18

You guys, I literally spent over 3 hours on this original birthday post. I even published it around midnight and guess what? Blogger ate it. I went to edit in a comma that needed to be in the first paragraph and POOF! it was gone. I let out a few curse words as I frantically tried to save it, but it was too late. It vanished. Then, I burst into tears like an idiot. I worked hard on it and neglected other things because of it. I didn't finish and turn in an assignment for school tonight because I wanted this post to be good. So now, I have a late assignment and no post. Currently as I type, I'm both laughing and crying like a fool. It's late, but I'm still determined to get a post up. I know I won't be able to sleep until something is up, so here I go. I'm starting over at 12:28 am.

These girls are 18 months old. They are no longer babies. Not even a little bit. They are toddlers with opinions, attitudes, amazing senses of humor, and budding personalities. They are such fun kids and they get more and more entertaining each day. We absolutely adore them.

Sophie

This girl does not like it when she finishes her cotton candy...

I wish everyone could experience Sophie's vibrant personality. She knows she's funny. She knows when she's the center of attention. She really understands humor. We have several 'inside jokes' between the two of us. Things just as simple as the way we tilt our heads when we look at each other, or the way we stick out our tongue. When I pull one of our little jokes, she giggles. When she pulls one of our little jokes, I'm amazed at how well her little brain works. She remembers things. She gets that it's funny. She gets that it's just between her and her mama.

Or how about the time when she waddled like a penguin to get her sippy cup and was giggling the entire way. She stopped about 3 feet away from it, just to turn around and see if I was watching her. I was and I was laughing. She is such a funny girl.

Sophie points and waves to everything and everyone. She sometimes gets mad when people don't point and wave back. I do a lot of waving during my days because of it. :)

She is starting to follow and copy her little sister more. She's taken Lillian's blanket loving habit and adapted it for herself. She doesn't suck on blankets like Lillian does, but she carries hers around (the pink blanket from this post) and gets really excited when she finds it.

Sophie is a mama's girl. She loves me and if I'm around and she's being held by someone else, she'll usually want to come to me. She's my little buddy.

Lillian

  

 

Oh how Lillian has changed this month. She's drastically different than when 2012 started. She talks, understands just about everything, and is really picking up on sign language. The other day, we were at the store and she saw the candy next to the checkstand (is that what those things are called? I should know, I used to work in a grocery store...) Her eyes got huge, her jaw dropped and after a couple of claps, she looked at me and signed 'please' with more vigor than I've ever seen. It was hysterical and it was legitimate communication. I loved it.

Lillian is a climber. One day I watched as she figured out how to climb on top of our table. She threw her left leg onto our bench and fell. She jumped back up and tried again with success. She was giving herself a standing ovation on top of the bench, when she decided to push it further and get on top of the table. I sat in disbelief as I watched the whole thing happen. I thought our lives were over. Maybe I was right. I wouldn't know though, because the bench has been turned on it's side since. Oh and that's another thing Sophie has followed Lillian in. In a matter of seconds, I had two babies running around on my kitchen table.

Lillian loves men. 3 men specifically. Josh, our next door neighbor and my brother Jason. When Josh leaves for work, she cries and runs from door to door in anticipation of him coming back. When he comes home from the graveyard shift and she knows he's sleeping, she wants to pound on the door to get him to come play. With our neighbor, she finds him at church and likes get on his lap and read stories, or play with his glasses, or take things out of his pocket. She also like to stop by his office (he's our Bishop) and get candy form him. She loves that man. My brother Jason is also a heart-throb to Lillian. He takes her into his room where they eat yummy treats and watch Elmo videos on his computer. We were over there last Sunday and he wasn't home and she stood at the top of the stair whining for him. I took her down to show her that he wasn't there and the whole time she said, "uh-oh!" She loves uncle Jason.

If there is a door to be closed, Lillian will gladly do it. She's got an obsession with closing doors, but gets rather frustrated that she can't open them back up. Someday child, someday...

Lillian loves to eat. She always finishes what Sophie does eat. She's got a particular fondness for chocolate and cotton candy though. She's definitely a female. :)

And together

 

 

 

 

In my original post, I had a cheesy paragraph (or 3) about how these guys are best buddies. How they are twins. I actually have a whole post ready to go (that is, if that doesn't get eaten too...) about how fascinating it is to watch them grow up together. Twins are special. I can't imagine these girls being without their sister. It just wouldn't work. They are perfect for each other. The yig and the yang. I love it. I love that they are friends. I love that they get more excited to see their sister than they do to see me every morning. I love that they jabber away to each other.  I even love that they fight because that means that they are paying attention to each other and that they have each other to fight with. I love it all. I love being the mother of twins. My literal first reaction to the news was, "What are we going to do?!" And you know what? We just do. We do well over a dozen diapers a day. We do double the snacks. Double the sippy cups. Double the laundry. Double the clean up. Double the tears. And yes, double the fun. 

I've loved these past 18 months so much. It seems like these girls have been around forever, yet I can't believe that they're closer to two than they are to one (well, as of 7:56 and 7:58 this morning the will be). I just love them. I love little girls. I love twins. 

Happy half birthday, girls. And yes, since your mother doesn't have a half birthday, yours will be a celebration. 

Aaaaaand I'm done! I'm pushing publish at 1:05 am. This second post isn't as good and I know I left things out, but whatever. I'm probably over dedicated as is. :)