Keeping it Light

Here are some adorable pictures of the girls laughing at their Daddy. I have all kinds of sad, depressing posts running through my head, but I'm just not up to it right now, so I guess I'll try to keep it light. I just spent three days at a conference in Lansing. It was the first time I have been away from the girls for a whole entire day since they were born! I didn't know if I would be able to do it, but I actually enjoyed the time away. Lucky me, I have some great friends who live in Lansing who let me crash at their house (Thanks Donna and Tim!). Donna and I actually went out to a movie last night. And I got to sleep through the night 2 nights in a row, without listening to a baby monitor. It's amazing the difference that you get in the quality of sleep! I do get to sleep through the night at home, but it is a different kind of sleep when you are taking care of babies.

The girls had their 15 month appointment with the pediatrician on Monday. John took them with my mom's help. It was the very first doctor's appointment that I didn't go to! I did arm John with a list of questions and told him the info that I wanted him to write down for me. Holland weighed in at 17 pounds 4 ounces, and Eden at 15 pounds 2 ounces. I really thought Eden was closer to 16 pounds, but oh well. The doctor was pleased with both of their growth, and they are continuing to move up on the charts approaching the normal curve for their actual age. Holland is actually on the charts in head circumference, and length, and is pretty close in weight. Eden has further to go. Who knows if she will ever truly be on the charts for her actual age, given that she has the cards stacked against her. Children with CP are generally smaller and have a harder time gaining weight than other kids. I would just like to keep them in the same size clothes. What a pain it will be to try to keep track of two different sizes!

Both girls are learning so much and showing off new tricks all the time. Holland has about 4 words in her vocabulary. She says "mama," "baba" (which could mean bottle or baby?), "getcha, getcha," and "kisses." She also makes kisssing noises with her mouth, clicks her tongue, blows rasberries, and chuckles "hahaha" when we do it to her. She loves pictures of babies, baby dolls, and Eden, and wants to give them kisses and pat them on the back. Eden just recently learned to pass Cheerios from her hand to her mouth, a big accomplishment that we were eagerly anticipating! She is also holding her own bottle on occasion. Her newest and favorite trick is what we call "ojitos" (means small eyes in Spanish). This is what we say when she squinches her eyes up at us. She will do it in response to us, or just to be cute and get our attention. She also continues to do a lot of imitation, such as nodding her head yes and no, opening and closing her mouth, and pointing her index finger and shaking it around. Eden loves her toys. Right now her favorites are two maracas (one in each hand that she bangs together), the Bobble and Giggle Pals, and the Roll-a-Rounds Turtle. She is very systematic in her play, and likes to pop up one animal at a time, and take out one ball at a time, then we put them back in and she does it all again:)