Twins are 13 months

Picture Perfect!

Well, that was an incredibly fast month, why do these months have to keep whizzing by? Like always, I feel like so much has happened! My goal this month was to take the twins one year photographs. Back in May, I had come up with the idea and have been slowly collecting the things I would need to pull it off, backdrop, pots and headbands. I have three friends that have small businesses that I solicited for props. These women did a fantastic job which helped me nail these pictures. I bought the backdrop from my friend Jenae, who also does photography. My friend Natasha hand stitches children's clothing and she made the Eric Carle onesies for the twins first birthday party. My friend Michelle crochet's and she made the head bands for the flower pot photos. I have used Michelle's work before (the yellow and grey infant hats) and she will also be making all 3 kids their hats for their Halloween costumes. These photos are by far my favorite ones that I have taken of the twins to date. I am excited to see what ideas I come up with for their 18 month/Christmas photos!

Off to the races

Austin screamed in the house and they both turned to look haha

One without the headbands and still so cute!

As for a progress report, Logan's ear infection did not go away from the first round of medication so we did a second cycle of stronger drugs. At the second two week follow-up, the infection had cleared up but he still has fluid so he will be going to see an ENT. Since we have a history of speech delay in our family with Austin, we need to make sure Logan doesn't follow down the same path. He may need to get tubes inserted if the fluid does not clear up in the next handful of months. Kelsey's hemangioma continues to shrink, which is fantastic. The downside is that she she has been waking multiple times a night which is a side affect of the medicine. We also think that she may have an allergy to strawberries. We aren't certain that the rash she developed after eating some was due to that or her MMR shot (which can also produce spots on the body about 10 days after receiving it). I am allowed to re-introduce the strawberries to see if it happens again and then we will know for sure.

Kelsey's rash

Hemangioma 2 months/1 month/first day

The babies have been cruising around the house getting adventurous. Both babies have started to let go and free stand. Logan is doing it more often on his own, whereas Kelsey likes to do it as a game by having me let her go. It's just a matter of time and we will have miniature walkers in this house again. Kelsey has been eager to communicate and can say a couple extra words than Logan (another symptom to mention to the ENT). She says "na-ni"when she is tired and "uh huh" when you ask her a question. She can also sign milk when she is thirsty. I continue to work with her since she is so willing and eager! We are still introducing foods, this month has been a lot of the BIG allergy foods that you are advised to wait until after age 12 months. This months foods were Egg yolk, strawberries, black/pinto beans, pasta, tomato, citrus and blueberries. Citrus was not a good one, it was too acidic which caused diaper rash so we will try to stay away from it. I introduced milk again this week and Logan appears to be fine, Kelsey got diarrhea again so we are going to try soy milk and see how she does. If all goes well with the soy, I will likely just put both babies on the soy milk so I don't have to buy 2 different things for them. The babies continue to enjoy self-feeding. Almost every meal they feed themselves except for their yogurt and some dinner foods. We have found that they are bored with spoon fed foods unless it's chunky to give them something to chew on.

MOM, FEED US!!!

Turtle butts

Lean on me

Although the babies are older and my days are generally easier to manage I had a very hard month personally. I went through a snap of depression. I think it started when I was planning the party for the twins. Once I came down off my adrenaline high from the actual event, I realized how overwhelming that week had been for me and really needed a break. I became jealous of the time Paul was making for himself, either with playing tennis, attending Pro ball games to collect bobble heads or just plain going to work everyday and being OUT of the house. After I shed A LOT of tears and had a real heart to heart with Paul, it was decided that I just need to make more time for myself. I voiced my feelings to my mom's group and they came to my rescue with a girls night out singing karaoke, now granted I didn't actually sing but it was just what I needed. Since then, I have been trying to do something at least once a week for me! I am so grateful that I found such a wonderful group of women that genuinely care for each other. Just this week another mom was needing a pick-me-up so we all got together for a dessert date at Cheesecake Factory! It really is amazing what a couple of hours without kids can do to someones morale!

A night out with my great friends

That being said, the high stress baby phase has gone and we find ourselves welcoming the ability to get out of the house as a family to eat dinner or socialize. We recently just ate out as a family of 5 for the first time at our favorite Mexican restaurant (that we can walk to). We have also been getting together with our good friends Brice and Malia and their girls for cookouts. We see the light at the end of the tunnel and the less bumpy road ahead. We are also in the process of finding a babysitter. Our plan is to find someone that can help every Thursday. That way I could use them during the day to help me every other week and then the opposite Thursdays during the evening so that Paul and I can get out alone. Wish us luck with this search!!!

Family Pic at the Mothers&More Picnic

A very big milestone has occurred, Austin has started Pre-K!! He qualified to start back in January when he turned 3 because of his speech delay. At the time we opted to keep him home and receive speech services once a week through the school to keep the germs away from our preemie babies. We knew then in the fall the babies would be old enough and Austin could go and attend real school. The first week was a bit messy. He actually did really well with drop-off on the first day as he was very comfortable with one of his teachers, Mrs.Z. The second day he put up a fight when Paul and I dropped him off and had a bit of a rough start. He was originally placed in an integrated room which means some kids are average students and some kids have special needs. Mrs. Z (who is an intervention specialist) wanted to see how he fit in. On that Friday, we decided collectively that he needed to be moved to an all special needs room. This meant we had to switch school buildings in our district. Our home school (Horace Mann) is in walking distance but his new building (Hayes) is in the next neighborhood and is not close enough to walk. All in all, it is the better option though as there are only 3 students in the class and he will get a lot of one on one time. We think he has been doing fine but have had a breakdown in communication with the new school. Because we attending the other buildings open house, we missed the one he attends now. We have not been able to see his room yet or really have any paperwork. To top it off, his teacher (Ms. Kathy) has been out sick a couple times making it even harder for us to talk with her. I am in the process of setting up a meeting with her to get everything squared away. Besides that, we are hoping he will grow a lot this year and then be able to go back to Horace Mann next year with the larger class (18 students). He attends Monday-Thursday 8:30-11:00. Paul drops him off in the morning on the way to work and a school transportation van with booster car seats brings him home to me about 11:20. He has done excellent on the van with no problems. Paul has been having a little trouble dropping him off but we hope with each week he will grow more accustomed to the situation. He has already started to learn new things, he has been spelling words around the house that they are talking about in class. He was already able to spell his name before school but since then he has added stop and fall. It's always a proud moment when I stumble on a new word he has spelled out on his magnet board.

First day drop-off

First day of school EVER!!!

Spells his name is random places all over the house

On most weeks I work Monday, Wednesday and Friday watching the baby. When I have a photo session come in, it usually happens during the weekend. Our kids are generally quiet for the most part but with Austin out of the house in the mornings, it's even more quiet and I enjoy spending the alone time with the babies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They take a morning nap together now so I usually am able to enjoy a nice peaceful shower and do some small tasks around the house, like type this blog! Occasionally, one of the babies will wake-up before the other but will continue to snuggle with me, it's AMAZING!

Rare snuggle time with my babes

So that's it for the month of August! I am not sure how often I will post now that the twins are 1, it might be every month or every couple months once something new or exciting has happened, so I will just leave it at that and keep you all on the edge of your seats hahahaha!!!