BIG NEWS

Most of you know how hard I pushed to move back here to Charleston from Cleveland. I harassed Matt about it for years until I figure I just wore him down and he got sick of me asking! Being back here in Charleston has been amazing. One of my best friends left me a message today that said it perfectly..."we were ordained to be here in Charleston to find out about little Riley and then to have her all fixed up here".  She is so right.  Everything happens for a reason and we truly believe that our move here was destined to happen to help save Riley's life.  (Dr. Quinn, Dr. Bradley and the entire nursing/dr. staff at MUSC are still in our nightly prayers!!!!) It's also been super fun, and wonderful to be so close to my family and great to be back close to old friends.
However....the Iofredo's are moving on.  Matt has been offered a job with the PGA Tour as their Director of Retail Licensing.  It's a dream job for him and we couldn't be more excited about this next adventure and all that is in store for our family! We'll be headed to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida! Woohoo...I still get to wake up to palm trees and sunshine and will NOT have to deal with any snow! While I have yet to ever even set foot in Ponte Vedra, from what I can gather so far...it's going to be perfect for us. Matt's office is going to be located right at TPC Sawgrass (I included a pic of the 17th green just for fun!) and we'll have lots of visitors I'm sure! We'll be only 2 hours from Disney too...
The plans are still in motion but things are happening at warp speed.  Matt starts Tuesday. Like, in less than a week. (picture me having a total stress freak out...only sort of kidding!) The girls and I will stay here for at least a couple of weeks (The Players Championship starts May 10th so he kind of needs to be there for that since it's going to be at his OFFICE!!!) I figure I'll watch it on tv so that I can see where I'll be living! And as of now, the plan is to rent a furnished place for a while so that we can house hunt, all be together and learn our way around down there, and have our house sell up here in Charleston without 2 babies and a dog to worry about during showings!
So...I'm going to try and still be good about postings the next couple of weeks, but you'll understand if I fall behind. 

Oh....and if you know of anyone looking for a great place on Daniel Island....give them my number!!!

SO CLOSE

So we went out to Kiawah to celebrate my mom's birthday (Happy Birthday again, Nana!) and we borrowed this from them for a bit. It's all we've done since we got home. They're getting WAY too comfortable with this whole "walking" thing...I think we're in trouble!!! (And yes, it's 2:00 in the afternoon and the girls are still in their pajamas! It's just one of those days!!!

Band Practice

Nana brought over something called Band in a Box the other day and it has been a HUGE hit. The girls are loving the instruments so much...and the best part about them is that they aren't too loud! Really! Definitely a lot better than the mixing bowls from a few weeks ago! Here are a couple of videos of band practice.

Long Boat Key

We had a great vacation to Long Boat Key with all of the Iofredos! We planned this trip awhile ago with Matt's sisters and their families to help Grandpa David celebrate his birthday (which was in October...it took us awhile to make it work!). It was so much fun to be with everyone again and even though it wasn't exactly the relaxing vacation that we used to have, it was still filled with great memories!
Grace and Greta were incredible with Reagan and Riley. They took such good care of them, they played with them and looked after them, they fed them for us and they took them on a ton of pink car rides! (yes...we brought the pink cars with us!) It was like having two built in babysitters with us and it was so special! I hate that we live so far away and won't see them again for awhile...hopefully we can get together again sometime this summer. Aunt Liza, Uncle Mark, Aunt Kylie and Uncle Matt were also a HUGE help to us and it was so amazing to have Reagan and Riley get to spend an extended period of time with them. We just wish it could have been longer.
Reagan and Riley went swimming and it wasn't their favorite activity just yet. Riley definitely warmed up to it by the end of the trip but I think we need a lot more practice before they're in love with the water. Matt and I just assumed that since they love the tub so much, they'd love the pool too! The pools are open here on Daniel Island, so we'll start practicing again soon. It's super hot today so it sounds like something that I would LOVE to do!
All in all, it was a great trip and great for everyone to be there for Grandpa David and celebrate with him. I was HORRIBLE about pictures while we were there....kept forgetting the camera everywhere we went. The pictures I did take are adorable though, and capture just how great Reagan and Riley's cousins were with them!

Happy Easter

The girls are having a fabulous Easter Sunday! We're busy watching The Masters (of course!). Riley is cheering for Phil and Reagan is pulling for Freddy Couples. How cute are these outfits?! I just want to take them all over town today so that people can see how cute they look! Thanks Nana and BopBop! Happy Easter everyone!!!

Our first birthday party

We had a small, yet super special, birthday party for the girls today! Nana and BopBop, Laurie and Cooper, Nana Susan and Anthony and our adopted member of the family, Elizabeth were all here to help the girls celebrate turning 1! I don't know how in the world people do big birthday parties for little kids. It just about killed us trying to get ready for today and I'll be totally honest when I say Whole Foods prepared most of the food and I ordered cupcakes. I barely did anything and yet I felt like I've been hit by a truck. And we had about 10 people here total. I'm a wimp, I guess!
The girls were spoiled rotten of course and got so many amazing gifts. They got some beautiful outfits, furniture for their dollhouse, books and their first American Girl Bitty Baby dolls! Nana and BopBop went to the Masters this week too and brought the girls some adorable outfits that they'll be sure to wear on Master's Sunday (don't worry...I'll post the pics!). They got lots of great stuff and we are so thankful to everyone who sent cards and gifts as well. They even got some flowers delivered from Aunt Conni and Uncle Ron! We definitely felt the love today!
I had envisioned that the girls would be covered in frosting head to toe and that I'd have to leave the party early to give them baths. Total bust!!!!! They barely even licked the frosting (on the most ridiculously sized cupcakes you've ever seen) and if it weren't for sweet Cooper helping to feed the girls, I'm not even sure they would have tried it! A huge thank you to our Uncle Matt in Seattle who helped us make the hilarious cupcake toppers. One of my favorite parts of the party! The girls loved, loved, loved the balloons, and I'm hoping they'll stay inflated for awhile because they're good for at least 20 minutes of entertainment! The girls looked adorable in their birthday outfits from Aunt Laurie and their special bibs from Nana!
It was a wonderful day and just amazing to watch our two 1 year old little ladies enjoy themselves at their first party. I wonder what their second birthday will be like?!?! Thank GOD I don't have to worry about that for 364 more days!
Happy Birthday sweet babies! I love you!

We're 1 year old today

Well, we did it! We made it through our first crazy, amazing, intense, beautiful year with the two best things to ever happen to us. I honestly can't believe that I have 1 year old twins. This past year has been full of so many fantastic moments, so many terrifying unknowns and so many insane times that getting to 1 year sometimes felt like a long shot! Not really, but it was definitely not a walk in the park and definitely gave me an intense appreciation and respect for my parents and how they raised twins and are still standing and look so fantastic. The gray hair around the Iofredo house this past year has been growing in abundance.
Reagan and Riley are honestly (and I truly, truly mean this) the most fantastic things in the world to us. They are so fun. SO MUCH FUN. We laugh so hard all of the time. They have such distinct and different personalities (and why shouldn't they...they're two different kids!) and we are having so much fun figuring them out and watching them learn and grow and try new things every day.
Reagan continues to love to cuddle more than anything. She has a particular fondness for her BopBop and both of her Nanas and most especially for her Daddy. Reagan loves to be with people and loves to laugh and dance and shake her head and point at things and play peekaboo and just be silly! She can be so funny and her laugh is contagious. I hear it and I immediately start laughing with her. She has the most beautiful eyes and is just so pretty. She takes my breath away sometimes! She LOVES her sister so much. People keep asking me if they play and interact with each other. Yes and no. They do a lot of parallel play I guess, but they do love to touch each other and laugh at each other and crawl and wrestle around together. So many times throughout the day, they chase each other down the hallway and just giggle and laugh the whole time. It's the best. Matt and I could watch it all day long. Reagan can be a tad aggressive with Riley and thinks that kicking her and hitting her are hilarious. Riley doesn't seem to agree. Overall, Reagan is just so unbelievably perfect. There is no way in the world that she will ever be able to understand how much I love her.
Riley is our miracle. Giving her a bath tonight we commented on how you can hardly even see her scar anymore from her surgery. I mean, of course, it's still there...you can see it. But, compared to what it was, or even what I thought it would be, it's astonishing how beautiful she is. When I think back to September 9th when we got the diagnosis, and then to October 20th to the surgery date and how scared and nervous and anxious and unsure we were about what her future would be, it makes me sad. It makes me sad that I didn't have enough faith in what a ridiculously strong little girl we have. She is my hero. She's been through more in her 1 year of life than I ever have and looking at her today, you'd never, ever know. She's SO close to walking. It's coming any day now. She's the happiest baby I've ever seen. She's strong and while she's tiny and little, she holds her own with her sister and knows how to get what she wants! She loves her Mama and Daddy and she loves books and laughing and clapping and smiling. She talks NON-STOP (I wonder where she got that from!) and we wake up every morning to our little chatter box talking up a storm in her crib. It's heaven. I am so proud of her and so proud of us for getting through such a difficult time. Our friends and family really pulled us through and we're still so thankful to everyone for all that they did for us and for Riley during this past year.
This is getting too long....I swear though, I could write for hours. I dreamed about someday feeling this way about a child. I wanted to have a baby for as long as I can ever remember and I knew that when I had one I would give it so much love that it wouldn't even seem real. I had no idea. The love that I thought that I would feel for a child is nothing compared to what I truly feel for these two precious girls. I am the luckiest woman in the entire world and I thank God every, single day for the opportunity He's given me to be their mom.
Happy Birthday Reagan and Riley. I love you more than you will ever, ever know and am so excited to see what this next year has in store for us. If you could keep the drama down, I'd appreciate it.

Bathtime fun with the cousins

Before we took our family pictures last night (minus Matt and Nathan who couldn't make it!), the cousins had to get all clean and ready to go! Cooper requested that the babies take a bath with him and so they did! It was so cute. Reagan didn't really seem to know what to make of an extra body in the tub with her but Riley just splashed and splashed and Cooper LOVED having "2 babies" in the tub with him! They get along so well and he's been so patient with them when they steal his choo-choos and derail his trains! It's been fun to have them hang out together.
Tomorrow is the girl's BIG DAY! I honestly can't even believe it's been a whole year already. We're so excited to celebrate them. Nana Susan and Anthony are on their way into town and my parents, Laurie and Cooper will be coming over too, along with a few other special guests! The girl's birthdays have been going on for some time now too...we've already celebrated with Uncle Ron and Aunt Conni and GG and GG too! These two girls are the luckiest girls in the world!!! We're going to celebrate with the rest of Matt's family next week when we take our first "vacation" to Florida! They are so loved!
Lots of pictures to come tomorrow...

Can we get some earplugs

We went out to Kiawah last night because we were supposed to have a family photo session on the beach. Laurie, Nathan and Cooper are here too so it was going to be awesome! However, it got rained out...it's rescheduled for later this week, so we'll hope it stays sunny! Last night before bed, Cooper, Reagan and Riley formed a band. The Mixing Bowl Trio...they're really good. We didn't get a video of the trio altogether, but the girls are practicing now that we're back home so that they'll be stellar the next time their cousin comes over! (Please also note...little Squirt has learned how to stand on her own! Reagan will do it too, just didn't catch it on the video this time. Walking is right around the corner!)

Best Buds

Last week our best friends, Molly and Walt, brought their son little Walt with them to Charleston for a visit. We had the BEST time with them...it went by way, way too fast and we miss them already. Little Walt and the girls became such good friends. We couldn't get over how well they all played together! We went to the beach, we went to the pool, we went out to eat and downtown to the Charleston Children's Museum. It was such a great week and we can't wait to see them again! Reagan and Riley even got their first kisses...they both seemed to like it!! (they're lucky that Daddy likes Little Walt or he'd be in trouble!).