Growing up- 16 months

The growing up thing is something we knew would happen.  It's just inevitable that they wouldn't stay small.  It's filled with so many mixed feelings though, happiness to see them go through and experience things.  Then sadness to know that they will never be this tiny again.  

Right now they are at my favorite stage so far.  Every day I just can't stop smiling as I watch them explore, learn, and play.  They seem to happy with the little things and easily brush off the big things.  

Sometimes I wish I could think like they do and see the beauty and fun everywhere.   

A little bit about them-

They weigh in at about 23lbs now and shooting up like bean stalks, to us at least, hehe.  Both are still sporting the beautiful blue eyes and dusty blonde hair which has grown into a cute little mullet of curls.  We refuse to cut it...is that bad?  If not daily, weekly, we seem to occasionally mix them up.  Leaving it up to a guessing game for people who are unaware that their earrings are different.  It's amazing to see that as they grow the differences, like Oakley's stork bite, grow less and less noticeable.  

Both are walking, yes you read that right walking.  They have been for a month now and are getting to the point they just want to run every where.  Kenzington started her first steps on her own a couple weeks before Oakely.  We expected this due to Oakley's broken leg in the past.  But, it didn't slow her down for long.  She was determined to be right there with her sister!  

It's so fun and cute to see them chase each other, the dogs or even run away as we say "we're ganna get you".  Just to think not that long ago we were just waiting for them to crawl.  

Mopping floors is a bit of a bitter sweet thing in this house.  I can't help but laugh as they slip and slide and eventually end up crawling to the carpet, as they can't help but yell and get mad that they can't keep walking on it.  Yet, they keep coming back for more... kids ;)

The bumps and bruises have already shown their ugly head and sometimes it makes me feel so horrible but I have to tell myself it happens to them all.  

K has 10 teeth and O just got her 11th.  Which means K is not far behind on getting the same one.  

They are eating pretty much anything we give them now, but recently was limited due to us trying to find out what was causing their tummy issue for over a month.  Narrowing it down to Hot dogs, bananas, and juice.  We think it's juice.  

Favorite things for them to do is read books, yes it's upside down and of course it's in another language we have yet to figure out (or should I say they have yet to figure out?)  but none the less they read to us and each other as if they knew all along.  

They don't say much other than the normal simple words.  Kenzington is on a kick of pointing at everything and saying "da" as if to ask "what's that"?  I'll answer and she'll move onto the next thing.  The same is with something, toy, book, anything she wants me to do or figure out for her.  She hands it to me with this stinking adorable face and say's "da"..just now as I type she handed me a little bucket with it's lid.  I put the lid on for her and she walked away.  Freakin' love these girls. hehe

Oakley has mimicked her sister but we joke because her "da" is in a much deeper voice.  

They sing, they dance, they make loud noises, and they even tend to whisper on occasion.  

They still sign milk, more, please, and recently learned thank you.  

We already hopefully seemed to have passed the biting stage.  First it was Kenzington who bit Oakley, hard enough to leave a welt for a day.  Then it was Oakley to show revenge and bite K the following day, for the same reason, a toy.  

At first I was lost as what to do to, but thanks to advice from everyone I chose the smother the victim with affection and ignore the other (for a short period of time).  To my luck it worked and since then we haven't had any incidents to report!  

TV isn't something they really pay attention to, not that we really try.  But music is definitely their favorite poison.  Any music even heard off in a distance they start to bust a move and sometimes sing.  

Through out the summer they were able to really experience a lot of new things from all our vacations and trips.  Some I hope to blog about soon.  To me those are the best times, the times when I was young and our family went out and did things together even when I was really young.  We really hope to do it often.  

Other than the normal bumps in the road they have been amazing little gremlins and as much as I hate to see them grow I cannot wait to see what they will figure out next.  We are so lucky to have two growing happy healthy baby (or not baby toddler?) girls.  I can't imagine life without either one of them.