My boys are ONE year old today! 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 whole days old. I can not believe how fast the time has flown by and how much the boys have changed in just one short year. In the last year, they have more than doubled their size, both learned to sit, crawl and walk (and not just toddle around, they are all out walking).
I know a lot of people that cry when their tots turn 1 because they are sad their babies are no longer babies but are now a toddler. I can honestly say I’m not sad, they are a year old and their birthday is a day to celebrate their first year of life and all they have accomplished, not to mention all the joy they have brought to our lives!
Its also a time to celebrate us, as parents, making it through the first year of life with twins! This was a hard year, in more ways than one. The first 6 months were easier than the last 6 months, which I think is the opposite of what most people think. The last few months have been difficult. The boys are mobile now and in to everything, they are clingy in the evenings when we get home from work because they just want to be with us – they don’t care that we need to make dinner, they just want us to hold them. But, we have survived the first year and despite all the difficult times, we have had some of the most joyous and memorable times of our lives. I wouldn’t trade any of those middle of the night feedings or nights with screaming, hurting, teething babies for anything in the world…it is all worth it!
Both Hayden and Ian are walking all over the place now. Its such a crazy sight to look up and see them walking around. It seems like just yesterday they were so little they couldn’t even hold their heads up, and now their walking.
Their individual personalities have definitely come through and boy do they differ from one another.
Hayden is our thinker and loves to sit and play with toys. He loves to find out how things work and is very tactile. If it has a texture, he’ll touch it. He is cautious and very deliberate in what he does. He can find a single piece of dog hair in our carpet and pick it up to look at it. He loves to be where either me or Jonathan are. He could be completely content playing with his toys and if we leave his sight, he tries to come find us. He likes to have our undivided attention in the evenings, and that is sometimes hard to do when you have 2 little ones wanting your attention. He has the sweetest smile and will absolutely melt your heart when you see it!
Ian is our crazy man. Not really, but he is definitely more on the go than Hayden. Ian should be called Ian, go-go, Blundell because he is always on the go and moving. I have to admit that he is a lot like me in that area. My mom used to call me Laurie, go-go, Turner when I was little. I laugh because Ian just walks around the house aimlessly, the boy seriously loves to walk. He also can just sit and play with toys for a while completely content. In the evenings he likes to be held, there are many nights we will cook dinner holding Ian. Ian is a sweetheart, just like Hayden is. He is very concerned about how others feel and is pretty sensitive. If Hayden is upset, Ian will look very concerned and make sure he is ok before going back to whatever it was he was doing. If he hears someone laugh really loud or yell (in excitement) he gets very upset and bursts into tears. Ian has such a cute smile you can’t help but want to grab him and squeeze him.
This year has been so much fun, I can’t wait to see what the next year will bring!