One Year Later

It's been one year since our two beautiful little blessings joined our family.  It's gone by so very fast!  That saying, "The days are long but the years are short," - I can't even describe how true that is.  The first several months were a blur of feedings and rocking and diapers.  I'm so thankful that I take a gazillion pictures and for Facebook (and this blog) where so many sweet memories are recorded for me to look back on when I forget how tiny my girls once were.

36w1d pregnant - the day I went to the hospital to have the girls

Sweet sweet 3 day old princesses

They were SO TINY.  These are preemie clothes, y'all.

And now they have more than quadrupled their weight.  I'm not sure exactly what they weigh right now but at their last sick visit they were both around 21-22 lbs.  They started out at 4.11 and 5 lbs!  Crazy!  They are wearing 12-18 month clothes.  They are precious little girls and we honestly can't imagine our family without them.

Rylan at a year old:

This girl is so beautiful. Honestly, she has the sweetest smile.  I just love how she shows me all her little teethies (she has EIGHT!) every times she smiles up at me.  She has really long hair for a one year old - it is getting to the point where I have to put it up or it hangs down into her eyes.  She's got a teensy bit of curl right on the ends in the back but it's mostly straight.  She says "Dada" all the time and has said "yay" a couple of times when she claps (she LOVES to clap!) and yesterday, I'm not even joking, she said "gentle" several times.  I have a feeling we're in trouble with this little chatterbox!  She has said "Mama" just once and it was precious but I know I'll be hearing it from her all the time soon enough!   She loves to blow raspberries - and for others to blow them on her tummy. She also tries to put things on her head - hats, headbands, tries to brush her hair.  It's so cute.  She has also learned to drink out of a straw, she thinks that's pretty awesome.  Rylan is a giggle-box.  She is always laughing at Sadie and at her big brothers and sister, too.  She crawls everywhere and can stand up and walk some while holding onto things.  I adore this girl, she is such a little love!

Rylan Grace

Sadie at a year old:

My mischievous little Sadie-bug.  Sadie is adorable.  She has the funniest little laugh that makes me smile every time I hear it.  She crinkles up her nose when she smiles and I love love love it.  Sadie has started playing peekaboo just this past week and it's so funny.  I love how she actually covers up her eyes, soooo cute.  Sadie has 6 teeth - she had caught up with Rylan but then Rylan pulled ahead again.  I absolutely 100% adore Sadie's curly hair.  It is awesome!  Sadie says "Mama" all the time and sometimes says "Dada".  She gets very easily excited and is still always "on the move".  She is our most active baby, honestly.  Kyler started walking really early but I still just don't remember him ever being quite as busy as this little miss!  Sadie walks a lot while holding onto furniture and a few times has let go for a brief second before falling or grabbing on again - yesterday I counted 5 seconds that she was standing on her own!  She'll be running around here before we know it!  This girl is so special to me, I am so glad to have her!

Sadie Jane

They are both great sleepers still, napping 3-4 hours total during the day and typically sleeping from 7:30 pm to 7 am.  (If only mommy could discipline herself to get in bed at a decent hour we'd be doing great....)  We do have the occasional night when one or both wakes us up....like last night...when Rylan was awake from 2-5 am and Sadie was awake off and on all night.  They were just so excited about their birthday, haha!  But mommy is exhausted today!  They are also great eaters - they will eat pretty much anything I give them but their favorites are strawberries, blueberries and sweet potatoes.  If there are strawberries on the plate they don't want to eat anything else until ALL the strawberries are gone.  The two of them stick pretty close together, which I love.  I can almost always find them playing together in the same area.  A couple of times recently I'll find that they've both crawled off to play in their room together and if the bathroom door is open they will discover that quickly and try to get in there before mommy notices, giggling all the way down the hallway.  They love taking baths so I think that's why they try to get in there, although I have caught Sadie trying to stick her hand in the toilet a few times!  They laugh and chatter at each other all the time, it is one of my favorite things to watch.  I love seeing them play together!  

As for family life....well....we're tired.  Shocking, right?  It's busy with 5 kids, and it will only get busier once these babies figure out walking (and running, yikes!) but we really wouldn't change it!  I love having these kids, all of them, and I think they all love having each other.  They are all pretty good at playing together and it's such a blessing to watch them together.  I truly feel so thankful to have them.  When people say "better you than me" you can believe I am agreeing with them.  So much better that it's ME and that these kiddos are MINE!