A Birthday Fit for a Mama

My birthday this year was just perfect.

{As a side note, last year seemed to be glossed over due to our circumstances. I had just had the boys about six weeks before, and Briggs was still in the hospital recovering from his nasty infection. (you can recap here, and then follow up here and here, if you so desire.) All I wanted for my birthday last year was to have my two boys home together. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way, but we brought Briggsy Boy home the next day so it all turned out well.}

Last year.

{Ian} 

{Briggs} 

Anyway, so this year I was hoping for at least a little bit more of a celebration. Because as much fun as it was to drive to and from church and the hospital and home, it wasn't the most ideal of birthdays.

Of course this year was filled with scrubbing bathrooms, wiping noses, changing diapers, and chasing around two little boys, but that's just the way I like it. And the boys were seriously angels. They were just so adorable I couldn't help but nibble on their cheeks every time they came within an arms length of me {especially when reflecting on our sad separation last year.} And I did try to make it a little extra special.

Such as letting the boys have bubbles in their bath. 

I'm pretty sure they thought this was the greatest thing of all time.

And I even let them unroll some toilet paper.

They also got haircuts.

{B}

{I}

{You can tell who was a little more easy going with their haircut.}

And my parents certainly know how to make me feel special.

{I was told the flowers were for me, and the balloons were for the boys.}

And those balloons were definitely exciting.  

I was having a mild panic attack trying to keep them from popping these balloons because I really didn't want it to scare them and give them an eternal fear of balloons. I tried to teach them to be soft with the balloons and to bop them instead of squeeze them. And they did pretty good. 

Until Briggs loved his balloon just a little too much.

And fortunately he looked at me and giggled instead of cried. He then continued trying to bop his deflated balloon. I was quite relieved.

Jesse slipped out of work a little early and the four of us went out to dinner at a cute little Mexican place that had the fastest service for a sit down restaurant I've ever seen. 

We then came home to presents that my very own husband got for me and even wrapped! 

{He did tell me to keep in mind the story of the Widow's Mite when evaluating the wrapping job. I honestly could have cared less. I was just tickled that I got wrapped gifts this year. }

And I got great presents. 

My weights {and Jillian Michaels} have already kicked my trash and the snow cones are to die for. 

Plus I'm instilling good workout habits for my children. 

{I}

But maybe not so good eating habits...  

we'll work on that.

And then I took about ten pictures with my birthday buddies, and every time their expression was the exact same.

Briggs: expressionless.       Ian: fake smile.

I was dying by the end of the pictures once I realized their faces were not changing.

These boys are too funny.

Twenty-six is off to a fabulous start and I love it already.

I can't wait to see what is in store this year. 

Things I Love: One Year Old

{March 28, 2014}
Yes I'm late. Sorry!

STATS

Ian

Height: 30.5 in {73rd percentile}

Weight: 22 lbs {38th percentile}

Head Circ: 45.1 cm {16th percentile}

Brigham

Height: 30 in {57th percentile}

Weight: 20 lbs {12th percentile}

Head Circ: {7th percentile}

Tall and skinny. Just as I predicted at one month when Ian was barely on the charts!

Seriously, how on earth did these kiddos fit inside me?

 

Oh that's right, this is how.

Although it seemed a little skeptical at the time too as crazy as that sounds.

I remember walking into the hospital  to deliver last year still baffled that I was going to be having twins. I knew there were two babies in there. I had seen them on ultrasounds countless times, I felt them move, I felt alternating hiccups, I saw my belly move in ways that looked alien-like, and yet I still could hardly believe it.

Oh my goodness.... One is so much fun!

It's seriously true that every stage is the best. 

And although they are technically no longer babies and have passed through the threshold into toddler-hood, I refuse to call them toddlers yet. I figure since they still crawl instead of toddle, I can get away with it for now.

Some things we love right now.

I love their belly giggle. Briggs in particular has a deep throaty ha-ha giggle that cracks me up.

I love when they push the walker together. I'm pretty sure they push them more together than separate.

I love hearing them laugh together. It just warms my heart.

I love watching them tear all the books off the shelf as well as all the magnets off the fridge. For whatever reason I want that vision ingrained in my mind forever.

I love wandering around the house with one baby holding onto my hands, and the other behind me holding onto my pant legs while we practice walking.
They love the show Super Why. And I love watching them watch it. They both start dancing like crazy when the opening song starts playing!
We love putting them in the same crib for a few minutes periodically and listen to the giggles that ensue. They wrestle, play, and laugh. It is hilarious to sneak a peek of.

They love to follow me into the kitchen, roll over, and just lay on their backs in the middle of the kitchen.
We love watching them sleep and {accidentally} waking them up just enough to watch them bobble their little heads up, look confused, roll over, and go back to sleep.
They love pushing their stroller.

The boys love snuggling with mama and wrestling with daddy.
I love watching them learn to walk. I have absolutely loved the crawling stage and am totally ok that they are still crawling, but it is sure fun watching them learn to take steps.

They absolutely love going up and down stairs. It stresses me out and you can't hardly watch both of them by yourself because they are everywhere with no sense of level changes. They are champs at going up stairs but are still working on going down. They're finally figuring out how to back up and go down backwards. It's a big deal.

We switched over to whole milk a couple of weeks before their birthday and they didn't bat an eye with it. It's nice not buying formula any more, but we've now turned into one of those families who buys about 3 gallons of milk a week! Yikes!
They both love sticking their fingers under a closed door and playing with my fingers. We then smash our faces to the floor so we can see one eyeball of each other and giggle.

------------------------------------------------------------

Ian

 
 Has such a sense of humor. He laughs at funny things. Which of course makes us laugh.

 

Still loves playing the piano.

Sleeps on his tummy with his bum in the air. Or stretched clear out on his back.

Took his first steps on Sat March 15.
Is very helpful with the laundry.

 Can take 4 steps before plowing head first into our arms or the floor.

Blows. Just enough for his little bottom lip to stick out and blow air up.

Blows kisses

Claps hands, and feet.

When asked where his belly button is, he usually pats his chest.
Likes to walk while holding on to your index finger and pinky of the same hand.
Crawls in a "Mogli" stance outside. Not every time, but maybe half of the time.





And I know I say it every month but he loves books so much. He loves sitting in a pile of books turning each page.

Loves soft things and likes to stroke a minky blanket while he goes to sleep.
He is SO ticklish.

Is very observant. Often times I shower while they nap and when I get them up Ian always looks me up and down and tries to touch my hair and eyelashes. He knows something is different and checks it out.
He has started holding everything out to show us, but never actually hands us anything.
Loves playing in the kitchen cupboards and drawers.

Brigham

Loves "talking" on my phone. He holds it up to his ear and says "ha" when we talk to grandma. He also holds up other toys or just his hands to his ears and says "ha". I love it.

Also likes sleeping in the stinkbug position.
Can take 4 steps as well

First steps were a day after Ian on Sun March 16
He's so compassionate. He quickly gives kisses and snuggles to anyone, and sometimes anything.

He's somewhat obsessed with the camera too. He always wants to touch it. I've started letting him look through the viewfinder (who knows how much  he actually sees) and zoom in and out and he loves it.

He is a climber. Well technically they both are. He's a smart cookie too. I had a bin (with a lid) of toys out the other day and he pushed it over to the ottoman and climbed up and onto the ottoman and then the chair.

When you ask him "What does a cow say." he says "mmmmmmm"

Blows kisses

Claps hands and feet as well

Can find his belly button.

Gets so excited to see you after his naps. He literally jumps in his bed and then dives into the mattress and then rolls over, giggles, and does it all again.

Briggs always seems to have his right index finger in his mouth.

Or sometimes the left. 

And speaking of that finger... he very well may not have a nail on that finger down the road. Several weeks ago the boys were playing in a cupboard and Briggs' finger was in the hinge portion while Ian was closing the door and smashed his litter finger. It was a sad day. Well after that happened, it started growing in with a big crack up the middle of the nail and that's when I realized we might have more permanent troubles. I asked our pediatrician about it and she said damage to the nail bed is permanent and most likely results in a loss of nail or a goofy, possibly wavy nail. So I guess we'll see what happens. I was feeling really bad, but our pediatrician reminded me it's a good thing he's a boy because it really doesn't matter all that much. Your fingers are never safe when you have a twin.

Can close off his nose with his scrunched up kissy lips. He is definitely my child.

Loves pulling off his socks, on the rare occasion he's actually wearing some.
He's usually my little snuggle buddy, and even fell asleep wrapped up in my arms the other day while we watched Super Why.

Love sleeping with everything in his crib. He's especially fond of his pillow and blankets and somehow manages to have them right up next to his face.