Diapers, Daddy and Strawberries

This past week the girls have reached 13 months. It has been so amazing to see how quickly our little ones develop. Juliana is now saying "uh oh". She usually says it if Olivia drops something on the floor. When changing their diaper, they both will take the clean one and throw it across the room...."uh oh". Yes, now Mama needs to diaper that little butt of yours (little hand grabs, and throws). Again, I try to wrangle them and somehow get the clean diaper to stay on. On another occasion with diapers, I have found Olivia's hair clip in her pants. Now I know she does not like to wear them, but that is one smart little girl to take it out of her hair and hide it in her diaper!

 Little Olivia

Little Juliana

With all of our twin commotion going on, there was a very important event that happened in our lives. Daddy got a new job. God has blessed him with opportunities beyond what we could ever imagine. Daddy (Mike) will soon be the new financial representative for Northwestern Mutual. We are so proud of Daddy for taking on a new opportunity and keeping God in the center of all of his decisions. If there was ever a doubt, we went as a family to God in prayer asking that He would lead Daddy in the right direction that would glorify God's name. This is the door that opened. We are blessed. Daddy will be taking his exam this coming Friday, May 20. We will be praying for him, but we are sure he will do great. We love you Daddy and can't wait to start this new journey with you.

Daddy

Back to our little twin commotion, at mealtimes the girls have one really bad habit. Feeding the dog. Precious will sit right between their highchairs waiting for their little hands to fly over the side. They have not really grasped the concept that you have to let go of the food, but Precious seems to figure out how to gently pull it from their little fingers. I have once witnessed Juliana taking a piece of bread out of her mouth (soggy) and gave it to Olivia. Olivia ate it!!! YUCK! Juliana just laughed. At least my girls know the concept of sharing. Eating is becoming easier as our girls grow. They are still eating home cooked meals, but not as ground up as before. I can mash the food with a fork or let them bite off pieces I give them. This is one area I am terrified about. A really good friend of mine lost her little girl (2 years) to choking. Because of the experience they went through, it has impacted me to watch my girls very diligently.

Precious playing with the girls.

One special treat the girls get for breakfast are strawberries picked fresh from our organic garden. Every morning after we finish our oatmeal and English muffin, the girls get their strawberries. I cut them into pieces and by the time I cut one up, it is gone! The whole time the girls are saying...mmmmm. It is quite humorous to watch. On a beautiful morning, we decided to let the girls pick their own strawberries. They had a blast! They would pick them and then eat them straight from the patch. They had strawberries everywhere. This was one of my favorite Kodak moments.

 Juliana picking strawberries.

 Yummmm.

 Olivia eating strawberries.

My little gardener.

That afternoon, us girls decided to go for a walk. With a little baby sunblock and some hats, the girls were ready to go. They love to go out into the neighborhood to visit with people, look at birds or dogs that we pass on by. Once we finish we go inside to play, get a bath, story and then bed.

Juliana and Olivia

 Olivia and Juliana

 Olivia helping Mama wash Juliana's hair.

 Olivia

Juliana

 Juliana ready for bed.

Olivia ready for bed with her lovey.

Bedtime has become a chore. Juliana has developed another bad habit of screaming. If she is put down and she is not ready, she will scream. This would not be so much of a problem if she was sleeping by herself, but she is not. Last night I woke at 2AM to Juliana screaming. I quickly got out of bed and went to see what was wrong. She was wet. I changed her, since I know she is battling a rash, and tried to rock her back down with a bottle. She fell asleep instantly. As soon as her little head hit the mattress, she started screaming. I thought she would settle down if I left, but after 5 minutes of screaming she woke her sister, who then in return started screaming herself. So now, Mike, myself, Juliana and Olivia are up. It took us until 3:30AM to get Juliana back down to sleep. I had to separate her into another room and let her scream. This time it took a total of 3 minutes and then it got quiet. Ahhhh, peace. I really hope this is not something that happens every night. Crazy enough, a friend told me that day, it should be a blessing to be able to get up and attend to your little one knowing they are healthy and fine. So, in the midst of the screaming, I kept thinking, this is a blessing. A blessing worth every moment of my life. No matter how tired I am, I am blessed to have my little angel hold me tight and sleep peacefully in my arms. God is so good to bring peace amidst the storm.

Mama and Juliana