Happy Birthday!

I started this post a week or so ago and really did mean to post it then as well, but things happen:

Today is Charlie and Louis's first birthday. Its obviously a day of celebration to mark their growth and development, but its also a HUGE milestone that we've reached. We've made it one year so far!!!!

This day has definitely crept up on me. Everyday this week I had to remind myself that today is their birthday. Yet, at the same time, I've thought a lot about how far we have come from a year ago. At birth, they cried, ate, slept, and soiled diapers. They do all that now plus babble, feed themselves, crawl, pull themselves up on things, fight over toys, chase the dog, climb stairs,...the list is big. Yes, having twins is a lot of work. But the big challenge is making sure you take time everyday to enjoy everything about them and not miss anything. A year ago I hoped that I would not reach this day and look back without many memories and feel like a crazy person. I wanted to be able to look back on the last year and think of how much fun we've had and really remember how much I've enjoyed the last year instead of how much work it has been. I wanted to feel like I've appreciated and loved them as much as if there was only one baby to deal with at a time. I can honestly say that I've reached my goals, and I am so thankful for that. I'm not too sure about not feeling like a crazy person, because most of the time I probably look like a crazy person but I'm still too oblivious about the rest of the world to notice so I don't care.

George has been helping with the birthday celebration. He said today we need to make banners and decorations. He even picked up every single toy in our living room (they're all on the couch now) so I could vacuum. It is fun to see him excited about his little brothers' birthday. He has such a warm, loving, helpful side to him that I hope comes out even more as he gets closer to his 4th birthday, which is only 5 months away. As you can see, we celebrated his 1/2 birthday. He loved it.

I know I've said this before, but there are so many funny George stories that I have a hard time remembering the ones that stand out now. He is just a funny guy. He is really starting to repeat things he hears. For example, Matt and I like to make light of things by saying "mosquito, schmeeto" or "garbage, schmarbage". Well, George has picked up on it and we hear things like "pick up, schmick up" and "minivan, schminivan". Everyday when he gets dressed or every night getting his pajamas on he says "Are my clothes clean or dirty??" I don't really know why he asks this, but its every single day. Tonight, when getting his pull-up on and taking his undies off he asked "Momma, are my underwear clean or dirty?" I just love that he doesn't understand that he wore them all day long, so yes they are dirty. Another sure question is "What are we doing after my nap?" and "What are we doing after my sleep"? He is starting to understand time as a dimension, and recently I threw him a challenge and told him after 3 sleeps we'd have visitors for the birthday party. In his world, he plans things by after his sleep, after his snack, after lunch, after his nap, and after dinner. Last night he said "After dinner and after we clean up and after we have desert we can watch my movie".

This year I took George to the circus while Matt stayed home with Charlie and Louis. The first thing George wanted to do again was have his picture taken with the giant boa constrictor. Unfortunatley, we only have the printed picture and not one I can post and I am too impatient to deal with my slow computer and scan it in. He's pretty proud of himself. He also had his first elephant ride too! Next year it will be a family adventure to the circus.

So since I'm posting this a week after I started writing it, I get to include more info like their one year stats from the doctor:

Charlie is 22 lbs 6 oz and 30.5"

Louis is 22 lbs 10 oz and 31".

Their heads are both the same size.

I really think they came from the same pod.

Their birthday party was a lot of fun! They had a big Elmo cake and individual cookie monster cakes. Charlie loved it all, Louis was a bit spooked by the whole rig-a-ma-roll. In the last four weeks or so they have grown up a lot and are showing lots more personality. Charlie loves Sasha. He chases her, kisses her, grabs her, goes for hte water all the time, laughs at her, tries to climb in her kennel after her. Charlie also loves fruit...mostly pineapple and bananas at this point. Louis is the meat lover of the two peas...likes to eat meat. He also likes to stay organized by putting his sippy cup in the cupholder and putting things back where they belong like chalk in the chalk bucket and balls in the ball machine. Louis seems like hte more easy-going of the two, but that isn't saying too much because they are both pretty laid-back.

Sleeping has become interesting. About three or four weeks ago they started to fall asleep sitting up. Every time after putting them to bed or down for a nap, I needed to go in and lie them down in their cribs. Now they like to stand up in their cribs, and sometimes in the middle of hte night too. They don't realize that they can also lie back down on their own yet.

Also in the last week since starting to write this post, we purchased a minivan!!! I've always been a minivan-schminivan person, until I realized that not all three car seats will fit in our Vue when Charlie and Louis face forward. Being the practical people we are, we opted for the better gas economy and massive cargo space of a minivan versus a gas-guzzler. Its a slate green metallic Honda Odyssey. Every member of the family loves it. George likes the fact that he gets the entire back row to himself and doesn't have to "be bothered by babies". Little does he know that is my favorite feature of the new minivan.

Well, sorry to have to do this but that's all you get. I can't keep my eye's open anymore.