Wigilia

The Chmielowskis celebrated Wigilia (pronounced Vah-lee-ah) on December 8th at Karl and LaQuita's house in Wasilla. This is traditionally a Polish holiday celebrated on Christmas Eve. However, because most of Joe's family are either traveling or working and live so far apart - they pick a weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas to get together and exchange gifts and have a large dinner. It is very chaotic with 10 children, but tons of fun too!

December mix

Gerek saves Nate & Henry in the "life raft":

The Puzzler:
Nate's wild hair (pre-haircut):

Henry walking:

Henry dancing to the music from the Pooh Bear car:

Family photos

Here are some family photos taken on December 2. Nate is in blue, and Henry is in yellow.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Steve and Katrina's family in Copper Center. They made a delicious spread that included ham and many yummy side dishes. The five kids had fun playing together. H&N were enthralled by their cousins Gerek, Celia and Mathias. After spending the night, we drove up to Joe's cabin in Sourdough. The weather was quite warm and there wasn't enough snow to ski on so we went for walks in the woods. Henry also made great advances in his walking skills that weekend. He has turned the corner, and now he walks more than he crawls around the house. We also visited Jon & Heidi's house in Gakona for a few hours. Heidi and Emily were in Anchorage shopping, but Jon, Steven, Lily and Arah were at home. Again the boys enjoyed playing with their bigger cousins and squealed with delight at the dogs and cats. It was a great weekend!!

Here are a couple shots taken in the car on the way to Copper Center (Jessie & Nate and Joe & Henry):

On Thanksgiving, Joe is surrounded by Mathias, Gerek and Celia who are feeding bottles to the boys: Nathan loves sitting on the toy horse at Jon & Heidi's house: Pictures taken on our walks outside (Joe & Henry and Jessie & Nate):

It's snowing !!

Well, it was snowing the weekend before Thanksgiving. Now the snow is all gone - it melted during a recent chinook! :( Here are some shots and a video of H&N playing in the snow in the backyard. At first they were stupified and just sat there staring at the snow all around them. Later we broke out the disk-shaped sleds and pulled them around a bit. Unfortunately, my camera battery went out just before that.

Blanket wars

I am catching up with one picture and three videos of H&N playing/fighting over one of their blankies. The two matching blankets were gifts that we received at the baby shower. They have since become two of H&N's favorite things. First a blanket is extracted from one of the cribs through the slats. Then a war ensues where both babies tackle and chew on the blanket.

Baby mix

Here is a mix of baby pictures from the last couple weeks. Henry continues to make short walking trips of about 5 steps. Nathan has ventured out one step so far.

Nathan bathing in the kitchen sink:

Henry looks like a naked baby frog:
Nate steals Cheerios in disguise:
Cheerio stealer:
Henry wrestles with Joe:

Naked babies demand attention:
Henry "eats" rice:

Nathan "eats" rice:

Breaking news

Walker alert! Henry took his first few steps today at school and at home. Yeah and yikes at the same time! We bet Nate won't be far behind.

Playing catch-up, here are some photos from (1) my mom and Dennis's visit in late October, (2) H&N dressed up on Halloween at BP and (3) some party pictures from the Halloween bash.

Baby Jedrek

We went out to visit the new baby today. His name is Jedrek Florian Chmielowski, and he is extremely cute! (Jedrek is pronounced Yed-rek.) LaQuita, Karl and Jedrek are happy and doing well. Here are some photos:

New cousin has arrived!

Karl and LaQuita had their baby boy on Wednesday morning, November 7. If I remember correctly, he weighed in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. Joe forgot to ask the name so I'll have to report back with that info later. Congratulations!!

One year check-up: the results are in

Henry and Nathan's one year check up at the doctor's office went very well. Our plan for the next few weeks is to introduce dairy to their diet to see how they tolerate the proteins. Up until now we have avoided feeding them dairy since they had an intestinal intolerance to it, but this is usually outgrown by one year of age. So we'll hope for the best!

Otherwise, the boys are right on track physically and developmentally. They did have to get four shots each, two per leg, and hated it. Joe and I forgot their Soothies at home (rookie mistake), but luckily they didn't cry for long. And I did remember to pack bottles in the bag to soothe their nerves.

Without further ado, here are the boys' stats. I think that there is some amount of error in measurement since the babies struggle most of the time, so H&N are likely the same length.

Nathan
Weight: 21 lbs. 9 oz. = 25%
Length: 31" = 90%
Head circumference: 47 cm = 75%

Henry
Weight: 21 lbs. 13 oz. = 50%
Length: 30" = 50%
Head circumference: 47 cm = 75%

Of course, their cuteness factor is off the chart at 1000% !!

Road rage

Here are a couple short videos that I took at the ELC on Henry and Nathan's birthday. The first one is titled "Collision", and the second one is called "Road Kill".

Halloween / Birthday party!

We had a really fun Halloween and birthday party on October 27th to celebrate Nate and Henry's first birthday. It was great to have our friends over to mark the occasion. The adults had a good time watching the babies in their outfits, and the babies had fun playing with the other babies. :) I stole the first three pictures from the Yanceys and Kroms, and will post some of my own soon.

My mom and Dennis were visiting us for the weekend, and I included a picture of us eating dinner on Sunday night. More pix to come.

Eamon, Ella and Henry:

Henry is a spider:
Jessie with Henry and Nathan, Eamon and Ella:
Yummy salmon dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Stewart:

Sick kids

Going back to the months of September and October, it seemed like Henry and Nathan were sick every weekend. Poor babies! Here are some photos from their last bout of fever. It even reached over 105 degF for a few hours. Knock on wood, they have been very healthy for the last couple weeks.

Joe and Nathan watch TV:

Henry is not happy:
Jessie & Nathan rest on the floor:
The baby who wakes up in the night gets the dishwasher treatment. The white noise helps him go back to sleep.

Happy First Birthday to Nate and Henry!!!

Here are a few pictures from today. I will update the blog with more info about our fun weekend in the next few days. Henry and Nathan turned one year old today!! We had cookies at the ELC, opened presents and blew out candles. We love you, Nate and Henry!!

Henry, Joe and Nate eating cookies at the ELC:

Jessie & Henry having fun at ELC:

Opening birthday presents:

Celebrating their first birthday in style with big candles: