 
Kristi Runyon gave birth to twins in November of 2007, adding to her already busy schedule of anchoring WTVQ 36 News at Noon and producing health reports five days a week. Here she chronicles the joys and challenges of raising twins as a first time mom.
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Written by Kristi Runyon
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Wednesday, 12 November 2008 17:21 |
A report out today from the March of Dimes ranks Kentucky one of the states with the highest rates of premature births. As a parent of preemies, I'm all too familiar with all the warnings and risks you hear come with a child who enters the world too soon. Jordan and Kristian were born at 34 weeks. Twins pregnancies aren't expected to carry the full 40 weeks but ideally our little guys would have held off until 36 or 37 weeks. My water broke at 33 weeks, I was on hospital bedrest for 5 days and then there was no holding them back any longer.
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Written by Kristi Runyon
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Monday, 10 November 2008 17:00 |
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 I can’t believe it has been a year already. So many people warned me time would fly and it really has. I can remember as if it was yesterday what it felt like when I was carrying my baby boys. I still remember what seems like every minute of waiting for them to arrive, each hour of labor and delivery, and every moment of those first few days at home with them. Since then it has been a wonderful world of blessings and joy. Don’t get me wrong there have been moments full of chaos and concern, questions and doubt, but overall those times have all been outweighed with so much wonder and amazement, happiness and fulfillment. Kids do change everything but for us it has certainly been for the better.
Jordan and Kristian tuned a year old on November 4th (Yes Election Day!). We held off on the birthday party until this Saturday. Oh what a party it was. With all of our family and a few close friends the count was up to 50+ people who were in and out of our house that day. Our house was full of love (and food….and toys!).
We went with a Mickey Mouse theme. That’s the only character our boys respond to so far. They seemed to enjoy all the friendly faces, their first birthday cupcakes, and they stared in awe at all of their toys. So many of those who were there have been lifesavers this first year. We have a tremendous family support system of wonderful grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who’ve always stepped in to help whenever and wherever they are needed. We couldn’t have made it through without them.
The boys are both walking now and exploring everything in the world around them. They’re growing, still a little underweight since they were preemies Jordan is a little over 15 pounds and Kristian is 18 ½ pounds. They still need to gain some weight but since they’re hitting table food full force now, I think they’ll start packing it on soon. Developmentally they are hitting all of their milestones.
They are our precious, precious gifts, and we’re so thankful to have them in our lives.
Take a look at their Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Party (HOT DOG!) I’ve also included some of their 1st Birthday portraits. I’d love to hear some of your memories of your child’s, grandchild’s, etc. first birthday. I can’t wait to show them when they get older how big of a celebration it was!
 
 
 
1-Year Portraits:
 
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Written by Kristi Runyon
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Monday, 03 November 2008 17:17 |
 It has often crossed my mind as I prepared for Halloween this year, how different things were this time last year. Halloween morning of 2007 my water broke and I was admitted into the hospital. A clown, hippie, and witch all greeted me at my doctor's office, and our nurse-midwife literally rode in my hospital room on a horse (She was a cowgirl complete with an inflatable steed!). I thought we were going to have Halloween babies but the doctors held off labor four more days (when the doctors and nurses were back to their normal clothes!  ). Now fast forward to Halloween 2008 where I couldn't wait to let our boys start the annual tradition of trick-or-treat. Of course I couldn't resist a "duo" costume. There were so many choices, I was pulling for Winnie the Pooh and Tigger but my husband really wanted a Superhero theme so we settled with Batman and Robin! I think they were adorable.
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Written by Kristi Runyon
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Tuesday, 28 October 2008 03:54 |
We started what I hope will be a fall tradition in our family. Jordan and Kristian had their first trip to the  Pumpkin Patch! They had a ball and we came home with a family of pumpkins for our front porch. We got some great pictures of them "pumpkin picking". Take a look......
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Written by Kristi Runyon
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Wednesday, 01 October 2008 00:00 |
I've always loved to travel. I was fortunate to enjoy a lot of vacations growing up with my family. My husband and I usually like to make 1-2 trips each year, and I even lived in another country (Spain) for 6 weeks during a college study abroad program. So I was anxious to see if we would still be able to manage a getaway with two babies in tow. Late September we decided to put travel to the test with a trip to Virginia Beach that was part oceanfront vacation, part family visit. I wondered how would we manage flights, a hotel stay, and the scariest part....packing for four!
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