12, 13, 14 months

They hit the 12 month mark.

1 year.

And now they've passed the 13th month mark and then the 14th month mark.
So I guess I should get out of denial that my babies are ONE and blog about it.
Ever since I found out I was having twins I kept repeating to myself,
"If I can just make it through the first year..."
But now they're mobile.
 I can say that some things are much easier now (no longer glued to the couch nursing- sleeping 11 hours a night- them, not me:-) but three kids 3 and under are still a ton of work!
They are into EVERYTHING.  We are in the "I wish everything was locked and bolted to the wall stage".  Lots of mobility, but not much balance, or understanding of the word "no".  I pick up the same cupboard contents and toys at least 5 thousand times a day.

Snuggle boy

Here's the stats from their 12 month appointment:
Oliver
Height 30" (55th percentile)
Weight 19 lbs 10 oz (8th percentile) still skinny
Head 18.25" (45 percentile)


Words: He jabbers like he thinks he's talking all the time- 
mama, mommy 
dada, papa, daddy 
Ma-ee (Marti) 
ball
book
 hi
bu bye 
baf (bath) 
uh oh (so cute!)
whoa! 
dis (this) with pointing- he wants to know the name of lots of things,
pease (please- when he wants something)
ba ba (used to be for bottle, now he uses it for banana) 
dog
milk

"I'll take care of those pans for you mom."

 Milestones:

• the week of their birthday he stopped crawling and became a full-time walker
• he climbs everything (see post below..) the couch, coffee table, hearth, Matt's computer chair (daddy's personal favorite is finding him banging on his keyboard!) 
• can also climb off feet first luckily
• mastered going down the kiddy slide

Our own personal Goldie locks, "Someone's been nibbling on my toast before dinner."

Abigail
Height 29.5" (60th percentile)
Weight 18lbs 13oz (15th percentile)
Head 17.5" (35th percentile)


Words:  (at least the ones I can remember right now) 
Mama/Mommy
Dada/Papa
ball
book
baf (bath)
dog 
and she signs "more" and "all done" pretty well.  Definitely understanding a ton now.  Much quieter than Olly most of the time- but she can squeal with the best of the Whitmer kids.  She can tell you almost anything she wants with a combination of hand gestures, squeals, cries and grunts.

I love water!

Milestones: 

• The week of their birthday she took her first unassisted 2-3 steps.  
• After months of crawling on all fours she started scooting on her bum so she could hold things and get from place to place- I think she wanted to be upright like her brother
• The week before they turned 14 months she became a full time walker!  
• She loves to put things away.  I hand her the block container and put a few in and then she does the rest for me!  It's a game to her and a miracle to me to have a 13 month old that likes to pick up the toys!  
• She hadn't ever attempt the slide- then one day she did the whole thing perfectly.  
• I think we have a perfectionist on our hands- she watches everything and figures it all out before she wants to do it herself.  
• She's also starting to climb a little- Charlotte's toddler bed and the hearth- nothing too scary compared to brother.
• Really into books right now.  She hands me books all day, "boh, boh!" sits her little bum on my lap and squeals for the pages she wants!  Love her!
• Loves her mommy a little too much right now.  Bursts into tears often for other people and even if I set her down.
• Peek-a-boo queen

Where's Abby?

There she is!

14 months of nursing DONE!!!(said with touch-down hands and dance)
I was much more DONE with nursing with these two.  Multiple times during the year- the biting phase, the kicking phase, the face gouging phase- I almost called it quits.  But we stuck with it.

At about 11 months they stopped the bedtime feeding and just took one bottle of formula.  That's all they  got of formula except for a bottle at church on Sundays.  Olly loved it- Abby tolerated it.  I don't know how people afford formula full time- it is so pricey- I had no idea since we never used any with Charlotte.

When I dropped down to 1 feeding a day at 12 months it didn't seem so inconvenient.  Nurse them first thing in the morning, go about my day and wear all my old clothes.  But just before 14 months I finally dropped that too.  It was easier to wean them since they took to drinking milk so well.  They both drink their 3 cups easily each day.  They dropped bottles really well too- when we ran out of formula at 13 months we called their one bottle a day quits and never looked back.  One advantage of never being completely on bottles- my kids never get overly attached to them- or pacifiers.  It was a huge commitment to nurse them that long- not many dates, or outings without them.  I'm pretty proud I made it that long.  Now we'll see if I can get used to eating 1,600 or so calories instead of the 3,000 I was supposed to eat while nursing!

These kids are pretty flexible thankfully.  It was a little crazy when they were in-between and using all the methods to get food.  At one point they-
-nursed a couple of times a day
-drank cows milk from a sippy
-Ate 3 meals and 2 snacks (some baby food, some finger foods)
-drank juice from a straw
-drank water from a cup
-and drank formula from a bottle
All with no issues.  Thank you flexible twin babies!

Sleeping from 8pm-7or8 am, AM nap (9:30-12), PM nap 3:30-5:30  It's a pretty nice schedule except it leaves a very small window for leaving the house without missing a nap since Charlotte goes down around 2pm.  I heart long naps and good night sleepers!  For all you moms getting up at night there is hope- it will end eventually!

Twin Love
My favorite part is still seeing how much they love each other.  They love Charlotte but they are very sweet with each other.  Lots of sibling kisses and wrestling sessions-  it's like a small litter of puppies.  They are very good at sharing their food and drinks- but are starting to get possessive of toys.

So sweet!

Or not.

Thanks for reading!