Christmas 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had such a memorable Christmas. As you can imagine, having 8 month old twins brings a whole new meaning to Christmas. We were blessed to spend time with every side of the family; my immediate family, Steven's mom's side of the family, his dad's side and then his immediate family. We did lots of celebrating family and of course, praising God for the gift of his son. Hope you enjoy the pictures we wanted to share to give you a little glimpse of our fun.

Busy December

Many of you may already know, but in case you haven't heard, my dad has been in the hospital with pneumonia this week. It's inevitable for anyone with late stages Huntington's disease who is bed bound and has great difficulty swallowing to eventually aspirate, which leads to pneumonia. We've been blessed that daddy has been bed bound for 5 years and this is the first episode he's gotten. His ability to swallow has been deteriorating for quite awhile now and unfortunately, he'll probably have more episodes to come. We're just going to take one day at a time and be grateful that this episode is resolving and daddy will hopefully be discharged on Saturday. God has been gracious to us in providing my amazing mother to care for my daddy plus wonderful ladies to give her respite as well as a serving community to assist in any way needed.

I just realized we haven't posted since late November and there have been so many changes in the babies' lives, the biggest of which is their mobility and ability to sit up. Both babies love to roll around constantly and I feel like it's just a matter of time before they're crawling. It's so weird to see my babies sitting up by themselves, it just makes them so big. Berkley says mama consistently, but not yet referring to me. Berkley's favorite word is still hey, which he says all the time, but he also likes "buh" and "guh". Meredith makes sounds occasionally, but mostly just loves to squeal as loud as she can - I think she's trying to copycat high notes that I sing:) The twins have mastered swallowing foods and have had carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, peaches, pears and bananas. Thus far, I'd say peas were their least favorite and bananas the favorite. Berkley's torticollis is resolving beautifully, but he still has a slight tilt we're working to correct. We've put our Christmas tree up and they weren't interested in it until I sat them close to it to get some pictures and they nearly tore the lights and an ornament off:) Meredith's favorite past time is her jumper and she can jump incredibly higher than I ever expected. Berkley just loves to roll, especially towards Larry pup.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We're Thankful

There are so many things to be thankful for this year - the obvious is our beautiful, healthy twins. The newest thing to be thankful for in the Manning home is the fact that Steven passed his Step 3 Medical Board Licensing Exam. What a wonderful way to begin this holiday season; it certainly takes a lot of pressure off of Steven. We're looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with both my family as well as Steven's family in Williamston. Here's a little Thanksgiving greeting from the twins.



Berkley's torticollis is improving significantly and he's already gotten his second tooth, it broke through yesterday. Berkley loves to say hey, which I'm considering his first word. Both babies are improving in sitting up on their own, but haven't perfected it just yet. Meredith loves jumping in the jumper hanging from the door frame. Last week the babies had carrots for their first solid other than cereal and they had sweet potatoes for the first time today.

The Suttons visit!!!

My dearest, best friend is home for the week along with her wonderful husband and precious 1 year old son, Benjamin. I hadn't had the opportunity to meet Benjamin, nor had she met my twins; so to say the least, we were all a bit excited. I nearly started to cry when I heard the doors slam as they got out of their vehicles and I did cry when I had to hug her goodbye. It's amazing to reflect on where God has brought our friendship over the years, especially just the last two years. I love Andrea so much and I'm so happy for her and the life she is leading with her husband, Matt. Here's a picture of Andrea, Matt and the babies. Talk about an event, try getting 3 infants to be still long enough to get a good picture.

Some BEAUTIFUL Photography

A dear friend of ours from our grand college days at ECU, Craig Morrisette (along with some help from his sweet wife, Kim), spent a few hours with us last Sunday taking pictures of our family. Craig and Kim are both gifted photographers, as you will well see from the AMAZING photos on his blog. Please check out the CSM Photography blog by clicking the link below to see these precious memories of our family captured on film.

http://csmfotoblog.blogspot.com/

I also wanted to share some photos of the babies milestones from today. They had carrots and also drank water from sippy cups for the first time today. It's exciting because up until now they'd only had rice cereal. I was surprised that they didn't make the crazy faces I anticipated, but it was a lot of fun to watch them nonetheless.

Grandma's birthday

Friday was my mother's birthday and of course all she wanted was time with her grandchildren. We had a mini-party at my house on Friday and then Uncle Joey rolled in for the weekend. We spent Saturday in Farm Life and as you can see, fun was had by all. We were so excited to capture these precious moments of the babies with my father. It's amazing, the babies just love him. They smile at him every time we put them near. It was a memorable weekend!

6 months

The twins had their 6 month doctor's appointment today and they did GREAT! We were there for 2 hours and they only fussed when they got their 3 shots. I can't believe how much our babies have grown. Berkley now weighs 17.8 lbs and is 26 1/4 inches long. Meredith weighs 15.1 lbs and is 25 1/2 inches long. Unfortunately, the cinic didn't have any swine flu shots, so I've got to find them elsewhere; they didn't have any adult seasonal flu shots either, which stinks. When we got home Steven's mom noticed that Berkley's lower gum was feeling like there might be a tooth popping up. Sure enough, upon closer examination his first tooth is just starting to break through the skin. I was SO EXCITED and almost cried. I can' believe my baby is getting a tooth. Where is the time going? After the doctor's appointment the babies got some quality time with Mima and Papa, which was AWESOME!!!


Time with Papa

In other fun baby news; Berkley has discovered how to make what I've heard called a raspberry sound, he's basically making sounds like he's passing gas, which is funny when a baby is doing it:) Meredith loves to make lots of noise when she eats her cereal and likes to blow the food right out of her mouth. We also had a fun-filled weekend in Farm Life visiting with my parents, Nana, and Uncle Joey, who came to town to see his favorite niece and nephew. We didn't dress the babies up for Halloween this year, but did put them in their precious boo outfits from Grandma.




Time with Uncle Joey

Steven took Step 3 of his Medical Licensing Exam on Monday and Tuesday. This exam is 480 timed questions and 9 case simulations...I can't even fathom an exam of this magnitude. Thankfully the test is behind him and he's home at last. He won't find out what he's made for about 6 weeks. I'm sure my brilliant husband did beautifully!

That's all the fun news from the Manning family for now.

Happy Halloween 2009

I tell you, taking a good picture of two babies who haven't mastered sitting up yet is quite a task, but thanks to a little help from grandma, we were able to capture a cute moment. Happy Halloween from Meredith and Berkley!

Yummy

This week was a big week in the Manning home, our twins ate their first bowl of rice cereal on Tuesday. It was such a fun experience. Steven had Tuesday off, so we chose that day to start; just a week shy of their 6 month birthday. Steven fed Berkley and I fed Meredith, my mother and grandmother were present as well. Meredith wasn't quite so sure about it but she caught on quickly and Berkley, he opened wide for that first bite and then grabbed the spoon for the second bite. It's such a big milestone for the babies, it's just so hard for me to believe that they're nearly 6 months old already.




In other development news, Meredith said Mama twice this week but it wasn't on purpose or directed at me, but it was still mama:) Meredith can pivot up onto one knee so I feel like she'll be crawling first. Meredith has also discovered this hilarious deep grunting sound that I love to hear. I took Berkley back to physical therapy on Wednesday for his torticollis (tight neck muscle) and I'm going to have to start taking him once/week. Both babies are sitting up with assistance but of course, they're pretty wobbly.

I'm singing special music at Piney Grove on Sunday. I still don't know what I'm going to sing just yet. Sunday would be my sister's 31st birthday so I feel like I should sing something in her memory but I find that I don't want to constantly be reminding people of that sadness in my family's life, especially considering all of the joy we've had since the babies were born. All that matters really is singing a song that brings glory to the God who brings all things into my life, the good and the bad.

They're growing fast

I realized that it's been awhile since I really gave an update on how the babies are growing and changing. It's hard to think of everything that they're doing that's new or different. I need to do a better job of writing everything down. Let's see...Berkley has started this new thing where he smacks his lips like crazy after every bottle. Meredith can now roll over from her stomach to her back; I'm not sure if she's figured out that she's doing it, but she likes it. The babies are spending much more time on their tummies or in their bumbo seats and I can see that when they become mobile, I am going to have my hands full. Berkley can stand flat footed on the exersaucer, which is becoming a great tool for me to put him in an get some things done. Meredith likes to play in the exersaucer too but she can only reach on her tip-toes (which is so incredibly cute). Berkley likes putting one foot in his mouth but Meredith could care less about playing with her feet. Meredith just LOVES to squeal. Her new eating routine at bedtime is to try to put her thumb in her mouth with her bottle, which becomes very frustrating for her. When she's done with the bottle she talks to herself and squeals; it's precious. Meredith's hair is getting much thicker on top and Berkley's has sprouted just this week. Berkley is learning to make bubbles and loves to make gurgle sounds. They are really noticing each other now, but they never seem to notice one another at the same time. Our dog Larry is one of their favorite things to look at, I can always call him over to distract them when they're upset. Meredith has stolen a toy of Berkley twice already by accident - I hope it's not foreshadowing of things to come. We also had our first photo shoot this past month, or shall I say photo shoots. It took 3 visits to Sears to get pictures and that was after attempting to get something done at Portrait Innovations (long story, but to say the least we won't be going back there). A few of the pics are below, but unfortunately none of the pictures of the two of them turned out well because one of them was always crying. And finally on a medical front, Berkley is being treated for torticollis, which is simply a tight neck muscle. We're taking him to a physical therapist at PCMH and I'm doing excercises at home. You'll notice in his pictures that his head is leaning to one side, that's the tight muscle. Hopefully with the PT the muscle will loosen up and he'll relearn how to align his head correctly in the middle.

Sweet memory - we took the babies to homecoming at Steven's home church this past Sunday and had a wonderful time introducing the babies to everyone. Steven's parents were proud as peacocks walking into that church with their grand babies. Anyway, I had Berkley in the back trying to get him to sleep and of course, he wouldn't sleep. I was singing to him and holding his head flat on my chest. As I sang he look up at me with his big dark eyes, blinked really slowly and a smile crept across his face that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I told him I wanted to remember that look forever and hopefully writing it down will help Meredith's sweetest looks are in the morning when I wake her up - she's SO HAPPY first thing in the morning.
Here's a picture of the babies all dressed up at homecoming. You can't see it that great but Meredith's wearing a precious Winnie the Pooh dress and her first little pair of tights and Berkley was wearing overalls.

I love him to the moon and back:)

I received word this weekend that my Uncle Phil, my mom's brother, has been diagnosed with cancer under his tongue and in one lymph node. I began to write a long post but then thought to myself that it may be too much for my family members closest to the situation to read. Let me just say that my heart is burdened heavily for my uncle and his wonderful family. Oh, if only you all could know how wonderful my uncle Phil has been to me and how many sweet childhood memories come to mind as I type this. It's so difficult to wrap my brain around the reality that my invincible uncle is going to have to go through the rigors of intense chemotherapy and radiation and that his life is being threatened. Yes, I know, truly life is threatened everyday and we should look at each day as a gift from God - but boy does that reality stare you in the face when there is news like this. Pray for my Aunt Jane and their sons Philip and Jamie. Philip is 17 and Jamie 13, both impressionable ages to have to go through such difficulty with a father whom they esteem so highly. Pray for my Nana (his mother), she's 88 years old and words can't express how much she loves her only son. I'll keep you posted as things progress. As it stands right now, uncle Phil will begin chemo and radiation in a week.

Uncle Phil with Meredith this weekend

Lots of people have said we have a little Steven and a little Candi and I just wanted to share just how true that is, especially Meredith. I mean, my mom sometimes calls her Candi by accident because she looks so much like me.

A night at Mema and Papa's

Can you believe it? We let the babies spend a night with Steven's parents, affectionately known as Mema and Papa. It was hard to let them go. I have realized I'm a real control freak and I feel like nobody can do it like I can, but these past few months have shown me that my babies are far more capable than I give them credit for and that I need to let them try new things. According to Mema, my sweet ones did great; they napped and slept through the night (which was my biggest concern). Steven and I enjoyed our time as a couple. We went out for brunch on Thursday morning, got some errands done and I actually got some sleep - wow, I thought I'd forgotten what that was. Thanks Mema and Papa for taking such good care of our little ones.

Here are some great pictures from the babies' adventures at Mema and Papa's, which included meeting their horses. You'll also see that Berkley is now enjoying grabbing his feet and Meredith wearing her first bow (adorable!).

Here's another first for the babies; their first trip in their twin side-by-side stroller. They love going for walks now. Berkley always goes to sleep and Meredith just chills out sucking her thumb. They are quite the conversation starters, we've met lots of our neighbors thanks to our twins:)