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 :)