Return flight peekaboo

Baby flight 8 in 17 months :) (end of our fourth round trip)

Maybe next year we will take a real vacation? ;)

17 Months!

17 months! almost a year and a half!? Are you kidding me?? The girls have really grown this past month. All of a sudden - besides being TODDLERS and not babies, ever moreso - they've just filled out a bit, perhaps the only babies on the proverbial block to be (slightly) chubbier as toddlers than they were were as infants. According to the scale at the St. Louis children's museum, they are about 19.5 and 20.5 lbs now - a huge jump on the growth chart - but they won't get "officially" weighed for a few more weeks.

And tall! They're getting so tall. I think theyre close to 31 inches  I think 12 month might be our shortest lived size. Just 2 (ok, maybe 3) months after outgrowing their snug-fit cotton 9 mo pjs, we're starting to reach the ends of the 12 mo ones. Still plenty of room in their fleece pjs, but wow! I think it is safe to say they're a solid 12 mo size right now, but we cheat in baggy 18 mo shirts from small brands like the Kohl's Sonoma and Jumping Beans and Target's Circo because they're seasonally appropriate hand-me-downs (& they need the length). They can still squeeze into a lot of 9 mo onsies, but we really don't bother. I don't like to work to get the kids snapped in; a little baggy is easier.

They're SO clearly learning new words every day - elbow, knee, toe, and Emily in the week before Christmas. And they suddenly are taking interest in the TV. I guess it is time to turn it off when we don't, uh, need it for entertainment (the whole no-screen-time thing? went out the window when we both needed to get ready for work and they were no longer happy wacking rattles on the floor).

Amusingly, they still love the jumper (probably because unlike a few months ago, they're heavy enough now to really make it bounce) and will sometimes bounce "together" (one in it, one outside of it). Quinn in particular loves to dance, and while they both like books and frequently "read" to themselves or demand you read to them, Avery is particularly obsessed.

They're eating is improving (though I admit they're suckers for baked goods, especially Avery), but they still get a lot of their calories from milk, probably 20+ oz a day most days. We probably need to offer a more varied diet, but that's a project for all of us for the new year. They eat better at daycare than at home a lot of the time....power of peer pressure.

Sleep has been good, knock on wood and all. They sleep 7:30-6:30, give or take 30 min on either end, most of the time (unless sick, then it all goes to hell), and usually nap 11:45-1:45, give or take 30 minutes. 

17 months today!

More to follow!

1 day of Christmas

Love.

2 days of Christmas!

Christmas Eve dinner

3 days of Christmas

Flying to Grammy's

4 days of Christmas

Merry Christmas from grandma and grandpa!! Our own chairs!

5 days of Christmas

Practicing unwrapping

(Clearly it is hard to get a photo of two toddlers and their prized box)

6 days of Christmas

I thought these dresses would be corny, but I sort of love them in....in that corny ugly sweater way :)

8 days of Christmas

I am so behind!

I finally got and hung one of the photos from the girls' one year old pictures!!

7 days of Christmas

Given the amount of amusement this cereal box provided, I think Santa has an easy job this year.

9 days of Christmas

Tonight the girls opened their first Christmas gift, a package from a cousin in Texas. They did pretty well with the wrapping paper, so Christmas has promise.

Perhaps more entertaining was dinner though...

10 days of Christmas

Thankful for our babies.

They're thankful for Super Why ;)

11 days of Christmas

What do you get 16 month olds for Christmas? This is probably the last year they're too young to "get" Santa and such. And they don't need anything except maybe some new clothes (and I think their grandparents will get some toys).

So far we're thinking of getting them a new basement wall so they can play in the basement without hurting themselves on the furnace et al, and probably a carpet for down there too (it is unfinished, and will remain so for the foreseeable future).

For the meanwhile...

So far they've been fine with the tree. I haven't risked a wrapped present underneath though.

I am in love with our stockings. And have gotten a stocking stuffer or two...

12 days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas
My babies brought to me
The best Santa photo
In hissstoryyyyy!

disclaimer: I THINK the 12 days of Christmas are the days between Christmas and three kings day, but eh, whatever :)

SANTA

We took the girls to see Santa last weekend at the mall. We arrived at 9:45 - Santa arrives at 10 - and were about 20th in line. Excellent.

The girls were SO good on line, though Quinn was less than thrilled when Santa made his grand entrance...

She did let go for a while, once he was out of sight...

AWESOME Santa. Legit beard and all.

 Avery looked like this pretty much the whole time.

40 minutes or so after our arrival, we were second to next to go. Avery took off down the mall hallway, or whatever it is called.
She was DONE waiting.
The kid RAN. Who knew she could run??

Then Chris caught her. Tears ensued. Meanwhile, Quinn got wind we were going to put her in SANTA'S LAP.

Awesomeness followed.
Evidence to follow.
Totally worth the $22.

Barnyard dance

We can always tell when a book we have is in the rotation at daycare because they suddenly have a new "thing" they do with it (at the same time, without our prompting, so pretty unlikely to be chance)

The most recent example is Boyton's "Barnyard Dance". They stomp their feet and clap their hands. Too cute.

16 months!

Our babies toddlers are 16 MONTHS old (actually, 16 months and about 2 weeks. yikes)

babies and their Cookies

16 months. sheesh.

I am having a bit of trouble coming up with what went on this month. It is all a blur with the ear infections and Thanksgiving (and work and all).

They're such TODDLERS now. Attitudes. Avery says No to everything, even if she means Yes. They give kisses and hugs.  Kisses are a big favorite right now. They'll give kisses to the remote control. Speaking of the remote control, they'll bring it to you and sign Please. Maybe we should do less screentime at home (of course, I am typing this with a sick Avery in my lap watching YouTube...).

They LOVE Cookie(monster) and ask for him (well, ask for Sesame Street in general) by name, especially when in their high chairs. We have a (bad?) habit of putting on shows for them when we get home and get dinner together.

They will point out their bellies, heads, eyes, nose and ears and sometimes toes and knees. If you're lucky, they'll show you your belly too and poke it. Same thing for your eyes and nose. Bonus points for trying to remove your nose from your face, nostrils first.

They are really getting into mimicking - brushing teeth, brushing hair....they also love their shoes, and know which pair is theirs. Quinn tries to put them on. As soon as she learns "I DO" we will be in trouble.

They're expert walkers and are starting to climb a bit - I am hoping they don't become CLIMBERS because I'm not really keen on screwing all of our stuff to the walls.  They are good at stairs, despite not using them much. We have just started parking in the back of the house though, so they usually get to go up 4 stairs a few evenings a week. Avery can ALMOST do it one leg at a time.

Blueberries are our favorite food this month, and cheese is making a comeback. They're both also eating pasta now, which is awesome and has made packing lunches easier.  Quinn is a bit less picky and a lot more neat of an eater than Avery, but neither of them has even earned the "one year old garbage disposal" sticker. Toddlerhood might be interesting. They still drink about 20 ounces of milk a day each.

They're finally sleeping pretty well, when not teething or sick, sleeping 7:30-6:30 most nights and napping  2-3 hrs midday. Quinn just got her 8th front tooth and is working on a molar, and Avery has cut all 4 molars in the last couple of weeks. Shockingly these came in much easier than her first few teeth despite their remarkable size.

Overall, they're SO FREAKING cute. I miss them when I am at work now :)

The saga continues

So last week Quinn had her ENT visit. She's now on a two month course of a sulfa drug and if she reacts badly or gets an ear infection during the treatment she will go for tubes.

And today Avery came home sick from daycare. We go to the doctor in an hour, but my money is on another EI for her too. What was I thinking only making one ENT appointment??

She's cranky and clingy but not too sad this time :)

homework

We got our first "homework" assignment this past weekend. My cousin made a remark when her twins were 3 or 4 (they're 11 now) that weekend homework in preschool was about training the parents, not prepping the kids for K. I rolled my eyes at the time, but I think she is right. 

The "assignment" was to decorate Quinn's Star of the Week "onsie" poster for their classroom window (it is her week, obviously). At 5 pm on Sunday, I sat down and order photos from Walgreens, where I also bought markers when I picked them up, then had to scrounge around the house for a gluestick. I also committed a cardinal error in crafting  - gluing without pre-testing the layout. Oh well. Hopefully the one year olds won't judge.  I will try to do a little better with Avery's (but I can't do anything like get backing for the photos or do a cute teeshirt design or anything else I thought of on my way to work TODAY since that would be pretty unfair, right?).

one is tough

For the babies anyway.  As I've mentioned, we have toddlers now. Things are dramatic. Sometimes you get the wrong sippy. Sometimes Mom takes away the paper you were eating. Sometimes you just feel like screaming because it sounds like a good way to express your anger at the fact you're short but too tall to walk under the dining room table without hitting your head and you can't find anymore Kix to pick off the floor for a snack.

Both days this weekend Quinn woke up from her nap and was in hysterics within minutes. I'll skip the play by play, but the lesson learned here is it is not prudent to put tired babies down for their nap before lunch when their routine dictates lunch first. Even if that means lunch is at 10:45, that would be preferable to an hour of hysterics with the occasional bite of cracker because Tiny Toddler is too hungry to know what to do with herself and you offered milk before blueberries upon her waking.

In a similar vein, Avery, who didn't sleep well Saturday night, was hysterical at 6 pm and wasn't eating dinner Sunday, so I put her to bed early. She was up at 11 and had both of her mom's hand feeding her a midnight snack and some milk. Comically really, singleton-wanna-be baby. At least she went right back to sleep!