lately

What have we been up to lately?  Well, unfortunately, I am writing this while watching a marathon of Team Umizoomi with my very sick little boy.  :(  Poor Will got a cold over 2 weeks ago, which we all then got.  And then it turned into a sinus infection for me....then a sinus infection for little Caroline...and then an extremely bad double ear infection for Will.  Then last night, he either came down with a stomach bug {talk about kicking you when you're down} or it's related to the ear infection...we're not sure, but it's currently no fun over here.  So prayers for health are most appreciated!

However...before we all went down with the plague, we were having some fun around here.  We celebrated Duke's birthday with some balloons and cherry pie.  Will loved helping blow out the candles. 

Miss Caroline

Emily partied on the table a bit...

And I just love these because she was looking at her daddy.  So sweet.

We also set up the snack chairs on the counter, always fun.

discussing some important snack news

Gonna need to teach Caroline that it's helpful to inform your sister if she has a little something on her face...

Also exciting....we replaced the super old ovens in our house with new ones!  We've never had new ovens, and I love to bake, so this is really fun.  Here's our first batch of cookies:

Ah, and another development...potty training!  Day one almost convinced me that he wasn't quite ready, but since then, he has been a total champ!  Yay for big boy underwear!

Ha, this just happened to be next in the batch I uploaded, and it totally looks like C is incredulously staring up at Will's big boy undies!

Caroline had fun taking some pics a few days ago...

Emily, not so much.  She was just coming down with the cold that day.  :(

This guy loves his sisters!

And a couple of times this week, while Will was napping, the girls had a blast playing in his car!

ten months old!

Look who turned 10 months old this month!

How is it possible that my babies will be a year old in just 2 short months?  Caroline and Emily have really changed this month...they are both crawling at lightning speed, sitting up {although I never go far, because they still bail out and topple over quite frequently}, squealing with delight, yelling SUPER loudly when they want attention, stealing toys away from each other {and Will}, sleeping like absolute champs, still nursing, and eating solids very well!

Caroline

    

Emily

    

LOVE this scrunchy nose smile!

and it wouldn't be a baby photoshoot without a guest appearance by Will in pajamas

Caroline and Emily are continuing to grow so well!  They are now officially too wiggly for the baby scale, and we didn't have a doctor's appointment this month, but I weighed myself with and without them, and they were both right at 17 pounds.  This means that Emily has caught up to Caroline after her month of sickness that caused her to lag behind a bit in the size department.  {It also means that if you combine the girls' weights, they equal exactly what Will weighs right now. That's a lot of pounds of children around here!} Their personalities continue to be pretty different, although they are both super happy and so sweet.  Caroline is still a bit louder {and maybe a bit more dramatic} than Emily, although Emily can absolutely make herself heard when she wants to.  Caroline has a tendency to squeal in delight when she's happy, while Emily just giggles or smiles.  Emily is still more of a mama's girl, and this month she had a short phase of pretty much screaming in terror when anyone except me or my mom would hold her.  Thankfully, she seems to be over that for the most part.  I think the stranger danger phase is going to be pretty tough with twins!

These girls took a looooong time to figure out how awesome sleeping is, but once they figured it out, they seem to be making up for lost time in the first 9 months of their lives.  ;)  They typically sleep from 8pm-9am {we usually have to wake them up at 9...crazy!}.  They take 2 naps daily, and each can range anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.  Now if we could just get Will to go to sleep before 10pm, we could get on a better schedule around here!  ;)  

The girls are still nursing 5 times a day, and no more night feedings at all!!  I'm sure they would be fine with 4 feedings instead of 5, but I haven't wanted to change ANYTHING since they started sleeping so well.  They are eating solids at mealtimes, and this month, we have added itty bitty finger foods to their menu.  Life with 10 month old twins and an almost 3 year old is pretty crazy and VERY loud, but oh so much fun!

We tried the squeezable baby food, but maybe we're not quite ready.  I think 95% ended up on her tray, arms, face, clothes, bib, and me.

 Sitting up!

    

What happens while Will is napping stays between us girls...

Modeling a few new outfits from Christmas

    

Happy 10 months, precious babies!

twenty thirteen!

Welcome 2013!  We are ready for you after a pretty crazy {yet ultimately awesome} 2012.  Let's say a quick prayer that we can breeze through 2013 without such things as...meeting our family medical insurance deductible, living in the hospital, surgeries, having ultrasounds performed on any of us for any reason, moving, or taking on a huge remodeling project with three small children in tow.  ;)  I joke about it, but in all seriousness, while 2012 was certainly the most stressful year of my life thus far, it brought us so many blessings!  We are finally feeling settled in our house, although I don't think the renovation projects will ever end, and we are watching our three beautiful, healthy, smart, fun children thrive and grow.  

I took a few pictures of the kids on New Years Eve.  Will wasn't really in on the photo shoot, although he joined in at the very end.  He can always help me get the girls to grin for pictures.  They LOVE their big brother. 

Caroline

Emily

cheesy smile, but he's looking at the camera and smiling!

LOVES her brother

Mimi stopped by to see the post-Christmas toy explosion

 On New Years day, during the girls' morning nap, Will and I took advantage of Matt being home to stay with the sleeping babies and went to the playground.  We didn't realize how cold it was, so our outing was quick, but Will had a blast on the swings.  

He started on the little kid bucket swing, which was fun...

But he really loved the big boy swing!

And I felt like he looked way too grown up, sniff sniff.

Welcome 2013.  We can't wait to see what you have in store for us!