We are 13 months old!

since there isn't 30 days in february, we can officially say that preslee and mason are 13 months old today. for the last month i have been clinging to the joy of being able to say that they are only a year old. i realized this morning that i couldn't say that anymore. they are officially toddlers and are really older than a year. they are 13 months old! life in our house has gotten busier and busier. they have this energy that if you could bottle, would power a city. to catch you up on our little ones:

*lift the flap type board books are their new favorites. they love books with animals, but their favorite is baby faces. i think oprah should put it on her best seller list for babies. i read it about 12 times today. i read it, we laugh at the faces and then they hand it to me to read yet again. i love that they love books at such a young age. we read for 15 minutes before every nap, plus other times during the day when they grab a book and hand it to me.

*they are really into pointing at things to hear their names. they want to know what everything is called. they say mama, dada and heidi all the time. preslee says ba for ball and they both say dog really clearly. they understand so much, and have an affirmative grunt sort of thing that they use when you ask them if they want to do something like go outside, go for a walk, swing, etc. it’s amazing to watch language develop in them. they learn so many new things every day.

*mason's 7th tooth just popped through on the bottom left. preslee has apparently decided that 2 will get her through life pretty well. they love to brush their own teeth and will crawl into the bathroom and point for me to get their toothbrushes down for them.

*mason is walking all over the place. no crawling anymore for that girl. preslee is still taking her time. walks a few steps everyday, just enough to get us running for the video camera, then she crawls. i think she teases me because she knows i get so excited. she can do it, just doesn't have walking at the top of her list right now.

*and my most favorite thing of all....the hugging and the kissing. they just walk up out of nowhere and grab you around the legs or around the neck and hug. preslee gives kisses all the time! i love it! they are the sweetest little babies. they kiss drew and i, heidi (when she lets them) and each other.

i can't wait to see what they have in store for us next month!

Little Mommy!

today while the girls were playing, i noticed preslee take one of her dolls and put it in her lap. she rubbed its face for a minute, then reached over and grabbed the other doll and put it in her lap too. she was just babbling away at them both and rubbing their faces. i wonder if the girls will think it's strange to see a mommy with only one baby or will they just know that their mommy was extra lucky because God gave me two!

Now we know our ABC's......

for Christmas preslee and mason got some of those magnetic letters. they haven't really paid much attention to them until recently. most nights drew and i spend picking them up off of the kitchen floor, but today.........

Dancing with the Stars

My Girls

So cute!

these girls…they get cuter by the day, i swear! the things they come up with just make us smile all the time.

they each have their own chores that they do now. mason picks up the dirty diapers, including her own, walks them over, and drops them in the diaper genie. then she points and grunts until i turn the handle and they fall into the bag. then everybody has to clap and wave bye-bye. it is the cutest thing that i have ever seen and she is so proud of her little self.

preslee's job is to turn out the lights and turn off the sound machine when we leave the nursery. she takes that tiny little finger and presses the light switch down really hard and then just grins when the light goes off.

they are learning so much and changing so fast everyday. i can't keep up!

preslee, would you like to eat breakfast?
No.
preslee, can we put on your shoes?
No.
preslee, do you want more milk?
No.
preslee, can mommy change your diaper?
No.
preslee, can you eat your green beans?
No.
preslee, let’s go take a bath.
No.
preslee, can mason see that toy?
No.
preslee, are you ready for a nap?
No.

guess what preslee's favorite new word is…

My Gym

every saturday drew and i take the girls to their my gym class. it is really amazing to watch them. they have been going for several months now. when we first started preslee would sit in my lap and cry and mason would just play alone with a few toys. now, they have made so many friends (you'll see tripp in the video) and just love going. they don't want to sit with mommy and daddy at all!

Hugs and Kisses

Freedom!

preslee may not be walking all over the place quite yet, but she has absolutely no problems climbing the entire flight of stairs in our house. the more i chased her, the more she laughed!

HaPpy VaLeNtiNeS DaY!

I had to put this in just for comparison. This was Valentines Day 2007, just one year ago!


preslee and mason have always gotten along so well, even from the beginning. we were told that babies at this age don't play together, that they parallel play, but they don't know our little girls. from the first few weeks that they were both home, i remember hearing them coo to each other and just stare at the other one in their pack n play. i know being the same age has a lot to do with it, but the pure laughter that we hear coming from their nursery in the morning makes my heart sing with joy. preslee thinks mason is so funny and vice versa. no one gets a bigger laugh than their sister (ok, maybe heidi). but recently, we have noticed something even more sweet......the hugs. mason will walk right over to preslee and just lay her head on her shoulder and preslee gives mason those sweet, sweet open mouth kisses right on her cheeks. having a sibling is the most amazing thing, but having a sister is even better. if preslee and mason are half the friends that my sister and i are, than i will never have to worry about them. they will always have each other!

Happy Valentines Day from the Beynons!

Interesting Facts about Twins

a friend forwarded me this list this morning. besides being double the love and double the fun, here are some more interesting facts about twins.

worldwide there are at least 125 million living multiples.

did you know that up to 22 percent of twins are left-handed? in the non-twin population the number is just under 10 percent.

the United States has one of the highest rates of multiples, while Japan has one of the lowest with multiple births occurring one in 120 births.

twins are either fraternal or identical. fraternal twins share the same womb, but come from different ovum. they are as alike as any pair of siblings. on the other hand, identical twins come from the same fertilized ovum and consequently share the same genetic makeup.

incredible fact: according to the Guinness Book of Records, Leontina Albina, from the country of Chile, gave birth to the last of her 55 children in 1981. Her offspring included five sets of twins (all boys).

the scientific study of twins is known as "gemellology." the word twin is derived from an ancient German word twine, which means 'two together.'

the average weight of a singleton newborn is 7 lbs. 6 oz., but the average weight of a twin newborn is 5 lbs. 5 oz.

fraternal twins are much more common than identical twins. the chances of having identical twins is about one in 285.

identical twins exhibit almost identical brain wave patterns.

genetic factors do not have much, if any, affect on the incidence of identical twins. identical twins do not run in families

what a concept! there is a restaurant in New York City called "Twins." It was started by twin sisters and is staffed by 37 sets of twins who work the same shifts. each evening they get 10 or more sets of twins or multiples who patron their unique restaurant.

famous people who have parented twins:

Jane Pauley and Garry Trudeau
Ricky Nelson
Jane Seymour
Cybill Sheperd
James Stewart
Margaret Thatcher
President George W. Bush
Robert DeNiro
Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan
Mel Gibson
Ron Howard
Muhammad Ali
Denzel Washington

did you know that Elvis Presley and Liberace were both twins? their siblings died at birth.

the famed advice columnist's Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren ("Dear Abby") are twins.

william shakespeare was the father of boy/girl twins.

a recent study found that the cost of each birth in a twin delivery was 2 to 3 times that of a birth in a singleton delivery.

Drumroll please......

this is a little late getting posted, but i am playing catch up with our new video camera. mason has been walking all by herself since jan 19th and here is the clip.

I have never had anyone look so cute while saying no to me!

Watching the rain

Mommy, she's touching me!

is it starting already?

Rainy Days

today was a dreary, rainy day and the girls soon tired of spending all day inside with mommy. we played with all of their toys and read many, many books. so when they started to get bored, i improvised. we played with our food. now i know you must be saying to yourself, that isn't really good parenting to let them play with their food. you're right, but it was so much fun! here are some pictures of them playing with their red jello.

We Have an Announcement!

we have an announcement!! this morning, preslee decided that she was ready to take those first steps. she took 4 steps across the room, all by herself. of course, with a HUGE smile on her face. the look of pride was amazing! with mason clapping for her the whole time. more updates soon.....