Two different personalities

A lot of people have made comments to me recently about just how different the girls' personalities are.  Those statements couldn't be more true!  For some reason, I think a lot of people believe that twins automatically act like each other, do things the same way, etc.  Just because they're twins, it doesn't mean they're the same person.

A good example of this was today in church.  Alivia was pretty content reading a book and eating her cheerios.  Adalyn...not so much.  There was no detaining this girl.  She wanted to be on the run, exploring every nook and cranny she could find.  She was up and down the hall about 20 times (maybe more).  She had to touch the plants, push the chairs, press her face up to the glass doors, etc.  She was all.over.the.place.

Adalyn is our adventurous one.  She has no fear (unfortunately).  She needs to be where the action is at all times (which probably somewhat explains her sleeping troubles).  She would wander off to timbuktu if we would allow it.  She will socialize with anyone who will give her the time of day.

Alivia, on the other hand, is our reserved child.  She finds comfort in knowing where mom and dad are at all times if we're out in public.  She's unlikely to stray too far unless we're right behind her.  She has developed a healthy amount of stranger anxiety and will look to us to make sure it is okay to smile and/or "talk" to people she's not familiar with.

Even the way they do things is different.  Adalyn gives kisses by pursing her lips and saying "mmmm" (though she seems to have dropped some of the vocals of giving a kiss).  Alivia gives kisses by opening her mouth up as wide as she can, and as soon as you move a bit closer, she tries to bite your lips off.  No lie.  Kisses with her gotta be quick!!  Adalyn will pick up one or two crackers at a time and come back to the snack table several times until she's had enough.  Alivia picks up as many crackers as her tiny hands can allow so that she only has to make one pit stop at the snack table but she has enough to fill her belly for the next few hours!

They're different...in so many ways.  From the way they look (Adalyn like me and Alivia like Nate), to the way they learn, to their personalities, to the way they act.  They're two very different little people.

She was none too thrilled about having her picture taken

They're learning to play nice with Desi

I know I've been slacking

Sorry.  Life just got busy and the blog got dumped by the wayside.  We're all doing well here.  Still healthy, yay!  I wish I could say the same about our big screen TV.  Poor thing fizzled out on us Friday night.  It's just the lamp that needs to be replaced, so we ordered the piece pronto.  I think the girls are missing their Sesame Street!  Not good.  There have been more temper tantrums, more food throwing (they usually watch some TV while eating to distract them from the "fun" of throwing things on the floor), and less things getting done around the house.  Sesame Street usually provides us with ample time to tidy up, get some chores done and disinfect the house.  Not so much right now.

The girls are quickly becoming mommy's little helpers.  Alivia has deemed it her personal responsibility to push the high chairs back into place when they're done eating.  Like I said, they watch a bit of TV for a distraction, so we have to pull them forward so they can see the TV.  After we wipe hands and faces and (gently) shake the babies to get the crumbs off, she *needs* to push the high chairs back...not just hers, but both.  Once they reach their final destination, she claps.  A lot.  And if she doesn't clap for herself right away, all I have to say is "Good Job" and that sparks a nice round of applause!  Too cute.

Adalyn helped me dust mop the kitchen and dining room the other day.  She had to walk in front of me and help me push the mop.  I think she thought she was pretty smart because she kept looking back at me with a huge, cheesy grin on her face.  And because dust mopping was so fun, she had to help me vaccuum shortly thereafter.  Do you know how hard it is to vaccuum with a toddler attached to it?  You can't do the normal push-pull motion.  Instead, I walked up the hallway, turned around, and walked back down the hallway.  We went in straight paths instead of push-pull, push-pull.  Although it took quite a bit longer to get the vaccuuming done, I didn't mind.  The girls are constantly learning and I don't mind taking the time to show them how to do it.  Especially since I will reap the benefits in about 5 years!!!  Haha.  Just kidding.  Or am I?

They're still working on the whole sharing aspect of playing together.  What one has, the other needs.  Just like any other young kids.  But just two nights ago, they were trying to feed each other graham crackers.  It was so sweet.  I kept emphasizing the fact that they were *sharing* so nicely.  "Yay, girls, yay!!  Sharing is so nice!"  They just smiled and went about their mission of filling the other's belly.

My little ballerinas

Mom, you're distracting us from Sesame Street.

15 months

The girls had their 15 month appointment yesterday.  As always, the doctor is very happy with their progress.  I must admit that I was a little concerned about their language development - or lack thereof.  Adalyn has a handful of words she knows and says fairly consistently.  But sometimes she'll then go a week without saying much of anything intelligible.  And then there's Alivia...she's pretty fluent in foreign languages, but doesn't say much of anything else. 

Dr K assured us that they're doing just fine and that on average, twins tend to develop good language skills a bit later than the average toddler.  She asked us if they "talk" to each other and seem to understand what they're saying.  And when I thought about it, they really do.  I remember blogging about how they babble back and forth to each other for a good 15 minutes from their cribs when they wake up in the morning.  You can hear the dialogue going back and forth and back and forth.  She said it's common for twins to develop their own little language that they understand between each other and that they'll soon be saying plenty of words/phrases that we can understand.  So I guess it's just the mommy in me that's worrying.

Anyway, here are their 15 months stats:

Adalyn:
21lbs 6oz - 29th percentile
30 3/4 inches - 70th percentile

Alivia:
22lbs - 39th percentile
30 3/4 inches - 70th percentile

We think the length measurements are a bit off.  Either Alivia is shorter than what they measured her to be or Adalyn is longer.  When they stand side by side, Adalyn definitely has a height advantage.  I'm guessing they short changed Addi because she dropped from the 85th to 90th percentile down to the 70th.  Whereas Alivia has stayed pretty consistent between the 70th to 75th percentiles.  If I were to venture a guess, I think Adalyn's probably about 31 1/2 inches long.  Hmmm, maybe I'll have to measure the girls.  Again, it's my Type A personality emerging.  A bit perfectionistic.

So yeah, all is well.

Huge exhale...

It's been quite the eventful week.  As you know, Adalyn was sick on Sunday and Alivia on Monday.  Unfortunately, it didn't end there.  Both Nate and I got really sick on Tuesday.  And we found out that my dad had come down with the bug on Tuesday as well!  So after a really long night of being sick, we called my mom in for emergency back up to help with the girls on Wednesday.  Luckily she arrived fairly early in the morning because lifting our slightly more than 20 pound children felt more like lifting a 90 pounder. 

Come Thursday morning, I was feeling much better - symptomatic free but still a bit dizzy from being dehydrated.  Nate was in much worse shape and ended up in Urgent Care for IV fluids and some anti-nausea medications.  That same day my mom started feeling sick!!  Good grief.  But...I think we've all finally recovered!  Whew.  It was a long and draining week.

Big kids in a little cupboard.

Our attempt at pictures in front of the tree during our belated Christmas.

Two sick kids = no fun at all

So Happy New Year to us!  We're enduring our first sickness ever.  Minus a couple low grade fevers and one of the girls throwing up just once (and then acting fine immediately after), they've never been sick...until yesterday.  Adalyn woke up at 4am Sunday morning, had a bottle, and went back to bed for a couple hours as per her usual routine.  She woke up at 6:30am and within about fifteen minutes, she threw up all over Nate.  This continued for a good chunk of the day and even during our car ride home - we were out of town at my parents house all weekend to celebrate Christmas.  However, by the evening, she was pretty much back to her old self.  The little devil came out in her!

Fast forward to about 3:30 this afternoon.  Alivia was taking a nap and woke up crying a bit which isn't unusual when she wants out of her crib.  When I went to get her, she wasn't standing or even sitting like she normally is, she was still laying on her side.  I picked her up and she immediately put her head down on my shoulder.  So I thought "ok, I'll take her into our bed to see if she'll sleep for another half hour or so" (her nap only lasted about 30 minutes and they usually take over an hour).  So I laid in bed with her.  She seemed to be dozing off and then suddenly got up on her hands and knees and proceeded to vomit all over my right shoulder.  She threw up so much that it actually soaked through my shirt, my bra, the corner of my pillow, the bed sheet, the mattress pad, and the electric mattress pad.  And she's thrown up several times since then.  Poor girl.

Both of them just went down for the night.  I'm hoping they both do well overnight.  It breaks my heart to see them so miserable!  But I knew our good fortune had to run out soon.  They're almost 15 months old and have never been sick.  Let's hope it's a 24 hour bug and they're both fine in the morning!  Sometimes it's nuts in this house when they're both showcasing the devils in them, but then we know they're healthy!  So I'll gladly exchange my sick, lethargic kiddos for the ones with the little horns!!