Monday, January 19, 2009

Chow(der) Time

It snowed in Birmingham today... well, it flurried but whatever. I made a weather-appropriate dinner of potato-corn-chicken chowder with breadsticks and apple crisp for dessert. Madeline and Eli inhaled it!





After months of frustration over cooking meals and having my children refuse to eat them, I finally decided to take the hard nose approach: This is what is for dinner and if you don't eat it, you go to bed hungry. No more short-order cook! I am pleased to announce that after about a week of going to bed with hardly any food in their tummies, M&E have become little human garbage disposals. I can't tell you how rewarding it is to slave over a meal and have it appreciated!

M&E are getting quite good at feeding themselves, which is a good thing because they absolutely refuse to be fed by us anymore. So big! I also put the highchairs away in storage several weeks ago. Now my big kids either eat at the dining table with us or at their little table from Santa, which has replaced the highchairs in the kitchen.

Friday, January 16, 2009

18 months



We braved the cold today to take Madeline and Eli to their 18 month checkup. The thermometer in the car read 16 degrees on the way there. I know some of you farther north may think that's nothing, but this is Alabama, y'all, and that's COLD! Thankfully, M&E think wearing hats and mittens is really fun (see Eli's expression above).

We had another great checkup and were again reminded of how blessed we are to have such healthy twins. Little Madeline weighed in at 22 pounds and is 33 inches tall. Eli tipped the scales at 27 pounds, 4 ounces and was 33.25 inches tall. Both are just under average in weight and just above average in height - just how we like it! I was glad that despite the cold that they have, both were able to get their shots today... M&E were not so glad, but they got over it quickly.

We also seem to be hitting all of the developmental milestones - running, following directions (when they choose to), using 7-10 words (mommy, daddy, up, please, dog, truck, hi, bye, blanket *kind of*), etc. The word expectations were nice to know because I was thinking we didn't know enough yet, but it seems we're on track. We've been practicing using words over grunting a lot lately.

After being cooped up in the house all week with this darn cold, M&E really enjoyed getting out today - even if it was for shots!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Guilty



I got some Hershey Kisses in my stocking from Brandon for Christmas, so I put them in a little bowl on the dining table, thinking they were out of reach. I found a soggy wrapper on the floor that day and went to find the culprit. This little girl comes from a long line of chocolate fiends so I can't be too hard on her for it.

(Obviously, this is a picture from several weeks ago... I don't have the will power to STILL have candy from Christmas laying around the house.)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Guest Blogger



Yesterday, I was upstairs cooking our New Year's Day lunch, while M&E played downstairs. They had been quiet for a while so I went down to check on them, and this is what I found. I was unaware that Eli was able to climb up into the desk chair. Notice how his form is perfect, complete with hand on the mouse. Think he's watched me do that a few times? Do you think it's time to install parental blocks on the internet?