Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The flu passed through!

Well, we haven't posted lately because the whole family has been attacked by the flu virus. Baylee started us all out on Christmas Day! Amelia started Saturday followed by Daddy on Sunday. Mommy had just a touch of it because she has been battling an infection from her surgery. All are feeling much better. The girls smiled their way through the flu, only crying when they threw up and when they didn't get milk to drink, they did not like Pedialyte. We hope that this is it with the flu. A lot of our friends and family have had it as well, so it is going around. Mommy will get out the camera, so she can post the girls in their new outfits. With the stash the girls got, they could go for a month without wearing the same thing twice. The girls have decided to start rolling from their tummies to their backs. Amelia managed this for the first time on Christmas Eve Day, right in front of Grandma I and Mommy. We both cheered so loud she got scared. Baylee didn't want to be left behind so she joined Amelia on Saturday. She was so proud when we cheered she giggled. Giggling has to be the best sound ever...the girls giggle all the time now. You can sing, dance, play "peek a boo", or just talk to them and they giggle. Mommy thinks it is adorable that Baylee snorts when she really gets giggling. Amelia loves to giggle at her Aunt Janice, all Janice has to say is "where is my little chubbie cheekers?" and Amelia starts laughing. We are blessed that they have such happy dispositions. Here are so more photos from Christmas!!
Amelia thinking Daddy is crazy!
Baylee thinking Daddy is hilarious!
Amelia trying to get a nap in with Daddy!
Baylee napping on mommy! Mommy loves the sleeping photos!

Friday, December 26, 2008

The Girls First Christmas Celebration

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Auntie Angie and Uncle Vincent's house for dinner. We all brought dishes to pass, we did garlic mashed red potatoes, treats, dips and cookies to decorate. We hung out before dinner playing with the grandkids, trying to watch a movie, decorating the Christmas tree and cooking. Dinner was delicious. We all opened presents later and had a great time.

Baylee sitting on Grandpa Nguyen's lap during the photo snapping session.

Mommy and Daddy's self portrait on Christmas Eve.

Amelia and Baylee showing off their head control on the floor at Uncle Vincent's house.

The Nguyen grandchildren. Tawny was happy to hold the babies and kept on wanting to the rest of the night. Nicholas is almost 3 and we were lucky to get all of them in one photo.
The entire Nguyen family. Daddy set up a tripod and we were able to get a family photo.

Auntie Alexis gave the girls some Christmas bears. Here is Amelia cuddling with hers.

Baylee cuddles with her new bear too!
Here are the girls posing in front of their gifts from Santa before heading over to Auntie Janice's house.

Another traditon we do every year is go to Auntie Janice's house and watch the girls open their presents. Here are Zoey and Brianna happily opening their gifts from Santa. Brianna liked her shrink dinks and sticker makers she got, as well as a Hannah Montana Guitar. Zoey was excited most about her Tinker Bell movie (Mommy loves the way she says Tinker Bell). We love to spend time with them on Christmas morning.
Amelia and Mommy opening Amelia's presents from Santa. Won't she look cute in this new little jumper dress???

Here is Baylee opening her presents with Daddy. She really liked the teether that came in her stocking.
The girls took a nap before and during dinner. Here they are cuddled up in their blankies. We all had a great dinner with lots of yummy foods, even with some burnt beans (they were still good), checking the rolls every two minutes and Mommy taking more than what she could eat. Our dinner consisted of turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, green beans, deviled eggs, coleslaw, rolls, fruit salad, gravy (mommy didn't do right), corn, cranberries, veggie tray and pickle tray. MMM...Mommy is hungry for all that right now.

After dinner, we all gather in the living room and open presents. There is a tradition in our family about who has to gather all the trash during gift opening, Kris Garbage. This year it was passed on from the Parrows to the Nguyens. The family with the youngest child has to be Kris Garbage. We were proud to be Kris Garbage this year, however we have a feeling we will be Kris Garbage for a long time because everyone says they are done having kids. We are hoping maybe someone will get another dog!!! Auntie Julie??? Here is little Davis talking on his new phone given to him by Auntie Janice, Brianna and Zoey.

Grandma and Grandpa I. opened up their present to find a photo of all their kids and grandkids. Earlier in the fall, all of us got together on a Sunday to get our photo taken to give the grandparents for Christmas. We all dressed in black, white or jeans. The photos turned out great thanks to our great family photographer, Auntie Joyce. What we found was funny, was the day we did the photo, our Aunt Mary was visiting from Iowa and wanted to see us all. Grandma called Mommy's phone and asked her to bring the girls over to meet Aunt Mary. Little did Grandma know but we were all sitting having lunch at Farmington Steakhouse after the photo shoot. We all arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's dressed very similiar. Grandma even commented on if she missed the memo to dress in black or white. Aunt Mary kept questioning all of us why we were dressed the same. Hmmm, well we pulled off the surprise and hey were very happy with the photos. Taking a photo of 9 adults and 8 children was difficult but Kari and Sean helped us out. We are all hoping they will take down the photo of the five girls taken in the 90's and replace it with this one. All in all we had a good Christmas!!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

2 more Santa visits and surgery for Mommy


Last Saturday all of girls got together to make holiday treats. We had a lot of fun, Mommy had to leave and go to the dentist to have a tooth removed. Unfortunately it was fractured and couldn't be saved. But Mommy bounced right back and went back to continue baking. It is a lot of fun every year to get together and spend the day baking. Marissa loved helping out, she unwrapped caramels, cut out cookies and just did everything we asked her too. Way to go Marissa. The photo above shows the girls in their holiday baking day clothes. The night ended with all the guys cleaning off the cars for a long time in very cold weather.


The girls and Mommy were hanging out at home staying warm so Mommy took more photos. This will probably be the last time this little shirts will fit so Mommy had to get one last photo.

This is a photo of the girls in their new stroller, thanks to the Solbergs. Mommy used to be their nanny and the also had twins so they had a stroller they weren't using and passed it on to us. We will be using it when we head to California in February. Daddy strolled the girls all around the kitchen, they seemed to like it better than their car seats.

Janice had her annual Christmas Program on Sunday. Her daycare kids sing songs, Santa comes to read stories and get photos, then we all eat some yummy treats. Parker played his recorder, Davis danced around, Zoey and Brianna sang their hearts out. It was a fantastic program. The kids sang "Angels Among Us" by Alabama and it brought tears to Mommy's eyes and Auntie Joyce. The kids do a Fab job, Janice really does a good job with all the kids.

Daddy's work had a Santa visit too!! Daddy brought all of us up there. Santa really loved playing with the girls. The girls cause such a commotion among the women, the girls disappear as the walk around with them. Daddy is quite the proud papa!!!
We are very excited to start the celebrating tomorrow with Nguyen family at Uncle Vincent's. Then we are spending the morning with the girls unwrapping presents, then we go to Janice's to watch Brianna and Zoey open their presents and have cinnamon rolls (a tradition that started on Brianna's first Christmas), then off to Grandma and Grandpa I's for our family celebration!!! Somewhere in there mommy needs to make the mashed potatoes and coleslaw! PHEW!
Mommy had surgery today, she had the rather large cyst removed from her ovary and a mass removed from her uterus. The pathologist results will be in on Tuesday. She is doing fine, just sore. We would like to thank Auntie Alexis for coming to the hospital and helping Daddy with the babies. Also, Grandma I and Auntie Janice for helping out tonight. Mommy should be back to normal in a few days.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Friday Night


Baylee and Amelia look like they have something up their sleeves, Baylee is even rubbing her hands together in anticipation!! Watch out Mommy and Daddy! The girls have taken up holding each other's hands, it is very cute!!! Sorry, cute mom story about to happen, you have been warned. Amelia and Baylee were laying on the floor under their play gym. Mommy left the room to let the dogs out, when she came back the girls were holding hands, turned towards each other and smiling. Mommy wasn't able to get the stupid batteries out of the stupid charger and into the stupid camera fast enough to take a photo!!! Big sigh! Maybe next time, or maybe when they start punching each other or "knock on wood" biting each other.

Today, the girls got to spend some time with Auntie Joyce while mommy went to her pre-op appointment. All is a go for mommy's surgery on Tuesday, her hemoglobin is low (what else is new) but all is in line. The girls had a good time with Auntie Joyce, Baylee was a little Diva, Joyce said she was rather loud when she wanted her diaper changed or when she wanted a bottle. Well, maybe she takes after mommy a little, not much patience. Amelia got to also cuddle with Cousin Brianna. Brianna loves to hold the girls, feed them, and play with them. Today, she rescued all of us from a ladybug in the basement. She loves bugs and doesn't mind them, unlike her Auntie Jill. Mommy didn't think she was going to be able to update the blog today because her laptop won't turn on, she was very upset because she thought she lost all of the photos she has on here of the girls. No, she didn't have them backed up :( She is doing that now, Daddy (former Geek Squad) came home and fixed it. Mommy was relieved!!! Mommy and Daddy took the girls to the MOA tonight to shop for shoes at Auntie Alexis' store, we found some nice ones but we had to have them put on hold because Auntie Alexis was swamped and needed to help all the holiday shoppers. She told all of us to come back before we left, but Baylee decided to spit up all over and wasn't very happy so our family made a quick exit (well, as quick as you can with the hundreds of shoppers running around). Mommy came home and made another batch of Honey Cookie dough because the one she made this morning was too dry (who knows what happened, Mommy thinks she lost track about how many cups of flour she put in between sticking nuks back in the girl's mouths). She is making the cookies for tomorrow's yearly holiday bake-off at Joyce's. Mommy always makes the honey cut out cookies, they are a huge hit and many of them are consumed quickly as well as the dough (Auntie Julie). All of my sisters like to come over and bake tons of treats for the holidays. It is a lot of fun as you can imagine, and we all have lots of treats to carry us through the holidays. Mommy will of course bring her camera, so she can upload some photos later. The holidays are so much fun!!! Busy, but fun!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Girls, Girls and more Girls

Well, daddy watched the girls this weekend while mommy worked and took some photos of the girls hanging out with him. The outfits they have on were given to them by the Nguyen Grandparents. Mommy thinks the girls look good in mint green, purple and yellow. Daddy says he is getting used to being with the girls and is feeding two at a time like mommy does. He does admit it is hard for him to get anything else done though.
Amelia giving her "I am not going to smile for the camera" pose.
Baylee thinks Daddy is hilarious. Can you tell Mommy got them dressed before she left (the bow)? Mommy is amazed usually Daddy pulls them off all the time.
Sunday night after all our commotion, the girls had their baths, got into their warm jammies and laid on the floor to laugh at a singing, dancing Daddy. Mommy watched from the couch and thought to herself, "They were almost not here." It is hard to get over that, Mommy and Daddy are so happy with their girls, they feel very lucky. Ok, mommy is going to stop being a sap now. As you can see in the photo, Amelia has very stick up hair and well, Baylee has started to grow some more hair. Mommy thinks the girls are realizing what we want when the camera comes out, they actually smile. Note from Mommy: these are her favorite jammies the girls have, they are soft and cuddly.
Mommy has been asked for some of her recipes, so she thought she would post some of the good ones. Tonight she made Auntie Julie's favorite:
Mexican Chicken Chili
2-cans chicken 1-zucchini (chopped) 1-red onion (chopped)
1-green pepper(chop) 1-red pepper (chop) 2-cloves of garlic (chopped)
2-boxes of chicken stock 1-small bag frozen corn 1-jar salsa
1-can diced tomatoes (14oz) 1-can tomato sauce (28oz) 1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp cumin 1 T parsley 1 T cilantro
1 tsp cayenne pepper (less or more depending on tastes)
Very simple-throw all of it in a stockpot, heat until boils turn down heat and simmer 30 minutes
Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese or eat plain. Makes a lot, freezes nicely.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Breakfast with Santa & Zak's Birthday Party


Breakfast with Santa-the entire Irish family met this morning at the early hour of 9 am at Rascal's in Apple Valley for breakfast. Unfortunately, little Davis got sick and had to leave after being there just a little bit. He has the flu, we hope he feels better soon. A buffet was set up with rather good food. Santa made an appearance and everyone in the restaurant sang "Jingle Bells" and then we got to get pictures with Santa, and hand in the kid's letters to Santa. Our photo is above, Santa didn't want to hold both. So, he made mommy sit down next to him, mommy then made daddy be in the picture too. The girls slept through it. Mommy loves them in their holiday dress.

Auntie Janice and her two daughters, Brianna and Zoey. Both girls are enjoying their strawberries. Zoey of course ate her donut first, me too!!!

Cousin Marissa showing off her strawberry for the camera!! Strawberries are rather popular with the Irish clan.

Amelia has some bonding time with Auntie Joyce. Amelia loves to giggle and laugh with her aunties.

After the breakfast, we headed to Auntie Jeni's and Uncle Todd's place to celebrate Cousin Zak's 12th birthday (actual birthday the 17th). Mommy can not believe he is already 12, it seems like yesterday the whole family was anxious to meet the first grandchild (he came a little past his due date). Here is the birthday boy playing with Amelia while she sits on Auntie Jeni's lap.

Baylee and Grandma hung out on the couch and watched the lights on ALL 3, yes 3, christmas trees Jeni has up in her home. Auntie Joyce and mommy were saying that Auntie Jeni's house looked like a department store, the decorations were FAB. Good job Auntie Jeni!!! We even took advantage of the decorations and posed the girls in front of some, the photos are below (first is Baylee and then Amelia)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Santa photos from the MOA with Grandma Irish


Here are the photos of the girls at the MOA with Grandma I. meeting Santa. Mommy is working today so the girls are hanging out with Daddy this morning. Wish Mommy good luck it is her first time being the photographer. Tomorrow is the big breakfast with all of Mommy's family, 11 adults and 8 children. It should be a lot of fun and time for some more snapshots, like mommy doesn't do enough now :).
Baylee is getting a bottle from Grandma, while standing in line waiting to see Santa. The blanket was made for Baylee by Grandma I.
Ameila is napping in line. She is cuddling with her blanket Grandma I made her.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Staying warm in this snowy weather


The girls were hanging out with mommy!! Of course, mommy has to keep taking snapshots. They really love to be sung to, read to or they love watching us dance around the room. They have both been laughing out loud, their laughs make us laugh. Grandma is home from AZ now and the girls literally lit up when they seen her today. Baylee kept giggling at grandma. We went with Grandma I to the MOA today. We were able to see Santa for the first time today. Amelia thought Santa was funny. Baylee didn't know what to think, she smiled when we picked her back up. It is so much fun to see their personalities develop.

Amelia hanging out! She is happy in this picture but today at Children's Lab, she was not a happy camper when they took blood out of her arm. Grandma said she could hear her screaming in the waiting room with Baylee. She did stop the minute Mommy picked her up off the table.

Baylee is cuddling with her blanket waiting for her turn in the bath. Baylee did a little better with the blood draw today~first they got it in one stick (usually takes a lot with her) and she remained calm as long as Mommy rubbed her face and talked to her.

I will upload the photos from today's visit with Santa hopefully tomorrow. We will be seeing him again on Sunday when our whole family goes to Breakfast with Santa!!!

Monday, December 8, 2008

What do they weigh?

Well, the girls went for a checkup today. There has been some debate on who weighs more and by how much. The official word is: Amelia 10lbs 13ozs and Baylee 10lbs 12ozs. They are only 1 ounce apart now. They are in the 20th percentile for weight, so the doctor wants us to stay on the higher calorie formula until they are 4 months old, which is in a month. I can't believe it. She also wants us to start cereal on their 4 month birthday, mom already has some in the house. They seem to get enough now with the extra calories so we are waiting on the cereal until they are off that formula. The girls loved the doctor today, they smiled and cooed to her. She was impressed with the way they have grown and is happy the jitters have slowed down. I also asked which kind of thyroid problem they had and she said it was hypothyroidism. Our doc and the pediatric endocrinologist (spelt wrong) think that we will be able to get the girls off when they are 2-3 years old, there is a chance they may have to take the tiny pill once a day for the rest of their lives. The down side is we have to bring them to Children's for blood tests every two weeks for the next three months, to make sure they are not having too much in their systems. Poor Baylee is a bad stick like her mom. Otherwise, all is good with the girls. They are healthy and very happy babies. Amelia likes to look in the mirror and laugh or talk to herself. Baylee loves to be sung to or read to. They both enjoy sitting in their bumbo seats and squishing some paper cracking toys my sister Julie gave them. They also love to stick out their tongues and have started to suck on their hands and thumbs (no matter how mom tries to replace the thumb with a nuk). My favorite thing they do now is turn towards each other and laugh, I can't help but wonder if they are laughing at me or planning an attack. :) No photos, mom couldn't find the battery charger :(

Sunday, December 7, 2008

A Fabulous Weekend with the girls

The Girls In Their New PJS

Well, the girls are now sleeping through the night. Last night, Amelia went 8 hours then a bottle and fell back to sleep for another three. Baylee slept a whopping 9 hours then a bottle and slept another 2.5. Mommy and Daddy didn't know what to do with all the sleep they got. In secret, Mommy woke up several times to make sure both girls were still breathing. The girls are very into smiling and laughing at everything. They are in love with any kind of ceiling fan. We just put one up in our living room, when we moved in we didn't have one. Mommy laid on the floor to see what the big joke was about but it must be a baby secret. :) The girls and Mommy went to a bridal shower today for our friend Jaime. It was a lot of fun and Mommy scored on some games. Mommy made her special spag. sauce tonight for dinner and Daddy rented a movie. We all hung out on the couch and stayed warm. We are all amazed by all the snow we have. Here are some recent photos.
Baylee Giggling with Daddy
Amelia Giggling with Mommy

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

December Already-check out our little "bear" butts



Well, it is already December and the 2nd at that. We have been keeping warm inside. We are hoping to venture out today to the bank, but hopefully Daddy can do that on the way home if he isn't putting in overtime today, Go Daddy!!! My goals for the week is to catch up on the laundry, keep the dishes done, cook every night, change batteries in the swing again and again and again (I should but stock in Energizer) and enjoy every minute with the girls. We have been trying to get photos of the girls every day. It's not that hard seeing how we love our subjects. I posted a few today. An outfit that has become a favorite of Auntie Julie's, hmm we wonder why.

Friday, November 28, 2008

We are thankful

Baylee Joy

Amelia Jule

The girls got all dressed up for their first Thanksgiving Brunch. We went to Jake's in Eagan for their Thanksgiving buffet with grandma and grandpa I, Janice, Brianna, Zoey, Julie, Craig and Davis. The buffet was good, mommy's favorite was the sweet potatoes, Davis liked them too. Davis really liked the buffet, mashed potatoes were everywhere. Mommy wonders what the floor will look like next year when we have two-one year olds and a two year old, bless the waiters. Everyone had a good time. Afterwards, since we had no where else to go, we hung out at the grandparents house. We took some photos with Brianna and Zoey too. Janice and Mommy played cards, mommy won more games :)!!! The Knochenmus' came over in the late afternoon, so we got to spend some time with them too. Then around 8:30pm Mommy sent Daddy and the girls home so she could go to Albertville Outlets to do some Midnight Madness shopping. Auntie Julie and Kari went with. We couldn't believe the deals we got at Baby Gap and Carter's. But we really couldn't believe the way some people acted, they ripped down displays, pushed and shoved, and cut in line to pay (Mommy got frustrated at this). But in the end we got good deals and were out of there by 12:01. Going early paid off, we parked right by Carter's. I don't think we will repeat that next year, the line was a couple of miles down the highway when we left. Mommy got $690 worth of clothes for $220 at Carter's, she is still amazed. It equaled out to 25 outfits for each(pj's, outfits and spring clothes). We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! We did! Our family is thankful this year for all the love and support we received!! Mommy and Daddy are most thankful for their two little girls :)
Amelia with Cousin Zoey

Baylee with Cousin Brianna (Cousin Zoey in the background and sleeping Papa)