Halloween and Santa Claus

Santa helpers!

Its been a very busy last month!  Alot has changed with the girls of course, they both walk now!  They took their first steps shortly after turning 12 months old and now Naomi is almost a pro at walking.  She started really walking in the last couple of weeks.  Keira is more cautious but almost there :)

Who am I?

The girls had a super busy halloween weekend!  They went to halloween party, went to the mall, then trick & treated around the neighbourhood collecting two huge overfilling pails.  Naomi and Keira got the hang of standing at the door and holding their pails up for candy.   Rick and I had a great time eating all the candy :)

Partying with 12 other kids!

Hanging out at the mall with their twin best friends

Its been super great weather, but I still bundled the girls when they are outside, here's a cute picture of them enjoying the fall weather.

Since I started working, time has flown by sooo fast! I can't believe the girls are turning 14 months old very soon!  I've decided to fully wean them at 14 months old using travel as an excuse.  It will be my first time time away from the girls overnight!  Rick is going to take care of them, I think he will do a great job!

I'm sure everyone is looking forward to all the videos rather than reading this blog, so here's a few cute videos of them toddling and FIGHTING of course, enjoy!

Remembering the Pug

Our blog is a great way for us to share our latest news with friends and family.  At the same time, our memories get recorded so we can go back and take a look from time to time.  And no set of memories would be complete without a final record of the former hairiest member of our family (a title that has now passed on to Rick).

It's been just over a month now without our little pug.  Tracy and I still miss him a lot, and we think the girls do, too.  Guinness used to whine a lot for food, and eventually the girls started to think that the high pitched whimpering noise was the noise a dog made.  Whenever they see a picture of a dog in a book, they make that noise.  And what makes us think that the girls miss Guinness is when we hold them up to the window to look out in the back yard, they whimper for him.  And when we show them videos of him on the computer, they reach for the screen.  Also, a couple of times they've thrown food on the floor and then look around for him.

The day Guinness had to be put down, the girls both gave him a few pats good-bye.  Keira even tried to give him a good-bye bite.  I know it's unlikely that they will remember him when they're older, but it's nice to see them holding on to that memory as long as possible.  And now, they'll always have this blog post to look back on.

I made a video, just to quickly look through the highlights of the photos we have of him.  We have a lot of photos of him.  He was our kid before we had kids.

Birthday Celebrations - Wow, 1 Year!

The girls celebrated their 1 year birthday with a bang!  They had tons of gifts so they spent most of their day opening presents.  They both loved playing with their tissue paper!

Rick threw an awesome party for the girls the next day.  They were surrounded by balloons, gifts, stickers, cupcakes, friends and family.   Alot of people showed for the party including their twin best friends.

The girls were shy caterpillars at first, didn't crawl or play as much as usual, but warmed up at the end and had lots of fun with their balloons.   Here is a cute video of them playing with one of their favorite gifts:

Rick's family flew all the way over from BC just to be on their birthday!  They had a great weekend playing in the pool on the deck, going to parks, and visiting the experimental farm.  The girls showed off their new skills by taking a few steps on their own ....the beginning of toddling and becoming a toddler :)

The girls had a lot of fun with their cousin Amber.  They shared toys, food and even baths!  Amber was a great sport at the end of trip, getting used to her toys being stolen, getting used to the girls stepping around her and having two heavy girls shriek around her.  Amber fought back by the end of the trip and even got used to playing with the crazy cousins.  Amber had a great introduction to home daycare :)

 Naomi and Keira are playing more and more together.  Although they fight a lot, they also play alot now and here is a cute video of them working together :)

Maternity Leave is Over!

I'm back to work!  Its surprisingly refreshing being able to talk to adults, have a hot drink, and eat a warm lunch.  I love being able to go the bathroom without having two babies after me.   Never thought I would say that I looked forward going back to work.  It was fun being with the girls but it was also very challenging taking care of two babies by myself for most of the year.  Although I miss my girls alot when I'm at work, the girls are doing great at home with the nanny.  

We recently had a 12 month check up and the girls are 80th percentile in height!  Talk about a growth spurt!  Each of the girls have five teeth and a couple more are on the way :)  I gave them some pizza the other day to chew on.

The girls also love playing with each other (and fighting too!).  Here are a couple of super cute videos of them playing in the crib:)

Standing on my Own!

Naomi is stuffing cheerios in her mouth through her hat :)

Who's Who??

Girls are standing on their own for a few seconds now!  Its super exciting because it means that they are itching to walk soon!!  Hopefully they walk before I go back to work....!!  Wishful thinking.

I bought two new costumes today, and they had a blast wearing them (more like I had a blast watching them).  Here's a cute video of them wearing their new outfits:)




The girls also love going to the park.  I discovered this recently when their great aunt and cousin came over for a visit.  The girls loved hanging out with them.  Here's another cute video of them hanging out with Daddy and cousin Chris :)

Getting Ready for Halloween!

The girls are getting ready for Halloween!  I bought them a cow and a alligator costume, but after getting the girls to try it on...they are too tall!  So I thought I would take a picture of them now that I can squish them into the costumes.  Their heads are way too big for the hats too!  Funny how Guinness' first costume was a cow too.  I guess I like cow costumes :)

I can't believe I'm going back to work in a couple of weeks!  I have mixed feelings about going back to work, it'll be a nice change of pace, but I know I will miss the girls soo much!  Looking back, my maternity leave was super hard work, probably the hardest job I've ever had.  Before I found out I had twins, I thought maternity leave would be awesome, I imagined that I could pick up and go everywhere with the baby, zooming away to different cities, completing my masters degree when the baby sleeps, and attending all sorts of  mommy and baby activities.  Boy was I wrong!!  Doing all of  that with twins was hard and stressful.  I did it all except my master's degree.  For sanity purposes, I'm glad I forced myself to go out alot with the girls even in the middle of winter but it wasn't easy.

Soothing two crying babies all alone when they are hungry or sleepy was hard.  Training them to nap and fall asleep at the same time without any assistance was stressful.  Nursing them every hour in the middle of the night was insane. Clusterfeeding them non stop for six hours for over a month almost killed me. Weaning them from night nursing left me a few bald spots.  BUT I'm proud to say that I did it and survived!!  AND for the last two months that I've had help, I finally felt like maternity leave was a vacation!

11 Months old - Naomi is weaned!

Miss Naomi is all grown up.  As of last tuesday, she decided to self wean in a happy fashion.  She was never cranky the entire day nor any other day.  She started drinking from a water bottle (few ozs) here and there and declared independency.  I was worried at first because she wasn't drinking nearly as much as her sister but after going to the doctor, there were no concerns, she was super healthy and hydrated (I have no idea how).  She would only drink 5 ozs in 8 hours and still sleep 11 hours at night!  This coincided with her learning to stand up on her own, cruise on furniture and learning to say no by shaking her head.  I feel bad that she doesn't drink a lot so I still supplement her by nursing her while she's napping and right after bedtime.  I don't know why, but she only nurses when she's fully asleep??!!  Oh well, she had all the signs of starting to wean, first by not nursing in public, then not nursing while she's playing, then not nursing unless its just before a nap/bedtime, and now only nursing when she's sleeping!  Keira is still ok but I feel confident that Keira will be ok to wean in a few weeks since she drinks more formula of a sippy cup than her sister!

Both girls are really good at pulling themselves up on furniture and climbing on furniture!  I think they will be walking soon, eventhough I don't want them too, I can't stop them :)

My new nanny also started today, its been great.  The girls are really comfortable around her too.  I think my girls are used to meeting lots of new people again.  Their seperation anxiety has disappeared again!