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!

joy to the world!

I am calling our Christmas post "Joy to the World," because that was one of Will's favorite songs this month. He is so cute...whenever he hears a new song, he will ask me to sing it at bedtime and naptime...like over and over and over...until he knows all the words.  Then we get little gems like this:

Christmas was SO much fun this year!  Will went through a phase at the beginning of the month {and middle...and mostly until Christmas Eve} during which he really wasn't into Christmas.  He told me not to decorate, but to "keep it plain," and when he would find out that one of his favorite bedtime songs was actually a Christmas song, he would ask for a different one.  This KILLED me, as Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year, and I love to decorate, sing, bake, wrap, and enjoy every moment.  Luckily, Will finally came around, and I'm pretty sure that he will be totally on board with the whole season next year.  :)

We finally got matching stockings this year, and I love them!  

{Luckily, we also got a mantle when we moved, so I had a place to hang them!}

We had so much fun visiting with all of our family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  However, afterwards, I realized that while wrangling three little bitties, there isn't much time for taking pictures!  We luckily took lots at home on Christmas morning, but I ended up with only ONE picture from the rest of Christmas...oops!  

This year, Will was old enough to get excited about making cookies for Santa.  He has really been loving to bake with me this month, so we made gingerbread cookies with lots of sprinkles!  He also narrated his letter to the big guy, and signed his name at the end.  You really have to look for it....sideways...but I'm sure Santa knew who it was from.  You may notice that all he asked for was greek yogurt.  All month, whenever anyone asked him what he wanted for Christmas, that was his answer.  Keep in mind...he had only tasted greek yogurt ONE time before Christmas, so we're not totally sure why he wanted only this one gift.  But I will give him credit...Santa brought him plenty, and he has eaten greek yogurt every day since Christmas.  He LOVES it!

Of all mornings, Will decided to sleep in on Christmas day!  We had to wake him up because we were so excited for him to see what Santa brought...and also because we had lots of things to do, places to be, and presents to open that day.  

Our sweet boy at 8:30 am...rise and shine!!

Santa came!

Santa's big gift...a bounce house!  Will knew exactly what to do when he saw it.

Santa left a note for Will

Caroline and Emily got in on the present opening action as well, although they needed a bit of help.  Will was happy to open their gifts for them, and play with them too.  As expected, they enjoyed the wrapping paper as much as the presents.  :)

{pro tip...in all of these pics, Matt has Caroline, and I have Emily}

And...our one picture from the day....Will playing in his new car from Mimi and Duke!

Unfortunately it's been too cold for Will to play with his car from Mimi and Duke and his giant trampoline at Nana's house, but I think the weather is going to be nice this week, so it will almost be like a second Christmas for him!  He is one lucky boy to have grandparents who love him so much, and who know exactly what makes him happy....cars, keys, and jumping up and down!  

One of my favorite parts of Christmas this year was that Will is old enough to understand what it's really about.  We read a book with an easy to understand version of the Christmas story, and we spent lots of time talking about baby Jesus.  We even made Jesus a birthday cake!  Christmas is so fun when you get to see it through the eyes of an almost-3-year-old. 

I also spent a lot of time reflecting back on last Christmas, and feeling so very thankful for Caroline and Emily.  Last year at this time, we didn't know if they would make it here safely, how premature they would have to be born, or what the future was going to look like for our family.  God is so good to have blessed us with these two perfectly healthy, happy, beautiful, growing baby girls.  Last year, all I wanted for Christmas was for our family to be exactly what it is right now, and I haven't forgotten to be thankful for that gift.  Every single day.  What a wonderful life.  Merry Christmas!