impossible. 11 months young.

One short month until the big ONE.

Crazy.

At 11 months old, Quinn . . .

-loves to climb, and it quite good at it. I have on more than one occasion walked into a room to find her standing on the couch or perched on top of a big diaper box.

-is a lousy, frustrating, messy eater. I think it is a texture thing, but nowadays when you bring food toward her mouth she whips away like you are trying to give her poison. She does, however, like applesauce, cheesesticks, yogurt, yogurt bites, pancakes, and Ritz crackers.

-makes the cutest sounds ever in history. She has this little squeal that sounds like "Yeah!" so it is cute when you ask her something and is sounds like she is responding excitedly. 

-is getting longer, thicker hair. It no longer stands up like it used to, and can hardly be described as fuzzy anymore, though it is still so soft. I love burying my face in it. And, it is now a lovely shade of strawberry blonde.

-has started standing on her own for seconds at a time. It was making her nervous, but today she was sitting on her knees and just popped up on her feet like no big deal. Who does she think she is?

-she likes to carry things around in her hand as she crawls around causing havoc: toy cooking utensils, toy thermometer, a little mallet . . . anything that resembles a scepter. 

-is sweet as sugar. She loves giving kisses, and gets a big grin on her face and snuffs excitedly after she does. She has the sweetest little smile. She snuggles up on my shoulder, something Carly never really did. When I lay on the ground she will come up and snuggle up by my neck and chest, and she does the same thing to Chris when he gets home at night. I cannot express what a wonderful little spirit she is. Chris and I just marvel at her.

~

At 11 months old, John . . .

-sleeps like a 2-month-old. He is driving us kind of crazy, as he as been waking up 1-3 times a night lately. Then he is exhausted and cranky all day. He did have 2 new teeth break through (8 teeth now!). But I'm thinking it is getting to the point where I want to let him "cry it out" a little, so we are contemplating putting the girls together and giving him his own room to sleep train in. Then maybe they could all go in together and Chris and I may have a room again? Dreams.

-can actually be a very pleasant boy. He has a very cute laugh. He loves to play with his big sis, and obviously loves Quinn. He gives the best kisses. He pretty much just makes out with you, with his little mouth wide open and all slobbery. When I lay on the ground sometimes he does his speedy little army crawl over to me and lays a whole bunch of juicy ones on me. Sweetest.

-loves balls. He likes to put balls through "hoops", which is anything: bottoms of chairs, crib slats, buckets, my criss-crossed legs. It is stinking cute. He also loves to chase balls around. We got this little toy where he puts the ball in, and hit the giraffe's head, and the ball pops out across the room. He army crawls after it with impressive speed, and brings it right back and puts it in the toy to do it again. It is hilarious. He also loves swinging doors, and poor Quinn's head has been a victim of that hobby on more than one occasion.

-is getting impressively mobile. He pulls up on things, though he often pulls up and then freaks out because he  doesn't know how to get back down smoothly. He just started crawling up on his hands and knees and it is so dang cute, because he is actually slower, but he is way more excited. He seems to be trimming up a bit with his mobility. He has reddish dirty blonde hair, and it is so course compared to Q's, like his is boy hair and hers is girl hair. He is pretty chatty too, and his favorite sound is "Gah!".

-loves. to. eat. This is not new. He likes pretty much all food. I'm trying to think of a favorite. Meat, perhaps. And cheese. You'll put food on his tray and turn around 30 seconds later and it is all gone and his mouth is full. And he is smiling.

-is such a baby. He whines and screams when things get taken away from him (which is a lot with Quinn around). But he is also sweet and good. He loves playing with Carly, and thinks she is just the coolest. He laughs and smiles a lot. When he is on his tummy and is excited, he bounces his whole body and squeals. He is such an interesting kid, because he can be so perfectly wonderful, and so terribly irritating, all in the space of 15 seconds. He is just so frustratingly loud, but so insanely adorable.

Eleven months old and these kids are still on a very vague routine. Carly was clockwork by 4 months, but she was the only one I had to worry about. Having two babies, and a big sister, means I have to be flexible, and I am coming to terms with that. I was feeling like a "bad mom" not having scheduled naps or meal times, but I finally decided I can just do what I can do. They get all their meals and they sleep when they need to. The last few weeks, though, they have often both been taking a long early afternoon nap, and it is nice for me to have something predictable.

We have also recently had a change in bedtime. Ever since they had a "bedtime", I have been propping them in Boppys and feeding them at the same time while Chris puts Carly down. It was relatively time-effective, and very smooth. As they have gotten progressively mobile, however, they won't stay in the Boppy. They won't even lay there and drink a bottle like they do during the day. They kept escaping and creating problems, so we decided to put them down one at a time. John gets insane when he is tired, so I take him in first and feed him a bottle and rock him, while Q reads books and plays with Carly and Chris. Then I give Q her bottle. It is a long process, but they go to bed, and that is what I care about. And it has been very sweet. I have always fed them in their pillows, so this time I have rocking them is so wonderful. It struck me that in these 11 months, I have not gotten to rock them like this very often, simply because there are two of them. In no time they will be toddlers who no longer require bottles and rocking, so I am loving this chance to have some one-on-one time while I put them to bed.

John and Quinn are developing a very cute and funny relationship. They move around in a little pack, Quinn leading the way and John excitedly keeping up. Quinn causes the trouble and John follows suit. They now cause quite a bit of chaos, but they are also so much fun. There is a lot of real play going on these days, and when I ask Carly to do something, she often respond "But mom, I'm playing with the babies!"

Quinn is the bossy one in the twin set. She can be a bit of a bully toward John, but I think it is because she is more mobile and determined, and he is just kind of a cry baby. I have seen her use him as a stool on more than one occasion. But they obviously love each other. They greet each other every morning with big smiles and squeals. The other day we gave John a haircut, and the poor kid was screaming in terror. His sisters both stood outside the baby gate with worried looks, Quinn staring and crying. It was very sweet, though very loud.

Oh, my goodness, these children. They never cease to be completely exhausting. But they are just so cool. Have I mentioned yet that I finally decided I actually like having twins? It only took 11 months, but I have to say, I'm a fan.

Happy 11 months, J and Q.

We're glad you joined us.