Hey shorty, it's your birthday!
Wait, hold on a second, stop, no really!! The twins are one year old!! I am in pure disbelief that 365 days have passed us by and we now have pre-toddlers in our house. No longer preemies, no longer referred to by their corrected age, no longer do they stay put and no longer are they bald little babies! What a fantastic life changing year in our lives. Who knew that two little people could turn your world completely upside down and inside out. We have had some very trying times, times we crave to be out of the house ALONE and times we cherish spending as a family of five. One of the precious moments this summer has been playing in the baby pool on our deck and popping bubbles while making a soapy mess! Life with twins and a toddler is both hard and rewarding and I will say it again, the twins are one year old!!!!
As for the statistics, Kelsey is 17.5 pounds (4th%) and is 28.3 inches (24th%). Logan is 20.13 pounds (22nd%) and 29 inches (25th). So they are both pretty petite in comparison to their peers. That is fine with me because I have to carry them around enough, I am glad I don't have two Austin (101th%) babies to tote. Health wise, Logan came down with croup for the 3rd time a couple weeks ago which developed into a silent ear infection that was diagnosed at the well check-up. Silent meaning he was not displaying the regular symptoms such as not sleeping. He is on Amoxicillin and we have to check back in two weeks to make sure it has cleared up. Kelsey is peachy keen and definitely seems to be the healthier child overall. Her hemangioma is really starting to change. She has been on the medicine for 6 weeks now. We have noticed that is starting to deflate and is now about half as swelled as it was. It has also gone from bright red to a purple color and started to sag. I am very optimistic about it being gone within a year. We started whole milk but unfortunately the babies got diarrhea so we had to go back on formula for the next month and we will try again at 13 months. Because of the milk introduction we didn't do as many foods this month but here are the foods they did have- quinoa, Salmon and other fish, watermelon, bell pepper, onion and eggs.
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| Logan with croup and Kelsey teething, watching Mickey Mouse |
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| Hemangioma 1 month photo |
These two babies couldn't be more different. I thought I would do a little fun twin (not so twin) comparison. Logan is shy and sensitive, Kelsey is outgoing and aggressive. Logan has 4 teeth, Kelsey has 2. They both take 2 naps but Logan takes and afternoon and evening and Kelsey takes a morning and an afternoon. Logan eats about anything, Kelsey is picky. Logan is addicted to his pacifier, Kelsey only uses hers when she is tired. Logan wears 12 month clothes, Kelsey wears 9 months. Logan has curly hair, Kelsey has straight hair. Logan crawled with one arm dominant and Kelsey the opposite. Logan's eyes have started to change but Kelsey's have not. Logan has really really big feet, Kelsey's are a whole toe length smaller. Kelsey waves and claps and Logan does neither. As for similarities, they seem to have the same hair color, they are both crawling and cruising around. They both sleep through the night but Logan tends to go down later and get up earlier. They both wear size 3 diapers. They both love the bath, pool and any source of water just like Austin. Both babies are babbling words like Dada, Mama, gaga and we think they say Hi! Both babies know their names and turn to find you when you call it out. They both prefer to feed themselves by either picking up their food or using a pouch. Both babies are very attached to me and Paul but Kelsey cries every time we leave the room and she especially likes her daddy! It just goes to show that all children are different even when they share a birthday!
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| In our first couch fort |
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| Afternoon playtime |
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| Both standing and playing |
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| Little handymen in training |
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| He climbed in there himself |
Austin is now fully potty trained including long trips in the car (went to Columbus), naps (if he takes one), errands and even at night time. He naturally self trained at night, he just picked it up while we did the day training. We do keep a potty chair in his room at night because we keep a baby gate at his door. He has successfully gotten up during the night and used it and returned to bed. He doesn't use it often though, usually he just uses the bathroom before bed and right when he gets up in morning. He does have some accidents here and there during the day or night usually if he is out of his home element but I would consider our training a full success. He starts preschool on August 19th, so I wanted him trained and prepared by then. It is not mandatory for him to be trained but I thought it would be a good idea especially because he is 3.5 years and really should have been by 2.5 years. We are excited to see how school will help him develop his speech. I expect he should grow by leaps and bounds having peers to interact with and a teacher he will need to communicate with.
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| Multitasking- Rocking baby Leo and watching his tablet, he's a natural |
We had a fantastic end of July visiting friends in Columbus and a trip home for a very busy weekend. Paul's brother Jason was able to come to town from Hartford Connecticut to visit for a family filled weekend. We attended a family wedding (Paul's second cousin) and the kids all did wonderful. The wedding was at a very classy barn and we brought our double stroller and Bjorn baby carriers. The babies sat in high chairs and munched on anything they could get their hands on, mostly watermelon, Haddock and redskin potatoes. I had actually forgotten their formula and went into panic mode about keeping them at bay. They got to have apple juice for the first time in an effort to keep their bellies full, which worked!! Later in the night Austin and Logan fell asleep in the stroller and Kelsey danced the night away with mommy! Little party girl (don't know where she gets that from)? hahahahahaha!
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| Family picture minus Auntie Mira |
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| Family photo at the wedding |
Next up was the twins birthday party the following day at my parents house. The party was gigantic. We invited 60 guests and had about 45 attend which included children. It took 3 days to pull this party off and afterwards we decided that will be the last child birthday party we will throw with more than 20 guests. The babies were not the happiest but we made it through. They both went through a bit of stranger anxiety and cried A LOT. The highlight of the party of course was the smash cake. Logan dove right in and smeared frosting everywhere and shoveled the cake in. Kelsey was a typical girl and did not want to get messy, she took to picking cake off of Logan's face and eating that, pretty hilarious. Thank you to all the friends and family that made their party so memorable for us!
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| Eric Carle cookies from the party |
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| Eric Carle cupcake caterpillar and the twins smash cake |
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| Birthday smash cake mess |
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| Drake and Austin at the party |
I am working on the babies one year portraits this month so those will be in next months update so until then!!!
