Happy 1st Birthday Jillian & Jenna!

Jenna (White bib) and Jillian (pink bib) enjoy their cake!

Happy Birthday Babies!!
I can't believe it has been one whole year since the girls were born. The first 5 months or so went really slowly, the tasks with feedings and diaperings overshadowing the joy of parenthood at times. Especially the first two months the girls were home with round the clock feedings....but once the girls turned about 6 months old things began to get super fun and it seems time just flew by. Jillian and Jenna became more interactive and expressive; their schedules got better and things got easier all around. Not that the first 6 months were awful or terrible, they were just...challenging.

So we had a big ol' birthday party yesterday. Probably a good thirty-some odd people. I think the number of people was overwhelming for the girls at first but they did really great. Jenna, of course, blossomed with the attention and soon stole the spotlight with her smiles, silly faces and vocal expressions. Jillian wasn't as comfortable with the attention and I held her a lot of the time. Out of the two Jillian is more shy and reserved when it comes to people outside of her small radius of a comfort zone. She warms up after a while but still doesn't like big crowds.

After everyone arrived we opened some awesome presents and then had cake. The cake was just hilarious. True to form Jenna enjoyed hers thoroughly. She had it everywhere...nose, eyes, belly, hands, face, legs.  She was just a ham, too. Once she figured out everyone thought she was funny she just kept trucking along, shoving cake in her little frosting covered mouth. :) Jillian wasn't crazy about the cake. She got messy but not nearly as much as Jenna; and while Jenna finished her entire piece of cake (thata girl!!) Jillian left more than half. Now, if I were to give her another piece of cake while no one was looking or after the crowds left I would fully expect her to look like Jenna.  It is funny how a child's personality forms so early and how differently personalities of siblings form. They are individuals for sure!

To that effect...Jared and I had decided earlier in the day that we would ask everyone to sing the Happy Birthday song twice, meaning to each baby individually. I actually got the idea from the reality show John and Kate Plus 8. They sing to (or used to) each of their kids separately, too. So when it came time to sing we asked for two songs and were pleased when everyone happily agreed. Actually....we ended up singing three birthday songs. :) My step-dad's birthday (Glenn) is the same day. I have never asked him but if it were me I wouldn't appreciate me stealing the day! Not only did Jared and I get married on his birthday (12-20) six years ago but we had our first kiddos on his birthday, too. We (sort of) surprised him with his own cup cake and song. :) I had told Jared earlier in the day my plan to give him his cupcake after we sang to the girls and he accidentally announced it when I was asking everyone to sing the individual birthday songs to Jillian and Jenna. In the end I think Glenn appreciated it though. :)

So after everyone left the party my Mom and Glenn stuck around and helped us pick up a little. My mom helped me take tags off of all the sweet clothes we got so I could wash them. Glenn held Jillian and helped her rock on her rocking horse (Glenn handmade each of the girls a rocking horse!). Katie held Jenna, Jared cleaned up cake and cups. After they left the girls were ready to eat and be put to bed...they were soooo tired! I was too...the girls were asleep by 7:15 at the latest and the only thing I remember after that is Jared waking me up at 9:30 to get ready for bed. :)

Jenna (in polka dots) and Jillian (in daisies) are dazed and ready for bed after their big girl party.

Whew...we needed a good rest. This week and weekend are going to be hugely busy. My Dad comes home from Korea on Christmas Eve (woot! woot!) and then we spend the 25th, 26th and 27th with different families each day. I am looking forward to it. Even though it is the girls' 2nd Christmas, this one will be even more special since it will be their first Christmas at home. Last year they were only 5 days old in the NICU. We did get to hold them for the first time on Christmas Day so that was such a sweet gift, but now I am glad to be able to celebrate the whole day with them and be thankful for the healthy, happy, active one year olds they've become!

Merry Christmas to All!!!

More to Come...
Jessie

PS: Check out ALL the birthday photos with THIS LINK at Snapfish.com. Remember Snapfish is free to register with no obligation to register so there is no reason to not sign up and look if you want. Also, if you've forgotten your password you can click on the link and take the steps to retreiving it.

Not Now Mama, We're Busy...

Jillian crawls into her exersaucer to retrieve some of her favorite toys.

Jenna loves to be held and she loves to stand. :)

I can't help but think lately about the GINORMOUS changes the girls have made over the last year. They are 8 days away from turning one year old, can you believe it? It is always amazing to me what milestones humans accomplish in their first year of life. Jillian and Jenna started out as babies who were barely 3 pounds when they entered this world. They couldn't breathe or eat without assistance and couldn't be held safely until five days after they were born.  Now, they are big girls who can crawl with ease, stand, scoot, feed themselves and voice their opinion. They've also morphed from cute, little baby lumps to the most busy girls I've ever met. :)

I don't know that I've ever met two kiddos who like to play more! They love crawling from room to room, reading books (especially the book held by Jillian above that shows her pictures of people "Who Love the Baby" (her).  They also love to listen to music and Jillian likes to dance every now and then (which means she will either rock back and forth or shake her arms). Another favorite is to bang toys together to see how noisy they can get. :)

They are getting really good at finger foods too. Take for instance this morning: they each had half a pancake broken into tiny bits and they also each had a quarter of a banana cut into small pieces. This was the first breakfast ever where they fed themselves. :)

I remember when the girls were little and other parents with multiples would constantly remind me that "it gets better." I can agree. Not that the newborn/infant age was bad or boring. But as they get older things have a way of getting easier. Of course I am still the same amount of tired--I traded babies who would sleep all day and be up at night for babies who sleep all night but are constantly crawling in opposite directions during the day. :) I had hoped that chasing after them would assist with my effort to loose the rest of my baby weight but so far it isn't working. Of course... I suppose making an effort would involve working out and eating right (neither of which I have time for but figured I should be honest).

On the whole though, the last several months have been really great and lots of fun. I will be sad to see this phase end but I know a new phase is right around the corner and perhaps I will be surprised at how much I will enjoy it. :) I guess I am just hesitant to see a good thing change.

So... I decided to come up with some new statistics for you like I did in the beginning, since curiosity abounds. :) The girls are eating less bottles/formula everyday but you should see the faces of the cashiers at the grocery store when I bring my shopping cart LOADED with baby food. :)

Here we go (this is for both kiddos together):

6 bottles a day (3 each) at 6 ounces of formula for each bottle is 36 ounces a day, 252 ounces a week, 504 for two weeks and equals to 3-4 cans during a two week time frame.

We go through 2-3 boxes of baby cereal during a two week time period.

We go through 82 jars/tubs of baby food during a two week time period (that includes snacks, lunch and dinner but doesn't include things like Cheerios, Cereal Puffs, Yogurt, Juice, and other baby finger foods).

We use about 130 diapers in a two week time frame which averages to about 9-12 diapers a day.

We go through 84-88 bottle liners during a two week period.

We run our dishwasher at least once every day.

I do laundry for the girls 3-4 times a week depending upon how many times someone spit up or a diaper leaked. :)

All I know to say here is

"Thank the Good Lord for coupons." :)

More to Come,

Jessica

Jared, Jillian and Jenna root for the undefeated NO Saints! Woot Woot!

PS: I make no claims to be mathematically sound in my calculations...however, before emailing me I would advise you to review the list of things I do in one day before pressing the send button. :)