Climbing at Christmas!

We have reached the big 21 months! My girls are going to be 2 years old soon. I can't believe how the time has flown. It feels as if they were just 8 weeks old. As much as I want my girls to stay little, I am so happy to have them at this age. They are really starting to show their colors and talents. Olivia is talking in sentences saying things like, "I want up," and "Where did sissy go?" Juliana loves to sing and has started trying to sing our good night song. What amazing little girls.

In the past few weeks we have covered a vast array of Christmas celebrations. We started our celebrations off with a cookie exchange at our home. We had near 25 people attend. It was so much fun and the girls especially loved the cookies. Their favorite word of the night was "tootie" for cookie. The girls were playing all around the house with other children when Olivia decided it was time to quit playing. She stepped out of a play stroller and lost her balance hitting her forehead on the rod iron leg of our coffee table. What a huge knot it made. Within 5 minutes of the accident, she was back playing with all the children, with her boo bunny in her hand.

The next week after the cookie exchange the girls caught the croup. This is the first time that they have ever had a cough. Being that us parents have never seen this in our girls, we took them in to the doctor. They were put on a steroid. Poor babies. We all had a pretty rough week. Olivia was on the last part of her medicine, when she had a bad reaction to it. That day she had thrown up twice. We felt bad for our sweet angel, but soon after that she was back to her spunky self. Juliana fared alright. She never had the tummy issues. She recovered much more quickly than Olivia.

The third weekend in December was our next celebration. We went to the extended Colburn Christmas in Cookeville Tennessee. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon to enjoy a nice lunch with family. This was an interesting meal with two toddlers that chose not to nap in the car during our 3 hour trip. They were really tired. After our meal, we socialized with family and Juliana took a nap with Aunt Carolyn. So sweet. Mama took a nap around this time too and Olivia stayed up with Daddy. In the evening we had our traditional extended Colburn Christmas. This lasted until 10PM. Our girls were so tired, but with all the lights and noise they kept their little feet moving. Once we loaded in the car, Olivia fell fast asleep. Juliana chose once again to stay awake. It wasn't until we arrived at the girls' Oma and Opa's house that they fell asleep for the rest of the night. In the morning, Mama went for a run with Uncle Doug and then we all packed in the car and went back to Cookeville for brunch. After the tasty meal and a family picture, we were on the road again heading back home.

With just a couple days at home we had enough time to do the laundry, dishes, get back on routine, and then it was back in the car for 3 hours to Opa and Oma's house. Here we were having our Colburn Christmas celebration. We arrived on a Wednesday evening and stayed until Friday morning. During that time the girls played with their cousins, McMillen, McKinnon, Elliott, and Enoch. What fun we all had. It was great seeing everyone. On Thursday we had "Christmas", starting in the morning and with lots of breaks me managed to make it though ending around supper time. What a great time. Our family was blessed.

Juliana and Enoch playing on a new toy.

Mick, Uncle Doug and Aunt Nik

Olivia and Mama

Kinnon, Oma, Aunt Marlene, and Enoch

Aunt Nik and a very tired Juliana

We arrived home from Opa and Oma's on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning we all got dressed and headed to church. Mike had to teach Sabbath School that day and we performed a musical number for church service. Saturday evening after the girls went to bed, we spent the time cleaning and pulling out presents for Christmas morning for the girls. Our main focus is not on Santa this year, but family. We want them to know that gifts are something we appreciate not expect.

Christmas day was here!!! What an amazing time we had. The girls woke up and we had breakfast as a family. After we opened the girls gifts from Mama and Daddy. Oh what fun we had. So amazing to see true happiness come from their faces. What a precious memory. Anytime that Olivia opened something, even if it was a t-shirt, she would gasp in surprise and say "wow". So sweet. They loved ripping the paper and playing with their new toys.

First gifts to open on Christmas Day.

 

Olivia plays with her set of pots and pans just like Mama's pans.

Our little family on Christmas day 2011.

In the afternoon we had the girls godparents, Greg and Dawn Schrader come over and spend Christmas with us. The girls had a blast with the new tent Uncle Greg and Auntie Dawn got them. They played so much they were worn out by evening. Christmas evening the girls spent some of it over Uncle Greg's and Auntie Dawn's home while Mama and Daddy went into town. The girls had so much fun playing and soon fell fast asleep. Mama and Daddy picked them up and soon after were all home nestled all snug in their beds.

Fun in the tent!

The very next day we had more company come. Mama's family from Michigan drove in to see them. They stayed for a week. What fun they had spending time with their Aunt Amanda and Auntie Nicole and Grandma and Grandpa. Many days and nights were spent sitting on Grandma's lap reading books and Aunties hugging, bouncing, and holding the girls.

Grandpa was a hit too. Juliana loved to be tickled by him. This was a huge blessing to have them visit as the girls only get to see them once a year.

One of the days my family was here we took them to Biltmore. This was the first time for all of us. We packed the girls in their backpacks and walked around the Biltmore house. Olivia would shout out...."Ohhhhhh, Look at that!!!!" "What's that?" I would tell her that it was a moose head and she responded by saying..." moooo" Oh, what fun we had. The girls did not sleep the whole entire time we were there. There was too much for them to see and too many people there to be able to sleep. What a wonderful time we had and a beautiful place to see.

New years eve was a lot of fun as well. We joined up with the Schrader family and had a blast with baby Kaylie, Matt, and Rachel. The girls just love seeing them. It won't be long before the girls and Kaylie will be playing together.

Now that our holiday festivities have ended and everyone has gone home. We have embarked on another adventure. Toddler beds. We knew it was near time as Juliana climbed into Olivia's bed one morning during the week Mama's family was here. We weren't going to encourage anything, but had a feeling that we were going to need to make some changes. Sure enough. Yesterday, January 3, I laid Olivia down for a nap. I was cleaning my bedroom and could her her chit chatting to herself. Next thing I know I hear a thud and a cry. I rush to her room and find her standing there in the middle of her room. She was fine, nothing hurt, but she just climbed out of her crib!

Today, I took the front part off the their cribs. They are learning about the big girl beds and that we can't jump in them and they are only for sleeping not playing. So everything was taken out of their rooms that they could play with and when they are awake, they are not allowed in there. We have a child safety lock on the door handle so they can't get out of their room, but it lets me know that they are awake and I need to put them back to bed. Olivia was the first to try this out. During her first nap, I had to put her back three times. On the third time, I got stern with her and told her she was to stay in bed and could not get out. After about 15 minutes I peek in and she is laying in there sucking on her lovie just looking around. Good. She understood the concept I was trying to teach her. During the second nap, she got it down. She got up once because she was dirty, but after I changed her she stayed in bed and slept for 2 hours. Success. Now we have Bed time to go. That will be a challenge. This is where we will introduce it to Juliana. I don't think I am going to get much sleep tonight, but we will see.

God has blessed us so much. I hope that our girls will see this one day. I want them to know that they are amazing little girls that mean so much to their Mama and Daddy. We hope that you all had a blessed Christmas and New Year as well and we look forward to reporting back to you about Juliana and Olivia's 22nd month.