16 Months of Seeing Double...

16 months of seeing double the preciousness has made the reality of having TWO baby girls as a part of our lives really sink in. Oh and the fact that everything we do once, we do again, and even a third, fourth, or fifth time depending on what it is...=) The hubby and I  keep looking at one another every night as we are tucking the girls in & having our family worship time together and talk about how fast their lives are going and how it seems as if they will be going off to school in no time...I can't go there quite yet and thankfully I don't have to. We have had a fantastic summer so far and are trying to enjoy the days we have together as a family of four-the fun-filled ones and the mundane ones too =) Thankful for all of them...Happy 16 months precious ones!

To our dear little ones,

Where is the time going? Today you are 16 months old and even on the hardest of days, there is nowhere on earth I’d rather be than at home being your mommy, day in and day out. Hardest job I have ever had, hands down, but I cannot fathom missing out on every little thing you girls are learning and accomplishing. What a joy to see you learning and understanding new things it seems every day! You are officially both toddling around which means there is nothing off limits and the messes you make every moment are endless. But this too is temporary so I let you make them, knowing you are having a ball and also knowing full well the day is coming where I will miss this greatly. You girls grow more and more dear and precious to us with each passing day and we know our love for you will only grow greater in the days and years ahead. Your daddy and I so desperately try to remain open handed with your lives and what God may use them for so we are learning to trust our Father on a much deeper level, knowing He is sovereign and He is in control. Our favorite time of the day with you girls is our family worship time each night. We read and pray with you girls while you go bonkers in your crib, but we pray these traditions will become so a part of your life that you look forward to and anticipate this time together to learn more about Jesus. So we long and yearn for the day where you girls come to the realization that you are a sinner in need of God’s grace. And that the cross is the only way for you to be made right before a Holy God. Your daddy and I need His grace every day and one day, we pray you will know that same truth. We love you girls so deeply and look forward to the next month of adventures with you two!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

What are you girls doing these days?

-walking all over! Both of you! And Makenzie is running + walking backwards as well!

-Talking/babbling non-stop to each other

-very messy eaters! Love exploring/squishing everything in your hands

-LOVE watermelon! New favorite food! And LOVE drinking from a juice box!
-Shakes head “no!” very emphatically!

-smushing your face into the mirror when you see yourself

-pointing to everything

-holding hands with each other (and can do it on command! J)

-Makenzie will drag mommy to what she wants

-loves putting on shoes

-holds hands out to catch a ball

-very independent! Wants to do everything by themselves
-At the park, can climb up the stairs on their own and go down the slide!

-Uses a spoon and fork at mealtime and can actually get yogurt on spoon and into mouth; gets things on a fork to eat J (esp MG!)

-scribbles with crayons
-Favorite toys: probably their playhouse and their new Cozy Coupe Car-they love pushing it around & changing out drivers!
-love tearing paper (esp MG!)
-Mak will bob her head back and forth whenever music comes on!
-will clap their hands, stomp their feet and say AMEN to song

-Will “read” books to themselves with lots of inflection in voice-SO CUTE! They LOVE books!
-Both hug their baby and teddy bear

-obsessed with lids and containers (esp MG!)

-Mak has learned how to “sneak” and will get low with her hands on her knees and will try to get MG

-most hyper time of the day is family worship time in their cribs!

-responds to LOTS of instructions-shut the door, bring mommy a diaper, get a book, where’s blankie/paci/bunny?, sit down for your snack, give mommy a kiss, take ____ to daddy, give one to MG/Mak, share one with your sister, hold mommy’s hand & many more :)
-Both can find their own belly button and mommy’s too which is not always appropriate!

-knows what to do with cell phone, brushes, toothbrush, etc

-MG has become a littler biter L thankfully only with her sister and not friends-Makenzie does provoke quite a bit; also teething has a lot to do with it!

-get very frustrated with each other when the other steals a toy-have begun mini temper tantrums! L

-both have a LOVE for climbing!!

-Have begun working together to accomplish what they want or get to things they shouldn’t be into J

-very attached to paci/lovey for Mak and bunny for MG-the thumb goes in immediately when MG gets her bunny

-at home, will sleep 12-13 hours every night with still 2 naps a day-about 1 ½ hrs in am and 2 hrs in pm
-still picky picky eaters and we waste a lot of food around our house these days. For Mak-my go to options are avocado, colby jack cheese stick, watermelon, macaroni & baby food veggies and sometimes fruit just to get it in you!; MG has gotten a little less picky and will eat chicken nuggets, pasta with red sauce, macaroni, yogurt, almost any fruits and sometimes eats veggies well and if not, we resort to pureed veggies! Both love ice cream cones & popsicles, but then again, who wouldn’t!? J
-love drinking mommy’s water because it’s a big cup with a bigger straw!

Wrightsville Family Beach Trip 2012

Makenzie & Maddie Grace at almost 16 months

This picture on the beach made all of the hard work of traveling to the beach without the hubby totally worth it! Well maybe not completely, but close :)

My brave and willing dad offered to drive myself, the twins, and my incredible sister (aka spouse for 5 days!) to the beach which meant we were all jammed packed into their car for an 8+ hr drive! They really did great on our way there all things considered! When they finally did get fussy we whipped out some lollipops, a first for them, and that kept them quite entertained until mommy had almost used a whole thing of wipes to get the stickiness off of them, their car seats and anything else within reach :) We also took our sweet time having lunch at ChickFilA and let the girls run around and get some energy out! We did a thorough cleaning of them after they crawled around on the bathroom floor-YUCK! 

I wasn't sure what the girls would think of their first "real" time to play in the sand and water, and my guess was they would hate it. I mean the minute their wet hands pick up sand and then head for the eyes and mouth, I figured we'd be done. And I certainly knew that wouldn't take long to happen, but I was so wrong. They absolutely LOVED it! There were incessant squeals of delight from both girls every time the waves crashed into their legs. It was adorable! Makenzie had NO fear and would head straight for the water! Maddie Grace would wait patiently to hold Mommy's hand :) Such different personalities once again!

So much work goes into getting them out there so I'm glad we were able to stay for at least an hour or so! They loved climbing into the bucket. Let's just say one baby fit a little better than the other =) The real highlight though was climbing in and out of the big hole that Grandpa dug for them in the sand! They also enjoyed dangling their feet into the hole while enjoying their bottles by the beach =)

My little beach babes!

Always a great feeling to have them bathed, fed, and clean for the evening! Maddie Grace decided to be a little ham and pose for the camera. She knew EXACTLY what she was doing and had us in stitches! Their new favorite thing is to hold hands which is so precious!

One afternoon we ventured over to the Yacht Club, where our family has countless memories over the years and tried to capture the girls picture. What a task that was even with the help of my mom and sister! You would think 3 vs. 2 would win out, but these little ones are quite handfuls! They sure do know how to melt my heart over and over again, that's for sure!

And when I think back to the 2 nights they screamed for 3+hrs and required their first "stick them in their car seats and drive around" experience, I see these precious faces pop into my mind and it makes it all worth it. Sleep deprived and all, I wouldn't trade spending time with extended family! 27 people under one roof is pretty chaotic, but pretty special! So thankful for our family and the opportunity to spend time together every summer!

The Not So Perfect Days!

So most of the time when I post updates, it's of the fun we've had or the memories we've made traveling, but this one is dedicated solely to the mundane task of taking care of two babies, day in and day out, on the not so perfect days! And believe me, there are plenty of them.

Not every day of being a stay-at-home-mom is glamorous or even enjoyable at times, but I do PRAISE God for the incredible privilege even when my days are more like this....

the sound of our high-maintenance baby's shrill cry generally wakes us up for the day...I venture down to the nursery to retrieve said baby and her twin sister and then proceed to carry both babies upstairs. We begin my least favorite part about our days: mealtime! Every, Almost every meal is a battle attempting to get Baby B to eat-more than half usually ends up on the floor (no pics bc I am never in a good mood to document that =) and the other half has been snuck into her mouth via extremely creative ways of distracting her. Then the floor is usually covered in milk from their bottle or sippy cup being strewn, shaken, or turned upside down. At this point, Baby B is completely done "eating" as she frantically signs ALL DONE ALL DONE! I wipe her down, remove her from the high chair and as mealtime comes to a close, hoping a few calories will stick to our little one's belly, the now daunting task of cleaning them, their trays, the floor, etc begins...

But the only problem is we now have a free roaming 15 month old and here is what she comes up with to do while waiting for her sister to finish breakfast! Could not believe what I saw...she had dragged her riding zebra all the way across the floor and parked herself right in front of Maddie Grace to entertain her =) This picture comes nowhere close to capturing how hysterical it was as she is bouncing like crazy to get MG to laugh and boy did she!! Too funny...it's moments like this below that make 

all of this....worth it!

So I regain my composure after going from frustrated to literally laughing out loud and get back to cleaning up their breakfast, but the only problem is while this "cleaning" was going on, this is what the girls have been up to on any given day...

Yes! She is standing from the cart to jump to the pillows to THEN reach the nightstand
to get what she wants and yes she succeeded!!

sitting on toys that can break and collapse (which it later did :( ...) 

standing up in the grocery cart and then throwing hands in the air to demonstrate
her independence :)

So it's now around 9am and today happens to be the day I am hosting a New & Expectant Moms Brunch for the Birmingham Moms of Multiples at our place...so no problem I'm thinking, I did most of the cleaning, preparing, getting organized the night before. All I need to do is a little straightening...well the minute I get this area picked up...

I turn around to see this behind me...

this can speak for itself: not a quick clean up when there are crushed leaves all over the clean
hardwoods from my fall centerpiece!


I promptly re-locate them to a different part of the house to get this swept up and then low and behold, we now have this...

But with 2 minutes to spare, the candles get lit, lamps are turned on, music begins playing in the background...all so I can greet this :)

yes, you're seeing more than double...that would be 4 sets of twins =)

On a side note, I absolutely LOVE hosting these families each month as I know what that first year of raising twins is like and how much support and encouragement you need on a daily basis!

So as soon as everyone has left our place, we begin mealtime again! Remember how I said it wasn't my favorite?? Too bad it has to happen 3 times a day, every day =( Insert not much fun routine from breakfast and then we may make a quick run to Target which entails bringing plenty of snacks to occupy them for the entire grocery trip. We arrive home, have to carry both babies up to the play area, then return to the car to bring in quite a few bags (usually no less than 4 trips back and forth) and as I quickly try to unload the perishable items... I am met with these little helpers :)

unloading all the bags!

riding the cereal box!

as soon as the fridge door opens, I can expect 1 or both to be standing inside!

By now, it's about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and it's officially NAP TIME! My chance to eat my own lunch, clean up THEIR lunch, think about what we could make for dinner and unload the never ending, always full, dishwasher which then produces a mess on the counter that looks like this =)

growing collection of sippy cups, tops and straws!

AND...if there's time, maybe tackle this...

So the hardest part of our day (as if the other part wasn't hard enough!!!) begins when they wake up from their afternoon nap. The incessant whining begins, the tugging on mommy's legs to be held, and the inability to do ANYTHING other than be on the floor playing with them, reading to them, and attempting to make them laugh sets in. Husband gets home to find usually 2 screaming babies and he asks, "Have they been like this ALL day??" Well no, but you should see what they HAVE been up to! =)

Love my girls to death but it sure isn't always a walk in the park taking care of them everyday! Praise the Lord that His mercies are new every morning! That is what sustains me...

Lamentations 3:22,23 “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.”