Annie and Maddie turned 11 months old on Saturday. It astounds me that we've made it this far. In another month, we'll be celebrating the twins birthday. (No more buying expensive formula! Woo
hoo!!) Right now the twins are getting around everywhere. Maddie stands up all the time, and is beginning to "cruise." Annie is generally content to sit and play with toys while Maddie finds the action. This isn't to say that Annie can't get around, because she can, and no longer with the army-style crawling. But while Annie sits in the living room with the box of baby toys, Maddie plays with shoes by the front door, checks down the hall to see if the bathroom door is open (it isn't) and then goes into the kitchen to unload the drawer full of kitchen towels. Once Maddie starts attacking the kitchen, or if I'm in the kitchen, then Annie will join in the kitchen destruction.
They take cues from each other. If one baby is sad, often the other will start fussing too. I feel overwhelmed quickly with both Annie and Maddie crying. It's my personal belief that crying babies is a form of torture. With two babies crying, you don't even get the pause when there is a breath in, since baby #2 doesn't take a breath at the same time. And then I am stuck holding two babies and I am unable to take care of anyone
else's needs or wants. On the other hand, it is great to watch them both while you play with them. If you tickle Annie's tummy, Annie laughs and Maddie will at the very least smile too. It's really fun to get them both laughing at the same time from just "getting" one of them. But sibling rivalry starts young with twins. When they both have
binkies in their mouths, #1 will see another
binky, grab it out of #2's mouth, spit out her own
binky and put in the other. Then #2 will grab the
binky from the floor and stick it in her mouth. Same goes for toys: whatever toy you have is cooler than the one I have.
So, we get out there and the kids point to the first big tree they find. "How 'bout that one, Grandma?" (Grandma has the final say in the Christmas tree.)
My incredibly talented sisters-in-law...
Our family picture after the Big Family Picture, which I didn't get a copy of on our camera. But, if you are on Rick and Kim's card list-- you'll get to see it. Hopefully I will...
These are just more of what you can see in the video below. I think I need therapy.
And can you believe that with faces like these to look at, the best picture we captured was:
Not enough smiles.
The elusive smile begins to show.
Ah ha! We found the tree! And Ryan was the lucky guy who got in the mud to saw down the tree. What a good sport!
Yay Christmas tree! Now can we get outta here? (There are adult hands holding the twins on.)
