Yes, they are seriously 1 already

Its true. They're 1. We survived the first year. Not only did we survive, it was a lot of fun. I'm lucky and blessed. And not nearly as tired as I expected to be, so that's a plus too.





Of course, then I post this family photo from their birthday party and we look exhausted in it.




We're not that exhausted, I promise. Hmm...or maybe we are and I've just gotten so used to it that I don't notice it anymore??

On to cake pictures, because come on, isn't that what everyone really wants to see from first birthdays anyway?



I can't be sure, but I think a certain little boy liked the cake....

His sister took a bit longer to warm up to it, she licked the frosting off for a while at first. But then she dug in too. Don't you just love that smile? These two are the happiest kids ever. Love it.

Things here are going well. Busy with just the day-to-day activities of life, but its a good busy.

They're turning into kids...toddlers almost (not technically yet because they're only cruising not yet walking) and not so much babies. I'm liking it but its hard to believe too.

Its spring and almost planting time so I'm hoping I'll use my evenings alone (which there will be a lot of them to come with busy-ness of planting) to get on here more. We'll see. Famous last words, right??

:)

Mixed Feelings

Babies growing up is a wonderful thing. I love seeing my kids mastering new skills, becoming more independent and growing into such amazing little people. But I think every mom gets just a little sad realizing her babies aren't really babies anymore. My Littles are going to be ONE YEAR OLD in just over two weeks. Where has the year gone? Its been a busy, whirlwind, wonderful year. I know that much for sure. I also know that it has been so much better and more amazing than I ever thought it could be. Have I mentioned that twins are awesome? They are. Just thought I'd mention it.

Anyway. So we're hitting a year and of course its time to move to sippy cups and cow's milk and such. They're already eating everything you put in front of them and are so independent. I introduced straw cups a few weeks ago and they figured them out so fast. I couldn't even believe it. They love them and are pros at it. They look like they've been doing it their whole lives. I'm so proud of them and they look so big holding their cups in their chubby little hands and drinking just like big kids. But to be honest, it makes me a little sad. Its funny....a year ago I wasn't even sure that I'd be able to breastfeed two babies, and even when they were a couple months old I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to do it because it just seemed so hard. And now here I am, they're almost a year old and I'm dreading weaning them. It was easier with Bug because I couldn't wait to wean the daytime nursings and get rid of pumping at work. But its so easy to nurse these two when I'm with them all day long and its such a quiet, sweet few moments, just the 3 of us. They have these sweet little interactions when I'm nursing them...its the only time of the day when they're still (relatively speaking) and they will just look at each other, exchange little smiles and giggles, play with each others' hands or faces and its just special. It makes me sad to know these special moments will be ending. Like every new milestone and new phase, there's advantages to weaning. Being able to give them a cup of milk and a snack anywhere, anytime. Being able to leave them with someone else for a longer period of time (though that still means I have to be willing to let go and allow someone else to take care of them). Just another one of those "my babies are growing up" things. I'm totally keeping up the bedtime and early morning feedings though. I'm just not ready to give up those quiet moments with my babies. Oh yeah, plus...I kind of like them being my personal alarm clocks to get me out of bed in the morning...then I can slowly wake up as I feed them in the queit darkness, get them to fall back to sleep and quietly put them back in their own beds so I can get up at 6 am while the rest of the house sleeps. Then there is an hour to an hour and a half of ME time in my quiet, sleeping house. Coffee, computer work and quiet before the chaos of the day begins. Did I mention the quiet? Oh yeah, I think I did. I'm not giving that up anytime soon. :)

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! Ok...now that we're all caught up. Maybe I should throw a Happy Valentines Day in there just in case I don't get back here again for a while. Christmas was great. Took me a while to get into the spirit, which is unusual for me because I love, love, love Christmas but it helped once we got our tree (yes, 4 days before Christmas, but hey, we got one). Bug loved it and it was so fun that he was able to get into it this year. The babies just tried to eat the wrapping paper and their big brother was thrilled that he got to open extra presents because he opened all of theirs. All in all, fun times.

My babies are 11 months old. How is this possible? They're my BABIES, they can't be that big! But they're standing and cruising and babbling and playing peekaboo with each other (as in, they don't need me to play, Little Mister hides himself behind a toy and then pulls it away and they both laugh). They eat everything and are bottomless pits and we're working on transitioning to straw cups. I need to switch one feeding of the day over to a straw cup to start the slow weaning process, but its so ridiculously easy to just nurse them that I keep putting it off. I intend to continue nursing them at bedtime and first thing in the morning for who knows how long, but I want to start switching over daytime nursings one at a time so that they're on cow's milk during the day. Easier for going out and about and such, you know? It makes me sad to think about weaning my babies though :( They're getting so big!!


Now for something fun. Assorted things I've learned lately. In no particular order.


-If you plan to have 3 kids under the age of 3, be sure to get an indoor dog that likes people food. It will save you a lot of sweeping. No one wants to do that much sweeping.


-When you have a girl, you will find sparklies in your lint trap. No one told me this and therefore I stood in my laundry room looking at my lint trap, thinking "Now, how in the heck did I get sparklies in my lint trap??" I finally realized I had washed her new clothes from Christmas, and they were sparkly. And of course "sparklies" is a word.


-Do not seat the 2 1/2 year old where he can see his reflection in the window, unless you want him making faces and exaggerated chewing motions at himself throughout dinner.

-Twins really do have their own language.

-Cleaning up after 3 children while they're still awake is an exercise in futility. Go ahead and try it if you want to drive yourself crazy.

-Makeup and coffee do wonders for making yourself appear more awake than you actually are.

-No matter how many times I try to convince myself I'll have/make more time to blog...I don't. I need about 4 more hours in each day to accomplish everything. Since I don't think that's happening...we'll just continue with random posts here and there and I won't even pretend anymore that I'm going to attempt to keep up regularly. It works for now!

And before anyone else wakes up, I'm going to go...otherwise it'll take me another 2 weeks just to get this posted :)