12-15 Months

Dear Daughters,

You are at such a fun age. I love how everything is so exciting for you. Here are a few things I've loved experiencing with you for the first time:

-watching birds when we go on walks around the neighborhood

-seeing tons of butterflies at Desert Botanical Garden

-swinging in Grandma and Grandpa Jones’ backyard

-going down a slide at the park with Hallie and Jane

First Words (Including words that you mimic)

L: Mama, Achoo, Dada, More, Here, Thank you

E: Mama, Dada, Purple, Up, Cracker

Aunt Marissa won the family caption contest: "Mime training boot camp"

You are both getting pretty good at climbing up and down the stairs, drinking out of sippy cups, and reading books. You used to only want to eat books. I'm glad you like looking at the pictures now, too. Your favorite books right now are ones with photographs of real things in them. My favorite thing is how you stand in front of me and then back up into my lap.

You are starting to practice coloring with crayons. Our practices usually are cut short by one of your eating the crayons or trying to color on things other than paper. You are also starting to learn your body parts. You are both great at finding your tummies.

Both of you love to peek through things.  You’ll look through the legs of a chair or through an opening of the easel and just start laughing.  It’s so funny.  

Outside is your happy place. You don't even necessarily need to be doing something. As long as you're outdoors, you are good.

Our solution for owning only one car.

Baby Ducks!

Wishing you were outside

You have definitely been expressing your need for independence when it comes to feeding yourself. If Dad or I try to feed you something, you refuse. If I put it on your tray, you gobble it up. I've been trying to give you more practice using a spoon. It always makes a mess, but that seems to be how you prefer it. It's not unusual to see you both walking around the house with a spoon in your hands. E, the other day I saw you putting your animal cracker on a spoon instead of just putting it in your mouth. L, you are already starting to be a picky eater. I hope it's just a short phase.

You are still obsessed with phones, computers, and pretty much anything electronic. We met some family members at Chuck E. Cheese last week and you had a blast. Your great aunt Bonnie wanted to spoil you by taking you to get a prize from the ticket counter. She took E up there with her. With all the prizes available, the thing that you wanted the most was the calculator that the employees use. When we got home, I pulled out two calculators that I had from when I was a teacher. You've been playing with them nonstop ever since, pretending that they are your own little phones. You brought them on our walk the other day and I could hear L talking to people on the phone as we strolled throughout the neighborhood. 

You both got an early ticket to nursery at church. I was just called to serve as a nursery leader, so you girls get to come with me. You've only been once so far, but your favorite part is definitely the bubbles. It sure beats trying to keep you both happy during Sunday School by myself (with help from some friends).


L,

Your biggest regret in life is that you aren't quite tall enough to climb on top of the couch or the coffee table by yourself.

I've decided that you may have a future career in interior design. You love to rearrange the chairs by pushing them around the kitchen and move all of the little rugs to new locations.

When you want something, you reach your arm toward it and shake your hand.  It’s a bit counter-intuitive for me, so I sometimes forget that you are asking for something, rather than saying that you don’t want it.

One day, Dad went upstairs to get E from her crib and left you alone. When they were coming down the stairs, you were waiting at the gate and started clapping. I was sad I missed it, but luckily you did it again another day.

E,

When you are excited, you shake your head back and forth.  This looks like you don’t want something, so I was a little confused at first.  

You LOVE to spin. Sometimes you'll even spin yourself around when there isn't any music playing. I love my little dancer.

Thanks for being such great little girls!!  I love you so much!!

Mom


P.S. Your dad got a little confused about when Mother's Day was, so he had you girls give me my presents a week early. I loved the poems that you wrote for me. 

ONE YEAR OLD!!!!!!!!!

Dear Daughters,

You are one!!! I can hardly believe it! And boy, am I in trouble. I took down the fence because I was tired of you both screaming every time I went into the kitchen or the bathroom.  It’s opened up a whole new world of ways for you two to get into mischief. You’ve discovered how to open cupboards. And you love it.  Dad keeps adding more and more locks.  I kind of feel bad about that, but my poor head can only take so many pot lids clanging on the floor.  Another exciting discovery in the kitchen has been the curtains.  It’s so fun to watch you both play in them and with the sliding glass door.  

We celebrated your birthday by eating chocolate cake at Grandma and Grandpa Jones’ house.  Your aunt Andrea made you some cute t-shirts and party hats to wear.  I think you liked eating the hats almost as much as you liked the cake.   

E,

You still love to share. Sometimes you will feed Cheerios to your sister or me. It's the sweetest thing ever.

You are picking up on sign language.  I’ve only taught you two signs and the one that you use all the time is “MORE!” As in, “I want more Cheerios” or “Feed me more of that soup” or “More graham crackers, please!”

You and your sister always want to eat whatever the grownups are eating.  The other night, I was eating some yummy lasagna, but it was really hot. I gave you girls graham crackers instead.  After a while, I realized that whenever I would blow on my lasagna to cool it down, you were blowing on your graham cracker.  Too cute!

Should I be worried that you're licking the monkey's tongue?

L,

You are walking all over the place now. I knew it wouldn't take you long to catch up with your sister. One of your new things is to open your mouth super wide as you are walking around to show your excitement. It's the best.

I went in your room after you woke up from your nap one day. You were so excited and called me “Mama!” Who knew you could fill my heart with just one little word? My elation was soon replaced by confusion as I tried to figure out what had happened to your crib. You sucked the paint right off of it and exposed the wood underneath! I guess you had been awake longer than I realized. I'm now working on protecting your crib.

You now have one little curl on the top of your head.  I’m in love with it.  I can’t wait until you get more hair.  If your hair is anything like mine, though, it will still take a while to come in.

  

You are such a fun girl. And adventurous, too. You love finding new places to explore.

I have a confession to make. On a regular basis, I find myself saying, "This would be so much easier if I only had one baby." Well, this month I got a little glimpse of what it would be like to have just one. Dad took E on a trip with him for a weekend, while L stayed home with me. And I was right. It was easier. I got more sleep, going to the store was a breeze, and I could give my undivided attention to my sweet little girl. But, I'm still so glad that you came to me as twins. I love seeing you play together. I can't get enough of your giggles. The greatest part about it, though, has been the fact that I've needed help. That's not something that I would have previously thought I'd be so grateful for. Ever since I was put on bed rest, I've been blown away by how blessed our family has been. It still hasn't stopped. I'm continually being served in so many ways, big and small. So, thank you for giving me the opportunity to allow people to serve our family. I hope you always remember how loved you are.

I love you both so much!! It's been one incredible year.

Love,
Mom

P.S. Thanks to your incredible aunt Andrea for lots of these amazing photos! (all the good ones)

E-L-E-V-E-N MONTHS!!!

Dear Daughters,

I love you both so much! And I’m not just saying that because you both finally slept through the night last night. Although, I wouldn’t mind if you repeated that tonight. ;) It’s so fun to see you interact with each other and with others.  You are very aware of what’s going on around you now.  It’s almost impossible to sneak anything by you these days.  

You’ve started copying me a little more.  I picked up a toy cup and talked into it the other day to make you laugh.  Now you both do the same thing and love to hear your voices echo in the cup.

I love seeing you get excited. Sometimes, one of you will see something and start moving towards it.  Then, you’ll glance over your shoulder at your sister and check to make sure that she’s going to come and check it out, too.  It’s my favorite.

You both love to wave at people to say ‘hi’ and ‘bye.’ I can’t get enough of your little fingers.  You also are starting to get upset when people say “bye” and they leave.  It breaks my heart when Dad goes to work and you both start crying.

 

E,

You are walking, walking, walking.  Even though your steps are still ‘baby steps,’ you can make it across the whole room with no problem.  You have even perfected the pivot.  

Your dad is already teaching you how to share.  He’ll sometimes pretend to drink from your bottle or eat your other foods to be silly.  Now you willingly share them with both of us and love to see us ‘eat.’

L,

You are kind of obsessed with a few of your toys.  You always have to have something in your hands.  You still love the ‘fish’ toys.  Now, you also hold tightly to your toy wrench and your rattle.  You bring them to bed with you and won’t even let go to hold your bottle.  I think we’ve got a multi-tasker in the making.

You love to point with your finger. It’s the cutest thing ever.  You are walking more and more each day.  You prefer to crawl most of the time since you’re so fast.  Your other trademark move is to put your head down on the floor and look through your legs.  It makes me laugh every single time.  

Girls, I love being your mom so much!!

Love,

Me

Ten Months Old

12 December 2016

Dear E,

You are getting so big! I can hardly believe it. You love standing up. The other day, you took your first step. Pretty amazing!  Of course, you took that step while you were screaming and crying, so it was not anything close to the moment I had imagined. Darn teething pain! Your dad keeps saying that you've got to be almost done now, but it just doesn't seem to go away.

You can often be found clapping. It's the cutest thing. You clap a lot while you are standing.

One of your hobbies right now is getting stuck under chairs. You always find a way to get yourself wedged into the little spaces that are tricky to get out of.  

A few days ago, you woke up from your nap while I was finishing something in the other room. I wasn't able to come right away, but you still kept a good attitude. I checked the video monitor to see what you were doing. You had pulled down the stuffed turtle from your dresser and started playing with him. I was so impressed at your ability to entertain yourself.

You and your sister are both big fans of sticking everything in your mouths, playing with anything that resembles a string or a cord, banging toys, shaking rattles, touching technology, sucking on books and paper, and eating Cheerios.

 

Love you forever,

Mom

Dear L,

You are growing so well and practicing your standing all the time. You were not going to let your sister show you up this month. You took your first step on the same day that she did.  I was not expecting that so soon from either of you!  

You have been making all sorts of noises lately. Your favorite probably has to be blowing ‘raspberries.’ You've also been doing a lot of growling and baby talking. Last week, you were making so much noise in church while someone was sharing a very personal experience. You always seem to have the best timing.

You love waving. I think it's your way of expressing how happy you are. The people in the grocery store love it when you wave at them.  Well, they just love you in general.  

Spoiler alert: you are both getting new car seats for Christmas.  You are just too tall for your current ones. The best part of this gift definitely has to be the giant boxes that they arrived in.  Hours of countless fun.  Dad and I have to keep stopping you from eating the box, though.   

Love you forever,

Mom

Nine Months

12 November 2016

Dear E,

You finally got to meet Great Grandma Rogers and Great Uncle Paul this month. They loved being with you so much. We had to drive about four hours to get there. You did fine on the drive up, but got really upset on our drive home. You cried so much that you threw up all over yourself and your car seat.

Your first two teeth are in! I'm loving your smile.  The doctor told me he can feel a ton of teeth that are just about to break through your top gums. No wonder you've been so miserable lately.  The picture below sums up how you and I both feel about teething. 

You have also grown a little bit more hair. It's the perfect amount for you to play with. You love to play with it when you're trying to fall asleep and sometimes while you're drinking your milk. Another thing you started doing while falling asleep is slowly kicking one of your legs against the mattress. 

Even L likes playing with your hair. 

You love standing up. You are constantly practicing. You're getting pretty good at staying up for long periods of time now. It's so fun to see the big smile on your face as you do so. 

You have had a cold twice this month. Combine that with teething and it's no wonder it's been pretty rough for our family. I can't wait until you are totally better. I'm sure you can't either. It's not like you to be grumpy this often. 

You love your dad so much. It's so fun to see your face light up when he gets home from work. Nobody can get you to laugh as much as he can. Riding on his shoulders is a favorite activity right now. He also created a game where you and L try to escape to the kitchen over and over again. I could just watch you playing with him all day. 

The favorite toy right now is a teething ring shaped like a fish. Thankfully, we have two because you and Lucy always steal one from each other until I place the second one in your line of sight. One is currently lost and I'm searching high and low for it. Sometimes when you and your sister steal toys from each other, you get really upset. Other times, you both start laughing. It's the best. Oh, how I love watching you two interact.

I've taken you to the store before, but I always had you stay in your carseat.  Now that you're such a good sitter, you have been sitting in the grocery cart.  You love it so much since you can see everything going on around you.  The people in the store love it, too.  

Serious shoppers 

I'm sure I say this a lot, but you are such a wonderful baby. I'm so blessed to be your mom. 

Love you!

Mom

Dear L,

Great Grandma Rogers and Great Uncle Paul were so excited to meet you earlier this month. We had a great time visiting them in St. John's. They couldn't get enough of you and your sister.

One of your trademark things right now is ‘eating’ people. You open your mouth super wide and go for their face or whatever body part you can reach. Then we get covered in lots of your drool. It’s so funny (especially when you get Dad).

Speaking of your dad, he sure loves you. He loves to play with you so much and you are always in heaven when he does so. When he gives you shoulder rides, you hold on tight to his hair and you sometimes eat it. It's a guaranteed way to get you in a good mood. Another favorite is when you ‘escape’ by quickly crawling to the kitchen and Dad pretends to freak out. He brings you back to the carpet as E escapes. You both loving being ‘caught.’  It goes on and on until you wear him out. 

You have had a really hard time sleeping the past few weeks since you have been sick. There have been many nights when it takes forever for you to get back to sleep in the middle of the night. On one particularly hard night, your dad slept with you on the floor all night long because that was the only way you would sleep. It was so precious to see you asleep together when I went to check on you. 

You are moving around so much. And you are starting to stand up on your own. I had to borrow a baby corral since our kitchen isn't very baby proof. You don't really like being caged in, but I think you like it better than falling and hitting your head over and over. 

You are OBSESSED with the fish shaped teething toy. It is in your hand all day as you crawl around the house. You even hold it sometimes while you are sleeping. It's always still in your hand when you wake up. One of the two was lost for a few days, so you kept stealing the green one from your sister. Sometimes when you steal toys from each other, the unfortunate one will get really upset. Other times, you both start giggling. Oh, how I love watching you two interact. 

You are such an amazing girl who brings joy to my life each day. 

Love you!

Mom