2009 - A Year In Review

2009 is over. It took a year to go by, but it's gone. It wasn't a bad year! I'd do it again in fact! It was such a big year for the girls -- growing up is exciting -- Let's look!


JANUARY

We both were back at work, with the girls at 3 months old. Grandma Ruth was watching the girls and Loki the dog during the day, at our house. This was when I ordered their SPECIAL dresses -- with their names on them.  Love those dresses still!  Of course they've outgrown them, but I still love them!

FEBRUARY

Our first (and so far only) night away from the girls, with my sister watching them at our house. Coincidentally, we're planning our second night away from the girls this coming February, only they'll be staying with Granny and Grandpa at their house. 

Kayla playing with the toy in her Bebe Pod chair, 

padded with a blanket made by Aunt Marilyn and Cousin Lori

Grandpa and Megan

Great Grandma Vogts and Kayla

MARCH

The girls started baby food! Who knew the messes ahead! Well, everyone that's that ever had parents before did - but not us!

Granny and Kayla, first time with carrots

Also was our first -- and so far, only -- trip to the ER. Megan had breathing difficulties due to RSV.  She looked so lost on the big hospital bed!  Of course all turned out well in the end.

Megan at the ER

Granny and Megan - they match!

APRIL

6 months old! This was Grandma Ruth's goal for watching the girls at home. She beat it and was still taking care of the girls.
Mommy couldn't let Easter go by without several special outfits!

Kayla, Megan

Kayla, Megan

Kayla, Megan

Kayla, Megan

MAY

This was when Kayla started sucking her thumb. She still does it -- Megan still doesn't.  This was when Megan started waving bye-bye. She still does it -- Kayla does now, too.

This month was the one time we left the girls with a non-family member. Two of my friends from work, Shelley and Laura, came over and watched them while we went out with James and Tricia for dinner.

Megan wants to feed herself

The girls started growing up.  No longer sleeping swaddled, they'd move around their cribs at night.

 

Kayla, sleeping

Megan, sleeping

JUNE

The girls' teeth started coming in --they both got the first four pretty quickly. No more came in until December!

They both started pulling up on furniture and standing. And falling.  Loki became more interested in the girls, and more interesting to the girls.

Grandma Ruth, Loki, Kayla and Megan

Loki and Megan

JULY

July 7th -- the girls' first day at daycare. We found a nearby in-home daycare that we still absolutely love! Grandma Ruth took care of them until they were 9 months old. 3 months past her 6-month goal! We can't thank her enough -- we're all forever indebted to her for doing it. We never worried when we went back to work. Well, we didn't worry about Kayla or Megan, but the girls can keep you hopping!

Getting them to pose for pictures just kept getting harder.  At least they had fun!

Kayla and Megan

Megan, Kayla, Granny

AUGUST

Cruising on furniture like they'd been doing it all their lives. They started wrestling. Yes, wrestling. They still do it -- they love to tackle each other and roll around together, laughing hysterically the whole time.

Megan, Kayla

Kayla, Megan

Loki, Kayla, Megan

SEPTEMBER

Walking like champs! Well, like 11 month old toddlers...

Kayla, Megan

By now I'm seriously into coordinating the girls' clothes, rather than dressing them the same. Sometimes it's challenging, but it's fun!

Grandpa and Kayla

Megan

OCTOBER

One year old! I confess -- each girl had three fancy dresses. One for pictures, one for the party, and one that they never got a chance to wear. It was my quest for the perfect 1st birthday dress!

Granny and Kayla

Megan

I searched and searched for the perfect pair of Halloween costumes. I wanted something that they could wear comfortably while we handed out treats, but that made a matched pair of somethings. I gave up. Unless a lamb and a bear are some sort of matched pair of somethings! They went to see Granny and Grandpa in Canton, but we didn't take them trick or treating. Too young for candy this year.

Kayla, Megan

NOVEMBER

The girls got pink-eye! Several times. They passed it back and forth. They shared it with mommy. They shared it with Grandma Ruth.

Their personalities develop more and more each day.  They walk everywhere now, except when they ride ponies.

Kayla, Megan

And mommy cut their bangs.  While their hair was wet.  Way too short.  Even Megan knew it was too short.

Megan

Kayla

DECEMBER

Then of course came December, when we moved to big-girl car seats and stopped using the infant carriers.

The girls enjoyed the boxes tremendously!

 Megan, Kayla

 Kayla, Megan

Christmas! Not their first, but the first in which they could get involved. They didn't understand who Santa was -- but they understood how to unwrap presents!!

 Kayla, Megan -- a Christmas kiss!

2009-- what an exciting year!  And here's looking forward to an even more exciting year in 2010!

Happy New Year!

Christmas in Wichita Pictures

On Christmas Eve, Grandma Ruth came over.  We got out the puzzle the girls had gotten from Granny and Grandpa Vogts. 

Kayla, Grandma, Megan

We had a peaceful evening together, until I tried to drive Grandma Ruth home. I thought it was too windy and snowy for her to walk through the yards. Little did I realize how big of a snow drift there was right in front of our driveway! We got stuck when we backed into it. We later learned there was a sheet of ice beneath it, so we were doomed from the start. Luckily, with a great deal of effort and the help of a kind neighbor, we got back into the garage and our neighbor drove mom home. (Thanks, Ian!)

If only Santa had come earlier, I'm sure the girls would have been happy to drive Grandma Ruth home in their car!

Megan

Kayla

The don't quite have the hang of it yet, but the did enjoy it when daddy helped them around the living room!  At the end, Megan did push herself backwards a little, so with a little more practice, they'll be driving like race car drivers!

Santa also brought them a "Choo Choo Wagon".  No longer in production, these wagons are treasured among parents of multiples.  When you have a double stroller, the kids are seated close together -- and the one in back inevitably begins kicking the one in front.  And grabbing bows out of her hair, in our case.  If you use a side by side stroller, you take up entirely too much of a walkway.  Put them in a big wagon, and you still have a shared space. 

Megan and Kayla

But with this wagon, each one has their own car (with seatbelt)! Each one can see more easily than in the stroller, too! Great for trips around the neighborhood or the zoo! But now I'm turning into a commercial for a product you can no longer find except on ebay and other used merchandise outlets!  It won't replace the stroller, but we're looking forward to using it this summer and taking them on their first trip to the zoo.

The girls did get the hang of unwrapping presents!  Aunt Karen, Uncle Carl and Cousin Nathan used pink and purple dotted paper - in keeping with our pink/purple theme for the girls. Kayla tore right into it!  No stopping them now!

Kayla

Later in the day, we changed into clothes -- and Aunt Karen loaned Megan her Santa hat.  Megan found a Wii remote, and was ready to play!

Megan

Uncle Carl loaned his Santa hat to Kayla, who had found another Wii remote to play with, and they sat with Grandma Ruth!  But getting all three to smile and pose at the same time proved to be a challenge, so I picked one where the girls were closest to ready.  Sorry, Grandma!

Megan, Grandma, Kayla

Cousin Nathan played the Wii, while Kayla just thought she was helping...or was she?

Mike, Nathan, Kayla

Uncle Carl and Megan had a nice talk.  We're not sure anyone understood what Megan was saying, but she was definitely engaged in the exchange and enjoying the conversation.

Megan and Uncle Carl

And finally, the girls proved the age-old fact, that kids like the box best of all.

Kayla, Megan

Merry Christmas!

Christmas in Canton in Pictures

It's always fun at Christmas time, to go to Mike's parents' house in Canton for our family celebration. It's even more fun now that all the kids are old enough to participate!

We shared a few videos in earlier posts, but a picture brings back memories in a whole different way.

The girls were wearing their pink and purple Christmas dresses to Granny and Grandpa's house.

Kayla

Megan

The girls couldn't wait to get in Granny's lap for her to read to them.

Megan, Granny, Kayla

Megan and Kayla both got pink KU Jayhawk caps for Christmas -- and even figured out how to put them on themselves, for the most part!

Granny and Kayla

Megan

Kayla wasted no time occupying herself with a puzzle Granny and Grandpa had given them.  She'd lost one of her slippers by then, though--but it didnt slow her down one bit!

 

Kayla

Jalen decided Great Grandma Vogts should hold all his presents, and nearly buried her in her chair!

Jalen, Great Grandma Vogts

Grandpa helped Jalen and Kayla with a little snack.

Jalen, Grandpa, Kayla

I think everyone enjoyed the evening.  While everyone appreciated the presents, the fun was definitely in the company and watching the cousins and grandparents interact.  When all four cousins were lined up on the couch, it was a wiggly giggly time for the girls, and the boys were an encouraging audience.  Maybe next year the twins will be as good at sitting still for a picture as the boys!

Canton Cousins Picture

Taking the annual cousins picture in Canton...

Christmas in Canton 2009

Christmas in Canton

2008 vs 2009 - The Cousins

Christmas 2008
Kayla, Megan, Jordan, Jalen


Christmas 2009
Kayla, Megan, Jalen, Jordan

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning with the twins!



The Choo Choo Wagon!

Twin Challenge

Can you tell who I am?









Now can you tell who I am?








What if I show you my sister?






I bet if you see us both together you can tell!



It's Megan on the left, and Kayla on the right!

The Twins That Stole Christmas

Last night, we enjoyed an evening with Mike's parents, Grandmother, and sister Linda's family. (We'll share more in a later post.)

The cousins were all playing with a play nativity set throughout the night. Evidentally, when we were packing things up, the girls decided to continue their play at home. We're sorry, Granny!

They stole Joseph and the cow.

Scenes in a life

For whatever reason, we seem to have a lot of random, girls doing something silly pictures saved up on the camera from the past month or so.



Not a whole lot going on recently, we're sort of just in a holding pattern waiting for the holidays. Had Thanksgiving of course, though I was stuck in town, due to being on call for work. Nice dinner with Ruth that day though, and some relaxing.



Girls have been doing good, though all of us have been sort of bouncing between sick and well since the first of November. Girls have both had bouts of pink-eye, or pink-eye type symptoms anyway, as well as the typical colds/runny noses.



Girls continue to be very active and inquisitive, of course. We still have them corralled in the living room for the most part, but this may soon have to end. They're definitely not happy to be left there most of the time, and are always happy to be allowed to explore other areas of the house. We still have to go to the "No No" once in a while, as seen with the chair, and also when getting up on the fireplace ledge, but it seems like this has been less frequent lately. Perhaps they're just instinctively being good for Christmas.



Learning continues as a frantic pace as well. Girls know what's going on when told it's time to get something to eat for supper, get nightly bottles, change diapers, and go to bed. Ironically they're always eager to walk down to their rooms at night when told it's bed time, only to be shocked and saddened when we put them in their crib. I suppose at some point they start running the other way when told it's bedtime though, so we should enjoy it while it lasts.


Girls have also learned to give hugs and kisses to each other, as well to mommy and daddy as well. Megan, as always, loves to be held at almost every opportunity, but lately has taken to reaching her arms up almost to the point of dislocation, whenever someone gets within 10 feet of her. Of course we cannot resist.



That's all for now, see you later!