13 Months

Several updates on the girls and a few things that I want to document before I forget them.  The girls are crawling around like crazy and they are so cute together.  They crawl a lot side by side or one after another.  Alana continues to be the more adventerous of the two and she usually takes off first with Kira right on her heels.  They interact with each other all of the time laughing and giggling.  The only time they seem annoyed with each other is if one tries to sit and they end up sitting on each other.  Alana ends up sitting on Kira a lot which is so cute. 

Kira

Alana

Kira continues to avoid making eye contact - this drives Jim and I crazy.  She will sometimes not look at us at all no matter how many times we call her name or tap her.  However, if you walk away or ignore her she looks directly at you and gets annoyed.  Alana continues to smack her chest whenever we are changing her clothes. 

We went to day care a few weeks ago and Alana had mastered the bridge.  It has one step up and a step down.  Colleen, Jennifer and Wendy work with the girls a few times to show them what they need to do and then they leave them to figure it out.  Alana would get up on the bridge but then she was not sure how to get down and she would get frustrated and cry.  Eventually she would fling herself off the bridge like a Soma wrestler.  The day care had to bring out extra mats so that she would not hurt herself.  She has now figured it out though.  Kira is still working on it but overall is not as interested as Alana.  The day care gave us a report card on each girl.  They told us the girls are the best behaved girls they have ever had and they see a lot of children.  They said they are gentle souls.  Alana was marked as loving her food (yes the small baby loves to eat!).  Alana loves to explore and likes to play with the other kids in the classroom.  Kira is not as interested in the other kids and mainly hangs out with the teachers or Alana.  They thought that Kira may be our book worm.  Lastly they said the girls are very nosy.  They are very attentive and if another child is getting into trouble they are all up in their business. 

Both girls are pulling up, cruising, they have 4 teeth (2 on top and 2 on the bottom), and they love to laugh and play together.  Alana is now known for her butt dance.  She likes to put her legs and hands down and stick her butt up in the air and move it.

Alana "Butt Dance"

The girls hold hands when they are eating sometimes and they pass food back and forth.  Food in general has been interesting since they are now on a full menu at day care and we are giving them "table food".  The messiest food so far has been the fig newtons. 

Alana - Fig Newton

Kira - Fig Newton

Lastly Alana mastered the stairs last weekend.  Benz was at the top barking at her which made her really want to get to the top.  When she made it all the way up she squeeled and crawled down the hall.  Kira sat at the bottom watching the entire thing but did not try to crawl up them. 

Today (September 1st) I showed Kira how to handle the first step and she was off.  The girls crawled up side by side and Kira made it to the top first.

The girls are growing up so quickly.  I can not believe how much they change in a week.

1 Year - First Birthday Party

I know that all parents say this but Jim and I say it all of the time..... wow where did this year go?  So many people say congratulations on making it through your first year, or this birthday is for you or you made it, now things will get easier.  However, Jim and I do not feel like that at all.  Other then the first couple of months (which were very rough due to lack of sleep) this year has been great!  I know we are super lucky that they girls have always slept 12 hrs. straight at night and that has a lot to do with it but overall this was one of the best years of our lives.  We do not feel like we survived it but rather we are sad that one year is already behind us. 

Every night we sneak into their room to check on them before we go to bed and we come back to our room shaking our heads that we still can not believe we have two beautiful identical girls.  The odds were so against us and we wonder if and when we will ever believe that this happened to us.  We know how lucky we are!

We appreciate all of the support we have had from the beginning and we are so happy that so many of our friends and family could join us for the girls 1st birthday.

We love you Alana & Kira!! 

Alana in the Frog 1st Birthday Shirt

Alana on left and Kira on right

Alana 

Kira

Alana

Kira

Daddy & Kira

Challie, Alana & Dan

Uncle Jason and cousin Jacob

Uncle Joel and cousins Justin & Jonathan

Grandma with teachers at SAS (Wendy and Jennifer)

Auntie Kristen & Kira

Melissa, Max and Adam

Mommy & Alana

Grandma and Michelle (traveled from Buffalo)

Great Nana Jones

Zoey

Aunt Becky and cousin Jacob 

Allyson, Ashley & Emma

Grandpa & Kira

Becky and Jacob

Grema & Kira

Great Grandma

Justin, Great Grandpa and Ross (Jim's work friend)

11 Months: Rolling - Scotting - Nose Scrunch - White Lake

Around 11 months Kira really started to get the hang of rolling over and she started showing a preference for sleeping on her tummy.  Alana can roll over but in general chooses not to.  Jim and I love to check in on them before we go to bed and Alana is usually just where we left her.  Kira is all over the place.  She rolls a lot but she also loves to stick her feet and legs through the bars of her crib.  We are very concerned that she will hurt herself but it does not seem to bother her.  We have to pull pretty hard sometimes to get her unstuck and it leaves red marks on her legs. 

                                      Kira - rolled over in bed for the first time that we noticed

Kira

Kira

Kira has also mastered the "nose scrunch".  She loves to do it when you take her picture.  It is her form of a smile at this stage.  Alana will also nose scrunch on occasion but Kira has it down pat. 

Kira

Alana

Alana

Kira

Both babies have started to scoot all over the place.  Alana moves around like crazy but she is always on her stomach and always going backwards.  Alana will even look over her shoulder to see where she is going.  Kira does not move around as much as Alana but she also goes backwards on her stomach or she has this new move where she sits up and bounces herself forward.  It is painfully slow but she gets there. 

We have had several summer vacations - one was to White Lake for Sandi's family reunion.

Kira in tube - Alana splashing at White Lake

Alana

Grema and Alana

Daddy and Kira

Alana

Kira

Alana

Kira

First Bike Ride with Daddy - Pull Behind

Daddy has been waiting for a long time to take the girls out on a bike ride.  They both needed to be able to sit up well on their own.  Since they have been sitting very well for awhile now we ran to Target to buy them both a helmet so that we could try it out.

It took Daddy awhile to get the bike and pull behind ready to go.  By the time everything was ready the girls were bumping up to their bed time and starting to melt down.  We tried it any way.  They both loved getting into the pull behind.  They were strapped in very well sitting on a seat and their feet dangled.  They loved scrubbing their feet on the floor.  Everything was going great until we put on their helmets.  We had tried the helmets in the house and overall they were fine with them.  However, in the pull behind the way the seat is the helmets pushed their heads forward so they had to look down.  They HATED that and started crying.  Once Dad started moving they both stopped but they still did not like those helmets. 

Riding down the road in front of the house (Mommy followed behind)

Daddy making sure they are ok for their first bike ride

Kira on left - Alana on right eating the strap

You can kind of see how their heads are pushed forward.  They are not happy!  Kira on left & Alana on the right

Daddy trying to adjust the helmets

We will have to find some new helmets for the next bike ride.