9 months

9 months.

Finley
Height: 27 inches (10%)
Weight: 17 lb. 4 oz. (%10)

Scout
Height: 26 1/2 inches (20%)
Weight: 20 lbs. 4 oz. (75%)

I can't believe she is 3 lbs. bigger!!! You wouldn't know it by the way they eat. Finley chows down. Scout is a little more hesitant to food that's not my milk. She doesn't like things with a texture much either.

Both babies are getting all over the place. Scout crawls around in the "normal" style now. Finley does this little leapfrog thing where he gets up on his toes and pushes himself and he kind of bounces along the floor.

Finley got both of his bottom teeth this past month. Scout now has 5 teeth! 3 on the top and 2 on the bottom. One of the middle top is about to come through soon too! She has started biting some with her new teeth! And she makes all these funny faces because she tries to rub her tongue and lip over her teeth all the time!

Scout has started clapping, and Finley, we think, is doing "more" in sign language. He looks like he's trying to clap, but he only does it at mealtime, and when I say "more"?

Both of the babies are getting very vocal. Scout is just loud, and likes to be heard. Finley is a lot quieter. They both say "DaDaDaDa". Finley sounds like he is trying to say "hi".

Now that both babies are mobile and getting into everything, I decided it was time to invest in a play yard. Actually, I decided last minute one day, when I just couldn't handle it anymore! I loaded up the kids and we headed out to find a baby jail! Finley does NOT love it in there, but Scout doesn't mind it. She'll play for a while. But if has helped me a ton. I can actually go to the bathroom alone now!

Scout pulls herself up on everything, and even walks on the furniture! She'll go from the couch to the chair holding on and shuffling across the floor. The other day I watched her standing up holding onto a chair and she leg go, stood for a few seconds and then lowered herself to the floor to sit down!!!

Finley is just starting to pull himself up on stuff. He gets so excited when he gets himself up in his crib and can stand up on the side.

Usually after the babies naps, Scout will play for a little bit on her own, but Finley will cry right away and wants to get picked up. The other day though, I heard on them wake up on the monitor, and they weren't crying so I left them be. Pretty soon I heard them just giggling. I peeked in the door to see what was so funny, and I found them both standing up in their cribs bouncing up and down and laughing at eachother! It was hilarious!

They are at such a fun age right now, and everyday is new adventure with them!

8 months

The twins are 8 months now. I know... another way late post. I had it all done like 2 weeks ago, just never got the pictures added and published!

I think my days of getting monthly pictures of the 2 of them together are over...it's impossible.



Here is what has happened in the last month!

Scouts bottom 2 teeth came in.

Fin has one on the bottom.

Scout gets all over the place, she is almost crawling. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. She pulls herself with her arms and does an army crawl. She can get herself all over the room.

Scout has started growling and she does it all the time! Such a cute little monster!

Oh and she bites with her new teeth too! Finn still bites some, so I am hoping he quits before his teeth come all the way in!

Scout loves to stand, and pull herself up on things. She loves to bounce and jump in her exersaucer.

Both babies are having some seperation anxiety. Finley gets scared of new people a lot. Scout doesn't really like when men hold her except her Daddy and a select few others! And sometimes if someone new holds her or talks to her she'll cry, even if it is a woman. She has become SUCH a mama's girl. I try to hand her off to someone and she'll cry and put her arms out back to me. Even when I hand her to Papa sometimes.

Finley is such a sensitive little boy. If people are laughing, or talking loudly or clapping, he cries. He doesn't like loud noises.

They have both decided they love the sippy cup! That usually entertains them for a while, even if they don't really drink out of it much.

Both of them put their arms up when they want to be picked up. I have such guilt when they both have their arms reaching up to me and I can only pick up one. :(

They love to reach up touch our faces when we are close enough. They both know their names, and look when we say their names. They've been doing that for a while.

Finley is still so ticklish. EVERYWHERE. I'll be getting him dress and buttoning the shoulder buttons of his shirt and he'll just giggle because I touched his neck! It doesn't take much to make this little boy squeal with laughter! I love it!

Scout has started to giggle more too, finally! She is always happy and smiling, but now she too squeals with laughter. She has gotten very loud too, she loves to talk, babble, growl, squeal. I think she just loves to hear herself make noise! She says "da da da da da" all the time!

Both of the babies are now sleeping on their tummies. I love it when they sleep like that with their little butt up in the air!

Scout loves to explore. She is so curious. If we move a toy, and put it under a blanket, she'll move around looking for it.

Finley gets around by turning himself in circles on his tummy! But usually he's pretty content to just play with whatever is within his reach.

They still nurse quite often, and they still get up about 2 times each during the night to eat.

They are both great eaters! We haven't found a food yet that they don't like. We have started giving them puffs too, which they LOVE. Just in the past few days their eye hand coordination has gotten really good. They have figured out how to pick them up themselves and get them to their mouths, instead of me having some in my hand and them sticking their tongue out and putting their mouth down to my hand to get them.

angels.

Today I got to meet with the two men who saved my life 10 years ago... to the day.

10 years ago, I was driving home on an unfamiliar road, after having been lost coming home from my boyfriend's house. I apparently lost control of the car or over corrected on a curve and went into the ditch. My car flipped end over end 4 or 5 times, and I was thrown from the car and landed in a river.

Rob, who lived just near where I had the accident, had just gotten home, and was still sitting in his car in the driveway. He heard the tires squeal, and looked down the road to see my headlights flipping. He went in to get his dad Rodney, and they came looking.

A lot of little things had to fall into place for things to work out just as they did.

They got to the edge of the road and the ditch was so steep and the grass was so tall that you couldn't even see my car. They went down to look for it and the dome light flickered and they were able to tell where my car was. Once they reached the car the dome light went out. They could see that no one was in the car, and they looked around the car and couldn't find me. As they were looking, I let out a scream from the river, and they were able to tell which direction I was.

When they approached the river, I was trying to keep my head above water. The river was 6 ft. deep. Rodney pulled me out of the water, and Rob ran home to call 911.
They had another neighbor bring a blanket and they talked to me and held on to me until the ambulance got there.

I was transported to Owatonna first, and then after assessing my injuries I was sent to Hennepin County Medical Center to the trauma unit. I had broken a both of my femur bones,and a broken vertebrae in my neck. I spent the next day in surgery to get rods and pins put in both of my femurs.

I then spent the next 10 days in the hospital, 3 months in a wheelchair, and 6 weeks on crutches after that.

The fatality rate for this type of injury is 20% as the femurs are the biggest bones in the body and breaking them at the same time is such a trauma to the body that some don't survive it.

I had a long, painful recovery, but I was alive.

And from that day on, my life was changed. I was headed down a path that was unhealthy and destructive. And this accident is what had to happen for me to change my life and my path.

It was truly a blessing in disguise.

And I have Rodney and Rob to thank for rescuing me and giving me another chance at life.



Today we all got back together and had a picnic at Mineral Springs Park. Rodney, his wife Lois, their son Rob, his daughter Lexi and his girlfriend Jessica were all there. And it was the 6 of us, plus my Mom and Dad and Nate and Joan. We brought a cake that said "You are a lifesaver" that was decorated with lifesaver candies. We spent the afternoon talking about what has happened in the past 10 years in all our lives, and we talked about the night of the accident.

It was a very significant day for me.

There is no doubt in my mind that if they had not found me that night, I would not be here today. I will be forever grateful for them.