Seeing Double

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Christmas 2010

We had such an amazing Christmas this year! Last year the babies were only six weeks old and slept through all of the celebrations. This year they were awestruck by everything that was going on. On Christmas Eve we spent the evening with my family. The twins went to their first children's Christmas Eve service at the church I attended growing up. We came home, enjoyed a wonderful meal, and got ready for Santa Claus to visit!

Before Christmas Eve Service

My little monkey in his suit

Mommy and Clara before church services

Our Little Eater - enjoying the smoked gouda before dinner

Ready for bed and ready for Santa to visit!

The twins were definitely on the "nice list" this year. We awoke on Christmas morning to a TON of presents for these two. Santa, Grandma, and Grandpa spoiled them this year! It was so fun to watch them explore all of their new toys and open gifts.

Clara loves the Alphabet Riding Train

George playing with their new front door learning center

A pirate ship!

A riding turtle!

Bailey enjoyed opening her stocking this year too!

Uncle Jay arrived from Atlanta in the middle of Christmas morning and the family was complete! We enjoyed brunch and more presents!

Uncle Jay!

Spoiled! Spoiled! Spoiled!

While the twins took a nap the adults exchanged Christmas gifts and may have enjoyed a mimosa or two.

Before we headed to celebrate with the Hadjioannou's we got a few shots of the twins with some of their favorite people!

A sleepy Clara cuddling with Uncle Jay

Grandma and Grandpa Quinn

Silly Uncle Jay!

Then we were off to enjoy the afternoon and Christmas dinner with John's family. We had a great time opening gifts, eating dinner, and spending time together.

Grandma and Georgie

One of Clara's favorite people...Aunt Christina!

Opening presents. Clara loved her new Maracas!

Uncle Sayed opening gifts.

George opening gifts with Grandma and Grandpa

George with the twins' new rocking horse.

We had an amazing Christmas this year. The twins were incredibly fun. We got to spend time with our family. But best of all, John's sister Christina is expecting her first child in July. Our family is growing and we are absolutely thrilled!!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Playing Catch Up

It has been a crazy 6 weeks for the Hadjioannou Household. Life is full of changes and that has kept me away from updating our posts. Here is a synopsis of what has been going on in our lives since the big birthday party.

Thanksgiving was a great celebration with both my family and John's family having an amazing dinner at my parent's house. The babies loved their first taste of turkey and all the trimmings! I think Clara sat quietly and ate for 30 minutes. She was enthralled by all the different foods. George of course preferred the pie. My little sweet tooth was definitely passed on to him!

Mommy's Little Turkeys!

Yum Yum!

George entering a food coma.

Fun with Daddy!

After the Thanksgiving festivities wrapped up the packing began. We put our house on the market with the idea that the average time for a sale was four months. Well, our house sold in 20 days. Very lucky for us! It has been a whirlwind though! We closed on our old house two weeks before we could close on our new house. So all of our things went to storage and we moved in with my parents. Their house went from a calm quiet home of two adults to a wild loud house of four adults, two babies, and a big black lab. God bless them! It turns out we will be here for awhile because we are remodeling some of the new house and want to get that finished before we move in with the now toddling twins. Nevertheless, the twins loved packing and of course love seeing their grandparents all the time!

Playing in boxes - Peek a Boo!

Hey, how did you get in here? This is my box!

We had our first visit with Santa Claus and let's just say it wasn't the most successful thing we've done. At first the babies were apprehensive and then it turned into all out fear. Clara was fine but then George started crying so she started crying and Santa joined in. Priceless!

We had a lot of fun getting ready for the holidays at my parents house. We all put the decorations and tree up together. While I thought having a Christmas tree/decorations and two one year olds was a disaster in the making, it was great fun to see their awe and amazement at everything. Children really are one of the greatest joys of the season!

Putting up the tree

Checking out the pretty ornaments

Fascinated by everything there was to touch and look at!

Two days before Christmas we closed on the house. We celebrated with our parents and a few glasses of champagne. We are so very excited to be living close to our parents. We enjoy spending so much time with them and the babies are being spoiled too! We have a big remodel ahead of us but we look forward to moving in in a few weeks.

Let's celebrate!

Our first family photo in the new house - George isn't into picture taking these days

New House - Needs a little TLC to make it ours!

And in the midst of all this craziness a few days before Christmas Clara gave us a great present! She started walking! So proud of her!

Go Clara!

Stay tuned for the Christmas post...

Dear Clara,

Your entrance into the world was definitely an indication of your personality...in your own time and in your own way. It seemed as if you were born with your eyes wide open. You were so sensitive and alert to the world around you. You made your feelings known. Eating was a challenge in the beginning, but you got the hang of it. The NICU nurses told me you would be a handful. I didn't believe them. Not my beautiful little girl, but in the end they were so right! We were beyond delighted to bring you home to have you all to ourselves, but when we finally got there we experienced lots of crying and not much sleep. This made for tired parents and baby. Once we figured out you had a sensitive tummy and got you sleeping through the night, your amazingly beautiful smiles began and haven't stopped. Don't get me wrong. Your strong personality abounds but at least it is a happy one!

Your dad and I could tell you were a smart yet cautious little girl from the beginning. We called you the observer. You seemed to drink the world in and enjoyed doing it. When it came to meeting milestones you took your time perfecting the skill with assistance from us before venturing out on your own. Even though you were cautious, you were an achiever doing it all right when you were "supposed to." Your beauty shined from the beginning. Your bright big eyes, full head of hair, and round cheeks are enough to melt anyone's heart. And have I mentioned your smiles? To your dad and I, they make the world stop spinning. You are the social butterfly in the family. You've never met a stranger and pay close attention to people. You love to be out and about especially shopping and eating at restaurants. Your Dad is in big trouble! You love your brother to pieces. You crawled first but once he got moving you followed him around like a puppy dog. You want to be near him, love on him, and of course smack him every once and a while.

At one year old you have one chomper, a few words, and a big personality. I love your big hugs and big kisses. You are a very affectionate little girl. I adore your persistence, fiesty yet social nature, and oh that smile! I am so excited to see what your future holds in store for you. Life is an absolute joy with you in it! Thank you my sweet love for making me a Mommy! I love you to the moon and back!

Mom

Dear George,

My world brightened the moment you entered it. When you were born your lips were pursed as if ready to give us a kiss. With your full head of hair you were the most handsome little guy I had ever seen. The NICU nurses loved you. You were so easy going. You ate like a champ. You loved to be cuddled. Their only complaint was you could ruin your entire bed with just one diaper change. Oh the joy of boys! You ate. You grew. And you came home to two very happy parents ready to take care of you all on our own.

We would characterize you as an "easy" baby. You barely cried unless you were very hungry. You slept well at night by six weeks old. You loved to eat but with that came the spit up. Gallons of it. I think it was normal to change your clothes (and mine) three times a day when you were little bitty. You were strong too. You rolled over at just four weeks old. You smiled at us often and giggled for the first time playing with your stuffed animal that looks like our dog Bailey. Love that sound! For a while you had a love affair with ceiling fans. When it was finally warm enough to turn them on you were enthralled. Your arms and legs would move all over the place as a huge smile spread across your face. Your Grandpa Quinn said when you grew up you would be a ceiling fan mechanic...if that even exists. You also loved your activity mat. You would go after the toys with arms flailing and legs kicking. When you got more control, you would grab hold of the toys and would not let go. When you figured out you could change the song by kicking the mat, you went nuts. You kicked it so hard it fell onto your sister! You could entertain yourself for an hour. You were a joy!

Sitting up and crawling were later milestones for you. I think you just liked the view of the world flat on your back (probably those darn ceiling fans). Once you got something, you really got it. One day you weren't sitting up alone and then the next day you were. One day you weren't crawling and the next day you were crawling so fast I could barely catch you. As soon as you made your mind up, you did it 150%. This should be an interesting trait as you get older. Once you were mobile the sweet little man became a mischievous little man. The fireplace, the cable box, the TV screen, the trash can, the cabinets all became your personal playground. It never mattered how many times I redirected you, told you no, or distracted you with a toy. You always gave me this sneaky smile and kept on doing what you wanted. Sigh. This too will be an interesting trait as you get older (as I type this your Dad is practicing his "mad" face that will scare you into submission). You also love the outdoors. Taking walks, crawling in the grass, or sitting on the porch make you smile. You already had your initiation with Texas Fire Ants. Twenty one bites and not a peep out of you. What a champ! You point at everything and say, "Da?" so we will name whatever it is that has caught your eye. Sometimes you even repeat the word to your mother's delight! At a year and a week old you have five chompers, a few words, and just figured out how to walk. You love your sister and you show this affection by taking all of her toys. Don't worry. She returns the favor.

There are so many wonderful things about you that I adore. Your goofy smile that frequents your face. Your persistence. Your absolute adoration of both of your grandfathers. Your love of exploration and the joy you display when you discover something new. You are the little boy that I dreamed of having. Thank you so much for blessing our lives. I love you more then you can ever know.

Mom

Monday, December 20, 2010

First Birthday Party

I am finally posting pics of the big first birthday party. It was a wonderful day and we were so happy that our best friends and family could be there to celebrate with us. Happy birthday George and Clara!