Souers Summer Survival

Like everyone else around here, the only way to survive the summer is to spend it in the water.  At least that's what Blake and I think.

Caroline and Ellie, on the other hand...not so much.  They loved strutting around in their swimsuits and shoes all summer long and somehow, they didn't get that wet.

Even if we went to the pool, they loved walking around the pool and moving all the chairs around.

These girls are constant motion.  They aren't overly dirty or climbing on top of things, but they are busy!

I enjoyed taking them to the splash pad near our house just to change it up from the backyard sprinkler or the neighborhood pool.

The setting is really beautiful and there always seems to be a nice breeze coming off the lake giving us a little reprieve from the oppressive humidity and heat.

Caroline and Ellie seem to enjoy it too, but for all the reasons that I hadn't anticipated.

I brought my camera on this particular day with the intention to get at least one cute picture of them playing in the fountain.

Instead, I got pictures of them taking a snuggle time out with beach towels...

Digging for treasure in the beach bag...

Playing on the stairs...

And pushing each other out of way to get where they need to go in this entire wide open area.  These girls are always on top of each other!

And as far as getting cute little picture of these girls playing in the fountain.... well, this is what I got.  And, sad to say, this is the best one.

Oh well.

Better luck next year.

Rewind

I'm so far behind in my pictures that I don't even know where to start.  I continue to take pictures and videos but ever since the girls dropped their morning nap in June at 20 months old (i.e. my time to work on my pictures) I haven't found a new schedule for myself to stay organized.

But...I don't want to forget these memories of this age leading up to turning 2...so I'm catching up and am determined to get caught up in time for their 2nd birthday in a couple weeks.

So, for starters...rewinding the clock to 20 months old...

We dropped the morning nap, and months later, there are times that I'm still missing the 2 nap/day schedule.

They have gotten busier and busier and take advantage of any opportunity when I am not totally paying attention to them to get up in the front seat of the car pushing every button and pulling every lever as hard as they can.

I am sure that one day they are going to pull my blinker and windshield wiper controls straight off and I will have no one else to blame but myself.  

We found some horse stables open to the public here in Kingwood that I never knew existed before this summer.  The girls were enthralled from a distance and terrified up close.  We have gone quite a bit since then to see the horses and they love it.

We still went to the park all the time despite how hot and sweaty we would get within the first 5 minutes of being there.

Ellie saying "cheese" for the camera

Sweating is just a necessary evil of surviving Houston summers.

Well, that, and swatting mosquitos.

Caroline

We had an outdoor shower installed in the early part of the summer that we used with the girls almost every single day...and on days like this...probably twice a day.

I would just strip them down in the backyard, hose them off from head to toe in efforts to avoid tracking shoefulls of sand, dirt and sweat through the living room.

Ellie

The girls have great fun together and they have the same way of doing everything.

Caroline tends to still be our trailblazer with setting the stage of how something is going to be....

...and then Ellie copies.

Even if its something as simple as drinking out of their water bottle.

When You Want Something Done, You've Got to do it Yourself!

Last week, the girls and I were skyping with Aunt Laureno.  The girls loved interacting for a couple of minutes, but with their short attention spans, they quickly move on to something else.  They are in this phase where they will do anything to get my attention, and so they started asking me to change their diapers.  As I'm talking to Lauren, I suggested that they change their sisters' diaper.

And that's all I said.

They proceeded to go to the drawer where the diapers are, pulled out two diapers, the package of wipes and their changing mat.

They laid out the changing mat and Ellie laid down on it.

Caroline stood over her and started taking off Ellie's diaper....and then going to town wiping Ellie's bottom.

Caroline getting after it with the wipes on Ellie

And 50 wipes later, they traded places, and Ellie took her turn changing Caroline.

This whole time, Lauren, on Skype, and I are saying nothing.  Just laughing and taking pictures.

Ellie changing Caroline

I guess this is what its like being a twin.  Who needs to pretend change your baby doll's diaper when you can your sister's diaper for real?!?

I don't think I'll ever forget this.

Caroline and Ellie

We've been given the very sound wisdom from people that have gone before us with twins to try not to compare the girls against each other.  

It's great advise, but somehow I'm not exactly sure how that's supposed to be actually lived out.  I realize as I try to describe each girl, its very hard for me to describe one without comparing her to her sister.

But…I'm going to try…

For starters, these girls are SO similar.  

We still cannot tell them apart unless we are looking at them straight on in the face.  From the behind or the side, they look exactly the same.  

They weigh exactly the same (22 lbs right now), their hairline is exactly the same and their hair is even growing in at the exact same rate.  Every single one of their teeth have come in at the exact same time (to the week, sometimes even the day) and even in the exact same order.  

They both have blue eyes still with the same hue of blue, and the jury is still out if they're going to turn brown.  Blake and I both have brown eyes.

They say the same words (which is very few at this point), they have all the same signals and sounds to talk to me to let me know what they want and they always know what the other sister is trying to say.  

They both love to sign songs, love to read books, and always want to play with the same toy no matter what it is…even if its holding a piece of trash.  

These girls even poop on the same schedule.  No lie.

At this point, the differences are subtle, but they are still there.  

Caroline.

She is independent.  She likes to go explore and she wants to do things by herself most of the time.  She likes to put her shoes on by herself, and she'll even sometimes insist on trying to put her diaper on without any help.

She seems to usually be the first one up from a nap and she loves to have some time to snuggle her bunny and just suck her thumb.

She loves songs and always seems to be requesting us to sing her a song.  Her way of dancing to music is to spin in circles and to nod her head up and down.  She's been twirling a lot lately.

She loves to snuggle and sit on someones lap or if its bedtime, she will cuddle up on anyone who is willing to rock her.

She has a really big laugh and loves to play "boo".  She squints her eyes and leans back when she laughs.  She loves to throw balls and stack things.

She is really into putting on lotion these days.  She carries around a lotion bottle and pretends she's putting lotion on herself.  She'll put it on her face, her arms, her tummy.

She pretty much allows her sister to do whatever she wants to her.  She lets Ellie hug her, kiss her, pull her hair, brush her teeth, feed her food….you name it.  She just lets her do it.

Her top two front teeth are chipped.

She has little puppy dog eyes where they droop a little at the bottom.

She has a little freckle that has recently showed up on the left side of her face, near her ear.

She has a slender and long face, which is her most distinguishable feature that separates her from her sister.  It's subtle.

Ellie.

She is a people person.  She is very observant when it comes to noticing what other people are doing and she is really into her sister.  Really into her.

She is emotional.  When she cries, she opens up her mouth wide and you can see her uvula rattling in the back of her throat.  When she is happy she cracks up over and over again and will squeal at such a high pitch it takes you aback.  When she's mad, she will hit, bite, pull hair or just sit there and flail her entire body.

If you ask her to squeal, she will do it on command.

She loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider song.  She could sing that song all day long and never tire of it.

She loves to play with her Little People that we have at home.  We have a Little People School Bus and a Princess Castle that she never grows tired of.

She is really attached to Mommy, and right now, she only wants me to put her down for either nap time or bedtime... and nobody else.

Lately, she most often gets in trouble during bath time because she won't stop brushing her sister's teeth with her toothbrush.

When I put the girls down for bed, she always does this thing where she'll run to her closet door, lay on the floor with her bunny and pretend to hide from me.  When I go around to get her, she squeals with laughter.

She has the nickname Ellie-Bellie.

She loves to listen for noises.  When she hears a noise, she always stops dead in her tracks and puts her hand up to her ear with a startled expression on her face.

She loves to wear accessories.  Bracelets, hats, necklaces….you name it, she wants to wear it all at the same time.

The freckle on her forehead is hidden now that her hair is growing in.

Her toes on her right foot are a little crinkled.  Her middle toe doesn't lay flat, but it never seems to bother her.

She has full cheeks, which is her most distinguishable feature that separates her from Caroline.

She is a half inch taller than her sister.

Ellie always responds to the question, "where's your sister?" by running after Caroline.

All in all, these girls are so similar, that we sometimes wonder if the differences we think we see between the girls are actually there….and we're not just making them up in our heads.

All in all, they look the same, they like the same things, they love to be together, and they have very similar mannerisms.

All in all, most people cannot tell them apart, and even after spending time with them and getting to know them, it's hard to see the differences.

But of course, being the proud parents we are….we always know which baby is which...

….Well, most of the time!!!

A Keeper

Its so hard to get a picture that contains the following….both girls, in focus, good moods, doing something cute, and a nice outfit.

My typical picture only has one baby in it because the other ran away…or someone is crying….or someone is still in pajamas or has food all over the front of them.  This, I have come to learn is…well…what's the term…. real life!

BUT, at this particular moment, I didn't exactly get a clear picture, but I got both girls in good moods doing something cute just in the middle of the playing together.

I'm calling this a keeper!

Mensa Candidates

Caroline and Ellie have a set of stacking cups and blocks that they love to do over and over again.  

I'm pretty sure they are future Mensa candidates.  I'm not just saying that as a proud Mom…just calling it like I see it with perfect objectivity!  :)

They both have a specific way that they like to stack….they bring them over to me and ask me with hand motions and a lot of "uh uhs" to help them set up by putting the smaller ones inside the bigger ones.  Then, they take it from me, turn it over and begin to stack.  This is especially Caroline's routine.  Ellie seems to like to do it this way, because her sister does it this way.

They do it the same way every time.  Right now, this is almost the first toy that Caroline goes to every morning when we come downstairs.

Sometimes, they'll work on a single stack together, but lets be honest, its usually a fight and a crying match if one sister touches the stack that the other sister works on.  Most often, one of the girls (usually Caroline) is working on her masterpiece and Ellie runs over, knocks it down with a single arm swipe, cups or blocks go flying, and Caroline yells.

Either way, its great fun to see them focus on one thing and really work at it, for at least a minute or two.

So Long Pacifiers

Up until recently, there was one thing that Caroline and Ellie have loved more than anything...and it has been books.  If we let them, they would read books all day long and do absolutely nothing else.

It's the same routine...go pick out a book, back up with their cute little diapered bottom sticking out holding their chosen book until they land in my lap.  We read the book, usually skipping every other page, since they turn them faster than I can read them.  And then we repeat.

The focused book reading became so focused that I had to put the books behind the baby gate so that they would actually play with a toy or two.  

Now, we read books before bed/naptime or if I offer them a special treat.

Up until a week ago, books were their "thing".  

Now.....they have 2 "things".  Books AND Pacifiers.

For starters, they are thumb suckers.  Caroline sucks her right thumb and Ellie sucks her left.  They suck their thumbs when they sleep and when they are in the car.  I've always kept several pacifiers in the toy baskets that they like to play with here and there, until last week, when it became a total obsession of Caroline's and I finally just had to take them away.  Her favorite thing was to dig around looking for 2...one for herself and one for Ellie.  She would always put one in her mouth.  Then she'd walk over to Ellie, shove one in her mouth, which Ellie always accepted, almost as if to say, "thanks sissy".  I've always loved watching this interaction.  

But, when Caroline started to ask for a pacifier while we' were digging in the dirt in the backyard, its was time to bye-bye to the silicon woobies.

Here is a sequence of a typical pacifier exchange.

Ellie laying down on the floor playing with her baby by herself.

Caroline (standing up) giving Ellie a pacifier

Not only trying to give it to Ellie, but really trying to get it in her mouth

Girls resume playing with pacifiers in mouth.  Thanks Sissy!