Four year olds

The Jones house is now officially being run by a couple of four year olds.  Like any good birthday, the celebration stretched out over a couple of weeks.  The day after their actual birthday, Josie looked at Piper and said "mom, are we four yet?".  I told her yes, then she said, looking confused, "but we still look 3!".  I guess the magical transformation they were expecting didn't happen.

They did do some growing.  At their check-up, we got their stats.

Piper*
Height: 39.2 inches
Weight: 34 lbs
When she was 3, she was 28.6 lbs and 36.2 inches
*my little 3 lb 3 oz baby is now my big girl

Josie
Height: 39 inches
Weight: 32 lbs
When she turned 3, she was 30 lbs and 36.7 inches

They both passed their vision and hearing tests and got a bunch of shots to get ready for kindergarten!

On their birthday, they woke up to some presents and we had a little birthday breakfast.

Then last night, we had some family over for a little birthday celebration for the girls and Uncle Nate.  Josh made this lovely cake:

Uncle Nate got a cake too.  :)

 Now that we're finally done celebrating, it's time to move on to Christmas.  Happy birthday to my big girls!

Ears pierced

I took the girls last night to get their ears pierced.  It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.  We were getting hair trims and Claire's was next door without anyone there.  They were both very big girls.  No tears at all for Josie and just a little crying from Piper.  Josie picked some pink hearts and Piper picked some butterflies. Everything that Josie wears right now has to be completely pink.  She has many cute clothes she refuses to wear because there isn't the correct amount of pink.  So we also spent some money at Target stocking up on summer pink.

Aren't they cute?

Snip Snip

A few weeks ago, I took some scissors to Piper's hair.  She was starting to sport a bit of a baby mullet.  I did not think to get the camera, but Josh insisted we commemorate the occasion with lots of pictures and save her hair in a little baggy.  So we'll send that along with her when she leaves the house for college. 

 She was actually pretty patient.  I think she really wanted to play with the scissors. 

All done with a cute little bob. 

14 Months

Here's what happened when we tried to get a photo of the girls on Josh's chair this month:

There have been a few changes over the past month.  The biggest one is that we officially have two walkers!  Both girls really took off a couple of weeks ago and definitely walk more than they crawl.  They still occasionally resort to crawling, but for the most part, they toddle around.

Food is still an 'issue'.  One days they love a certain food and the next day they throw a fit.  Especially Piper.  They are officially done with formula and drink their morning and nighttime milk out of a cup. 

Playtime has become much more fun.  I've noticed that they really take the time to figure out how the toys work.  They concentrate very hard at stacking the cups, or putting the puzzles together the right way.  They have also starting really fighting over toys, which can be funny, and also cause tantrums.  Speaking of tantrums, Piper has started exerting her will.  She gets frustrated very easily and throws a fit when something doesn't go her way.  It is funny and exhausting!

We are headed to Utah tomorrow for a long trip and can't wait to visit everyone.  Then, hopefully we will come back to some nice weather and start to take this show outside!  We are all sick of being stuck inside and now that we have two walkers, they can tear around the yard.  We are also getting our new puppy at the end of the month, so the girls will have another playmate and we will have another baby to take care of!

13 Months

I am very late posting this and am going to have to post their 14 month picture soon, but by the magic of the blogger scheduling tool, pretending that I got to this on time. 

Josie and Piper were 13 months old on January 5th.  January 5th is also a big day because it's the day we brought the girls home from the hospital one year ago.  That was a crazy day!  Things are still crazy around here, just in a different way. 

Here's what's happened over the past month:

Piper

•  She took her first steps the day after Christmas.  Since then, she has made a little progress and taken up to five or six steps, but still seems pretty content to crawl. 
• Piper has her own little language.  For this reason, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes her awhile to talk.  She still does a little pointing and makes it clear what she's jabbering about.  The other day, she was very alarmed at the big flower on my headband.  She felt her own head to see if she had one too.
• She's not a fan of eating anymore.  Basically, she picks at anything we put in front of her, except peanut butter and jelly.  I think she's content on staying little.  
• Piper has become the less aggressive of the two and often gets her toys taken away.  She throws a little bit of a fit, but is still pretty easy going and gets over it quickly.  
• She can give kisses now, which are very sweet and slobbery.  She also finally discovered clapping.  Sometimes she sits there clapping while she cries. 

Josie

• Josie took her first steps a couple weeks after Piper, but now is right there with her and can walk five or six steps and sometimes doesn't need to be encouraged.
• She likes to steal toys from Piper and scramble away.  She's very sneaky.  
• Josie is getting closer to saying words.  She says Mama and Dada and Hi, which sounds like HAAAA.  She is also catching on to the baby sign language and can sign for eat and drink.  We are not very diligent about this, so it's good she's picking up on something. 
• Josie has made huge strides over the past few weeks and is becoming much more social.  She is getting better and better and even crawling over to new people to sit on their lap.  

Here's my favorite pic from the day the girls came home from the hospital - one year ago.  They were so sweet and so cuddly, but I have to say, I'm so glad we're through that!!  :) 

11 Months!

Here are our sweet, sassy girls the day they turned 11 months.  We are getting so close to the big 1!  And so close to surviving the first year with twins.  These girls are moving all over the place, very curious, and into everything.  They are finally starting to 'get' the sippy cup, but only the one with a straw.  I see a very rough transition from the bottle in our future.  They also love to play together.  I'm going to start separating them for naptime because they won't lay down and stop 'talking' to each other.    I don't think there's a day that goes by that I don't think how lucky they are to have each other (and how lucky we are to have them).  Here are some updates on each of them:

Josie:

• Just really started pulling up on stuff about a week ago.  She is so proud of herself when she does it!  And still looks a little surprised.
• Loves to play patty cake and peek-a-boo.  I think sometimes she tries to say 'peek-a-boo'.
• Said da da today while we skyped with Josh.
• Used to be my good eater, but is trying to boycott all table food.  She sticks her tongue out and makes a gagging noise.  She would like to continue to eat baby food if I let her.
• Can be a little drama queen.  Every time I sit her down she loses it!  But calms down after about 30 seconds.  She really has a set of lungs on her and has this loud 'honking' cry! 

Piper

• Is pulling up on everything and starting to cruise a lot.  She's also getting more comfortable letting go with at least one hand.  
• Has turned into a pretty good eater.  She'll eat black beans, kidney beans, veggie burgers, etc.  All things her sister refuses.  
• Is pretty good at entertaining herself.  If I need to get something done, I put her in the play pen and she finds a toy and jabbers away.
• Likes to read books.  She will sit and entertain herself with a book for a while!  I hope she's a little reader.  

Help!!

 

 Oh boy, things have changed around here in the last month.  There is no more sitting babies down with a couple of toys while mom gets a few things done.  They are everywhere!  Both girls are crawling and not content to sit anywhere at anytime.  They are also both starting to pull up on things - and always things that seem to be major hazards, like the swing, or an open drawer, or a chair that could fall over them.  This is a picture of them in their crib when I went in to get them from a nap.  The major upside to all this mobility is they crawl over to each other in their cribs and entertain themselves for a little while until they really want to get up. 

 Here's Josie escaping the confines of the playroom to explore the kitchen.  She especially likes to crawl over to Jackson's bowl.  Awesome! 

Here's Piper practicing her pulling up on the door.  Unfortunately, she's taken a couple of spills practicing her new skill. 

Ten months!

Josie and Piper are ten months!  The last month flew by with our trip to Utah grandma and grandpa visiting.  We now officially have two mobile babies and their little personalities become more apparent every day.  The girls are eating table food and great at feeding themselves their bottles, which helps me so much!  Here's some of what's been going on:

Josie:

• Finally has her bottom two teeth!  They broke through just a couple of days after we got back from Utah.
• Is crawling like crazy.  It took her a little while longer to get the forward motion going, but she is getting very efficient and moving around like crazy.
• Has been doing great with her table food.  She loves waffles, quesadillas, sweet potato pancakes, and pretty much anything we put in front of her.  She's a great eater.
• Loves to play patty cake and sometimes it almost sounds like she is trying to say "patty cake" when we play.  
• Is sweet and silly and funny and still a little shy, but getting better and better with new people.  

Piper

• Still just the bottom two teeth which she has had for awhile now.
• Is also crawling and has been pretty good at army crawling for a few weeks now.  She's also trying to pull up on things and very good at getting back to sitting.  When I go get her in the morning, she is always sitting up in her crib waiting.
• Is not such a fan of eating table food.  She throws a fit and scrunches up her lips anytime I try to give her anything new.  Sitting in her high chair is far too boring and lame for her!
• Is crazy and fun and sassy and constantly on the move. 

Here's proof of their mobility.  Usually they head in different directions, but the blinds must have lucked really interesting.