2... they're almost TWO!!!!!!

It's decided.  I'm terrible at keeping up with this blog.

The babies are turning 2 in less than two weeks!!  That's nuts.  It was just yesterday when I was swaddling them and putting them in their rocker beds, wasn't it??? It's like I blinked and here they are repeating the letters of the alphabet after I say them.  It's just crazy.  Crazy for me encompasses so many things- crazy hard, crazy amazing, crazy wonderful... just crazy.  :)

I couldn't possibly update everything they've been up to in order since my last update post.  So I'll just write a general thing. I apologize in a advance.. the paragraphs are going to be ugly... I'm just going to write things as they come.

Alton.  That boy.  He is SUCH.A.GOOD.BOY!!  He eats well, sleeps well, most fun person to tickle in the entire world, LOVES hugs and is constantly asking for them, he blows fist kisses (he's a manly man haha), loves Ashlyn so much, loves sleeping, loves music and we have just started to realize that he is constantly singing- we just hear gibberish most of the time- and then we'll hear a phrase like "All through town"  aka: wheels on the bus- all through the town.  His favorite song to sing at bedtime is "popcorn popping".  I'll never have to worry about him getting dehydrated ever- he loves drinking his water.  He LOVES cars and trains.  I'm not surprised in the least.  Other than it being a boy thing- he has always loved spinning things.  He loves going on walks to see the ducks.  We've been working on animal noises.. but so far, he is convinced that every animal says "Moo" haha... we'll get there, buddy.  He likes to count to 3 on his own... esp if we are doing something that makes us say "Go!" after 3 :)  In the last few months he has run through 2 finish lines with me :)  a 10k race and a marathon yesterday.  As we were "running" to the finish yesterday he kept saying "go! go!" the whole time with a big fat kid grin.  So magical.  He loves Elmo.  He loves watching baby signing time videos.  He doesn't often sign the signs- but he will say the words.  There are times where he will sign something out of the blue and it's awesome!  Right now he loves a segment that has to do with shoes, socks, a coat and a hat :)  Speaking of shoes, he loves it when we are going somewhere because it means we put our shoes on.  He will go gather his shoes and Ashlyn's shoes and will bring them to me.  Or if he already has his shoes on, he will bring Ashlyn her shoes.  He's very thoughtful.  Loves riding in the car.  Loves "ring around the rosie" and laughs so hard when it's time to "all fall down".  He loves the christmas tree and he is always pointing it out and says "tree!".  He often grabs his kitchen play toys and will bring plates and cups to the table and he will sit there and pretend that he is having his own little.. um.. party?  lol, he will tip his water cup over into a play cup and will pretend to drink from it.  It's really fun to watch.  Every door has to be shut.  If it's open, he will shut it lol.  He likes to hide in cabinets.  Only, he's not so good at it.  He can shut the doors for the most part and lets his feet peek through.  He loves the vacuum.  It's a canister vacuum and he will follow it around and will press buttons as I go... turning it on or off or the button that retracts the cord lol.. it drives me crazy, but some day I will miss it.  So for now, he is my vacuum buddy haha.

Ashlyn.  Where do I even start.  Our sweet wild child.  I fear for her teens haha.  She is a smart cookie. Jon calls her crafty :)  She has come so far with her eating struggles.  There are still a few things we are working on, but we are so blessed to have such a healthy little girl.  Lately she hasn't been the best napper- that can get hard sometimes.  Ashlyn also loves music.  When we go for walks I play the frozen sound track and she selectively sings along.  She repeats certain words or phrases.  It's so so so cute!! She loves Olaf.. aka "Owawf", Elsa, Elmo, Mickey, Minnie Mouse... yes, she says only Mickey.. but has to say "minnie mouse" haha.  She also has to take minnie, mickey and puppy to bed with her.  Quite the party!! :)  This is nothing new, but she still is our bookworm.  She LOVES books.  I feel like we have books everywhere (not really a bad thing).. and our backseat is like her own personal library haha... better than food and crumbs, right?  She also loves magazines.. sorry.. "mas-a-seen" :)  I let her look through all of my "family fun" ones and she happily turns the pages.  Often with the magazines or books she will come over to me and grab my hand and drag it to something on the page and says "s'at?" aka.. "what's that".. at least I'm assuming that's what she means?  She loves to point out trees and flowers on our walks.  Oh, how can I forget.  Her blankets.  This girl is a blanket queen.  Our own Linus!  She has always called it "bahtee" no idea where that came from.. however, now she can say blanket ("Bangket") and will call it "bangket" and then she will smile and say "bahtee"... so weird.  Thank goodness that any aden and anais blanket will pass for her "bahtee"  so if we ever lose one, we can replace it really easily.  She is very friendly and will say hello to everyone.  She does get shy- but after about 5 minutes she's telling you her whole life story in her own language- filled with hand and arm gestures lol she is very animated.  She also loves baby signing time.  She is so good at signing and saying the words.  I am grateful for those videos.  They have helped so much.  She loves everything about it, but right now I think one of her favorite parts is where it talks about transportation the section is called "here I go".. they talk about cars, bikes, trains, airplanes... and she likes to say "He I go!" :)  A few days ago on our walk we passed a little kid's bike in someones driveway and she was all excited and was signing and saying "bike! bike!".  Toys- she loves blocks, cars dolls... she's not super into one thing- which is good I guess.  She doesn't focus long enough to stick with something... unless it's a book :)  She can jump!  She likes to show it off and she gets both feet off the floor!  She also loves to dance.  She's great at repeating letters and numbers.  I'm not sure either Alton or Ashlyn understand that they're saying letters and numbers, but it's a start nonetheless :)  She loves to sweep.  She's constantly sneaking into the pantry to get the broom.  She has wicked curly hair!! I'm almost afraid to cut it- I don't want her to lose her curls!! She tends to mess with it so much that she constantly looks like a mad scientist... a cute mad scientist :)  She is so so so good about saying please (peeeash) :)

Thanks for reading :)  Again, I apologize at the ugliness of the paragraphs... I just needed to write this out before I forgot to do it!  The faster the better!!  I'll see if Jon will add his own thoughts too :)

Items that helped us survive the first year

This post has been a long time coming (don't ask how long it took me to finish this post).  I am constantly being asked about baby gear or things that we couldn't live without during the babies first year.  I know that I did my own research while I was pregnant and I often came up empty or things that were being recommended were from mom's with only one baby.  Now before you go crazy on me about the "only one baby" comment.. hear me out.  When you are buying two of almost everything- one of the goals is to keep things as inexpensive as possible.  Yes, you should always look for the best deals and not spend a lot.. blah blah blah... but I think when you don't have multiple babies, there are things that you can justify splurging on... because you only need one.  A nice car seat for $250- why not?? It's the safest.. blah blah blah... well.. when you all of a sudden have 2 babies.. that's $500!!  Yikes!  So, that's what I mean by "only one baby".  Trust me, all you mommies out there are tough cookies.

Anyways... Jon and I made up a list of things that we felt were lifesavers to get through this year.  Due to the lack of time I have to be able to concentrate on things like blog posts... none of this is organized haha... we just wrote things down as they came.. so I'm just typing it all out.  Sorry.... well, not sorry :)  oh- and also, there is probably more stuff we could've put down... maybe I'll have to do a "part two" at some point.  Also I need to note that I haven't been paid to talk about any of these products.  These are just my own personal opinions on things we bought ourselves.  If any one wants to send us items to review... we wouldn't complain! :)

-Fisher-Price Newborn Rock 'N Play Sleeper

The babies slept in these for the first 3 months.  After the first 3 months they went to cribs, but we still used these all the time for a while- esp if we took them to Jon's parents house.  They would use them for naps.  Hands down- one of my favorite things we bought.  Actually, both of the ones we had were used and they were both pink.. sorry, Alton :)  These were fantastic because of all the reflux problems we had.  It helped made the babies more comfortable.  I also think it really helped Ashlyn before we found out she had an underdeveloped larynx.. but that's a whole other story.  Our bedroom is next to our living room, so the babies slept in the living room in these things.  There was maybe one or two nights that they slept in our room, but it was because the power went out during the winter time and our room is the warmest in the house.  These are super portable.  I would buy these again in heartbeat.  They were easy to clean and wash too.  

-Kiddopotamus Snuzzler Complete Head and Body Support

If look in the above pictures, the babies are snuggled in tight with this insert.  The babies were a little over 5lbs at birth and they kind've sunk into the rockers.  So, we put this insert in them to help them not sink and to help them feel more secure.  I honestly think it helped them sleep better!

-Plug in swing

I can't find the one we got.... but I think this is the pink version of it

Er.Me.Gersh. Alton needed to be put in a swing for a looong time when he needed help calming down.  I would often avoid our swing with batteries because I was worried about the life of the batteries.. seriously... that was the last thing I needed to worry about.  So, we invested in a plug in swing.. Again.. a used item that we got off of a craigslist type site on facebook that's just for our city.  We still use it for the music :)

-DaVinci Mini Cribs

I love normal cribs.. but having two in the same room is just a lot of furniture.  I love these cribs.  They were worth it.  There aren't very many bedding choices in the big box stores, but etsy has a ton.  I ended up sewing my own sheets out of broadcloth (and after 17months... they still are in great shape! I have the tutorial/pattern if anyone wants it).  I also made my own crib skirts too.  Babies are almost 17mo old and still have plenty of room to grow.   We used this mattress and it fits perfectly!  Also- they make mesh liners for mini cribs too.

-Swaddlers

These are lifesavers.  Enough said.

-Foscam

Don't waste your money on a baby video monitor.  Too expensive.  We got this one- it's a night vision camera.  We can connect to it only in our home through our network on our phones, tablets and computer.  It's nice to be able to see what's going on instead of risking waking them up over nothing!

-Bath slings

No need to spend a ton of money on a small tub for your kid!  These were amazing!  We first used them on the counter in our bathroom and then we moved them into the tub.  They fit in them for quite a while.  When they were able to sit up on their own/crawl we retired the slings.  They fold up too and are easy to store!  

-Boba carriers

I cannot say enough good things about this carrier!  It folds up into itself so it's excellent to travel with!  We recently flew out to see my family in NH and this was a need.  It can be used as a front or back carrier.  It fit Jon who is about 6'3" just as well as it fit me at 4'11".  The arm straps are adjustable so you can customize the fit.

-If doing formula (esp for multiples) Dr. Brown pitchers

Just imagine- 6-8 feedings per kid every day... yep.  That was A.LOT. of formula.  So we would make it the night before and we kept the pitcher in the fridge and we would pour it out as needed.  Oh... I should add, we had two pitchers lol... so.much.formula.... lol.  I don't even want to know how much we spent on formula.. anyways, get the pitcher.  It'll keep you sane :)

-Rent your pump from the hospital!  More powerful!  Don't spend a ton of money on a pump- it's not worth it.  I rented mine for 4 months.  

-Fisher price rocking chair  AKA: the buzz chair :)

This thing was awesome.  It was a lifesaver.  Not only was it entertaining for the babies... it also helped them poop when they were constipated.  No really.  When one of them was having troubles, we put them in the rocker, turned on the vibration and within 15 mins... they pooped... when they hadn't pooped in a while.. and you could tell they were having problems.  We only bought one of these and it was just fine only having one.  Alton spent the most time in the chair lol.... 

-Sign up for Amazon mom.  It's free for 3 months and then it'll turn into amazon prime.  It's so worth it.  I didn't leave the house for the first few months... diapers and wipes were reasonably priced and if you do the subscribe and save- you save even more.  Delivered in 2 days- free shipping.  Worth it.

-Swaddler blankets (aden and anais)- these are still favorites.  We received these as a gift and I am so thankful because I wasn't going to splurge on them- however, looking back knowing what I know now- I would buy them myself in a heartbeat and splurge.  Ashlyn is always carrying them around the house.  She calls them her "bahtee"  aka: blanket... don't ask me how those two words are supposed to sound the same :)

  

-Sleep sacks.  Invest in these.  Once the kids didn't want to be swaddled any more, they still needed to stay warm and this was a sure way to know they'd stay warm in bed.  The blanket wouldn't fall off.  They can stand up in them, but walking is a different story.  I think these have helped prevented any crib escapes.  Win.

-Baby Einstein- My kids love this.  Baby motzart.  Who knows why.  There was a time where they would only drink their bottles if this was on.  We had a lot of feeding problems.  I now only put this on when I'm desperate.  Like if I'm cooking dinner and I need the kids to be entertained.  I think it's only 3-4x a week that they watch this now.  So, not a big deal.

15 month update :)

Just a quick update of the kiddos :)

15 months!!

These two just keep getting cuter and sweeter.  We have our moments, but for the most part, we have been so blessed with two really amazing kids.

Taken on Jon's birthday March 13th

Alton is such a boy.  We call him our little dump truck.  Okay, that might sound weird... but really, he is.  Nothing he does has any finesse and Jon says he "bumbles" around when he's walking.  He's so cute though.

He really loves his sister.  Even though he steals her toys and tries to take her glasses off, he has his moments where he shows how much he loves her.  So, he has always given her kisses, but lately, he kisses her hand when they are in their high chairs.  It's so sweet.  Ashlyn will definitely have her brother to look after her for sure.

Alton's vocabulary keeps growing all the time.  I'm just amazed with how well he can say things.  I'll write some words down that he says and I'll try to see if I can write them down the way he says them.

dada, mama (this is new! finally!), tank-oo (thank you), ga-pa (grandpa), buba (sippy cup with milk/bottle), seep (sweep), goo-jaa (good job), peese (please), cheese, bahbee (strawberry), chee-o (cheerio), ah-doo (water), hi, bump (for a fist bump), puppy, sookie, baw (ball), baby, tukee (turkey), teeth ti (teeth time), pay (prayer), mamen (amen- this is new too), sit, bye, tasty, touch down, done, ma (more), bee (bib)...   The kid mimics everything lol... must be careful with what we say :)

Alton LOVES being outside.  He loves taking walks in the stroller and going to the park.  He loves going down slides and swinging.  This last week has been gross and rainy and he always goes up to the garage door and knocks on it and says "bye" and looks at me like "Hey! Let's go!"  Sorry kid... it's raining :(

Toys he's into: his puppy, cars... well, the wheels on cars, blocks, his toy phone and anything he can chew on.

He loves watching wheel of fortune.  It's the only thing that he will sit still for.  It's pretty amazing.

He loves chasing Ashlyn down the hall and they giggle like crazy.  He loves pointing out puppies on our walks.  He doesn't like to cuddle, but he gives the best hugs.

He is my helper.  He will try to sweep for me and likes to shut the pantry door whenever I'm done.  He often will clap for himself and said "good job" or... he claps for me once I've finished with a chore and says good job... why, thank you ;)   Everyone needs their own cheerleader haha

Ashlyn is a wild little girl.  She get's cuter every day.  She is doing wonderful with her glasses still.  We saw her eye doc the other day and the doctor loved her glasses and how they fit and how they were helping her.  She doesn't need a patch right now like he said she might- so that's very good news.

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house :)

She loves wearing necklaces.  So chic :) haha 

She is a very curious little girl.  She wants to discover everything.  She's into pointing at her belly button and pointing at our noses and figuring everything out.  She hates getting her diaper changed lol.  She is our runner.  She runs everywhere she goes.

Toys she's into: blocks.. always blocks, little people farm animals, her "beep beep" aka: their sit/push car, puppy, her doll, balls, toy phone

Words- Ashlyn doesn't say as much as Alton but she says a lot more than she used to lol.  She babbles all the time though with her own little language.  It's really cute. 

dada, mama, puppy, sookie, mamen (amen), touch down, she said cow a few times yesterday, she signs "more", done, ah-doo (water), baba (bottle), beep-beep (for her car), dahwee (dolly), hi, bye, bump, bahbee (strawberry)... I think that's about it

Ashlyn also loves going to the park.  We just have to watch her like a hawk because she'll stuff thick mulch pieces in her mouth haha.

She loves dogs.  She can spot them like a mile away.  She just chants "puppy! puppy!" over and over and I'm like.. sorry kid... no puppy.. and then as we get further down the road, I see the dog she was going nuts about.  It's really cute.

She loves being held and cuddled.  If we are holding Alton she also must be held at the same time. :)  She loves her blankets and walks around with it quiet often.

I cannot get her to really drink from a cup.  She just doesn't care.  She'll suck out of a straw until the liquid gets to her lips and then she stops and just pretends she's sucking.  It's the weirdest thing.  So, bottles are still a must for her.  Rats.  I so wanted to be done with those.  Oh well, every kid is different and goes at their own pace.  She is eating better.  She has her moments of hoarding food in her cheeks and refusing to swallow, but she eventually does.  Progress is progress, right??

Ashlyn Gets Glasses

At the end of January we met with a pediatric ophthalmologist for Ashlyn.  I won't lie, I had no idea what to expect.  I was nervous.  I mean, how can they tell how someone's vision is if the patient can't even talk yet??  I figured that she would probably need glasses.  Jon thought she'd need an eye patch.

There were two parts of the visit.  The first was with a nurse.  We were in a room that was really long.  At the end of the room there was a small tv that the nurse would play different videos.  Ashlyn was all about just looking around because it was a new place! New things to see! The nurse kept telling me to tell Ashlyn to watch the screen... really? Fat chance.  Haha... anyways, one thing that I thought was really neat was that the nurse pulled out this spinning light up toy.  Ashlyn was mesmerized.

The nurse asked me a million questions like "so, percentage wise, how often does Ashlyn's eye cross?"  Uh... not all the time.  Some days it's more often than others?  No idea.  Those questions make me so nervous!  What if I answer wrong?  Then you're panicking going "No wait!  I change my answer!"  would it really change anything?  Who knows!  You all know what I'm talking about.   The quesitons you just want to answer- "Maybe? Sometimes?  I don't know. Yes? No?"

When she was done we went back to a waiting room to wait for the doctor.  He called us back about 20mins later.  He asked me the same questions as the nurse.  Then he pulled out this glass paddle that had different lenses that lined it.  He would turn the lights on and off, use the spinning light up toy to watch her eyes.  Then, he put on his... oh what is it called... not a hat.. but a head piece with a light on it and special glasses.  He turned the lights off and he pointed his flashlight at Ashlyn has he moved his little paddle around to see her eyes through the different lenses.  It was painless.  Ashlyn did really well.

When he was done, he told me that she had Accommodative estropia (her right eye crosses) and she has a bit of a lazy eye.   He then went on to say that she would need glasses and that she would probably be in glasses until she was 10-11.  She might need some surgery down the road.  She may need to wear a patch for a little while too.  It felt surreal.  I knew that this was coming, but it was hard to hear.  Our little girl has had a lot of other struggles and the last thing you want to do is give her another physical ailment to overcome.
As our luck would have it, a big storm was heading our way.  I had to look up a place to get Ashlyn's glasses and there was a place that was down the road.  We got the brand called myraflex.  Basically, it's indestructible :)  Anyways, the glasses took a little over 2 weeks to get to us.  The lab they use are out of Atlanta, GA and while we were getting an ice storm, Atlanta was covered in snow.  It has been a really bad winter across the country.

Here she is in her glasses!

I can't tell you how amazed we are with how well she is doing with them.  She rarely ever tries to take them off.  She really only tries to take them off when she is frustrated when she's eating.  She used to pull on her hair, but now her glasses are there.  I thought we would have to fight with her like crazy to keep them on.  We are so thankful that she has done so well with them.  Her eye stays straight with the glasses on and then when you take them off, it immediately crosses.  It's crazy.  I'm so thankful that we were able to catch this early and that this can be fixed.

When we found out that she needed glasses we wanted to get her something special.  I looked all over the place for a doll with glasses.  I didn't want removable parts.  I wanted a cloth doll.  I finally found one on Etsy.  The shop owner was able to customize the doll so it would have the same color glasses as Ashlyn.  It finally got here today.  It would've been here a month ago, but there have been so many delays because of the storms.  The shop owner had to order the fabric special so that got delayed a few weeks because they didn't want to send it out during a crazy storm.  Anyways, it was worth the wait.  I am so thankful I had my camera ready to capture her reaction.  It was priceless!  She loved it and was all giggles!  Her elastic in her hair had just broke and her hair was all over the place :)

Brush, Brush, Brush your teeth....

So, I have a lot to catch up on, but wanted to write this down before I forget.  The kids hate getting their teeth brushed.  We give them their own toothbrushes to hold, I let them "brush" my teeth, we sing songs... and they still hate every moment of it.  We brush their teeth after breakfast and before they go to bed at night.  We just do it when they're in their high chairs, it's just easier with twins. 

I would say that Ashlyn hates it more than Alton, but who really knows.  She flips out, throws her special toothbrush, shakes her head, pulls her glasses off.... all before I can even get near her with the dreaded toothbrush!  Alton tightens his lips, but he will eventually let you do it.  He hates getting his top teeth brushed the most.  Freaks out about that.  He at least will bite on his own brush.  Which is why Ashlyn is not in the picture below...  haha.

Anyways, Jon came up with his own song that we now sing whenever it's "teeth time".  It's to the tune of "Row Your Boat".

Brush, brush, brush your teeth!
Brush them every day!
If you don't, then they'll fall out...
And that is not okay!

It makes them giggle when we sing it, so that's something... they just hate getting their teeth brushed.  Oh well.  Baby steps... :)

Happy 1st Birthday, Alton & Ashlyn!!!

One year.  Seriously?  No.  I'm having a hard time believing it!  We really survived? 

 I won't lie, the first few months are a total blur.  This year has flown by (well, for the most part).  There are things I won't miss (all the relux... dark memories) but there are things that I will cherish- all the giggles and smiles, watching them discover new things and getting excited.  The way they run at us with arms wide open with a big goofy smile.  Those are the moments that will be forever in my memory. We are so very thankful for these littles.  I know I keep saying that, but it's true.  We are so very blessed to have them in our lives.  Our lives have forever changed for the better.  They truly are our miracle babies.

We had a big party planned for their 1st birthday.  I sent out cute invitations that I made myself (I really am surprised with how well they turned out!),

bought cute decorations, started buying the food, people were coming from out of town, lots of others had rsvpd... everything was going to be so amazing!  Alas, nothing ever goes how we think it will.  The colds/ear infections from our already crazy December crept into Christmas and their birthdays.  We had to make the decision to postpone the party.  We were so bummed.  We were so over the ear infections and colds. 

Because I didn't talk about Christmas last post- I'll talk a little about it.  We had some decorations up and I made stockings for all of us!  We didn't put up a tree.  I was bummed about that.  I even made a tree skirt.  We just were all sick and didn't want to bother with it.  Next year though!!

We missed Christmas eve festivities with Jon's family.  Jon's parents and sister, Leanna came over before heading to see Beth and her family.  The babies loved having them here.

Christmas day was pretty quiet.  The babies opened toys and were excited about the new things they got.  Books, cars, a spinning wheel, blocks, their own little cell phones, stuffed animals.. were mostly what they got.  Later on in the day, the babies seemed like they were doing alright.  No one had gotten sick so we figured it would be safe to go to Jon's parent's house to see family.  We all had really great time- even though we were sick.  Here is to hoping that Christmas next year will be sans ear infections!

On the babies actual birthday we had family over for cupcakes and ice cream.

I made them their one year outfits :)

Alton and Ashlyn didn't really care for their cakes.  We had to feed them small pieces to see if they would actually like it.  Needless to say, they didn't really care for it.  They loved all the attention though and loved it when we sang to them.

Grandma and Grandpa got them a lawn mower and a gum ball machine with rolling balls.  They love them both!  It's fun to see them pick up balls and put them into the machine and hit the lever to make them come out.  Alton loves his lawn mower.  It makes noises and there are parts that spin and he loves watching it.

Their one year appointment was on Jan. 7th.  I was so thankful that I wasn't alone.  Anne (Grandma/Jon's mom) was so kind in coming and helping me.  I could not have made it through that appointment by myself.

Poor babies had shots and had to get blood taken.  Ashlyn was a champ in the lab getting her finger pricked and getting blood taken.  She held onto her blanket and was a tough cookie!  She didn't even cry :)  Alton wasn't so calm.  He started crying before he got his finger pricked.  I think he was nervous of the unfamiliar nurse.  He just has a tender heart.  There were lots of tears from both from their shots.  Alton was nervous for the whole thing.  He cried when he got weighed, he cried when the doctor looked in his ears and eyes.  He was just traumatized.  Poor little guy.  Ashlyn fussed a bit too.

We mentioned Ashlyn's right eye that tends to cross a little.  We brought it up at their 9mo appointment and we were told to wait and see how she was doing at a year old.  So we received a referral for an ophthalmologist to check them out and see if it's of any concern. We'll be going at the end of January.

Otherwise, the babies were healthy.  Their ears both weren't fully healed when the doctor looked at them, but they weren't infected.

Stats time!

Alton

Weight:  22lbs 3.5oz (61%)
Height: 29.5" (32%)
Head: 18.7" (85%)



Ashlyn

Weight: 20lbs 3oz (54%)
Height: 29.75" (65%)
Head: 18.5" (91%)


Alton words (most of these he understands- some... I still wonder :) ): Hi! (with a small wave), Sookie, cheerio, touch down, dada, grandpa, tasty, cheese, thank you, dad-dum (not sure what this means.. but he says it all the time- we're thinking it might be him saying Alton), ball, meow, more, done, mum-mum... I'll take it haha... close enough to mama, right?, baba (bottle)

Ashlyn words: b-yub (repeated over and over really fast), once she said "go" hasn't said that ever again, sometiems she meows after sookie meows....

She mimicks actions and follows verbal commands  She can wave, will give you a high five, if you say clap she'll clap, if you say touch down she'll throw her arms in the air.

She loves taking her blocks and roams the house and stashes them in her hiding places.  She dumped some blocks into her dirty clothes hamper the other day and I had no clue.  I did the wash and I heard all sorts of weird noises.  I opened up the washing machine and there were 4 blocks rattling around. See the block in the dishwasher? Yup... every night I have to make a "block run" to make sure I find them all.

Alton still loves everything that spins.  He turns his cars over to spin the wheels. Note the wheel spinning on the dishwasher haha!

He loves balls too.  He loves playing peek a boo.  He giggles so much when you play that with him.

They love when you sing "Pat a cake"... is that how it's said?  I usually just say "patty cake" lol... whatever.  They love it.

Whenever Ashlyn is getting her diaper changed, Alton walks over and bends down and gives her kisses on the forehead and cheeks.  It's so so so cute!

Their favorite book is "Barnyard Dance".  We read it like a song.  They both perk up whenever we start reading it and they run over  with big smiles.

Happy Birthday, Alton and Ashlyn!  We love you so very much!