"First Time!!"

A few months ago Ella learned how to close the lid on her toy laptop. She was so proud of herself. She'd let you open it and then she would shut it with such enthusiasm and then look at you for approval. So cute. She started this one afternoon and we played this game for almost an hour.
The next afternoon Matt was playing with the babies and said, "Laura, look what I taught Ella to do!". Sure enough she was closing the laptop. I felt bad, but I told him she had started it the day before (I left out the part where I had actually taught her). I could tell he was disappointed, it must be hard to miss so many "firsts" because he is at work.
That's when I started lying. The next few times he thought he was witnessing something new, I would say "That's the first time". He figured me out pretty quickly and we laughed. So, now whenever anyone thinks the babies are doing something for the first time we shout, "First time!!!" and everyone laughs.
Since I am with them 99.9% of the time I usually do get to witness the first time experiences- until this week. The other day Bradley was playing with his race car toy that spins around and shoots the cars out. He was then picking up the car and putting it back on the spinny thing. I was so excited, I called Matt to tell him about our little man's accomplishment. Let's just say I was surprised to hear a big "First time!!!".

2010

It comes as no shock to anyone if I say 2010 was the best year ever!! My beautiful babies were born and I landed my dream job (being a stay-at-home mommy)! I'm very excited to see what 2011 holds.

Our resolutions for 2011:

Matt:
- Go to Mass
- Lose 20 lbs (he'll accomplish this- he loses weight very quickly. We all hate him)

Laura:
- Eat more vegetables
- Reduce monthly food budget (this has actually been really fun so far, I am officially a couponer!)
- Stick to house cleaning schedule (our house was so clean before we had babies)

Here's to another great year!

Personality...

One of my favorite things to do is just watch. I like to watch the babies interact with everyone, especially each other. Their personalities pour out of them when they are together. Bradley is very assertive and adventurous. Ella is much more laid back and curious.
Today, before their nap we were playing in their room and they both wanted to see their new walking toy (I divided the Christmas toys up so I could rotate them when they seemed bored). Ella was carefully inspecting some of the parts that move and Bradley just pushed her out of the way! You'd think Ella would get upset or fight back, but she's not that kind of girl. She just finds something else to look at.
When Bradley started crawling he quickly learned he could steal whatever toy Ella had and run away with it. Since she wasn't mobile she figured out if she held the toy above her head he couldn't reach it. Bradley would get so frustrated and start looking at me like, "Well, aren't you going to get it from her?
I can't wait for them to start "talking" to each other on a regular basis. I keep hearing stories about twins that have their own language. So far they don't really acknowledge the other one unless the have too. Maybe because they are boy/girl they won't have the same bond as other twins. I can't wait to find out!

Pulling up!!

Although this milestone happened weeks ago, I thought I would devote an entry to it anyway. Here's the scene: Matt and I are sitting on the couch watching Bradley try to play with the toys on his walker (keep in mind he wasn't in the walker, but on the floor next to it). He was sitting on the floor and all of a sudden grabbed the tray and up he went. Matt and I were so excited, but didn't want to scare or distract him with screaming, instead we were flailing our arms around (mostly me, I was trying to motion for him to get me the camera). I was able to get a couple good shots and we are so proud our little man!

Ella was sleeping during Bradley's triumph, but we think he must have used his twin telepathy to let her know he was one step ahead. The next morning (when Bradley was napping) I had just finished folding laundry, I looked over and Ella was standing!! I couldn't believe it! I grabbed the camera and took pictures for about 10 minutes, just enough time for her to unfold all the laundry. We are so proud of our baby girl!

Do lions eat giraffes??

This Halloween the most asked question in our family was "Don't lions eat giraffes?". Luckily for us our lion didn't eat our giraffe.

Twins

Having twins has been an amazing experience! Before they were born people really scared us with all the horror stories...basically letting us know we would be exhausted beyond belief. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. The most tired and cranky I felt was before Ella came home and it was just Bradley and me. It was such a relief to have them both home and I was adamant about keeping them on a schedule. So, if one baby said they were hungry...they both ate! I'm almost thankful people made it seem like it would be worse than it actually was.
Ella and Bradley are so lucky to have each other! When they were newborns, they loved to cuddle and now that they are getting older they love to laugh together. It's true that they have some sort of twin telepathy. I wish I were a twin!

1 week

First day home together

7 weeks

5 1/2 months

8 months

8 months

Great Grandparents

Our children are so lucky to have 4 great grandparents, including one complete set! Most of our family lives here in Colorado, but Matt's Grammy and Grampy reside in Georgia. Normally we visit every year in April, but this year we had 2 month old babies and weren't ready for such an adventure. Instead we planned our trip in October (which might become the new tradition because Georgia is beautiful this time of year).
A couple of days before the trip Bradley finally rolled from his back to his stomach and while we were visiting Grammy and Grampy he started doing the "log roll". I was so happy he waited, so they could see him hit this milestone!

Bradley was rolling all over the place!

Grammy and Bradley

 

4 generations

Great Grandparents!

Ella and Grandpa