In the last year
Elizabeth has:
Gained 13 pounds 3 ounces (currently 18 lbs 8 oz)
Grew 10 and 1/4 inches (currently 28 inches)
Learned to roll over, sit, crawl, stand, and almost walk
Amazed us with her adventurous spirit
Madeline has:
Gained 12 pounds 12 ounces (currently 18 lbs 9 oz)
Grew 10 and 3/4 inches (currently 28 inches)
Learned to roll over, sit, crawl and stand
Delighted us with her love of snuggling
I can't believe just one year ago the girls were born! This year has FLOWN by! Our girls have gone from 5 pound preemies to 19+ pound toddlers!
This past weekend was the girls first birthday party! Grandma and Grandpa Carlson, Grandma White, PopPop & MeMa, and Uncle Troy all came to town to celebrate, and the Morelands and the Schilfs came by to celebrate as well!
The girls seemed to enjoy the party, even if Elizabeth did wake up from her nap with a rather high fever. I think the biggest hit of the day was the curly ribbon that was on a couple of the presents!
Without further ado - the pictures! (As always, more in the Flickr album!)
Happy Halloween!
Erica and I took our little monkeys to visit a few of the neighbors on our block. We didn't even want candy, just the chance to show off our cute little girls. We got these adorable monkey costumes from Old Navy and they were worth every penny, even if Madeline and Elizabeth will only get to wear them once.
11 Months...
334 Days...
8,016 Hours...
480,960 Minutes...
28,857,600 Seconds...
... and counting.
Madeline and Elizabeth are now just a month shy of their 1st birthday. They have come a long way in just a few short weeks. Both of them are babbling a lot more now. No discernible language yet, but they are very chatty. Madeline in particular has taken to pointing at things and saying, "Dah!", which we accept to mean pretty much everything. There is more clapping and waving as time goes on as well, so we practice every chance we get. They have mastered the art of feeding themselves and pretty much eat whatever we are eating (just cut up into small pieces). Sippy-cups are still a challenge, however.
One unmistakable sign that they are getting bigger is the gradual transition to a single nap during the day. We are still at the point where they sometimes still could use two, but more often it works out pretty well when they just take one nap around mid-day. This is a slight transition for us as well and we tend to get a little less done around the house on weekends.
We picked up some fun new toys for Maddie and Lizzy to play with. The tunnel was definitely a big hit. The girls crawled around together and laughed like crazy. They would get to one end and then race back to the other, sometimes even rolling the tunnel around from the inside.
We had a very special visit from Great Aunt Gail all the way from California on her first trip to see us in Chicago. My dad was staying at our house and flew his sister in to join us around mid-week. Cody might have been the happiest of everyone because he had all sorts of company during the day. We were thrilled to have her stay here and especially fortunate when one day the girls were ill and both Erica and I needed to be at work. I don't know what else we would have done if they weren't here to save the day! Come back and see us anytime, or maybe our family would love to go back to sunny California.
Twins can be a handful sometimes, but THIS makes it all worth it!
Gary's mom loves to tell us how when Gary was a baby, he used to do what they called "piggy snoots" - scrunching up his nose and snorting. Now, this is something she told us about, and (not having the fond memories that she has) not something we ever demonstrated around the girls.
Imagine my surprise when a few weeks ago, Madeline started doing it, completely umprompted. (Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth started doing it too, but that could have been her noticing Madeline doing it and getting a lot of attention for it, so I wasn't quite as amazed!
We finally went to the doctor today for our 9 month appointment, and our little Lizzy is catching up to Madeline! Elizabeth now weighs 16 pounds, 14 ounces, and Madeline still just a few ounces ahead at 17 pounds, 4 ounces. Big girls (though actually pretty small for their age, but they were early, so that's ok!)
Last week we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Carlson! Our daycare provider was on vacation, so Grandma was generous enough to come spend the week with the girls! (And Grandpa joined in the fun halfway through.)
The highlight of the trip was the girls first visit to Wrigley Field to see the Mets (our team, of course) play the Cubs! Thanks so much to the Flannerys for the great seats!
As is usual for our trips to Wrigley to see the Mets, the Cubs won. It was a cloudy afternoon (which had been preceded by three days of rain), but that actually ended up in our favor - for a late August afternoon, it was only in the low 70s, so very pleasant!
Well, technically, it was more like 8 or so months in, but who's counting?
Can you believe we've gone from this:
We celebrated my birthday this year in style. The whole family traveled to California for a visit with our good friends the Olesens. The trip started on an excellent note. The four hour flight that we were slightly dreading went off without a hitch. It's a wonderful feeling when everyone around you compliments on how well they both behaved. The young woman seated next to me turned out to be an identical twin herself. This was the first of 3 identical twins that we would encounter throughout our vacation in a very strange series of coincidences. From the moment we arrived and saw the smiling faces of Oscar (Jake and Lora's 4 year old boy) and Olivia (2 year old girl) we knew it was going to be a trip to remember.
Among the first of our many destinations was the San Francisco Pier. It turned out to be a beautiful day in the city and we enjoyed a stroll along the docks and took in the sights. Another day we all decided to drive out to San Anselmo. Home to Bubba's Diner that was featured on the Food Network program - Diners, Drive-Ins and LIES. No it's actually "Dives", but the softshell crab sandwiches were a big disappointment. We managed to squeeze in a stop to visit with Auntie and Uncle Dom on the way there. It was wonderful to see them and I'm glad we found the time.
Jake's parents were kind enough (and brave enough) to invite us all over to their gorgeous home in Walnut Grove. It was a splendid day of swimming, playing and delicious home cooking, Yum! Madeline and Elizabeth had a chance to show off their adorable new bathing suits and enjoyed soaking in the hot tub.
There was plenty of time spent at home relaxing and playing with the kids, too. Our girls absolutely adored Oscar and Olivia. Maddie and Liz's faces would light up and they would laugh at them all the time. As Livy would say with a giggle, "He's laughing at me!" (Still working on the pronouns, hehe) and Oscar would find any excuse to give them hugs and kisses every chance he got. Sometimes he got way more than he bargained for if one of the girls was especially drooly at the moment. Lots of parks and walking paths in the area made for a great excuse to go outside and have some fun.
Once the little monsters were all in bed, we would play board games and enjoy good conversation into the late hours of the night. What? Did you think I was going to say "wee hours of the morning"? You're kidding right? Sleep deprivation was something we were prepared for heading into this vacation. Plans were made without too much emphasis on baby naps and bedtime schedules. If we were strict about sleeping then we'd hardly have time to do anything. It made for some crankiness and rough nights, but overall it was worth it and the girls were wonderful. They usually are! Can't wait to start planning the next time we can all get together again.
This time of their new favorite toy - the doorway jumpers!
