Happy 15-Month Birthday, T and E!!!

This was the best picture I could get this month that included both of them and their NICU bears! However, they made it clear that they wanted to hold their books, not their bears... so this is what happened. It was also impossible to photograph both of them in their chairs at the same time, even with my mom and dad helping me out! 

Dear Tamsie and Evangelyn,

What a day! BottleWean 2013 has officially begun around here, and it is not going well so far. It all started last night when we ran into your pediatrician and his family at dinner. He is so incredibly sweet and a very gifted doctor, and he and his wife have twins, too, so he totally speaks from experience when he gives us advice! His wife is absolutely precious, and I loved getting to talk to a fellow mama of twins. I truly believe there is such a neat bond of sisterhood between mamas of multiples -- at least I've had an instant connection with every one of them I've ever met! Well, while I was chatting with his wife, your dad was chatting with him about transitioning y'all to whole milk. He told us we can definitely start the transition -- yay!! You're finally big enough! So today you've been taking 3 parts formula, 1 part whole milk. We started out with sippy cups, and that just didn't go over well, especially with one of you (T)... which surprised me, since you take juice and water so well in sippy cups. Of course, when you have issues drinking something, I automatically have flashbacks to last year's bottle aversion crisis... which can lead to panic attacks (no, really!) if I let it go on for too long. So for now, we're phasing in the whole milk... and once you get used to that, we'll try phasing out the bottles again. 

The girls were ridiculously hard to take 15-month pictures of! All Evie wanted to do was read her books. She couldn't be bothered with modeling for the camera!

Tamsie gladly demonstrates how they are into everything! The random object on the left is a puzzle piece she had been toting around until she discovered a cabinet door just waiting to be opened!

So as you nap peacefully, dreaming of the good old days of predictability and bottles and formula, I will write about what life is like with the two of you right now! After a rough-patch kind of morning, it sure does help to take a step back and see how very much you've grown and changed all in the past month!

Tamsie in her PJs from Uncle Alex

* For starters, both of you are walking like little champs, and even running, so of course you're into EVERYTHING! Your dad and I have been working overtime trying to babyproof the house, because you increasingly demand more and more freedom and play space! You stay nonstop busy, and I must say I'm generally getting the best sleep I've ever had in my life, because I'm so worn out when my head finally hits my pillow -- AND because y'all are sleeping so well!

Taking pictures with the NICU bear did not work out so well this time... the girls wanted to get into their books, and nothing was going to stand in their way!

You're also learning what "NO" means -- and I've made both of you cry many times by saying it intensely. (You just laugh at me when I'm not intense enough.) It's sad but necessary! 

"Stop flashing that crazy thing in my face and just let me read, Mama!"

Both of you are wearing size 9-12-month clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 3.5 shoes. You weigh about 18.5 lbs. The nursery workers at church get a kick out of watching you run around after each other, because you're so small in stature that you just don't look like you should be doing everything you're doing!

Singing!

Like virtually everyone else on your Grandaddy's side of the family, the two of you are turning out to be quite the performers. Both of you get really excited when I help you sing and do the hand motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Skin-a-ma-rink" (yes, your mother is a child of the '80s), "Pat-a-Cake," and any other random song with motions that I can find to teach you. You're also quite the singers as well -- sometimes when I'm feeding you your meals, I keep Pandora on, and you never know what kind of song will come on. Last week, you sang some "shoops" along with Whitney Houston, taking your mama by total surprise, and you danced along to some Justin Timberlake, and today you were singing "uh oh" along with Beyonce.

Future Readers of America!

* As these pictures show, books are your favorites! I spend lots of time each day reading to you, and you love spending your time downstairs pulling books out of boxes (a less than desirable storage solution, I know) and flipping through the pages. Your favorite book of the moment is ABC, Look at Me! which came in from the Books from Birth program. In fact, epic battles ensue over who gets to play with that book, if it ever accidentally winds up in your play area. And yes, this is ironic, considering we have two copies of the thing (since both of you are registered for the program) -- yet that doesn't stop you from finding ways to fight over both of them!

This is what it looks like when Tamsie walks by barking like a dog, and when Evie sees her coming and holds onto her book extra tight to keep her from stealing it!

After all, E knows there's nothing like a good book!

This past month, both of you have started TRYING to count and sing the alphabet song! Of course, you're not quite there yet, but it's hilarious to hear you try to count over your monitor as you're going to sleep. Both of you chime in together, and it sounds something like, "Tooooo [because you start with 2], teeeee, uhhhhhh, fiiiiiii...." I think 5 is your favorite number, because both of you love belting that one out when you get to it!

Talking to her book

OK, on to something else....

* Your vocabularies are expanding every day. This month we've heard words like chair, pants, shirt, socks, shoes, star, sheep, baa, woof, meow, hoo hoo (owl sounds), up, down, bear, shhhh, book, Hop Pop (what you call Hop on Pop), pig, oink, that, hat, back, arm, eye, bird, deer, moo, cup, cape, pup, Sissy, bath, tickle.... I know there are more, but here are a few! You also know some baby signs, and you've started telling me when it's snack time by signing it to me!

Tamsie and that mouth she gets from her Daddy. I think we were doing Itsy Bitsy Spider here, and the rain was coming down.

* You have silly senses of humor, and you both laugh all the time. For example, Tamsie, you love to toss your paci overboard when you're in your crib, and then when I get down on my hands and knees to get it for you, you reach out of your crib and pat my back and laugh at me. When y'all start dancing to a song and I start laughing, you start laughing too. You crack each other up constantly, and when I ask one of you where Sissy is, you hug her and smile really big and say, "SISSY!!!!"

Itsy Bitsy Tamsie

* You're getting really good at following commands. Sometimes I even catch you commanding your baby dolls to "burp!" and then patting them on the back... or the foot... or the belly -- whatever it takes to get the burp out!

Back to the books

"Ooooo!"

Sleepy face

Partners in crime

Sneaky T

E loves to throw that tin around! She looks for it in that cabinet any time she's in the kitchen.

Cleaning up after them is a full-time job... literally!

Hanging out in their expanded play area upstairs... notice the new safety gate behind my dad!

They love playtime!

Tamsie and her tunnel

I left some tennis shoes out in the living room, and they kept pointing to them and saying, "SHOES!" Finally, Mom put Evie in them. She thought it was grand, until she realized she couldn't get very far in them!

Tamsie and her Mommy at Great-Grandma's house

Girls, I love you so much!! Every day I think of how blessed I am to hear your sweet voices call me Mama! I can't wait to see what this next month has in store for you!

Love,
Mama