One Year Old!

Zed and Alice are one! Crazy! It has been a wonderful/hard/amazing/humbling year. It's so fun to watch them grow and learn new things and see their likes and dislikes and personalities.

As a one-year-old, Zed 29 inches tall and weighs 21 pounds, 12 ounces. He is a blonde still, and looking at baby pictures of his daddy, I can definitely see some resemblances between him and Adam. His eyes are mostly green, with some blue in them. He has two teeth and we expect more any day now. He continues to be our sweet Snuggle Bear and gives great hugs.
Some of Zed's favorite things are:

• walking laps around the house
• swinging on the swings
• riding in his Radio Flyer wagon
• wrestling with pillows or Mommy or Daddy
• laughing
• playing Peek-a-Boo
• poking Mommy in the eyes
• eating pancakes!

Alice is 28 inches tall and weighs 17 pounds, 1 ounce. She's so tiny, but she doesn't seem to know that. She can totally hold her own with Zed and is very strong. She's our little brunette and also has mostly green with a little bit of blue eyes. She has two teeth. She is still our sweet little pretty girl and I love the fact that she really likes to sit on my lap a lot lately.
Some of Alice's favorite things are:

• riding in her Radio Flyer wagon, or the stroller, or a shopping cart, or a box, or a laundry basket, or anything that anyone will pull or push her around in
• pushing her toy shopping cart or a box or a laundry basket or anything that she decides needs to move around the floor
• playing in water--she likes the bathtub, her kiddie pool and sprinkler, and the local splash pad
• walking/almost running, especially when she can leap into Mommy's or Daddy's arms at the end
• eating pizza (she has actually only done this once, but she loved it and got upset that I wasn't giving her pieces quickly enough!)
• swinging on the swings 
• pulling Mommy's hair
• dancing! She just started doing this recently; she has always enjoyed music but now she is definitely swaying back and forth when she hears it. So cute!

Zed and Alice usually play really well together. Like all siblings, or small children, they do sometimes fight over toys or who gets to sit on my lap, but for the most part they are really good together. It's so fun to hear them giggle and babble to each other and see them reach out for each other. For example, sometimes when they are in their high chairs to eat, they just HAVE to reach out and touch each other's hands or arms for some reason. I love seeing them do laps--they just walk around and around and around. I love seeing them learn and am constantly amazed at the things that they've figured out--just when I think surely I've outsmarted them on something, they prove me wrong. I love holding them and hugging them, and I think they're both perfect in their oppositeness; Zed's my stocky, snuggler boy (and yes, my arms get tired holding him sometimes) and Alice is my tiny, monkey girl, but they're both just right exactly as they are. I love, love, love being their mom. It's been the hardest, most humbling, most amazing, most wonderful experience of my life and I love every little hug and smile and giggle.

Happy Birthday!

How on earth has it been one year (and three weeks, since I'm a little behind in blogging cuz I've been busy living life instead of writing about it!) since Zed and Alice were born???

Zed and Alice got to have two birthday parties, which was lots of fun. We did a star theme, with some dangly star decorations.

We also had cupcakes that we arranged into star shapes.You can kinda see both the blue and pink cupcakes here.

Zed does not look nearly as happy about his cupcake as you'd expect. He was a little nervous having so many people around.

We were worried Alice might try to grab the flame, but she actually didn't even try!

Our handsome little birthday boy! 

And our beautiful little birthday girl!

Adam Stories

Me: "They had Duck Dynasty stuff at Walmart, and they had cups, but they were GREEN!" (Uncle Si's ever-present cup is blue...maybe blue-ish green-ish, but definitely not the yellow-green of the Wal-Mart cup)
Adam: "Maybe his started out as green. They should do testing on that thing, if he's had it since Vietnam."

People from Juab County in Utah have a slightly different way of speaking. Some of the things I've heard from them: Chimley (instead of chimney), I've went (instead of I've gone), theirselves (instead of themselves), and ambleance (instead of ambulance). One day, Adam said something he learned in Juab and I sighed and said, "Before I die, I'm going to get the Juab out of you." His response? "Good luck."

Me (after looking from my plate to Adam's and back): "How is it that in the time you've eaten three green beans, I've eaten my whole meal?"
Adam: "Mm-hmm."
Me: "What?"
Adam: "I'm friends with Mountain Man.'" (from Duck Dynasty)
Me: "Oh, I see. Well, I'm not getting you a grape slush."

A couple days after that conversation, Adam and I were eating dinner. I had finished my plateful and went in the living room to check on something. When I came back several minutes later, Adam still had half a plateful of food.
Me: "Is that your first plate?"
Adam: "No, it's my second. I'm slow, but I'm not that slow." :)

Me: "What are we going to do for the babies for Valentine's Day?"
Adam: "I don't know. What does Pinterest tell us to do?"

Me, doing a little online shopping: "Twenty-nine dollars for a bath rug?!"
Adam: "I could paint a rug on the floor for a lot less than that."
Me: "Don't even think about it."
Adam: "If I told you about it, obviously I've already thought about it. And it's a good idea."

Nine Months Old!

Zed and Alice are nine (and a half) months old! At their 9-month checkup, Zed was about 27.5 inches (21st percentile) and weighed 19 pounds, 4 ounces (44th percentile). Alice was about 26.5 inches (15th percentile) and weighed 15 pounds, 3 ounces (7th percentile). So, they are both still on the small side for their age--in Alice's case, really small.
However, they are both healthy and happy and strong. They started crawling on January 3rd, within 30 minutes of each other. Alice crawled to reach a toy; Zed crawled when we put a plate of food on the floor and told him he could have some if he crawled to it--which he did...and grabbed a big handful of food. From there, they just took off. Both crawled over to see Ruby in her pen as soon as they got a chance. They quickly learned to pull themselves up to a stand and then, as long as they're holding onto something, walk around. They certainly keep Adam and me busy! They are fast, and Zed especially likes to have us chase him. Earlier this week, they each stood on their own for a few seconds, but they aren't doing that consistently...yet.
Both Zed and Alice like "real" food more than baby food. Zed is a little piggy and we're pretty sure he'll be a Chubby Bunny champ someday (Chubby Bunny is a game where you stuff as many marshmallows as possible in your mouth all at once) since he is always cramming as much food as he can into his mouth! Alice is better about waiting 'til she swallows to put more in. Her favorite food is ham, we think. Zed's favorite food is everything.
Both Alice and Zed have enjoyed moving from the baby tub to the big bathtub. They like to splash each other and kick their feet and have us hold them on their backs and help them float. They have lots of fun in the tub and we have lots of fun watching them. Alice especially is a little water baby and loves, loves, loves being in the tub.
Zed cut his first tooth earlier this week, and Alice looks like she's got two that will be here soon!
Both babies continue to bring so much joy to us. They are super sweet and cuddly and we love them to bits and pieces!

**Alice has her first tooth, too! It's just barely poking through as of this afternoon.

Zed's and Alice's First Christmas!

Okay, I'm waaaaaay behind in blogging, but we've been super busy! But for those who are interested, here's a little bit of our Christmas celebration.

It was super fun getting ready for Christmas this year. I have to say, Adam is not the most fun person to give gifts to--he's always appreciative, but he's not the type to get very excited. And since I end up picking out half of my own gifts, I'm not the most fun, either! But this year, I had tons of fun shopping for Zed and Alice and wrapping their presents. Even though they were a little young to know what was going on, I loved helping them open presents and reading the Christmas story to them.

Here are our stockings, all ready to go!

Christmas tree

Alice and Zed, ready to open their first presents!

 Alice in front of the tree

 Zed in front of the tree

 Alice and Zed with their gifts from Grandma Potter--some fun little bugs and some onesies

 Zed and Alice with their presents from Grandma and Grandpa Perry:  a toy workbench, a box of food (notice what Zed is reaching for!), a toy laptop and a toy kitchen set!

 Zed with his turtle (it crawls and says, "Crawl with me, Baby!")

 Alice with her Laugh and Learn Puppy

Alice and Zed helping me open my present from them: the Willow Tree "Two Together" set--twins! And it's funny, they are just like Zed and Alice--one has his hand in his mouth (like Zed) and one is holding onto her foot (like Alice).

 Zed and Alice with their present for Daddy--a calendar with pictures of them :)

 

Adam with his griddle...which I was so proud of keeping hidden since, like, July. Turns out, he saw it before Christmas :(

 Alice at Grandma and Grandpa Everitt's house

 Zed at Grandma and Grandpa Everitt's house

 Merry Christmas!

Six Months Old

Zed and Alice are six months old! (Okay, six and a half by the time I'm actually blogging.) It's crazy to think how fast the past six months have flown by!
Right now, they both have the second cold of their little lifetimes, but other than that, they are very healthy.We recently had nearly two weeks with horrible sleeping--hours and hours of crying and refusing to be consoled no matter what we did. Luckily, the past couple nights have been better.

Both Zed and Alice have been getting up on their hands and knees, trying to figure out how to crawl. They haven't figured it out quite yet...which is probably good because Adam and I need more time to babyproof the house! They're pretty close, though. They're also doing really well with eating baby food.

Zed is still our happy little snuggle bear. At his six month checkup, he was 26 inches long (24th percentile--huge jump for him!) and weighed 16 pounds, 5 ounces (27th percentile--also a big jump). He is very strong and so sweet. It's so fun listening to his laugh. His eyes, which were dark blue at birth, are now a light blue-green. They're looking greener every day. He lost most of his hair for awhile, but it's back now, a light golden brown. He loves being held and just being around people. Lately, if one of us is holding him, he likes to keep turning to see where the other one is. He really likes playing peek-a-boo. He also likes it when I toss a blanket over him and then pull it off really quickly. Recently, I had him in the pack-n-play and he was on his tummy. I knelt by the side and would peek my head over the top and say "Boo!" which had him laughing hysterically. Well, a couple days later, he was in the pack-n-play again and he would lower himself down and then push himself up and peek up at me--like he was playing peek-a-boo! I started saying "boo" when he'd look over the top and he laughed and laughed and we had so much fun.

Alice is still our little mover. At her six month check up, she was 25.25 inches long (24th percentile) and weighed 13 pounds, 11 ounces (9th percentile--which is actually down from the 14th percentile at her 4 month checkup). She's tiny but strong! She loves to lie on her back and then lift up her head and legs in a little jack-knife position, which she can hold for a long time. She is also a staring contest champ--she never blinks! She also loves to have someone hold her up and then jump up and down, over and over and over. Her eyes were dark blue at birth, then changed to a dark gray (basically black), then to a light blue...and now, they are starting to get hints of green in them. Her hair has grown back in much lighter than it was at birth; it's brown but has sort of a silvery element to it (I don't really know how to explain it, but it's Zed's definitely has a golden tone and Alice's has a silvery tone). Recently, she has been giggling whenever I make snorting noises at her; she just giggles and giggles and it's so fun.

Zed and Alice continue to be super cute together. They look at each other and smile a lot; it's so sweet to see how they light up when they look at each other. They also will give each other kisses and Zed has blown raspberries on Alice's back a couple times!

There aren't even words to describe how amazing it is being their mom. They are so sweet and happy and Adam and I are beyond blessed to have these little cuties for our babies.

Happy Halloween!

Normally, I am not a Halloween person. I don't care about costumes, I've never been trick or treating, and I'd be fine with eliminating Halloween altogether. However, now that I'm a mom, I figure I'll enjoy Halloween for the kids' sake. Plus, it's fun dressing the kids up. So, we had fun with dressing up in our homemade costumes. Since I already had an Egyptian costume from when Rick Riordan visited the library (check out this post if you missed the details on the costume construction), we picked an Egyptian theme. We made a gold cape-thing and took the blue cape-thing from my original costume and gave it to Adam (since it was more manly than the gold one). Adam just wore a large black shirt and shorts to look sort of like an Egyptian tunic thing and spray-painted some chain gold to be a necklace. Zed and Alice got to be mummies. I actually had two white sleepers and hats handed down to me from friends. We took those and sewed strips of old t-shirts to them to make their costumes. They kind of look like they're unraveling a little bit...
Anyway, I think they're the cutest mummies ever and I'm glad Adam was a good sport about helping make the costumes and even wearing one.