Road trip to Cleveland!

We took a trip to Cleveland this past weekend to celebrate John's grandfather's 90th birthday.  To make it even more fun, it was a surprise party! Family from near and far attended this special event.  We were so excited to be a part of it and for John's grandparents to meet the twins for the first time.  Grandma was particulary proud to show Anna and John off to the extended family. It was amazing to see all the generations present, and made us realize even more, how important family is in our lives.

John and Anna always love spending time with their cousins Sean, Brian and Regan. They especially love "talking" with them, as well as with their aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  They met another very special person on this visit... their Auntie Erin!!! She brought them the most adorable Puma sneakers, no doubt making them the coolest kids on the block. We were so thrilled for this meeting and can't wait for Auntie Erin's visit to Cincinnati this March.

Next week, we take this traveling show to Indianapolis to visit with the Faiz and Philippe families. Stay tuned...

Love the tie!

Uncle Tom spent a lot of time hanging out with John at the party. Sorry about your sweater!!

Big cousin Sean, Aunt Tracey and John

Auntie Erin and John - check out the new kicks!

Anna loved her new Puma sneaks!

John had a lot of smiles and giggles for Aunt Tracey

John loved talking to his cousin Brian!

3 Months Old

Anna and John turned 3 months on December 17th. We didn't have a doctor's appointment this month, but I'm certain they both gained a few pounds. All you have to do is look at their pictures:) John and Anna both still love their toys on the play gym and on their bouncy seats. Now they don't just look at them, they can reach out and grab the toys. John continues his fascination at looking at his amazing right fist and discovered he has a left fist too. The babies also turn when they hear a voice and follow what's going on in the room with their eyes. They are so much more aware of their surroundings.  Anna and John are much sturdier now in this third month. They hold their heads up and aren't so floppy when you hold them upright. Anna is awesome on her tummy holding her head up. John is working on his tummy time, but has finally found his thumb! John loves to kick his legs and get his exercise. Miss Anna is already trying to roll and sit up. John just started trying to pull himself up to sit up.  It is so neat to see how different they are. They both love talking and experimenting with the different sounds their voices can make and love when you talk back to them. There really is nothing better than having a baby laugh and smile at you, you feel like the luckiest person in the world!

Happy New Year!

2011 was filled with many changes for John and I. Thinking back to last February, we were blessed to find out that we were having our babies and we were shocked to come to the realization that John would be moving to Cincinnati a few short weeks later, with me to follow in June. So, on top of the pregnancy, TWINS, and moving to a new city where we had no friends or family, I don't think we could have handled any more change. So far, things have worked out pretty well. We miss and think about Chicago everyday, but realize that we are in Cincinnati for a reason and will probably only be there for a short time. Who knows where we will move next? We are grateful for Anna and John and just hope to give them the best life has to offer. We hope 2012 won't be quite as "exciting" for us:)

John and Anna's first TV viewing experience

For Christmas, Aunt Jenny got the twins a Baby Einstein DVD called Neptune's Oceans. We set the twins up in their bouncy seats and turned it on. We weren't sure they would even look at the TV, let alone watch it! This is how they reacted!

Our First Christmas

Chrsitmas Eve at the Senior Briches

Our only family Christmas photo! This was taken after a long day at Dave and Busters with Sean, Brian and Regan:)

Christmas day at the Rooney's house. Both sets of grandparents had to see them in their matching holiday outfits :)

Jamie came all the way from Olympia for a visit!

John was mesmerized by Jamie's beauty, and her long hair:)

John and Anna got dressed up in their cool outfits for Jamie and Julie's visit. John wore a Run DMC shirt and Anna wore a Beatles, Yellow Submarine shirt with jeans. Very retro!!

You may recall the "joy" the twins had on Thanksgiving... well, they shared this same "joy" for their first Christmas. As a matter of fact, they were so joyous that we didn't open a single gift on actual Christmas, we had Christmas take 2 the following day. Maybe it was their matching outfits that made hem crabby, who knows? We spent Christmas Eve in Cleveland with the Brich side of the family and Anna and John were very well behaved for the family photo shoot and for dinner. Maybe they saved up their crankiness for the Rooney side of the family the next day. The babies made up for it by sleeping through the night a few times and by all their smiles and giggles in the following days. We were excited to spend 3 whole weeks in Pittsburgh and the babies, once again, did a lot of growing in that time. They went up another clothing size (3-6 months), diaper size, and put on a few pounds. It must have been all of those Christmas cookies. Miss Anna also sprouted a lot of hair, and her brother is jealous! So although Christmas wasn't the perfect holiday I thought it would be, it all worked out just fine:)  It was spent with family and friends, what could be better?