12 Month Checkup and new skills

Gracie and Bailey had their 12 month checkup this past Monday. Daddy accompanied us to our appointment as he does all of our appointments because he is a great daddy! We were excited to find out how much our sweet ones had grown. Our stats are as follows... Gracie: weight 19pds 0oz 20% and length 29 7/8 in 75% Bailey: weight 21pd 8oz 30% and length 30 5/8 in 75%. We are so proud that our babies have grown from their tiny little 3 pd start to happy and healthy babies. We have been so blessed over the past year that Gracie and Bailey have stayed healthy and haven't had any sickness "knock on wood." Our pediatrician reviewed that they are appropriately meeting all of their developmental tasks. He was particularly impressed that Gracie is walking, well really running! He also thought it was great that they have made the transition to being on 100% whole milk. I am thankful that God was able to bless me with enough milk to feed these hungry babies for the past year and I am glad to have a break from the exhaustion of producing double the blessing! Gracie and Bailey did have to get four shots but they cried for less then a minute due to a juice bottle being ready for them as soon as they finished. Before our next appointment at 15 months we will be working on switching to a sippy cup instead of the bottle. We have been working on so many new things this month...

With having two that can get around on their own so easily now I really have to be paying attention every second. When things get quiet, I know somebody is getting into trouble. Gracie and Bailey both have fascinations with jumping up and down in Dixie's water bowl and banging on my GLASS china cabinet.

We are enjoying our big girl and big boy car seats. I LOVE to turn around and watch Gracie and Bailey do the hand motions to their favorite Bible Songs dvd. They can do all of the hand motions to "If You are Happy and you Know It" and "This Little Light of Mine." It is truly the most precious thing in the whole world to see my babies clap and raise their arms to yell "Amen."

We are working on feeding ourselves and trying new foods.

We now have snack time sitting on our own and are practicing using our sippy cups and snack spill proof cups.

We still are learning which way to hold our sippy cups!

5 sets of 1 yr old twins !

Gracie and Bailey attended their first play group this past Friday. We joined the group through a club that I am in called North Fulton Mothers of Multiples. All of the toddlers in the group range from 11 months to 14 months and all are twins. I looked forward to the group but I was nervous most of all about how we were going to get to the group. The group was from 10-12ish which is our daily nap time. Gracie and Bailey usually get really fussy at about 9:45 so I couldn't imagine how they were going to make it through the group without simply loosing it. The next question I had was what do I do when I get there....do I bring the gigantic double stroller and wheel them in, do I carry them in one and at time and hand them off to a new person who they have never met. I was also worried about how they would do on the 20 min car ride in their new car and new car seats which they are still adjusting to.
Well...They ended up doing great! Gracie slept on the way and Bailey was entertained by his dvd. When we arrived I pulled out my "twin momma powers" and loaded them both up in either arm in addition to the diaper bag and knocked on the door. I was glad that once inside all the other moms were confessing the same fears. Gracie and Bailey took about two minutes to get adjusted and out of my lap and then they were off to play with their new friends. They really seemed to love the interactions with the other kids and enjoyed all the new toys. We ate lunch at the group and then had a quick juice bottle before leaving. I glanced back in the rear view mirror and Bailey was sleeping before we even pulled out of the neighborhood and Gracie ended up taking an hour and a half afternoon nap.
It was great for me to be able to socialize with other mommies. We found ourselves comparing feeding schedules, nap times and developmental tasks. Being a twin mommy is just different and it is great to have others who truly understand. I was relieved when I heard another mommy say "sometimes I am lucky just to be able to eat lunch during the day." We all love our sweet ones but we all also seemed to share the same unique feeling of exhaustion.
Our playgroup will meet twice a month but I am looking forward to having more daily play dates with each of the moms. I wish I would have been able to get a picture to share but with 5 sets of 1 year old twins running around we were all lucky just not to loose our minds!

12 Months and counting

Gracie and Bailey are 12 months old and I am asking where did the last year go? Wow, time goes by so fast when you are having fun and we have been lots of fun. At twelve months old here are some of our new happenings....Gracie took her first five steps three days before her birthday. Bailey can now pull up on his own but still is army crawling. We are eating all solids and are down to only three bottles a day at 7, 3, and 8. Bailey eats anything and everything and Gracie seems to have a sweet tooth. We take two naps a day. We sleep in the same room and Gracie is an early riser at about 6:30 and Bailey chooses to sleep in and sometimes has to be woken up! We continue to reach for each other's hand when we are in our highchairs and we are beginning to play with each other. Our favorite game now is peek a boo. We LOVE our puppy dog, Dixie and especially love playing in her water bowl. We will have our 12 month checkup on August 23rd and so we are looking forward to finding out our stats on weight and etc.
Gracie has an amazing personality and she is a girl who knows how to get exactly what she wants. Gracie thrives on being independent and she has changed remarkably since being able to move on her own and go where she wants. She can now take a couple of steps on her own, she loves to stand in place on her own and she is great at walking with only holding on to one hand. Gracie loves sweet stuff and had recently discovered animal crackers but doesn't care for fruit or anything with a funny texture. Her favorite afternoon activity is to go for rides in her little pink car and she loves anything outside. She has quite a vocabulary consisting of "Momma, Dada, Dixie, Baba, Doggy, hello and she can repeat just about anything. Talking on the telephone is a skill that is well developed and if the phone rings in her sight then she must have the opportunity to talk. Gracie has a remarkable passion for animals even though she still calls any animal she sees "Dixie." Daddy continues to put her to bed at night and she usually sleeps from 8:15 to about 6:30. People always seem to comment on her eyelashes which are extra long to make up for her shortage of hair at this time!
Bailey boy is still a Mommy's boy and is the sweetest little guy ever. He LOVES to eat and it is pretty much his favorite hobby. He usually eats dinner and then eats again with mom and dad and then has some type of dessert. Bailey absolutely loves his sister and he wants to do everything that she does. He constantly is watching her and laughing at her silliness. He reaches out for her tries to hold her hand but he is also learning how to swat at her when she tries to take his toys or knock him off the Pooh bus. Bailey is practicing standing on his own and looks at his feet in amazement that they are actually holding him up! Bailey has recently learned how to clap and he loves to dance to music. Bailey can sleep and sleep and sometimes we have to wake him up because he is so cozy in his bed. I recently got my heart broken when I was trying to rock him to sleep and he sat up and pointed to his bunny bed. Have I mentioned that he LOVES his bed! Peek a boo is one of his favorite games and he continues to enjoy flap books. His smile can light up a room in seconds and he is as patient as can be which helps immensely when you are a twin!

Gracie climbing UP the slide, silly girl!

LOVES her birthday balloon!

Sweetest Birthday boy ever.

Birthday twins.

Loving our new wagon that Grammy and Daddy Bob gave us.

Gracie flies with her new dinosaur.

Having lots of fun!

Celebrating two by two

Birthdays have always been a big deal in my family and so as Gracie and Bailey started to approach the 1 year mark "well really ever since they were born" I started thinking about how I could make their 1st birthday extra special. We decided to have a big birthday bash with a Noah's Ark theme since Gracie and Bailey decided to come two by two and they love animals. We really were not able to get ready for the party until right before because with the twins very few house projects ever seem to get crossed off the to do list. We gave the twins their present the morning of the party in hopes that it would help to keep them occupied while we made the last minute preparations. I wanted to concentrate more on them and us having fun so we decided to make things easy. We ordered 20 pizzas and 6 dozen cupcakes and filled the house with animal crackers and lots of balloons. We had about 30 adults and a dozen little friends to help us celebrate the big day. It was mighty hot outside and so we put some tables in the garage to help provide some shade and extra seating. It was a priceless moment when everyone sang Happy Birthday to Gracie and Bailey and their eyes lit up at their 1st Birthday candles. Bailey actually started clapping out of excitement and his little hands made my heart melt. Gracie was ecstatic over her Birthday balloons and she still is pointing to them and saying "Birthday." Their reactions told me that they felt special and that my goal had been accomplished. At the end of the day I was a little sad because I had looked forward to the day for so long but then we just decided to keep the parties going and so more posts are soon to come!

Gracie and Bailey with their present the morning of the party, they loved it!

Our Birthday outfits all ready for the party!

Sidewalk chalk makes any party fun!

Announcing our sweet little one's big day!

Noah's Ark cupcakes were so yummy

All ready to party!

Lots going on at this party.

Amazement of the 1st birthday candles.

1st time eating cake

We love our grandparents

and more partying to come!

1 Year Pics

Photos were taken by Paige Chesier who just started a photography buisness in Johns Creek, Ga

YHC Homecoming

This past weekend we attended homecoming at Young Harris College. Preston and I met at Young Harris College and later got married on the campus and so we were excited to share such an important part of our lives with Gracie and Bailey. We have attended homecoming for years and we missed last year due to me being on bedrest with Gracie and Bailey and so we were excited to see our friends and show off our new additions to the family. Preston and I both loved Young Harris College because we not only received a great education but we also enjoyed the simplicity of the college being beautifully nestled in the mountains. It was HOT outside but the twins did wonderfully and we had a blast reminiscing about our college days.

We are so proud that Preston's little sister followed in his footsteps and attended YHC. She also was honored just like I was to be the Rose for Kappa Tau Omega Fraternity. Kara graduated from YHC this past Spring "with high academic honors" and she will be attending UGA in the Fall. It was great for Gracie and Bailey to be able to spend the day with their Aunt Kara as we love her so much and have missed her since she has been at school!

We had to get a picture with Uncle "Senator" Zell Miller as we call him. We usually see him each year and as we introduce ourselves and tell him that we met and got married at Young Harris he precedes to tell us how he and his wife did the same. He then quoted a saying that was said at our wedding..."YHC is like a shoe factory, they come in as singles and go out as pairs!" We are mighty thankful for our little show factory in the mountains!

Sharing Mom

This past week was my first week back at my job as a hospice social worker. For those of you who don't know, before I had the twins I worked in hospice for about the past six years. It is a job that I love and could honestly say that I enjoy doing it each and every day. The decision for me to go back to work PRN was something that I really struggled with. It was time to renew my social work license which requires 35 hours of continuing ed and you have to pay a costly fee and so I began to question if I should renew or not. Alot of factors played into our decision but the biggest one was me giving the decision to God. I prayed for his guidance in helping me to make my decision. I think it was a hard decision because I feared having to leave my most favorite job which is being Gracie and Bailey's mom and caring for them each minute of the day. The morning I prayed I opened my schedule book that I keep track of daily routine in to find this verse "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24." Earlier in the week I ran into a family at the grocery store who I had helped with their mom and they began talking about what a wonderful experience they had. It was pretty much like God was slapping me in the face while telling me what to do. So I sent the email to my old boss and within a couple days I had things all set up for me to begin working 1 day a week. I know that I am EXTREMELY blessed in this economy to have such an accommodating opportunity that meets our needs perfectly. This past week the social worker who is in my old position had her vacation and so my 8 hours turned into 33hours but I am holding ground and I am planning to stay at 8 hours a week from now on. Gracie and Bailey were cared for by Preston's mom, Becky and then my mom and my sister and her children came to visit for the week and so they had lots of distractions while I was away.

Going back to work is a very opinionated topic as far as people's input on the topic goes. It seems like everyone was so thrilled with me staying at home with my babies but now I am told on a daily basis that "it is good for me to work and get out of the house." Before having children I always thought I would be one of those moms who would say "I have to work because it makes me a better mom" but I was so wrong. I absolutely love every second with Gracie and Bailey, sure some days are more trying then others "when carrying two babies at once, feeding them at once, putting two fussy babies done at one time, cleaning double the amount of bottles and etc " but my heart is happy at home. For their first six weeks I had to leave them in the care of other's hands and now I am blessed beyond belief to be able to care for them myself. I was going to title this "working mom" but I already work at home about 10 times harder then I do at my job so I didn't think it was a suitable title.
What I have realized since returning to work is that I have a gift that God wants me to share with my patients and families. It is a gift of being able to sit on the bedside of a patient who has a life limiting illness and to be able to hold their hand, listen to their fears and help them to say their goodbyes peacefully and to also support their family in this very hard moment in their life. Since being on bedrest for 7 weeks I feel like I can relate more with my patients and really can give them empathy when they talk about missing their belongings, pets, or home environment. Each day at work I am reminded that life is a precious gift and for that I am thankful.

Gracie and Bailey's fun while mom was away!