and rattle and roll around. We are having SO much fun with them now that we’re back at home, because we love to make noise, take things apart, and be on the move!
Katharine still loves to walk with anyone who will hold their hands out for her to grab on, and she loves to climb the stairs when Mommy and Daddy spot her from behind. She laughs and giggles with glee every time, and is starting to try out holding on with only one hand. She can get herself up and down near furniture, but is not yet into "cruising around" on her own. Christopher is doing a really fast army-style crawl everywhere he wants to go. He even started to get a little blister on one foot from pushing himself around so much with his toes. He’s doing a great job getting his knees under him for a little while, but is not using that position for traditional crawling yet. He’s also getting better at climbing the stairs, getting all his movements coordinated more easily. His greatest fun this month happened while we were in Ohio – He is now able to sit himself us whenever he wants to, and does this all the time to look at things that interest him. When we got home from our trip, he even started pushing up on his knees and on one foot by himself while playing at his music table. Mom got some pictures of that because it was pretty cool!
There was something else new for Christopher this month. At his follow up with his eye specialist, we determined that his tracking issue is more noticeable, even though it was almost non-existent at his last follow up appt. So for the next three months, he gets to wear a cool sticker over his right eye for an hour or two a day. In some of his photos, you might notice it on the left side. He doesn't mind it when he's playing and distracted, but it is all about timing. When he's really not in the mood, he knows how to get it off. Hopefully, this patching approach will help the other eye grow stronger, so that the two work together more consistently without further intervention.
And we keep growing! Christopher is about twenty-one pounds now, and Katharine is close to seventeen. But Mommy will do an official weight on our birthday (TOMORROW!). And we’ll find out about our height and all kinds of great developmental progress when we see our pediatrician later this month for our 12-month appointment. So more good news coming soon!
But let’s face it; this post is really about the photos! We have a ton of photos to share, of all the fun things we did, and wonderful moments spend with our loved ones! Here’s the address…….Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=3301599380105%3A385101228&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Thank you again to everyone who celebrated with us, held, fed, comforted, and played with us while we were visiting. We miss you all so much, and we are so thankful to be blessed by so much love!
We can’t believe we’re almost one!
Love,
Christopher and Katharine
Monday, July 11, 2011
How Time Flies In The Summer!
We can’t believe it’s July already!
Since our last post, we have turned ten months, and are now eleven months today! We can’t wait for our first birthday!
We continue to grow and learn so many new things! Katharine weighs sixteen pounds, and Christopher weighs twenty.
And we are on the move! Christopher is scooting, rolling, and inching his way to get to things. He is learning to bring his knees up, but is not yet ready to crawl. And Katharine has started crawling. Her curiosity is getting her into lots of new situations, and she is beginning to learn to get herself out of them as well. And during our recent vacation out West, she began pulling herself up on all kinds of things, including our fingers, and can now take a few steps while holding on. With a spotter, she can even do a pretty good job of climbing the stairs, so Mommy and Daddy Keep a close eye on her!
We have had a lot of exciting firsts this last month or so! We took our first trip on an airplane, on our way to visit Aunt Linda and Uncle Matt in California. We mostly slept on the plane, but it was a pretty exciting new experience to go to the airport and change time zones! We had lots of fun playing with our cousins Clara and Joseph while we were there. They showed us their pool, and we got a chance to try swimming for the first time. We were a little nervous, but Mommy and Daddy held us tight and we realized how much fun it was! We also got to try our first hike in backpacks with our cousins while we were there.
Then we went to Yosemite National Park for several days, where we saw lots of waterfalls, rock faces, and the giant sequoia trees. There were also lots of new people to see, and we got lots of practice riding in our backpacks everywhere. Mommy and Daddy even took us on an exciting hike down from Glacier Point and back up!
We both brought in several new teeth on our trip. For Christopher, they were his first teeth, and cumulatively, he’s gotten six new teeth in the last 2-3 weeks. And Katharine added four new teeth, so that both of us now have four teeth on the top and two on the bottom.
We are still learning to enjoy lots of foods! Yogurt is a favorite, and we also like fruits, vegetables, and meats. We are starting to enjoy chunkier foods and little pieces of whatever Mommy and Daddy are having. We love lentils, shredded chicken, minced peaches and sweet potatoes, and peanut butter crackers. And we continue to love to talk. Ba-ba-ba, Da-da-da and ma-ma-ma are some of our new favorites, and we still love Ah-Boof and some of our old favorites.
We are looking forward to seeing our Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles, and cousins when we visit Ohio later this month! Until then, here are some of our favorite photos of all the fun things we did last month! Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=1697533370105%3A768594777&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Love,
Katharine and Christopher
Since our last post, we have turned ten months, and are now eleven months today! We can’t wait for our first birthday!
We continue to grow and learn so many new things! Katharine weighs sixteen pounds, and Christopher weighs twenty.
And we are on the move! Christopher is scooting, rolling, and inching his way to get to things. He is learning to bring his knees up, but is not yet ready to crawl. And Katharine has started crawling. Her curiosity is getting her into lots of new situations, and she is beginning to learn to get herself out of them as well. And during our recent vacation out West, she began pulling herself up on all kinds of things, including our fingers, and can now take a few steps while holding on. With a spotter, she can even do a pretty good job of climbing the stairs, so Mommy and Daddy Keep a close eye on her!
We have had a lot of exciting firsts this last month or so! We took our first trip on an airplane, on our way to visit Aunt Linda and Uncle Matt in California. We mostly slept on the plane, but it was a pretty exciting new experience to go to the airport and change time zones! We had lots of fun playing with our cousins Clara and Joseph while we were there. They showed us their pool, and we got a chance to try swimming for the first time. We were a little nervous, but Mommy and Daddy held us tight and we realized how much fun it was! We also got to try our first hike in backpacks with our cousins while we were there.
Then we went to Yosemite National Park for several days, where we saw lots of waterfalls, rock faces, and the giant sequoia trees. There were also lots of new people to see, and we got lots of practice riding in our backpacks everywhere. Mommy and Daddy even took us on an exciting hike down from Glacier Point and back up!
We both brought in several new teeth on our trip. For Christopher, they were his first teeth, and cumulatively, he’s gotten six new teeth in the last 2-3 weeks. And Katharine added four new teeth, so that both of us now have four teeth on the top and two on the bottom.
We are still learning to enjoy lots of foods! Yogurt is a favorite, and we also like fruits, vegetables, and meats. We are starting to enjoy chunkier foods and little pieces of whatever Mommy and Daddy are having. We love lentils, shredded chicken, minced peaches and sweet potatoes, and peanut butter crackers. And we continue to love to talk. Ba-ba-ba, Da-da-da and ma-ma-ma are some of our new favorites, and we still love Ah-Boof and some of our old favorites.
We are looking forward to seeing our Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles, and cousins when we visit Ohio later this month! Until then, here are some of our favorite photos of all the fun things we did last month! Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=1697533370105%3A768594777&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Top
Love,
Katharine and Christopher
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