Milestones

August 1st, Jack took his first roll from lying on his stomach to flipping onto his back. He did it once, then again right after. He did it again Saturday morning.
August 3rd, Jack's belly button fell off and Nora's followed shortly after that evening.

August 14th Our first date without the kids, we saw the Dark Knight
August 15th Leigh drove for the first time since the birth

September 1st in the wee hours of the morning I slipping on the stairs with Nora in my arms. I took the wall with my shoulder and broke the banister with my foot. Nora smiled when I looked down at her after I picked myself up which helped a little since I was totally freaked that I could have hurt her.
September 26st Nora took her first roll from Belly to back

September 29th Jack & Nora took there first ride in the Jogger, walking not running

October 24th After weeks of smiles, Nora laughed for the first time - absolutely intoxicating
November 28th One day after their first thanksgiving, Jack giggled for me for the first time. Leigh had seen it previously but this was my first time. Also, we tried feeding some rice cereal to them before bed for the first time. Jack was not too interested by Nora ate a few good spoons full.

November 29th Jack started "razzing". He likes to get a good amount of spit on his lips then start making a "b" sound with his tongue slightly sticking out, this turns into a nice little collection of spit bubbles
December 3rd We went to Tranquility Tree farm and cut down our first Christmas Tree with the kids.

December 8th Nora started "razzing". She likes to spit alot and make big wet raspberry sounds.

December 24th First Christmas Eve - We woke around 7 and began our usual feeding of the kids, coffee, breakfast, etc. I realized the the stove was nearly out of pellets so I added a bag and went up to the second floor to brush my teeth. I soon heard a beeping and thought it was a car alarm or the neighbors fire alarm. leigh called to me to say it was coming from our basement. i ran down to find that the chimney was backed up and that the stove pipe was red hot. the stove blower was burning up and came to a grinding halt. i shut the stove off and ran upstairs to block off the vents to the first floor then opened the basement door and windows. smoke began pouring from the stove pipe. i ran upstairs to find smoke was getting up into the rest of the house and that all the alarms were now sounding. leigh had taken the kids up to their room but decided it was time to get out. we grabbed their carseats, quickly secured them and got them out and into the car. leigh set off  to a friends house while i tried to stifle the smoke. i opened windows throughout the house and turned on fans which helped to stop the fire alarms and thankful the stove pipe cooled down and stopped pumping smoke. thankfully it was not exceedingly cold, so i gave it about 30min of airing out before closing the windows and firing up the electric baseboard heat. as for the stove, i decided to save that task of evaluate the chimney and potentially burned up blower motor for after the christmas holiday. what an exciting start to the day. 

December 25th First Christmas - we were up a little after 7. We made some coffee and setup the video camera then began opening gifts for the kids and each other. It was filled with "cooing" and smiles from the kids. I think they were most happy crumpling wrapping paper in their hands. Leigh got me a new watch, a "plane" (Leigh Dad explained that a planer is a motorized and a plane is the hand held wood shaving device), clothes, and a build your own deck book and I got leigh a tag heuer watch, gps update, clothes, a cd, and some movies to name a few gifts. We cleaned up and heading to my parents for Christmas morning #2 which included my parents and siblings. Many, many gifts including high chairs, wooden sleds, clothes and toys. Around 2pm we headed to Aunt Dee and Uncle Steve's for the family gathering. The kids got to be held by just about everyone, probably 30 or more. It was a great day and despite having minimal naps, they both fell asleep relatively easily.

December 26th Leigh went to Jazzercise in the morning and I was watching the kids. Nora had a dirty diaper, so I was changing her and realized her clothes were soiled. Jack was in the jumper and she was on the floor, so I ran up to grab a new outfit for her. When I returned she was on her belly - when I left she had been on her back. So with only her brother as a witness, she took her first roll from back to front. For the next part of the morning she taunted me with half rolls on her side but alas she did not take another spin. Jack too showed the potential to flip but remained on his back. Hopefully soon we will see them in action.

tbc...