Swimming!

The hotel that we stayed at for my sister's wedding had a pool, and my cousin asked if the girls could go swimming "with her".  We had some time before the rehearsal dinner, so my mom and I took the girls to the pool.  Tannah was in a "don't even try to take me away from Grandma" mood, but, I'm happy to report that both girls enjoyed the water, and we finally got  a few pictures since Wei-Yand didn't have to be in the water with us.

The water in the pool was very warm.  I wonder how the girls will do this summer when I take them back to Lake Michigan:)

Playing "Humpty Dumpty"

Aunt Brynne's Wedding

My little sister got married last weekend, and as expected it was a gorgeous wedding and crazy fun party.  We spent three nights in a hotel, and the girls held up really well considering the circumstances.  Tannah latched onto my mom about 10 seconds after she saw her and didn't want to be away from her at all.  She even complained when I would take her to nurse her:(  We might have to work on that a little bit, because Harper needs some grandma time too.

My sister looked absolutely stunning.

The girls looked so adorable in their little dresses.  Since I was the Matron of Honor, I was pretty busy that day, and only got to see them in their dresses during the ceremony.

My only regret is that we didn't get any pictures of my sister with the girls.  The photographer took a few pictures of our entire family, so hopefully those will turn out well.

We left the girls with a babysitter other than my parents or one of my good friends for the first time.  It went pretty well, but we did get a call about an hour into the reception that Harper had thrown up and was pretty upset.  I, of course, was then pretty upset, but luckily the reception was across the street from the hotel.  Wei-Yand ran back to the room, helped clean up the mess and get Harper calmed down, and he still made it back in time for dinner.

All in all, the girls slept really well over the weekend.  Except of course for Sunday morning when they decided that they were ready to get up at 4:50 am.  After a much later night than usual, that was far too early for my liking.

It was a great weekend, and we're excited that "Uncle Joe" is now officially an uncle:)

Baby Camo

The girls are getting awfully close to outgrowing their biggest size of baby camo.  As we get closer and closer to one year, I can't believe how quickly time is flying.  I think back to this time last year, and I was so excited/nervous for them to arrive.  I just wanted time to move faster so they would be here.  Now I want time to slow down so I can enjoy them at this age for a little longer.

Right now everything is new and exciting for them.  A basket of socks can evoke a fit of giggles.  They cruise around our furniture like they've been doing it forever.  They get so excited when I smile and clap at them.  They love to cuddle, and so do I.

The Best Valentine Ever!

I like candy and flowers (and jewelry) as much as anyone, but I have to say that I don't think I've ever received a Valentine's present that made me as happy as what was waiting for me when I picked the girls up from daycare today.

Tannah's is on the left, and Harper's is on the right.  I die. I have to say that I got a little teary-eyed when I saw them.  It's just another reminder of how lucky I am to have these two sweet girls in my life.

We gave them new headbands for Valentine's day.  I'm hoping that they will wear them for my sister's wedding (yay!) this weekend, but Tannah continues to pull off anything I put on her head.

Unless I can manage to distract her with something else.  Here she is with her valentine.

Harper showing off her masterpiece.

The girls also got cards from Grandma and Grandpa and Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa.

And a special little gift from Grandma:)



10 Months!

I seriously cannot believe how quickly we're approaching the one year mark.  It just doesn't seem possible that I will soon have one year olds.  These girls become more delightful (and active, and opinionated) every day.

Since we've been struggling with the girls trying to eat their month stickers, I decided that I would try to stick it on the chair first.  Tannah was on to me right away.

So, we resorted to sticking them on and taking pictures as fast as I could before the stickers made it into their mouths.

And, we're done.

I look back at the sessions from their first few months, and I probably have at least one hundred pictures of me trying to get them to both look at the camera (and eventually smile).  Now, I'm lucky if I get 10 off before the stickers are in their mouths.  At least I got some cute ones this month:)

At ten months:

• The girls are crawling and cruising machines.  And, boy, are they fast.  
• Some of their favorite activities are crawling away from us as fast as they can, ignoring our requests for them to come back, and pulling everything they can grab off of the coffee table and couch (and looking very proud of themselves when they grab something that we wish they wouldn't, like a remote control or cell phone).
• Tannah can stand on her own without pulling herself up.  She will take one step toward us before lunging if we set her a little ways away from us.
• Harper can stand up without holding on for a few seconds at a time.
• We're finally starting to get some "ma-ma's" mixed in with the "da-da's".  I still don't think they associate those sounds with us yet.
• They love their stride-to-ride dino and will walk in seemingly endless circles using it.  They also love to play with (and crawl through) their Laugh and Learn Home.
• They are in size 12 month or 6-12 month clothes.  We're slowly starting to add in some 12-18 month clothes, but most of those are still pretty big. 
• We just moved up to size 4 diapers.
• They sleep from around 7 pm to 6:30 am, but are still generally getting up at least once per night.  We had stopped night time feedings, but the girls have been sick and waking up more frequently.  Sometimes it's impossible (or maybe it just feels that way) to get them to go back to sleep without feeding them.
• Tannah has six teeth, and Harper has two.
• The girls now only eat finger foods while at daycare.  We still do a stage 3 food for dinner because I want to make sure that they get enough food before they go to bed.

They continue to interact with each other more and more, which is cute beyond belief (except when they are trying to push the other one away when I'm holding both of them - apparently sibling rivalry starts early:)

Maybe it's just me being a proud mom, but everyone who meets these girls seems to fall in love with them.  I love to see how much joy they bring to everyone who comes into contact with them!

Matching

Before the girls were born, I didn't think I'd be "one of those moms" who dress her twins alike all the time.  Apparently I was wrong:)  Last week I noticed two outfits in the girls closet that they hadn't worn before (one of which was a hand-me-down, and one of which I bought before I realized just how much I love it when the girls are matching or coordinating).  I hadn't really thought about it too much until I dropped the girls off at daycare, and one of the teachers said, "you're not matching today!" My first thought was that I don't dress them alike ALL the time, but then I realized that, yes, I do.

I do this for several reasons:

1. It's adorable, and really that's the only reason I need :)
2. I find that I'm already worried about treating the girls "fairly".  If I find one cute outfit, what if I can't find another that's quite as cute?  How do I decide who gets to wear the "cuter outfit"? - This might sound kind of crazy, but it's a common response from a lot of twin moms who dress their kids alike.
3. It's easy.  I put matching/coordinating clothes together in their closet/dresser, and I don't have to put too much thought into what they are going to wear on any given day (see #2 - I don't have to worry that one has a cuter outfit than the other).

I should also note that some twin moms are so into matching their children that if they start the day dressed alike and one needs to change clothes, they change both of them.  I don't take it that far:)  The girls are modeling their non-matching outfits in the pictures below.

Tannah

Harper

 

Lately, Tannah has taken to crawling around with a block in her mouth.  Wei-Yand has tried to explain to her that if she would just walk she would have both of her hands available to hold blocks rather than needing to use her mouth.  So far, she's not so interested in walking, and I am just fine with that.

The house that the girls are crawling through was one of their Christmas presents, and they love it!  It took me a while after Christmas to get it set up, but they love to open and close the door, to crawl through the door to spin the flower.

Peek-a-Boo

The girls are at an age where they absolutely love to play peek-a-boo. Tannah will even initiate the game by putting a blanket over her face or burying her face in a pillow. They both get such a kick out of it, and I still can't get enough of their adorable laughter. I don't know that I've ever heard a more beautiful sound. I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about how, while having twins is hard work and I would never wish it on someone, I also can't even begin to describe how lucky I feel to have these two amazing little girls. After all, if you don't have twins, you never get to experience things like this.



Because we both work full time, we have such a short amount of time to spend with the girls during the week. We generally start dinner shortly after getting home, so I treasure our brief playtime between dinner and bed. Here, the girls were burning off some energy before getting their PJ's on for bed.