Favorite Picture of the Week

The girls ripping into their very first Christmas present.

With One Sock On...

Dani takes a few steps!!

Planning for Next Year's Christmas

Every year, I drool over Christmas decorations in decorating magazines, on HGTV, and on Pottery Barn's website. I long to have a cozy house filled with spicy smells, lots of glittery lights and wonderful decorations outside. But, this year--just like every other year--I put up our tree and decorated it with red and silver ornaments. I hung the stockings (five this year instead of three). I curled the simple three strands of lights outside around our door and railing.

This is the last year that I will do that. Probably to the dismay of Tim, I plan to hit it out of the park next year with the Christmas decorations. I will not be my mother who has about 50 angels and Santa Clauses oozing from every nook and cranny in the house. I will be me, but the me who's been looking at decorating magazines for years. Why not this year? Well, the girls are ten months old, they won't care. They enjoyed watching me put up the lights, but they barely even notice the tree.

Next year, they'll be nearly two years old. Starting next year, I get to live Christmas through the eyes of my children. I get to talk about Santa Claus and elves. I get to hide gifts and stuff stockings. I get to truly enjoy putting up the decorations instead of just wishing someone else could do it so I could imagine it.

And just like with nearly every other thing I do in my life, I must begin planning. I'm planning so early because this is the perfect time to buy decorations for next year! I just have to really decide what I want to do.

I'm definitely moving the tree down a floor so it's by our lovely fireplace. I also want the outside to be bigger...with lights along the walkway and in the bushes by the house. I definitely think outdoor ornaments would look nice and be an inexpensive, simple way to dress up the outside (over-sized ornaments always go on sale after Christmas). The rest is still up in the air. Hopefully I still have this blog going next year, and I can show off the new or improved decorations in 2011.

Favorite Picture of the Week

Ten Month Report

I promised myself that one of these reports would actually be written and posted on the 7th...or at least the 8th. Oh well, as is the way of the twin mommy.

The girls had their well visit at the beginning of the month. As if I didn't know already, I have two very healthy growing young ladies. Lillie is 28 5/8" tall and weighs 18 lbs, 14.5 oz. She's in the 40th percentile for weight and 75th for height. Dani is 28 3/4" tall and weighs 17 lbs, 7.5 oz. She's in the 20th percentile for weight and 75th for height.

The girls are now allowed to have any and all kinds of food except for peanuts and peanut products. They won't be having bananas yet, though, because I'm still paranoid. I'll give them bananas after they turn one. We've started working more seriously with sippy cups and a couple ounces of whole milk. They both love the milk. Dani seems to be better with a straw while Lillie likes the traditional sippy better. I can't decide if I should try to get them both to use both or just let them be with a straw and a regular sippy.

Dani has basically mastered standing on her own. She can now stand up from a squatting position. Lillie will take steps while holding your hand, and she's become quite the little cruiser. Dani still thinks crawling is the best way to go, but you can get her to take a step or two while holding your hand before she flops back on the ground and speeds away.

They've both learned to clap, which is far cuter than I thought it would be. Dani claps randomly, but I can usually get Lillie to mimic me after we sing "Peas Porridge Hot."

Lillie has another tooth coming in, bringing her total to seven. Dani has two more coming in, bringing her total to four. They've both become excellent snackers. They love Cheerios, puffs, yogurt melts and these wonderful Wagon Wheels Gerber makes. They do not like hummus, but maybe that's just too strong a flavor right now. Lillie likes spinach and artichoke dip! (She stole some from Nana when we were out to dinner.) They both loved the chopped spinach with zucchini and squash. Yay! They are not like their grandma who hates spinach.

The napping is still a little wacky, but Dr. Triggs said to keep pushing two naps. On Thursday, they both took two naps over an hour each. I was sooooo happy. Plus, they've been sleeping through the night again...which I've probably just jinxed by sharing. Oh well.