7 LONG Takes: 1 year with twins!

Ah, November 14...  Well technically I'm posting this on the 15th, but I'm writing it on the 14th...

 

Two babies, one co-pay!

 

Anyway, November 14, 2012 is when the twins were born, which means we just celebrated one year of insanity!  We spent 8 months with 4-under-4 (2.5 months with 3-under-2 and holding steady with 3-under-3), and have lived to tell the tale of the first year with twins!

 

I made brownies to celebrate their birthday today, and we sang to each of them separately.  Elizabeth thought being sung to was the most amazing and wonderful thing ever.  I kept thinking her smile couldn't get bigger and her eyes couldn't crinkle more, but it did and they did through the whole song!  She cared for the brownie not even a little bit.

 

Mary Claire cared not even a little bit about being sung to.  She wolfed the brownie down. 

 

Have I mentioned that they're totally different?

 

In honor of their first birthday, here are 7 things about each twin:

 

Mary Claire

 

 

1.  "Baby B" - Mary Claire spent her entire time in utero as "Baby B," which means she sat wedged on top of Elizabeth for weeks and weeks.  She still doesn't particularly care about respecting her sister's personal space.

 

2.  She's a talker!  She likes to mimic anything we say, and uses far more inflection than any of our other children have.  My favorites are how she calls any toy person "Baby" with a VERY excited voice, and how she says "Bah-Bye!" while waving to us.  And the "Bye" is in such an amazingly adorable squeaky voice - too cute!

 

3.  She loooooves fruit - every morning for breakfast she eats every bit of fruit on her high chair tray and then throws her cheerios on the floor so that she and Elizabeth can snack on them as soon as we clean them off.  Elizabeth, on the other hand, eats her cheerios first and mostly doesn't care about the fruit.

 

4.  She took her first steps first, but walks FAR less than Elizabeth.

 

5.  She's a ridiculous climber.  I keep moving things so that she stops climbing on the furniture, but now she's figured out how to climb in the bookshelf in the playroom without using anything to help her up.  Thankfully she can also get down by herself, and the room's carpeted so it's not a huge deal.

 

6.  Her eyes are actually still really blue!  It takes a while for our kids' eyes to change color, but I think hers might actually stay?

 

7.  She absolutely loves to be read to, especially if you point to every single thing on the page and name it.  She'll try to echo whatever you say and point at it too.

 

Elizabeth Anna

1.  Elizabeth has walking down!  She turns, she crouches and stands back up, she walks as far as she wants before she chooses to get down on the floor and crawl because it just happens to be faster!

2.  She loves to dance.  If I say the word "dance" she immediately starts bouncing up and down, panting and grinning while waving her little hands.  She has certain songs that she ALWAYS dances to and it's pretty adorable watching her bounce!  John Paul did that too when he was a baby, but not Cecilia.

3.  She's very interested in toys that involve building - legos, stacking cups, things like that.  Mary Claire's happy with stuffed animals, dolls, and books, but Elizabeth always wants to be shaking things, putting balls in cups, trying to stack legos, etc.

4.  She's so very joyful!  Except when she's incredibly angry...  Still not a lot of calm behavior from this one - everything is either incredible or terrible.

5.  She loves her dad.  She spends most nights snuggled up sleeping with him - when she wakes up (which is frequently) she wants him to cuddle her back to sleep more than she wants to nurse! 

This is a testament to what an awesome dad Andrew is, because some nights this means I actually get to SLEEP because Mary Claire generally sleeps through the night.

6.  She is our baldest (and blondest) baby so far!  John Paul was leaning towards being a redhead at this age.  Cecilia was very clearly strawberry blonde.  Mary Claire's got the exact same hair color as the older two (and me and Andrew).  But Elizabeth, when the light hits her hair so that you can actually tell she has some, is definitely a bit towheaded!  Now if only we could convince her hair to grow...

7.  She thinks the song "Open and Shut Them" is perhaps the most hilarious thing there has ever been.  As soon as I start singing it she starts grabbing my fingers and sticking them in her mouth and pulling them out again, laughing and laughing!

And now, 7 pictures of the twins!  I made them birthday crowns (loosely following this tutorial) and *tried* to get good pictures, but they're both getting over colds so they're super snotty and red-nosed...  This is the best I could do!

--1--

"Get this crown off of me!"

--2--

Dazed and Confused

--3--

"Quick, make a break for it while she's trying to keep our brother from using the camera!"

--4--

"Does she realize how stupid we look in these things?"

--5--

"If I slide slowly out of the chair, maybe she won't notice?"

  --6--

 

Hours old and already giving us attitude (Elizabeth)

--7--

 

Just born!  Elizabeth on top, Mary Claire on bottom

Aaaand with that very long 3-for-1 quick takes post, I bid you adieu!  Go check out more at Jen's :)