Crib Jumpers

Can't possibly be happening. My worst nightmare has come true!!  Let's start with how this was discovered, for the first time this evening, by not one, but both of my girls.  

Potty training has been a staple in our house for some time now.  We've tried stickers, treats, potty seat and a little potty on the floor.  We have some successes, but not enough to be anywhere near potty trained...or even close.  But, the girls have both discovered the art of potty stall tactics.  If they don't want to go to time-out, they'll scream "Potty!  Poopie! Potty!!" on their way to time-out.  And when it is time for bedtime, they'll scream "Potty! Poopie!" if they just don't want to go to bed. They'll head to the bathroom and just sit...and sit...and sit...and laugh, and read and sit..and sit...and sit. Tonight was no exception to that rule.  When the screaming seemed more than a stall tactic, I lifted Savannah out of bed, and sat her on the potty. Who knows...maybe she'll surprise me and go.  What do I know. She loved it...and did nothing in it.  Time to lay her down.  The entire time Savannah was on the potty, Madeline was screaming "Poopie!! Potty!!!" wanting out since Sissy just got out.  Madeline had finally been settled down, by the way, until Savannah decided it was time to go.  So, I did the drill with Madeline because fair is fair.  The minute I got Madeline out of her crib to take her to the potty, guess who started screaming again.  Savannah.  "POOOPIE!! POTTY!!"...even though we had just spent a good 15 minutes on the potty with no results.  With Madeline now on the potty, Savannah screaming, I heard a lot of noise going on in their room...so I headed down the hall, walked into their room just in time to find Savannah straddling the crib.  I grabbed her just before she fell over....Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This can't be happening!!!!

Finally got them both back in the cribs - both screaming at the top of their lungs - when I look over and Savannah climbed right back over the crib rail again, and "thump" landing on the floor.  Madeline, still screaming for the potty, saw this and that's when the leg crawled up....

and then the rest of her climbed up....

and my other 2 year old figured out the art of climbing out of the crib in the very same night.  And in that same instance, life as we've known it....life of being comforted knowing my girls were in the confines of their cribs...is over.  

I gave the girls a stern lecture on how they were never to climb out of their cribs again.  I told them that they could get very hurt if they climbed out like that and fell on the floor. I told them that if they climbed out of their cribs, it would be an automatic time-out.  Madeline said "Ok Mommy.  I sorry Mommy." and Savannah just listened...only to go back to their rooms, get back in their cribs, and as I turned around, the sound of "thump" resounded in my ear as Savannah made her third escape in one night.

Oh life as we knew it - life in a controlled environment- is over.  On to the next phase of life with twin toddlers!!!

Birthday Parties for Two

This December we have been constantly on the road...from vacation in California to our extended Roberts' family Christmas in the Smokies to Garth Brooks in Nashville tonight (woo hoo!), we were completely on the road for the girls' 2nd birthday.  So, instead of having a big party at home, we took the party(ies) with us! 

First up was birthday with Nana and Papa in Napa.

Followed by a birthday celebration in the Smokies with Mimi and Papaw, Aunt Lynsey and  Aunt Robin and Caitlin (and all of the Roberts' family aunts, uncles and cousins!):

Followed by the grand finale birthday party with Grammy (GaGa) and Papa Bob, Caitlin and her twin sisters that were also born on the same day as our girls!

These are two blessed little girls with LOTS of family who care so very much about them and want to help us celebrate their special day!  We love all of you...thank you for making their 2nd birthday so sweet!!

Happy 2nd Birthday

Dear Madeline and Savannah,

Today you turn 2.  Today I officially have two toddlers whom I absolutely now will not refer  your ages to in terms of months. Today, you are my two year old twins.  You are growing up on me so very fast, yet I feel no sadness or heartache for time to slow down.  Instead, I thank God for your health and for the gift of giving you two to me for the past two years!  With each new day I am truly awed at the blessing I have received of being your mother.  What an honor, what a blessing.  I think often about your birth - being born early and sent off to the NICU for your first 6 days of life.  THOSE were the longest 6 days of my life.  Those are the days that lasted forever.  Why would I ever want these days I have with you now to feel like that?  I don't! I treasure the blessing of time flying by - it only does that when you are having a great time, and filling each day with more joy than you could ever imagine!  I don't want time to slow.  I don't want time to stop!  I want to treasure each moment and savor in its flying by! I thank God for the blessed life He has given you two girls, and I thank Him for the privilege of seeing my two tiny angels become 2 years old, and pray that time will fly by with joy and happiness.

Madeline, you are my thumb sucker.  Savannah, you are my paci taker.  This is how I often refer to you two!  You both take such comfort from your favorite pink bunnies.  Somehow, SOMEHOW, you know the difference between the two and can't go to sleep without YOUR bunny.  I guess this is a funny way at getting back at anyone who wonders how we can tell the difference between the two of you!  I know your faces...I know your voices....I know your laughs....I know your personalities.  You are my heart and soul, day in and day out.  Oh, I know the difference. Somehow you know something about those two bunnies that we don't!

You girls L O V E to pray.  You love to pray!  You get down on your knees, fold your hands, close your eyes, and pray.  You're both even beginning to say "Dear Jesus"...it sounds more like "De Je sas" but we hear it!  Where ever we are, whomever we're with, you have to call everyone into the room, point at them to get down on their knees, and all pray together with you.  Madeline, you squint those little eyes, scrunch up that nose with your head tilted upwards, and pray.  Savannah, you fold those sweet hands, sometimes close your eyes, but more often look around to make sure everyone else is closing their eyes!  You girls.  At the young age of 2, you are already a shining example of faith - faith in a heavenly Father who is looking down with pure love on you.  You are an example of what we should all be - a people who gets on our knees and thanks our God each day for His blessings and His gifts.  That's what you do, before every meal, before bedtime.  How preciously wondrous HE has made you, and how preciously amazing that you already know to thank Him for that.

You're wearing 18 month clothes, still in diapers (although very very close to potty training), not sure yet of your official weight, have already had your first haircut, are putting words together and understanding colors and people's names and many other amazing smart things. My goodness do I love you two.  I hope you feel that every day.  Happy Birthday my angels.  Thank you for making your birthday one of the happiest days of my life.

Love,
Mommy

First Hair Cut

The time had come.  Oh had it ever arrived.  I love my girls' curls.  Love them!!  But, they were a bit out of control...the ends were definitely fine little baby hairs, which made for scraggly hair.  Well, you all have seen it...it's bad.  So, I was ready.  Today, we took the girls for their first professional cut by our friend Sharon from church.  Savannah had just woken from a 2 1/2 hour nap (yay!) and Madeline had totally missed her nap (boo!).  So I thought Madeline would have no part of it.  Wrong!  Madeline sat still the entire time in the special "Fire Engine" chair!  Savannah...well she wasn't so sure about this...we sat her in the Fire Truck and she screamed and screamed!  So she retreated to my lap where I proceeded to also wear a cape along with Savannah, while Madeline climbed back into the Fire Truck and sat while sissy got her hair cut. Savannah was not exactly happy....but she held it together, sweet girl.  It was really a pretty eventless first hair cut!  Proud of both of my girls.  Now, Daddy is who we need to work on.  He still hasn't come to grips with the fact that we cut their hair off!  But it had to be done for it to grow longer and faster now.  He'll see. :-)

Our girls are growing up oh too fast.

Big Girl Seats

We've made it!!! Now you've got to understand....this has taken us a while to get here.  We had to wait until the girls hit the target weight before they could go forward facing.  Understanding they were safer to be rear facing for as long as possible, this was ok!  But, we were ready, and the girls were ready.  Lately, they kept saying "Momma?" "Yes"  "Dadda?"  "Yes" or me saying "No, it's just Momma" whenever we drove anywhere.  They were constantly taking role...it was cute.  But, they were ready to turn around and experience the world in a car the way it's supposed to be.  So, today, on their 19 month birthday, we weighed them and they were ready.  We were ready.  So.....with much long waited anticipation....big girl seats, here we come.

Potty Time Part 2!

On Friday night, just before bath time,  a whopping 3 days after we got our first potty, Savannah went pee pee in the potty!  YIPEE!!!  Not sure it will stick...and not sure that she really meant to do it...but, we celebrated, clapped, said "woo hoo!" and we will try again!  Haven't had luck since Friday, but with zero expectations (just wanted to introduce it to the girls at this age), this made for a HUGE celebration!  

And I don't think she realized "It's a Small World After All" was playing as the sounds of the bathwater filling the tub overwhelmed the song.  And I'm ok with that. 

Growing and Going

People often ask me if life with twins is harder now that they are walking. Of course they ask me that when they see them both taking off in 2 different directions. I always thought the answer to that would be a resounding YES! In fact, I can honestly say I was a little bit worried about the day they would keep me running in two different directions (kind of like Scooby Doo...you know what I'm talking about.) But nothing could be further from the truth - life is so much easier now!!  

The only emotion I deal with is the growing nostalgia for the days when they were so very tiny and cuddly...but now I have the joy of watching them run around in every direction exploring their world! I have said goodbye to the lingering back pain of bending over twice as long to give baths, laying them all the way down and picking them up from their cribs, carrying two babies on each arm throughout the day. Now my independent little girls can stand up and walk over to me when its time to get out of their cribs. Now they can play all by themselves in the bath tub while I just sit up straight and watch them. Now they can walk from the bathroom to their bedroom for bed time.  Now when I pull into the garage I can get one child out of her car seat, put her down, and let her walk around the garage while I go get the other child out of her car seat.  

Of course the key to all of this is having as child proof a house as possible.  Having breakables put out of arms reach, having all stairways and electric sockets child proofed.  Makes life much easier when they run in opposite directions.  But, with a resounding NO, life is not harder now that my girls walk everywhere!  I am enjoying this twin mom thing more and more with each passing day.....I was told the same thing when I got married and it rings true for having twins:  It only gets better with each new day!!

Love my two little running toddlers.

17 Months Old

Today my girls turned 17 months old.  I love the month birthdays. They are a reminder to me that my girls are still small....still babies, as much as a baby they each can be.  I have had many friends tell me that once their baby turned 17-18 months, their development started sky rocketing.  I am already starting to see that in my girls.

At 17 months old, Madeline finally added "Papaw" and "Pa Pa" to her vocabulary.  When she called my dad "Papaw" I thought his chest was going to pop right out there in the the middle of the church fellowship hall!  Later that day she kept calling Chris' dad "Pa pa" and when he finally heard it, I thought HIS chest was going to pop right out!  We were at a restaurant with the girls Nana and Pa Pa and every time Madeline would say "Nana?" "Pa Pa?" they were left speechless with joy!! Savannah loves to say "Nana!" but hasn't yet mastered the Papaw or Pa Pa yet.  It will come soon!

Savannah on the other hand, clearly said to me "Where did it go?" just the other day.  She looked at a picture of a strawberry today and said "straw?" "straw?"  She cracks me up with her tongue....Savannah will stick her tongue in and out, mimicking the look of our speech.  And then she'll just laugh!  Wow do I love watching both of my girls language skills develop.

These girls love books.  They LOVE to be read to!  They grab books all the time and carry them around, asking us to read to them by saying "huh? huh?" and handing us the book!  Madeline's favorite book is the "Thank You Prayer" and Savannah's favorite book is "Baby ABC's" although they both love both of those books.  

The girls still love to eat.  I mean they eat, and eat, and eat.  A typical breakfast consists of Cheerios, fresh strawberries (lots of them), a banana, yogurt, and 1-2 pancakes with peanut butter and syrup and lots of milk.  A typical lunch or dinner consists of Gold Fish, broccoli or corn or green beans, whole wheat toast with butter, whole wheat penne pasta, and Fri-Chik (veggie chicken for my little vegetarians), and lots of milk.  The girls can eat!  And they love their vegetables and fruit.  Love it.  

Naps are still twice a day!  Yay!  The girls wake up at 7:15 a.m. and are back down for their morning nap by 9:30 a.m.  until 11 a.m. After lunch, they are ready to go back down for an afternoon by 2 p.m. and sleep until 4 p.m.  By 7:30 p.m., the girls are tucked away in their cribs and out for the night.  I am blessed by their sleep schedule right now....I will count my blessings NOW as I sense they are nearing the close of 2 naps a day.

Oh, and the girls now take Kindermusic!  They love it!  Once a week we take them to their class where they meet up with their other new friends and sing songs and learn.  I love watching them explore the toys and flowers and different instruments they play with each week, and I love watching them become familiar with the other babies and the songs being played each week.

The girls weigh around 18 pounds!  My sweet petite girls can eat so much food but they remain petite!

Oh how I have loved the last 17 months of my life.  I have experienced joy like none other before.  I miss them when they sleep and love them when they awake.  I love just watching the two of them play much like I did when I loved just watching them sleep in their one tiny bassinet.  We have our ups and downs as they are in the depths of the toddler years, but I am enjoying every challenging/rewarding moment.  Happy 17th month birthday girls....you are the lights of my life.

And we 3 grow

Almost 3 weeks ago I left town for 2 weeks of on and off again business travel.  In 8 business days, I traveled the roads of Tennessee from as far west as Martin to the far northeastern Erwin, Tennessee.  What a transition from being a stay-at-home mom for over a year to not only working, but being physically away from Madeline and Savannah - and their daddy - for days at a time.  I will say, this gave Daddy the chance to bond with his girls, and gave their Nana (Chris' mom) a great opportunity to come out and bond with the girls as well!  That was week 1.  Week 2 there was sadly no Nana, but thankfully some wonderful friends here that came over and lightened Chris' load during that week.  

My heart hurt.  It hurt so badly to leave them (all 3 of them).  I loved getting picture texts of the girls, and the one Chris sent where they had just woken up with sleepy but happy eyes made me want to reach through the phone and hug those precious waking-up baby girls.

(The Picture Texts - so mad they are blurry on here!)

When I got home after my first week gone, I swear those girls had grown in 4 days and suddenly began showing me tricks they hadn't been doing before I left! (Like going from a seated position to a standing position without any help! Yay girls!) 

But, while I was gone, my girls weren't the only ones who grew.  I had been holding on to that one early morning feeding with them.  The 5:30 a.m. feeding.  And yes, I would still nurse them at that one feeding.  The rest of the day they would get whole cow's milk throughout, but the early morning, well that was my time to still enjoy the sweetest cuddling moments in the world.  After all, there are advocates for breastfeeding out there who recommend doing so until the age of 2.  Now I was never planning on nursing them until they were 2, but it was much harder than I ever thought it would be weaning them after they turned 1.  So, having that one early morning feeding (A.K.A. snuggle time) was way less than a full out nursing schedule around the clock until the age of 2, so I figured I was doing a-ok!  

However....the first week I dragged along the pump with me on my trip.   Oh that dreaded pump.  I had put it away for many, many months but had to pull it back out.  But seriously.  I pumped once a day at our normal feeding time and was barely pumping anything.  That's when I knew that my body was talking to me.  It was telling me "Momma, it's time to grow up."  In the meantime, my girls were having no complaints receiving cow's milk in the early morning hours, so they were also saying "Momma, it's time we all 3 grew up."

When I got home, I put the pump away, and the next morning I got 2 bottles and fed my girls cow's milk.  They didn't miss a beat...and neither did I.  For the next 3 days that's all I did. No more breastfeeding. And, I didn't pump - I didn't need to (to help eliminate the dreaded mastitis from occurring).  My body was over it.  But my heart was not.

The second week of travel I left the pump at home.  I felt a sense of freedom - no longer needing to drag it around with me if I was away from my girls, no longer being a required source of nutrition for my girls.  But at the same time, my heart hurt.

We had our 15 month pediatrician appointment after I returned from my trip and she asked if they were still taking a bottle.  I told her yes, in the early morning (as if we had been bottling it the whole time...ha!)  She then told us that the early morning feeding was unnecessary.  It had become a habit if the girls kept waking at 5:30 for a bottle, then going right back to sleep.  Thus began 3 days of sleep training - AGAIN - but by the 3rd morning, there was no sleep training needed.  They were both sleeping all the way until 7:30 a.m. and waking to a solid breakfast meal and milk out of a sippy.  No more bottles.  No more breast.  No more babies.  My babies are now toddlers.

Three weeks later, and one week into our "no more early morning bottles either" my heart still hurts.  A little.   Earlier this afternoon, Madeline wanted to sit on my lap to drink her water.  She sat there and titled her sippy cup back and just cuddled with me while she drank her water.  It made my heart hurt.  A little.

But then I watched my girls toddle all around this house....

...laughing with each other, speaking in their own language to each other, playing with each other, passing toys back and forth, even playing hide and seekaround the couch, and I realized that with each sad goodbye to each passing stage, there is an even better hello to a brand new stage just waiting around the corner.  Just in this past week I have seen my girls become more sociable (if that was even possible) not only with each other, but with brand new faces.  I have seen both of my girls completely give up crawling and now walk everywhere on those two ever-growing-in-strength legs.  I have seen personalities come out shining.  They are growing up and it is AMAZING to see.  And I guess I am growing up too....No longer the brand new momma feeling her way around the newness of having twin babies in the house....no longer the brand new momma with sleepy eyes all the time due to those early morning wake-up calls.  I am now a refreshed, incredibly happy momma with two little girls that are the light of my life, and an amazing husband who, with each proud smile and each tender moment I watch him shares with our girls, makes me love him even more than the day I married him.

Life is good.  And we three grow.  Or should I say 4....since even though he didn't have to give up breastfeeding (ha ha) my husband is growing right along with us in this thing called parenthood and the relationships we have with our amazingly beautiful sweet girls.

Reading their books together

Got home at 10:00 p.m. after my second week of traveling and here's what Madeline looked like in her bed....(the quilt that drapes on one side of her crib is on the bottom left, the comforter that drapes on the other side of her crib is on the top left!!!!) If I had asked their daddy, I'm sure he would have said he felt the same!!

Oh I love you girls....the bittersweet moments of motherhood are seriously only just beginning.

15 Months Old

Dear Madeline and Savannah,

It has come to my attention (by me) that it has been a while since I've written you a letter. Your 15 month birthday is the perfect time to catch up on that.  Girls, you are growing up too fast. I need desperately to find a formula for slowing down time.  I am amazed and in awe of the fact that we have been together for almost the same amount of time now that your daddy and I lived in Michigan.  Where does the time go?

Worship with the two of you is becoming more and more fun each evening! Once you finish dinner, you play a little in the living room, and then, just like clockwork, you'll climb up into your rocking chairs in anticipation of daddy's guitar.  And sure enough, daddy will go get his guitar and your little eyes just light up!!  That's when we just sing songs to Jesus and you "play" your little shaker instruments! So fun to see you find a fun love for Jesus.

Savannah, you are now pointing to your toes and your nose whenever I ask where they are!  And I am positive, I mean really positive, that when I ask you "Do you want to....?" anything starting with "do you..?" you say back to me "I do?"  "I do?" and then I'll say "yeah?" and you'll say "Yeah?"  We have conversations, you and I, and it is simply adorable.  Ever since you were able to start babbling, you have been practicing your consonants and now I swear you are using them in sentences back to me!  Still babbles...but starting to make sense!!

You are so mischievous in the cutest way!  Just this morning it was time for breakfast and you were sitting on the other end of the kitchen with the biggest smile on your face.  I got Madeline in her high chair, and when I turned for you, you immediately turned like you were gonna run off!  I looked at you, and you just laughed!!!! So I finally turned and started running towards you and you just LAUGHED and turned and tried as fast as you could to make your getaway!  I grabbed you and you and I laughed all the way to the high chair!! What a SWEET sense of humor you have.

You love macaroni and cheese.  LOVE it.  You will do so-so through the first part of your meal, and I always save the mac and cheese for last, hoping that you will eat lots of the "other stuff" before we get to the mac.  But once it comes, you can't eat it fast enough!  Watching your sweet little eyes light up when it's sat down on your tray is cute beyond words. As for the nursing part, at 15 months, you are almost completely weaned from your momma.  Our early morning time together is still a habit with you - ok, with us both.  I could go grab some milk in a sippy and give that to you instead, but I'm still holding on to these last moments I'll have with you as a baby.  Those moments will be gone soon..very, very soon, and it makes me a little bit sad.  But, I am so proud of what a good eater you are and how you no longer need your momma to grow.

Madeline, you are completely walking everywhere now.  Ever since I first caught you doing walking laps in your crib a couple of months ago, you have been intent on walking.  Now, your wobbly little legs will slowly move from one side of the room to the other, and on into the next room.  You will buzz right by your sister as she sits on the floor, content as anything, just reading one of her books.  She sometimes stops and watches you and just smiles, then goes back to her book reading, and sometimes she gets up and walks along with you, but it's just not her thing right now...it's all yours.

You were at church a couple of weeks ago with Karey and when you were completely curious about what everyone was doing when they were kneeling down and closing their eyes, Karey told you "they are praying to Jesus!" and you immediately folded your hands and put your head down and just smiled!! What an AWESOME story to hear someone tell me about you!! I love knowing that you and your sister are beginning to understand what prayer is...that it is a time we talk to Jesus!  You have started saying new "words", but here's the thing.  You and your sister literally have your own language.  I know this because I watch you "talk" to each other, and I hear you "talking" to each other over the baby monitor.  Will you please start talking in momma's language next?  That would be great, but, I must say, in the meantime I am thoroughly enjoying the talking going on between you and your sis.  It is utterly precious.

Madeline, you have always been my girl who will eat ANYTHING, but lately, you have gotten picky on me.  Maybe it's thanks to the teeth that have been coming in, or thanks to the illness that struck you and your sister recently, but you aren't eating some of the foods you used to love.  However, just like your sis, WOW do you like mac & cheese!!! I am so in trouble with you two. You are also down to just one sweet nursing time in the morning....there are some mornings that you will sleep all the way until 8:30! Yeah! But, I still let you nurse first thing....I will work on letting that go, but I think you like that bonding time with mommy just as much as I do. 

Girls, you are the sparkle in my eye.  I can literally watch you both for hours...I love watching you explore your world together, laugh and smile and giggle at just about everything, and learn.  Oh I love to watch you learn.  You both are so determined in each of your own ways...your personalities are shining through with distinction that makes me love both of you even more with each passing day.  Keep bringing smiles to your faces, and keep Jesus in your hearts.  I love you both.

Love,

Mommy