Turning One, Twice the Fun!

What a special day we had yesterday. The babies turned one and of course, like all mothers say, "I can't believe they are one!" (That will be a phrase that we hear until the end of time, I'm sure). When thinking back if time went fast or slow, it was kind of.... both. It was slow (and by slow I don't mean agonizingly slow or bad in any way) because it was a busy job taking care of two babies and my hands, literally, were always full. (And boy if I had a dollar for every time I heard that phrase in the last year- "Boy do you have your hands full," Ben could retire!)

It was slow because they did not reach milestones as quickly as my older two. Chloe and Mitchell reached milestones early, which made them seem older and time pass more quickly. The twins were/are also much more petite than my older kids. Having smaller babies made them seem younger, longer and helped time slow down too, which was wonderful. My older two blew through clothing sizes like crazy, where as Leah and Lexi could wear a size for the full 3 months intended, if not longer.

It went fast because doesn't every child's first year seem like it went super fast, when looking back? The busyness of twins made it seem to go slower than normal, but in the same sense, it also made it seem to go faster. Our house is a human zoo, with something going on all the time from 6 a.m.-6p.m. Staying constantly busy makes time speed by. And when I look back at newborn pictures where the girls were 5 pounds and 6 pounds, and look at them now, it's crazy to think they were ever that small, but yet tucked away in my memory, I do remember almost exactly what it was like when they were that size. They were unlike any other children we've had, size wise, and having two of them like that (small, spindly and extra fragile) helps burn that time of my life into my memory extra well.

The twins all together are unlike anything we've experienced as a family. Every singleton child's birth is different and what they add to a family is different, but having two babies at once is so different- more different and unique than any other event or family experience, as I'm sure other families of twins or multiples can relate. Each night, after the twins are asleep in their cribs, I go in and peak at them and that is when I truly marvel that there are two babies, the same age, in our home. Every night it is amazing to me that we were blessed to receive 2 angels on the same day. I will never cease to be amazed and in awe at what a unique and marvelous blessing these two little spirits are.

12 months have gone by, and now these two little miracles are one. I was a bit (okay, a lot) nostalgic of this past year and wanted to hang on to it and remember it a bit longer. It would take a few thousand pictures and hundreds of paragraphs to remember it on this blog again- (I've already done it all year long), so I thought instead I would pay tribute to the girls' big day and their first year at the same time by recording their whole day on camera.

Be warned- this post has LOTS of pictures and lots of text. It is very self-indulgent. It is written for my own memories and as a tribute to my beautiful twin girls.

First things first- breakfast! Bananas and whole wheat pancakes with blueberry jam were on the menu (with milk, of course). Did I mention how much I LOVE that these little girls can feed themselves?

Next, Chloe wanted the babies to watch her old Baby Einstein sign language DVD. We have been working with the babies on a few basic signs- MORE, PLEASE, MILK, ALL DONE, EAT, MOM, DAD. Lexi has successfully signed DAD, MILK and MORE, but not consistently yet. Leah has done none of them- except I swear yesterday (on their birthday) she signed ALL DONE when I asked her if she was all done eating. I'm giving her credit for it. Moms can do that.

The educational DVD experience did not got quite as Chloe had planned. The above picture shows how the session went- they were off crawling and playing if not being forced to sit on someone's lap.

I love love love sign language and am a huge advocate of it for babies and young children. I got my AA degree in Deaf Studies and learned so much on the benefit of signing with children. We taught Chloe sign language when she was a baby and she had many signs she knew and signed consistently and frequently before the age of one, and then went on to learn and sign many, many more after that. It helped her learn, I believe, to speak so well and so early. She said her first word, pretty clearly at 9 months- "Daisy" (our dog). We taught Mitchell as well, not with as much effort as we did with Chloe, unfortunately, but he learned to sign pretty quickly upon starting speech therapy at 20 month, which reiterated to me the effectiveness of signing with kids.

I held the babies down for a second (for Chloe's sake) and showed them EAT. They should pick that up quickly, you would think, with how much they love to eat!

We gave up on the DVD after a few minutes and let them enjoy some free time in their pj's. That's my favorite thing to do too- relax in my pajamas.

We then hauled the girls up to the tub to reward them with a bath. I say reward because two little munchkins in the bath can be a lot of work and time consuming, so they don't get to bathe as often as they would like, I'm sure. Unfortunately, it sometimes is so long between baths that I have to think really hard how long its been since the last one.

And of course Mitchell begged to jump in with them. He loves baths and will stay in them long after the water has turned ice cold.

The other reason I am starting to dread baths is because of this little turkey- she only wants to stand up in the tub and it is a battle with her for the entire length of the bath. She's going to lose a beautiful tooth here soon, if she's not careful.

After baths we had a little pedicure. I thought they needed a little pampering on their big day. They were actually pretty good to sit still.

The end result was pretty darn cute.

Alexis then snuck in some quiet reading time.

Afterwards, we got them dressed in their pretty party dresses.

And then it was time for their morning nap. Chloe read them their bedtime book and then it was snooze time.

While they napped the rest of us exercised, had a snack, played, showered and got dressed for the day.

They woke up just in time for lunch! On the menu- jam sandwiches, cooked carrots and string cheese- what a combo!

It was a beautiful, sunny Fall day (the exact weather on the day they were born), so we all walked Chloe to the bus stop.

The rest of us came home to play for a bit, then down for afternoon naps. I worked like a mad woman after they were asleep to wrap presents and make their cake.

The birthday girls woke up very happy and played sweetly until time for the party to start. My little Leah is such a beautiful girl.

Lexi, our little sweetheart, has recently developed a bit of attitude. I think she has grown tired of being the sweet, gentle, quiet one and is now making up for it. If she does not get what she wants, or has something taken from her that she doesn't like, she screams! Awesome... Come on sign language, hurry up and kick in!

Some pre-party shots

Our little mover, Leah. She is quick as lightning when she crawls. I imagine she will be the same way when she starts walking. Sign this girl up for the track team.

Oh, our little Gracie Girl- with her new found attitude, we have to be careful. I almost want to spoil this little girl rotten and give in to her every scream, only because for the last 12 months she has been second for almost everything and has endured everything so well. She deserves to be spoiled, right? Yes. She does. (For awhile.)

They did this pose all on their own! And yes, Leah really is taller.

While the babies played, the big kids went out to our garden and picked our first corn of the season. Crazy that it is October and we just are eating corn. It was a bit over done, and many of the corn ears were super small, but it was home grown and attentively cared for by Mitchell and Chloe, and for that reason it was delicious.

Birthday dinner- pizza and corn!

Oh those big kids loved that corn

After dinner it was time for presents! What a crazy thing that was. We started off as shown above- the big kids each held a baby. That lasted maybe... 5 seconds? (The length of time it took to take the photo).

I hate to admit that the babies had no interest in opening their presents. They just wanted to crawl around. If we wanted them to act interested, we had to hold them on our laps.

Lexi and our BIG helper Chloe

Ben and I got the girls the best gift of the night- a slide!

It was loved by all 4 kids, which caused for a few small fights over who's turn it was next.

Leah absolutely loved the slide and could not go down it without giggling. She loved it so much that whenever anyone else would go down the slide, she couldn't help but giggle watching them. It was so cute.

Too bad our house isn't big enough to keep the slide indoors all the time. It would provide hours of entertainment, I'm sure.

Finally- cake time!

They were thrilled, obviously, by the cake.

We sang happy birthday to them and awkwardly sang "Happy Birthday Leah and Lexi/Lexi and Leah" until I remembered I wanted to sing to both of them individually. We started over and did it right- first to Leah, then to Lexi.

Bring on the cupcakes! We loved this cupcake cake, or a pull apart cake. You just pull a cupcake off and eat it and if you want more, pull another one. No cutting cake and small portions for everyone. And it was super easy to make and decorate. Time consuming, but easy (and fun).

The babies loved the cake and ate it very, very quickly.

On her second helping, Leah did the no hands approach (her signature move) and dove in face first.

Alexis can shove more food into her mouth than any baby I've ever seen. In her former life, I believe she was a chipmunk.

They stayed very clean, all things considered. It didn't hurt that the cake was light colored.

Back up to the bath where we started the day. No complaints from these two about a second bath.

A quick bedtime story before bed.

What a wonderful day of celebrating. Nothing fancy. We usually keep birthdays very simple here and we love it. It's a great time to be with family and a great excuse for me to eat ice cream.

To my sweet baby girls- what a beautiful wonder you are to me and our family. I am truly the most blessed mother to have you in my life and a part of our eternal family. With excitement I look forward to many more wonderful years to come with both of you by my side.

1 year stats:

Leah:

Weight: 19 lbs, 2 oz (10-25%)

Height: 28.5 in (25%)

Head: 44 cm (10-25%)

Alexis:

Weight: 19 lbs, 11 oz (25-50%)

Height: 27 3/4 in (10%)

Head: 45.5 cm (75%)