sorry so long

It has been a busy busy couple of weeks for us so I'll just say that that is why I haven't written in a bit.

The babies had their 1 year check up the day after their birthday. Unfortunately it wasn't a happy visit since they had to get shots. They were scheduled for 4 shots plus a finger stick to get their creatinine levels. I felt a little queasy about them getting the MMR and the Varicella vaccine (chicken pox) at the same time so we're going to hold off on the varicella for a few months. And if you don't have kids, this is the kind of crap you get to worry about when you do. Look forward to it!

Aaron is 22 lbs 6 oz and his head is STILL huge (95th percentile). They marked them both at 30.5 inches but if you've ever tried to measure a toddlers length then you will know how this is not an exact science. Stella weighed in at 22 lbs 2 oz and her head is still average size (50th percentile). I was surprised to see that Aaron not only has that one new tooth coming in on the bottom, he's got one coming in on the opposite side as well AND he has two molars coming in. The inside of his mouth is a swollen mess but he's generally a pretty happy dude. Stella is a firecracker as usual and every day she's more and more confident walking without assistance. She prefers that to crawling now. It is adorable.

They handled the stress of the shots about at well as expected. I do fear that Stella is going to be very wary of going back to the doctor in a couple of months. She's got a pretty good memory and I think she's going to know exactly what happens in that building.

We spent this last week celebrating their birthday and seeing family. The great grandparents were in town as was David's brother, Jim and his wife, Elizabeth. Jim hasn't seen the babies since they were born but Auntie Elizabeth had never met them. She's a pro with babies and by the time they left yesterday Aaron was in love. He was even reaching for her while I held him. Oh boy.

In this picture you can see how thrilled Aaron is when we told him he could go back to Zambia with his Uncle and Aunt. Little booger.



And here is Ms. Stella looking like a big girl walking with her grandpa. She's even wearing a hair clip. I could just cry.

What they got for their birthday

Aaron got a new tooth...hopefully you can see it on the bottom left.



And Stella learned to walk.


Happy Birthday babies. It's been an amazing year!

Happy Birthday

We spent the day in Columbus with my mom to celebrate Aaron and Stella's first birthday, Korean style. I figured that there was no way either baby would wear their outfits, especially when everyone was standing around staring at them. I'm happy to report that I was wrong.


Trying to prop the babies up without being seen.


That look on Stella's face is awesome. She just looks so proud of herself.


Checking out those candy pillars with my uncle.


This is how we all felt by the end. Aaron was pooped!

Their real birthday isn't until Tuesday so we hope to get more formal pictures of them in their hanbok then. We can't believe its almost been a year! Thanks to all our family and friends who made the trip to spend a couple of hours with Aaron and Stella and to all of you who have sent gifts and well wishes. We love you guys!

Dol

Here are the babies hanbok for their first birthday party. Their halmoni (grandmother) is throwing them a first birthday so they need to be properly dressed. Thanks to Hardy and Hyunjung Kim for these gifts from Korea!

Vacation

Hello again! We just got back from our family vacation and all the Barnharts are exhausted. We combined a trip back to Chicago for a wedding (congratulations Mike and Joann) with our vacation to see all our friends AND we spent two days in Louisville so David could visit his office. Somehow we only managed to take 50 pictures in the 7 days we were gone. Did I mention how tired we are?

But not the hippopotamus

That book is currently Stella's favorite. We've read it to the babies so many times that I know it by heart (not that that is a difficult thing to achieve). If you say, "But not the hippopotamus" to Stella she will go and get the book for you. Here's Dad reading it to the kids.