HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year!  Bring on 2011.  2010 was a crazy year, but overall it was a great year.  A LOT happened.  Here's a small summary:

1.  We brought the girls home from the NICU on January 5th after a one-month stay.  We were thrown into the sleeplessness, feeding, and existed in a zombie-like state for several months, dealing with reflux, gas issues, and all the things any parent of a newborn deals with times two.

2.  Josh left two weeks later for FSI in Kansas and spent three weeks away from us, while my mom, dad and Brynn visited and helped me get through those weeks with the girls.

3.  I sort of lost my mind and got it back again (turns out newborn twins really ARE hard!).

4.  In the spring, we had more family visits from my mom, dad and aunt Jessica.  We finally settled into a routine and the girls started sleeping more.  Jasmine started with us and I began to get out of the house a little bit and ran my first post-pregnancy race.

5.  I went back to work part-time with a great flexible arrangement with Connect.

6.  We had a fun beach vacation in the Outer Banks with the Rapers.  We were able to have some fun even with two small babies and a whole lot of gear.

7.  Josh left for a 3 1/2 month deployment to Qatar and flew all over the middle east, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and then Spain, Italy and Greece on the way there/back.

8.  The girls started became more mobile, crawled, jabbered, and discovered each other.

9.  The girls and I went to Utah and their took their first trip on an airplane (with help from my mom there and my dad back).  They met all the relatives there who haven't had a chance to see them yet and were little traveling troopers and showered with love.

10.  I ran a post-partum half-marathon PR at the Neuse River Bridge run, then a big 5K PR at the Turkey Trot.  Running kept me sane throughout the year and helped me deal with the stress.

11.  Our sweet Jacksonboy was diagnosed with a form of malignant cancer and had a horribly invasive surgery, which was very hard on him (and hard on us as we face the reality of losing him).

12.  Josh came home and our family was complete again and I remembered what it was like to have help!

13.  Josh's nana passed away and we went straight up to Richmond after he returned home for the funeral and he was able to see many of his family members.

14.  Josie and Piper turned 1!  Piper spent part of her first birthday in the hospital with pneumonia, but then made a quick rebound in time to celebrate at their birthday party with lots of fun friends.

14.  We celebrated the holidays here in New Bern, thanksgiving on our own and Christmas with the Koupals.  Josh had two weeks off work and we loved all our time together.

Happy Christmas

 We celebrated Josie and Piper's second Christmas here at home.  We had a great time, although we definitely missed our families.  Last year the girls were still in the hospital and it never really felt like Christmas, so this year we stuck around here to avoid the craziness of holiday travel and had a low key Christmas together and then headed down to Morehead City for a great dinner with the Koupals.

 

Looking pretty cute in their new Christmas jammies from Gramma Bubba

 

 Playing games

 Piper sitting on her new chair from Nana

 Josh stealing Grey's new helmet

 Opening their presents

Snowy day-after Christmas

We had a real honest-to-goodness snowstorm here in Eastern NC the day after Christmas.  It started snowing Christmas night and didn't stop really the entire next day.  When they predicted this storm, of course we didn't believe it would be real snow, but turns out they didn't exaggerate this time.  Two days later there is still snow on the ground.  These pictures were taken before most of the snow fell, but you can see that it is actually sticking.  Very rare around these parts. 

I'm so gonna get you

I took this picture when I was trying to catch a good picture of the girls for their 12-month shot.  I didn't even look through them until Josh pointed this one out to me and commented how it's the perfect representation of their relationship.  So true!  Piper wants to tackle her so bad!  Classic!  And Josie is just sitting there playing patty cake. 

Partytime

After a rough start to the birthday celebrations with Piper's trip to the hospital, the girls had a great birthday party with lots of their little baby friends (and some of our friends too).  We had a get together at our house and celebrated with the Koupals and Nana, the Cromwells, Halls, Larsons, Whitsetts, and the Arnolds.  It was lots of fun and a great way to celebrate both their birthday, and our accomplishment of surviving the first year with twins. :)

 Ready to go in their party dresses

 Party table and Jacksonboy

 Hanging in the playroom

 Grady and Ellie Katie having some grub in Josie and Piper's chairs

 With their cousin Kloebelle

 They completely devoured their cupcakes

 Emma and McKenzie came

 Kleigh and Piper

 The Cromwells and the Larsons

Grey with his signature camera smile

We're One!!!!

Josie and Piper turned one yesterday!  We can't believe how fast the past year has gone.  We have experienced pretty much every emotion during the past year: happiness, fear, stress, exhaustion, exhilaration, anxiety.  And of course we have been very very very tired at times.  There were times in the early months we didn't know how we would continue with the sleep deprivation and the exhaustion.  Thank goodness we are past that.  I don't think there is a day that goes by that I don't say a little prayer of gratitude that I don't have two newborns anymore.  One-year-olds are FUN!  They are doing something new and different every day now and it's always always funny and cute.  They are crazy little girls and zooming all over the place, getting into everything, and making lots of big messes, but they bring us a lot of joy.

Here's their one-year chair picture with the stats from their one-year doctor's appointment.  Getting them to hold still for this is getting more and more difficult:

Measurements for one-year and a little about each of them

Josie
Weight: 19 lbs even
Height: 28 1/2 inches
Head: 18 1/4 inches

• Josie has discovered clapping in the past few days.  About 20 times a day, she looks at you and spontaneously claps and smiles and is completely DELIGHTED with herself.  So freaking cute!  
• She carries around two wooden toys from an infant IKEA toy and bangs them together all day.  She would be fine with only these toys.
• She says mama and said "daddy" the other day very clearly.  I think she will probably talk a little sooner than Piper.
• She has stood on her own for a few seconds, but really isn't that interested in walking or doing much "cruising" although she can do it if she tries.  
• She is sweet and silly and very tender-hearted.  She likes to cuddle in and lean her head to "touch heads" which is her version if kissing. 

Piper
Weight: 18 lbs 3 oz (she has been dieting during her illness)
Height: 28 inches
Head: 18 1/2 inches (how is it possible that she has a bigger head?)

• Piper's latest thing is pointing.  She seems to understand what certain objects are in books and on her toys and will point to them and make her little sounds.  She still loves to read books at night and will sit in my lap and point out objects on her toys, puzzles, and books.
• Piper is more interested in walking, pulling up, cruising, and starting to practice standing on her own.  She doesn't like when we make her do it though.  
• She is still very independent and will sit and entertain herself with a toy with no problems.
• She is a little trooper, tough, spunky, and crazy!

Some pictures from a year ago

 Josie

 Piper

 Piper

 Josie

Happy birthday to my sweet, beautiful, funny, sassy, silly, crazy, adorable little girls!

Under the weather

 Piper decided to celebrate her birthday and the day before her birthday by coming down with pneumonia. :(  She had been sick all week, but woke up Friday morning with shallow breathing and was very listless.  Josh stayed home with Josie and I ran her to the doctor, who gave her a breathing treatment, checked her oxygen levels, and promptly admitted her to the hospital. 

Once she got to the hospital, she started making improvements, but still required oxygen when she fell asleep.  They continued to give her breathing treatments.  I spent the first night with her and Josh spent the second night with her.  That night, she didn't require any oxygen, thank goodness, so she got to come home in time to celebrate her birthday at home.  Luckily, their party isn't planned until next week and even more luckily, Josh was home!  Otherwise, I would have been SOL. 

Being in the hospital with a one-year-old is a challenge.  It was like de ja vu having her hooked up to that same monitor all over again, one year later.  Aside from that, it's NOT like it was a year ago, where you put them down and they stayed in their isolette.  Nope, she required a LOT of entertaining and of course we couldn't put her down on the floor at all.  The only place to put her was a big, uncomfortable metal crib, where she pulled on her lead and her oxygen cords.  Fun toys!!  Of course, we are just thankful she is okay and made a quick recovery. 

 Sick girl with Daddy

 Trying to sleep in her froggy position with all her cords

Feeling better in her jail crib

Some fun stuff!

Here's some of what we've been up to having Josh around and home for the last week. 

Turkey day

 We had a great Thanksgiving around here.  It was quiet.  Itt ended up being just our little family, but we were fine with that and had a really nice, low key day.  Josh fried a turkey, (and redeemed himself after last years turkey debacle) we whipped up some mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, rolls, and had some apple pie for dessert.  The girls had turkey and stuffing and loved it.  We all made it out to the Turkey Trot in Taberna Thanksgiving morning, which is one of my favorite traditions.  Josh and the girls cheered me on to a new 5K PR. 

All bundled up for the race