The latest and greatest....

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately.  I have a bunch of little random things that I want to document so this post may be a little all over the place...

Official TOOTH count....

The last week or so, Alexis has been waking up in the middle of the night.  Most nights just placing your hand on her back or patting her bottom for a couple seconds will get her to go back to sleep.  It was almost like she was having little nightmares.  She would let out a little scream, wrestle around in her crib for a bit, squeal again, and just repeat this until one of us would go into their room to calm her.  I don't know why I still didn't realize that this is probably a result of teething once again. 

Last night, the girls were having a snack and Alexis snatched some cheerios out of my hand like she hadn't been fed in a week.  Apparently, I didn't let go of the cheerios fast enough because the three cheerios in my hand, along with my fingertip, ended up in Alexis' mouth.  MAN that hurt!  I yelled a very loud OUCH, as I was pretty sure she had bit off the entire tip of my finger.  Alexis proceeded to laugh at me.  Somehow causing me pain was hysterical to both girls. Go figure!  No, there was no blood and my finger tip is still in tack, with just a small bruise but I did find out that Alexis now has four teeth on the top and two on the bottom.  Seriously those things felt like daggers.  I can only imagine the pain that the girls are feeling as they slice through their gums.  Hence the sleepless nights and crabby days!  We can't wait for teething to be over!!  Addison still has her two bottom and two top teeth.  Her upper gums look very red and swollen so we are thinking that it will be just a matter of days before hers pop through as well.

Conversations...

I feel like the girls are really starting to understand what we say to them.  I feel like they can comprehend and can follow simple instructions.  They both are starting to become more vocal and mimic us A LOT!  Terry and I both are really trying to watch our language around the girls.  It's not like we walk around cursing all the time, but there are some things/words that may not be appropriate for toddlers to be saying.  For example:  The girls are very restless when you try to change their diapers lately.  They are serious wiggle worms and you either have to make sure they have a toy to distract them or you are making a funny noise to keep them intrigued.  Well, Terry was changing Alexis the other night.  He was singing to her to distract her.  He was making up a song that went something like this...."I love you, I love you, We have to change your diaper, You can't have a smelly butt butt".  I know, stupid, but we do whatever we can to keep them still.  Well, Terry kept singing "you can't have a smelly butt butt".  The next thing I know, Alexis is saying "butt butt".  NICE!!  We have since switched our vocabulary to "tushy". 

The girls have a big purple bouncy ball that we got at Wal-Mart awhile back.  Alexis likes to carry it around while Addison just likes to roll it back and forth.  Saturday morning I told Alexis to go get her ball.  She walked across the living room, picked up the ball and brought it to me.  Followed by Addison looking at me and saying "ball".  Ok, it was more like "baw" but she was saying ball. 

Addison really has started expanding her vocabulary lately.  Along with ball, Ma Ma, Da Da, she says cat, bye bye (which sounds more like buh buh) and my personal favorite "all gone".  All gone sounds more like "aw dawn" but she is just so stinkin' cute when she does it.  She throws her hands up in the air and kind of shrugs her shoulders and in the sweetest voice says "aw dawn".  Terry's been teaching her this one.  Whenever the girls are done drinking their bottles, he always says "All gone", Addison just started repeating it.  Addison also is very proficient at patty cake, SO big, and peek-a-boo.  She covers her eyes with her hands and waits for someone to say "where's Addison".  She literally will keep her hands over her eyes for a long time playing peek-a-boo.  Addison is working on mastering walking right now.  At most, she has probably taken 6 or 7 steps.  She's very delicate and careful about walking.  She reminds us of a tight rope walker, the way she uses her arms to help balance.  I think once she gets the hang of it she is going to take off like a wild woman.  Our pediatrician told us that usually with multiples, one child is more vocal and one child is more mobile.  Then suddenly they switch.  Right now Addison is more vocal and Alexis is more mobile.  Alexis definitely is the more mobile of the two.  She barely crawls anymore and walking is her primary mode of transportation.  She does talk, but mainly still babbles.  She says Ma Ma, Da Da, Cat (tat), butt butt, and other random things that she may mimic once or twice.  I think this weekend made me realize that my girls aren't babies anymore.  They are now officially toddlers!  Both girls will wave on command and can show you one finger when you ask them how old they are!  Melt my heart!!!

Food...

I have to say that typing this is my favorite part of today's post.  WE ARE OFFICIALLY DONE WITH BABY FOOD!!  YEAH!!!  After over 500 jars of baby food (this doesn't count the close to 400 containers of food that I made myself) WE ARE OFFICIALLY ON ALL TABLE FOOD!!!  This has both its pros and cons.  While baby food was so quick and convenient, I now have to plan meals for the girls.  This is quite challenging.  Trying to find something healthy, but yet soft enough for them to chew.....as well as getting them the calories that they need to pack on the pounds.  But on the up side, baby food seemed like it was costing us an arm and a leg, so we are happy to be free of the financial aspect of baby food.

The girls have either pancakes, toast, french toast or scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Followed by either, peaches, pears, or a banana.  There always is a handful of cheerios tacked into just about every meal as well.  Lunch is ravioli, shredded lunch meat, macaroni, chicken breast or some type of meat like that.  Followed by a vegetable, a handful of goldfish crackers, and some animal crackers and typically some applesauce.  We are still trying to perfect their meals to combine a healthy meal with also ease of preparation.  If anyone has any suggestions on quick, easy, yet healthy meals we would love to hear your feedback!  I'm looking forward to the days where the girls hit the mark with their weights and calorie counting is a thing of the past.

The girls are still on formula at least until their 15 month checkup.  We have switched to a toddler formula until the day we can use regular milk.  I think Terry and I will be very happy when this day comes!!  We use a can of formula a day, so that will be a nice break on the pocket book.  Our next goal is to switch to sippy cups from bottles.  Right now, it is still important for the girls to drink their bottles to get the nutrition and calories from the formula so we haven't pushed the sippy cup transition to hard.  When we gave the girls cups they were more interested in playing with them than actually drinking from them.

WOW!  I just realized that the girls will be 14 months in a week.  I still am trying to find time to take them for their one year photos.  I hope that happens soon!