Mom's first birthday with twins

It's Mom's 45th birthday today. Because of us - she now really understands how precious birthdays are. Daddy helped us buy and sign our first birthday card for her. It makes her cry when she reads it because she loves us so much.

We decide to be good and let Daddy take Momma out for a fancy dinner at Pano's and Paul's while Nanna and Poppa take good care of us. Life is good!

Our "official" due date

We were supposed to be born by today - November 17th. Instead we are now 3 weeks old and doing great! Kate is now 8lbs 10 oz and Connor is 9lbs 10oz. Wow - they sure are growing fast.

Kate is still the night owl (and loves to keep her Daddy up from 11am til 1 or 2 am). Connor on the other hand is more wide awake in the mid-morning.

We're just now having 4 ounces each in our bottles. Sometimes we can go 4 hours without waking up, but other times we seem to get so very hungry after just 2 or 2 and a half hours. Hard for your ol' Mom and Dad to know what to do - but we are doing our best.

Amy makes us look so handsome and pretty

Amy Barnett came over to shoot professional portraits of Connor and Kate today. I was amazed at how mobile she is, since she is pregnant and due to deliver her son Gage in 2 weeks. I know I certainly couldn't move like that 2 weeks before delivering the twins. Then again - she reminded me - I had almost 15 pounds of baby I was carrying.

It took us a while to get settled in. Not Amy - the twins! Connor wanted to sleep through all of the shots, and Kate wanted to scream through all of the shots. Somehow, Amy managed to get some fabulous shots of our beautiful babies. Does pee show up on camera? Turns out it doesn't.

I really love the pictures of their little hands and feet, as well as the one with me and Hugh holding each of them in the palm of our hand. So tiny!

Hey - did I tell you our babies are beautiful? Yeah - I know we're biased!

Check our her website www.amybarnettphotography.com. Better yet - hire her to take your family photos!

PKU re-testing

Kate here giving you an update on me and my family.

Here I am at the Docs office. I'm 17 days old now and have gained 1lb, 3oz in the past 8 days alone! I'm now 8lbs 2 oz. Doc says I'm doing great - just need a re-test on my PKU results from the hospital. I have a score of 34, and out of range is 33. The nurse has a hard time getting me to widdle in the little bag, so Mom and Dad had to take me home and handle it all there. Then, we had to go off to Cobb WellStar for them to take my blood. Funny - it looked like it should hurt me, not her - but Mom was the one who cried.

Connor weighed 9lbs 3oz! My brother Connor is back at home getting TLC from Nanna and Poppa. He's lucky he doesn't need blood work today, but then again - he has plenty of needles in his first few days.

With love,
Kate (with help from Mom)

First pediatrician's visit

Today is our first pediatrician's visit. We have to get you to Doctor Avril Beckford's office at 1:15pm. Even though the office is only 5 minutes away, Mom and Dad have to get ready so early in the day since this is our first real outing with each of you (and Mom's first time leaving the house since you were both born). We just don't even know what we'll need with us!

Connor - now that you are 9 days old, you have gained one ounce and now weigh 7lbs, 13 oz. Every one says how handsome you are. We think you look like your Daddy (and you sure make some cute faces when you are hungry).

Kaitlyn - you are still right at your birth weight 6lbs, 15oz. You are a more delicate eater and certainly let us know when you have had enough formula (you purse your lips closed). Doctor B. told us how advanced you are as you showed off by doing a 90 degree roll on the table.

Doctor B. pronounces you both healthy as can be and says that we can wait a full month before we need to bring you back. Great job my precious babies!

Kelly S. hangs out with us

"Aunt" Kelly couldn't wait any longer and had to come see Kate and Connor. She is a pro with babies and stepped right in to help with feeding, diapering and general love on the babies! Aren't we lucky to have Kelly in our lives. She has certainly been there with us since the beginning!

We're ready for our photo shoot

Mom and Dad want to take a few pictures so they can create our birth announcement. I went back and forth on doing a formal announcement (velum, heavy card-stock, with pretty lettering). At the end of the day, we decided on an informal announcement that reflects Hugh's and my favorite sport - Tennis!

We took a million pictures of Connor trying to get ONE photo with his eyes open. We think we finally got a head shot that captured his little funny personality. Kate, on the other hand, made us work for her glamour shot. She is so serious - and it comes through in her pictures too.

We think Connor and Kate are PERFECT!