11 Months! Almost time to CELEBRATE =)

To the little sunshines in our life,

Wow! Only one more month to go and Lord willing, we will be celebrating a full year of your precious little lives! You truly are the bright spots of our days and you draw out laughter within us that has us in stitches every night! Adorable doesn’t even begin to capture what we think of you girls but it’s a start =) You have stolen our hearts and know how to pull on those strings whenever you need to! I remind myself often that you won’t be this little for long and you definitely won’t want to curl up in mommy’s lap to cuddle or be loved on forever so soak it up, let the dishes and house become cluttered if needed, but love and love well for all the days God gives us life with each of you. We hope you remember making memories, feeling loved and special, and that nothing was more important to us than investing in your lives for eternity! Each day is a gift and one that we are not guaranteed tomorrow so we pray fervently that God would give us strength, patience, and endurance to run this “parenting” race well. We know it is just beginning… We love you both so deeply and are in awe of how uniquely God has already created you both to be. You may be busy little bees and keep us on our toes on a minute by minute basis, but you fill our hearts with an immeasurable amount of joy and we are so grateful for both of you! We can’t imagine life without two-you come as a package deal and each day you become more like sisters and we think it’s pretty special! You really do brighten our days and we love being your parents! We love you so very much but hope you know that you are loved infinitely more by your Creator!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Things you girls are up to these days:
-INTO EVERYTHING-can’t take my eyes off you two for one second or you are having a ball pulling out 20+ wipes, sucking on the snot catcher (yuck!), or playing with dirty diapers. Literally, you both are getting so smart at getting out of the “baby jail”/gate and getting what you want!
-mommy and daddy are like a jungle gym-you both crawl all over us to play or to get where you want to go-don’t let us get in your way!
-doing GREAT with finger foods now! Not choking nearly as much and enjoying feeding yourself a lot-some new things on the menu this month: cheese toast, banana pancakes, green beans, eggs, applesauce, gerber graduates veggie stick thingys and you both still love puffs a lot! Eat 3 meals a day and still nursing 4 times a day-around 7:30/8, 11:45/12, 4 and 7:30/8
-still struggling with the whole sippy cup thing-love to chew on it, but cannot sip from a straw or get any liquid out on your own, not great even if mommy tries to help
-still nursing/pumping-only 4 more weeks-yahoo!! So thankful for plenty of milk for two babies but going to be so thankful to regain some freedom; Maddie Grace holds a bottle when she takes one but Makenzie is still our finicky eater-sometimes will suck her bottle down and other times totally disinterested and will swat it away very emphatically!
-You girls LOVE LOVE LOVE being together-you have a ball standing up in your cribs and meeting in the corner together to chat/laugh and you both smile and light up when you see each other in the morning-you love playing together and look like two little roly poly caterpillars all over each other!
-you both GO NUTS when you hear daddy jingle his keys letting you know he’s home-legs start kicking and you break into the biggest smile when he makes his way up the stairs! So precious!
-Makenzie is definitely a momma’s girl while Maddie Grace is enamored with her daddy. Makenzie will shed many tears when mommy leaves the room-thankful that she still does great in the church nursery; the whole separation issues are more at home!
-Maddie Grace cut her first tooth this month while Makenzie still has none! Late bloomers which is fine with this momma!
-You both got your 2nd ear infection this month and MG has experienced her 3rd =( praying that this doesn’t keep up!
-Makenzie is our little snugglebug while Maddie Grace does not like to be confined unless you are rocking and singing to her which then she can enjoy at times =)
-Makenzie can stand up on her own without holding onto things and can cruise around furniture and still crawls fairly fast; Maddie Grace can now pull up in the crib and onto other objects but is not standing on her own yet but she has mastered crawling finally and uses her knees now instead of just dragging herself across the floor =)
-love to play peek-a-boo and will rip the blanket off their face and break into a squeal when you ask where’s Makenzie/Maddie grace? Too cute!
- definitely “search” for objects if you hide them under a blanket
-really into picking up lint/small items/carpet fuzz off floor which makes me have to clean more often, ha!
-still love reading stories and will help turn the pages on occasion-favorite books are the ones with texture that they can touch with their hands; also love singing together, especially when we sing the welcome song from our library time! -not into watching tv too often-they lose interest rather quickly
-Makenzie finally decided to “sleep through the night” around 10 ½ months which has been the biggest blessing to both mommy and daddy! To have both sleeping well makes a HUGE difference
-Makenzie: Still wearing size 2 diapers and mostly 6 month clothing; Maddie Grace: wearing size 3 diapers and 9 month clothes
-have really begun “talking” to each other this month and it sounds like you two are having a real conversation and it’s very enthusiastic except for the fact that it’s all babbling!
-LOVE escaping from the gate and exploring the kitchen and living area-you girls love to pull up in the kitchen and have figured out that the cabinets open-uh oh! Your favorite place is to crawl inside the end table-it is now empty to say the least =)