Eyes on the Road!

That's a pretty tall order when this cutie pie sight is what I get to see when I take my eyes off the road and look in my backseat! I LOVE that the boys are big enough and old enough to face forward. They are loving it too!!! I think Laney is a little sad that she doesn't have the brothers all to herself, but she does not miss my constant questioning about whether the brothers are "wake" or asleep???

We're Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo!

We got to go to the zoo last week with Kamryn, Jen and their sweet friend Megan and her itty bitty little Naaman. When we got there, we ran into one of Laney's friends from school who has a little brother almost the boys' age. So, we all made the rounds together and had a lot of fun!!! Laney had lots of fun with her friends. They were all perched up here checking out the elephants.

Here, they are looking at some little monkeys.
Checking out the Bongo. Obviously.
All the little brothers waited patiently in their strollers. Crew, Sam, Miles, and Matthen.

Selah, Kamryn and Laney all squeezed into this little car while they were supposed to be eating lunch!

Apples with Ella!

Ella and Janelle came over a couple Friday nights ago for an evening playdate! The girls got in their jammies, we put the brothers down for bed and then we got started on the real fun! We made caramel apples!!!
The girls were super excited to get started!




I love Miss Ella's enthusiasm!Once the apples were dipped, it was time to roll them in some yummy toppings. Crushed oreos, white chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, and marshmallows were their choices! Both girls wanted everything on their apples...
which resulted in these beautiful creations! Janelle and I chose to dip ours in just oreos...yum!
It was a perfectly fun night with our friends!

PINK Popcorn Balls!

Grommy invited Laney to join her in creating some yummy pink popcorn balls. Yummy? Pink? Popcorn? Laney didn't need much more convincing than that!!! They got started mixing up some strawberry jello on the stovetop! Laney was in charge of the measuring cups!
And Grommy was in charge of the stirring!
They had to take a break and let something cool or harden or something. I can't really remember, but Laney took the opportunity to get on the floor and play some peek a boo with me using her feet.

Back to work! Laney stood guard over the popcorn.

They poured their jello mixture over the popcorn.

Then shaped it into balls.

Of course Laney got a little sample of their sticky creation.

Emphasis on the sticky! We couldn't actually eat them because they were so sticky I thought they were going to rip out all my fillings. They had so much fun making them that we are going to have to try again with another recipe.

The Mall Play Area

I know that a lot of moms are totally skeezed out by indoor play areas at the mall. I kind of feel a little bit guilty about how they don't really sick me out that much. I don't really get how they are that much different than an outdoor playground. Due to my lack of grossed outness, Todd and I took the kids there a couple of weeks ago and they were having so much fun, I had to break out the camera.

This was Miles's favorite spot. He played peek a boo with anyone who happened to glance his way!

He made his way through the tunnel a few times.

His tongue just can not stay in his mouth.

See!

Sam loved the tunnel. He had quite a monopoly on the space. We had to get him out of there, so some other kids could have a turn.

I didn't get many pictures of Laney, because she wouldn't slow down. I caught this one of her about to send her doll, Hope, down the slide!

Miles totally thinks that he is a big kid.

Quite a Pair!

How bout these expressions from our little playmates. The boys are really playing together so much these days. It is awesome.
Their collaborative play does occaisonally result in a little more aggression than one of the brothers might be interested in. Sometimes Miles is dishing out the maniac love..... He was crawling in his super fast mode after Sam, and tackling him.

Sam retaliated with some headbutting.

Miles chose to greet his brother with a holy kiss!!

I am so glad that I have the following progression of pictures. I mentioned Sam's favorite activity, treadmill climbing, recently. Now I have caught him in the act!
First he climbs on.

Then he begins to maneuver himself around to face the front.

Ending up in his favorite position with his legs dangling in front of him.

Finally, he uses the step to push off of and stand on his own in front of the treadmill. At this point in the whole process, he usually takes a little break to clap for himself before he starts all over again!

12 Months Old!!!

A whole year old! I have blogged enough about the happenings of the boys' birthday, but I have yet to write about the fact that our babies are a whole year old!!!! It has been a whirlwind year filled with so much fun and wonder and our fair share of craziness! When I think back to the day the boys were born, my stomach still drops a little. It was the scariest day of my life. When my water broke and I saw all that blood, I truly thought that I might lose my babies. The memory still chills me. Even once we got to triage and I was certain that our boys were doing just fine, I still couldn't shake the fear that it was too early and they were too little to be born. It was only two hours after I was sitting on my couch blogging about Halloween that I was lying in the o.r. holding my perfectly beautiful sons. Speaking of whirlwind!!!!! I got to hold them for just a bit before those two tiny things were whisked away to the NICU to get warmed up and checked out. As I write this, I can NOT believe that all this happened an entire year ago. It feels like yesterday that I got wheeled into the NICU and got to really look at their precious faces and touch their little hands and feet! It boggles my mind that 12 months have passed since all those countless trips to the NICU rejoicing over each milliliter of milk they swallowed. It has been a year full of more joy than I ever imagined. I wanted these babies so badly. I wanted Laney to have a younger sibling so much. I knew that life with our boys was going to be great. I didn't know that it was going to be this great. They are so much fun and life with them is such an adventure. And truth be told, it is not as hard as I imagined that it was going to be. Sleeping issues aside, our twins are really really good boys. And on that note, I am happy to report that we are all now sleeping until at least 5:30 and we are working on moving that into the sixes! (Let the record state that waking up in the sixes used to sound like cruel and unusual punishment to me, but at this point, I would be thrilled if we established a 6:30 wake up time, and I really think we are almost there!)

Sam Bones:
He is a funny one, this Sam. He loves to make noises. I really think that he has his own little language going on. That is how precise the sounds that he makes are, and he is so serious the whole time that he is monologuing, I am certain that he thinks that he is communicating all kinds of truths to us. He hums a whole lot these days and he really loves to imitate sounds. He says mamamamama and dadadadada, but not really any other real words. He is standing on his own like crazy, and has taken a few steps. He gets so proud of himself whenever we are all cheering for him and clapping! He loves climbing up and down on steps. No steps at Grommy's house, so he has to improvise and use the treadmill. He climbs up, turns himself around, and dangles his legs off the side with a huge smile on his face! He loves to stand on top of things too. Sometimes it is the toy piano on the floor. Sometimes it is attempted on one of their favorite spiky balls, and sometimes it might be his brother's leg. Sam is a pretty serious fellow. He definitely laughs alot and he always smiles his adorable big smile whenever someone smiles at him, but whenever he is playing on his own or not being directly engaged, he gets very contemplative and introspective. Actually that is just how I am interpreting his hysterically serious expression. It really cracks me up to imagine that he is sitting there pondering great philosophical truths. He pretty much hates to be strapped into things. Specifically the grocery cart. He really tries hard to jump to his death whenever I dare to buckle him into the cart. No matter how tightly I pull those straps, he can find a way to end up standing up and backwards in there. He loves to play chase on the floor. If I get down on my hands and knees to play "I'm gonna get you," he gets so excited, crinkles up his face, starts that snort laughing that he does, and crawls as fast as he can towards me!!!! It is pretty cute! Speaking of cute. I am in love with this picture of my littlest Lewis!
And "Littlest" he is again in name and in actuality. He measured at his one year appointment:

29 1/2 inches; 20 pounds and 11 ounces putting him in the 20% for weight and 45% for height.

Big Brother Miles outweighed him for the first time since they were two months old at:

28 1/2 inches; 21 pounds (25% for weight and 10% height)

Miles:

My favorite thing that the brothers are doing right now is playing together and with Laney. I absolutely love watching my nieces and nephews play together. I don't think that anything can compare to the relationships that they have together and the fun that they have together all the time. I am so excited to see the beginnings of that in my children. Frequently these days, the boys will take cues from each other. One will look at the other, see him smiling or laughing, and immediately join in. They like to be close to each other, so if one starts to crawl across the room, the other is usually hot on his tail. This also translates into some toy thievery. Gone are the days that the boys didn't really notice when something was taken from them. There is a great deal of screaming going on if one brother takes a toy from the other. Miles especially is very offended when Sam takes something from him. I think that he has such a tender little heart. His feelings seem to actually get hurt. I could just be imagining this because his reaction is so incredibly dramatic. He seriously makes the most horrified expression, starts crying and imploring me with his gigantic eyes to please right the injustice that has been inflicted on him. Of course ten seconds later, when he is the one doing the stealing, he uses those same giant eyes to look innocently at me while Sam sticks out his lower lip with a less dramatic but no less offended cry!

Miles really is such a dramatic little thing. He is totally all or nothing. He can be in the throes of laughter one minute and crying like crazy the next. There is no in between for him. He is a loud little guy. He loves to talk just like his brother, but his language involves a lot more volume and a lot more yelling. It is like he is just so excited all the time. My sister, Jessica, definitely never nicknamed me Loud Kristin at any point, so I have no idea where Miles may have gotten this behavior!!! Miles loves to play with balls. He is really surprisingly adept at throwing a ball. Miles still really loves to be close to me, which works out well because I love to be close to him too!! He is pulling up on everything these days, but not making any attempts at walking or standing on his own. I am not surprised that he is content to crawl, because he is the fastest crawler I have ever seen. It is so funny to watch him blaze across the room. He is pretty adventurous still. He loves to go down the slide at the park and tries to wriggle free of my grip so that he can do it all by himself. He loves to play in the bathtub, while Sam typically just tries to get out the whole time. Miles splashes around and laughs like usual! Miles is biting lots these days. Sam still bites occasionally, but Miles is pretty consistent in his piranha-ness! He isn't ever mad or mean about it. In fact, it is usually when he is really happy, laughing, and playful. We have all gotten a little wary of his open mouth kisses!

Please know how much I love that Miles's "crazy eyes" still show themselves every now and then!!! Case in point!
Now for a little walk down memory lane with our boys.

Here are a couple of shots of them as itty bitty newborns. How is it possible that I love them so much more now, when in those moments I felt my heart would burst with the love that I had!?

One Month Old
Two Months Old
Three Months Old
4 Months Old
5 Months Old
6 Months Old
7 Months Old
8 Months Old
9 Months Old
10 Months Old
11 Months Old

12 Months Old