We're growing up....

 and becoming little independent kiddos!  Look at all we can do now.


Leave this eating stuff to me, mom!

eating my Cheerios all by myself! 

Yeah, Cheerios!

YuMMy!

picking up bananas (his favorite), cheese, and lunch meat.

happy because I was clapping for her

     Yummy in my Tummy

Matt's great at playing independently going from one toy to the other for a long period of time. 

Something must be funny, Matthew? :)

He loves their new camera they got from Christmas from Great Aunt Mary.

He can walk along furniture and does it all day long.  Walking around and playing under the kitchen table is one of his favorite spots.

Peek-a-boo Mom!

I see you!

Trying to beg for food while I eat my lunch.  Anytime we are eating food Kate and Matt expect some too.

So proud of himself!

Can sit and feed himself.

Chug it down.

Playing together at their new activity table.

Great job standing up, Kate!

Turning the pages on the book...their favorite part of the table.

Bouncing up and down to the music. 

Way to go kiddos!

10 Months

On December 27th, the twins turned double digits...10 months!  Only 2 more months and our babies will be toddlers. We can't believe how much they have been learning these past months and enjoy seeing their little personalities come out.

Now onto the Christmas photo shoot!

Kate's lovin' posing for the camera.

Love this one.

They love to feel the Christmas tree.

Katherine Ilene:

Weight: don't know

Height: don't know

Diaper Size: Size 3's daytime diapers and size 4's nighttime diapers

Clothing Size: 6-9 months, 9 months and mostly 12 months

Sleeping: You are still sleeping 12 to 13 hours each night.  Lately, you have been waking up a couple of times in the middle of the night, but it doesn't take you long to fall back asleep.  We aren't sure if you're waking up from a bad dream or teething issues.  Your nighttime routine is to eat a bottle between 7:00-7:30, get your diaper changed, pajamas on, and then put down in your crib.  You must have your pink monkey blanket when you sleep.  When we put you in your crib you love to play peek-a-boo by covering your face with your monkey blanket.  We can hear you play around in your crib for awhile before falling asleep.  This month you have wanted to stay up and be a night owl with daddy.  We think you haven't been able to fall asleep as fast as you normally have done in the past because you're working very hard on trying to crawl.  When we go back and check on you we will find you in the crawling position trying to rock your body forwards.  You think it's great fun and screech out with glee loudly.  Some nights we had to put you in the pack-in-play in our bedroom so Matthew could fall asleep. 

During the day, you on average take 2 naps lasting from 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  You usually nap around 10ish and then again around 2.  You have been napping in the pack-in-play in our room.  We still like having you separated for naps to help you both get your best sleep since you might not always been on the same napping schedule.  You're new favorite position to sleep is your tummy.  You like to use your monkey blanket as a pillow.  You still love to sleep on your left side, too.

Eating: You are drinking 4 bottles a day ranging from 6 to 7 oz.  You have your first bottle when you wake up around 8:00, noon, 4:00, and then before you go to bed around 7:00.  This month the doctor said to start feeding you baby food 3 times a day.  You eat baby food an hour after your morning bottle, then again after your noon bottle, and then around suppertime.  New foods you have tried this month are avocados, cheese chunks, toast, noodles (mac-n-cheese), crackers, lunch meats, cake, Great Grandma's ice cream dessert, Cheerios, and lots of other table foods.  You love Cheerios and are great at picking up small pieces of food on your own and feeding yourself.  It's a great way to keep you busy.  You still aren't sure about thicker-textured foods and sweets (ice cream and cake).  You are getting better at drinking from the sippy cup.  You like the apple juice you tried this month.

Dislikes: You really don't like it when people leave a room you are sitting in.  You are constantly wanting to be held.  You don't like it when we wipe off your face after you eat.  The one food I don't think you care for is peas.  You still get very anxious when you see us making your bottle.  You want to eat right now when you spot the bottle.

Favorite Activities: Does being held count as an activity? ;)  You still love to go in your jumper or exersaucer.  If you aren't jumping in your Jumperoo then you're probably jumping in someone's lap. You love it when people play peek-a-boo and patty cake with you.  You like to sit and drink your bottle in your bouncy chair.  You bounce away laughing as you drink. Playing with the Star Stacker toy - you can take the stars off all by yourself.  You love looking at books and turning the pages.

Nicknames: Kate, Katers, Tater, Katester, Hamball, Punkin' Head, Kater Tot

Talking: You are babbling non-stop making so many new sounds.  It sounds like you say da-da a lot and now a sound like ma-ma.  Nothing official.  You still love to buzz your lips together - especially when you get upset.  We love it when you get excited and you make a shout of for glee followed by a big, open-mouthed smile. 

New Adventures: Daddy's work function party at Pinstripes, your first Christmas at many different relatives' houses, Christmas Eve church service at Fredsville, Daddy's birthday dinner with family, Christmas shopping with mommy at many malls, riding in your stroller without the car seats, having daddy watch you and Matthew for the day while I had a mommy outing with Amanda, and taking a bath in the big tub.

Teeth: You are starting to get in your right, front bottom tooth.

New Skills:  You have been rolling onto your tummy a lot more than usual.  You now can roll out of your bouncy seat and onto the floor.  You've been moving around in circles/side-to-side on your tummy to get to toys around the room.  You also just started log rolling as your means of transportation.  You have been trying very hard at crawling.  You went from rocking on all fours to doing your own version of an army crawl.  You can move too far doing your modified army crawl, but you're able to get to the toy or place you were trying to go.  You're great at standing but do need some help moving around and when you need to sit down.  You can open and close books and take objects out of a container.  You like to get back at your bother by stealing his paci away after he takes yours. 

Awww....such a cute little man.

Not sure why both Matty and Katers had to hang on to the rail for most of the pictures.

Look at my top, front tooth!

Toothy grin.

This is one of Matthew's normal expressions.  This is his buzz lips face.

Matthew Edward:

Weight: don't know

Height: don't know

Diaper Size: Size 3's

Clothing Size: 6 months, 6-9 months, and 9 months

Sleeping:  You are a great independent sleeper!  Much better than the previous months before doing the "cry it out method".  You are usually sleeping 12 hours a night with only waking up once in the night.  When you get put down to sleep you love to have your instrumental rain forest CD playing and be wrapped in a soft, fluffy blanket.  Your favorite position, and I think it's mainly your usual spot, is on your tummy.  You are never in the same spot we lay you down in your crib. Your nighttime routine is to eat a bottle between 7:00-7:30, get your diaper changed, pajamas on, and then put down in your crib after snuggling with you for a few minutes.  That's one of my favorite times in the day!  You have no problems with putting yourself to sleep and occasionally have awoken from your nap and quietly put yourself back to sleep for a little longer.  You have been taking on average 3 naps a day around 10, 1:00, and 5:00.  I am thinking soon you will move to 2 naps and not need the last nap around 5:00.  You're naps are usually around an hour to 1 1/2 hours.  So much better than those short 20 minute naps you were doing two months ago!  We're so proud of you for being an awesome sleeper!  

Eating: You are eating 4 times a day, but you haven't been drinking as much of your bottle as before.  You will take anywhere from 5 to 7 oz each bottle.  You end up finishing your bottle on the move while your playing around because you're too interested in what's happening around you then trying to eat.  After your 9 month check-up, the doctor said to start feeding you baby food or table foods 3 times a day. You eat baby food an hour after your morning bottle, then again an hour after your noon bottle, and then around suppertime. New foods you have tried this month are avocados, cheese chunks, toast, noodles (mac-n-cheese), crackers, lunch meats, cake, Great Grandma's ice cream dessert, Cheerios, and lots of other table foods. You love Cheerios and are great at picking up small pieces of food on your own and feeding yourself. It's a great way to keep you busy. You also love fresh bananas!  You seem to love all foods except for peas. You are still wanting to "do things yourself" by insisting on holding the spoon to try and feed yourself.  You get very upset when we try and take the spoon away from you.  Letting you explore the idea of feeding yourself is very messy and hard for mommy and daddy to handle, but we are working on accepting the mess. You still love your mesh food feeder and the teething biscuits.

Dislikes: Your #1 dislike is still getting your diaper changed. #2 is getting dressed.  You hate having to sit still to get clothes on or buttons snapped on your sleepers.  On occasion you can get a bit feisty if you can't do something on the first try.  You are still a happy kiddo who loves pretty much everything - especially if it involves people and playing/horsing around. 

Favorite Activity: You still love to crawl anywhere you can (tight spaces included) and walk along furniture.  You seem to enjoy crawling under furniture and playing in the bottom of the exersaucer.  Your favorite toys are ones that have compartments you can open and close and pages you can turn.  You enjoy standing at your activity table and exploring all of the doors, buttons, knobs, etc that it has.  You are still a little paci and toy thief with Kate.  If she has it, you want it, and you're get it.  This month you've enjoy rolling and chasing after your Elmo ball all over the kitchen.  You also like to be a helper in the kitchen and tag along grabbing at our legs, cub boards, or trying to crawl into the dishwasher.

Nicknames: Matt, Matty, Fatso-Mattso, Wiggles, Wiggs, Fast Eddie, Bro, Matt Man

Talking: You babble more than ever now.  You are putting sounds together that sound like a sentence.  You are making lots of new noises with your lips and tongue and a new face where you scrunch your nose up and grunt.  You like to talk with us like we are having a conversation. We believe you enjoy music.  While listening and singing along to Christmas music you would bounce (dance) and babble like you were singing along with us.  You aren't saying any official words yet, but some of the sounds you say are close to words.

Teeth: This past month (9 months old) you got your top, right front tooth. Your left, front tooth  is starting to come in now.  Teeth to date: two front bottom teeth and right front top tooth.

New Adventures: Daddy's work function party at Pinstrips, your first Christmas at many different relatives' houses, Christmas Eve church service at Fredsville, Daddy's birthday dinner with family, Christmas shopping with mommy at many malls, riding in your stroller without the car seats, having daddy watch you and Kate for the day while I had a mommy outing with Amanda, and taking a bath in the big tub.

New Skills: You are a pro at getting up and down from the standing position.  You are walking around furniture all of the time.  You can even grab onto one piece of furniture to another piece of furniture.  We had to start putting away items on shelves at your level.  You are opening and closing drawers a lot more.  You can put objects into a container and take them out.  Now that you are mobile you are great at keeping yourself entertained. 

We're 10 Months and Loving It!

hugs? :)

Smiling at Daddy!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy Birthday to the man in our family who holds many titles. They are:

* Son

* Husband

* Daddy

* Brother

* Grandson

* Uncle

*Nephew

* Bread Truck Driver - for those of you who don't know it, Kevin drives the expensive bread ("money") truck home everyday.  Expensive because, I guess, he tells me he has to support my shopping habits...what?! ;)

* Cool Accountant

* My best friend

Jokester

* Jingle Writer - Kevin's quite the singer around the house.  The kids and I enjoy our life as a constant musical.  The kids are going to grow up thinking all familys make every situation or household item into a song or jingle.

* Tickle Monster - He can get the kiddos giggling soo loud!

* Professional XBox Player....just kidding. :)

* Diaper Changer and Bottle Maker

* Mr. Spunk - Kevin advises me everyday when he returns from work (around 7:00) that I still need to be bringing the spunk. Ummm...this momma might be a bit tired from bringing the spunk all day.

* Piggy Back Ride Giver - Kevin's known with our nephews for his awesome piggy back rides.  There isn't a function without them.  Now our kids enjoy it!  It's adorable when wiggles gets his piggy back ride because he hangs on by grabbing Kevin's hair.

* Financial Advisor - He reminds me that just because something might be on sale, it doesn't mean it's always a good deal.  He especially keeps an eye on me with the items found in the dollar section and the register check-out area.

Thanks for all of the titles you manage for us, but most of all, we like 'Daddy' the best!  Kate, Matt and I wish you the best birthday, and we all look forward to the year ahead.  You're very special to us.  The kids and I agree, our favorite part of our day is when you come home from work and greet us at the door.  The big smiles found on Kate and Matt's faces are priceless.  You can tell they adore their daddy!

Happy Birthday from your three biggest fans!  We Love You!

Fun in the Willms' house

Who wouldn't have fun at the Willms' house?  Especially if you don't mind listening to Kate jabbering at the top of her lungs repeatedly (along with some crying because she's hungry and I can't feed her fast enough), chasing Matthew around the house, trying to control the wild mover while changing his diaper (which usually ends up with him crawling away several times...poopy bottom and all), looking for T.V. remotes hidden by little ones, and enjoying a meal with someone trying to share it with you. ;)

Anyways...here are some pictures of the twins.

Fun on the step!  The pictures don't really show how funny Matt looked just sitting chill on our living room step with one leg dangled over the edge playing with his toy.  The step is no longer a big deal to Mr. Crawler.

Loving life at my step.

Wanna chill with me, Mom?

Fun Computer time - the two are so attracted to the computer.  Well, they pretty much love anything with lights and electronics they shouldn't be playing with.

Listening to Mickey Mouse Christmas songs on the computer.  Thought the picture of them from behind was so cute.  Notice who has the T.V. remote in this picture....

and who now was quick to steal it away.  They.love.the.remote.controls!

Nice wide basketball stance in all pictures, Kate! :)

Fun in the bath!!!  We have officially retired the kids' whale bathtub.  The kids love to take a bath and play in the 'open water' now.  Kate loves to sit and splash/play with toys, but Matt prefers to swim around on his tummy trying to play with the drain plug (stinker).  Sorry I don't have any bath pictures of Matthew.

Splish, Splash..I'm excited to be in the tub!

I LOVE MY BATH!

We tried to make a Mohawk with her wet hair.  You need more hair, Katers!

Our little "bath princess"!

Dec 14th - A Year Ago Today

(This got lengthier than I intended, but wanted to document this day for down the road.  Picture of the kids with Santa at the end.)

One year ago today I began my journey on bed rest in the hospital.  It started out as an ordinary day.  We decided to switch doctors to high risk specialists since we were having twins.  The morning of Dec. 14th I went to my first doctor's visit at the new clinic, MPP.  They had wanted to do an ultrasound, a routine check, since this was my first time as their patient.  Kevin and I had decided to have me go to the appointment myself since it was a normal appointment.  This appointment ended up being nothing 'normal' to say the least.  And an appointment that helped save our twin babies!

During the ultrasound I had mentioned I was having some tightness for the past two weeks.  Thinking it was just the babies kicking or moving around.  The ultrasound tec said she could see something but was wanting the doctor to come in and check everything first.  The doctor came in and continued with the ultrasound for a bit more.  After taking a look at my cervix she discovered I was having pre-term labor (contractions not babies kicking) that was shorting my cervix.  I was starting to feel scared to say the least, but I was still a bit confused at what all of this meant since this was my first time being pregnant.  I was soon realizing I could really use my husband here with me at this scary moment. 

The doctor saw I was having some stronger contractions and wanted to hook me up to some monitors to check their strength.  I sat there in a small room hooked up to a machine for over an hour.  My contractions were very close together and not stopping so the doctor gave me a shot of medicine to try and stop it.  At first it seemed to help and the doctor was thinking she would put on moderate bed rest at home.  But as more time passsed after having the shot of medicine; the contractions started back up again and were still close together.  The doctor thought it be best to send me right over to United Hospital.  I began to panic and felt scared for the lives of our unborn babies but was trying to remain calm with just the clinic staff!  Kevin was working on the opposite side of the cities, so we decided to save time I would drive myself to United (located in downtown St. Paul).  I had never driven or been to this hospital before.  The nurse gave me directions the best she could.  Imagine trying to find a hospital for the first time while feeling panicked/scared to death about this new situation and then to add to it all St. Paul was under a snow emergency from the weekend's big snow storm (the one that collapsed the Metro dome's roof the day before).  Thinking back on that day, it amazes me.  I still don't know how I did that drive as calm as I did.  Thank the Lord for watching over me!

With Kevin's help talking me through the directions step by step, I manage to safely make it to United.  Finally Kevin was with me!  We checked in and was seen right away.  They admitted me into the triage unit where there I was immediately hooked up to monitors to check my contractions.  They were not slowing down.  I just remember sitting in the triage room, Kevin and myself, feeling scared and helpless at the unknown of our new situation.  During this time we met another MPP doctor who decided it was best for me to stay here at the hospital on strict bed rest. The doctor planned for me to have an ultrasound of my cervix in a few days to check the length.  He didn't want to do something now to disrupt it and have the chance of making it even shorter. 

I was 23 weeks and 1 day pregnant at this time.  The chance of survival for our precious babies was not good.  Here we were, finally pregnant but now worrying if these little babies were not going to make it.  No new parent wants to worry about this.  It's suppose to be a joyous time.  It was scary not knowing what the outcome would be.  We also had no idea how long this 'bedrest' was going to be.  I was thinking maybe just a couple of weeks and then back at home but with moderate walking restrictions.  The full idea of what was going on really didn't sink in at first since I didn't know too much about bed rest.  Over the coming weeks, Kevin and I prayed that I would continue to stay at the hospital until the end.  We knew it was the best place for me and our children. 

It's amazing to me to think back to this time a year ago.  Life was so different then, but now we have two healthy 9 month old babies.  Time flies these days with Matt and Kate, but in the moment for Dec.-Feb. it seemed to go so s l o w.  I'm asked by many people what I did the whole time.  To be honest, I really don't know.  I watched a lot of T.V. (or at least had it on for noise), visited with my nurses, enjoyed family and friend visits, but other than that I just was "laying there" trying to be strong (and stay 'still' as our family advised).

I definitely still have days, and I think I always will, where I will begin to tear up just looking at Katherine and Matthew.  I think back to how scared Kevin and I were for them for almost 3 months.  I start thinking about the many different outcomes that could have happened.  I see their smiles and hear their giggles and thank God for the letting us meet and be the parents to these two amazing kids.  I owe all of the credit to Him.  He gave Kevin and I the strength we needed, and He kept safe watch over Kate and Matt. 

This year I am so excited to celebrate Christmas with our families outside of the hospital.  But most of all, I'm looking forward to celebrating the twins' first Christmas.  To share in the joy of Christmas with them and start our own family holiday memories.  Who wouldn't want to celebrate with these two cuties....?

At first Matt and Kate didn't know what to think of Santa.  Both sat and stared at him...I'm sure mesmerized by the big, white beard.  We were surprised they didn't pull on it.  The true Santa test will be next year when the twins will be almost 2 years old.  If they are anything like their mom, this situation will not go as smoothly.

Merry Christmas!