Not only am I celebrating this huge milestone for them, I am also celebrating the fact that I have made it through the first year with twins!!! We made it, babies!!!
It is very bittersweet for me.
As exciting as it is, I must admit, I am also very sad. This first year has gone by much too fast. The first 5 or 6 months really are kind of a blur to me. I was functioning (or trying my best at functioning) on very little sleep. I was adjusting to having not one new baby, but two! The days sometimes dragged on, but the months flew by.
And then they became mobile.
And life became even crazier! Good. But crazy!
And now, here we are, celebrating Finley and Scout's first year of life.
Although neither of them are big babies really, it still amazes me how much they have grown over the past year! It is hard to remember what they were like as little 5 and 6 lb. babies.
Finley might be small, but his is soooo strong! He is not yet walking, but he stands on his own now for a short time, and he has taken a couple of steps! He loves to push things around the floor walking behind them though. But he gets around just fine crawling and he is quick too! When he has gotten into something he knows he is not supposed to, he'll see me walking over to him as I say "Finley...what do you have", and he'll drop it immediately and make a beeline to get away!
Finley is a great eater! He will try anything we give him. And he dives right in too. He loves to make a mess! He also likes to drop things off the side of his highchair to let us know he is finished. We started whole milk a few weeks before the twins' first birthdays so we could supplement with that instead of formula, when nursing wasn't enough. Finley took to the whole milk wonderfully! He is just not a picky boy!
Finley likes anything that provides sensory stimulation. He loves to squish food in his fingers, or scratch his fingernails on different textures, or smell new things. He has done the scratching thing since he was just a newborn.
He doesn't love going down for a nap or bed, he usually cries at least a little. He does not use a nuk, (unless he wants to take it from his sister and pretend to use it briefly before tossing it). He loves his baby, (a wind up giraffe from Great Grammy), and his rattle blankie, and he loves to snuggle. He does not sleep well at night still, and insists on getting up to nurse 2-3 times a night. He is a very light sleeper.
Finley has a small vocabulary consisting of Mama, Dada, and as of recently, "Hi". Though he sounds like is trying to say other things, we can make out what any of them are.
Finley loves to play. He loves to bang toys together to hear the noise they make. He loves to get into everything he is not supposed to. He loves to climb. He does not especially like his play area, (AKA 'baby jail') although he has gotten much more used to it. He cries when I put him in, but usually will calm down after a minute and play. If the door is open he goes in and out and in and out and loves it, but the minute I latch the door, he knows it and lets me know he is not happy about it.
Finley always wants someone to entertain him and give him attention. He will play on his own for a short time, but he lets me know when he wants me to play with him. He loves to be around people, and watch what everyone is doing. He loves to be held.
One of his favorite games is "drop the baby". He'll throw his head back when we say "do you want to play drop the baby?" Then we'll pretend to "drop" him, of course holding on and catching him. He just squeals in delight when we play that!
He loves to play peek-a-boo too! He'll take whatever object is around, a book, a blanket, a spoon.... whatever, and put it up to his face until we say "Where's Finley". Then he'll move it and giggle as we say "There his is!!".
Scout is much more delicate when she eats than her brother. She picks at her food much more, rather than just shoveling like her brother does. She is much pickier too. She doesn't like meat very much, or things with a lot of texture, or things that are very cold. She eats like a bird much of the time, and is wary of new flavors and textures. Wouldn't you think it to be the opposite when she is 3+ pounds bigger than her brother who shovels in his food!?
We started Scout on whole milk as well, but she definitely doesn't love it as much as her brother does. Especially if it is cold. She'd much rather nurse, and if I produced enough milk, I'd let her, but she's never full after nursing so we give her whole milk.
Scout is very independent. Now that she is walking, she can get where ever she wants to go. She will explore everything, just taking it all in, but not really getting into things. Just looking. She loves to walk all over the house, and check things out. She will go in the baby jail and play on her own, and it doesn't seem to bother her too much. She can definitely entertain herself.
Scout loves to go through the house collecting and hoarding nuks. She'll have on in her mouth, and then she'll always have 2 or 3 in her hands that she is carrying around. When she was still crawling she did the same thing, one in her mouth, and one in each hand as she tried to crawl.
Scout has cut out crawling completely and walks everywhere she wants to go. She gets ahead of herself sometimes and tries to "run", and topples over. It's hilarious!
Scout is a light sleeper as well, and also doesn't sleep through the night much of the time. I think if she could just sleep through Finley waking up, she might actually sleep through the night. She goes down for naps and bedtime pretty good usually. She loves her nuk, and her blankie and her baby (also a wind up from grammy).
She is a loud little girl. She loves to talk and shriek. A lot. She mostly babbles, but she does say "Mama", "Dada", and "Moooooommmmmmm"(when waking up from her nap and wants to get up)!
She loves to dance and move. In the morning sometimes I will have "Ellen" on, and every time the music comes on and Ellen starts dancing, so does Scout!!!! She's got some cute little moves that girl (my baby I mean, although Ellen can dance too)!
Scout loves to play peek-a-boo too. She'll throw a blanket over her head, and then pull it off giggling when we ask "Where's Scout?"! If she doesn't have a blanket she'll put her hands over her ears, instead of over her eyes to play peek-a-boo!
Both of the babies are always very aware of what the other one is doing. If I am nursing one, the other cries and hangs on my leg in jealousy! If I am rocking one, the other hangs at my leg and cries. If I am playing on the floor with one, the other one crawls up on my lap wanting to get in on the action too. If one is having a snack, the other must get some too.
They get along well overall, but they have just recently started to truly fight over stuff. If one has a toy, and the other wants it they have no problem grabbing it and having a little game of tug-o-war over it. Scout usually wins, and Finley usually cries. Finley likes to take Scout's nuk out of her mouth, put it in his, then spit it out 2 seconds later as if he just remembered he doesn't like nuks. Then he'll notice she found a new one to put in, and he'll take that one. Usually she doesn't get too upset, (unless she is tired) she just goes and grabs a few more from the stash.
The babies both give kisses, and they both are particular on who they give them to! Usually they will give them to each other, but are much more hesitant with anyone else.
This past year has been....amazing. It has been so much fun to watch Finley and Scout grow and learn in their own ways, and develop their own, very different, little personalities!
Here they are one year ago.
Here they are now.
Happy 1st Birthday Finley and Scout! I love you both so very much!
Finner....sorry you are spending the second half of your first birthday throwing up :( Poor babe.
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