Eighteen Months

First of all, I never posted the girls' 17-month picture, so here it is (courtesy of my mom one morning before school)...



Addison's hair is not quite as long or full as it appears in the picture, but both girls are sporting nice little mullets these days.  I am hoping the front will eventually catch up with the back, and if those beautiful curls want to hang around, I will be totally fine with that also.

They weren't feeling like cooperating for the 18-month picture, but it sure does capture their personalities at this stage...uncontainable! 

One version with Addison looking at the camera...

and one with Mackenzie looking.

So, what is going on at 18 months?  LOTS.  A & M are busy, busy bees from the time they get up in the mornings until their heads hit the pillow at night.  They are into absolutely everything, so my house is almost always a wreck if we have been home for any length of time...you wouldn't want to see the state it's in today after being home for a long weekend.  And yet, we have so much fun together at this stage. 

A typical day goes something like this right now...
The girls get up somewhere between 6:30 and 7:15, though it's not uncommon for one or the other to wake up around 6:00 and come to our bed to go back to sleep.  Immediately after they wake up, we go on a hunt for snack cups (filled with Cheerios or Teddy Grahams) and milk.  They hang out in my bedroom while I get ready, either screaming and holding onto my legs or playing with their daddy and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, depending on what kind of a day it is.  Around the time I leave for work, the girls settle in for breakfast, provided by either my mom or Jeremy.

If it's a school day, my mom comes to our house to finish getting A & M ready, then she takes them to school at 9:00 and picks them up at 2:00.  Otherwise, they spend the day at her house while I work.  Days are consumed with exploring kitchen cabinets, eating lots of good snacks, playing with balls, baby dolls, and other various toys, climbing up and down in different chairs, jumping on the bed, and playing outside--which consists of eating rocks, leaves, and any other bits of nature they can get their hands on.

After I get off work, the girls and I come home to either play outside or otherwise entertain ourselves until dinnertime.  Then it's time for bath, always a favorite in our house.  A & M usually have a good time running around naked for a few minutes after bath, burning off the last of the day's energy.  We read a few books and wrestle into pajamas, then settle in with sippy cups of milk to wind down.  Even if Jeremy is home, this is the time of day when the girls absolutely insist on having me.  We sit in the big recliner, rocking, reading Goodnight Moon, singing bedtime songs, and saying prayers until I take them to bed (which is usually around 7:00 most nights...school wears them out!).  No matter how tired they are, Mackenzie vigorously shakes her head "no" when I ask if they are ready for bed.  Yet, when I put them down, she is usually the one who goes right to sleep with little or no protest.  Addison, on the other hand, stands up before I get out of the room to shriek her protest.  That usually doesn't last long, but I can hear her humming and thrashing around in her bed for up to a half hour some nights.  She doesn't cry or anything...we just call it her 'quiet time'. 

As exhausting as the days can be, I love this stage.  It's like we are learning to understand each other and communicate a little better what we all need and want from each other.  Mackenzie is talking some, trying to repeat anything we ask her to say.  Her favorite saying right now is "Uh-oh, spaghettio"...which comes out all jumbled, but it's absolutely precious.  Naturally, we hear it 1,000 times a day, followed about 800 of those times by me saying, "That was NOT an uh-oh".  She also says daddy, mama (rarely, and only when I'm not here), keys, seat, pee-pee, poo-poo (classy, right?), baby, NiNi, bye-bye, mum-mum, rock, and can repeat a variety of other jumbled words or phrases.

Addison has not had much to say up until this point, except for long, nonsensical babbling.  She seems to really be getting the hang of it this month though, and her babbling is sounding more and more like words.  She has said uh-oh, rock, daddy, and mama lately.  Oh, how I love to hear their sweet little voices and imagine the conversations we will have one day!

I guess this has turned into a baby-book style update...but since I haven't updated their baby books since we moved into this house more than six months ago, I guess that's okay, right?

It's hard to believe my girls are halfway through their second year, closer now to two years old than to one.  The days are long, but the years are short... I have heard that multiple times during difficult times over the last year and a half, but it's not until I stopped to really take stock of how far we have come that I realize how very true those words are.  I try to remind myself of that fact a little more often, and make every effort to enjoy these days, with all the jumbled words, curious little hands, and footed pajamas...  In the grand scheme of things, they will only be here for such a short time before we move on to more serious conversations, homework, fights over clothes and boys... oh my.  Can't they stay little awhile longer??