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Today has been fighting more of the same feelings as yesterday. I am tired right now and was hoping to do more of a "real" post but I have a sink full of dishes calling my name. I mentioned yesterday that although this is a tough season there is so much joy in it.

Two little snippets from my ordinary yet very blessed day. Matthias was napping in his swing and woke up and clearly wanted out. I had just showered and was hoping to get dressed and put some make up on. Matthias fell asleep again right after I picked him up. That is my sweet baby. He just needs snuggles sometimes. Look at that sweet little smile on his face. I just sat there for a while soaking it all in. Babies don't keep, right? These days are fleeting.



Eric and I were going to buy the boys sleeping bags later this month for our trip to see family for Thanksgiving. We decided I should buy them now so they could use them on the trip to Southern California. This way there are no worries about them falling out of a bed. The store had Lightning McQueen sleeping bags. They were so excited. They held them the entire time we were in the store. Once we got home they opened them up right away and they both are sleeping in them on top of their bed right now. Seeing such delight in a child's eyes is priceless.



Our lives are made up of these ordinary yet very special moments. I feel blessed to be these boys' mom.

Multi-tasking

I feel like women are generally much better at multi-tasking than men.  I think I have even seen articles that have mentioned that there is scientific research that supports this. Having three young children has made me realize how vital the art of multi-tasking is to basic survival in our household.  I was recently at a church function and a friend was asking me about how Matthias was doing with nursing.  I mentioned that he was a great nurser and that he loved to eat. She laughed and said "Have you had to hold him and try to nurse while you are feeding your older kids?"  Oh yes, yes I have.  Many, many women can relate to that. All the tiny humans become hungry at once and listening to the sound of multiple children crying or whining sends me over the edge so I just do my best to make everyone as happy as I can. Granted my toddlers are learning more about patience but there are certain things that just cannot wait.  I was on the phone with my mother-in-law when Winston told me he had to go potty.  We kept talking for a minute and she said "I will let you go since I know someone needs to use the potty."  I told her I had already helped him by cradling the phone between my chin and shoulder.  After I explained what I had done, it was pretty much a "Yeah, I know all about that" type of response.  Again, totally relatable for many women.  I did some plank exercises and trimmed the baby's fingernails while my older kids were bathing tonight.  I also listened to a lecture on the European Union's control of salmonella in poultry production for continuing education credit while eating dinner and then finished by writing six thank you cards.  That last part is more due to my own procrastination than anything.  I need to complete twenty-four hours of continuing education for my credential by the end of this year.  I told myself I would start them before Matthias arrived but I enjoyed nesting at the time much better. I am trying to cram in an hour here and there as the needs of the children allow.

While it feels great to be busy and efficient, I know that there are times we need to be completely engaged on one person or thing.  I need to stop and just snuggle with one of my toddlers while he excitedly tells me all about a toy he is playing with.  I need to sit and just look at my husband while he tells me about his work day instead of continuing to do the dishes.  A time and place for everything, right? And yes, I am giving myself a pep talk in my own blog again. 

So here is to multi-tasking and the women that have perfected it over the years.  I would love to hear about some fun and creative ways that some of my readers have found to get multiple things done at once.  Let's hear it!

Salad bowl, note cards and an environmental health lecture--an evening of glamour.

Twenty Four Months!

Our little guys are now two years old and this will be my last monthly update.  I will feel free to brag about them at different intervals however since this is my blog.

We had a fun afternoon at the local school yard several weeks ago when Mimi and Opa came for a visit.

In one sense it feels like A&W were just born but in another it feels like a lifetime ago.  Our lives have changed so much with the arrival of these little men that our former lives as DINKs (double income, no kids) seems like a long time ago.  I am grateful for all those changes however and that we have been able to experience the joy of parenthood.

Winston (left) and Abraham.

The boys are definitely all boy all the time.  They love to identify motorcycles, fire trucks, school buses and garbage trucks. They love hearing the sound of a fire truck and telling you what it is.  We have a lot of open land behind our back yard and it is heavily frequented by dirt bikes.  The boys love hearing them and seeing them.  On trash pick-up day the boys watch as the truck stops at every house at the end of our street and Winston cries when it is time for it to go bye-bye.  When I am out and about driving with the boys they can get fixated on a bus or big semi and are so disappointed that we are not going the same way as the other vehicle.  I think that they think that I can control where the bus goes and are so sad.  It is sweet but I feel so bad when they cry.

The boys are learning new stuff all the time and I am always so amazed at what they can remember.  They know their shapes such as circle, square, triangle, star, heart, etc.  They know colors but when I ask Abraham he will still frequently tell me that any object is green.  They know lots of letters and numbers.  They have begun counting small numbers of items they are playing with on their own, generally 1-4 but will go to about thirteen if I am counting for them.  They have an alphabet puzzle they got for their birthday and I was blown away by how many they could readily identify. I would say they know about 70% of their letters.  They can get mixed up sometimes like with an "H" and "M" but overall I am amazed at what they have soaked up. They remember little details from books, pictures and TV shows and it is absolutely true that kids are like little sponges.

We had the boys' two year well child exam last week and I was excited that the boys had gained back their weight from being sick.  The boys are doing great with Abraham in the 56th percentile for weight and 74th percentile for height and Winston in the 83rd percentile for weight and 76th percentile for height.  These are strong little Guddat men!

 Abraham
Birth-5 lbs. 15 ozs.; 18.75 inches

One Month- 7 lbs. 1 oz.; 21 inches

Two Months-10 lbs. 8 ozs.; 21.75 inches
Four Months- 13 lbs. 13.5 ozs.; 25 inches
Six Months- 15 lbs. 14 ozs.; 26.75 inches

Nine Months- 18 lbs. 12 ozs; 28 inches

Twelve Months- 20 lbs. 9 ozs; 29.75 inches
Fifteen Months- 23 lbs. 3 ozs.; 31.75 inches

Eighteen Months- 25 lbs. 2 ozs.; 32.75 inches

Twenty Four Months- 30 lbs.; 34.25 inches

Winston

Birth- 7 lbs. 9 ozs.; 20 inches

One Month- 7 lbs. 10 ozs.; 21 inches
Two Months-11 lbs. 13 ozs.; 23 inches
Four Months- 13 lbs. 13 ozs.; 25.5 inches
Six Months- 15 lbs. 13 ozs.; 26.25 inches

Nine Months- 18 lbs. 12 ozs.; 28 inches

Twelve Months- 21 lbs.; 30.25 inches

Fifteen Months- 23 lbs. 12 ozs.; 31.25 inches 

Eighteen Months- 25 lbs. 12 ozs.; 32.5 inches 

Twenty Four Months- 31 lbs.; 35 inches

Now that I am well into my second trimester and have more energy, it is definitely time to tackle potty training again. Abraham asks to have his diaper changed.  I swore up and down that I would never let my kid go that long being in diapers where they would ask to be changed.  Oh well, it just means he is ready.  Winston was going through a phase where he was telling me right after he pooped but now he is just shy and embarassed about it.  Again probably another sign that Winston is also ready.  They are good eaters and have a new found fondness for sour cream. I have explained that sour cream is to dip quesadillas in and not eat by itself but they like to swipe forkfuls of it.  They love olives and any fruit.  In general they love all condiments such as ketchup and barbecue sauce. They are doing really well with utensils but Abraham can be quite practical at times and just starts picking up handfuls and shoving them in his mouth.  Winston wants no help eating.  Even if he is struggling with something he wants to do it all by himself.

Abraham is speaking in more and more sentences.  His favorite as of late is "I don't know" even when I am quite certain that he does know exactly what I am asking him about.  He is a little parrot and he picks up language by just repeating what I say. I have noticed that he is learning to properly say "I" more and more instead of "you" when referring to himself.  He is stubborn as all get out which is both a blessing and a curse.  He loves to sit and color. While he gets distracted quickly, once he fixates on something there is nothing that can derail him.  Besides coloring, two of those fixations right now are having both of his Leo's (the stuffed animals) and playing with the plastic eggs from Easter.  Right now he is not a fan of having pictures taken of him because it takes away from whatever he is trying to do at the time.  Who has time to be in a picture when there are toys to play with?

Abraham's first lollipop given to him by a friend from church.  He has not had one since...too sticky.

Winston is a talker but it is not all intelligible.  He starts a speech with an identifiable word, goes on a string of gibberish and then says another word I can understand.  Amazingly I can often understand what he is trying to say by the two words I recognize.  No new development here but I think his obsession with vacuums is only getting stronger.  Anything that has batteries or  a power supply fascinates him.  The boys got play kitchen mixers for their birthday. Winston ran out the batteries in about two days and brought it up to me saying "Mama, mikser!"  I melt at how he pronounces that.  Anyways I knew the batteries were dead but I had to find a tiny little screwdriver to replace them and quite honestly the sound had been driving me crazy so I fibbed.  I said the mixer was broken and had to be fixed. Then there was a "More batteries, mama" with this sweet little look on his face.  I was busted.  He is a very independent kid and likes to do things all by himself. It can be a power struggle at times but I am glad to see he is definitely his own person.

Classic Winston face.

Right now we are at that age where the boys are either giggling, wrestling and clearly enjoying one another or they are bickering, crying and frustrated with one another.  It can be exhausting.  With two the same age that are trying to learn self-control and proper expression of their emotions, I feel like I am going to go crazy some days listening to the whining and fighting.  They have so much energy the minute their feet hit the floor in the morning and it is hard to keep up with them.  I cannot imagine it any other way however and we cannot imagine not having both our boys here with us.  They truly are a double blessing.  Thank you boys for giving us the two richest years of our lives!

Working Mom to Stay at Home Mom

I hit an anniversary over Thanksgiving weekend.  It was a year ago that I was starting the transition from having a full time job outside the home to staying at home with the boys.  I have now been a stay at home mom for twice as long as I was a working mom. Wow, that is crazy.  To be honest, I do not think I am any better at this gig now than when I first started.  I have learned and am continuing to learn some valuable lessons in all of it.  I am thankful that I have the comparison of being a working mom to look back on. It helps encourage me during the difficult days with the boys that I am so blessed to be able to spend as much time with them as I do.

There are the moms out there that seem to just genuinely love domestic life and are really good at it.  They never look back at their working days with a nostalgic wistfulness.  I am not one of those women.  I struggle with the mundane tasks that need to be done over and over.  It used to be that I found cleaning to be somewhat relaxing.  I got home and found satisfaction in doing housework.  I had areas of my life compartmentalized. Now I live at my workplace, so to speak, and it can be quite maddening sometimes.  I see stuff all the time that is not getting done and I get frustrated.  It is hard to gauge the level of your work.  There are no more formal evaluations and verbal feedback as to your performance.  So I look at my boys and their physical and intellectual growth and tell myself that I am succeeding despite the petty housework issues that fall by the wayside. 

Another thing that women do not tell each other enough is that staying at home with small children can be an incredibly isolating experience.  There are aspects of working that I miss tremendously.  It is very difficult to physically work just as hard if not harder than you ever have before and not feel appreciated.  Earning a pay check brought me a big chunk of my self-esteem.  Putting on decent clothing, doing my make-up and hair everyday and having conversations with other intelligent adults did a lot to boost my morale.  It is so easy to say, "I will never be one of those women that let myself go."  I get that. I totally do.  It is not that I sit around all day and fail to take care of myself.  It is just hard to motivate myself to beautify when Eric is out of town and the only people I see for several days in a row are Abraham and Winston.  The boys care that mama sits down and plays with them.  They do not care about my hair.  It is a tough balance to strike and I think like most things in life it is a constant effort to do so.

Becoming a mother taught me a whole new level of patience and selflessness and staying at home with the boys even multiplied that.  I have laid aside my ambitions and desires for the good of my children. It is hard some days.  Satan can tempt me with the thought that I deserve more and that I need more in this life to be fulfilled. The reality is that I have never had greater fulfillment in my life.  My children are a joy to me. Sometimes they drive me crazy but I am so thankful that I can serve them.  I am thankful they can look back and see with my lifestyle how much I love them. 

I have been in the position where I was leaving my two month old infants in someone else's care while I commuted and worked a full eight hour day.  It was hard.  I do not envy anyone in that position.  I know what it is like to be so tired when you are driving home from work but the minute you see your kids again, you pick back up and are giving them 110%.  It is that mommy DNA that allows you to do feats of super human strength.  Love drives and compels you everyday to do what you need to do to provide for your children.  I have some friends that are working moms and I am amazed to see what they do on a daily basis.  They could seriously run circles around me in the tasks they accomplish.  There is no right and there is no wrong when it comes to a mom working.  It is the unique situation and conviction of each family to decide whether mom is going to go outside the home to earn an income.

Me with my little bubbas at one week old.

To the stay at home moms, you are my hero.  To the working moms, you are my hero.  To those moms that are doing the very best you can for your kids every single day, you are my hero. We are all mothers and we love our children.  We do what we do because we want what is best for our kids.  Let's cheer each other on no matter our individual circumstances.

Guest Posting at 3 Little Men & a Mommy

Hey everybody!  I am excited to be guest posting over at 3 Little Men & a Mommy today.  Krystle and I "met" through the blogging community when we were both pregnant with our twin boys.  Her boys are a month older than mine so she has been a great resource for me to figure out what I should be expecting in the following month with our little duo. 

Krystle needed people to write guest posts because she went on a media fast for the entire month of August.  I gotta say that I really admire her and her family for doing that.  It is not easy to do in this era of smart phones and wifi.  With all that in mind, when Krystle said she was looking for guest posts I thought about my own struggle with social media--how it can cause me to judge others prematurely or condemn myself based on false standards.  The post is about being a Heart Led Mama.  Please check it out and as always, I love feedback!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great weekend as a family and enjoyed some fabulous spring weather.  Eric came home from a work trip on Friday night.  We had a little party planned at our house for Saturday evening and had friends and neighbors over.  Sunday was church and I had nursery duty.  I do not normally put the boys in nursery because of the fear of germs.  It was incredibly sweet however to see them play with other little kids their age.  Our church had a lot of little boys born in late 2010 and early 2011 so it was great seeing our boys trying to keep up with the other little guys.  I am seeing that A&W need to learn to share better and not try to take over what other little kids are doing or playing with.  Later on Sunday we went to Eric's parents' house for a barbecue and got to visit as a family. 

On Memorial Day we went to our church's annual picnic which is held in a local park.  The boys were a little nervous about being outside with all the noise and people but soon were loving all the room to explore.  We brought their little walker toys and they got some serious distance on those things that day.  It was the first time my little men got their shoes all dirty and filled with rocks.  Watching our little guys truck around on their walkers and explore in the grass was an amazing moment for me.  Memorial Day weekend is always a nostalgic time for me because it is an anniversary.  Four years ago I packed up all my earthly belongings into a U-Haul and left Southern California for my new home in Nevada.  Eric and I were engaged at the time and I had secured a job and needed to start that next week.  I left a career that I loved and was really good at, my condo, my family, my friends and my church to create a new life with the man I loved.  It was hard and the following months and years have not been without their difficulties.  This past weekend I got to see my sweet boys exploring the world around them and their papa so clearly delighting in them and it was just another affirmation of how blessed I am and God's sovereign plan in my life.  Last Memorial Day was difficult with colic and teething issues and I was disappointed to not spend that time as a family enjoying the holiday.  I was reflecting on how different our lives are since last year.  I was working full time with two tiny babies and wondering if I was ever going to be a SAHM.  God has been so faithful to us and it is amazing to see how far He has brought us. 

I am thankful for the life God has given me here in Nevada.  I am thankful for my marriage and the wonderful husband Eric is to me.  I am thankful for what a loving and tender papa he is to our boys.  I am thankful for my precious Abraham and Winston.  I am thankful that I live in a country with countless freedoms and for the lives that paid the ultimate price so that I could know what liberty is.

Life is good because God is good.  

Abraham with his friend Audrey.

Mr. Winston would keep letting go and practice his standing.

 

Winston can keep standing now with no problem.

Winston was racing despite Abraham getting pushed.

Truckin' along

Abraham and Auntie Alicia

Mother's Day 2012

I thought I would share some pictures from our Mother's day celebration a couple weeks ago.  Mother's Day happened to fall on Adam's birthday this year so we had a joint celebration at Adam and Ally's house.  Auntie Ally's family was also there to celebrate the double event.  This was all the same day that our little dog Scooter somehow got out of the yard and was nowhere to be found.  That put a damper on the day for me but thankfully he was returned to us the very next morning.  I still really enjoyed Mother's Day however and just remembering God's goodness to me in the past year as a new mother.  It had been a tough couple weeks with the boys but I knew it was only a phase and we would be coming out of it again.  Both boys are healthy once again, seem to be doing better with their teething and have been doing so well.

We had perfect weather on Mother's Day and had a great barbecue at Adam and Ally's.  Their house has a nice deck in the back yard so we all ate outside.

"Dude, mom, I am trying to eat here."

Auntie Ally's parents, Wade and Colleen were also there for the big celebration.

 

Auntie Ally and her brother Austin.  Winston really took to Austin and was his buddy.

So speaking of Mother's Day, I thought I would share some happy news.  There is going to be a new Guddat baby this year.  Yep, that's right.  Abraham and Winston will be getting a new little...cousin!  Auntie Ally and Uncle Adam are having a baby!  Wait, what?  You thought I might be having a baby?  No, I am just a tease like that. You will also note that Ally is opening a Mother's day gift in the picture above because it was her first Mother's Day.   

And for the record, no more Guddat babies for us for a while longer.  I am busy enough with the two we have. We will thoroughly enjoy being an uncle and auntie however. 

Uncle Adam opening his birthday presents.

My two little men  I have to take pictures of me holding them both while I still can!

I am so thankful that I get to be a mother to these precious boys.

The whole Guddat clan together.

Fourteen Months!

Yeah, I am still here.  The boys turned fourteen months on the tenth of this month and I had a great post written and then Blogger would not actually publish it.  My draft would not even save and I took Eric's well meaning advice to refresh the page and lost everything.   I should have copied the body of the post into a Word document.  What can I say?  Lesson learned. It had already been a tough week with both boys having colds as well as teething and I was really unmotivated to write it all again.  Then it was Mother's Day and our little dog Scooter disappeared.  Thankfully Scooter was returned the next morning but the week was just one thing after another.  Abraham was super irritable and I brought him into the pediatrician and, sure enough, he had a double ear infection.  Suzie got into some human food and was up all night with tummy pain.  I stayed up with her since Eric had to go to work in the morning and I tweaked my neck really bad because every time she would jerk her body I would quickly sit up.  My house is a disaster.  It is a total clutter box right now but I want to get some of this written down again before it blends into next month's post. 

My sweet boy-- Winston (left) and Abraham

They tend to goof off when I want to take a picture of them. 

So all that to say, the little guys turned fourteen months.  I have recently done some updates about how they are becoming big boys and the milestones we have reached.  I was reflecting upon Mother's Day last year.  The boys were so teeny tiny then and Mother's Day has passed by once again.  I knew last year that I was a mother.  I had carried those babies, delivered them, nursed them and loved them fiercely.  But now I actually feel like a mother. Being a mother is a core part of my identity.  Everyday I am nurturing, educating, correcting and molding them into the little people that they will become.  That is a heavy responsibility but it is also a complete joy. 

Often I write about the boys' changes and progress for the month and then write individual items about each of them.  The big thing I am noticing in the boys' is their strong desire for independence.  They want to do things all by themselves even if it is not really something they can do so.  I have had several people comment to me how they are incredibly independent for twins.  They enjoy one another and play with one another but at the same time they like doing their own thing.  They do not tend to look for one another if they are separated in public and are content being on their own.  I do not normally feed the boys food with a spoon but at breakfast I was making oatmeal for them.  Winston was so irritable at breakfast lately and I figured out that he was frustrated that he was not feeding himself.  I gave him a spoon to hold and try to use and he was happy again.  No more oatmeal though because it is not worth the frustration on either end.  

"Hey, whatcha got?"

The boys love each other, wrestling, making each other giggle and enjoy playing with one another.  At the same time the sibling rivalry thing is really starting to show. They take toys away from one another, fight over things and sometimes slap and tackle one another.  I feel like a referee and trying to be consistent in correcting them each time is exhausting. 

Abraham's classic mischievous grin.

Winston is always finding something to put in his mouth.  Yikes!

One thing that is hard about this age is that the boys are getting so independent but they cannot adequately communicate what they want or need.  This makes them frustrated and they whine.  The whining, oh the whining.  It seriously drives me crazy at times.  It has gotten better again but when the boys were sick it was really hard for me to continuously be patient and not snap at them.  Then the boys go to bed, I get a couple hours of quiet and some adult conversation with Eric and then I start missing them.  I miss them like crazy.  Sometimes we want to wake them up but then our sanity comes back to us.  Ahhh, parenthood.

Yay, papa's home!

The boys have gained some new words.  I have been using cookies as a reward for good behavior and the boys call them 'tooties.'  They can identify apples and call them 'ap-holes.' That last one is a little dangerous, huh? Winston calls both dogs 'Suza.'  They will both shake their head and say 'mm-mmm' as if to say no but I don't think they understand what it means.  They say no but the answer is actually yes quite often.  They started asking for Eric when he was gone at work.  They do the signs for 'milk' and 'all done.'  In general they have really started trying to mimic everything we say and it is so much fun interacting with them. 

Smiling at their papa.

Abraham is our talker.  He talks up a storm.  Winston is also a talker but he is more our singer.  Winston loves to sing himself and he will dance to music.  Seriously, these kids just kill us with their cuteness at times. 

We are doing some early potty training and in general Abraham will go on the toilet about once a day. Winston is a little slower to take to it but he has gone on the toilet about five or six times now. The thing we are working on is just them communicating their need to go.  They can give some clear signals so I just praise them when they do it and they go on the toilet successfully.   I am using a more traditional timing method over all and just trying to be consistent with it.  It is super casual and I am not stressing that they have to go in the toilet because I do not want them to dread that time they do sit on the toilet.  The boys are still nursing and do not seem ready to wean just yet.  I dropped a feeding during the day and it was pretty painless. They were frustrated the first two days because they were so used to the routine but were fine once they were given their sippy cups.  We use a juicer to make them apple or carrot juice and they love it. We typically dilute the juice with a lot of water and the good news is that they do not mind drinking water now.  They also drink coconut milk but Winston seems to like it better than Abraham.

We are still on two naps a day.  The boys are sleeping about 10-12 hours a night.  They were sleeping in until 7 a.m. making for a full twelve hours but they have been waking up earlier again.  With it being daylight longer they have not been going to bed until about 8 p.m.  I wish my kids were the type that if they stayed up later that they would sleep in later. 

This is real life.

 

 

A&W are not walking yet and it is still a neck and neck race to see who will be the first to do so.  The boys can balance well and stand for a while before they slowly squat and lower themselves to the ground.  They have taken to their little toy walkers and like to walk around the house with those.  I think they like it because they do not need to hold our hands and can do it all by themselves. 

Abraham and Winston, you are awesome little boys and we love you so much.  You make our hearts smile everyday with your playful and sweet personalities. 

The Good Stuff

We are enjoying the boys at this age and how they are becoming more animated with each day.  There are so many moments that they make us laugh and smile. Eric and I look at each other and we realize that these are the joys of parenthood.  We are really entering the good stuff.  We get sentimental about how they are no longer little babies but we are also enjoying more sleep. Ha! They are changing so quickly that I wanted to make sure that I remember some of the things they have started doing:

• The boys are not walking yet but we can tell they are gaining more muscle strength in their core.  They can stand and slowly lower themselves into a squat or vice versa.  They will stand for several seconds and then sit down because they do not know what to do next.  They will be standing in their crib or next to a piece of furniture and start clapping without leaning on anything.  They do not realize they are doing it, look down and quickly grab onto something.   They are really into cruising the furniture. They are on their own little time table for walking and that is just fine with me.
• Winston's language is taking off.  He is really trying to make word sounds and mimic what we say.  Our little dogs Suzie and Scooter are like little ducklings and follow whatever activity is happening around the house.  The boys both like watching the dogs and petting them.  I was telling Winston that the little girl dog was Suzie and he repeated to back to me 'Suza.' Later on that week he was eating in his high chair and when he saw Suzie standing in front of him he looked at her and said, "Suza."  It was totally unprompted and I was so proud of him!
• The boys have little stuffed animals that they sleep with.  Abraham has Leo the Lion and Winston has George the Monkey.  Abraham kept putting Leo in Winston's crib so that Winston had two stuffed animals or he would throw Leo on the floor.  Every time I would go in to get the boys I would look forward to seeing where Leo ended up.  I would ask, "Where's Leo?", and Abraham would giggle.  Abraham then taught Winston to throw George out of the crib too.  Winston gets so excited about doing this that it has turned into a game.  As soon as he gets put in his crib he picks up George, pulls himself up and throws George out.  So now every time I walk into the nursery, poor Leo and George are on the floor.  Also when I tuck in the boys for nap time and bed time I take Leo and George and make their respective animal sounds.  The boys both make the 'ee-ee-oo-oo-ah-ah' sound for the monkey now. 
• Abraham now says 'uh-oh.' Apparently he has heard us say that a number of times.
• Winston taught Abraham to chew on their adjoining crib rails.  Their rails are now wrapped in a dish towel to prevent them from acting like little beavers.
• When we ask the boys, "How big are you?", they lift their hands over their heads.  Abraham is especially quick to do it and now Winston is even trying to say it as well.  It is not clearly the phrase 'so big' but he uses the same tone and inflection.  
• Abraham seems to think that the food on Winston's tray looks better than his so he always tries to grab for his brother's stuff.  Fortunately Abraham also shares and gives his brother his sippy cup. 

 We hosted our first play date last week and we tried to

 get a picture of all the kids together. 

This is pretty much how all of them looked except at one 

point Sammy (yellow snack cup) was screaming.

 Abraham's faces just kill me sometimes.

 Gracie in the green outfit and the bow is only six days older than our boys.

 Those blue eyes!

 Smiley boys

In general the boys are laughing and playing with each other a lot and it is such a delight to watch.  Listening to them "talk" to one another just melts our hearts.  When they get put down for their naps it is pretty normal to hear them giggling and shrieking for 15-20 minutes before they fall asleep.  It's stuff like that that makes having twins so awesome. 

We are going through teething again and some struggles with tantrums but it all comes with the territory, right?  We love these boys and love their little smiles.  We feel blessed to have our little sons.  

Thirteen Months!

I think this past month has been our best month yet with these crazy wonderful kids.  The boys are so funny and sweet.  We have survived that first year and are really enjoying their fun little personalities.  It has been getting easier overall everyday with them and I am loving where we are at.  A lot of the tantrums have started to subside and they are listening better.  Granted they are always pushing boundaries and seeing how far they can go but it also shows me that they are understanding the word 'no.'  Fortunately they have not started saying that back yet!  They are busy little guys and want to get into everything but that is life with toddlers, right?

The boys love bath time and splashing and shrieking.  They like to talk and giggle with each other in their cribs before they fall asleep and when they wake up.  They like going for long walks with mama. They like to practice standing up, falling down and doing it all over again.  Mama is also their jungle gym and they are constantly trying to climb on me and use me to pull themselves into a standing position.  They can get pretty physical with each other and I catch them wrestling quite often.

Abraham and Winston have both learned to put a ball inside this giraffe toy that makes a noise when it is dropped inside. They are beginning to sign for 'milk' and 'all done.' They love food and are really good about trying new things lately. Both boys do well with the sippy cup and are getting more liquids that way.  Right now we make our own apple or grape juice for them and that has been a big motivator for them to use their sippies more.  They are also drinking coconut milk and water.  They are wearing 12-18 month clothing and are still in size 3 diapers. We have had a big reprieve in teething since February.  Abraham still has only the seven teeth and Winston has the eight teeth. 

 

Abraham has become a bit of a dare devil. He will dive head first off the couch without a second thought so he has to be under constant watch.  He will stand up and intentionally fall face forward.  I try to get photos of the two of them sitting on the couch and he tries to leap off. His favorite word is 'up' and he was saying it a hundred times a day for a while there.  Every time he would stand, he had to exclaim that he was 'up.' He is our little guy with a very apparent strong will but he has been doing so much better. Abraham always seems to have a mischievous smile even when he is obeying.  It's like he wants to make sure you understand that he could still change his mind any minute.  He is a pretty vocal little guy and tries to mimic words and sounds. He really likes his papa and enjoys "wrestling" with him. 

Winston is a sweetheart and can be a little goofball.  He shakes his head when is happy and feeling playful.  He is more mellow and easy going but when he decides to throw a fit he can really throw a fit.  He is very analytical and studies shapes and was the first one to figure out the 'put the ball into the toy giraffe' thing.  He started to sign first and that was really exciting.  His first sign was for 'all done.'  He is more of the mama's boy at this point and will rest his head on my shoulder.  It only lasts a couple seconds but I adore it.  He will yell in the morning when he wakes up because he wants me to come in right away.  Auntie Alicia taught him to say 'ruff ruff' for the sound that a dog makes.  I can tell he is really listening and figuring out word sounds. He will talk as well but just does not mimic as much. Winstonhas been going through this oral phase and wants to put everything in his mouth.  On Easter he got his first taste of doggy kibble.  It is amazing how quick he can be getting into stuff.  He can also really pound his sippy cup.

 

 

Maybe next month I will be writing about how the boys are walking. Right now they are just working on the balance thing.  These boys are an absolute joy and I am realizing that these are some the best years of our lives.  We are definitely trying to live in the moment and savor each day.  Having twins can be chaotic and stressful at times but all it takes is listening to a little giggle fest over the baby monitor and we realize that it also the best thing ever.  We are so blessed.