FARGO (AP) - Like any child's first year, Abby and Belle Carlsen's has been filled with milestones.

Belle crawled first. Then Abby took the first steps. Belle boasted the first tooth.

Babies no longer, they toddle across the living room rug and insist on feeding themselves even if more food ends up in their hair than in their stomachs. They giggle with delight when their parents hide behind the couch and "scare" them.

Those who don't know their history would never guess the girls spent the first six months of their lives facing each other, joined at the abdomen. But the two people closest to them never take for granted the miracles in their own home.

Next week, the formerly conjoined twins will celebrate their first birthday.

Often it's the little and silly things that make Jesse and Amy Carlsen thankful. A month ago, Jesse bought his daughters their first chicken nugget Happy Meals. He couldn't help but laugh as he ordered them.

"I had just never imagined ordering my kids their own Happy Meals," he said.

A year ago, the Carlsens were scrambling to get a nursery ready. The week before Thanksgiving, Jesse and a friend put two cribs together. The soon-to-be father scoured town for every Princess Barbie doll he could find to match the girls' room theme.

He and Amy assumed their babies would be separated by mid-February, and Amy refused to leave town until the room was ready. By this time, Amy couldn't sleep, walk or sit comfortably. Heating pads offered occasional relief to her aching back. More than anything, she wanted those twins to be born.

The day after Thanksgiving, the couple drove to Minneapolis, where the girls were born by Caesarean section. And when they were born on Nov. 29, Amy cried tears of joy.

From the beginning, Amy and Jesse knew the journey to separate their daughters would be long and hard, but nothing prepared them for how difficult it would be. They returned home to Fargo a month after Abby and Belle were born and waited.

As the original surgery date came and went, the Carlsens' faith that the girls could be easily separated began to waver.

"Not knowing was the worst," Jesse said. "We didn't know what was going on."

Taking another leap of faith, the family sought help from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where the girls were successfully separated May 12. The family returned home in June, more than three months after they left.

"I never thought in a million years it would be like it was," Amy said.

Parenthood changes every couple, but parenting conjoined twins forced Jesse and Amy to learn skills quickly and under public scrutiny.

They now have the confidence to question doctors when it comes to their daughters' health. Their spiritual life deepened after months of uncertainty when they relied on prayer to get them through each day.

And the young couple who were raised in Montana found a network of new friends and fellow church members who reached out when they most needed help.

"These girls have affected us more than anything," Jesse said. "We know a community, and a community knows us."

To thank those people for their support, the Carlsens look for ways to give back.

The family recently met with Moorhead (Minn.) High theater students before they presented "Side Show," a musical about Violet and Daisy Hilton, conjoined twins in the 1930s.

Amy and Jesse answered questions from the cast while Abby and Belle showed off their newly acquired skill of walking. The students gushed over every move the twins made.

"We're going to try to make them proud of their scars, proud of being conjoined," Amy told the students. "That's the way they were born. That's the way God made them."

Jesse told the students he hoped his daughters' story would encourage parents of conjoined twins to carry their babies to term. The couple had been given the option to terminate, which they never considered.

So far, Abby and Belle have had few medical complications from their surgery. A physical therapist and occupational therapist still work with the twins to keep their core muscles - those that connected the girls for the first half of their lives - strong and flexible.

The Carlsens still don't know what their final medical costs will be. Bills from Children's Hospital in Minneapolis came to about $350,000, most of it covered by the family's health insurance.

Bills from Mayo Clinic trickle in $100 or $60 at a time. They haven't yet received a bill from the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester, where they spent more than three months.

Donations from the community that totaled more than $50,000 are being used to cover those bills and to allow Amy to stay home with the girls. Some of the funds will be saved for a future date when the girls will need plastic surgery to re-form their chests.

Abby and Belle planned a weekend birthday celebration with extended family and close friends during a Hello Kitty-themed party.

Amy expects the twins' actual birthday will be a quiet affair. The four of them will enjoy Abby and Belle's favorite supper of macaroni and cheese. A cupcake or two may make an appearance.

Amy also expects the tears will be hard to hold back as she thinks about how far they have come as a family.

"It's been a year a tough year," she said. "But when I look at them, I can't even explain how grateful I am for these two girls.

"They're here. They're perfect. God gave us two angels."

Jesse agrees that the ending couldn't be more perfect. Each night, he is greeted by two little girls who light up his world. He'll grab them both and toss them into the air until they are breathless with excitement. It was the ending the Carlsens prayed for and always expected.

"It was just getting there," Jesse said. "It wasn't the easiest trip."

They have no doubt they had some help.

The statue of a winged woman sitting on a bench is placed in a cubby above their home's entryway. Jesse and Amy purchased it in Rochester while they waited for their babies to heal.

It's a symbol of the guardian angel they believe watches over them all.