Mischief Makers

Busted!

It is like clockwork. The minute the girls turn another month older, they hit more milestones. Ever since the girls turned 10 months old (which, to be fair to them, is an adjusted 9 month old age), they have started getting into EVERYTHING! I could literally sit in the living room and just watch them all day long if I could! They are hysterical. Two tiny little people, on hands and knees, maneuvering all around the living room, finding what they can get into next. Here's proof that these two are little mischief makers!!

"Oh yay! The Wii Guitar! I've wanted to get my hands on this!" Savannah

"Whoa. What a minute here. What is THIS?!" Madeline

"Oh what to do...The fireplace Mommy says to stay away from, or the plant!" Madeline

"Hey sis! Check THIS out!" And there goes the plant on the fireplace.

"What ELSE can we find in this toy basket?!!"


"Yep, I think we pretty much got it all out!"

"Whoa. Wait. What's back here?" Madeline

"Bailey's doggie toys!!" Great.

And speaking of Bailey.....

The girls are NOT the ONLY Mischief Makers in the house!

10 Months Old

Oh my goodness gracious...yesterday the girls turned 10 months old. Only 2 more months of their "first year"...but what can I say. I am so incredibly full of joy and love with each new day! Now the girls are both crawling everywhere. I often think about growing up watching "Rugrats" and always wondering what the little squiggly lines were behind the babies when they would crawl around...and now I know. Their little jammy bottoms get so bunched up from crawling they just dangle behind them when they crawl along! It is so stinkin' cute!

Savannah. Oh Savannah. When I pick her up to take her to bed, she will hold on so tightly to me. She squeezes her little arms around my neck and just holds tight. I'll stand in their room with her, just holding her, getting her ready for bedtime and I truly have a hard time letting her go! The funniest/sweetest is when I am patting her back. She now pats mine too! If she knows she's going to bed, she'll just pat my back the entire way back to her bedroom. If she's finished eating and needs to be burped, she'll start patting my back like I pat hers. It is so unbelievably precious. And she clearly says "Ma ma" now. And when her daddy walks into the room, she will clearly say "Da da!" I love hearing her practice her speaking. She'll sit alone and whisper "da da da da.... da.... da". I just want to squeeze her!!

Madeline. Oh Madeline. She has become quite the thumb sucker. I know when my sweet Madeline is sleepy when she looks up at me with that tiny thumb in her mouth. She doesn't suck her thumb when she's playing or wide awake. She only sucks it when she's tired and it might be the cutest thing ever. When I lay her down, we'll say her bedtime prayers and then she just rolls over, thumb in her mouth, and while on her tummy, she'll reach up, waiting for me to lay her stuffed bunny down next to her. She tucks it under her arm, while the other has her thumb in her mouth, and she's off to sleep. She says "Da da" and "Ma ma" too. She doesn't like to talk as much as Savannah, but she knows who I am, and who her da da is, and it could not warm our hearts any more!!

Both of the girls have learned to sit up in their cribs. This makes naptime funny at many times. Now, instead of laying right down to sleep, they'll often be heard back in their room just jibber jabbering to each other. When I peek in, their both sitting up, looking at each other through their crib bars! It is precious beyond words. They also both have four teeth now. Two on top, two on bottom. And they love - LOVE to eat puffs. (Thank you Courtney for this introduction!). Now that they have teeth, they chomp away with the cutest expressions!! It is so fun to watch them discover so many new things.

One of the cutest stories took place just the other night. Madeline woke up in the middle of the night just screaming. Chris and I both had quietly gone into their room, and were patting Madeline on her back, trying to calm her down. I looked over and in the dark room, I thought I saw what I saw. I turned my dim cell phone light over and shined it on Savannah's crib. There she was. Pulling her bumper down, peering through her crib bars. She had not cried, she had not alerted us that she was awake. She had just woken up to her sister's cries and was peering through her crib as if to say with complete concern, "What's going on over there?! What's wrong with sis?"

The best part about having twins is the obvious love they have for each other. At 10 months old, their love for each other is clearly evident. They "talk" to each other, smile at each other, giggle with each other, hug on each other, and yes, fight with each other. It is just another sign that the older they are getting, the stronger their bond is becoming. Girls, never forget the bond you are making now, and always, ALWAYS love each other the way you do now.

Can you guess who this is?

Dreaming Daddy

My husband is a huge sports fan. Huge. He loves football, baseball, basketball, you name it Every night that the girls wake up (when they're NOT sick and we don't have a clue what's wrong), Chris and I have a middle of the night discussion about whether or not we should let them cry it out. Is it more than a sleepy wake up that they just need to self-soothe themselves back to sleep? Will it be worse if we go in because if they see us, they will scream even louder? It's been 2 very loooong minutes, should we go in now? We have these discussions often when one of the girls wakes up in the middle of the night for whatever reason, but we've never really called it a discussion. We just do it. So, one night last week, (before they were sick), the baby monitor goes off at 4 a.m. Chris, clearly still asleep, rolls over and says "Time for another Dream Team decision."

He had no idea he said that....he was totally out of it. But it cracked me up. We both are clearly deliriously tired at that time of the night and it has basically been decisions made in a dreamy state...but to call us the Dream Team...whether he meant to or not...well, it just goes without saying that my basketball fan of a husband makes me laugh!!

Bubbles

Oh, the crud. The awful, awful crud. I used to hate it when I got the crud. But now, I hate even more to see my sweet little angel girls get the crud. For two babies that are home 90% of the time, I am so sad that somehow they caught a mean virus that spread from Savannah first, to Madeline, and then inevitably, yes, to me. Chris and I both would take that virus at full strength to keep it from getting our girls, but unfortunately, life doesn't work that way.

So, for the last several days, we've been nursing two sickly little girls. But tonight, in the midst of their pitiful little fevers and sniffles, we had a funny moment. I was giving the girls a bath with this Vapor Bath soap. I put it in their bath water which meant that yes, they had bubbles in the bath! When the girls were REALLY small, I would give them bubble baths sometimes to just let them soak in the soapy water, but hadn't done that in a looong time. So tonight was like a first for them. They sat there, in that water, and just looked at those bubbles!! They were in awe of the water! Savannah would not even look at her bath toys but would just be captivated by the white circles floating on the water. Madeline, I have to say, was more interested in the water spout tonight for some reason...maybe the white bubbles were being reflected off the silver-mirrored faucet, but she kept wanting to reach up to that spout. Anyway, it was the cutest moment and I barely caught it on film, so here it is. Savannah and Madeline just peering down at these crazy, white, small circle things they just couldn't seem to grab and get a hold of, that just floated on the water. These girls are just too fun!!!

9 Month Schedule

I remember how crazy things were when the girls were first born. I barely had a half an hour in between feeding, changing diapers and then putting them back down. Now that the girls are eating just about everything, and I mean everything, I thought I'd update how their schedule is now going. I always wondered when the girls would move to a 4 hour nursing schedule instead of every 3, but with all this new food they're eating, their interest in breastfeeding has slowed down. This makes me sad. Say what? Yes, this makes me sad. But I know it just means they are growing girls, which makes me VERY happy! And to know I've made it 9 months and we're still going....I've hit a mark I never expected I'd make it to!

7 a.m. - nurse
8:30 a.m. - breakfast (solids)
9:00 a.m. - nap (2 hours)
11:00 a.m. - nurse
12:30 p.m. - lunch (solids)
1:30 p.m. - nap (2 hours)
3:30 p.m. - nurse
sometimes, but not often, they have a third nap
6:00 p.m. - supper (solids)
6:45 p.m. - bathtime (they LOVE this!!)
7:15 p.m - nurse
7:30 p.m. - bedtime
7:35 p.m. - whew! Catch-My-Breath time

The girls go down to sleep so very, very well. Sometimes they chat and make noise in their cribs, but they go to sleep very easily. It's a great blessing. It is those moments at the end of the day that make me feel so relaxed, yet in all seriousness, a little nostalgic about my day with the girls. I have to sneak back into their room a couple of times just to check on them and make sure they're not too cold or too hot...and I just love looking at them. But the moments of quiet for the rest of the evening are my "re-charging my batteries" time. Without a schedule, and an early bedtime, I am pretty sure I'd go insane!!

A Day with Grammy and Papa Bob

This past weekend Chris had to speak at the Young Adult/Youth Ministries Retreat, so I took the opportunity to go up to Mom's and spend the day with her in Chattanooga. The girls went to Sabbath School at her church and had a big time!! Then, we went to the Riverwalk and walked around for a while, then fed the girls their supper before I headed back home. It was such a fun day! Here are a few pics of the day.

They loved this toy! And they figured out really quickly how to make the balls fly up inside the little machine. They're quick learners!

Definitely my favorite picture ever of Grammy and Madeline

Grammy, Savannah and Madeline, both fists up!

Savannah enjoying the view from up high on Papa Bob

Papa Bob, Grammy, Savannah and Madeline

Mommy holding Savannah, Grammy holding Madeline

A Letter

Dear Madeline and Savannah,

Mommy is so very sorry she has not been good at updating your blog! What I have discovered is that the older you are getting, the more Mommy really does have her hands full! At 9 1/2 months old now, you girls are into EVERYTHING!! And it could not be more fun.

Madeline, I love how every time I walk into the room to get you out of bed, you are sitting up in your crib just laughing and clapping away! This is your newest trick, and it is even keeping you up at night! Last night you were still up at 8:30 p.m. just "talking" away. Daddy and I peeked in on you and you were sitting up just clapping. When I checked on you a little bit later, you had made it back down into a sleeping position and had fallen fast asleep while sucking on your thumb. It is so very, very sweet. You just warm my heart so very much!

Savannah, I love how every time I walk into the room to get you out of bed, you are pulling on the crib bumper and look up at me and gasp with the biggest smile on your face! Then you just start clapping your hands and laughing hysterically! Sometimes you pull so hard on the crib bumper that you start banging your head on the crib! You are hilarious!! When I go in to check on you after putting you down, I love looking down at your sweet little self and listening to the "hum" you make. It's not snoring, it's humming! :-) You warm my heart up every time I look at your sweet, sweet face!

Girls, I love you. I love you more today than yesterday, and I'm just not sure how it's even possible! Keep clapping, keep smiling, keep laughing, keep sitting up, keep crawling, and keep growing. But don't ever stop being my babies, no matter how big you get or how grown up you become. I just wanted to tell you both these precious things.

Love,
Mommy

"Ma Ma"

Friday was a rough day. The girls were out of sorts and just a little on the grumpy side. Savannah took this opportunity to learn to say "Ma ma ma ma ma!" She would just look at me with this pitiful face and say "Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma". Sometimes she's say "Nya nya nya nya" but she is workin' that speech! I KNOW she meant me. She had to! They both only say "Da da" now when Chris is in the room! Yipeee for Ma Ma and let's keep it coming!! Madeline's turn is next...!