13 months old!

Ok, so we're 2 days late, but these two are now 13 months old! We had to take Mark into the Dr. on Friday for a weight check. We wanted to make sure he was getting enough formula. Since we switched him from Alimentum to regular stuff he hasn't been drinking as much. It turns out that he weighs 19 lbs and 2 oz. which is right on track with his chart, in fact even a little higher than what he's been tracking! The Dr. thinks the fact that he is drinking less just has to do with his age since around 1 they don't need as much. They have been eating 3 meals a day for a while now and Mark will eat almost any solid food we throw at him! I think it's because he's been so focused on learning how to walk! We're so relieved to know that he's doing ok. We think Elizabeth must be nearing or around 20 lbs. They are both getting taller and heavier that's for sure! It is so much fun watching them become little toddlers! We love you both more than anything in the world!

Our Feathery Friends

The ducks have officially moved into the neighborhood, well the neighborhood pool to be exact! They come by and see us every morning as soon as we open up our blinds, especially since I started offering them bread. The kids get so excited they talk and bang on the window:

Elizabeth points away and Mark starts banging when they waddle away, even if it's just to get a drink of water from the puddles in the grass!

The bad thing is these feathery friends of ours are starting to get greedy...they came by tonight while we were feeding the kids and I didn't give them any bread. Do you want to guess how one bird thanked me? He pooped, right outside the door!! It's not even where the rain will reach and wash it away!! With all the rain we have gotten I thought they would be happy with all their worms, but I guess they prefer the bread, can't say I blame them!

The kids still like watching them and Elizabeth is trying to say more D words like dog and duck (she can also moo like a cow and when she gets to the end of a book that we are reading to her, especially Daddy, she says 'the end'! Of course it's only in a language that we understand but she is trying!)They also enjoyed watching all the crows gather outside to watch a squirrel run around....I think it's time for their 1st visit to the zoo....what do you think?!

More fun with Daddy

Oh the things these 3 come up with to do.....

Taking turns pushing each other around while Daddy steers:

Except Elizabeth thought it would more fun to stand up while being pushed!

Fun with Daddy

These two LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it when Mark plays with them! For some reason we realized that he had never carried them around on his shoulders...wierd I know! So we tried it out to see if they would like it. Here's what Little Mark did:

Happy, happy:

Wait a minute, what's this on Daddy's head?

Hmm, feels like fun:

Mine as well get 2 handfuls of it (Mark is bracing himself)....

And pull!!

Elizabeth's turn:

She loved it until Mark let go of her hands and then she didn't know what to hang on to, grabbing on to his hair didn't appeal to her like it did her brother!

Later we took a walk to the mail box and Mark put Little Mark on his shoulders for the way back and he kept leaning back like he was getting an ab workout! By the time we got back home he decided he wanted to lean ALL the way back!

I have to tell this cute but sad story of Little Mark. Yesterday they decided to get up extra early and Mark hadn't quite left for work yet. They were pretty excited to see him until he had to leave and then Little Mark got really sad. It was the first time that either of them have shown any emotion to one of us leaving! Once Mark walked out the door Little Mark crawled over to it, stood up and tried to reach the door handle but kept falling on his bum every time! He was crying and it was so cute, but sooooo sad!

2nd Trimester bliss!

Here I was at 24 weeks. I went to the Dr. that day and just as I was putting my pj's on that night I remembered to take a picture, thus the crazy outfit!

And here's our little girl at 24 weeks:

The baby was measuring in the 51% and was breach. She moves like a crazy baby! Ever since about 22 wks I've been able to feel her moving around and she is doing her best to cover every inch of my stomach before she runs out of room! Sometimes it feels like the twins all over again because one minute she's on one side by my ribs and the next she's hitting my bladder! I love it so much, especially when she's kicking and I'm holding one of the twins:) I think she's going to come out running and ready to keep up with Mark and Elizabeth! After measuring me the Dr. asked how many weeks I was again and I said 24....he said I was measuring at 27 wks and that I might have a big baby!!!!! Wouldn't that be something?! Just as an FYI he said the same thing to Mark's cousin and she just had a 9 lb baby!!

I am now at 26 weeks and still feeling good. I get heartburn at night that keeps/wakes me up, I have troubles getting comfortable to fall asleep and it's getting much harder to bend down and get up from the floor, which I really hate because my favorite thing to do is play on the floor with the kids! I still do and then I remember once I get down that it's not so easy to get up, so I crawl over to a sturdy object to help me up, haha!! Every time I see another baby or see this girl on the ultrasound I get so excited to hold, smell and snuggle her!

Elizabeth's walking!!!!!!

Elizabeth just took her first few steps all by herself just 2 days shy of being 13 months old !!!!!!!! She does well with lots of praise and clapping so we all cheered and clapped (even her brother, he starts to clap at the end of the video clip) until she finally took some steps on her own! Way to go sissy, we are so proud of you!! (excuse the shaky filming, Little Mark was climbing me to get to the camera!)

2 weeks later

It will be 2 weeks tomorrow since Mark took his first few steps. He has gradually gotten better, he tries to run sometimes now which is really funny! Elizabeth has been watching and taking one or two steps here and there but nothing crazy yet, she might not be too far away from finally taking off on her own! She points at everything now and Mark watches her and then points to things too! One of the MAJOR benefits of having twins....they learn good things from each other! Here's our little Frankenstein walking as of this morning, he's definitely taking more than just a few steps at a time!!

Here is Elizabeth yesterday after lunch (as you can tell from the onesie, she had sweet potatoes), we finally got a decent (as in not totally blurry) picture of her standing on her own! She looks a little nervous but she's doing it:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!!!

Here is my little sister Meagan:

She's the youngest of 6, can you tell?! Her and I are 2 years apart, we shared the same room for my first 14 years of life....there could have been a time or two when I made her cry:

But she grew up and became better than me at a lot of things, especially basketball (well all sports for that matter!):

She is still a really cool chick:

And one of the best aunts ever!!!!! Who we would love to have back in the State, west side preferably:

We all wish we could be there today for your birthday. We miss you soooooooo much and can't wait to see you soon! The thing I'm missing most about not being with you today is this:

Yup, love the Dairy Queen ice cream cake! Just kiddin...we LOVE YOU TO BITS MEGS!!!!!!!!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!