December was a fun-filled month!
As always, we enjoyed lots of fun walks, and playing with our playgroup friends this month. Mommy and Daddy took us on some fun neighborhood hikes on warmer days!
We went to visit Santa at the mall, which was not as much fun for us as we hoped, because we both were a little nervous about Santa. Christopher made it through the experience with his pacifier, and Katharine was intent on expressing her discontent. In the end, we got one “not screaming” photo to remember the event by. When we got home, Christopher was so wiped out that he continued to sleep on the floor, even through Katharine’s encouraging pokes, making for some really cute pictures.
We continue to grow and learn so many new things! We went on our first visit to the dentist, just in time, as Katharine is getting in her first two molars (on one top and one on the bottom), and Christopher has lots of teeth getting ready to come in. Katharine is 20 pounds and 3 ounces, and Christopher is 25 pounds and 3 ounces.
Our Big News: Katharine started walking the week after Thanksgiving, and already loves to accomplish great distances! We are both becoming more and more confident walkers, walking all over with great purpose to get to things we want to see. We are great at becoming more confident climbers, and are looking forward to putting the ladder, slide, and legs on our new tree house play set to practice our skills, with lots of help. Along with walking, we are reaching lots more things now that we can stand on our own and get around easier, and are also getting really good at moving barriers out of our way. So Mommy and Daddy are working to get better at anticipating our moves and planning for safety.
We loved to visit and look at the Christmas trees this month (our tree by the table, and the BIG tree in the living room; trees at the mall, at Grandma and Grandpas – trees everywhere!). We’re trying to “be gentle” with the ornaments and the lights, but they make really cool sounds when they hit the floor! We’ve both gotten really good at recognizing some words this month (foot, hand, milk, lights), and one of them is TREE! Sometimes we even say “dah” or “tah”, which Mommy and Daddy will take to mean “tree”. We make multiple daily visits to the trees and will be so sad to see our trees go when January comes. One day we will learn that most trees are outside and do not include lights!
We’ve also become really confident “swimmers” this month, as we finished up our Baby and Me swim classes. We learned to “jump in, outstretch arms, kick, float, and even go under” the water, all of course with Mommy and Daddy’s help. On our last day, we even got to try some fun floaties to feel a little more independence from Mommy and Daddy. We can’t wait to go swimming again!
Mommy and Daddy took us on some other fun family outings this month. We went to Glen Echo Park to see a Nutcracker Puppet Show for Tiny Tots. The puppeteer has worked with the Mister Rogers Show and the Muppets, which Mom and Dad thought was pretty neat. The puppets were really neat! We really enjoyed watching them dance and move, and practiced our clapping abilities with the rest of the audience. We were so impressed that everyone else could clap too!
And we went out to have a nice dinner at Bazin’s, which was SOOO pretty! We took our clip on seats, so we were nice and comfortable. And the restaurant was all decorated with lights around the windows, and beautiful ornaments hung from the ceiling. We loved looking all around at the pretty decorations, when we weren’t watching the game on TV. The best part was that we were the first customers for Sunday night dinner, so it wasn’t crowded or noisy, and we were able to enjoy a nice relaxing family meal!
Mommy and Daddy also got to go out by themselves on a date night, for dinner at L’Auberge Chez Francois. They got all dressed up before we went to bed, and we didn’t even recognize Mommy at first, with her shorter hair down and all curly. It was great that Mommy and Daddy had a fun night out together!
The best part of this month was visiting our families in Ohio. We loved seeing our Grandmas and Grandpas, and Aunts and Uncles, and playing with our cousins. We had fun seeing Zoe Dog and the Kitties, and exploring all the new places we went to, including the back of the church on Christmas Eve.
And when we got home, we went with Christopher for another big first – His very first haircut! We went to Cartoon Cuts, at the mall, where every station has a TV, and kids can blow bubbles and play with toys while they get their haircut. Christopher was very brave as he was strapped onto the booster seat in his chair. He did great, watching the TV, when Mom wasn’t in the way, taking pictures. Katharine and Daddy watched and cheered him on, as he had the little curling tendrils behind his ears snipped off, and the rest of his hair trimmed up a bit. We were all SO proud of him, our handsome, BIG boy!
And on New Year’s Eve, we enjoyed a fun family hike on some nature paths near our house. What a wonderful way to finish out 2011!
Here is a link for our December gallery to paste in your browser. Because we were out and about a lot this month, we used our smaller camera and IPhone cameras more, so some of our “action” photos are a little fuzzier. Enjoy!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp;jsessionid=A358379F17F51ADFAA4F17BE53F1583D.ecom501_main?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Images&_requestid=166247
We can’t wait to see what 2012 brings! Happy New Year!
With Love,
Christopher and Katharine
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thankful For A Great November!
Wow! November just flew by!
We played a lot at home this month, and with our playgroup friends. We enjoyed some pretty days by taking walks, and even tried a (very chilly!) hike at Harper’s Ferry, WV. We had a great time trying out a couple of new music classes, and are excited to start taking one in January! We also started taking our first swim classes, which took a little while to get used to, and now we’re starting to really have fun!
We turned 15 months old this month, but didn’t have our checkup with the doctor until almost the end of the month. Christopher is 25 pounds, 4 ounces, at 31.5 inches and Katharine is 19 pounds, 7 ounces at 29.5 inches. Big news - Katharine is now in the 20% range on the weight chart, which is really exciting, because she wasn’t even on the chart in August! Hooray!
Most exciting this month has been all the cool new stuff we’re learning to do! Both of us love to clap our hands, and wave “Hi”. Katharine will sometimes start waving as soon as she hears Daddy coming down the stairs or hears his car in the garage.
Both of us like to copy sounds we hear, and talk with great animation, even when we’re “just babbling”. We are starting to recognize the meanings of some words, like foot, sock, milk, tree, and so on by pointing at things or holding up a particular body part. And we will sometimes even acknowledge “no” or a warning tone. Often times we will say something that sounds like a word or words we’ve just heard, even though pieces of the words may be missing. Katharine will sometimes respond to prompts, when you say “Can you say…” She has mimicked saying “Hi” a few times (usually sounding like “Ahy”, seems to say “Dat” and “Dis” sometimes, will shout “Da” when she waves for Daddy, and has said “Yaaay” once when clapping hands.
We are starting to recognize differences in shapes more and like to try getting them into their spots in the shape sorter and puzzles. And we’re on the go! We are much more likely to take off to explore when Mommy wants us to head upstairs or to the car. Mommy was pleased, but surprised to discover that Christopher was paying close attention during our practice going down the step into the living room - One day, when returning from putting Katharine in the car, she was surprised by a waiting Christopher, who’d made his was from the kitchen, down the hall, down the step, and just sitting and waiting by the door! So Mommy and Daddy completed Operation Cabinet Lock just before Thanksgiving, just in time, as we had become very interested in what’s behind all those doors, and we LOVE getting things out. We’re still working on “in” or “put back”. ☺
We are on our way to WALKING! Christopher began letting go of his push toys and the furniture to take one or two steps at a time toward the end of the month. And by the end of the month, he has been taking as many as five or six steps in a row, and is starting to be able to stand himself up from the floor without help! Sometimes he is very aware of his new tricks, and beams with pride, giggling. Other times he is just rolling along with a toy and suddenly goes on his own. Katharine is also on her way, walking while holding on to only one fingertip, and standing on her own for short periods. We got our first real walking shoes just before Thanksgiving, and they are helping us feel even more balanced and secure on our feet. Mommy and Daddy are doing a lot of cheering and clapping right now to help celebrate our achievements! When we get really good, they’ll be able to capture our efforts in pictures.
And we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We got to try some of the yummy “Very Whole Foods Thanksgiving” this year, and enjoyed playing with Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma and Grandpa Keller! While they were here, we visited the historic caboose by the W&OD in Vienna for some picture taking fun, and we helped decorate our first very own Christmas tree. What fun we had!
We can’t wait to be in Ohio soon to visit with everyone at Christmas!
Until then, here is the site for our November Gallery:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Images&_requestid=364951
Love,
Christopher and Katharine
We played a lot at home this month, and with our playgroup friends. We enjoyed some pretty days by taking walks, and even tried a (very chilly!) hike at Harper’s Ferry, WV. We had a great time trying out a couple of new music classes, and are excited to start taking one in January! We also started taking our first swim classes, which took a little while to get used to, and now we’re starting to really have fun!
We turned 15 months old this month, but didn’t have our checkup with the doctor until almost the end of the month. Christopher is 25 pounds, 4 ounces, at 31.5 inches and Katharine is 19 pounds, 7 ounces at 29.5 inches. Big news - Katharine is now in the 20% range on the weight chart, which is really exciting, because she wasn’t even on the chart in August! Hooray!
Most exciting this month has been all the cool new stuff we’re learning to do! Both of us love to clap our hands, and wave “Hi”. Katharine will sometimes start waving as soon as she hears Daddy coming down the stairs or hears his car in the garage.
Both of us like to copy sounds we hear, and talk with great animation, even when we’re “just babbling”. We are starting to recognize the meanings of some words, like foot, sock, milk, tree, and so on by pointing at things or holding up a particular body part. And we will sometimes even acknowledge “no” or a warning tone. Often times we will say something that sounds like a word or words we’ve just heard, even though pieces of the words may be missing. Katharine will sometimes respond to prompts, when you say “Can you say…” She has mimicked saying “Hi” a few times (usually sounding like “Ahy”, seems to say “Dat” and “Dis” sometimes, will shout “Da” when she waves for Daddy, and has said “Yaaay” once when clapping hands.
We are starting to recognize differences in shapes more and like to try getting them into their spots in the shape sorter and puzzles. And we’re on the go! We are much more likely to take off to explore when Mommy wants us to head upstairs or to the car. Mommy was pleased, but surprised to discover that Christopher was paying close attention during our practice going down the step into the living room - One day, when returning from putting Katharine in the car, she was surprised by a waiting Christopher, who’d made his was from the kitchen, down the hall, down the step, and just sitting and waiting by the door! So Mommy and Daddy completed Operation Cabinet Lock just before Thanksgiving, just in time, as we had become very interested in what’s behind all those doors, and we LOVE getting things out. We’re still working on “in” or “put back”. ☺
We are on our way to WALKING! Christopher began letting go of his push toys and the furniture to take one or two steps at a time toward the end of the month. And by the end of the month, he has been taking as many as five or six steps in a row, and is starting to be able to stand himself up from the floor without help! Sometimes he is very aware of his new tricks, and beams with pride, giggling. Other times he is just rolling along with a toy and suddenly goes on his own. Katharine is also on her way, walking while holding on to only one fingertip, and standing on her own for short periods. We got our first real walking shoes just before Thanksgiving, and they are helping us feel even more balanced and secure on our feet. Mommy and Daddy are doing a lot of cheering and clapping right now to help celebrate our achievements! When we get really good, they’ll be able to capture our efforts in pictures.
And we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We got to try some of the yummy “Very Whole Foods Thanksgiving” this year, and enjoyed playing with Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma and Grandpa Keller! While they were here, we visited the historic caboose by the W&OD in Vienna for some picture taking fun, and we helped decorate our first very own Christmas tree. What fun we had!
We can’t wait to be in Ohio soon to visit with everyone at Christmas!
Until then, here is the site for our November Gallery:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=Share-_-Personal-_-Email-_-Sharee-_-Images&_requestid=364951
Love,
Christopher and Katharine
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Boo! October 2011
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
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
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
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