Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Jan Misc

This kid is a master builder for sure

He made this whole set with almost no help

"Why are you taking our picture mom? And why do you like us to match all the time?" 

It is getting harder to keep these babies contained! They are walking more and more each day and the chaos is mounting

Just an afternoon at the bookstore. James has become a HUGE bookworm


I'm not sure how much longer A and K are going to fit in the boys' laps...


Throughout the month of January Ryan and I did our first (and hopefully last haha) Whole30.  Anyone who knows me knows that this is so NOT my thing but I was proud of us that we did it.  This was one of our favorite meals. 

Due to the winter weather we had the bouncy house up for a few days to get some energy out 

Andrew and Kate LOVED sliding down head first.  I think they are going to be our daredevils!


"helping" mom load the dishwasher 

"Get us out of here!!!" 
I was pretty proud of myself that I managed to get the kids PLUS our friend Bo to Cow Cafe and back without any major catastrophes. Maybe we should have gone for that fifth child....

Typical: Andrew laughing hysterically.  Kate wondering why on earth I make her suffer through this. 



By the end of the month these kids were true walkers and on the move EVERYWHERE

School math night at Food Lion 


The big boys and I met Whitney and Davis for Daniel Tiger Live which they all enjoyed. 


Sweet Aunt Whitney made an ice cream cake for dessert! James was thrilled. She also cooked a whole30 dinner for me- how amazing is she?

First family bike ride!



James has had a wonderful year at school. This was one of my days volunteering and I got to play a game with him and some of his friends. 

His sweet teachers took their Friday night and came to see his basketball game. 

Another proud mom moment- my friend and I took her 3 kids (ages 3 and under) and I took my four plus James's best friend (5 kids 6 and under) to lunch at Waffle House. We literally hugged when it was over because we were so proud that we survived it and it went smoothly :)   

Andrew and Kate had buttered toast for the first time and they were WILD about it. They literally would have sat there all day eating it. 

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

15/16 months old

Well...I started this post when the babies were 15 months old. Now they are 16 months old and it still hasn't been finished! Better late than never I guess. :) 

The biggest thing that has happened with these two is that they are WALKING!!!!  Andrew took his first steps a couple of days before he turned 15 months.  He seemed way ahead in this milestone but not to be outdone, Miss Priss about a week later decided she wanted to walk too. Walking is always an exciting and big milestone for kids but as I remembered one grim conversation with a doctor in the first 24 hours after the babies were born and him explaining that they may have long term problems that would make it very difficult or even impossible to learn to walk I can't tell you how thrilled I was that they are walking and in the normal time frame of development. God is so good!  In the month following that they have both become much better at walking. They still crawl periodically but walk a lot and it is hilarious to see them toddling around after each other.  James and Harrison have been constant cheerleaders for them with encouraging them to walk and it's been sweet to me to see how thrilled James and Harrison are as each baby continues to hit new milestones.  This has definitely upped the chaos in the house.  Walking, climbing, pulling stuff out, eating random inedible objects. I could go on and on. I will say that twins at this age make me feel very outnumbered most days. 

We had their 15 month doctor's appointment and I made the mistake again of going alone. It is pitiful when they get their shots and you can't hold and comfort them both at the same time but we survived!  
Andrew: 26 pounds 10 ounces, 30 3/4 inches long
Kate- 22 pounds, 10 ounces, 29 inches long

They are both getting so big and heavy! I have a really hard time picking them both up and carrying them very far.  Fingers crossed that soon they will be walking well enough that I won't have to as much. 

Andrew- You have seriously got the best smile ever!  I may have written that on another post but it is the truth; it is hard to be sad around you.  You are happy and carefree and very independent.  When you walk you think it is the funniest thing ever and you always laugh out loud and get so excited.  You are our most adventurous child by far.  If I am sitting on the floor you love to run and nosedive onto me, even if my lap is already occupied.  You love to do flips and tricks and climb and you already wrestle with your big brothers.  They love having you in the mix! You have learned how to open all of our doors and daddy found you on the top step of the garage one day.  We have since learned to use the dead bolt all the time! You keep us on our toes and we all love you so much. 

Kate- you are so funny with the expressions you give us.  Sometimes you look so serious; I tell everyone you have to work for your love, you aren't going to just hand it out.  We love how you always make your opinion known, whether it's a screech when Andrew takes something of yours or pointing at whatever you want until someone caves and gives it to you.  You run the roost and you know it! You are my cuddler, my child who likes to be held and you do this funny thing where you reach for us and do something silly with your hands to say you want to be picked up. It is so cute that it is hard to resist.  You love to pretend to clean. I find you taking baby wipes and paper towels all over the house and cleaning things with them.  You are obsessed with shoes.  Somehow you learned to blow your nose on command which I find hilarious at this age.  You older brothers are obsessed with you, they love you so much!

Both of you love to brush your teeth and say "Ahhh".   You each have eight teeth, four on top and four on the bottom.  Food is a serious pleasure for both of you and you both eat a TON.  Some foods you both enjoy but there are some that you are both very picky about. For instance Andrew loves blueberries and Kate likes broccoli but don't ever expect Andrew to eat broccoli or Kate to eat a blueberry and you make that very clear when you see a food that you don't like on your plate.  For the most part you are both by far the best eaters in the family.  Words you both say: mama, dada, bye bye, uh-oh, ball, and then Kate also says diaper "biper".  Both of you are learning baby sign language: more, eat, all done and we are working on please.  Neither of you loves to be put in the car seat (shock shock, that's four out of four kids that hate car travel for the first few years of life)  Both of you will freely reach for daddy even when I'm holding you.  You love him so much!  You both still take two naps most days and for the most part sleep 12 hours a night which is amazing!!!   You bring so much joy to our lives and we are thankful for each of you! 

15 months old!
"Ball!" 


She literally held that ball the whole time she ate

That was some good mac and cheese 



Sweet smile! 

We celebrated one year of having Andrew home from the hospital.  From that: 

To this!  What a difference a year makes! 

Monday, January 2, 2017

New Years

New Year's Eve weekend was spent this year at my parents' new beach house!  We were so excited to finally get to go spend some time there.  My parents, David, Greer and Georgia came for the weekend as well so lots of fun memories together. 

The first thing that Andrew discovered is how awesome it is to climb through the coffee table. He hit his head more times than I could count but it didn't slow him down!
"Please can I go outside mom???" 


It was pretty late the first day we got there but James and H insisted on going to play on the beach.  They had it all to themselves! 

It was a tight squeeze fitting everyone in the tub!

I thought this was so sweet, after nap time I caught Andrew and Kate "talking" and laughing with each other. 

Ready to check out the beach again!


Last summer A and K hated the beach but they enjoyed it this time



I love to kiss those cheeks!




We decided to go for a family walk and bumped into a young college age couple. They offered to take our picture and I had to laugh when I heard the guy mutter under his breath "they just keep coming" (meaning the number of kids lol) 




To celebrate the New Year the guys cooked us all some great steaks along with oysters for an appetizer. James (pickest eater in the family) got a dare to eat an oyster for money (thank you Uncle David) and he ate it! That kid understands the value of money, haha! Super fun way to say goodbye to 2016 and hello to 2017!