the twinsies: 12 months old // ONE YEAR

MY BABIES ARE ONE YEARS OLD!

It was such a fantastic birthday week. My mom was in town. Quinn took his first steps. Bryson started balancing. They devoured their cake. It was all so great. I love love love these baby boys so much. They bring me so much joy. i love holding them both at the same time and squeezing them so hard! They are just the cutest little boys, I couldn't love them more.

But let's talk about anything new in the past month and where they are now at 12 months!

Both boys can go up and down the stairs completely by themselves, hallelujah. No more baby gates or worrying if a baby is falling down! Yahoo!

Both love to empty the wipes bag when they find it and eat any tissue they find, they usually stare at me when they're eating paper or tissues those cute little stinkers.

They're eating has calmed down a little, not constantly stuffing their faces, ha. They transitioned to whole milk about a week before their birthday because i was so sick of formula, I was just DONE, they didn't mind a bit other than it was just a teeny tiny too cold but the microwave worked fine. 

They both LOVE Max, love to follow him around, play with his toys, be tickled by him, Max is always making them laugh (and hurting them, let's be honest). 

Both boys LOVE clapping when you say yay! They're so enthusiastic about it.

They both sign all done and sometimes more and sometimes they wave hi/bye. We're working on please for now!

Quinn took his first step the day before his birthday to Casey! I saw him take his first step on his birthday, very appropriate celebration. He has the funniest little stink face where he pushes his lips out and scrunches his nose up, I love it so much. He got tubes in his ears last month.

Height: 31 in // 90%ile

Weight: 26 lb 5 oz // 95%ile

Head: 18 in // 75%ile

Bryson still yell-screams very loudly often. That boy is vocal. He can totally balance but refuses to most of the time, it's funny.  He's a little bit more cuddly of the two.

Height: 31 in // 97%ile

Weight: 26 lb 10 oz // 97%ile

Head: 18 in // 75%ile

Here's pictures! I'm learning how to use Lightroom, and my pictures are a little blurry when I exported them, sigh :(

 turning around more interested in Max having his fit in the background.

 Love this Quinny boy!

 Bryson!

Happy birthday my cute baby boys!

the twinsies: 11 months old

Babies babies babies!

Bryson:

Still my yeller. He'll just be sitting there yelling at you to get your attention. Too funny and way too loud at times

Bryson has caught on to the "all done" sign language hands and it's so cute! He waves those arms frantically and so happy to get OUT of his high chair. I think he and I BOTH love that he can communicate something he wants! It's so helpful!

He is the resident tissue eater, tissues out of the box puller, and wipes out of the bag puller. ALWAYS this kid. He gets such a big smile on his face when he realizes I've left the wipes open! He is also the one who tends to eat more mud

He's my back archer when it comes to getting in the stroller or carseat, e.v.e.r.y.t.i.m.e.

Has 2 bottom teeth and 2 top canines poking through!

His newest nickname is Bry Bry.

(there's more pictures of Bryson than Quinn because Quinn smile EASILY for pictures, Bryson not so much. So I focused on getting a REALLY good picture of Bry where you can see his freckle and dimple and happy smile AND in focus, I don't even think I got one of those, but I got other cute pictures of him that I don't want to get rid of!)

 clapping!

Quinn

So close to standing on his own! Once he realizes he balancing by himself for 1-2 seconds he either sits slowly down or fall forward towards me thinking it's such a fun game.

Quinn's excitement turns into abuse, as sad as that sounds. He flails his hands and it just hurts!

Has two bottom teeth and one canine on the left that's come through.

Quinn was just at the doctor this week for his ear infection and he's exactly 25 lbs!

Still love calling him Quinny and Quinn Quinn.

 scrumptious little lips!

BOTH

Crawling up a storm. Bear crawl pretty often when they're outside

They both LOVE to be outside. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. As soon as they hear the door open they race to come outside with us all.

Neither are superb at going down any type of steps yet, they've caught onto just a tiny bit of going sideways/backwards down the two little steps outside out house.

Speaking of stairs, they LOVE the stairs. IF they see that the baby gate is down they b-line it of the stairs racing up. No huge falls on the stairs yet, that'll probably change in the next few months but it's part of life.

Sleeping rockstars. They never wake up in the night, it's an absolute dream. Naps are pretty good. Depending on the day it's 2-3 naps some long some short. They are great at sleeping through each other's crying.

If ever one see the other on the ground getting a diaper change they crawl over so fast and start pretty much hitting each other's heads, clawing eyes out, ripping lips off. It's pretty sad. The one getting their diaper changed is SO sad while the one on top is so happy. I don't get it.

They give the best kisses! These huge long open-mouthed kisses, they are so proud and happy when they do. When they give it to each other it's just the cutest.

They've both definitely switched between who's clingier, mostly just depends on who's more severely sick. One thing that's hard with twins is that you can't just sit and hold and cuddle a sick baby. There's another baby crying at your legs for your attention. Cuddling two babies isn't the same, one is usually all wiggly and disrupts the other and wants to play while the other just wants to lay on your chest. It makes me sad I can't just sit and love on the sick baby.

I stopped nursing them at about 10 1/2 months. We just slowly stopped and suddenly one day I realized I didn't nurse them that morning and did the same thing the next morning and that was that. It was a good run but I'm ok being done.

Their favorite toys are the stacking blocks- that is making them fall, not stacking them themselves- and this one pop up toy where they push the 5 doors back down.

They LOVE terrorizing Maxson and getting into whatever he's playing with. But really they just love Max, I'm amazed at how rough he is with them it seems but they're actually just laughing and giggling away. A boy thing maybe? Who knows, they all love each other, I'm certain of it, they can all just be little mean with each other at times too.

We still pretty much always dress Bryson in blue and Quinn in another color (or Q in dark blue and B in light blue if they're both in blue!). It's so much easier to quickly know who's who from far way, behind, across the room. I just like knowing EXACTLY who's who every single time without having to correct myself, though I of course can tell apart their faces :)

Oh man I can't believe my babies will be ONE next month!

Each have their own little BYU animal to cuddle, Bryson a bear and Quinn a dog.

 Most of my shots were like these following two, they are so wiggly!

 BQ

 BQ

 If momma's on the ground you can bet your bottom dollar they will be climbing on me right away, I am absolutely their jungle gym.

the twinsies: 10 months old!

These boys just get better and better. Their playfulness with others has increased 10 fold in the last month. They laugh at each other while playing, they laugh at Max, they laugh when we do silly things to them. They purposely take toys from each other and the other boy SQUEAL-YELLS in determined frustration that he will not lose this battle again.

QB

They're crawling like hawks everywhere, climbing up on everything and everyone. Stairs are their bff, except the going down part, we haven't worked on that yet.

By far their favorite toys are the blocks. They sit their with huge smiles on their faces giddy to destroy the next tower that is built sometimes it only takes 2 blocks  until they can't stand it anymore or 8. They LOVE the blocks. Last night our friend Katie began balancing them on their heads and they thought that was the funnest thing ever, Bryson especially was giggly so much.

Still eating like monsters! Oh how they love it, there's no food they are unwilling to eat (hello extreme opposite of Maxson's current eating situation!). I still nurse them but I see us phasing out. I don't really have much milk at all during the daytime it seems even though I still nurse them. The morning times there's plenty and they're happy but it's slowly phasing out. Honestly, I am amazed I'm still nursing these babies at 10 months with how little my milk supply was/is. But hey, if it's working! Miracles exist, ha!

They each have 2 little teeth! They came in around 9 1/2 months. Each got their 2 teeth in the same week we were in California and were pretty grumpy babies, it was pretty sad. Bryson got his tooth first, the Quinn got 2, and then Bryson got one more! Fun that it happened the same week!

We've combatted some bad diaper rashes in the past month and learned how to handles them ourselves finally to keep them under control when they start.

Both twinsies had ear infections in the past 2-3 weeks, poor Bryson showed SERIOUS painful symptoms for days, it was so sad, it seemed like the tylenol wasn't doing a thing. WIth all the ear infections our family has been through, this one on Bryson was the first to show extreme pain. So so so sad.

They're clapping all the time and it's so cute. Usually if you say an excited "yay!" They'll start happily clapping. Once I verbally tell them good job for clapping Max starts clapping and says "Max clap too!" Ha, oh that cute kid, and then I praise him for clapping as well.

They say "mama" all the time in a crying mode when they are un happy, they like say "dada" for fun in the car over and over, and I started hearing and audible "bah bah" today when I brought them their bottles!

We switched them to new carseats this week, can't wait to turn them forward facing once they are 1!

Quinn
I'd say he's my overall more outgoing baby. Very easy to smile and laugh and explore and go etc. He's bare crawling down hills these days and can't wait to see what's new

Bryson
Bryson is a little bit more cuddly. A little bit more content with snuggling with you or even a stranger. He's been a bit more emotional and favoring me lately with his teeth and ear infections.

They're both still like these massive 25 lb babies, it's crazy

They're in size 4 diapers during the day and 5 at night

Size 12-24 month clothing.

(I'm writing this on Sept 1st right now and realizing NEXT MONTH they are going to be one years old! How in the world!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!)

Twinsies: 5 months

It's almost been half a year with these two, BONKERS! They say the first 6 months with twins is the hardest so honestly I've been keeping my eye on the prize of 6 months. I already can tell that now at 5 months it's been a lot easier too!

*I'm proud of myself for writing all this and taking the pictures ON their month birthdays, just takes me forever to get the pictures actually up!

-Giggling and smiling a ton. I think that's partly what makes them getting older easier is that they respond to your efforts of love so much more and it's so gratifying to see them smile and laugh and it seems as if they like YOU!

Bryson

-In the beginning stages of grabbing things. I can their little hands and fingers trying to figure it out. Sometimes they get ahold of toys and put them in their mouth for a little bit before they let go

Quinn

-Signs of holding their own bottles! It's already amazing! I'd say Quinn holds his bottle 15% of the time, tries to hold it an additional 30% of the time. Bryson holds his 5% of the time and tries to hold it another 20% (I wrote this 2 weeks ago and now they hold it 40% of the time and Bryson does it more!

-Quinn has rolled over from tummy to back about a dozen times which is so fun to see!

You can really see their individual looks in this photo.

 always catching each other's hands

-Bryson is SUPER excellent at escaping the swaddle and nearly every time I go in there his hands are out, hopefully it will be an easier adjustment out of the swaddle for these boys. Quinn is right there behind him on escaping but a tiny bit less.

-Quinn is the more vocal one I'd say. In the morning it seems as if he just won't stop!

-Quinn also likes to arch his back tons to almost turn over but ends up just inching more backward towards his head. Often after naps when I go in there his head is touching the top of the pack n play

-Bryson really loves to cuddle. Quinn does too but it seems as if every time you pick up Bryson he just wants to lay on you and get loves, it's so endearing.

As always, Max wanted to get in the pictures, this was my favorite picture!

-Bryson likes to just lay on his tummy with his head rested to the side after a couple minutes of a tummy time. He'll seriously just hang out there for a long while and relax.

-They are so wiggly! Arms and legs constantly flapping. Bottle feeding them is harder too now, I can never prop their bottles anymore with blankets because their hands and feet always knock it off

-I can tell they're beginning to catch on to if I cry you come get me because as soon as they see me coming near them they stop crying, too cute.

-I mentioned this before but they really do love to just stare at me. Maybe Casey too but I've not heard. They'll just sit there so contently and stare and stare and stare simultaneously like I have some bewitching power on them. Definitely a self esteem booster

-They are definitely transitioning into much better sleepers. 3-4 naps a day. 1-2 are 1.5 hours long and 2-4 are 45 minutes, I'll take what I can get! Their pack n plays are right next to each other in our room. At night they still wake up twice to eat, I'd really really love to start forcing them to sleep through the night though… (wrote this 2 weeks ago, this week we began night time sleep training and it's going grrrrreat! The third night I didn't hear a thing!)

Max took my phone and began taking pictures like momma

-In size 3 diapers. I've put away a lot of the 3-6 months clothes and they are in tons of stuff ranging from 6-18 months clothes.

-I nurse them about 8 times a day and 4-6 times a day they'll drink a 4 oz bottle of formula. I'm eager to start them on solids, they just seem like they could eat so much more! They do still spit up a ton.

Most favorite dad award.

Comments and questions I get a lot

They are so big! Yes indeed they really are. Compared to where they started, them being "early" and just compared to the overall size of our friends' babies they are big chunky boys!

Do they wake each other up? Occasionally but not always. Around the 45 minute time at naps they probably often do but I've also seen each of them just continue sleeping through the other's crying. They lost never wake up to each other at night either, I don't want to lay in bed continuing trying to sleep with a crying baby in my room so I almost immediately get up to feed them, the second baby more often than not wakes up themselves to eat within 10-30 minutes of the first baby waking. If not, I just wake the 2nd baby. When we put them down for naps they never seem to bother each other crying and sleeping if it's within the first 15 minutes

Do they make each other cry? No, they have no sympathy for one another when it comes to crying it seems. but I do believe when they are borderline sad and the other starts wailing they are very likely to quickly join in.

How do you do it? Lots of prayer, lots of tears. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. You would too if/when you don't have the option. A really really helpful husband!

a video: Jan and Feb 2015

Some videos I was able to finally throw together of the boys the past couple months:

The twinsies

or see here

Maxson

or see here

A hodge podge of Maxson talking.

or see here

And for my future momma reference, Quinn rolled over yesterday from tummy to back! So fun!!!!!!!

Twinsies: 3 months

I feel like these boys have turned from infants into babies! I just can't get enough of them. I'm deep in that phase of having the urge to eat them they're so cute, jeeze, and there's TWO! Seriously, I clench my jaw a lot to stop. Also I just want to squeeze them they're so cute, such a strong urge, am I the nay weird one who has to refrain from hurting their babies because you think they're so dang cute? Really, I still can't get over the fact that I had two babies at the same time and am taking care of two babies at the same time, it's still crazy!

look at where they came from just a short 2 1/2 months ago!!!!!! Such an insane change

What these boys are doing:

-Smiling like crazy! I just can't get over it. It's like we work all day to get them to smile at you and it's never enough smiles that you get because their faces are still so new to us we just want more! (greedy parents that we are). I feel like Quinn more easily will smile at you and his smile gets so big, it covers his whole face, it's just adorable. When Bryson smiles, it's a little harder to get out of him but his eyes absolutely LIGHT up. It's adorable that when you're looking at one baby trying to get them to smile giving them your attention you can see out of the corner of your eye the other baby just mesmerized by you yearning for that attention to. It kills you so you quickly give your attention to the second baby and it happens again with the other! You then continue playing this game because you can possibly gip one baby of your attention!!!!!

-Doing great at tummy time. Quinn is a baller when it comes to tummy time in the sky diving positions (back arched, feet up, head bent up) and will stay like this for quite awhile. Bryson isn't a fan as much, he loves it as soon as you put him down but quickly lays down and wants to be turned over, ha, but he's getting there!!!
(Quinn is the one with the higher head in each picture.)

 this is what Max does usually when I put them down for tummy time, he's so funny. And then he goes and kisses their heads back and forth and back and forth like he's seen it done before somewhere…where did he pick that up?

 Quinners!

(Bryson head up below)

-They are champion sleepers. A little of it is because we're so exhausted as parents we've kind of always let them self soothe a little bit before we jump up to help, I also lay them down when they're drowsy or still awake. I attribute most of their sleepy success to the rock n play though, seriously, I think it's all because of that. At 3 months they take 3-4 naps depending on timing of it all. More often than not it begins at 1-1.5 hour nap, then a 2-3 hour nap, and then little 45 min-1 hour naps after that. They go to bed between 8-9 and sometime between 6-8 hours they'll wake up to eat. If it's after 6 they'll wake up twice in the night, if it's 8 hours, that's the only time they eat at night until 8 or 9 am, WAHOO!!!!! They're doing well now, but seriously, I put in my TIME to get to this point. It wasn't until they were 2 months that they slept anything longer than 4 hours, I was one tired momma. But I had been told by other twin moms that at 2 months is when it got better and it DID! Now at 3 months it's even BETTER!

(B-man below- I feel like I can SEE what this baby is going to look like when he's older, you can see the man he's going to be in these ones!)

-Their adorable chubbiness is getting better and better. I am so in love with it
(Quinn below, look at those little rolls!)

-Still breastfeeding for every feeding plus the 2 oz formula after day time feedings. One positive thing about being forced to give bottles/formula is that it does give me a little wiggle room when I go somewhere with or without them, or on dye that they're just that tiny bit more hungry it's there, and I don't have to stress that I am or am not producing enough. But I still absolutely love nursing them, it's the best.

-Baby cooing lots, Quinn is more talkative but Bryson jumps in to get in on the action too. It's so rewarding!!!! I daresay Quinn has gotten a few beginning chuckle laughs to start with too!!

-Moved them up to size 2 diapers this week! Mostly wearing 3-6 month size clothes

-Bumbo sitting is a favorite pastime (of mine at least). I put a magazine behind them once I can tell their necks are getting tired though. I love having them sit and watch what I'm doing. When we eat family dinner each night we put the boys on the table in their bumbos, Max sits in front of them in his chair and we're on each side, it feels so complete when we're all together for dinner. Usually they get fed up with being in the bumbo while we are eating so they end up on our laps, but still.

-They seriously have the best pouty lips, they're are so so so stinking cute
(Bryson below)

They're really chill babies, seriously I feel like I have scored in the baby department with all 3 of mine so far with their temperaments, their adjustments to schedules, their cuteness, etc. They are so easy I love it oh so much!!!!

and a few more pictures of them recently:

 Quinny

 Bryson

 QB

 Oh hey, Maxson! Cool bike!

QB

The above and below photos are probably 3 weeks apart and they're in opposite spots, above is QB and below is BQ

 Quinny

I love these babies, oh how I love these babies so darn much!!!!!

Also, we've decided that overall Maxson looks like me much more than Casey. And the babies look much more like Casey than myself (when compared to our old pictures) I'll post some soon!

And for fun here is Max at 3 months