Catching Up

I've been sick for a while now, so I've been slacking in the blogging/taking picture department.  All of my energy has gone into taking care of/playing with the girls, and when they go to bed for the night, I get everything ready for the next day and follow shortly thereafter.  I finally broke down and went to the doctor this weekend, and I'm feeling much better after a couple of days of antibiotics.  I think I was prepared for the girls to get sick pretty frequently because they are exposed to so many germs at daycare, but I wasn't really prepared for how frequently I would get sick as a result of them bringing all of those germs home.  Oh well, I guess we are all building up our immune systems.

These two are always on the go, and man are they fast!  They are keeping us very busy, so for now, here are two (not very good) cell-phone pictures. 

Tannah has started standing up on her own for a few seconds, and it's so adorable!  She looks like she's doing little baby squats until she decides that she wants to move so she drops back down into a crawl.  I'm hoping to catch it in a picture/video one of these days, but it doesn't last for very long.

xi nian kuai le!

That's "Happy New Year" in Chinese.  Today is the girls' first Chinese New Year, and we celebrated by giving them the traditional red envelopes.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to go visit Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye to celebrate (hopefully next year), but my parents happened to be in town, so they gave the girls red envelopes too.  The girls were very excited about the red envelopes.  Of course, they had no idea that there was money in them as well.

Wei-Yand told us that you're supposed to put the envelopes under your mattress on New Year's Eve, and the money will double over night.  Of course, this only happens if you don't open the envelope to see how much money was in it in the first place:)

I should note that the girls have ear infections (again?, still?, do I sound like a broken record?).  This one has caused some swelling and goopiness in Tannah's eye, so although she looks like she has a black eye, she doesn't:)

A Special Gift

When we were in Michigan over the holidays, we got a chance to stop by my great-aunt and uncle's house to introduce them to the girls.  It's been a very long time since I've seen them - my uncle mentioned that the last time he saw me I was wearing a softball uniform, which means that it was at least 15 years ago.  Time flies.  Before we left, my aunt gave the girls a very special gift.  She has a Cabbage Patch Kids collection, and she was saving a few for her granddaughters.  She ended up with only grandsons, so she asked if she could give two of them to the girls.  I had several Cabbage Patch Kids when I was younger, so I was very excited about this gift. 

The girls are very into hair these days (they love to grab my hair), and they both LOVED the baby with hair.  I'm sure that the bald baby will get more attention once the hair phase has passed.

Snowy Days

It's kind of hard to believe that it's January, and we just got our first snow that had any accumulation.  Harper was pretty amazed by the snowflakes when I picked the girls up from daycare.  She kept looking up at the sky, trying to eat the snowflakes, and giggling.  Tannah was also pretty impressed.  So, I was very excited to bundle the girls up in their snowsuits and take them outside to play for a little while.  Unfortunately, their snowsuits, although adorable, are not very practical for playing in the snow.  We couldn't get the little boots and mittens to stay on, and the girls did not like getting snow on their hands and feet.  Their movement is a little restricted in the snowsuits as well, so that probably didn't help.

I think it took us longer to get everyone bundled up than we spent outside, but we tried.



Yes, I'm trying to replace a boot or a mitten in every single picture.  Sigh.

In other news, both girls are teething - yes, Harper finally got her first tooth.  It just broke through yesterday, and number two looks like it is going to be close behind.  Tannah is working on numbers 5 and 6, so we had some slightly cranky babies on our hands today.  Fortunately for us, they're very snuggly when their cranky, so when Wei-Yand and I are both home, it's not too difficult to keep the girls happy, and I don't mind the extra cuddle time at all:)

Dies of Cuteness

Aunt Brynne delivered again for Christmas.  These hats and booties are just too adorable.  Unfortunately, the girls have started trying to remove anything placed on their heads as soon it's put on them.  This does not bode well for us as their hair is finally growing, and we might start needing to use clips and/or headbands to keep it out of their eyes.

They also love to pull their socks off and chew on them.  I'm not sure why socks taste so good to them, but socks are among the favorites in our house.

Pancakes!

We've continued to introduce the girls to more foods, and they have shown us that they are definitely ready for more finger foods.  I made the girls pancakes for the first time last week.  Harper loved them, but Tannah kept throwing them on the floor.  Apparently she doesn't like pancakes made with no sugar or salt.



She does like yogurt though.  I mix in some fruit so it tastes a little sweeter.  This was yogurt with applesauce.

This picture looks sweet, but I think that Tannah was probably trying to steal food off of Harper's tray, and Harper was blocking her.  Ha!  Tannah tends to take whatever she wants from Harper.  Harper often just rolls with the punches and lets Tannah take things, so I always like it when she stands up for herself:)

Nine Month Well Baby

The girls had their nine month well baby appointment this afternoon, and I'm pleased to report that they are both doing fantastic (except for the fact that they both have ear infections (again, still, who can keep track anymore?).  They are both growing, but it seems like Tannah might have hit a growth spurt that Harper hasn't hit yet because Harper is back to being my little peanut.  Here are the stats:

Birth

Harper - 6 lbs 6 oz (30th percentile), 21.5 inches (75th percentile)

Tannah - 7 lbs 7 oz (60th percentile), 20.5 inches

2 months

Harper - 11 lbs 2 oz (40th percentile), 23 inches (75th percentile)

Tannah - 12 lbs 4 oz (75th percentile), 23.25 inches (80th percentile)

4 months

Harper - 14 lbs 2 oz (50th percentile), 25 inches (75th percentile)

Tannah - 14 lbs 14 oz (70th percentile), 26 inches (95th percentile)

6 months

Harper - 15 lbs 11.5 oz (45th percentile), 26 3/4 inches (80th percentile)

Tannah - 16 lbs 1 oz (55th percentile), 27 inches (90th percentile)

9 months

Harper - 16 lbs 14.5 oz (30th percentile), 27 3/4 inches (50th percentile)

Tannah - 17 lbs 10 oz (50th percentile), 29 inches (90th percentile)

Nine Months!

My babies have now been outside of me longer than I carried them.  How did this happen?  Sometimes I look down and them, and it seems impossible that they were so tiny just nine months ago.  We don't have our 9 month well baby appointment until tomorrow, so I don't have the official stats yet, but they are definitely not tiny anymore.  They are growing big and strong.  And beautiful.  They are so, so beautiful!

However, they are not becoming any easier to photograph for these monthly pictures (as you can see by the pictures below).  I used to take about fifty pictures to try to get one decent one.  I only got five pictures in today before I gave up because Harper would not stop eating her sticker.

This picture really shows Harper's eyes.  I'm amazed that they still haven't turned brown like Tannah's.

At nine months:

• Both girls can crawl and pull themselves to standing.  Tannah has started cruising around furniture.  Both girls stand holding on with just one hand.  When Harper first started pulling up to standing, I was her favorite anchoring spot.  She was so proud of herself when she stood up.  It made my heart swell with happiness to see her sweet face looking so proud and happy.
• The girls are still babbling away.  Their favorite sound is still "da" (much to Wei-Yand's delight), and they still just laugh at me when I try to get them to say "ma".  They've been experimenting with their volume levels, so we have a range from adorable whispers to ear piercing shrieks.
• They love toys that make noise.  We got some great new ones for Christmas including music table, an Elephant ball popper and a Simba rocking horse.
• They are in size 9 month or 6-12 month clothes.
• We just moved up to size 4 diapers.
• They sleep from around 7 pm to 6:30 am, but are still generally getting up at least once per night.  Mama is tired, and we're approaching the time when we're going to have to put an end to midnight feedings.
• Tannah has four teeth.  I feel like we've been waiting for Harper's bottom two teeth to pop through forever, but they still haven't made an appearance.
• We've started giving the girls more finger foods.  They got to try pancakes, cheese, and toast this month.
• We've started seeing a little bit of separation anxiety.  Tannah was showing a definite preference for Mommy and Grandma this past month, but Harper is still very laid back and will pretty much allow anyone to hold her.
• The girls have started giving "kisses".  This basically amounts to an open-mouthed slobbery press of their lips against our faces, but I think it's about the sweetest thing ever.
• Tannah initiated a game of peek-a-boo with my dad this month.  It was so cute to see her hiding her little face in a pillow, then peeking out at him.

They are such sweet little girls.  Every month with them brings more fun and more new adventures!

Family Time

One of the benefits of spending a whole week in Michigan was that we got to spend some time with my aunt and uncle and their family who live in Switzerland.  We usually end up heading out of Michigan on the day that they arrive.  The girls got to meet some more of my cousins:

Tannah and Emily



Zach and Harper

Tannah and Katie

My aunt takes excellent pictures, and she got a new camera for Christmas, so we also got some great pictures of the girls.

Snoopy was one of my toys when I was little.  It was another toy that my mom saved for the day that she had grandkids.

It was really nice to get to spend some time with them.  I'm hoping that we'll be able to get to Europe for a visit before they move back to the U.S.!

Christmas

The girls were up bright and early on Christmas morning, but we waited to open presents until late morning because my sister and her fiance were driving up from Chicago.  This is what Christmas looks like when you add three people to the family:)

The girls got to open their new Christmas pj's on Christmas Eve, and my mom was thinking ahead, so she washed them before wrapping them.  Here they are taking in the piles of presents waiting to be opened.

Another Aunt Brynne present.  So cute, but I need to figure out how to keep hats on their heads.

Simba was one of the favorite new toys.  You can see my Christmas present in the background - a sewing machine.  I have lots of ideas for projects, but now I just need to find the time:)

My parents hosted Christmas dinner for a big chunk of my mom's family.  My younger cousins had a great time playing with the girls.

We had a wonderful Christmas, full of family and fun!  The girls handled being away from home for over a week and being passed from family member to family member remarkably well.  They definitely made this my favorite Christmas yet!

Happy New Year!

 2011 was such an amazing year.  It's hard to imagine that 2012 can come even close to matching it, but I know that this year is going to be full of fun and more adventures.

We celebrated Christmas with my mom's family on New Years Eve, and as usual, the girls were a hit.  They handle crowds and new people really, really well.  As we approach nine months since they were born, I'm amazed by how much they have grown and changed this year.  I can't even fathom how much is going to change over the next year, but I plan to enjoy all of it.  Here's hoping that 2012 is even better than 2011!

This smile kills me.