it's a joy to be able to witness 2 almost 18 months old feel the sand under their toes for the first time.
it's a treat to watch the sand move under their legs as the tide comes in and to see the complete and utter confusion on their little faces.
there is nothing...and i mean NOTHING cuter than chubby baby legs and swimsuits.
watching a baby accidentally eat sand for the very first time is hilarious.
cate found it hilarious too.
this one kind of grosses me out b/c it looks strangely real. but that is a beach toy:
and i have to tell you...there is major satisfaction to be found in the simple act of taking your four children to the beach without your husband's help.
it was a major i CAN do it moment! yes...the bigs were there, but i didn't get any photos because they were frolicking in the ocean and i couldn't leave the babies for a second. :)
hope your monday is beautiful,blessed,and productive.
How in the world are they almost a year and a half old?
Y'all...I know I am biased but they are so so precious. They giggle and kiss and dance all day long. I am just absolutely in love with them. Their favorite thing to do right now is kiss.
They start about a foot away from me and say "nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnUH!" and on the UH they give me a big smackeroo on the mouth. They smooch and hug each other all day long.
Also they pull hair and slap each other all day long. That's not so nice. We are working on "BEING SOFT".
They make a mess everywhere. Anything they can reach they WILL pick up and move. I just found a box of quinoa in the bathtub.
The other day i found one of my flats in my shower. They hide in one of the kitchen cabinets and think it is hilarous.
Baby proofing? Has taken on a WHOLE new meaning with these two.
They also love bath time. The splashing and giggling is out of control during baths. I swear I'm going to have to start wearing a raincoat. HA!
At 17 months
Cate:
Is hilarious. She is tiny (but she has quite the belly) and her hair is curly. She is the quieter of the two,but she loves to interact. If anyone smiles in her direction, she is SO engaged.
She loves making exaggerated facial expressions. Her favorite is her "OH!" face (see above). She makes it any time she is excited, or any time she does something wrong. It makes me laugh every single time.
She doesn't take a binkie but she does this thing we call "monkey mouth". She sucks on her tongue when she's tired or doesn't feel well.
She loves bananas,crackers,and sweet potatoes. She runs really fast with one arm swinging and she dances by not moving her body,but holding her arms up in the air and making her "oh" face.
Lucy:
Is about 3 lbs bigger than Cate. She loves to eat and moans the whole time she does (AHAHA). She loves blueberries,cheese,strawberries,crackers and whatever I am eating. She is such a beggar!
She gets DOWN when she dances. Literally. Girlfriend bounces so deep her diaper hits the floor.
She says "UH OH" in the most perfect way when she makes a mess or does something naughty.
If i don't put her hair in a top pony she can't see a thing through her mop top and will run into walls.
She talks a LOT. She is the verbal one. Her favorite words right now are: UH OH, Sadie, cracker,cheese,cookie,ni night,mama,dada,harper,car,bye bye bath
She still loves her binkie.
The other thing that they are way into right now is saying "cheeeeeeese!". Here's a video of them right now.Y'all I love them so much I can't take it. Twins are just so much fun.
Happy Tuesday friends. Hope it's beautiful and blessed.
is it ironic that a beginning can also seem like an ending??
on saturday afternoon, both of my baby girls took their first steps.
cate first...she let go of my fingers with a grin firmly in place. and she took two wobbly steps before collapsing in my arms with a giggle.
lucy girl was next. she took two lunging steps, interrupting jimmy right as he was saying "who knows when she'll walk with those thunder thi....".
i remember harper's first steps (to jimmy, in her bedroom at 12 months old) and sadie's first steps (to my mother-jimmy was deployed-at 10 months old). i remember them like they were yesterday. but they weren't.
and as the girls walked to me, i tried to hide my teary eyes with loud laughter and whoops of joy. but a tear or two escaped as it hit me-
"these are the last first steps i will witness".
and i think i am okay with that, but it breaks my heart a little bit.
i know there will be so many more firsts. so many more. but for a moment i wanted to treasure THESE first steps. savor them, revel in them, imprint them in my memory.
the day both of my babies walked.my last babies.
now? on to something new. :) BABY CAGES. just kidding. sort of. leashes?
a year ago i gave birth to two baby girls. one was 6 lbs. 4 oz. and we named her Lucy Claire. one was 4 lbs 12 oz. and we named her Catherine Bennett.
i was scared. i didn't know how i was going to handle two babies.
i didn't know how i was going to handle four children under five.
one year ago they wheeled me into the operating room and i didn't know what to expect. i certainly didn't expect to deliver two babies in three pushes! i certainly didn't expect to not even know i was in labor (the babies were so big, i ALWAYS felt like i was having contractions!!). i certainly didn't expect to have no pain or recovery after the delivery. i think God knew i'd need my strength,ha!
a year ago jimmy and i had a quiet thanksgiving in a hospital room as we looked at our two daughters...marveled over them...and talked in hushed tones about the future.
everything about them, EVERYTHING...has been unexpected. from the moment they told us they saw two heartbeats...everything has been a surprise.an adventure.
they have turned our worlds upside down.
they have taught us all more than we ever could have known.
and i NEVER could have anticipated how FUN this would be. watching them together is a blessing. it is so interesting, and wild, and exhausting, and funny, and scary, and did i mention exhausting?
i became a better mother this year. i became more patient, more loving, more able to just soak it all in.
they are my "gentle reminders" from God. my nudges.my reminders that i am not in charge. i am not the one that knows what is in store.
they are proof that WE CAN. every time we think we CAN'T handle something as a family, we do. they are proof that we are stronger, better than we think.
they are beautiful. they are wild. they are EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING. they have taught me that my love can MULTIPLY. my love has not been divided. i now love four little girls with more love than i knew i had.
they are our saving graces.
happy birthday, cate.
happy birthday, lucy.
thank you for lighting our lives and filling our hearts.
into EVERYTHING. and i mean everything. both crawling and pulling up constantly. cruising.
grabbing
snatching
eating
biting
drooling.
jibber jabbering
kissing
climbing
they stand in their beds and "talk" to eachother. blowing raspberries and pointing and giggling. i'ts precious.
we are all just SO in love with them.
lucy:
probably around 21 lbs.
thick dark hair
three teeth. two on bottom and one coming in on top.
is very into licking our faces right now. if i say "give me a kiss" she licks my face. it's awesome
opens her mouth as WIDE as she can to eat. eats anything. screams at me if i don't feed her fast enough.
says "all done" as a substitute for "NOW" she's confused. :)
she chants it when she's ready to get out of her car seat, crib, or when she wants more food. AH DUH AH DUH AH DUH AH DUH
stands all day long.
i am constantly taking things out of her mouth, she's into everything.
loves baby mum mums. she yells MUMMUMMUMMUM when she sees them.
cate:
probably around 18 lbs.
six teeth. four on top and two on bottom.
has a new face where she purses her lips in an "o" and screams at us to express her displeasure.
uses "all done" the right way...when she's done. she likes to sign it too.
speed crawler, not as obsessed with standing up as lucy is but still stands lots.
doesn't open mouth very wide when i feed her and likes to bite the spoon. makes eating time very messy.
has a wavy patch of bangs that is just wild. i can't keep it tamed!
they will be 11 months in 2 weeks...i can't even believe it!
happy monday y'all!!
i wanted to share that i'm a guest curator at crescendoh this week...it's such an honor, crescendoh is such a cool,inspirational site. i pin from there constantly! make sure to stop by and check it out.
okay, this post is SERIOUSLY overdue. the babies were nine months old on august 24. i wanted to get this up before it's time to do a 10 (TEN!?!?!?!?! ack!) month post.
look at them! oh my goodness, i just love them more than i thought possible.
they are so healthy. and happy. and FUNNY!
they look so different from eachother now. it's funny- when they were tiny, they looked identical. and now they look so dissimilar!
lucy has been known to crawl up to cate and push her over by the face. then cate has been known to sit up and pull lucy's hair. and then cate starts screaming while lucy looks at me with a completely bewildered look on her face.
they are OBSESSED with bath time. but bath time gives me a heart attack. last night lucy lunged face first into the bubbles, and emerged, coughing and spewing, with a beard. then when i sat her up, she fell over backwards (grinning the entire time). sigh.
they both are great sleepers. not great nappers (we are in the car most of the time), but they go down about 7 and get up about 6. i'll take it!
they are out of the car seat carriers (that made me sad- they are not brand new babies anymore!) and into the britax rear facing "big girl" seats. i LOVE our phil&teds stroller, it has made my life so much easier. i've mastered pushing them in it and pulling a grocery cart behind me.
they will eat almost anything. the other night they had a feast of white beans, banana, strawberry, bowtie pasta, green beans. all table food, all self-fed...and they loved it.
Lucy Claire:
such a BIG girl. and happy. the chunkiest,happiest baby i've EVER known.
because of her general temperament, it is HEARTBREAKING when she cries.
she moves slowly and she's content w/ that. she's not in a rush. she loves getting up on her knees and pulling up.
two teeth (bottom middle)- i don't really know when she's teething, she just suddenly has teeth
amazingly beautiful hair and eyebrows
grunts
will fall asleep on me if she's really tired
giggles and giggles when her big sisters pay attention to her.
says "dada" and "mama" to us.
gets VERY excited when the food comes out
still obsessed with her binkie
Catherine Bennett:
has four teeth (bottom two in middle, top canines)
loves to do the bulldog face, especially when she doesn't want something
is a CRAZY snacker. the mum mums case above is mainly for her. i think she's trying to catch up.
says "mama" "dada" and "ah duh"- all done
mama is also for mum mum
toys with the idea of a binkie. will gnaw on one when she is really tired or upset.
has never fallen asleep on me, no matter how tired she is. she wants her bed.
a ridiculously quick and agile crawler. she's gone in a FLASH. loves pulling up and grabbing.
is a face clawer and grabber.
still shrieks like a monkey, or a bird. it HURTS my ears!
i am so in love with them. their chubby legs, soft skin, their "ba ba ba ba ba bas".
in love with their downy hair, their pumping legs, gummy smiles.their big eyes, their hand sucking.
no matter how bone tired i am...when i drag myself into their room (at 5:30!!!!) i can't help but smile when i hear their coos and see those big grins.
i have started making baby food. and can someone please tell me why i didn't do it before now? it's so easy. and so much cheaper. and they LOVE it! their favorite so far is a recipe that consists of sweet potatoes,white beans, and cinnamon.
we still GO everywhere, every day. we get stopped about every 3 feet and we love it. well i do, the bigs do, and lucy (the grinner) does. cate? gives the suspicious one over+the stink eye.
i think she might take after her daddy that one.
they have started sharing a really really funny dynamic. one of them is always poking or grabbing at the other one. lucy is really good natured about it (see video for proof). cate? not so much. here's her reaction:
i have to tell you that photo above makes me laugh out LOUD every single time i look at it. the look on lucy's face? HAHAHAHAHHAAHA. this is the best photo ever.
lucy:
weight: unknown. but i suspect it's somewhere in the "sack o' potatoes" range.
teeth: none. but lots of slobber.
party trick: sucking on EVERYTHING. sitting in a straddle and leaning down until she is pretty much doing the splits. blowing spit bubbles.
clothing size: can fit into some 12 mos things. mostly 9 mo.
favorite food: not this one
favorite toy: crinkly book
favorite sound: her sisters voices
happy time: right after she's eaten
favorite joke to play on mommy: poop up the back. several times a day. always in the jumparoo.
personality: happiest baby in the world.
cate:
weight: unknown, but still about 2 lbs less than miss sack o' potatoes.
teeth: none. but copious drool.
party trick: rocking back and forth and scooting like an inchworm. all the way across the room, in the blink of an eye.
clothing size: can still fit into random pieces of 3-6 mos.
favorite food: sweet potatoes
favorite toy: sophie the giraffe
favorite sound: music
happy time: when mama is holding her
favorite joke to play on mama: see lucy's favorite trick.
personality: she studies everyone. you can't win her over as quickly as you can win lucy over. she gets her feelings hurt easily.
here is my favorite video ever of them. they are so funny together! ignore the fact that i completely drop the phone at the end. sorry in advance for any motion sickness!
how was your week? ours went QUICKLY! which i both love and hate. i pray for the passing of time so that we can be together as a family, but at the same time i DON'T want time to go quickly. i love the ages the girls are right now and i want to savor it.
wow. too early for deep thoughts. moving on.
our week was full of the usual things.crafts,water play,target trips,the ymca...
speaking of the ymca, kickboxing=the devil. it hurts. and my limbs are WAY too long to do it gracefully. last night? i fell OFF of the exercise ball. that's right OFF. during ab work, i rolled right off in slow motion. and the guy behind me? snickered. whatever, he'll get his. haahah!
i wanted to share some photos from the last week. hope you don't mind!
here's a sneak from the sara jane boutique advertisement shoot. miss h won a contest a while back and she is one of the "faces of sara jane". how fun is that? shana cawley did the shoot and i think she is just fabulous. and harper? worked it. i was dying laughing. she was totally POSING. heeee!
last sunday we were invited to a brunch for all of the ranger wives and children. a wonderful, GENEROUS local couple threw us all a gorgeous brunch at a country club, complete with gift bags. it was overwhelming and so kind.
here's the howell chickies before the brunch:
i don't know what this is all about...but harper? looks EXACTLY like me here. hahahahhaha!
this one makes my heart ache.
sadie says "what in the JOSE?"
i don't know what's up with these two, but they have NO personality. snicker.
precious precious girls. sadie's not sure about how to smile here. :)
a. why is their hair connected? b. the bigs are screaming in this photo. can you tell by the look on lucy's (left) face? hahahaha. oh my. this one makes me laugh hard.
lucy reminds me so much of harper as a baby. i had to take a photo of the two of them together.
and one of all of us during art time this week:
hmmm. attractive. and a reminder that art should always be VERRRY VERRRRY serious.:)
happy friday, hope your holiday weekend is beautiful!
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