I cannot believe that the babies will be 1 in a week.  As I type this, it still doesn't seem real.  People have told me from day one, time will fly.  I would nod, smile and tell them, "Yeah... I bet" and shrug it off.  But when you're where you want to be in life, time does seem to go in one speed and one speed only: overdrive.

One year ago this week... I was pretty uncomfortable... to say the least.  It's been nice to be able to fit into my comfy winter clothing and to be able to sleep through the night most nights.. Counting my blessings as I type.

Reflecting back on this past year, I can remember feeling elated, happy, excited, over the moon, sad, depressed, upset, frustrated and scared.  That's a pretty crazy scale of emotions huh??   Sitting in my living room and typing this now, I am feeling content.  I'm feeling proud.  I'm feeling like I'm nearing the finish line of a 5k because let's be honest, I can't run farther than 3 miles... ever.  It's weird though, feeling like we've made it?  Like parenting doesn't even remotely stop after their 1st year.  But it somehow feels like once you make it to 1, you can accomplish anything.

Tiny Buddy Bennett

My Sweet Emmy Lou

Sitting for hours in the NICU and just staring at the lives that used to be inside my body.  They were so crazy small yet took over my life in immense ways.  Still do.

Hard to remember these days of breastfeeding and sleepless nights... But seeing the pictures, it brings me right back.

As I scroll through this year in pictures, I am crazy blown away by how much the babes have changed.  They have grown into their own, very different, personalities.  I remember thinking that Emmy would be my rough and tough kiddo and Bennett was my calm, cooperative little buddy.  They have switched it up on me and I am constantly impressed with their ability to learn something new almost every hour.  Okay, that is the biased mom coming out in me.  But just this week, Emmy started using her sign language to tell me she's all done eating and Alex taught Bennett how to put the basketball in his hoop.  Ahhh life.  It's so wonderful.

I think this picture is one of the few that I actually think they look like twins.  I normally see such different personalities in them but here, I see twin babies.

We started tummy time EARLY and I am so glad we did.  Only for a few minutes at a time though..

Snuggle Bugs

That first month came up pretty quick.  At the time, I didn't think so but looking back now, I miss those tiny feet, hands, eyes.

People have commented on our babies hundreds of times this year and I have been stopped by strangers almost every time I leave the house to the tune of, "Twins?!?! Oh my!  What a blessing!"  or "Wow!  You must have your hands full!"  Both are true.  Both are so true.  But I wouldn't change a damn thing.  Like I said before, I have felt many, many emotions this year.  My favorite is how truly proud I am of our babies.  Alex and I are young, and naive and truthfully, still learning how to "adult" ourselves.  I have called my mom for more advice and help this year than any other year in my life.  Well, maybe not my freshman year of college, but you get my drift.  So being our children probably has it's challenges too.  And I'm proud of Em and Ben for sticking with us, loving us unconditionally and making us feel like boss parents day in and day out.

Long gone are the days of sleeping through Church and sleeping through shopping with mommy.

Daddy and Em, taking a snooze.

Babies first selfie.

Dog days of summa... Rolls for days...

BFFs

Most likely watching Winnie the Pooh in the basement... My heart was melting at this picture... still is.

It's weird seeing the sleep sacks again after ditching them about a month ago.  I didn't think we would ever be rid of them.  It's strange how those new habits form and the old ones see to just disappear, like they never even were.

Fall photos... still one of my favorite smiles from B.

We celebrated Christmas with my mom this weekend... Bennett got his first basketball and the kid is already obsessed.  He's pretty good at throwing the ball too!  

Emmy stared down the camera the other day.  Her eyes were blowing me away.
I didn't mean to rhyme this caption.
Maybe I'll continue that on the blog... or not....because nothing rhymes with caption.

The babes are ready for their first Christmas!!!

Experiencing all these "firsts" with our babies has been nothing but incredible.  I can't wait for the rest of our lives and all the experiences that will come with it.  I can't wait to hear what their actually voices sound like and to have a conversation with them.  I can't wait to see what color hair they have and to put Emmy's in pigtails.  I can't wait for them to go to school and make something to hang on the fridge.  I can't wait for them to have awesome birthday parties over Christmas break and to watch them make friends.  I can't wait to see their bond as twins grow and grow and to watch them become best friends like I have never known.  But, most importantly, I can wait.  Because I don't want to speed this time up any faster than it's already going.

This past year has been my favorite year in my 26 years on Earth, by far.  And going forward, every year will probably beat it.

Until next week, with a recap of Christmas...

Lauren

PS:  We saw Santa last week... and no tears this year!

Sorry!

Sorry to disappoint with no blog yesterday... I picked up extra at work and the day got away from me.  I'm going to be working on a blog for next week reflecting on the babies first year of life.  I hope you'll come back and read that... and I promise it will be posted on Blog Thursday with the Twins!

Thanks for your patience, this busy momma appreciates the love and the commitment to reading this blog that sometimes seems like a place for me to ramble and vent.

Hope everyone is having a very merry holiday season.  Christmas will be here in 9 sleeps!

Lauren

Happy Birthday Keithing Up With the Twins!

O n e   Y e a r
So, Saturday marks my blogs 1 year birthday!  It's so hard for me to believe I've kept this up for 52+ weeks!  But, I am so glad I have.  This past week, I went back and read old blog posts from before the babies were even born.  It's been such a great memory keeper for me and something I will always cherish.  Those raw thoughts, hardships, first experiences, etc... I will never forget them thanks to the blog.  And someday, the thought of sharing them with my babies, makes my heart smile.

In honor of my blogs 1 year birthday, I'm going to list my top 3 favorite posts to write and why I  L O V E D sharing them with you all.

1.  Birth Story.  Posted January 7th.  This was an emotionally hard post to put together, but my absolute favorite of all of them.  I was so glad I sat down a week later and threw it all onto the blog.  It's the story of how my babies came into this world.  Raw, revealing, terrifying.  I've never had so many emotions in such a short, condensed period of time.  The thing that I smile at now and thank God for every day, is that I have 2 happy and healthy babies.  Through that difficult birth, came the lives of my 2 greatest achievements thus far.  I also wanted to share to expose the realities of birth and how it can often times not go as planned.  Hoping this reaches expectant mamas not to scare them, but to shed light on the reality that you have to be prepared for the unexpected.

2.  Love Yourself.  Posted October 27th.  This post was empowering to write and to share with the readers.  I wanted to expose the ever leering subject of the woman's changing body after they have created the miracle of life.  I questioned if I should post body images and kicked myself after I even questioned it.  It was my exact POINT to show self confidence and to empower other mama's to know that while it isn't always easy, we should embrace our new bodies... they give us the greatest gift's of our lives.  And hell yeah growing humans is a super power.

3.  Picture Perfect Life.  Posted October 6th.  I loved writing this post.  I have been guilty of trying to take the "perfect picture" for Instagram or Facebook and I was sick and tired of feeling inadequate next to the other thousands of mama's out there who could make dinner, play with their kids, sew a quilt, grow an herb garden, and have time to clean the entire house top to bottom... OH and take pictures of all of that along the way.  Yes it's fun to scroll through and see beautiful pictures, but you have to understand the reality of life and that it's not always clean and pretty.  Anyways, I had fun with this one.

Check them out if you haven't read them!  I had fun writing them and hope to bring you more this next year.

G e t t i n'  S o   C h r i s t m a s s y...
This weekend, our family went to the Christmas tree farm!  Now, yes... we already have a fake tree and it's been up since mid November (I don't wanna hear it) but we couldn't stay away from the adorable Christmas tree farm 5 minutes from our house.  Plus, they sold greenery and I think from now on I am going to go get fresh garland for my home- there's something about it's freshness and nothing beats that true balsam fir smell.

Some pictures to share our day with you... Some of the photos taken by Heidi West... Enjoy...

Buddy and his Grandma, my mom. 

Bennett found the perfect Charlie Brown Tree. 

Chubs...

B, sulking in the stroller.

It's truly the most wonderful time of the year...

Party planning has begun for the babies first birthday!  I'm trying to stay in the moment for now, because between now and then we have 2 Christmas parties, 3 family Christmas' and their actual birthday.  Ahh how life speeds up this lovely month of December.

Thanks for reading this past year.  I hope everyone is enjoying this very merry time of year.  Tell your loved ones you love them, smile at a stranger, take a minute out of your day to ask your neighbor how their week is going... It will slow time down for you and make life a little sweeter.

Until next week..
Lauren, E&B