21 Month Review

Berkley and Meredith are 22 months old today, just two months shy of their 2nd birthday! They are learning and growing so quickly now, especially in their language skills! It's hard to keep up with everything, but here is just a brief summary of some of the new things the twins are doing these days.

We were at the grocery store one day and I was talking out loud saying we needed baby wipes and little Miss Meredith said, "baby wipes" just as plain as day. She's also learned to say doctor as well as the letters Z and C. Meredith will say "brush teeth" at bedtime as well as "hand" when we're at the top of the stairs and she wants me to take her hand to walk down the stairs.

Berkley has also said several words that have surprised me recently, words like, " shake, bug, and broke." Berkley can now say the "ch" at the end of my nephew Hutch's name and boy does he like to talk about Hutch. Berkley continues to be very imaginative and especially likes to line up any toys that stand up straight. He also plays with his food like they are cars or airplanes; driving them, making car/airplane noises, flying them through the air at the kitchen table. He drives his bath toys on the side of the tub.

Meredith and Berkley both just adore being outside. They love helping mommy pick up sticks, pine cones and pine straw. It's very difficult getting them to the car these days because they just want to play in the front yard. I try to remind myself that I don't need to always force them to be on my schedule, but to enjoy letting them be little and enjoy the wonder of being outside.

Meredith and Berkley always inevitably wake up saying something either about Mima, Papa, or Joe-Joe's house. Our routine is for me to get Meredith out of her crib first. She likes to carry her two Ds (her two matching teddy bears) as well as her giraffe downstairs, so she works hard gathering them in her arms before I pick her up and then as soon as I put her on the ground, she drops those stuffed animals and runs for Berkley's room. She pushes Berkley's door open and Berkley is usually standing in the corner of his crib grinning talking about Mima & Papa's house or Joe-Joe's house. That gets Meredith giddy and before long they're both squealing. Berkley also has to have his stuffed animals gathered together before he'll get out of his crib; he sleeps with Bob (his dog) and Z (his zebra). But getting them downstairs is a difficult task. They want to stay upstairs and run up and down the hallway, try to open doorknobs and play in one anothers rooms. Here again, I have to remind myself not to try to force them on my schedule but let them enjoy discovering things upstairs. They like it when I throw all of their stuffed animals down the stairs and they have to walk downstairs, holding my hands of course, to get their beloved stuffed animals.

We had a funny incident this month. Berkley poopied in the bathtub for the first time. We had let all of the water out thankfully, so it wasn't too messy to cleanup. We tried to run and get their little potty to put him on it before he passed everything, but we didn't make it. Berkley did sit on the potty though once we got it in there and he did tinkle in it a bit. I've got a bunch of books about potty training and will probably start trying to work on potty training soon. Berkley is showing much more interest and readiness than Meredith. Berkley has learned where his pee-pee comes from and likes to make himself go when I'm changing his diaper. No fun! He thinks it's so funny that he can make himself pee-pee. Let's hope that excitement will remain when we make him pee-pee in his big boy potty.

Something clicked with Meredith and Berkley just a few days ago and they finally started understanding and really enjoying puzzles. Before, they would just take the pieces out of the puzzles and that was it, but now they'll sit with a puzzle and truly play with it, taking the pieces out and figuring out how to put them back in place. It's amazing to me how something just clicks like that and they get it!

I've started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" more lately and they will both, but Meredith more consistently, sing "Star, Are, High, and Sky" at the end of the phrases with me. I love this! They both definitely have a natural ear for music. It seems that Meredith is more of the singer and Berkley is really into rhythm and dancing. I hope that they'll enjoy music as much as I do!

We're also working more and more on manners. Meredith and Berkley have really shown no interest in saying, please, thank you, or excuse me before this month. They still don't really say thank you much, but they're both improving on the please and excuse me. We've really got to work on when to say excuse me because right now they think it is HILARIOUS when they toot or burp and they laugh hysterically at one another...I know, it's cute, but I've got to counteract it with the proper response of excuse me. We'll see how it goes. I've been reassured by several friends that saying things like please and thank you will come, that it will be another one of those things that just click one day. I'll also have to work on them saying "yes mam and no mama, yes sir and no sir" eventually. You know I've got to raise them to be a proper little southern lady and southern gentleman.

Berkley has grown into 24 month size shirts and pajamas. He's SO HEAVY! I wouldn't be surprised if he's at least 27lbs now. It's getting harder and harder to pick him up. Meredith still feels light and I love kissing her little petite hands and feet.

We've started a new routine of letting Meredith and Berkley sit on the couch for their evening milk and story books before bed. I am enjoying this new routine so much because I can sit on the couch with them sitting on each side of me, cuddled up close. They get to sit closer to the books and follow along better with the words, which I hope will help their reading skills in the long-term.

I also wanted to share how, out on a walk last week, a neighbor stopped me to comment on the fact that I have the best job ever! I have to admit, that I struggled with believing her in that moment. It had been a difficult week of the twins recuperating from illness and in the midst of their sickness they'd been very fussy and ultimately very disobedient towards me and unloving to one another. I was stressed. But you know what, she's right. I do have the best job ever. I so easily forget what a gift I have in having the ability to stay at home with Meredith and Berkley. I don't have to miss any of these precious, fleeting milestones. I get to be a part of everything. Not only that, i get to give them consistency, constant affection, constant protection, as well as constant reminders of God's love for them and their need for Him. What better job could their be?

And the Celebration Continues!

What a fun evening we've had! Tonight we went out to eat at Sappari Japanese Steakhouse with Steven's parents to continue our celebration of Steven's 31st birthday. Meredith and Berkley were so happy to see their Mima and Papa. I changed them into their dressier outfits and told them we were going to see Mima and Papa and from that time on, they talked nonstop about Mima and Papa. It was Meredith and Berkley's first time at a restaurant where they cook the food right in front of you with lots of FIRE! They were mesmerized by everything in this restaurant, I think that Berkley's eyes stayed WIDE open the entire evening. I wish that I could remember every cute thing they did the whole night, but these little mementos will have to do. First of all, I was amazed by the foods they tried. Berkley ate some of the soup, salad, and zucchini that's prepared before the actual meal. Both Meredith and Berkley ate shrimp, steak, chicken and rice! It was there first time ever eating shrimp and I couldn't believe that my picky eater, Meredith, ate it.

There were a couple of instances where the chef made a large flame pop up from the grill. Berkley stared in silent awe at this anomaly, but Meredith got scared and turned her head away. After the flame died, Meredith put her little hands in the air and did the sign for all done as she said "all done." I don't think she liked being surprised by that flame very much, but she didn't cry, which surprised me.
Meredith's face as the flame spouted.
Meredith's response to the flame.

Meredith played peep-eye with Mima and Papa across the table and would randomly wave or giggle at them from time to time. They both clapped for the chef when he finished preparing the food and when happy birthday was sung to daddy. Berkley broke into song a couple of times, I think he was trying to sing happy birthday, but for him it always came out, "Joe-Joe, Joe-Joe." On the way out of the restaurant, Steven's dad put Berkley on his shoulders and the expression of jubilee on his face was priceless. We captured it on film, but it's a little blurry. Nonetheless, you can see that he's a delighted little man.

Steven's folks came back to our house to enjoy some cake. Berkley and Meredith got a few bites of cake and boy you should have seen how quickly that chocolate kicked in for Berkley; he was all over the place within a couple of minutes. We put him to bed around 9m and I think he's still upstairs talking to himself right now (around 9:50pm), but he's happy. I just have to share that when Steven's folks left, I whispered to Meredith to go tell Papa bye bye (she'd already hugged Mima). Meredith squealed with giddiness, frolicked to her Papa and gave him the sweetest kiss. I just LOVE moments like that. I wish I could imprint them permanently in my mind, especially so I could remember them on days when Meredith and Berkley aren't being quite so sweet:)


And here are just some sweet pictures from the day. First we have Meredith and Berkley side by side having their afternoon snack. I love little poses like this.


And finally, we have Meredith playing peep-eye with the train book while I change her. She thought of playing this all on her own. So creative!

31 and Counting

Today is Steven's 31st birthday! You'll see in the pictures below that he got a Wii hunting game and he also got a Tex Avery collection of cartoons. I'm trying to keep him young:) Happy birthday honey!



Thank you for this yummy cake Mima!

And I had to post these cutie pies going up the stairs to bed. They're starting to enjoy posing. Can you tell?

Pictures Galore

Okay, yes, I've gone a little overboard on the pictures. But I just can't help myself. I mean, look at these kids! And believe, I took a lot of pictures out that I originally wanted to post:)


Meredith and Berkley listening to my ipod earbuds for the first time. Believe me people, there was some dancing going on:)

Possibly a future Pirate Women's Basketball star. What do you think?

Somebody is a little excited about their snack!

Nothing beats having daddy around to cuddle before bedtime.

Berkley has mastered the "melt" as I call it. You know, the thing that kids do when they don't want to go with you, so they just melt to the ground. The only good thing about the melt is that Berkley's discovered how much he enjoys lying on the ground and looking up at the sky.

How precious is she with her little hands in her pockets? LOVE IT!

And of course I can't say enough about my little man and his superior level of cuteness. I'm not bragging am I? I just love these kids!

Meredith and her coy, "I'm going to look away from the camera because mommy's going a bit overboard" look.


These two were taken in a grocery cart leaving Harris Teeter. They were so excited to be sitting in the car cart. They turned around and shouted happily at all the people going by. They made everyone smile...including their mama!

For those of you from the country, you may remember a photo often seen in country stores of two kids in overalls standing beside one another, asking each another, "Have you been farming long?" This picture reminds me so much of that. But instead they're saying, "you been tailgating long?"

Lifestyle Change Battle

I have to confess, the last 2 weeks have been so difficult for my healthy living lifestyle change. I feel like such a hypocrite. In recent posts I was so confident of my lifestyle change, but the last two weeks have proven detrimental. The twins were sick for over a week, I got sick, yada-yada-yada. The first week I handled it okay, but the second week I started cheating here and there and then used the excuse that I've already sabotaged my day, so go ahead and eat what you want. I've fallen back into faulty thinking and I realize when I'm doing it. I haven't worked out in almost a week due to different things. The good news is that I am looking forward to getting back into the gym on Thursday. That's the first time I've been able to say that in over a week. I just finished watching an episode of Heavy, which was a huge motivator and reminder of what my focus needs to be; getting healthy for life...so that I can LIVE LONG and HEALTHY! I haven't wanted to post this. I've wanted to keep it private and live in denial in a sense, but I realize that being honest with myself and with my friends via the virtual world is the best thing that I can do. Being honest with myself and you holds me accountable and wakes me up to the reality that I need to get back in the game. I'm afraid to weigh myself. I'm afraid I've flushed all my work thus far down the toilet because of the last two weeks. I'm going to weigh-in at the end of the month, so hopefully between now and then, (which I realize isn't long at all) I can get back on track so I won't have regrets from the month. But even if I do have regrets, it's not over...I'm not giving up!!!

Fun and Games

This is what happens when I leave Berkley and Meredith alone for 5 minutes to get things ready for bedtime.

Today we had the pleasure of having some company. Jordan and Nathan Toney came to play for a little while and boy did Meredith and Berkley enjoy it. Berkley especially, he loves having other little boys to play with. Berkley just lights up with excitement when Jordan's around because he's a BIG BOY! Jordan played the Wii for a bit and you can see from this picture that they were all mesmerized. Berkley and Meredith have never seen us play before, so it was a treat to get to watch Jordan.

I think it's funny to see the intensity in the all the boys' faces and then Meredith is kind of separated from the bunch and not really as into it. Boys vs girls:)

Afternoon Fun

Today I went into Berkley's room to get him up from his nap only to find him naked from the waist down. Yes, Berkley had managed to pull off his pants, diaper, and one sock and was very proud of it. I got away lucky this time because thankfully, he didn't use the bathroom while he was undressed. Wish I had caught a picture of my cute little man. I did manage to get this cute pic from our afternoon walk. We really enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend and are so thankful that we all feel so much better than last weekend!

Nana's 90th

Today is February 16, 2011 and it is my Nana's 90th birthday! Happy birthday to my sweet Nana! What do you give someone for their 90th birthday, someone who has everything? You give them a visit with their great-grand babies:) As many of you know, my Nana has been in a nursing home since November 2010, so it makes her birthday different this year, but if anything it makes it more special because I realize even more what a gift it is to have her here with us. Nana has had a very rough few months and honestly, it's a miracle that she's here right now. Even more so, it's a miracle that she is doing AMAZING! At one point they had to quit all physical therapy, she slept all the time and wouldn't even open her eyes when you went to visit. Thankfully, the Lord has restored her strength and today when we arrived, Nana was going to physical therapy and I saw her peddling away on a rehabilitative bicycle. What a gift to walk in and surprise her with the twins and see that look of sheer delight on her face. I can't say enough about how much I treasure my Nana. I'm so thankful that for the first year and a half of the twins lives she was able to come several times a week with my mom to visit us. I'm so thankful for all the songs she's sung to them, for the advice she's given me and for all the times she's gotten to hold Meredith and Berkley. I'm so thankful that my babies know and love their Nana! I'm so thankful that I'm old enough to know and appreciate my grandmother and recognize what a treasure she is. I could go on and on about what an amazing wife, mother, grandmother and now great-grandmother she is. I don't have enough words to properly give her honor. She's just...a gift:) Happy birthday Nana!


Here's a picture of what happens when you have adorable twins with their proud grandmother at a nursing home. They ended up at the front of the room singing Jesus Loves Me with the residents. It was pretty awesome!

With the celebration noted, I also have to mention what a rough week we've had in the Manning home. It all started the evening of Monday 2/7, Berkley spiked a fever and by Tuesday evening he was coughing so hard he sounded like a seal. And I dare not fail to mention that on Tuesday, Steven's mom came to watch the twins for me and she fell stepping over a baby gate and broke her arm. Isn't that just awful! My mother-in-law is one of the sweetest people I know and I have to give her props because she stayed so calm throughout the ordeal. She called me to tell me something was wrong and she was so calm, I couldn't believe it when she said she thought she'd broken a bone. Steven's mom ended up having to have surgery yesterday morning to align the bones and is on the mend. Lift her up in prayer that things would heal properly, especially because I don't think she can handle not being able to hold both of the twins in her arms:) Back to Berkley's illness, I took him to the doctor Wednesday and it was only a cold; there were no meds I could give him other than Tylenol or ibuprofen for the fever. On Friday I developed the stomach bug that's been going around and Meredith started showing signs of a cold. To say the least we've had some very restless nights around here for over a week. Last night was the first night I feel like I was able to have a full night's rest and boy and I'm thankful! Meredith stopped running fever yesterday, so hopefully they're on the mend. Just pray that their coughs and sniffles would completely resolve soon. I'm rejoicing that by God's grace they didn't catch the stomach bug I had, that would've been terrible! And I'm also thankful that I got the stomach bug late Friday afternoon and my brother Joey was here to help with the twins until Steven got home. Steven was a great caregiver to us all over the weekend:)

Due to all the illness, I've been out of the gym for a week. I did go back yesterday for the first time, but missed this morning. I'm looking forward to getting back into my routine because I can tell that when I'm not working out, I'm much more tempted to not eat healthy. I bought an i-pod shuffle so that I can listen to music while I work out and it's done wonders for me. I'm such a music person and whatever song is playing becomes a musical in my brain. I start imagining what it would be like if I started belting out music and the whole gym broke out into song with me. So, when I'm working out, I'm actually imagining my own episode of Glee in my head. So much fun!



They may be sick, but they're still cute.

A Lot of Learning to Do

I went to the library this week to get a book I'd heard about from a member of the Joy Fit Club on the Today Show called Eat, Drink and Be Healthy and while I was there I checked out several other health related books, one of which is Eat This Not That. I've only glanced through it and have already found that an item I recommended in a previous post is on their "Worst Healthy Food" list; it's Yoplait 99% Fat Free Cherry Orchard Yogurt. It says that the problem with the yogurt is the sugar content, which in this flavor is 27g. I've only had that flavor yet and am not sure if all the flavors have the same amount of sugar. The author says that it is the same amount of sugar you get from a Kit Kat candy bar and it recommends you eat Greek-style yogurt instead. I've heard Greek style yogurt recommended on Dr. Oz, but I haven't seen it anywhere. Looks like I'm going to have to start hunting a little harder. Anyway, just wanted to reiterate that I'm no health expert and that I'm still a work in progress. I'm going to trash the Yoplait 99% Fat Free and seek out something with less sugar, but still a good flavor and consistency. It's a learning process.

I also wanted to share that we had a good day today with the twins. I took them to Steven's Family Medicine Clinic to be a part of a conference about developmental milestones. I think Steven was the most excited to show off his babies. Meredith and Berkley did great and I was so proud of how well they behaved. Also, Meredith just learned how to say the "s" in words such as house and mouse. It's especially precious to hear her say house; she's so proud of herself when she says it and she's fascinated with the "s," she'll say it over and over.

After Thoughts

Ideas have popped in my head all morning of things I've been wanting to share about what has encouraged/helped me on my "let's get healthy" journey this past month (and Lord willing many months to come). Of course I think of these things after I wrote that lengthy post last night, but maybe it was God's way of sparing you all from reading a mini-novel. Nonetheless, I do want to share these ideas with you in hopes that they might help you on your journey towards health.

--I've found that eating at scheduled times during the day and at the dinner table has made a huge difference. The first year and a half of Meredith and Berkley's lives was focused completely on meeting their dietary needs. When I ate it was after they had eaten their meal (with the exception of dinner), it was at random times and places and always fast. Now I've started sitting down with them at the table for every meal. Not only has it held me accountable to only eating at the table and at certain times, but it's given us a closeness as family. It has also given me a clearly defined time to pray with the twins when they can be more focused on what I'm saying.

-- Another thing that has really helped me is recognizing that change isn't going to happen overnight. I have to admit, I've been a bit discouraged that my weight loss hasn't been more rapid. In the past when I've done weight watchers, I could lose 5-6 lbs in the first week with no problem and then subsequently lose 1-2 lbs each week following. That hasn't been the case this go round, which could be attributed to the fact that I'm not strictly following any "diet" plan because I don't want this to just be a diet. I've got to find something that will work for me for life. I keep reminding myself that the weight didn't come on overnight and it's not going to come off overnight. I'm doing it the right way this time, which is just going to take more time and it's WORTH IT!

-- I've discovered Progresso light soups. I know I sound like a commercial, but they are good! I have a bowl of soup everyday with either a fruit or a whole wheat fat free cheese sandwich at lunch. I'm amazed at how filling the soup is. The other day at my mom's I had a chicken breast, black eyed peas and corn and didn't feel as full as I do with my normal soup. Also, having a set menu plan for lunch everyday makes things so much simpler. Have a plan for your meals to take the stress out of things and decrease the possibility of grabbing something more tempting.

--I eat at least one snack a day in the afternoon. I sit down with Meredith and Berkley when I give them their snack and I eat either fruit or yogurt. And when I eat yogurt I don't go all out and get completely non-fat 80 calorie yogurt, I eat Yoplait original 99% fat free yogurt. I found that I just didn't enjoy other lower-fat, lower-calorie yogurts; they were always bitter from the artificial sweeteners or the consistency was like a gel instead of creamy. I found myself not enjoying them and thus I would want to binge on something later to make up for my lack of satisfaction in the earlier snack. Again, you just have to watch your portion sizes and be aware of your calorie intake for the day.

-- I've also discovered that I can't deny myself everything, I just need to find a more healthy alternative to the fatty snacks/meals that I usually want. I've been making homemade pizza with fresh vegetables instead of buying a frozen or take-out pizza, or if I'm really hungry, just grabbing an extra, low-calorie, low-fat snack that I have in stock instead of denying myself and then wanting to binge eat. Again, having a plan is key and not having junk food on hand is a major plus.

-- I steer clear of fast food. Before January I honestly had some form of fast food nearly daily; whatever it was, it was convenient and could be hidden easily in my car. When I was nursing twins, it really wasn't a problem, I actually lost 30 lbs the first year. But, when the nursing stopped, the weight came back with a vengeance. I gained all 30 lbs back within 7 months by doing the following: whenever I would take a lengthy drive of any kind I would stop by Krispy Kreme for some doughnuts and coffee or if I had free time by myself in the afternoon I would either eat a late lunch at a fast food joint or grab an extra snack of deep-fried goodness. If I was getting out with the twins in the afternoon I would get a milkshake for myself and fries for the twins. What in the world was I teaching my kids through that??? I had convinced myself that I deserved this, that I worked hard raising twins and that all my time was devoted to them, thus I deserved a "treat." What a bunch of bull. That's not a treat because in the long run it's killing me. I don't think I've had any fast food the entire month of January and believe me, my arteries are thanking me for it. I can't say it hasn't been a temptation though. Those golden arches have called my name a time or two, but again, it's just not worth blowing all my hard work. I know there will come a time though when fast-food is the only option and I'm going to have to have the strength to make a wise choice.

All these are just things that I have found that help me. I know things aren't perfected yet and I'm by no means a health/diet expert. I know I need to add more fruits and vegetables to my diet and I need to drink more water on a daily basis, but those things will come. Another thing...take things one day at a time and if you screw up, don't stay there. Start fresh every day, every hour, every minute if you have to. Now, if we could only get grocery stores and gas stations to remove the candy bars from around the cash register, life would be so much simpler.

Ooh, and just weighed and for the month of January I lost 10 lbs!