11 Month Old Twins

We are only one month away from the girls' birthday!!! Does that seem nuts to anyone else? A year ago Nate and I were hanging out in the hospital in Little Rock thinking our babies would be here any day. (Of course, they built up a whole lot of suspense before they finally made their debut a month later.) I would never want to repeat my experience in Little Rock, especially not my exorbitant helicopter ride, but I'm so grateful to now have two healthy 11 month old babies!

I made these adorable pillowcase dresses using some cute fat quarters my MIL gave me. 

Eden: Sweet little Eden has a pair of lungs on her! She used to not care when sister stole her toys but now, she lets out a shriek anytime Lydia touches whatever she is holding. That's great that she's standing up for herself, but perhaps it would be better if she expressed herself a bit quieter! She loves stuffed animals and we always have a small one in the crib with her. (I know, I know, suffocation hazard.) It's nice when she wakes up to hear her babbling to her little friend rather than crying for me to come get her. Eden also loves waving at people. She waves at Grandma when we video chat so she's gotten a little bit confused and will wave at people on the tv sometimes. She also waved at a picture of Jesus at church on Sunday but I don't think she was confused when she did that. She cut her two top teeth this month as well so she has four teeth now.

Lydia: As mentioned above, Lydia still likes to steal Eden's toys. It doesn't matter if we have two of the exact same toy, she wants the one Eden's holding! I don't want to paint Lydia as a mean bully, because she really is still my sweet Cuddle Bug. In the mornings after I nurse them, I usually bring them into bed for some time with Daddy before he goes to work. Eden usually crawls all around, but Lydia will lay her head down on your chest and just snuggle! Lydia loves books! She always gets an extra story before nap time and she is often found flipping through the pages of a book on her own. Still no sign of top teeth for Lydia so she still just has her two bottom teeth.

It's never a good sign when things get quite in the nursery!

Pre-Walkers: Both girls pull themselves up on the furniture. Lydia has started doing some "couch surfing" and taking a few steps while holding on. I thought walking was a ways off for us, and it may still be, but it could be right around the corner.

Sleep: I am thrilled to report that we have seen a dramatic improvement with naps. Don't get me wrong, they still (frequently!) only take short power naps but we have had quite a few days were one or both of their naps are at least an hour long and sometimes an hour and a half! I feel like we've had enough of those good days to declare it's not a fluke; the girls are learning to take naps! It's nowhere close to perfect but it's also no where close to the mess it was before. They've also figured out that I will not be getting up with them at 5:30 AM, so we've thankfully moved our wake up time closer to 7:00 again.

They LOVE the water! We've had so much fun taking them to the water park, splash pad, and the backyard pool all summer long. 

Birthday: With their birthday right around the corner, I'm wondering how to celebrate such an occasion. I don't want to make a big fuss, but at the same time I think it's a very big deal that all four of us have survived this first year!! I'm curious to hear what other people did to celebrate their baby's first birthday.