1st Year Doctor Visit

Playing hard


Nathan caught standing on the chair

Ella has a ponytail

Side shot of ponytail

Nathan going outside with daddy to get the mail

Ella's "way" of using her rocking chair


The babies had their 1st year doctor appointment last Monday and it has taken me this long to get the info up on the blog. Nathan weighed 20lbs and 2 ounces and is 28.7 inches tall. He is in the 10th percentile, but growing appropriately. Ella is 22lbs and 2 ounces and is 29.7 inches tall. She is 75% for weight and 50th for height. Amazing that they can be so different. Nathan had to have labs drawn because his blood stick hemoglobin at the doctor was low. He ended up having to be put on iron drops for a month and then we will have to recheck his hemoglobin. The iron tastes nasty. We put it in some orange juice, but it still is yuck. Luckily Nathan doesn't mind. Sure does make his dirty diapers dark brown/black. Otherwise the twins are doing well. They are climbing on everything. Ella can get up on our kitchen chair and both can climb up on our rocking chair. They love to be up high and look out the window. We spend a lot of our day watching for cars, garbage trucks, our neighbor's snow blower, and of course always waiting to see daddy come home from work. They love to get into every drawer and love our cell phones. We give them our old "real" cell phones, but they want our current ones. They are such smart little buggers. They love to eat and it is fun to watch them smash crackers and noodles into their mouths. They started wanting a spoon and so I scoop the food onto their spoon and then they put it into their mouths. Quite a process, but I know it is good learning skills.

I am happy to say that my good friend Carissa had her baby on last week Friday. It was a boy and they named him Hayden. I am so excited for her. Everything went great and he is a beautiful little boy!

Pots and Pans

Here we are tying to enteraitain the babies. Don't you love the noise!

Innocence

I was having fun looking through all the pictures and videos that we took on our trip back home to Minnesota. I remember taping this darling video of Avery and it struck me as I re-watched it how beautiful and redeeming is the innocence of our dear children. I find myself getting so caught up in the mainstream of this society's living that I often times need to stop and pray that God will give me a child like faith and and innocence like dear Avery has.

Christmas and New Year's

Brayden is excited about his new farm

Or maybe....Dad and Darin are just as excited to set up the farm!

Daddy Dan helping Avery display her Christmas gifts

Breanna is all ready for dress up, but we think Brayden will play with the heels before Breanna!

Chaos or fun...you decide

The brothers and sisters were able to get out for a night alone. Thanks mom and dad for babysitting!

Kylie showing off her new outfit

Avery doesn't know what to think of the crown

We called them the "triplets" all week long

Nathan taking a big swing of water from his sippy cup

Ella showing off the new radio flyer bike

Here we are with our sick babies

Nathan and Ella loved the new toys that come with visiting other people's homes

Ella and Nathan trying out their new rocking chairs.

Who needs a toy when you can have a box

Perfect size Nathan

The Stuive Grandchildren



Well what a whirlwind of events over these last couple weeks. We celebrated first year birthdays and first Christmas's and New Year's. I had to work Christmas and so the twins and Tim spent the day by Tim's parents and enjoyed watching the "tornado" of gift opening that has become a tradition of the Stuive grandchildren. We had to say goodbye to Tim's parents who are now "snow-birding" in Florida for 3 months. We cannot decide who is going to miss who more. Grandpa and Grandma missing Nathan and Ella or Tim and Alissa missing all their great babysitting and the attention the babies get from Grandpa and Grandma Stuive. On Dec 30th, we made a trip to Minneapolis to celebrate Christmas with my immediate family. Of course, relaxing used to explain our get together's before kids. Now we have learned to talk amongst the children, eat in shifts (in order to feed our children), try keep these kids quiet while other kids are napping (then vice versa) and realize staying up to watch the ball drop is almost impossible when you get up with your children at 5:30 on that morning!!!!! But all in all, we wouldn't trade a minute of the chaos as we watch the cousins interact and play together. Unfortunately, Ella and Nathan got a small case of the stomach flu on New Year's Day evening. What a hard thing to watch as your children dry heave and almost learn to lean over the bucket. Luckily, it didn't last long and they were eating the next day. Needless to say..they did still have diarrhea for a week after that. I feel bad for the garbage guy who picked up Darin and Tricia's garbage because those diapers were, well let's say, powerful!!!!!! The girls were able to get in a good day of shopping, the guys were able to watch a Viking's game, and us kids went out to eat without the children and actually had adult conversation. Thanks mom and dad for watching the kids so we could go out. We were also pleased to be able to witness Avery's baptism on Sunday. All in all it was a great trip and Nathan and Ella did great on the trips to and from Michigan. We are now home and back in a routine again. We miss family and wish we all didn't live so far away. I have realized how much more I cherish our time together and realize that I don't take it for granted as I probably would if we lived close to each other. We pray blessings in 2009 and thank God for all that he has blessed us with in 2008.

Nathan and Ella a year ago

Can you believe how small they were a year ago? Happy Birthday Nathan and Ella...we love you so very much.

Love,

Mom and Dad

"Happy Birthday" Nathan and Ella

We celebrated Nathan and Ella's Birthday last night. What a party. Nathan and Ella got to open lots of fun gifts and they had fun eating (or at least playing with their cake)! Hard to believe a year has almost past. We feel so blessed to have them in our lives and we cannot imagine what life was like without them. We watch them now walking around, kissing dolls, throwing blocks, standing on chairs, eating "adult" food and we wonder where all the time went. We want to thank family and friends for all their love and support in this last year. We couldn't have done it without you. Have a blessed Christmas with family and friends!

A week before their 1st Birthday and Christmas

Our Christmas Picture

Ella "framing" herself

Ella didn't want her shirt on so here she is walking around with a bare belly and her hat that she loves to wear

Here is Ella taking off her shirt.

Nathan with bubbles on his head

Ella and Nathan laughing at each other with bubbles on their heads


Hard to believe that the babies will be one year old next year. They are walking all over the house and I tell myself I can no longer call them babies. We have been blessed for the most part with healthy babies, although this past week and a half, Ella was either fighting some new teeth coming in or had a viral bug. She ran a low grade fever, didn't want to eat, laid her head on your shoulder most of the time, had nasty diapers, and had several episodes of throwing up. Not fun. I think she has finally turned the corner and hopefully we will have our fun loving, carefree Ella back. We have been also going through a bad case of "mamma's babies." And although it is great to be loved, it can be tiring when your children have melt downs when you leave the room just to go to the bathroom. Nathan is probably worse than Ella, but they both can be clingy at times. They do fine when I am gone (of course) and then the moment I walk in the door, it is like they have been abused and neglected all day and just sit there and cry. We had their first year pictures taken the other day and so excited to see how they turned out. We ended up doing a quick Christmas picture outside this past Saturday. We took it ourselves and it turned out pretty good. We are planning a birthday party this coming Sunday. I have to work on their birthday and on Christmas, so Tim will spend that day by his family and then we are heading to Minneapolis for Christmas on New Year's with my family. We pray everyone has a blessed holiday and New Year.

Ella and her baby doll

Let it snow..Let it snow...Let it snow

The babies first time out in the snow and trying out their new sled. They couldn't decide if they liked it or thought it was scary. Ella looked so cute bundled up in her snowsuit and since Nathan doesn't have one yet, we double layered him up in warm pants and coats and of course socks for gloves! Hopefully there will be some warmer days that we can stay outside a little longer and do more sledding.

Literally food everywhere

Nathan and Ella after eating their own banana. Nathan would squeeze it between his fingers and then rub it in his hair. I am sure it will only get worse!