18 Months!

Today Jenna and Rachel are 18 months old.  In 6 months I will have two 2 year olds!!  Where has the time gone?  They have their 18 month check-up tomorrow so I'll post updates on their size.  
There were a few pictures from Saturday that I wanted to post.  My favorite is the last one! They like to climb up on the coffee table.  It was a good time to get pictures of both of them together!

"Hi, Mom!"

"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"

HUGS!

A Few Things...

I've been meaning to write a post for the past week.  There has been a lot going on here! 


Because Rachel hasn't started walking yet, and because her feet turned WAY out, I took her to the pediatrician on June 1.  He made two referrals, one to a physical therapist and another to a pediatric orthopedic doctor for evaluations. Last week, I took Rachel to see a Physical Therapist.  She believed Rachel had low muscle tone and would need a brace and special shoes.  She told me to continue encouraging Rachel to stand and find opportunities for her to climb and strengthen her muscles.  We visit the pediatric ortho doctor at Kluge Children's Center in Charlottesville.  We saw the doctor along with another pediatrician specializing in orthopedics.  Both doctors didn't believe she had low muscle tone and mentioned how strong her legs were. She had a hip x-ray and we were happy that there were NO medical reasons that she wasn't walking.  The doctor believed that as she started walking, her feet would fix themselves.  
The next day, Thursday the 14th, Rachel took her first unassisted steps!!  And, she continues to practice each day.  The most she's taken is about 8 or 10.  We bought a slide and she can climb up and slide down.  She climbs on the coffee table and takes steps between furniture.  She's getting stronger each day. In a few weeks, she'll be keeping up with Jenna. 
On June 15, Kenny and I celebrated our 10th anniversary.  His gift to me was an anniversary ring.  My wedding solitaire was placed into a new setting with 2 more diamonds representing the past, present, and future.  It's gorgeous and I find myself looking at it like I did when I was first engaged.































 I created a gift for him that I found from an idea on Pinterest.  I used GoogleEarth and found images of special places we have been or lived during our relationship.  I think it turned out well.  We enjoyed a dinner at home with the girls.  It was a special day. 

Of course some pictures of girls:

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.