Can I even call them babies anymore? {12 months}

Seriously!? Can I even call these two babies anymore? (of course I can! They will always be my babies!) I think they are technically TODDLERS. Oh, that's a scary word. They have been toddling around my house for the last month, and now that they are 1, I guess it's official. It makes my heart ache just a little! I know I say this every month, but WHERE DID MY BABIES GO!!!???!!!

I feel like these two have changed so much in the last month. They went from crawling like maniacs and loving walking with anyone's help - but only with anyone's help (Lyla used to REFUSE to walk unless she could hold onto both of your hands) - to almost running! When they first started walking, (Alya was first) they would just wander from one room to the next. They didn't really play with toys much, they just walked from room to room, just because they could, I guess. They don't ever crawl anymore. But watching them walk around is the cutest thing in the whole world. Next to watching them "running" - or should I say walking really fast while they are squealing and being chased by me. Those are the best times. They have the best belly laughs. And just imagine, one baby belly laugh is adorable, but two of them!? It's amazing! I am seriously the luckiest mama!

I love watching them with each other. Sometimes they play really cute together, other times they don't play well together at all. But they do love to watch each other - which usually leads to them playing together. Even when they don't seem to really want to play together, they tend to prefer to be in the same room as one another. Which I think is so funny! And they almost always prefer to be in the same room as me. It's even hard to get them to stay in the same room as Matthew so that I can go cook dinner, or use the bathroom! Haha!
When we put the girls to bed, they each always get a kiss (or three) from Mom and Dad, but lately we have been letting them give each other kisses before bed, and they love it! They give each other wet, open mouth kisses while giggling the whole time! SO CUTE!!!

They have started to rely on a story before naptime/bedtime. They even have a couple of favorites. Their absolute favorite for a while was "Little Blue Truck." I could tell Lyla to go get "Blue" and she would find it across the room, buried under a pile of other books, and bring it to me to read it to her. She loves to point to the frog and the cow, and sometimes the piggy. And they love to be bounced when Blue goes "bump, bump, bump." They also really like "I Love You Through and Through" which is a really cute story about how we love our kids when they are happy, sad, silly, mad, etc. and how we love their hair, eyes, fingers, toes, ears, nose, etc. One of the pictures in the book is a close up of the little boys nose and eyes. Lyla (and now Alya) will touch the little boys' nose, and then touch her own nose. While we are reading the story we can ask where their noses are, and they almost always touch their nose (or their lips or cheeks, but we know they are aiming for their nose!). But they won't do it unless they are reading their book.
They do know where their belly buttons are. Alya usually ends up touching the VERY top of her little round tummy - which is no where near her belly button. But in her defense, it's hard for her to look down and see anything but the top of her belly. And it's really hard to see her belly button! Lyla usually reaches too far for her belly button and touches closer to her hips - probably for the same reason. It's hard to see over that round belly, so it's kind of a guessing game! :) They think it's really funny to find my belly button, and it's especially fun to play with my saggy, iwasoncepregnantwithtwins tummy.

They have always been fairly easy to lay down for naps and bedtime - most of the time. But lately, it has been SO easy! And I really hope I don't regret bragging about this! I do think they might start transitioning to one nap a day - which I am kind of dreading. It just seems every now and then, they don't get tired for their morning nap for an hour past their normal nap time. My biggest complaint about nap time is that they do best when they each have two binkies. They like to have one in their mouth, and one in their hands. It's so weird, but I guess if it helps them sleep, I'll let them have that one!
They also usually wake up so cute! If they wake up at the same time, they usually just sit in their cribs and talk to each other, and every now and then I hear them chuckling together until I go in and get them. I absolutely love it! That's how most mornings are anymore!

Their tiny bottom teeth are not so tiny anymore. Having these teeth come in has been so hard on them! They chew on everything, but they don't like to chew on the things that should help them - like cold teethers. They would rather chew on things like the lid to my vitamin bottle, or our broken railing, or even our window sill. They have taken chunks of paint and plaster off it. It's at the perfect height for their little mouths. Plus they like to look outside, so there is a little added appeal to gnawing on the window sill. And thank goodness I am almost done nursing because Lyla has started to chew on me every now and then!

Lyla got her second tooth this month. It came through on August 23.

She waves hello and goodbye, but it's usually when the person that she is waving to is no longer looking at her.

She got new shoes this month and did really good the first time we put her in them. She LOVES her new shoes, and when I ask her to bring them to me, she almost always knows where they are, (even though they are rarely put in the same spot twice) and will bring them to me, even if she was happily playing with something else when I asked her to go get them.

She loves to throw her Spiderman ball that Daxton gave her. When it bounces in the right spot, it lights up with blue and red lights, so she will walk around the house, throwing the ball and trying to get it to light up.

She can tell you what a puppy says, and always does a little bounce when she "barks." I guess it's more like a really airy "woof." She loves puppies. She will find them in people's yards, or walking past our house, or in books, and laugh and "woof" and it's so cute!
She also likes to practice her elk call. Matthew was watching a video one night to try to learn how to use an elk call, and Lyla kept copying the noise that Matthew and the video were making. I did record it, but for some reason I am unable to upload the video. If you want to see it, I can show you! :) It was really funny!

At the girls' one year check up today, Lyla weighed 20.14 lbs. and was 28 inches long. That puts her in the 33% for weight and the 16% for height. She is definitely my runt! But she is doing great!

Alya likes to shake her head no (although Lyla LOVES to tell me no) and she will nod her head yes. Usually when the girls are eating, they end up throwing a lot of food on the floor. So I tell them "no, no" and Alya almost always shakes her head no. Then it becomes a game of us going back and forth shaking and nodding our heads when I say "no" or "yes." And she thinks she is so funny!

She says "uh oh!" pretty much anytime she drops something. If she drops her water from her high chair, "uh oh!" If she drops a toy she is holding, "uh oh!" and my favorite is when she wakes up from a nap and drops her binky out of her crib, I can hear through the monitor saying "uh oh" multiple times.

She waves hello and goodbye, but it's always with a bent wrist. Like she's too lazy to raise her fingers! It's pretty funny!

I have been letting the girls pick out their clothes lately. I just take them to their closet and dress them in whatever they grabbed. One day, I put Alya in the dress she picked out and she immediately stood up, put her hands on her tummy and looked down at the dress, and then started to twist at the hips. It was so cute!! She must have just felt like the prettiest little girl on the face of the earth. And especially in that moment, she was!

She also loves her new shoes. Sometimes when she wakes up while Matthew is getting ready for work, he will put one of her shoes in bed with her and I will find her playing with it when she wakes up two hours later. The first time I put her in them, she just stood in one spot, looking at them. She did NOT know what to do with these foreign things on her feet. Her first few steps in shoes were VERY unsure. But now she is pro! She loves putting her shoes on because it means that we get to go outide!

She is very quick to give hugs and kisses when it's her idea. My favorite thing is when we are playing, she almost runs up to me with her arms outstretched, and wraps them around my neck. She cuddles with me for a minute and then usually gives me a quick kiss before she continues playing. It's another one of the "it's the best/I am the luckiest mama" moments.

Today Alya weighed in at 22.10 lbs. and she was 29 inches long. That puts her in the 66% for weight and the 45% for height.

They are very helpful when we are getting dressed now-a-days. They always lift up one leg at a time so I can slip their pants off, and they will sit very patiently in my lap, and offer me their feet so I can slip pants, and socks and shoes on for them. They do especially well when we are putting shoes and socks on, because it means they get to leave the house! :)

We have had the opportunity to take a lot of drives into the mountains as a family the last little while. The girls and I have loved it! We usually drive for a while and look for animals and see if we can see some fall colors. Then we stop and either just play for a little while, or have dinner and do our bedtime routine and then come home. It has been so much fun! It's fun to get out and let the girls wander around and play in the mountains!

I can't believe it's been a year. Everyone always says they don't remember what life was like without their kids, and I'm not going to lie. I DO remember what life was like before we had kids, and while I can pretty honestly say it was a lot easier, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Now that I know what life as a mom is, I couldn't imagine wanting to go back to how it was before. I love my husband and I love my girls. I love them with all of my heart! I truly feel so blessed to have them in my life. What a wonderful responsibility it is to be a wife, and especially to be a mom.