18 months

Stats from G and L's 18 month well child check up:

Graham weighs 24lbs 12oz and is 31.5 inches tall
Liza weighs 24lbs and is 31.25 inches tall

Weight and height wise they are almost even as you can see, but if you were to pick them up you would think that G out weighed L by at least a few pounds. They are definitely put together differently. L's height is all in her legs and G's torso is where his length comes from. G is "stocky" and L has more petite features.

They both are wearing 18 month clothes, still in size 3 diapers, both wear a size 5 1/2 shoe. L says about 8 different words her newest being "shoes" (all girl right there). G says 2 or 3 words and the first syllable of many other words. They are both avid "climbers". G mastered climbing out of his crib which earned him this crazy contraption called a crib tent (which is a nice way of saying he is now on lock down when he is in his crib). L has not attempted to climb out of her crib (probably because she saw the tent we put on G's crib) but I did walk into the living room the other day and found her sitting on top of the end table. They both can identify their head, belly button, toes, nose, mouth, ears, and hair.

Their favorite toys right now are a toy vacuum and a toy broom. If only these toys actually cleaned my house would be spotless. G "vacuums" every inch of this house in a days time. They both love books, not only do they love to read them they love to tear them apart. Most all of our books have pages or the cover missing. They love to sing and do the hand motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider and I'm a Little Teapot.

Since I use this blog as a "memory book" of sorts, I am going to use the rest of this space to just list off some of the things I don't ever want to forget (and in case I do forget them I'll have this blog to remind me)! Also at the end I'll include some of my favorite pics.

-I never want to forget them running away from me so that I'll chase them when it is time to get in their high chair or get their diaper changed. They definitely make a game of it. The funniest part is they always run themselves into a dead end or corner to get away from me.

-I don't work on Fridays, so this day is reserved for house work and laundry. A lot of times we don't make it out of our PJs on these days. I usually have the Today show on the TV and all summer long they have their summer concert series on Friday mornings. So Friday mornings have turned into dance parties in our living room. We have rocked out to Coldplay, Maroon 5, Blake Shelton, CeeLo Green and many others this summer. Now that the summer Concert series is over the dance parties continue we just turn one the music channel and dance in our PJs like no one is watching! Not to brag, but my kiddos have got some rhythm!!!

-I never want to forget what it feels like when G or L randomly stops what they are doing to hug or kiss their sibling. This never fails to make me smile when this happens. I can assure you their is nothing more cute than twins/siblings giving each other some love. Neither G or L will go to bed before they hug and kiss each other!

Here are some of my fav pics from the past few months

This pic of L was taken at one of our friend's child's pirate birthday party. L went through the entire treasure chest and took every bead necklace there was. This prompted Chad to say she was NEVER aloud to go to Bourbon Street or Mardi Gras!!!




Seeing their faces when they saw the ocean for the first time was PRICELESS!


Wait for us Dad!!!


Sweet G during one of our PJ dance parties


Our family after some kite flying at the beach!

15 months

I haven't been able to keep up with my monthly posts, we have been busy chasing babies as Chad says!!!

15 month stats are in....my how they have grown!
Graham is 23lbs 13oz and 30 3/8 inches long, he is in the 50th% for weight and 25th% for length.



Liza is 23lbs 3oz and 30.5 inches long, which makes her 50th% on both weight and length.


They are both wearing 12-18 month size clothes. Both are in size 3 diapers, although they could go to size 4, but size 3 fit and we haven't had a blow-out and you get 40 more diapers in the the size 3 box than you do in the size 4 and with diapering two I conserve diapers any way I can plus I'm cheap!!!

Things we are up to these days....

They are learning so much, so quickly these days it is so so amazing to watch them figure things out and see how proud they are of themselves for doing so.

Both are starting to become verbal. Both G and L say Mama, DaDa, and Hi. Liza has recently added "Uh-Oh" and "Da-gee", which in Liza speak is doggy, to her repitoire. I am dreading either of them learning the word "NO", I am surprised they haven't already, Lord knows they hear it enough.

We have mastered finger foods and sippy cups! I really did think sippy cups would be the death of me, but one day they figured it out just like everyone said they would (note to self start listening to others and stop stressing). I swear G & L are the messiest eaters on the face of this earth, not so much as what they get on themselves but what ends up on the floor.

Our house has turned into "that house" that we didn't want it to turn into....Yep it looks like a daycare/fisher-price warehouse. Chad and I built this house when we were 27 years old and we loved it then and love it now. At the time we could not imagine that we would ever need anything more. But, what we didn't know as hip 27 year olds is how much stuff comes along with a baby or in our case babies. But with that said I now can't imagine it without all the toys, it would probably feel and look like when you take down all the Christmas decorations...empty!

On the issue of space...we traded in my car. When I was pregnant we bought a Toyota Venza as our family car. We quickly realized after one road trip that it was nowhere near big enough, the double stroller alone took the entire cargo space. So I am now the driver of a Toyota Sequoia....yeah that is right in a matter of 20 months I have gone from driving my sporty two door Solara, to the mother ship Sequoia.

Chad and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary, we enjoyed a quick dinner out by ourselves, a stop by the grocery store (romantic huh?)and some Bonnie Belle's cake! I'll be perfectly honest, I always envisioned some exotic vacation to celebrate anniversaries such as 5, 10, 15 years etc. So, dinner and the grocery store wasn't exactly what I had envisioned but is perfectly fine with me and I know our day will come and when it does we, in all probability, will look at each other and say "Remember when....Those were the days"!

I had the pleasure of seeing, as patients, a couple who had recently found out they were having twins!!! I have to admit I was a little scared and anxious about this scenario, I didn't want to scare them and I was afraid that I would feel pity for them. I am happy to report that I surprised myself...I was soooo happy for them and didn't feel one ounce of pity for them. I know that they will be kick A$$ parents to twins and I simply welcomed them to the club and answered a few questions!!!

On a weird note, Graham is afraid of the big bathtub...we still have to bath him in the baby tub. He simply freaks out if we put him in the tub. We've tried a bath seat doesn't help. Since we bath G in the baby tub, we do the same for L. Not sure what the issue is because he plays in the pool without any issues. I'm not concerned, I just laugh to myself envisioning moving him into his college dorm baby bathtub and
all!!!

This is a fun age and stage. The thing I love the most is how affectionate they are with us and with each other. Liza loves to give "squeezes" and she will hug me right around the neck. Graham is a kissy boy and will dole out kisses by the dozens. He has perfected the open mouth kiss right on my lips. These are the types of things and feelings that I don't ever want to forget, I wish that I could bottle them and save them for the rebellious teenage years. They are also love to love on each other at least for now. I am sure that will soon change. Liza lovin on G...


On June 11th I ran in my first 5k post babies. It was so much fun. First off it was for a great cause, it benefited Derek Hotsinpiller the Federal Marshal who died in the line of duty, it was inspiring to see the community come out by the hundreds to support his family. My time wasn't the greatest, 5 minutes off of my pre-baby time, but it was a start!

Just as I mentioned how I sit in awe of them learning and figuring out new things, I also am amazed at their teamwork. G and L understand the quote "There is not I in team" and I believe they will make an awesome teammate one day. It is crazy how they work together to achieve certain tasks, albeit it is usually something they are not supposed to be doing, but teamwork none the less. Case in point, we have always put them in the pack n play while I get ready for work, until last week when they conspired to tip the thing over for an all out jail break. They were not completely successful as I caught the pack n play before it completely tipped. Chad and I have taken an us against them attitude...kinda like survival of the fittest! A few pics that show their team work...First L trying to help G bust out of the crib, second G chauffeuring L around in the Tonka truck which mind you is over 25 years old it belonged to Uncle Andrew and Uncle Matt!!!




This is the LIFE....

1 Year........

1 year....12 months....52 weeks....365 days....8,760 hours...

No matter how you break it down or measure it, we have made it to this long awaited milestone. WOW...what a long but quick, bumpy but fun, crazy but happy ride this has been! Don't get me wrong there were many times I wanted to exit this carnival ride that we are on, but there were many more times that I thought I don't want it to stop! In the beginning, everyone told me that I would blink and their first birthday would be here. Of course I refused to believe them. And at times I'm not ashamed to admit that in my beyond sleep deprived state I secretly was begging and willing the year to go by more quickly. As it turns out the begging, pleading, and bargaining wasn't needed because this past year was indeed the quickest of my life. There have been tears (both mom and babies), there has been self pity (I'm not to proud to say that), there has been little sleep, there have been life lessons, but most of ALL there has been LOVE twice over...more than I ever could have imagined.

The stats are in from G & L's 12 month check up:
Graham 21lbs 8oz....28.5 inches (he was 6lbs 2oz at birth)
Liza 21 lbs 8 oz.... 29 inches (she was 5 lbs 3 oz at birth)

Notes on G & L .... Both are right on track as far as their milestones. They both are walking, clapping, babbling, and are eating "finger foods". They love to feed themselves and make a huge mess in the process. Liza will say "hi" but that is all for either of them on the talking front. They love songs their favorites being "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands". Their favorite toys are their Dinosaur walker toys and pots and pans that aren't really toys!

Since this blog's main purpose is to serve as an archive/baby book of Graham and Liza's babyhood, I'm ending with a letter to them that hopefully one day when they are old enough to understand they will find it and read. There are more posts coming I just have to find the time to type them up!!!!

Dear Graham and Liza,
I often think back to the day when we found out we were having twins. Your dad and I were excited, but we were also scared. We had never taken care of one baby and had no idea how we were going to be able to care for two babies at once. We had so many ideas and plans in our head of exactly how we wanted to raise you and things we wanted to teach you, what we failed to realize was exactly how much you two were going to teach us. In the past year you have taught us more about ourselves as parents than I think we ever could have hoped to teach you. You both have taught us how to be parents, you have taught us about sacrifice, your have taught us about family, and most of all you have taught us about unconditional LOVE!

As you go through life you two will be forever linked because not only are you siblings you are TWINS. You share a unique bond that not everyone has. Both your father and I want you to realize how unique this bond is and embrace and cherish it. At the same time we want you to not be afraid to embrace what makes you...you. There are definite similarities that we see in you, but know that from your earliest days you each have had your own very unique personalities.

Graham, you are laid back and a go with the flow type of guy. You are happy to let your sister be in charge and you are very cautious. You learn by observing your surroundings, you love to cuddle, but you don't like to sleep.

Liza, you are outgoing and very busy. You are fearless, independent, and learn by experimenting. You are a take charge kind of girl.

Happy First Birthday to my Sweet Lady and my Handsome Sir...Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know! XOXOXOXO Mommy and Daddy

11 months

11 months ago they were 2 buns in the oven...as you can see they are still in the oven!!!


The first pic is me 36 weeks pregnant, man it is so weird to think that was me at this time last year!!!!

So here we are at 11 months...not sure how we got, here but we are here! There were many times that I truly didn't think we would survive. I am not being dramatic, just truthful! I am a mix of excitement and sadness! Excited because they are so fun these days! Constantly learning and discovering new things! There is nothing like watching them accomplish something new and see the proudness on their face...it is nothing short of AWESOME! A little sad because they are no longer babies and there will never again be a baby (one that lives here) in our house! But the excitment definitely outweighs the sadness!!!

I don't have any official stats on them, but am guessing they are both a little over 20lbs! They are both wearing 12 month clothing but most all pants are long on them! I'm not sure if this means they are short or not!!!

Since last month's post Graham has started walking!!! So now we have Graham walking and Liza running!!! Our house is crazy and on most days looks as if a F5 tornado recently came through!


Graham walking on a nice day at the park...he discovered his shadow!

Even though we have every baby toy known to man (we should have stock in Fisher Price) their fav places to play are the oven drawer (see above pic), under the dining room table, and looking out the sliding glass doors!




Happenings, thoughts, and tidbits.....

Sippy cup is going better, but we still have not mastered it!

We have started finger foods!!! What a mess that is, but they love "feeding" themselves!

Still breastfeeding....Crazy I know! I used to worry about keeping the breastfeeding going and have enough of a supply for both of them. Now, I worry that it'll never end! Any tips on weaning are greatly appreciated!

We survived our first WVU basketball season with G & L. We took them to all but two of the home games! It was definitely a lot of work, but we made it and are looking forward to next season!

We are boycotting restaurants these days! We are now big fans of takeout! Eating out in public with two 11 month olds is not always pleasant so we choose to save our sanity and just get takeout!

I have many blog ideas to mark their first year...I'd like to blog about G & L separately, breastfeeding, my thoughts on motherhood, and few other things....now just finding the time to do them!

Month 10

10 months and I am starting to realize that slowly but surely I am watching my "infants" turn into "toddlers"!!!!! If it is possible I HATE this just as much as I LOVE this! I am sure if I asked any mother, they would confirm that my feelings are normal. I remember quite vividly not that long ago when I welcomed the thought of them being "older and more independent". Now that it is here, I sometimes long for those quite moments when they were sleepy newborns and both fit comfortably in my arms at the same time (they both still fit in my arms at the same time, it's just not so comfortable). But, the reality of it is they are growing up and there is nothing I can do to stop it! And, to be truthful, isn't that the reason that we have children to watch them grow and become their own unique self?!?!?

Month 10 saw Liza learn to walk and her walk has quickly turned into a run!

As you can tell by the look on her face she is very proud of herself!!!

Graham is "cruising" around furniture and taking a few steps on his own but still prefers crawling as his main mode of "transportation"!

We have started introducing the "sippy cup" but they haven't quite caught on! They chew on them, throw them on the floor, everything but drink out of them!



Some of my "flight of ideas" from month ten!!!!

We have teeth!!! Liza has her two bottom front and is working one on the top! Graham has his two bottom front!

Lately I have come to the realization and am not to proud to admit that I grossly UNDERESTIMATED the amount of WORK it is being a parent! I have heard people say that a "mother's work is never done" well I can now attest to the truthfulness of that statement!

Sleep continues to be a battle. We have good weeks and we have not so good weeks! I swear I am going to figure this sleep thing out if it KILLS me! Once I figure it out, I am writing a book about it ;-) And my friend Melissa is going to be my co-author!

Prior to having babies I tried to be as "green" (environmentally friendly) as possible! Recycle, conserve energy, reusable shopping bags, just a few little things to do my part to protect our environment! I actually had a fleeting thought of using cloth diapers, which really cracks me up to think about now! I mention this, because our house is a lot of things these days, but it is definitely not "green"! In the last 10 months are trash output I guarantee has increased 100%!

My brothers got G & L "Your Baby Can Read" for Christmas. We started playing the videos once a day this past month and as far as baby videos go they are actually tolerable. Now, I am not going to lie and tell you that after one month of watching these videos that G & L can read at the ripe old age of 10 months or that they can visually recognize words. What they are doing is hearing certain words (both on the video or if we say them) then doing the corresponding gesture. As of now, if you say WAVE, CLAP, or ARMS UP, they will wave their hands, clap their hands, or put their arms above their heads! So if you are thinking or have thought about getting these videos I think they are worth it as long as you have realistic expectations.

If I had a quarter for every time we have heard someone say "I always wanted twins" we would definitely have a piggy bank full! My friend Jen recently had her second baby, a beautiful baby boy named Corbin. Her older daughter, Kaelyn, is 3 and she is definitely smitten with her new baby brother, but is also intrigued with the concept that I have not ONE but TWO babies. Jen tells me that Kaelyn often pretends to be me and recently sent me the following pic via text.

Sorry it's so small, but this is Kaelyn with her two babies pretending to be me! I am flattered that I have inspired her and I call her my twin momma in training!

Next month the countdown to one year continues! I have multiple blog posts that I want to do to mark their first birthday and to celebrate our survival of the first year of twins! Stay tuned!

9 Months

Month number 9!!!!!! WOW is all I can say!



The stats are in from their 9 month appointment.....Graham is 20lbs 9oz and 27.5 inches and Liza is 19lbs 11oz and 27 inches long! They are getting so big! No wonder my back hurts from carrying them both around, and yes I do carry them both at the same time because sometimes I have no other choice! I have never been into lifting weights, but I might just end up with some well defined biceps from lifting these two! The best part about the 9 month check-up NO SHOTS!!!! The worst part about the 9 month check-up....as we were leaving Dr. Leonard says see you in 3 months for their 1 year check up!!!! I felt like some one punched me in the stomach....ONE YEAR???? He couldn't be talking about my babies, in my mind they are still newborns not on the verge of being a year old!!!! But, he was talking about my babies and they are well on their way to being a year old! Some days it seems as if I was just pregnant yesterday and others I can't remember life before them!

When they were newborns all everyone would say is just wait until they are mobile! I would think to myself when someone said that...it can't be worse than feeding every 3 hours or this sleep deprivation...well I don't know if it is worse, but it is equally exhausting! As I posted on facebook once....I would love to be able to go back and have a conversation with my pre-baby self and just laugh at how tired and busy I thought I was back then!!! I had no idea what tired and busy was in those days, but I have a pretty good understanding now!

We celebrated our first Christmas together as a family! It was very exciting and fun, but at the same time it was exhausting (do you see a theme here???). Our holidays have always included many stops, but add into all those stops loading and unloading 20lb babies into the mix and the result is pure exhaustion! This year I didn't have a whole lot of time to shop, so I did a little internet shopping and then I employed elves to go and shop for me and all I had to do was write the check when they came back with my treasures! It was kinda nice I'm not gonna lie!! Thanks Mom and Matt for being my elves!

Santa was good to G & L bringing them walker toys to help them practice their walking skills and also for them to have races down our hallway! We started some traditions this year with wearing Christmas PJs and doing stockings (Chad made fun of their Pjs but I thought they were cute)




I was a bad mom/photographer and did NOT get a pic of them in front of our tree but I did manage to get a pic of all 4 of us in front of my mom's tree!

A few things about this pic jump out at me...first the look of pure exhaustion in both my and Chad's face, second SHOES....for the first time my babies wore shoes!! Some have heard me say it before, I don't have time to keep track of shoes so we just don't wear them (nor does L wear hair bows for the same reason), but what better day to wear shoes than Christmas! HA!

9 month tid bits....

We finally are getting teeth (wow I just read the last few lines you would think my babies were from WV... no shoes or teeth) Liza has two and Graham one...no pics because they don't like to show off their pearly whites!

We still are NOT sleeping through the night! If you would have told me when they were newborns that we would be 9 months and not sleeping through the night I might have died! Noone eats through the night, one or both are up at least once usually 2-3 times through the night, hence the exhausted look in the above pic!

Still breastfeeding....unbelievable that is all I'm going to say about that!

The babies saw their first snow...no pics and they didn't go out in it but they saw it! (All the snow before Christmas reminds me of being pregnant because Lord knows we had enough snow last winter)

Unsolicited advice....I had a complete stranger approach me while I had both babies by myself and tell me that they were to big for me to carry in their infant carriers! That I just needed to ditch them and carry them! Thanks Lady....but how do you suggest I transport both of them by myself if I don't have them in the carriers! I'll be the first to admit they are heavy...I just smiled at her and thanked her for her advice! It is so funny the advice people feel the need to give!

Alas...I am starting to knit again! Yay!

Next month New Year's Resolutions (I have a bunch), if I were to bet WALKING, and hopefully a completed knitting project!

8 months

Month number eight is in the books! As you can tell it is becoming increasingly harder to get a decent pic of both of them at the same time!





Also as evidence by the above pics they are not only mobile, but they can pull themselves up and stand! Liza is daring enough to let go and stand for a few seconds by herself and then will plop down on her bottom! Graham on the other hand holds on for dear life!!! Now that we have hit mobility there is definitely not a dull moment! They are both on the move and usually in different directions, making it very interesting for Chad and I to try to contain them! I need to cancel my gym membership because I'm pretty sure that I run enough around my house to count as a workout (not really but it sure does feel like it), plus who has time to go to the gym! We did get a large gate that I lovingly call "baby jail" but of course they would prefer to have free reign of the whole house!

Now that they are mobile we are seeing more and more of each of their personalities! Liza is definitely what I call "alpha twin"!!! She is in charge and is most definitely the boss and Graham doesn't seem to mind! What woman isn't in charge and the boss???? Graham is happy to yield to her and sit back and follow her lead! Other than rolling over L has hit all other milestones first and G has quickly followed suit. If Liza drives like she crawls, our insurance premiums are sure to sky rocket when she is 16!!! When something catches her eye, she is full steam ahead until she reaches her goal. If something stands between her and what she wants she goes right over top of them or it (including Graham), not around, overtop! More than a couple time she has pulled G down or climbed over top of him and he just watches with a look on his face as if to say that's my sister! Graham on the other hand crawls like he is on a Sunday stroll, not in any hurry to get any place in particular! Chad often tells G as he is crawling around following L..."Hey Graham....I wouldn't hang out with her if I was you...she is just going to get you in trouble!"....and he is probably right...I can already envision G coming home from school after getting in trouble for fighting and him telling me that he was just finishing a fight that Liza started!!!!

The one time of day that they are usually headed in the same direction is when I come through the door from work. As soon as they hear my voice even if they can't see me and I can't see them I can hear the slap of their hand and knees on our hardwood floors racing to see who can get to me first! When they get to me on is climbing one leg while the other is climbing my other....it warms my heart to say the least!!! Definitely one of my fav times of the day!

For their first Halloween G & L were Ketchup and Mustard!


This month they also celebrated their first Thanksgiving and ate turkey and homemade noodles!!! But from the looks of these pics their fingers tasted just as good!



This month also saw Chad go out of town for the first time since the babies were born, leaving me to parent all by myself!!! Now I use the term "by myself" loosely because my parents were here most of the time, but man it was still exhausting! By the end of the week we all (my parents included) were ready for Chad to return! I now have a new found respect for all my single parent friends....I'm not sure how you do it, but you guys certainly rock in my book! Of course, the week Chad was gone was probably the worst sleeping week the babies had, but in the end we all survived and I am now quietly plotting my escape sometime in the near future....and then it is daddy's turn to man the house and the babies. I'm sure that is when they will decide to sleep through the night and I'll return home to Chad saying this is easy...I don't know why you think it's so hard with a grin on his face!!!

For the last 3 years, Chad and I have enjoyed season WVU basketball tickets. Many have asked if we were going to sit this year out with the babies being so young! The answer is NO, we may regret it, but we will be there all 4 of us! At this point we have been to a couple of games and it is a bit of work getting there and we definitely have more "stuff", so if you attend any WVU home games and you see a circus in section 8...it is probably just us!

I'll end with my fav pic of me and the babies...it was taken by Shelley at photos by design...Next month hopefully teeth (we have none so far), more mobility, Christmas!