Twins are 12 months

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.

Logan with croup and Kelsey teething, watching Mickey Mouse

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!

In our first couch fort

Afternoon playtime

Both standing and playing

Little handymen in training

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.

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!

Family picture minus Auntie Mira

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!

Eric Carle cookies from the party

Eric Carle cupcake caterpillar and the twins smash cake

Birthday smash cake mess

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!!!

Twins are 11 months

Summertime and the living is easy.....not really!

Laundry Dutch pile

We have had quite the jammed pack beginning of summer! As I mentioned last month our calendar is full every weekend until August 15th. Those weekends have been mostly filled with travelling back home to visit with family. This month we will be visiting in-state friends. The two most exciting occasions this past month were the fourth of July and then when my cousin Chip and his family were home from Colorado.

Keller twins together for the first time

During the fourth weekend, the babies had their very first trip to Chaska Beach. They did awesome and loved lounging and playing as much as big brother Austin. We had plenty of help as my parents went along with us and my brother Ryan and his girlfriend LeAnn. The babies of course taste tested the sand but we found out quickly that if we let them have their pacifiers less sand made its way in! We also spent some time swimming at grammy Barb's pool. These two babies are little fish, especially Kelsey. She has taken up dunking her face and leaning toward me off the pool edge as to jump in! Both babies are able to hang on the pool edge and really enjoy floating around the pool. This year we got Austin some water wings known as the "puddle jumper" that has an extra flotation across the chest. He is able to float and swim on his own in the pool which makes things much less stressful and manageable with 3 kids to attend to!

Poppin' bottles on the beach

Fun at the Crocker Park Splashpad

At grammy's pool in June

Last weekend was one of the weekends I was looking forward to most this summer, the arrival of Chip and family. Last year when they were in town, I had just delivered the twins and was unable to meet and visit with them. I was so surprised to see how much larger their twins were compared to ours. They are only 4 months apart but developmentally more like 6 months due to our twins premature age. I cannot believe in a few short months our twins will be catching up and doing the same activities. It was really great seeing all of them and catching up after 2 years apart. I really wish we all lived closer or at least where we could drive and not fly. I have made some excellent friends in Cleveland but wish I had my closer friends and family right next door!

Bubbles with Cousins

The twins are moving right along with development and we are not seeing any delays with their skills. Both are now "real" crawling and pulling up to stand. Logan is now cruising and Kelsey has definitely been giving it a try too. Logan has 3 teeth but Kelsey is still toothless. They are moving onto table foods and really love to feed themselves. I am using up my stockpile of pureed food and adding in more and more pickup foods. We introduced lots of new foods this month, those being, kiwi, spinach, cantaloupe, grapes, broccoli, potato, chick peas, quinoa, salmon and watermelon. I have also started the process of introducing cows milk into their diet with a gradual process of adding small amounts to their formula bottles and gradually increasing the milk and decreasing the formula. Once we are onto milk it is a lot easier to drop the bottles and move to all sippy cups.

Carrots for dinner

The kiddos finally seem to be on a nap schedule. They have a short morning nap 30-40 minutes after breakfast then a longer nap around 2 hours after their yogurt lunch. They do tend to get off kilter when we are not at home but we don't mind and aren't very strict about occasional changes in schedule. Kelsey has also finally begun her Hemangeol. This medication is oral and administered twice daily. We had to attend 3 Dr. appointments while they gradually increased her dosage. We hung out in the office for two hours each time to make sure she managed her blood pressure with the upping in dose. This medication is actually a Blood Pressure medication that happens to shrink the blood vessels in the Hemangioma. I am planning on taking a picture of her tumor once a month to see the progression. It will likely be gone in 6 month to a year.

Start of medicine

Climbers like looking outside

Hanging out at the Dr.office

We started the potty training process with Austin this month. A couple of moms in my mommies group have used a specific book, "Toilet Training without Tantrums." I gave it a read and it gave me the confidence I needed to jump right in with the cold turkey no pants approach. It only took him 3 days to be accident free if naked. It has been a bit trickier introducing underwear but just today things finally clicked and 2 weeks in, we are on our way to being fully day trained. He has had only one accident during his rare nap time and he has been 50/50 for nighttime. I am not focusing on night training just yet. He will be heading to school later next month so just getting him used to using the potty and wearing clothes is all I am concerned about. I have been so pleased with his progress. Before reading the book my idea was to wait until he was ready after reading the book and discovering that children are always ready but need parental guidance and consistency, I have decided to train the twins next summer when they are 22 months before their birthday. The book suggests that the best window to train is from 18-24 months and it's a learning process just like using a cup or fork. You don't wait until they are ready instead you introduce and teach when it's age appropriate! I love love love this book and philosophy. I have passed on my copy to two friends who are currently training on the N75 program. N for naked and $75 for cleaning your carpets or upholstery when complete hahaha!

I have also found a job and have already started work. A couple weeks ago I applied for a part time job posting on care.com. They liked my application and set up an interview. When they arrived, I knew I had met them somewhere and even stated so when they walked through the door. Once we got talking we discovered that we had mutual friends and that we both had attended a Halloween party hosted my those mutual friends. The rest is history. I am watching baby Leo (6 weeks old) this month on Tuesday and Thursday 12-3 while his mom studies for her Pharmacy Boards and then next month when she returns to work at the hospital I will mostly have him M,W,F part time. She may go full time later this year but definitely next summer when she plans to do her Residency. I am so happy to be earning some money again and so far things have been great! I am glad I held out and waited for the right family and hours I wanted. Things always seem to fall into place if I don't get too worked up over them!

Austin at 9 months

Logan in the same jammies at 11 months

Paul on the weather channel last month

Kelsey and Austin snuggles

Kelsey and Logan snuggles at Grandma and Grandpas

At the zoo with Malia and our 6 kids and super strollers!

Irish dancing in her sleep

Standing for the first time

So cute when they sleep this way

 Next month is a HUGE month for us with the Twins first birthday and checkup! Until then :)

Twins are 10 months old!

Scooting and crawling and standing......oh my!

Crawling all over the place

Wow, another month has wizzed by! Not only has it been fast but it has been action packed, complex and challenging to say the least. I really don't get much down time. I joke to my friends that I don't sit down or eat but it's not much of a joke to be honest! I rest only when I sleep at night which thank goodness is usually a solid 11-8. My lack of energy is due to the fact that Logan has mastered the "real" crawl AND within a week from doing so he also learned how to pull himself up to standing. Luckily for now, he's not cruising. I am sure that's just around the corner! The day Logan learned to crawl, Kelsey started the army crawl/scoot. Twin Fun Fact: Kelsey scoots with her right arm dominate and Logan did with his left arm. Will we have a lefty and a righty twin? Only time will tell!

Standing...so proud!

We can both self feed now!

Mr. Logan has also cut his first bottom two teeth.Teething in this house is not accompanied by a fever but rather a runny nose and acidic poos. Poor Logan has such terrible poo, he ended up with a yeast infection diaper rash. As for a schedule we have had a real routine for a couple months but the babies are still not consistent with napping. My goal is to keep them up until after breakfast then put them down for nap but half the time, one of them crashes beforehand setting them up for opposite nap schedules for the whole day! They are sleep trained and sleep in their cribs so at least its easy getting them down for naps and bed. Nap duration is also still inconsistent, lasting 30 minutes to 2 hours, I never know what I am going to get or if they will both participate.

Both sleeping in cribs for nap

Bedtime Shenanigans

Chloe the babysitter

We are still introducing new foods and this month they have had cauliflower, papaya, cottage cheese, asparagus, cinnamon, pumpkin, wheat germ and eggplant. I have started making their puree a little more chucky and they had their first melt-in-your mouth puff snacks! We are going to start giving soft foods in chunks as they seem to enjoy picking up their food and learning to chew it! If anything, it certainly makes meal time more calm because they have something to concentrate on instead of screaming while the other twin gets a turn being spoon-fed!

                                                      Diaper playtime on a hot day

Shopping with all 3!

Silly Sleeper!

                                                       Closest Willis gets to the kids


 To go along with our extremely active twins, we have an extremely active Daddy! Each year Paul has a "spring break". He is the only non-broker in his office and they all attend and annual conference in Las Vegas. For the past several years, we have used his handful of days off to work on a project in our house. A couple years ago was the foundation of our mudroom, last year was the front porch composite and this year was our new dining room floor. The remodel consisted of tearing up the old heart pine floor, marrying new beams to the existing (to level the floor), laying a new sub-floor and finally laying the new engineered bamboo floor. Because its engineered, it snaps in place like a laminate floor but has a real wood veneer! He cranked it out in 4 days. We still need to sand, prime and paint all of the trim to finish off the room but we can do that whenever we have time (hahaha, which is never). We also hired (what? yes, we are sad we couldn't do it ourselves) a construction company to dig out our old driveway, pour a new pad and back section of drive, build a garage and side it. Paul and my dad will be installing the electric and Paul will be hanging the drywall on his own.

New Bamboo floor

Framed up

Driveway Demo

                                                           

So, about our busy household. Let's add another person, ME! I have officially launched my photography business and webpage. I am up and running and accepting appointments and getting great results. You may check out my company at Newarrivalsphotography.com. I have had many sessions in the last month, learned photoshop for editing and my wonderful and always surprising husband bought me a touch screen laptop so that I am able to work in the living room. Prior to the new computer I had to wait for everyone to cooperate and work on our desktop on the 3rd office. The computer has been more of a learning curve than anything else. You can switch between keyboard and mouse or touchscreen keyboard and navigation. Luckily, I had a tablet and smartphone prior so the mobile aspect I already had a hang of.

My new travel bag for Hospital shoots

We have one last busy bee in this house or course, Austin! He had his last home speech appointment last week. Now that school is out he will not receive services until he starts preschool in the Fall. We will get our paperwork and teacher assignment in July. He will however continue to attend OT every other week as of now. Austin continues to show improvement with speech especially if there is an action or sign associated with it. His new words are Me, dump, Wa-wa (water) please and he attempts to say thank you. He has been displaying signs that he is ready to be potty trained but I honestly have no idea how I am going to pull it off with how demanding the twin are. I really need a full week with someone here to help me in order to train him effectively. My hope is that I can arrange something in July. He does not need to be trained for school but I really want him to trained by then anyway but again, I just have to see!

Kelsey and Clara matching on Memorial Day

Three crazy kids

Random fever= random sleeping 

Logan fell asleep in the bouncer for the first time!

We have a VERY busy summer ahead of us.Our calendar is booked every weekend until August 15th! My week days are much more laid back and I will get to pick and choose events to attend with the Mommies group and playdates with our others friends in town. The twins first birthday party will most likely be the highlight with a backyard BarB-Q bash at my parents in Sandusky! My post will be late next month so that I am able to include pictures of cousin Chips twins when they are here to visit the sccond week of July!!! We are so excited to see them!