I’m so behind on blogging about my babies because adequately capturing their personalities and adorable traits in a blog post seems so daunting to me. So, unfortunately I just haven’t been writing at all! It’s so important for my own sake that I do, since I’m not good at keeping a baby book! Here goes my best attempt at describing how Madeline and Abram’s little personalities are unfolding these days!Yes, sometimes very serious :) I love this first photo, despite the serious faces. I am constantly amazed by how similar they look, and yet how different they look at the same time. When I’m in public, I now get asked all sorts of questions about how far apart they are in age, or “they’re not twins, are they?” because their size difference has grown quite large! Abe is approx. 27lbs and Madeline seems so petite at 23lbs…but she is quite average and he is far above average! Isn’t it amazing what little bodies do when fed the same amount of food?!About Madeline:

Madeline has become very social in the sense that she thrives off one-on-one attention, comfort when she is feeling tired or sad, and snuggles. She is still very much on the go, but she has become much more snuggly lately. One of her very favorite things seems to be reading books, and one of my favorite things is how she will go get a favorite book and climb into my lap for me to read it to her! I love that she wants/needs to be near me, but that certainly has its challenges. For instance, when I am preparing a meal, Madeline will whine at my legs with her arms outstretched, not understanding why I’m not choosing to pick her up. Those moments are difficult, and yet I know she needs to learn that she can’t always be held or have her way when she wants it. Oh the challenges of being a toddler! Madeline has become a sponge when it comes to learning. When asked, she will bring a specific item to a specific person (like “bring that box to daddy!”), pat her belly (SO darn cute!!), shake or nod her head, dance, clap, stomp her feet, blow kisses, give a hug or a kiss, sit down, jump, etc! And just today she said “baaa” when I asked her what noise a sheep makes! It’s so exciting to watch her learn these things. She takes great delight in obeying commands, which I hope is a trait that sustains through the years to come! She is the first to both laugh and to cry, as she has very sensitive emotions. She still goes a bit nuts in the evenings when she’s tired, as my parents got to experience over Thanksgiving! Oh it’s so funny! She also makes the most hilarious facial expressions, and they come out of nowhere and leave anyone around her rolling in laughter!

About Abram:

Abe is our independent little (big! ha!) guy. He most often prefers to play independently as long as I am in sight. While Madeline loves to sit on my lap for a book, Abe typically prefers to flip through a book and “read” it on his own. And for some reason, he usually holds the book upside down and he turns the pages from left to right! He gets very focused on what he is doing, and has the potential of playing with the most simple toys for a long time. For example, yesterday he played with a rubber letter block that fit just perfectly into a cup all throughout the day. He is very methodical in taking things out of containers and putting them one by one into something else. We find things all throughout the house and laugh because we know Abe put them there! For example, I was searching for the lid of my Vitamix, knowing Abe somehow got a hold of it. We were looking all over and after coming up empty, Grant searched through the garbage he had just taken outside and there it was! What a silly guy! Just in the past month or so, Abe has become very ticklish, on his sides, tummy and under his chin. His laughter when he’s ticked is so funny to me – it doesn’t really sound like laughter…more like a gurgling! Abe loves clapping, and will clap when he hears music. He enjoys waving to people and when in public, offering to share his cracker with a stranger – something he would never do with his sister :) He will roar and bark when asked what sound a lion or a dog makes. He will respond to other commands, but only when he wants to! He is often too focused on something else or just not interested in showing off his skills. He loves making loud noises by banging toys together, and loves sitting on the couch when I’m not up there with him!The best things about our every-days together during this stage:

I love outings with them because they love them too! I often find myself cracking up as I walk through a store because they do the goofiest things and make such silly noises. I love that they are now so interested in each other that when I ask “where’s your brother (or sister)”, they will go find the other! I love coming back into the living room after washing dishes or something, and seeing Abe and Madeline playing near each other or with the same book/toy. They rarely play away from each other, and that’s such a joy to me! I also love how they can crack each other up, for example, if I hold Madeline and Abe is sitting on the couch or floor, I will make her “fly” down to her brother and they both end up in giggles! I also love bath time, because no matter what challenges we faced during the day, they are SO happy in the bath tub! It’s such a wonderful, positive way to end the day.  I also love when I lay on the floor and ask them where my belly button is…silly, I know, but it’s so sweet when they crawl up on me in search of it! :) I also love watching them grow an understanding of basic things, like seeing them walk to the stairs when I say it’s time for a nap, or to their high chairs if say, “are you ready to eat lunch?” or how they sit down when I tell them it’s time to put their shoes on. The simple things are so exciting at this stage! Also, I LOVE the days when they wake up from their nap around the same time and they just babble and giggle with each other, and clap and jump in their cribs! There is no joy that compares to that!Photo below: cracks me up! They can make the goofiest faces!

The most challenging things about this stage? Well, we are in the process of moving to one afternoon nap and no morning nap. Most often, these two don’t take more than 1-hour long naps, and on many days they have been taking a one hour morning nap and a 40 minute afternoon nap, which is very draining for me. It’s so exhausting physically and mentally to be fully engaged with them for such long stretches without a break to take a breather and short rest. I am hoping they will soon begin to take at least a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. It’s now the challenge of how to keep them entertained and stimulated the whole morning without their normal naptime! I also struggle with the children not responding well to “no”. I wish that word would stop them in their tracks, but unfortunately it doesn’t really phase them. Another really challenging thing about this phase is Abe’s tantrums. They usually revolve around food – like when I give him a meal or snack that he apparently doesn’t want, even if it’s one I know he loves, like a banana. He will get on all fours, crawl away from me as far as possible and scream into the floor. It breaks my heart and I haven’t figured out the best way to respond to them to communicate that it’s not OK to do respond that way. That will take some time and God’s grace to figure out! Lastly, a challenge for me is that once they go down for bed, I am usually so worn out that all I want to do is lay on the couch all evening. And that is discouraging to me!Overall, this stage is so fun, and I absolutely adore these two! It us SUCH a blessing to be a mama of twins!!a few others from the month:

They look like they’re always all smiles…but this is to show that’s definitely not true! They are in the pushing/shoving/stealing toys from each other phase! We love our trips to Costco!Abe got his third hair cut! The kiddos also love trips to Ikea! Phew! That was a long post! I’ll hopefully get around to sharing my favorite photos of them from months 12-14 soon! :)