happy first birthday to you, sweet baby girls!

Happy FIRST birthday to our sweet Emily {left} and Caroline {right}!!!!

    

Oh my goodness, girls.  What a year!  While it has absolutely been the most challenging year of my life, this has been the best and most rewarding year as well.  We made it through the NICU, successfully went from feeding tubes to nursing to table food, overcame some pretty exhausting sleep issues, and you're now pulling up on everything, cracking each other up daily, and having a blast with life.  Amazing!  

At one year old, Emily and Caroline are still small compared to full-term one year olds, but they are catching up more and more with each check-up!  This month, their stats are pretty impressive considering that they don't adjust the size percentages based on prematurity...these are compared to full term babies.

Caroline

Length: 28.1 inches {30%}

Weight: 18 lbs, 8 oz {15%}

Head: 18 3/4 inches {>95%, whoa} 

Emily

Length: 28 inches {30%}

Weight: 18 lbs, 2 oz {10%}

Head: 18 1/4 inches {80%}

ummmm, crazy that half an inch on the head circumference makes such a big difference between the two percentages for my large-noggin ladies!

We also always fill out a developmental questionnaire for well visits with our pediatrician.  They DO adjust these for prematurity, which is great, because 2 months for a baby really does make a big difference developmentally!  So the girls did the 10 month questionnaire this time, and they are right on track.  Hooray!  It is so interesting to me to compare their development with Will's at this stage.  He always did best in the gross motor sections, and the girls excel in fine motor and communication.  I find it so interesting that some things really are just wired differently between boys and girls, even at such a young age.

The 12th month brought a fifth tooth for Caroline, but Emily's didn't break through until yesterday, so technically in her 13th month.  The girls continue to use their teeth to gobble their food down as quickly and messily as possible.  It really does baffle me how much they eat.  Certainly they eat more than Will does at some meals.  And I have yet to find anything they don't love.  They will eat broccoli.  They will eat spaghetti with meat sauce.  They will eat chicken cooked any way.  They will eat purple cauliflower {leftover from the rainbow veggie tray at their party!}  And they eat mass quantities of mixed veggies, fruit, bread, cheese, meat, and cereal on a daily basis.  It's awesome.  We are still nursing on our regular schedule, mostly because I was waiting to talk to the doctor at their 1 year check up to find out if they can switch to regular milk at one year, or if we needed to wait until their due date {April 28} to make the switch.  Dr. D said to split the difference and start introducing cow's milk at around 13 months, so we're about to start weaning a bit and using up my freezer stash of milk before the switch.  It will be bittersweet...I have loved being able to nurse all of my babies....but these girls are getting pretty big and wiggly for double baby nursing!  I know I'll enjoy the freedom that comes with stopping nursing...but I'll miss the snuggles.  Luckily for me, these girls are pretty snuggly all the time!    

The girls love to talk and babble, but at this point, I can only give them credit for 2 legit words that we know for sure that they attach meaning to.  Both girls use "mama" and "uh-oh" correctly.  They will repeat words like "dada," "baa" for bath, and "bye," but I don't think they have attached the meanings yet.  They both also started waving on command this month...unless they're doing something more important.  Like eating.  ;)

Another new development is pulling up.  They are so so proud of themselves for this little trick!  It's the cutest thing ever, and also the most dangerous!  It can be pretty precarious when you have two super fast babies crawling around and pulling up on things.  Sometimes I can't move fast enough to keep them both up, and no one likes a head bonk on the hard floors.  At least they don't have far to fall, right?  Emily was the first to pull herself up, and I was able to get a picture.  It was funny, because she had spit up on her outfit, so I left all three kids playing in the playroom while I ran {literally} to the girls' room to grab a new outfit.  And as soon as I got into their room, I heard Will yelling, "Mama!!  Mama!  Emily is standing up!" {whhhhhaaat?!!}  So obviously I ran as fast as humanly possible back to the playroom....a) to see it, and b) to catch her when she inevitably fell down.  

And this is what I saw:

Sweet naked baby girl could NOT have been more proud of herself.  Caroline figured it out soon after, and now we have officially entered crazytown over here.  

Getting 12 month pictures was sort of tough...both girls had colds and red runny noses, again.  And C had a pretty painful diaper rash.  AGAIN.  So I was able to get more smiles from Emily than Caroline, but they were both tough to keep in one spot this month!  :)  

Precious Emily

Playing one of the girls' favorite games.  Peekaboo!!

modeling is exhausting!

And let's be honest.  I saw a lot of this face too.

Didn't end up with quite as many of C, but I sure do love this happy smile!

And this is what happened when I tried to get a pic in their party outfits.  One shot and I knew it just wasn't the day for more pics!

Love this one of C and Matt!

This month, we also broke out the duck tub!  The girls are really too big to fit comfortably together, but we had to try it a couple of times.  The double bath is always either a huge hit or a complete fail, depending on their moods. 

This is bathtime on their actual birthday, March 2.  Sweet babies were cracking each other up!

Happy babies!

Also this month, I put hairbows actually IN the girls little peach fuzz hair.  Pretty hilarious.  They just BARELY have enough to attach a bow, but we have proof!

                                              caroline                                                                                          emily 

    

    

Maybe Caroline wasn't really a fan of the bow?

{who taught her that gesture?!}

I also made a few shamrock headbands for the etsy shop a couple of weeks ago.  So fun to have models on hand at all times!  :)

What a fun birthday month we had!  More pictures and details about the party will be coming soon, but here's a sneak peek.  The girls LOVED their cake.  {anyone surprised? no?}

three!

How old are you, Will?

Whoa.  We have a three year old!  And what an amazing little guy he is.  Will's birthday was on the 11th, but I have been too busy playing with this three year old to blog about it!  Before I write about the day, I have to write down a few things about Will at age 3.  {remember, this blog is our family scrapbook, so I apologize that I tend to over-share!}  

Will is pretty awesome.  At 3, he loves to play, read and be read to, play games on the ipad {especially Angry Birds with Duke}, eat, help me cook, sing, talk, drive his cars, bounce, make up games and use his imagination, and pretty much be a boy in every way possible!  No joke, Will pretty much talks nonstop whenever he is awake if we're at home.  When we get out with a group, he tends to be quiet at the beginning, but once he warms up, he will talk, sing, etc. with no problem.  :) He is super curious and is very interested in words, letters, and numbers.  If we are reading a book and I say a word he doesn't know, he asks what it means and wants me to point it out.  And the crazy thing is that he remembers!  Like, everything!  Sometimes I wonder if he has a photographic memory, because he will remember the most minute details from a long time ago, and he'll just bring them up out of the blue.  Sometimes I don't even remember until he explains to me what he's talking about!  It's amazing, and it keeps us on our toes because nothing gets by him.  

Will is ALL BOY.  He loves to play in dirt, yell, spin until he falls over, collect acorns, go for walks, run, put his feet whole body in the pool regardless of the temperature, and "help" Matt when he's working around the house.  Sometimes he loves getting dirty, and sometimes he runs to me with the smallest bit of something on his finger and wants me to wash it off.  And even though he's a total boy, he is still a snugglebug most of the time, which I love. 

Will can be a little bit picky when he eats, although he does love some things that you might not expect for a 3 year old.  A few of his favorite things are greek yogurt of all flavors, ham, scrambled eggs, cereal, raising cane's {he is totally my kid}, fruit, and anything sweet.  Donuts, cookies, cake, and candy are totally on his radar now.  I think it's gotten even worse in the last couple of months since we used gummy bears and m&ms as potty training rewards.  He has a tendency to demand them now, and I have seen a fair amount of extreme meltdowns when the answer is no.

Will is completely potty trained now, hooray!  He still wears pull ups at night, but mostly just because I bought a big box of them.  He really did a great job with learning...once he decided it was something he wanted to do, it was no problem.  {however, as with everything...when he didn't think he wanted to do it, it was quite a struggle!}  And just yesterday, Matt and I were both in the babies' room getting them ready for bed, and Will came running in {100% naked} to tell us he had gone potty and washed his hands, all by himself.  So proud of him!

Will is still napping in the afternoons, although naptime seems to get later and later.  I have to make sure he doesn't nap too late in the afternoons, or he will be up until 11pm talking and singing in his room after bedtime!  I think another indication that he is my son {as I am typing this at 12:30am} is that he seems to be a bit of a night owl.  This might also be because we are just on a late schedule as a family right now.  Maybe because the babies tend to sleep in...or maybe because of the way everyone's feeding, nap, and playtimes fit together...I'm not sure.  But on most days, Will gets up around 8-8:30, the babies get up around 9, and we're not finished getting everyone dressed and fed until almost 10!  Sheesh.  But it works out well for us, because Matt doesn't get home from work until 7 on a good night, so being on a later schedule gives him an hour with the babies and some extra playtime with Will at the end of the day.  {How did I get on this tangent about our schedule?  Back to Will...}

We had such a fun day on Will's birthday.  It was a full day of celebrating and focusing on Will...good times! 

I put up a crepe paper doorway while Will was sleeping, and he loved busting through it all day!

We tried something new for his birthday breakfast.  Will LOVES donuts, and he also loves cinnamon rolls {again...so my child!} so I got some cinnamon rolls that come with chocolate icing instead of vanilla, and we put sprinkles on top.  So it was sort of the best of both worlds, with a candle on top.  :)

Will's big birthday present was a kitchen set {which is also part of the girls' birthday present, and they have loved chewing on the plastic food already!}

Will got an awesome lego/train table from Mimi and Duke, but I'm including this particular picture to show his face.  He was having a three-year-old meltdown moment and raging about that little bit of wrapping paper that wouldn't come off the side of the table.  Dude.  Calm down.

playing with Mimi  {it's my birthday, I'll go pantless if I want to!}

After lots of fun playtime in the morning, Will and I met Matt for a picnic and playtime at the new park over Woodall Rodgers.  Unfortunately it was freezing, but we still had fun!  Will and I used to meet Matt for lunch all the time, but we haven't done it as much since the sweet baby girls arrived, so this was a special treat.

Matt had to finish up something in his office before he came down to meet us, so we did an impromptu "facial expressions" photo shoot in the car.

Ready...

surprised!

flirty

happy {cheesy}

pensive

where's your tongue?

thoughtful

confused

I think this one was angry?

birthday face!

We enjoyed a chilly lunch, complete with a birthday cookie.

And then we played!  We had the place all to ourselves since everyone else was staying inside.

    

when did he get so big?  {sniff sniff}

Then in the evening, we had Nana, Mimi, & Duke over for a birthday dinner.  Of course, this meant another present for the birthday boy!  Nana got Will an awesome castle with knights, action, cannons, and everything a little boy loves.  He {and daddy} are loving it.

After presents, it was dinner time.  Will was torn all week between two choices for his birthday dinner...Raising Canes or eggs.  I know.  His choices.  I was very pleased that he decided on Canes in the end.  So we had some delicious fried chicken and french fries, and then it was birthday cake time!  Will chose a rainbow sprinkle cake with rainbow chip icing for his third birthday cake. 

I got these cool candles for his cake...the flames are the color of the candles!  It's a little hard to see in the picture, but you can see the green one pretty well.

Pretty pleased with himself.  And excited to eat cake!

Had to get a couple of sprinkles off the top.  :)

Will's third birthday was such fun, and we are excited to celebrate again this weekend with the babies.  It's definitely birthday season around here!  Happy birthday, Will.  You have made the last three years the best of our lives, and we can't wait to see what you will do next.