The end of May

Jenna and Rachel were 17 months on Saturday.  What are they up to now?
Jenna:
*Loves her blankie. She wants to take it everywhere.
*Starting to walk faster/run and loves to be chased.
*Dances and stomps her feet. 
*Loves building with blocks (and knowing down towers)
*Loves to go outside and often asks to play with bubbles.
*She's my little helper.  Jenna likes to throw things away and bring things to me.  She makes sure doors and gates are closed.  She can understand what I ask her to do!
Rachel:
*Gets around by crawling and cruising.  She's not walking.
*She can get herself to standing and stand for a few seconds.
*She loves to walk holding our hands.
*Can climb on and off her riding car.
*LOVES books
*Loves talking to her "Ba-ba" (Grandma T.)  She gets excited when she hear her voice on the phone. 
*Puts on hats and headbands
*She's our little "snugglebug".  She loves to give hugs and snuggles. 

Mother's Day 2012

 Both girls are talking so much!  They know lots of animal sounds and other sounds too.  They try to mimic so many things that I say.  Words are becoming more clear.  Rachel can clearly say "turtle" and "robot" (from a book!)  She can also say "Jenna". Both girls attempt lots of other words too like "flowers, letters, and butterfly".  
We love to go to a website called starfall.com.  They can chose a letter and see words beginning with that letter.  They are recognizing the letter O and S. I can't believe a 17 month old can recognize letters.  Jenna points out Os and Rachel like to say "letters" when she see some, like on a shirt or in her books. Every night, Kenny reads an Eric Carle ABC book that Jenna brings to him.  The love the letters, animals (and the sounds he makes for the animals!).

Doing "letters" with Mommy

We got a kiddie pool last week and the girls LOVED splashing in the pool.  Since Rachel's not walking, I haven't gone outside much by myself but I can get the pool set up and hopefully we can out in the afternoon. I'm looking forward to swimming more this summer.  

They LOVE strawberries so I've been making lots of strawberry shortcake.  Tonight, they each got their own little serving, so they weren't begging for ours!

Checking out the whipped cream

Silly smile!

Jenna loves the whipped cream.

Coughing, coughing...

I think the girls have had a cold or some kind of virus each month since they turned 1.  Most of the time, they are sick at the same time and it overlaps.  But other times one will be sick and then the other will get sick a few days later so it seems like there has been sickness in house FOREVER!  We haven't seen friends or been to story time in the past 2 weeks!
Last week, Rachel was congested with a slight runny nose on Sunday.  By Wednesday, Jenna started coughing...and coughing, and coughing.  On Thursday night, shortly after she fell asleep, she woke up with the loudest "barking" cough I've ever heard.  While I sat in the steamy bathroom with her, Kenny called the 24 hour nurse's number at the doctor's office.  The nurse could hear Jenna's loud breathing and cough so she suggested we take her to the ED at Augusta Health. Poor Jenna was so tired but she did great.  She had an x-ray which determined croup.  A steroid shot was given to her to help with swelling and inflammation.  We got home around midnight. It helped even though she still coughs sometimes during naps and at night.  I was glad we took her. As a mom, I often second guess my decisions and wonder if I should have done something differently.  I just kept thinking that everything I read said that if a child sounds like she's having trouble breathing, get help right away.  
A few days later, Rachel started coughing.  It didn't sound like Jenna so it's probably just part of her cold.  It's such an awful feeling, to hear them coughing while they're trying to sleep.  Hopefully they'll be better soon!  

April Update

I can't believe it's almost May.  April has been a fun month here!  The girls are changing so much and with Jenna almost running, she is definitely a "toddler".  She's been walking backwards, sideways, and learning to turn around.  Rachel still loves to crawl but she has been experimenting with getting up on her feet.  In the past couple days, she's standing standing without holding on to anything.  I have a feeling she'll be walking by the end of May.  I read somewhere that the average age of babies walking is 9-18 months.  That's a huge range! This is a funny picture of the girls standing on their head.  Jenna's been doing this for the last couple weeks and Rachel's now able to push up on her legs and do it too.

Being silly in the kitchen

I am loving their language learning.  Both girls have been trying new sounds and have words for lots of things.  They understand so much of what I say.  Jenna loves to be my helper and I can ask her to put something away or get something for me.  She likes putting garbage in the trashcan too.  I have to keep an eye on her and make sure it truly is garbage!! They know many animals and call them by their sound, so a cat is a "meow, meow."  It's so cute.  One of my favorites is a bee.  They say "buzz, buzz" and tickle their bellies like a bee is buzzing them!


My mom and dad visited earlier this month and we really enjoyed having them here.  Jenna and Rachel love their grandma and grandpa.  They both attempt to say "grandma" and it sounds something "ba-ba or ban-ba."  They get excited when they hear her voice on the phone.  It was great seeing my dad with the girls too.  I love watching both of them read to the girls and play with them.  Hopefully we'll see them again soon!

Reading with Grandpa and Grandma

Grandma and Rachel

A rare photo of me! 

They love these place mats they got for their birthday!

Rachel showing me the polar bear, and modeling a hair clip I made!

Jenna saw the camera and smiled!

Looking so grown up!

Jenna's modeling some of the hair clips I made! 

A full house!

We've had lots of guests during the last couple of weeks.  I love having people stay with us and it's nice to have some extra help with the girls too.  Two weeks ago, Kenny attended a conference in New Orleans so my sister, Sandra, came to stay with me.  We had SO much fun with the girls.  Each day we went somewhere like the library, park, shopping, or out to lunch.  Jenna and Rachel love their Aunt Sandra and by the end of the week, they were attempting to say her name.  It sounded something like "Ya-Ya".  

Jenna and Rachel with Aunt Sandra

Playing with bows

Silly Rachel (and Jenna's foot!)

This past weekend, many people from Kenny's family came to stay. On Friday night, there were 14 people here!!  The girls had a lot of fun playing with their cousin who is 4 months older than them.  A full house is wonderful.  It was strange today when everyone left and the girls were napping.  It was so quiet.  

Easter Sunday: April 8, 2012

My mom and dad will be here Wednesday and stay until Saturday.  The last time my dad saw Jenna and Rachel was at Christmas and their first birthday.  Even since mom was here in February, they've changed so much!  


Updates on the girls:
At their 15 month appointment: 
Jenna:  23lb, 8oz; 30.74 inches
Rachel: 21lb; 29.5 inches


Both girls are learning new words all the time.  Jenna started saying "no, no".  Both girls say "uh oh!"  They say 10-15 animal (and other) sounds.  They make attempts at many words by saying the beginning sound such as "ch-ch" for cheerios or "sh-sh" for shoes.  It's fun watching them learn and try new words.


Jenna is walking better and better.  She's faster and able to pick herself up quickly if she falls down.  Rachel isn't walking but likes to hold our hands and walk.  She still seems content with crawling because she is FAST!  

I'm still breastfeeding.  During the month of March, I went from five feedings a day to two feedings (when they wake in the morning and before bed).  I was very worried about getting plugged ducts or mastitis but because I slowly took away nursing times, my body adjusted and I had no problems.  Two days ago, Jenna stopped nursing, she cried and shook her head "no" so she may have self-weaned.  I think I will still offer for another day or two because Rachel still nurses at those 2 times.  I've noticed because of that she's needed more snuggles from me during the day.  I can't believe I've nursed them this long, but I see the end in sight and it makes me sad but happy at the same time: sad because I'll miss our quiet snuggle time, and happy because we made it so long.

What a difference a year makes

I was looking back at some pictures from last year and I'm amazed at how much the girls have changed.  

Rachel one year ago:

Rachel reading with Daddy yesterday: 

 Jenna one year ago:  

Jenna standing and walking yesterday:

Ready, Set:

Go! 

In the past week, Jenna has gone from taking 1 or 2 steps to taking up to 8 or 9.  In another week, I'll bet she'll be walking even more.  Right now, Rachel is content just to crawl although she loves to walk while pushing things and cruises around the coffee table and along the couches.  

Freezer Cooking

A few months ago I was introduced to a website called Pinterest.  It's basically a place to keep different ideas you come across when searching the internet. You "pin" things that "interest" you..."pinterest".   I love finding new recipes and ideas for the home.  One of my friends had posted a something she found about freezer crock pot meals.  This looked interesting and after mentioning it to Kenny we decided to try it.  I used this website for ideas: http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html

We bought the ingredients for 6 meals, which is actually 12 meals because each one was put into 2 bags.  Here's the before picture: 

We made: Savory Chicken, Teriaki Chicken, Healthy BBQ Chicken, Lazy Day Beef Stew, Sausage and Peppers, and Sweet and Tangy Meatballs.  Here's what it looked like when we were done. 

The night before you want to cook it, you take one bag out of the freezer and let it defrost over night.  The next morning, you dump the entire contents of the bag into the crock pot and follow the directions.  I was going to do one today, but I forgot to take a bag out of the freezer last night...oops!  We'll try one tomorrow.  
If this works out well, I think we may try again.  There are so many recipes on the internet and one other blogs that looked delicious too!

What a week!

It's hard to believe that it's already Friday.  My mom came to visit this week and we had such a good time, but it went too fast.  On Sunday, I picked her up from the airport.  We got home and about 30-45 minutes later, the snow started falling giving us our first big snowfall of the year.  I think there was about 8 inches in all.  Mom worries about the weather so I was thankful that her flights were great and the bad weather didn't come until after she got here.  

Watching the snow falling

9pm and it's still coming down

On Tuesday, we went to story time at the library.  I hadn't gone by myself with the girls yet. I wanted to go with someone and check it out, making sure I could get in with a double stroller if I wanted to go by myself.  We had fun and the girls loved the books and the songs.  

We decided to go out to lunch on Wednesday.  The girls do so well when we go to a restaurant.  I think they like watching all the people.  Jenna loves to wave at everyone, even if they're not looking at her!  

Yesterday, it was about 65 degrees, a big change from Sunday!  We took the girls to the park.  There are several parks in Waynesboro, but I really like a small one about 5 minutes from our house.  There was only one other child there with his mother.  The last time the girls were in a swing was around 7 or 8 months and they both fit in together.  This time, they were by themselves and LOVED it!!  

  

Jenna

Grandma and Rachel

I'm so happy that my mom was able to come down this week.  It's fun to see her playing with Jenna and Rachel. They even started saying "Ba-ba" when I would ask them to say "grandma."  This morning they were looking for her and we're all sad she's gone.  Hopefully we'll see her and my dad in April!