Thirteen (and a half) Months

After all the excitement of the one-year mark, thirteen months sort of slipped right by me.  I will definitely keep taking monthly pictures, even though we may not always get them in the rocking chair each month.  I am so, so glad I have the pictures from their first year, specifically marked with each month.  It's fun to look back and see how much they changed over just a couple of months.

So what are Addison and Mackenzie up to at thirteen months? 

They are busy, busy girls, that's for sure.  They are always on the go, and wherever one is, her sister will be close behind.  Sometime over the last couple of months, they changed from the "scooting crawl" to a proper, up-on-all-fours crawl.  It's hard to contain them for long, and we finally broke down and got a baby gate not too long ago!  I use it to keep them in the playroom in the mornings while I get ready. 

Both girls can stand and "cruise" along the furniture with ease.  They are in no hurry to walk, and honestly, I'm okay with that!  They can stand unassisted for just a few seconds, but rarely want to do it.  Once they figure out you are trying to make them stand on their own, they will go limp and refuse to stand at all!  Funny girls...

In the last month or so, Addison & Mackenzie have learned the meanings of these words:  hair, tongue, sissy, daddy, and dogs.  Mackenzie is starting to point to her nose when we ask, and by "point to", what I actually mean is stick her finger halfway up her nose.  It's lovely.  Really.  They love to stick out their tongues and pull their "pretty hair".

My favorite thing they have learned lately is to recognize each other.  We ask, "Where is sissy?" and they point to each other immediately.  When we say, "Love your sissy", they will lean over and love on each other.  Oh, it just melts my heart.  They also want to "share" their pacis with us, so we are teaching them to share with each other instead.  They love to steal pacis from one another, but if we tell them to share, they will usually offer one back to each other.

When I'm standing up in the kitchen or working on something, Mackenzie will often come up behind me and wrap her arms around my legs and squeeze tightly, like she's giving me a little hug.  That's one of the best feelings in the world...I absolutely love it!  Addison is particularly good at mocking the noises I make, and we "growl" at each other a lot in the car.  She has also developed quite a little temper and a scream to go along with it...but that's a topic for another post.  : )

After the switch to sippy cups, we had a little trouble with the of the bedtime routine, but we are finding our rhythm again.  We usually settle in the recliner, both girls in my lap, and they drink a little more milk while we watch a little tv.  I just love that time of day, when they are settling down and getting ready for sleep and they begin to get cuddly and just a little silly.  They will crack up over the littlest things, and it's just so much fun to spend a last few quiet, peaceful minutes with them before I put them down. 

Speaking of bedtime, they are still sleeping around 12 hours a night, from about 6:45 at night to around 6:30 in the morning.  I am thrilled with the later waking time, rather than the 5 a.m. mornings we were having for awhile.  I don't usually set my alarm for work, as they have always awakened before I had to get up anyway, but there have been a few mornings we all slept a little later and I ended up being late.  Oh well...totally worth it!  Naps are a little more unpredictable, but usually average about an hour and a half in the mornings and an hour or so in the afternoon. 

Food is a constant challenge for me.  Addison & Mackenzie are pretty good eaters, but I stress a lot over feeding them the right things and trying to develop good eating habits.  This month, they are loving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cut into strips they can hold, with lima beans and milk (sometimes that is lunch for mom and dad, too!).  Addison seems to particularly love peanut butter, and will eat peanut butter and crackers as long as we let her.  Oh, and grapes...I swear, those girls eat a pound or two of grapes every week.  I am making an effort to fix a meal we can all eat together at least once or twice a week.  It's hard for me to sit down and eat with them when I'm home by myself, but on the weekends when Jeremy is here I like to at least attempt it. 

So, that's basically where we are right now.  I pretty much love this stage...it's just so amazing to watch their little personalities develop as they become actual little people. 

We are kicking off vacation week tomorrow, when Jeremy and I head to the Braves game with my sister and her boyfriend.  Then we're off for the girls' second beach vacation!  I hope we get to work some relaxation time in next week, but my expectations aren't too high.  I will update and share some pictures as I can.

Have a great weekend!

**There were supposed to be several other pictures in this post, but I am having some issues getting them to show up.  Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.