Christmas time is here.... and I am so excited! I've always loved Christmas, but it seems extra special this year now that we have children to share it with!

We started what will hopefully be one a tradition this year. We went to a farm and cut down our own tree! We walked around for a little while until we found the perfect tree for our house.  Despite the warm weather, it really put us in the Christmas spirit! The tree is up with lights on, and we'll do the ornaments tomorrow night.  Most of our other decorations are out, and our stockings are hung. It's so fun seeing 6 stockings this year instead of 4!

While at the farm, we rode the tractor-pulled train they had there.  It was a pretty bouncy ride, and Fischer seemed pretty worried the whole time. I think Addison enjoyed herself though.

Our tree!

Fischer riding the train with Daddy

With Addison on the train

We had a great Thanksgiving! My parents came (for the 6th year in a row!) and it was a very relaxing time. It's always nice to have extra hands to help with the babies, especially now that they are so mobile! My mom and I went shopping, and Scott and I even got to go out and have a date night!

Here we are on our very first Thanksgiving with Addison and Fischer!

While my parents were here, Addison and Fischer got to take a bubble bath...

Addison got some help with walking...

And of course they got lots of hugs and kisses...

This morning, when my parents were getting ready to leave, they were saying their good-byes.  My dad was holding Fischer and said "bye-bye!" and Fischer said "baa-baa." I think he was just repeating the sounds, but it was exciting to hear!! He is saying "da da" and "baa baa" a lot, while Addison is saying "ma ma" and squealing most of the day.

Addison is pulling up and standing more than she is crawling now. Yesterday, she was in her "baby jail" holding onto the bars, and actually stepped around the corner and brought her feet back together! She seems very determined to be an early walker... we'll see if it happens or not soon enough!

Here they are saying bye to Grandma and Grandpa this morning. Addison is laughing and squealing.

We are so thankful for our family, especially our two very healthy babies! We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  To celebrate, we had craft time and made hats for everyone to wear. Here are Addison and Fischer in theirs...

As you know, Addison and Fischer were 9 months old yesterday! To mark the occasion, they had a couple of firsts:

We went to the store for our Thanksgiving shopping and they actually wore shoes!! We never put shoes on them to go out, but decided to yesterday. And, they actually kept them on!

We also let them have their first bath together, with toys and everything! Now that they can both sit up really well, it makes it much easier to do baths together. We will still do their normal baths alone but this was more of a fun bath. They loved it, and Fischer even cried when we took him out.

Today, they discovered a new place to play...

As usual, the babies are still doing something new almost everyday! Fischer has started making noises with his tongue, similar to what sucking your teeth would sound like (if you know what that is). I think he's even clicked it on the roof of his mouth a couple of times. It's pretty funny and he does it a lot now. If we do it to him, he usually does it back.  I am loving that they are starting to do stuff back to us! It makes me feel a little less ridiculous when I'm making weird noises and faces. :)

It has been a big birthday weekend around here! Scott's birthday was yesterday, and Addison and Fischer are 9 months today.

For Scott's birthday, we went to a Birds of Prey Center in Awendaw. THat's what he wanted to do, so it was like a field trip. It was a lot of fun! They had all kinds of birds there, and even did a flight demonstration.  Addison and Fischer liked it when the birds were flying around, but didn't pay much attention to the birds that were sitting still. Addison, especially, loved the flight demonstration!

 Here are Scott and the babies with the bald Eagle....

The babies found some pine straw to play with (meaning they tried to eat it) while we waited for the flight demonstration to start...

We tried to get a family selfer.... poor Fischer only got part of his face in it, and Addison looks mad!

After that, we came home and had a nice birthday dinner at home. The babies sat in their high chairs while we ate and had some puffs and a little bit of our rice!

Today, the babies are 9 months old.  Because of Thanksgiving, they won't be going for their 9 month check up until December 3. I am curious to see how tall they are and how much they weigh! Their newest thing is to yell back and forth to each other. Fischer will do a loud "AAAHHHH" and the Addison does it back. It's pretty funny! Here they are this morning playing in their new favorite spot - the kitchen!

Addison and Fischer say Happy Birthday to their Daddy!!!!!

We are learning very quickly that our little angelic babies can also be quite destructive. Yesterday, Scott discovered this...

That part with just a little bit of yellow is supposed to be all yellow. Addison and Fischer have somehow gotten the decal off, piece by piece, and eaten it. Or, we are assuming they are eating it because we haven't found the little pieces anywhere.

Also, this is a daily struggle with them....

This is the flooring of their "baby jail." They have figured out how to lift the end pieces and I find them chewing on it. This happens everyday. Fischer will usually stop when I say "No, Fischer!" but Addison just looks at me and keeps chewing.  Luckily they haven't eaten any of this yet.

And of course they are chewing on their board books and those are slowly coming apart. It's a good thing we don't let them play with regular paper books yet!

And here they are playing nicely in the jail, with their pelican toy in the background...

Today, we went to play with some triplet friends! They will be a year old in a few weeks, which means there were 5 very mobile babies and only 2  mommies! It was a lot of fun though! I was interested to see how Addison and Fischer interacted with other babies... at first all 5 kind of stared at each other. They slowly began to play with the same toys, crawl over each other, etc. We are hopefully going to their first birthday party so they can play again!

In other baby news... Addison has started saying some new sounds this week! These include ba, ma, and na. She only says them when she is upset and/or crying though, so it comes out more like "Aaah na na na, aaaaah, ma ma ma, aaaah, ba, aah, da" and so on. :) I'm still excited she is finally saying "ma ma" mixed in with all of the other sounds.

Also, both babies now think it's very funny to throw their pacis out of the crib so Bo will get them. We've had a problem with Bo getting them off the floor and not wanting to give them back.  So now that the babies are willingly giving their pacis to Bo, the problem isn't getting much better. Addison laughs so hard when she sees Bo holding her paci in his mouth. I guess this is just another reason to get rid of the pacis sooner rather than later! They are just getting them in their cribs, car seats and stroller now, so I suppose we are making some progress.  Our goal is to have them completely off by their birthday, so we have a little time...

Today, November 17, is Prematurity Awareness Day. You can go to www.marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies to learn more!

When I got pregnant, I didn't think I would have premature babies. I did think they would come a little early, which is normal for twins. I was hoping they would come around 37 or 38 weeks. Instead they were born at 35 weeks. We were very lucky that Addison and Fischer had to go to the Level 2 nursery rather than the NICU. And they spent only 8 days in the hospital.  Their main challenge while there was learning to suck. They can't be sent home until they can drink from a bottle. Until they learned how to do that, they were fed through a feeding tube that went in through their noses. They finally showed the nurses they were ready to remove the tubes permanently when they both pulled out their tubes on the same night!

Things could have been much different for us.  I went into preterm labor at 28 weeks, and spent the next 7 weeks on bedrest.  I was 4 cm dilated at 28 weeks, so I think everyone thought the babies were coming very soon. The babies stayed in long enough so I could receive the 2 steroid shots, and then they stayed in for much, much longer.

While it was hard to go home without our babies, we knew they were getting the best care possible while in the hospital. And there is something comforting knowing they are being watched 24 hours a day. Bringing them home was scary, but also very exciting.  Our main challenge when we got home was keeping them warm. They were still very small so it really was a challenge!

I am thankful for the March of Dimes and the research they do. Without it, I think our lives would be much different right now! Here are some then-and-now pictures!

As you know, Fischer does not crawl on his hands and knees, but scoots around on his stomach.  When he crawls like this, he pushes off on his elbows and wrists. Today I saw a tiny little bruise on one of his wrists. He doesn't seem bothered by it, but I hate that he's bruishig himself! It certainly didn't slow him down at all today.

Also, because of his crawling style, his diapers have started to leak. Since he slides along on his stomach, it slowly loosens and pulls down the front of his diaper, and before we know it, his clothes are soaking wet.  I am going to have to start tightening the tabs every so often while he's crawling in between diaper changes. He had to change clothes 3 times today!

On another note, I managed to get a picture of his little teeth - you can sort of see them in this picture. Scott had to make him laugh while I took the picture.

Today was such a nice day, so we took the babies back to the swings in our neighborhood. They were still a little small last time we took them, but they did pretty well today.  Addison really liked sitting all the way forward in the swing, and of course she was smiling until I got out the camera and then she stopped, but they both seemed to have a good time!

I've been letting the babies explore the house more and more now that they are crawling. It's good exercise for them, and it keeps them entertained for awhile. They were staying in the kitchen but they are getting brave and taking off into the other rooms! I've had to bring in the baby gate (that we bought for the dogs) and put it at one entrance of our kitchen. At least that keeps them a little bit contained.  The other side of our kitchen is very open to the living room so there really isn't a good way to block that off, except for buying one of the extra long baby gates.

You would think the hard floors would slow them down a little, but they don't even seem to notice.  Last night, they discovered that they could see outside through the kitchen door, so they sat and watched Sassy eat her dinner.

And here they are going in opposite directions (of course):

They also had some puffs in their highchairs, and I gave them each a spoon to practice/play with:

And Bo and Sassy were waiting on some food to fall:

Putting them in their highchairs with some puffs is a nice way of keeping them in once spot for at least 15 minutes! It keeps them entertained and I am able to sit for a minute or two.  Scott gets home today - he's been gone since Tuesday morning.  I know I'm ready to have an extra pair of hands and Addison and Fischer are ready to see their Daddy!

I finally got Addison and Fischer on video while crawling - each in their own way :) 

Addison and Fischer recently had their pictures taken! They are finally up online. If you want to look at them, go to www.blueskypictures.org, then click on Order Online at the bottom of the screen. Then click on Komarnicki. Just enter your email where it asks for the password, and then you can look at the pictures! We are very pleased with how they turned out! I'm already planning our next photo shoot. :) 

It's Veteran's Day. A day to remember and thank those who have served, or are serving, our country! 

Since it's Veteran's Day, I thought it would be a good time to tell you a little history about Scott and me.  We met in May, 2002. My friend Melissa and I moved into a duplex and he lived next door! We became friends but didn't start dating until nearly a year later in March, 2003. After dating for only 9 months, we got engaged in December. Those who know me know that I love weddings, so I began to plan immediately.  We set a date for October 23, 2004 - a fall wedding had always been a dream of mine! 

Our plans changed in January. Scott was in the Navy Reserves (a Navy Seabee), so we really weren't expecting him to get deployed.  He got the news in January that he would have to go somewhere. At first he heard it would be Rota, Spain, and this didn't seem so bad! I was even excited about the chance to go to Spain.  However, he then found out he'd be going to Iraq, and leaving in February. He called me at work to tell me the news (why he called me at work, I'll never know!) and I had to be sent home early. I couldn't think, and it's all I could do to talk. I probably shouldn't have even driven home! 

We discussed the possibility of getting married before he left. This would make things easier on me (I could get information on him easier as his wife), and we thought it would be something special to do.  We weren't 100% sure yet, but went ahead and got our marriage license, just incase.  Scott found out that he'd be going to Mississippi for training on February 27, 2004, then he would leave from there for Iraq sometime in March.  He called me at work (again!) on Thursday, February 19 and said that if we wanted to get married in time for all the paperwork to go through, it'd have to be done by Friday - the next day!!! We had already decided by this point it was something we wanted to do, so we had to act fast. I called Melissa, and we went to the mall so I could buy something that would be my wedding dress! 

Scott and I lived in Columbia at the time, so on Friday we drove to Kiawah Island so we could get married on the beach. I never imagined that I would be riding to my wedding (after a wedding lunch at Hardee's) with my husband-to-be.  At first we were going to have family and close friends there, but the number of people coming got very large, so we decided that it would just be the 2 of us. We knew we wanted to do a bigger wedding once he got home, so we told everyone that they would be invited to that one to help us celebrate.  So, at 5:00 p.m. on February 20, 2004, we got married right by the water.  My mom had ordered white tulips to be delivered to our hotel so that I would have flowers to carry. And while we were having the ceremony, a photographer happened to be walking up and down the beach taking pictures of the scenery, so he offered to take pictures for us. He sent them to us with the negatives for free. Thank God for him, or we would not have any pictures of that day except for the couple we took with our own camera. We then celebrated with dinner. We spent the night in Kiawah Island, then had to head home the next day. This was certainly not the wedding I'd always dreamed of as a little girl, but it was very special and very personal since it was just the two of us there.

A week later, Scott left for Gulfport, Mississippi. I was able to go see him once there before he left for Iraq. He left in March and was stationed in Fallujah, Iraq for 7 months. We were lucky because he had access to email, so I at least got an email from him almost everyday. He returned to Mississippi, then got to come home to Columbia in October! I was in Mississippi waiting for him when he got off the plane. I'm pretty sure that was the happiest day of my life (other than Addison and Fischer being born). 

While he was gone, I planned our "reaffirmation" ceremony, which was on April 2, 2005, complete with a huge celebration/reception!  We had a wonderful time with our friends and family that day! 

I am very proud of Scott for what he did for our country, and I know Addison and Fischer will be once they are old enough to understand what he did! 

When I took Fischer to the doctor a few weeks ago about his ear, the doctor gave me a pamphlet on teething.  It turned out that his ear was bothering him because of his teeth.  I read the pamphlet when I got home to see if there was anything new I hadn't already read online about teething.  This pamphlet basically said that teething does not cause fussiness, fever, loss of sleep, loss of appetite or any of the other symptoms that people talk about.

I would just like to say that whoever wrote that information must not have had children. I'm sure not all babies have all symptoms, but I wouldn't say that they never happen. I can tell you that teething makes Fischer fussy. Very fussy. And if it weren't for motrin, he wouldn't be sleeping well. I can only imagine how it will be when Addison's teeth start breaking through, because she's our fussy one! 

Anyway, I am writing this because Fischer's second tooth broke through today! So for right now, the teething score is: Fischer - 2, Addison - 0. 

Tonight we let Addison and Fischer try mashed potatoes for the first time. They sat in their high chairs and "ate" while we ate our dinner. They enjoyed playing in it, and even managed to get some in their mouths!

Afterwards, they were playing in their cribs, and Scott and Addison started playing a little game. I caught part of it on video - you can't see her very well but you can hear her adorable laugh!

It was really nice during the day yesterday, so Scott decided to set up the tent in the backyard so Addison and Fischer could play in it.  We stayed out there for about 45 minutes, and they seemed to enjoy having somewhere new to play! Bo had fun running in and out of the tent.

Then, last night, we had a little fire in our backyard.  We bundled the babies up and sat by it for a few minutes. I guess it was a fake "camp out" kind of day!

Also yesterday, I let them play on the kitchen floor for the first time.  They, of course, kept going after Bo and Sassy's water bowl.  Addison was crawling really well, even on the slippery floor! I guess this really does make her an official crawler now. She is also trying to pull up on anything and everything, which makes me a nervous wreck, because most of the things she is trying to use aren't sturdy. I am having to watch her very closely all day long!  Fischer is having some pretty fussy moments because of his tooth, but hopefully he starts feeling better soon. He's sleeping well at night though, so that's good. I think the Motrin helps him feel better, at least for a little while.  It's still just the tiny point of the tooth for right now.

Both babies are sleeping pretty well at night! If they wake up, it's just once... hopefully typing that didn't jinx us for tonight. Addison did wake up the other night crying/screaming, as if something was very wrong. Scott went in there, and she was sitting up in the corner of her crib with her paci in her mouth.  We think she must have sat up in her sleep, then woke up not knowing where she was. He quickly got her calmed down and back to sleep though.

Here is a picture from the other day when they were crawling around our bedroom.  They discovered our closet, and then my shoes...

This morning when I was thinking about doing a post for today, I couldn't really think of much to write about.  Now the babies are in bed and I have quite a few things to write about! It was a big day in the Komarnicki house.

We were playing on the floor this morning, and both babies were all over the place, as usual.  They are getting faster and more curious by the day, which means I'm getting more and more exercise.  So, while we were playing, Addison got up on her hands and knees and crawled all the way across the room!! I was so proud, and so excited. I even managed to get part of it on video, which I then accidently erased. Anyway, I tried to get her to do it again (by placing my cell phone on the floor as incentive) but she would only do a "step" or two.  As the day went on, she was crawling more and more! Fischer is still faster than her though (he beat her to the cell phone that I put on the floor).

While we were playing, Fischer got increasingly fussy. I figured he was just getting tired and hungry, since it was getting close to lunch time.  They ate lunch and napped for about two hours. After their nap, we were playing again and I noticed Fischer's bottom gum looked a little red. I went and washed my hands, felt the gum, and sure enough - there was a tooth!!! It must have come through the gum during his nap because it wasn't there this morning. It's just a tiny point of a tooth, but still a tooth! It's so sharp, but I kept sticking my finger is his mouth so he could bite on it. He was pretty fussy for the rest of the day, despite giving him teething tablets, orajel and teething rings.  We gave him some motrin tonight, so hopefully he sleeps peacefully.  Just like I was proud of Addison crawling, I was proud of Fischer for having a tooth. I know he didn't really do anything, but it still made me proud! I can't wait to see how big the tooth is in the morning!

I'm reminded everyday of how fast they are growing by moments like these!

Yesterday we went to the Coastal Carolina fair.  The weather was perfect, so it was nice to be outside. I think Addison and Fischer enjoyed watching the rides go up and down, and around! They also seemed to do a lot of people-watching, and got their first taste of ice cream. Scott gave them a little bit of his vanilla ice cream on his finger... they seemed more confused than anything. It got a little chilly when the sun went down, and we left shortly after that.

I think both babies are becoming more mobile by the day. Fischer is still perfecting his low crawling, and hasn't even tried getting on his hands and knees. I've tried putting him in that position, but he isn't interested.  Addison is showing interest in the "real" crawling again... she is rocking back and forth again and has actually taken 2 or 3 "steps" on her hands and knees on several occasions.

In addition to becoming more mobile, they are becoming much more verbal. The other day, they were both babbling loudly at the same time... it made me think ahead to when they will both be talking. I'm sure it will stay loud around our house when that happens.  They were up bright and early at 6:15 this morning talking... it's pretty funny to listen to them on the monitor.

They have adjusted pretty well to the time change, aside from being up at 6:15 now. We adjusted their feeding just a tiny bit on the first day, but we are now back to our normal schedule. I'm still getting used to it getting dark so early.  On Monday night, Addison was up a lot. We aren't sure if this was because of the time change, or because we lowered their cribs again. They are now on their lowest level! With Addison standing now, we went ahead and lowered them.  This will be the level they stay even when the cribs are converted to toddler beds. They are just growing way too fast!