My, How You've Grown!

We went to the doctor on April 17th for the babies' 1-year check-up.  Baylor weighed in at 21 lbs 12 oz (35%) and measured 28.5 inches (10%).  Hudson weighed in at 21 lbs 8 oz (30%) and measured 28.75 inches (15%).  Baylor has more than quadrupled his birth weight of 4 lbs 15 oz.  These boys obviously like to eat! 

Here is a picture of Baylor the day he was born...

and one taken on June 15th. 

Be sure to look at the skinny legs in the first picture and the very chunky legs in this one!

Here is a picture of Hudson when he was 4 days old...

and one of him on May 28.

Look how little his head was in my hand in the baby picture. 

Not any more!  This toddler head is in the 90th percentile!

Since I'm behind in getting this posted, I'll add some milestones from the past two months.  On Friday, April 27th, Hudson took his first steps.  My mom and Matt were both here to see the first few.  When I got home from work that afternoon, the boys had just woken up from their naps. Matt got  Hudson out of his crib and stood him up and he took about 5-6 steps to me.

On Monday, May 14th, Baylor took his first steps.  Baylor actually has the better balance of the two.  He will stand himself up in the middle of the room (without pulling up on anything) and will just stay there for the longest time.  Baylor has reached all of the physical milestones first--rolling over, sitting up, pulling up--but Hudson is definitely ahead of him in the walking department.

Hudson continued to take a few steps here and there, usually from me to Matt and back when we would prompt him and help get him steady before turning him loose.  But on Monday, May 21st, Hudson decided he just wanted to walk.  I was in the floor playing with all 3 boys after work, and Hudson just kept going back and forth from our couch to the ottoman on the other side of the room.

Baylor still wasn't doing more than a few wobbly steps at a time until Friday, June 8th.  Pop, Chaz, and Lacy were over and Baylor walked across the room to get to Pop.  Over the weekend, he did it a lot more and has almost caught up to Hudson in a matter of a few days.

Here is a picture of the boys in their new Elmo jammies.  As much as I dislike Walmart, I occasionally have to go there for something...and these were an unexpected find on my last visit. The boys both really like to watch Sesame Street, read How Big is Elmo? and Guess Who, Elmo, and play with the Elmo Live toy so I was so excited to find these! 

 

All Aboard for Birthday Fun!

Baylor and Hudson are one!  When we found out we were having twins, everyone we talked to who had twins told us just to survive the first year and it would get much easier.  It's hard to believe, but we have officially made it.

The babies started their special day at the ballpark for Griffin's first coach-pitch baseball game. 

 

Later that afternoon, we had our families over for a train-themed birthday party.  I had fun making this train cake for them, but I probably should have waited until their 2nd birthday when they would have appreciated it more!

 

  Baylor and Hudson did not like their birthday hats...but they quickly

forgot about them once they got some cake on their trays.  

 

I had planned to give them each a cupcake, but Matt did not think that was very fun and really wanted to let them tear into a big piece of cake.  I'm glad I let him convince me because they loved their cake!  As soon as I put it down in front of him, Hudson grabbed an oreo (a train wheel) and bit into it.  Baylor was a little more timid with his--he touched the icing with just his little finger a few times before getting his whole hand into it.  Even then, he just felt it and played with it for a while.  Mimi helped him put his finger up to his mouth to taste it and that did the trick--he started shoving handfuls in his mouth.  Hudson finished his oreo and then also dug into his cake. I don't know how neither of them threw up because they ate a lot of cake!  Look at these sweet, messy faces!

After we cleaned them up, we let them open presents...although it really turned into Griffin opening their presents for them.  They got a lot of cute clothes for the summer.  They also got two walkers since they are cruising but not officially walking yet.  They were very interested in this alphabet train (it starts as a walker, but has a seat that attaches so it becomes a riding toy later) as soon as they saw it.  And as soon as Matt got it out of the box, Hudson grabbed on and took off across the room.  

Hollins came over to check out Baylor and Hudson's new toy, but then she became more interested in Hudson and his teeth.  Although she is 6 months older, she only has 4 teeth compared to Baylor and Hudson's 8 teeth.  She was "talking" to Hudson and kept trying to look in his mouth. 

When Griffin turned one, he had crashed by the time his party ended.  However, Baylor and Hudson were still going strong even after all of their guests had left...probably still on a sugar high! 

Spring Break

Griffin and I both had Spring Break the week of March 19-23.  We spent Monday-Wednesday in Wears Valley with Aunt Holly, Uncle Jason, Harper and Hollins.  On Monday, we went into Pigeon Forge for some shopping.  Tuesday was a beautiful spring day so we were able to get out for a hike at Laurel Falls with all of the kiddos. 



We have done this hike several times before--with Griffin in the stroller when he was little and last August with Baylor and Hudson in their Baby Bjorns.  This time, Griffin and Harper hiked together like the big kids they are becoming and the babies (Hollins included) rode in their strollers.

After hiking, we went into Gatlinburg for lunch at Smoky Mountain Brewery and then putt-putt at an indoor play center where we could manuever the course with the strollers.  Luckily, we were playing inside because by the time we were about finished with our round some pop-up thunderstorms had moved in.  Matt walked to get the car, but there wasn't a place for him to pull over to pick us up in front of the putt-putt place (and loading 3 kids into the car isn't the speediest thing).  So, pushing the double stroller and with Griffin on my back, I ran up the street through the pouring rain to the nearest hotel where we could wait under the cover until Matt could get there.  I caught some funny looks as well as a "Go, momma, go!" cheer from a man hanging out on a covered bar patio.

Back at the cabin, we filled the jacuzzi with bubbles for Griffin and Harper to play in since the weather was keeping us indoors for a while. 

Both nights, we grilled out and then made s'mores for dessert (if you can actually call them that since Griffin liked his without marshmellow and Harper liked hers without graham cracker). 

Griffin and Harper were excited to have a "slumber party" together on the pull-out sofa.

On Wednesday, we went to Cades Cove for a picnic.  Griffin and Harper played in the creek--they didn't seem to mind, or even notice, that the water was still freezing! 

What is that?

Since late October, we have been trying to figure out why Hudson's right hand and forearm repeatedly and spontaneously swell.  We went through several tests at the East Tennessee Children's Hospital trying to get answers.  He had a chest x-ray, ultrasound on his arm, echo of his heart, and an MRI of his chest and arm.  All of the results were normal, which was a little reassuring since it meant that he didn't have any tumors or problems with his heart that were causing the swelling.  However, his hand/arm continued to swell and we still didn't have any answers.  Just before Christmas, we were referred to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. It was early February before we were able to get an appointment with their pediatric vascular surgeon.  We went to Cincinnati fully expecting to be told that Hudson needed surgery, but we were relieved to have them officially diagnose his problem as congenital lymphedema, a problem that will be ongoing but only requires him to wear a compression glove/sleeve.  This is something he will have to wear for the foreseeable future, but he doesn't seem to mind it at all.  He still uses his right hand like there is nothing on it...and that means the glove is nasty by the end of the day since it has been on the floor when he's crawling, in his mouth (oftentimes right after a spoonful of baby food has gone into his mouth), and everywhere else.

Baylor and Hudson both had their first real illness last week.  Hudson ran a fever all weekend and spent 2 days lying on top of me.  He was better by the end of the second day, so when Baylor started a fever on Monday we didn't take him to the doctor right away.  Since we had just been through it with Hudson, we just expected it to last a couple of days and then he'd be better.  But when I stripped Baylor down for his bath Tuesday night (the end of the second day and fever-free as expected), I noticed he had a lot of little red bumps on his arms and legs.  I put some ointment on them after his bath, but when he woke up the next morning they were worse and more prolific.  I took him to the doctor the next afternoon and Dr. Swabe said he had quite the case of Hand, Foot, Mouth disease.  Since it's a virus, there was nothing we could do for him--we just had to wait it out.  The poor little guy looked like a leper for a few days, but he stayed in good spirits.  I'm sure that is what Hudson had, too, but for whatever reason he didn't really get the rash.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Griffin and I both had school since Valentine's Day was on a Tuesday.  He knew he didn't get to open his present or get his special Valentine's treat until after school, but he requested a "special breakfast" that morning.  His breakfast is always a peanut butter sandwich so I cut it out in the shape of a heart to make it special.

Not only was it Valentine's Day, but it was also the babies' 10-month birthday.  When I got home from work, I changed the babies into their little sweater outfits because I wanted to try to get a cute picture of all of my boys together.  Of course, getting two newly-mobile babies to sit still and smile is hard enough, but add a 4-year old to the mix and it's near impossible! 

While I couldn't get a cute posed picture of all of them, I did manage to get a few pictures of the babies showing off some of their new skills.  Since my last post when the babies turned 9-months old, Baylor has gotten very good (and fast!) at crawling. He has also been pulling up and is starting to cruise a little.  Hudson has also gotten the hang of crawling on all fours, and apparently started doing some yoga on Valentine's Day with this version of a down dog (the only day I've seen this trick from him).

After visits from Weezy and Mimi, we had dinner all together (the babies had already had their dinner, but they enjoyed some Cheerios and puffs while we ate) and then the boys opened their gifts.  Griffin got Siddley the Spy Plane from Cars 2, and Baylor and Hudson got an Elmo peek-a-boo book.

9 months old!

On Saturday, my two little monkeys turned 9 months old. I can't believe that we'll be celebrating their first birthday in a few short months. They are growing up so quickly and changing every day!  It's so fun to see them interact more and more with each other and with us and Griffin.

               

About Baylor

Baylor is very strong and really doesn't like to be still for long.  He isn't crawling yet, but he stays up on his hands and knees for a long time and occasionally rocks hard enough to propel himself forward or backward a bit.  He has just started kind of inchworming his way around a little.  He loves to stand up and it's sometimes hard to make him sit down if he doesn't want to.  He is getting more personality each day, smiling and talking more.  I tease him and say that it's because he got tired of me always saying that Hudson was the smiley baby. Baylor has also been clapping a lot lately, and the clapping is usually accompanied by an excited "aaaahhhhh..." 

About Hudson
Hudson is happy and very expressive.  He has been full of smiles almost as long as he's been in the world.  Everywhere we go, people always comment on what a happy baby he is.  I love when he wrinkles up his nose when he smiles.  And on the rare occasion when he isn't happy, singing If You're Happy and You Know It will quickly bring on the smiles. Hudson is also very talkative and a great cuddler. He also LOVES to eat!  He will eat any baby food we offer him, and he always cries when it runs out.  The funny thing is that he actually starts crying as soon as we start scraping the sides of the bowl, even if he still has a few bites left, because he knows that means it's almost gone.  Hudson isn't making as much progress as Baylor on the crawling or standing, but he knows how to roll around to get what he wants.

Even though people are always asking us if Baylor and Hudson are identical, we really don't think they look much alike.  Here is a picture of big brother Griffin when he was 9 months old--I think he looks as much like each of the babies (except chubbier and with significantly more hair!) as they do each other. 

As slow as Christmas

After counting down for weeks, Christmas finally arrived.  When we got to December 20th, Griffin said it was a "straight line to Christmas" because he was on the bottom row of his advent calendar. 

We actually started a little early when Pop and Chaz came over to give the boys their gifts on Thursday, Dec. 23.  Griffin was so excited to get to open some presents and was excited to get the new Cars 2 game for Wii and some other fun gifts. 

The babies were content just to be held and to get to untie Pop's shoes over and over.  They got cute matching Patagonia fleece suits to keep them warm all winter.  Hopefully we'll get some snow this year so they can really test them out!

On Christmas Eve, Mimi and Papaw Al stopped by our house to take pictures before heading to church.  This was the first time we'd ever put the babies in any kind of nursery, but they handled it just fine.  Griffin stayed with us for the service and it was so sweet to see him holding his candle and singing "Silent night, Holy night" at the beginning of each stanza.

All of Matt's family came to our house for dinner this year so that we wouldn't have to cut the celebration short in order to get home and put the babies to bed.  As usual,  Griffin got way too much stuff and he loved every bit of it!

The next day, we started with a relaxed morning at home.  After Griffin and the babies checked out their gifts from Santa, Griffin was ready to start on the wrapped gifts under the tree.  He couldn't wait to open this big one after trying to guess for weeks what was inside (a Lightning McQueen art desk set).  Mimi, Papaw Al, and Weezy all stopped by at the same time to see what Santa had brought.

After the babies' naps, we went to Mimi and Papaw Al's house to continue the celebration. We attempted to take a picture with Mimi and all 5 grandchildren, but that's not an easy feat.  Even though they are looking at a different camera in this one (and Baylor is looking the completely wrong direction), this is actually the best one I got.  Baylor and Hudson really didn't care about having any more Christmas and both took another nap while we were there.  On the other hand, Griffin was so excited about unwrapping presents that he hardly paid attention to what was in one box before he was asking for another one to open. 

Later that evening, Weezy and Mamere came over for dinner and more Christmas gift giving.  Griffin's big present from Weezy was a tabletop air hockey game because Griffin loves to play air hockey at the mall arcade.  Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any pictures of Mamere with her great-grandchildren.

Christmas was such a full day that we never got around to letting the babies open their big gift from us so we stretched Christmas out to the next morning.  Baylor really likes to stand up so I propped him up where he could grab at the paper and bow.  Right after I took this picture, he lost his balance and fell toward Hudson.  Even though Baylor was the one who fell, Hudson was the one who cried. 
Knowing that Griffin would like their gift, I'd kept it a surprise from him, too.  It was a ride-on Lightning McQueen car.Right now, it sits on a base that makes it a rocker.   As they get bigger, it has foot rests and a handlebar so we can push them on it.  And eventually they can push themselves on it.  It makes lots of fun car sounds, says  "Kachow" and plays music.

  











As you can see, it was a hit with the babies. Griffin said he wished he was a baby so he could ride on it, too!