22 Month Review

My twins are 23 months old TODAY!!! Which means in just one short month, they will be celebrating their 2nd birthdays!!! It also means that I will stop doing these monthly reviews and just stick with a summary from time to time, as their milestones call for it. I really don't have tons to report this month, mainly because I've been slack and haven't been writing things down as the twins have been doing them. A few things that I'd like to report is how they are learning so many new words. Berkley is doing especially well at enunciating syllables like the "ch" or "th" sound, which really impresses me. Meredith surprised me recently by saying "God" and "Jesus" when I asked her who she was praying to. They both say the word "name" really well and laugh when they enunciate the "mmm" sound. Meredith can say "Mary Charles," which is my mom's name, but neither one of them will say Grandma yet. I think they're going to end up calling my mom "eh-who" because that's a little game they play with each other; Grandma calls "eh-who" and they call back with another "eh-who" or in Berkley's case sometimes it's "who-he." Meredith will also say "Joe B," which is my dad's name. One name they've both learned this month is "Sissy," which is my sweet niece, McKinley's, nickname! Meredith and Berkley talk about Sissy and Hutch all the time and we're looking forward to going to some of Hutch's baseball games in the near future! Meredith sings a lot on her own now. I have no clue what she's singing or even what words she's using, but boy is she loving singing it. Berkley has started initiating holding hands and hugging, whereas before only Meredith would go to hold his hand and he didn't really reciprocate it. One sweet thing that Berkley did this month was when visiting my mom's house, we had some company from Piney Grove Church stop by. My mom asked Berkley to show the company where Grandaddy was, so he walked them to my dad's door and pointed at my dad lying in his bed. How sweet is that?! I love that Berkley knows who his Grandaddy is:) Meredith and Berkley are both getting taller and have grown into 24 month shirts, but their little waists are still too small for the pants. Berkley had a really bad case of diaper rash this month for which we had to take him to the peds night clinic at ECU. It looked like it hurt so bad and still isn't completely healed, but it's on the mend. It's nice to have a doctor in the house to keep an eye on it with me. Well, I guess that's all the updates for now. Here's a sweet picture of Meredith and Berkley sitting together watching a soccer game at my mom's house.


And here they are reading a Farm Bureau Magazine that my mom brought them. My mom wants me to submit it to the magazine to see if they'll publish it and I might just try it. You can't blame a girl for trying.

Back on Track

Happy to report that I'm back on the healthy lifestyle train! I got back on track thanks to a sweet friend coming back into my life who has challenged, encouraged, and worked out with me. Any of you out there working on weight loss, I highly recommend teaming up with a friend to spur each another on. It's not anything that I sought out, but now that we're in our routine of keeping up with one another throughout the week, working out together twice a week, and encouraging each other as much as possible, I see the tremendous value of having a workout buddy. So, having a new friend to workout with has been the biggest help, but the second would be that I've started keeping a food journal (thanks to the suggestion of my workout buddy). I'm keeping track of what I'm eating, even being as specific as writing down when I've licked the bowl after making a cake or eaten some of the babies' left overs. It's been eye opening to say the least, just seeing exactly how many calories some things have. I highly recommend checking out the website www.calorieking.com if you're trying to keep track of calories throughout your day. Another tool that has helped me this week was the introduction of an interval training class at Viquest. I was so intimidated to walk through that door and join this class, not knowing if I would be able to keep up. But, once we started, I really enjoyed myself. I couldn't do everything that the instructor was doing and there were times that my feet felt like bricks, but it was an awesome workout and I think I'm going to try to start going twice a week. A final change is that I've quit obsessively weighing everyday and only weigh once a week for accountability. It gives me something to look forward to all week and makes seeing the results that much sweeter. All of these additions to my lifestyle change have helped me get back on track and this week I'm excited to report that I lost 5.15lbs! I've set short-term and long-term goals and I'm looking forward to the future! I hope this will be an encouragement to all of you out there who may be trying to implement similar changes in your life. I write what works for me because you never know, it might work for you too:) I also have to say, it's not all about me. I realize I've used "I" a lot in this summary, but without God, none of this would be possible. He brought my friend back into my life, he knew exactly what I needed to get back on the train. Thank you Lord for giving me the strength, motivation, and ability to do all of this!

Cheese

And here we have my first attempt at fixing Meredith's hair. I had this little hairpiece from a stuffed animal and thought, why not give it a shot and see if her hair can be pulled up. I could get just this bit. Meredith liked having her hair done, but she liked even more looking in the mirror at herself afterwards. Meredith is really cheesin' it, isn't she?



Meredith admiring herself in the mirror. Love the sweet look on her face.

Picture Perfect Afternoon

I'm picture crazy again. I want to remember every moment with my twins. Poor Steven has to work all weekend from 7am-7pm at least, so he doesn't get to enjoy any of this pretty weather with his babies, all four of us (I included myself and Larry of course). So, I've got to take plenty of pictures so he can feel like he was here with us.

Snack Party and a Glorious Afternoon

Meredith and Berkley got this cute table for Christmas from Mima and Papa. We usually use it for coloring or working on puzzles, but today I surprised them by having their snack set up on it in the living room when they came down from their naps. I told them we were having a snack party, which they loved! I find myself in awe of God's goodness as I sit back and observe Meredith and Berkley. I just can't believe that they are so big, so mature, so social... and that they are MINE! They're so independent now and I'm truly enjoying interacting with them and watching their personalities unfold before me. Here they are enjoying their snack party:)





Today was a beautifully glorious day! The temperature was perfect, it was sunny with just a bit of a breeze. As Meredith and Berkley napped I started thinking about what we would do this afternoon and I got so excited about simply taking them outside to run around the backyard. It sounds like nothing to most of my readers, I'm sure, but it's always a larger task when you've only got two arms and legs to chase behind two curious toddlers. I threw caution to the wind, ignoring the reality of the Larry poop mine that is our backyard, and let the twins loose. They had a great time! They helped me pick up pine cones, they slid rocks down the slide, they swung, they ran, they laughed at Larry digging a hole, and curiously asked what every new flower was. Watching them made me realize how much I love my backyard; it's such a peaceful haven. I think we'll really enjoy playing a lot in the backyard over the next few months prior to our move and I'm sure I'm going to miss it once we do move. Now, we did have some falls and I'm actually the only one who stepped in doggy poop, but all that aside, we had a great afternoon. Here are some action shots from our afternoon at play.

Meredith helping mommy pick up pine cones


Berkley on the move


I know they're not posing or even looking at the camera, but I just love this picture


Berkley and Meredith cooled off while swinging; he's really focusing on something here


This is something new that has just started this week. Meredith has liked holding hands for awhile, but it's finally clicked with Berkley and now he loves holding Meredith's hand and letting her (or sometimes him) lead. You know mommy loves seeing this!

Growth and Meditation

I feel as though this week has been an awakening of sorts for me. God is convicting me of sin in my life and drawing me deeper in love with Him through that conviction. That may seem confusing for some, but the reality is that I'm seeing my weakness and it opens my eyes to His greatness. I'm seeing my deep-rooted selfishness and being reminded of His continuous faithfulness and forgiveness. I'm so excited about the stirring of the Spirt inside of me that I have to share it with you. I wanted to share a few things that I've read this week that have encouraged and/or convicted me in hopes that they might draw you to love God more deeply yourself.

Pastor John Pipers states, "We're forgiven and we're justified to bring us to God. God is our treasure. God is the end. My forgiveness is not the end, my justification is not the end, my going to Heaven and not having a sick body anymore is not the end. All of that is a means. A means to what? Seeing Him, knowing Him, loving Him, being satisfied in Him and Him being more glorified in me because I'm now eternally satisfied in him."

And another statement from pastor John Piper I found convicting was, "The critical question for our generation - and for every generation - is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"

Wow, what thought provoking statements! How many of us have this watered down perspective of forgiveness, the christian life and of Heaven that ultimately points to our own glory and satisfaction? The point of me coming to know Christ is not just to be forgiven and leaving it at that, it's about a continuous process of bringing me to God and making Him my treasure...not myself, my own desires, nor anything else that I love on this earth. My prayer is that God would keep opening my heart, and yours, to truly love Him above everything this world has to offer.

A Great Afternoon

We had a fun afternoon with Steven's parents (a.k.a Mima and Papa). Berkley and Meredith got excited as soon as we got out into the country and as we approached Mima and Papa's house they started singing, "Mima and Papa" over and over again. We stayed outside most of the time enjoying the beautiful afternoon God blessed us with. Papa had his horses, Andy and Helen, harnessed and took Meredith and Berkley for a ride on the rig you see below. Apparently it's a rig that helps train the horses how to pull better.


Meredith got to ride with daddy on the Gator

Here's Meredith cleaning up Papa's barn


I also have to add a sweet memory from the evening. We went out to eat with Mima and Papa to conclude our fun afternoon. Meredith was sitting between Papa and Daddy in a high chair. At one point, Meredith lovingly laid her head on Papa's arm, clinched up her little shoulders around her face, and looked up at Papa with the sweetest expression of shear love. It was priceless. I wish I'd had a camera to capture that look of endearment.

Adventures in the Daffodil Field

Today I ventured out to the daffodil field in Winterville and with tons of help from Grandma, was able to capture some really sweet photos of the twins. Honestly, it seems like yesterday that we were there last year and the WITN camera man caught us on film. I still have one of those photos in a frame on my mantle. I guess it will be time to replace that one. Boy have Berkley and Meredith changed dramatically since last year. I couldn't get them to stand still for a minute this year, let alone beside each other. Nonetheless, Grandma and I were able to capture some great moments on film and wanted to share them with you all. I'll hope they'll bring a little sunshine to your day!

Daffodil Field 2010


Daffodil Field 2011
They look like Hansel and Gretel wandering through the forest
Don't you just love this little dress? Grandma found it at KMart!

Berkley's got the cool philosopher look down.

Berkley is making this face because he's so excited by the sight of the horses across the street.
I love this shot because of Meredith's authentic smile and how she's holding her little hands.




What? It's time to go home?
Here's my attempt at getting them to hug. You can tell who the more affectionate one is:)

Cousins

I just wanted to post a couple of sweet pictures from our day today. My nephew and niece, Hutch and McKinley, stopped by with Mima to spend a few hours of fun with the twins. As you can imagine, Berkley and Meredith were just a little EXCITED to see their cousins! Meredith surprised us and said "Hutch," and Berkley has been saying it for awhile. Now we just have to work with them to say McKinley's name. I wish you all could have been here to see Berkley dancing to some music that Hutch was playing on his ipod touch. Berkley was really cutting a rug. And Meredith and Berkley both got giddy when McKinley started showing off her cheerleading moves; they started jumping up and down trying to copy her. Overall, it was an awesome afternoon and I'm so thankful that Berkley and Meredith have such sweet cousins who love them so much!



It's hard to get 4 kids to look at the camera and smile, but they're all precious (Mima too)!