The best and busiest 18 months of life so far. Oh these girls are so, so much fun and so, so much work. I am in a particularly great mood today because we just came home from all 3 hours of church and Rosemary and Evelyn did awesome. Thank heavens for starting at 9am rather than 1pm. Today was their first day in nursery and they absolutely loved it. It was truly heavenly to go to Sunday School with Ben and sit and listen and hold hands. It seriously felt like we were on a date and we joked that we should just skip out and go have lunch instead. Church has been really rough the last several months and today was so refreshing. Hallelujah 18 months!
We went in to see wonderful Dr. B on Friday and found out our girls are as big and as healthy as ever. I have been amazed by how much these two understand and love watching them learn new things every day from us, from the world around them, and from each other. Rosemary and Evelyn love playing together and it is such a delight to watch. Recently they both have perfected giving the sweetest kisses complete with the best "mmmmwah" sound. They also love giving hugs and hugging each other which often leads to falling over laughing and wrestling and eventually crying. They love trips to the park, the indoor playground at the mall, story time at the library, playing with friends, going on walks, reading stories, singing songs, chasing Clover, and loading and unloading cupboards, boxes, drawers, bags, laundry baskets, trash cans, shelves, and anything else they can get their tiny hands on. These girls love climbing and have recently figured out how to pull out the kitchen chairs and climb up onto the table. Trouble. They both love their softies and carry them all over the house. These girls have also figured out how fun it is to be chased and take off running and laughing when they know it's time for a diaper change, to get coats on, or to go down for nap. Rosie and Evie also love carrying around cups with straws that they find around the house from all my diet coke runs.
More than any other thing, Eve and Rose are positively obsessed with their daddy...almost to the point of heartache/frustration for me. Almost. When I'm home alone with the girls during the day, I get all the hugs and kisses and cuddles and attention in the world but if they have the choice between Ben and I....Ben wins almost every time. For now, I'm just happily passing both reaching girls into his arms and getting a little break.
The words most heard around our house right now are "daddy" and "no". Charming. They also say "yeah" in response to questions which is so fun. They say doggie, bye-bye, hi, uh-oh, mommy, baby, car, and yum. We still may be a bit behind but are certainly making progress. The girls can consistently point to their head, tummy, and nose. They know a cow says "mooo", a lion says "rarrrrr!!" and a bird says "teee, teee" (tweet, tweet).
They both amazingly still take two naps a day around 10am and 3pm...which I do realize is a luxury that might not last much longer. Rosie absolutely still needs the two naps because she loses her mind around 5pm if she only has one nap after lunch. Evie may be about ready to go to one but I can't figure out how to make our day work on two different schedules. We'll see what happens over the next several weeks. Right now they go to bed at 7:30 and get up 11-12 hours later. These beauties are excellent sleepers and insatiable eaters. They love to sleep and LOVE to eat just about anything which has been a huge blessing raising two babies/toddlers at once.
On the other side of the coin, as much fun as these girls have together, they also fight like cats and dogs...or like sisters. They have begun to be extremely possessive, whether it be of their toys or a parent. If one is at my feet wanting to be picked up the other one will come out of nowhere shouting "no, no no!" and literally push the other out of the way. It can get ugly. Their favorite toys to get crazy over right now is the baby shopping cart they got for Christmas. We got some advice and new books from Dr. B and are hoping they help.
Here are a few notes on them individually:
Rosemary Nell
Height: 33 1/2 inches; 90 percentile
Weight: 25 lbs 7 oz; 75 percentile
Rosie seems to be the shyer of the two. She is slower to respond to questions and usually lets Evie do the talking. But when you ask her specifically a question like "what does a lion say?" she'll give you a giant pause for affect and then explode into the cutest and dramatic "rarrrrr!"
Rosie loves going down the slide at the park. She backs up onto the slide to go down on her tummy and yells "weeeeee!" all the way down. She has also started saying "weee!" when shes playing with a favorite toy, being carried down the stairs, or doing something fun.
Rosie gave up her binky this weekend and has done AMAZING. We were terrified to take it away and hated doing it because she loves it so much. We kept making up excuses and pushing it back like waiting till after traveling at Christmas and not doing after getting shots or when their schedule had been disrupted. But Friday night we bit the bullet and just went for it. For the last few months she has only had her bink in bed and everytime we got her up we would take it away and toss it back in the crib and and say "Binky's are for babies and you're a big girl." Friday after her nap I came in and told her the same thing and that tonight she was going to bed without it and she looked up at me, took her binky out of her mouth and handed it up to me. So cute. That night she went to bed without one peep which was amazing. We had a little fussing yesterday going down for nap but that has been the extent of it. We are soooo proud of her. Bye bye binky.
Rosie is a peacemaker. Evie tends to be the bigger culprit for stealing toys and pushing for her way and more often than not, Rosie just goes a long with it and finds something else to be interested in. Luckily, Rosie has pretty much stopped biting.
Rosie has the best little giggle. She wasn't as quick to laugh as a baby but is making up for lost time now.
Rosie loves watching football with her daddy. Her uncle Chris taught her to throw both arms into the air when they yell "touch down!"
Rosie still loves playing dress up on and is always finding shirts, ties, or other things to put over her head to wear around the house.
Rosie is very busy and can never sit long enough to watch a cartoon or sometimes to even hear a story. She loves collecting treasures throughout the house and carting them around with her.
Rosie loves to "help". She picks things up around the house and finds new places to put them away. We find binkys in the coffee table drawers and shoes in with the pots and pans. She has also figured out how to push the dishwasher all the way closed and push the buttons until it starts.
Rosie is a sweetheart. On Friday the nurse gave her two shots and as she turned to leave the room, Rosie stopped wailing long enough to wave and say "bye" to her in the saddest, sweetest voice.
Evelyn Irene
Height: 33 inches; 80 percentile
Weight: 25 pounds 14 oz; 75 percentile
Evie is our talker. She is constantly babbling in the back of the car, in her high chair, or while she is busy playing. She'll sit and talk to you like you're having a conversation and is very expressive. She talks with her hands, twisting and waving them about and shrugging her shoulders. Love it.
Evie is also very quick with learning new words and sounds. She loves to mimic. She'll always tries to chime in when her sister is asked a question.
Evie is more out going of the two. She always finds kids to follow around or poke at the mall playground or at play dates with friends.
Evie loves to read. She would sit with you all day if you kept turning the pages.
Evie loves TV. She is so content to just sit and watch and hardly moves a muscle. Her favorites are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Baby Signing Time, and Charlie Brown movies.
Evie loves to bounce and scream. She loves jumping up and down in her crib, on the bed holding onto the headboard, on the couch holding onto the back, or on the pew at church.
Evie is also still our little canary. She has started truly singing. For the longest time we have listened to her "singing" to herself as the girls fall asleep each night but she is doing it more and more during the day. We really clued into it last weekend when she wouldn't take a nap because we had been on an airplane all day and her schedule was all messed up. Ben and I got her up so Rose could sleep and took her into our bedroom to lay down with us. We were rocking her and singing to her and when we stopped to rest, Evie started where we left off. Her intonation is much different than when she is just talking and she babbles in longer phrases and holds notes. It is so, so darling.
Evie is a big wanderer. At the playground, she gets bored faster going down slides and climbing the stairs and will try to sneak away to go wander on the grass and get as far away as she can.
Evie loves to feed other people. She is constantly holding up food for you to eat out of her hand. Her favorite person to feed is her daddy. She also loves to bring Rosie her sippy cup full of milk and hold it for her while she drinks.
As of right now, Evie is the more possessive and demanding of the two. She knows what she wants and will fight to get it. She gives the most tender hugs and always when I'm at the end of my rope and really need it. When she is hurt she gets the saddest wide eyes, sticks out a quivering lower lip, and can pretty much break your heart.
Here's to 18 months.
These two are my perfect girls. They are so smart, and fun, and beautiful... and all mine.
LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ROSIE & EVIE!
We are wrapping up birthday week for both Ben and I. We've been in celebration mode for the past several days and have had some great times and some not-so-great times. You can't win 'em all. It's super fun having our birthdays so close together but also adds some pressure to really celebrate...which can be both good and bad.
Thursday I got a wonderful package from my family in the mail and that night I went out for crepes with some awesome gals in my ward to celebrate. Nothing like presents in the mail and a night out with the girls.
Friday morning I spent hours making Ben a birthday cake...German chocolate with homemade everything. I had my doubts when the overfull cake pans were bubbling over the sides and landing on the tray of toasting coconut and pecans underneath and the house was filling with smoke....but it turned out. So very rich but so very delicious. Rosie and Evie loved helping. I let them take turns sitting up on the counter to hold whisks and shake containers and watch me beat. They also had chocolate frosting covered spoons in their high chairs and fell in love. Girls after my own heart.
We continued to celebrate by going to IKEA on Saturday and getting some fun, cheap stuff for the house and even very impulsively splurged on a play-set for the girls. They are so into climbing lately and are loving it. That night my friend Kendra came and babysat and Ben and I went out for a birthday date. We went to Olive Garden and talked about how five years ago, on this exact same Saturday night between our two birthdays was our very first date....at Olive Garden. We went to a movie afterwards and it was so fun and simple and perfect. Date nights are a must.
Sunday we thoroughly enjoyed church in the morning with the girls playing happily in nursery. I can't get over how much better Sundays are now. We had plans for a triple birthday party for Ben, my brother in law Chris, and I that afternoon with cheese and chocolate fondu and watching the 49ers game.
He didn't get sick from the cake but has a terrible stomach bug that now we are hoping didn't spread to everyone else last night. My poor baby Eve woke up twice in the night puking and continued this morning. Ugh. Ben went in half day because he has a lot to get done at work and I've been laundering pukey crib sheets and pjs and bleaching out every nasty bathroom in the house. Lovely. We are also in the middle of adjusting from dropping morning nap because the girls seem ready. They are doing really well and have been so sweet and somber and cuddly today. I'm hoping this sickness passes quickly. 
Birthday officially over and the lesson I learned over this past week is that it is ALL about attitude. It will make you or break you and it is your choice. I hope to remember that throughout my last amazing year in my twenties.
