The twins are two and a half!

I know everyone says it, but it is true, where does the time go? I feel like I JUST brought these little ones home from the hospital and now here we are at two and a half. I feel like SO MUCH change has happened in these last 6 months since turning 2. The biggest change has been their vocab. They can FULL ON talk now. They were saying lots of words at 2, but now they can ask questions, make statements and can pretty much say just about anything. They are learning SO much everyday and have really enjoyed the last 6 months of being in preschool. They love their friends and all the fun activities they get to participate in. Potty training and transitioning out of their cribs into individual rooms are the next big transitions we are about to tackle. Jack Henry and Hadley are certainly best friends. They of course have their moments, but more times than not, they are always talking with each other, laughing together and playing together. Hadley is so kind to brother and it seems she is becoming the less dominate twin now. I think that kind of started since school has started. Jack Henry has a harder time sharing with sister, but his heart is so big for her in so many ways. There are certainly challenges that come with age 2 and I feel like we are constantly training and correcting but for the most part, they are so very good. We can go just about anywhere without a stroller and they practice enough self control to follow mommy or daddy in a store and obey so well. The pictures below are from the park yesterday and they were pretty sweaty and dirty, but hey, thats reality when you are two and a half! 

Jack Henry. You are incredibly sweet and incredibly adorable!! You are very chatty and social, and this has come out more and more since starting school. You love your group of little boy friends at school and you can be pretty wild with them which we are always working on practicing self control and obedience but your social side really loves to come out (like momma.) You are a great eater, definitely the better of the two. Your favorite color is blue and you love Thomas, Frozen (especially Olaf) cars, trains, Mickey Mouse and all things boy! You love when fun music comes on and you still love to dance. You sing so many songs, your favorites being Jesus loves me, itsy bitsy spider and ABC's. You still are a great sleeper just like your sister. You love to go down slides and have become less and less timid. You are not shy and while you have a harder time obeying and understanding, you have been really making great progress and are still a fabulously well behaved boy for the most part, especially when I see other boys your age, I am totally impressed. You are daddy's boy but want momma when you are hurt or sad or scared. You always feel lots of shame when you are in trouble which is precious. You do not like spankings and will usually always pick the right choice when a spanking is part of the option. You love picking out the "bad guys" in anything we watch on TV. You have such a kind heart and are so joyful. You are more emotional than sister and more outgoing than her too. You mostly call yourself "brother" but also call yourself "jackery" at times. You call Hadley "hat-ley" and love to say " come on Hat-ley"  You are so special and joy filled and we pray and know God will use you for his kingdom. I love you my sweet boy!

Sweet Hadley girl, you are precious. You are very obedient and a rule follower. You are shy at times, and we are working on looking adults in the eyes even when you don't want to. You love all things girly! Anything pink and purple and sparkly! You love Minnie, Frozen and are starting to get into Disney princesses. You love preschool and you are so very smart! You love to read books and can't stand it when there is not a bow in your hair (good girl) You are a great sleeper and have a great appetite but are pickier than your brother. You respond very well to discipline and we don't have to discipline you often! You share very well and are usually very sweet to your brother. You are such a little momma, loving baby dolls and I think you are going to have so much fun with baby Walker! Your teacher Miss Beverly says you are ready to start potty training so I think we are starting with you first! You are a mommy's girl all the way around but of course love your daddy too! You can be a little sassy at times but do well when we correct you. You are my sweet sweet girl and I love that you are going to have two brothers to love and protect you. You are special and you are God's girl. I always say "you are beautiful" and then you say "like a beautiful princess" and when I ask you who made you beautiful, you respond with "God made me beautiful" It is so precious and I pray you will continue to develop a heart for Him.

2 year check up

We had a great 2 year appointment yesterday. Babies are perfectly healthy and right on track with all of their developmental milestones. Jack Henry speaks above his age level in word counts and Hadley surpasses it, big time. My big headed- tiny bodied, Jack Henry went up 14 percentage points for height! YAY! There is hope for my sweet boy :) The doctor said not to think anything about his small height right now because it means nothing for the future. I have heard lots of people say that whatever height they are at their 2 year check up, double that, and that will be their adult height. I asked her if that was true and she said it wasn't. Thank goodness or my boy would be SHORT. I am praying for big growth spurts in his future. Maybe he will be like daddy and grow 1 foot in 1 year in middle school :) We are happy however God made them, and we are so thankful they are healthy! They had one shot and did great. Here are their 2 year stats...

Hadley

Height: 33.75 in (58th)

Weight: 29.5 lb (82nd)

Head circumference: 50.7 (99th!!!)

Jack Henry 

Height: 33 in (22nd)

Weight: 28.2 lb (53rd)

Head circumference: 51.7 (98th)

 

23 Months

I can't believe this is the last month before my babies are TWO! I am so used to saying they are "fill in the blank" months old. Next month I will start saying they are two. Where does the time go? 

I still wake up every day and can't believe they are mine. Seriously. My heart has so much love for them, it feels like we have always had them in our family but it also feels new each day. Like, new in the way where I get them out of their cribs and just bask in God's goodness to me. These sweeties are ours? What?! 

This is such a fun age. It is challenging at times but it is so fun to watch them learn so much. If I could sum up this stage, it is one of SO much learning. Each day they learn so many new things, words and concepts. They are talking up a storm. There is really no way I could list their vocab because they know so many words. They are putting words together like "daddy's shirt" "mommy go bye-bye" etc. They are able to make their own choices (when I let them) and they are just so easy going, loving and sweet. Seriously easy babies.

Our number one goal as parents is to grow children who know and love The Lord. Each day we try to instill things into them that will help them understand the majesty of Christ. They praise Jesus by putting their hands in the air, when asked where Jesus lives, they point to and say "heart" and then point to your heart too. They know not to eat until they pray. Jack Henry has started closing squinting his eyes during prayer time. It is precious. One day Luke and the twins were praying in the kitchen while I was cooking and Hadley ran over to me during the prayer and pointed her finger at me and said "pray momma" Ooops! What little eyes see. They imitate everything we do which is certainly humbling and gives me a good smack of reality to be the best me. 

Jack Henry:

You are the cutest little thing! You have such a swag about you and have the sweetest heart. You love to dance and you have the cutest walk. You walk almost with a march and you do this "chicken wing" thing with one arm. You also do the chicken wing while you dance. You LOVE trucks and cars. They are the first thing you go to in a group of toys. You can say "car" "truck" "vroom vroom". You love making animal sounds just like sister and you love pushing your lawn mower. You are very much a thinker and you get lost in your own little world. It is fun to watch you because you don't let us watching you affect what you are doing at all. You are very easy going and have become easier and easier as you get older, and you were an easy baby, so that is saying a lot. You are very sweet. Sugary sweet. You love giving sister toys and you have such a sweet and generous heart. You are certainly a daddy's boy. You love me lots, but Daddy is just special. You light up when he enters a room and you are just his boy. You have the most adorable face and you are just my dreamy boy. Momma loves you SO much.

Hadley:

Sweetest, smartest girl. You are so full or personality and such a smart little girl. Verbally, you are ahead of brother as you are just talking up a storm. You are SUCH a girl, always requesting bows and going straight for anything pink or sparkly (like momma:)) You are so very sweet. You always love giving hugs and kisses. You are definitely a momma's girl. You are all momma all the time. I love it. You are very emotional and can have your fair share of meltdowns but you are also SO very obedient. You listen to mommy and daddy's corrections even when you really don't want to. You are definetly the "dominant" twin. You always have been. But as much as you like to be the boss, you love brother so much and love doing things for him and giving him kisses. I love when you see something that is brothers and hand it to him saying "here brother." You call Jack Henry "bro-dur" and he calls you "Hat-tie." 

The babies are really loving books and coloring. We bought them a little table and chair set where they love to eat and color. They are GOOD eaters! They eat almost whatever we eat. Jack Henry who used to be my pickiest is now the best eater of the two. They love to scribble with crayons but have a short attention span for coloring just yet. They love side walk chalk and their very favorite activity are the cars that Aunt Ashee gave them. They LOVE water, especially Hadley. Jack Henry always proceeds with caution where Hadley is trying to ride every slide she can at our local water park. We purchased season passes there and go several times a week. We are having such a fun summer and I am soaking in every ounce of their baby-ness which is quickly fading. Thank you Lord for these PRECIOUS treasures. We are so blessed.     

20 Months

I cant believe my sweet ones are 20 months, just four months shy of two. They are at an unbelievably fun stage but a tough one as far as their big little wills go. They are learning SO MUCH. Seriously new words and skills learned each day. The first that pops into my mind is Hadley can now "twirl." My sweet friend Lindsay taught her at community group last week and now all you have to do is say "twirl Hadley" and she proudly spins in a circle and will even sometime walk up to me and hold her hand out to grab mine so I can "spin" her as she twirls. MELT ME NOW. Jack Henry, my sweet little man, my favorite thing he does these days, his hilarious walk. He walks so stiff with such joy and bounce. I love to watch his curly ends of his hair bounce around as he marches around smiling. While he can be very strong willed, he is such an angel.
This is a tough age because they can understand you but since communication is still not advanced, frustration can occur which can lead to melt downs. Some days they obey the first time you ask, and others (like today) defiance is alive and well. We are working on first time obedience here and usually do a great job with this. 
Hadley is usually a bit more obedient than Jack Henry, I think gender and personality come into play here. JH is ridiculously sweet but has a hard time submitting to us when its not on his schedule. However, no one can have a melt down like Hadley girl. It is true what they say about girls being dramatic. Sister will throw her self to the ground in a heart beat and when she looses it, she really looses it. I have to keep it real around here, while they are very obedient and sweet babies, they are still toddlers who have tantrums. I think its been the most challenging time as a parent so far even though its yet again, our favorite age. Lots of training and correction going on here at the Davidson home and all we can do is be on our knees daily, asking God to give us everything we need to parent well.

They are talking up a storm and are starting to put words together, like "Hi kitty" and "bye bye Daddy". Hadley has about every animal sound down and we are trying to teach JH not all animals are called puppies :) JH LOVES balls and trucks right now and Hadley loves helping mommy. Anything I tell her to do, she gets so excited to help. They are so different in personality and I am beginning to see their genders play out more and more. Just the other day they both walked up to a puddle. Hadley tip toed around it being very careful not to get wet, where Jack Henry stomped right in it, making big splashes and smiling big time. It is so fun to see them interact and to see their differences. 

They are wearing 18-24 month clothing and Hadley went from wearing headband bows to a little "pebbles" pony tail on top of her head with a smaller sized bow. Jack Henry recieved a fedora as a gift and it has become a new favorite of his. He puts it on ALL the time. It might match his outfit or he might wear it with a diaper and nothing else. He shouts "hat!" and walks around with such confidence when he wears it. 

They love books, especially Hadley and they love to dance, especially Jack Henry. Picky eating doesnt seem to exist anymore, especially for Jack Henry. He will eat anything these days and now Hadley is the picky one, although she eats about anything too. They drink water "wa-wa" all day and have about 16oz of milk "ba-ba" each day. I am still making their milk from coconut almond butter and that is going well. 

Once again, Jack Henry and Hadley could not possibly bring me any more joy. They melt my heart and even in the trying times, I praise God for allowing me to be their mother. They are truly getting so big and are getting so old. They are full on toddler and Luke and I each day marvel at how much they are maturing. Luke almost daily looks and them and says "SERIOUSLY, how are they so cute" and we tell each other ALL the time how blessed we are. God has been so very good to us in bringing us these babies.  

 

18 Months...

I feel like we have hit another age milestone that I felt like would take forever to reach, but in the blink of an eye, my babies are 18 months. A year and a half. Ugh. They are going to be 2 tomorrow in 6 months. While I am sad they are growing up so quickly, I am so thankful that I have two happy and healthy toddlers! They bring so much joy to my heart daily, and several times each day I feel like my heart might explode. This age is SO very fun, as they are learning new things by the minute. It is so fun to watch them grow and see the world and learn so much each day. I feel like this age also brings challenges as they are walkers now, which brings a new independence and sass about them. We are doing lots of training and correction and they aren't old enough to rationalize and fully understand but they are very smart and understand much more than you may think. Both babies will follow my commands when asked and love to please momma. It is just too sweet. They are walking around everywhere, getting into everything and love to play, dance and laugh. They can both dance on command, act "silly" (shaking their heads back and fourth) and love to blow kisses to all their friends and family. They are still sharing a room and love to laugh and giggle and chat together for a few minutes before bedime, some nights they even stay up partying for a little TOO long. They play very well together for the most part but do have their moments. They both eat pretty well, especially Hadley. Jack Henry nearly killed me with a recent picky phase that seems to be over now. Their favorite foods...
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, waffle with almond or peanut butter, yogurt, oatmeal, berries.
Snacks: Annie's crackers, strawberries, blackberries, bananas, pineapple, applesauce, clementines, fig bars, granola bars, fruit and veggie smoothies, tortilla chips, pirates booty, dried cherries.
Lunch: PB&J, Mac n Cheese, quesadillas.

Dinner: whatever we are having, unless kid-unfriendly and then we go back to one of the lunch options.

They are learning their body parts and know and can point to their : eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue, hair, belly, toes, and Hadley's "pretty" bow.
In addition to their words at 16 months, you can see those here, she also says...
bow (only Hadley)
shoes (oosh)
cheese
Hi
Mindy (a friend of mine)
They have perfected their "puppy" sound from a howl to an "arf"
hot
no
Moo (our cat's name)
They have put two words together saying "Hi Moo"
They both received several molars this month and had a but of a hard time getting them in, just fussier than normal and not as interested in food at times.

Hadley: My sweetest girl. She is so spunky, joyful and full of life. She is usually very happy and easy going unless she isn't :) Sometimes she loves to have a dramatic moment, but overall she is very steady, calm and even keel. She giggles, scrunches her nose and her once unsteady walk is starting to develop into a precious run. Hadley right now is the bossy twin. She sometimes touches brother in the face when she isn't liking what he is doing and she has also been known to take his toys. I have also caught her many times, giving Jack Henry a toy he wants and being a very sweet little sharer. She has the cutest belly that sticks out when she prances around and she holds one arm out while she walks that makes this momma melt! She loves baby dolls and loves to give baby kisses.
She loves to play, run around on her "walker", walk outside, loves putting on her bow and shoes, and loves to dance and praise Jesus. She is such a girl and loves to help mommy. If I tell her to put something away or close something, she loves to proudly do as I say. If she doesn't want to do something she says '"nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh" which we have to tell her that is not acceptable and she has to do it! As frustrating as that is, I am thankful that this is all normal development. We praise her and clap for her when she obeys which she loves to receive. She is very social and neither her nor brother have ever been sad when we drop them off in the church's nursery each Sunday. She is very smart, right now is a momma's girl and this girl is my joy!

Jack Henry: PRECIOUS boy! This fella is just a ham. He throws more fits than sister and we are currently working on not crying or getting mad when asked to do something he doesn't want to do, most popularly, diaper changes. He LOVES his daddy and id definitely daddy's boy. When he is happy, he is happier than Hadley. He giggles, flirts, smiles and loves. When he is sad, he is sadder than Hadley. He has more extreme emotions and can be challenging at times but is momma's baby bear. I never knew how special a mom's love for her little boy could be. He LOVES to chatter and talk and is quite good at it! He says "Hi" every time he sees someone or enters the room. It is so adorable. He can now give kiss on the lips and is walking more "naturally" each day. He loves to dance whenever music comes on and he loves to "wrestle" with daddy. He shows little interest in babies or dolls like Hadley, loves to bang on things like he is making a beat, crash his cars and stomp around. While it is so funny to see what a boy he is, he is still a very sensitive guy. He says "mommy" when he wants "up" even if it's daddy he wants to hold him. He loves to explore, play and love. My precious boy, I love you!

16 Months

It is so hard to believe that the joys of my heart are 16 months old. Hadley took her first steps 2 weeks ago and while neither baby are full on walking yet, they are getting closer by the day! They are definitely taking after their momma on the late walking (I was a 16 month old walker.) They may not be walking but that doesn't stop them from staying busy and keeping me one busy momma. They love to get into everything. They get on their walkers and go back and fourth and around our house for hours. We use the word "no" lots and lots when they try to climb the stairs or get into cabinets that they aren't supposed to and while it can be trying, I am so thankful that they are so explorative and healthy!
They have been pulling up and cruising for a while now, but they can now stand up on their own and stay standing with out assistance. Is it so precious. We say "can you stand up?" And they get in to the standing position and immediately start clapping their hands, since they are used to getting lots and lots of praise for standing! They are learning SO many words and can really communicate with us so well. Hadley took her first steps during the song "My Favorite Things" for Carrie Underwood's sound of music special. Contrary to most people's dislike of the program, our family enjoyed Carrie and Hadley certainly did. The song came on and she grinned and grinned, stood up, danced her little bum and then took a step. She has taken 2 steps here and there since so I am sure one days she will just start walking! While Hadley continues to be more physically advanced, Jack Henry is still our verbal babe. Here are their words ...
Mama
Mommy (Hadley's favorite word)
Dada
Daddy
Ba (ball)
Uh-oh
Lights (for Christmas lights, Jack Henry frequents this word) Hadley only says it here and there but sweet Jack Henry uses it from the minute he wakes up. He says it with a HUGE lisp. It's the cutest thing ever. I go in their room and he immediately says "Yi-ghthhhhhsssss" and always put an inflection on the word as if it was a question. I turn on the Christmas tree in their room and then they both let out "oooooohhhhsss" and "ahhhhhhhs" and squeels. It's safe to say, they LOVE Christmas.
Kitty
Puppy (all animals seem to be puppies)
Pretty (only Hadley says this) She always points to the bow on here head and says "pretty." If she doesn't have a bow on her head, she will pick one up, come to me, sign "please" and try to put it on her head while she says "pretty" PRESH. She also says Christmas lights are pretty.
Bye-bye

"Tricks" that they know...
Wave bye bye
Peek-a-boo
High-five
Blow kisses
Give kiss on the lips (this is only Hadley) she makes a humming sound and leans in for a kiss
Praise Jesus (arms high in the sky)
Wheres your nose?
Wheres your ears?
Play peek a boo
High five

Sign language they use daily...
Please
More
Eat
bye-bye

Jack Henry is getting 6 new teeth right now and has been having a hard time. Poor baby just seems miserable. Neither of my babies have ever really had issues teething but he is getting molars too, and I think he is very uncomfortable.

Sleep: We switched our naps from two to just one each day. They wake up between 8-8:30, go to bed between 7:30-8 and then take a nap between 12-3. They sleep great we are enjoying our longer freedom to run errands in the morning.

Eating: Hadley is still a great eater and Jack Henry is still picky. We started giving them smoothies with broccoli and carrots in them to boost their veggies. Hadley will eat just about anything but Jack Henry rejects lots of food. Eggs, waffles with almond butter, yogurt, any fruit, bread and crackers are his staples. They take about 16-20 oz of coconut/almond milk (which i recently started making, more on this later) each day. They also now drink water in sippy cups and have mastered drinking from straws. 

There are just no words for the love that we have for these two. It is so fun to watch them grow and develop and learn. We are thankful for each day.