11 months old...

Wow, the girls are going to be one year old next month. When I said that to Chris last night he laughed and said, "In some ways it's been the longest year of my life." Which is true, there have been nights that felt like they lasted about a month. But when I think that in under one month now they will be ONE...well, that's just crazy. Yesterday I took the girls to the bookstore to get out of the house for a while, and while we were there I bought them each a journal/birthday book that looked cool. It has pages for each b-day from 1-18, and spots for photos, letters, keepsakes. Then you give it to the kid. I was reading through it last night after the girls went to bed, and I got choked up reading the parts for when they're teenagers. Just for a second, I could imagine them being so grown up, and it was so bittersweet. My little babies...


So...what's going on around here at 11 months?

Rowan is so close to walking, but not doing it yet. She stands without holding on all the time, and climbs. Her latest thing is climbing up on the back of the couch while we sit next to her. All she really needs is someone to catch her occasionally, she doesn't need any help to get up there. She gets sillier every day, she's hilarious. She can wave hello/goodbye, she seems to use it to say hello mostly. I was so impressed last week when she spontaneously waved at a little girl we saw outside. She loves seeing little kids, yesterday we met some preschoolers at the bookstore and she crawled right over to play. She's such an interesting mix between social and shy, cautious and brave. Just when I think I have her figured out, she surprises me again. Her favorite activity these days is emptying things out of containers. Like opening a drawer and pulling everything out, opening bags and pulling everything out. You get the idea. She has started actually putting things back in, too, although I think that's really just so that she can empty it out again. She got her 4th tooth this week. OHH...and how could I forget? This month, Rowan started sleeping through the night. Halleluia...we now have one baby that pretty much goes to bed by 8 pm and doesn't wake us up again until 7:30 the next morning. One down...one to go. It's a major step in our life as a family.



Saoirse, Saoirse, Saoirse...she does not sleep through the night. Oh, the sleep woes in our house. I don't even really want to get into it right now, because it would be a book in and of itself. And we're in a decent place with Saoirse this week, actually, she wakes up a few times a night, but she is sleeping. No 3 hour screamfests in the middle of the night for a week or two. But I'm afraid I'll jinx it if I say that. So on to other things. She has really been perfecting the tantrum, she's getting a head start on being a toddler. :) She screeches and flaps her hands if Rowan even looks at what she's playing with. She actually smacked Rowan a few times this week. When I told him, Chris said, "Where did she learn that?" Apparently, no learning is required to smack someone who's pissing you off. Saoirse knows how to clap and wave now, and she does this funny thing where she turns her hand around and stares at her hand, waving to herself. Very cute. She's a great eater, and she's definitely bigger than Rowan now. Still only two teeth, but she manages to gum a lot of food without a problem. It's pretty impressive how well she manages to eat without a mouth full of teeth.

Here are the girls in our courtyard yesterday, on their 11-month-old day: