10-Months-Old

Jim and Katie trying out the backpack!

Jubilee

Katherine

Time with Daddy



Almost walking?!



Clapping about standing independently!

Crafts

     Tuesdays are usually our (the girls and I) busiest day of the week.  We go to BSF in Indianapolis, and we usually go over to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house to play until James gets off of work.  For the past few weeks, I have been doing crafts/cooking with Madelynn and the girls.  Our most recent craft expeditions have been on canvas. 

     Madelynn's canvas craft included fingerpaint and sticky letters.  I decided to use the bible verse Psalm 139:14.  It says, "I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well".  I decided to shorten the verse because we couldn't fit it all on the canvas.  We simply put the sticky letters on the canvas, and  Madelynn and I fingerpainted over the letters completely covering the canvas.  At the bottom of the picture, we put Madelynn's fingerprints!

 

 

     Once the fingerpaint had dried, we peeled the letters off.  Here was the finished result:

 

 

 

      Grandma and I also did the girls footprints in the shape of butterflies on canvas!  This was a little harder because the girls couldn't understand what we were trying to do.  To create the butterfly effect, we put their footprints backwards on the picture.  Katie's footprints are pink, and Jubilee's footprints are purple.  I later went back with sharpie and added the black parts.  The antennae is my fingerprint.  I wanted it to be the girl's fingerprints, but it proved to be too difficult.  We plan on hanging it in the nursery!  Here's the girl's craft:

 

 

 

 

 

Hair Bobs

     We have finally reached the age where the girls have enough hair to be pulled back into little "sprouts".  They remind me of Pebbles from "The Flintstones".  It's pretty comical to look at their hair sticking straight up.  Neither one of them seem to really mind having their hair being messed with.  Both girls can now stand for a few seconds by themselves.  They have taken to clapping during these few seconds, or they are holding onto a toy they are kissing.

Jubilee standing while clapping

9-Months-Old

 Earlier this month the girls turned nine-months-old!  We have noticed that since November the girls have been learning/growing at a very swift rate.  They are better able to interact with us and their surroundings. 

     Both of the girls have been crawling since the end of November.  They both have two bottom teeth, but I think Jubilee might be starting to get her top two as well.  They both love to stand on anything they can get hold of.  I've even caught both of them on separate occasions standing without any support for one to two seconds.  They both love to clap when they get excited! 

     Jubilee still prefers to cuddle, and her favorite word kind of sounds like "doy".  She is the better eater of solid foods; however, she tends to be the most impatient when it comes to being fed by a spoon.  She  has a little bit more hair than Katie does.  Jubilee mainly squeals loudly when she's trying to get someone's attention.  She is definitely still an amazing sleeper!  She is so ticklish around her neck!  Her favorite game is, "This little piggy went to market".  Jubilee loves to be sang to.

Katie is our babbler.  She can talk and talk all day in gibberish.  She is a little bit more of a picky eater than Jubilee, but she is much better about holding her bottle in place.  Katie loves to jump up and down in her crib.  Katie's main ticklish spot is on her belly/ribs.  Katie is a very light sleeper, but she goes back to sleep usually pretty easily. When Katie wants to get your attention, she usually makes an "AHHHH" noise.  Katie loves bath time; she loves to splash!  Katie's hair has a funny way of going every which way, which I lovingly say that she looks like a "mad scientist".

     When we took the girls to get their 9-month portraits taken, we decided to do family portraits.  Here was our favorite shot:

Musical Feeding

     The girls are at the age where they can feed themselves certain things like puffs, yogurt bites, and their favorite banana mum-mum crackers.  Their main meals are fed on a spoon.  It has taken me a while, but I think I have finally mastered the art of feeding two babies at once.

      When the girls first started to eat off of a spoon, I fed them one at a time to ensure each baby was getting an adequate amount of food.  I was also nervous in general about feeding them at the same time.  Like my little brother did when he was a baby, the girls sometimes have the tendency to cry between bites.  I almost always start to feed them before they are crying for food, so I know it's not that I'm waiting too long.  I think they just enjoy the instant satisfaction that a bottle brings.  Well, I also didn't want to feed them at the same time because two babies crying at once can become overwhelming.  A few weeks ago I decided that feeding them at different times was becoming too time-consuming.  It was taking about forty minutes to feed them at separate times.  So, I decided to try feeding them together because I knew that they would certainly let me know if they were not getting an adequate amount of food. 

       The first time I attempted it, I received the expected crying between bites.  The next few times, I thought maybe the babies will learn to be "patient".  The crying did lessen, but it wasn't gone.  One day I had a brilliant idea to put a movie on the TV when feeding them to "distract" them between bites.  It kind of worked.  One day I put in a musical, and they were hypnotized.  They absolutely become transfixed when a musical is playing.  The girls are still attentive enough to lean towards the spoon and open their mouths, but NO crying between bites.  Their favorites include: Oklahoma!, Amadeus, Phantom of the Opera, and Mamma Mia.  Katie seems to really enjoy music without lyrics, and Jubilee seems to prefer the more flashy musical numbers. Today we enjoyed Chicago.  The best part of this arrangement is that I get to sing freely without being judged!  I think I have more fun than they do by singing my heart out.

      Am I predisposing the girls to watching TV while eating meals, maybe?  Since James doesn't get home until 8:00, we don't really have sit-down dinners together except for on the weekend.  To skeptics, I say when you have multiple little children you are in survival mode!  You do what it takes to survive and minimize crying!!

Katie (left). Jubilee (right).

Diaper Changing with Twins

     Changing diapers is part of the daily routine at the Londt household.  Each diaper change has it's own unique "fun" with two infants who no longer desire to just lay there patiently while getting their diaper changed.  More often than not, the girls have to be bribed with a toy to keep them in place.  However, changing one baby's diaper can present challenges when another baby is exploring nearby.

     The girls spend the majority of their time playing with their toys in our living room.  Their changing station is in their bedroom, so sometimes I just change their diapers on the living room floor to prevent having to walk all the way back there.  One exceptional time I was changing Miss Jubilee's diaper with her on the floor that was filled with number two.  While trying to change her diaper, Miss Jubilee was not interested in laying on her back.  I didn't have a toy nearby, so I had to try and hold her legs up without her twisting.  In the process of this, I felt little hands climbing up my back!  The girls have figured out how to lift themselves up on things, and it is their favorite new past-time.  Katie found my hair, which was not in a ponytail.  She then began to pull it like she was pulling on a horse's reign.  I then hear Katie start to giggle because she's having so much fun.  With one baby twisting on the floor resisting getting changed and the other pulling my hair and giggling, all I could do was laugh!  This was one of those things that when the girls are older, I will still look back and laugh at.

     The girls are so much fun to have, and God has blessed us so much with them!  Watching them grow and learn new things is exciting.  Even simple things like changing a diaper have become entertaining. 

Happy Holidays

     Well the Londt family had an entertaining Christmas and New Year.  We spent the holidays with multiple families and had tons of excitement.

      We started our Christmas festivities with my Taylor family, whom we had not seen collectively since last Christmas.  Everyone was very excited to get to meet the girls.  I watched Madelynn at the party because Matt, my brother, had to work.  The girls had lots of fun opening their gifts, or should I say they had a lot of fun eating wrapping paper?  Towards the end of the party, I turned around and saw James cuddling with a sleeping Katiebug.

James and Katie

          For Jim's birthday Granny, PawPaw, and Kristen joined us at our apartment for a home-cooked meal.  I cooked meatloaf, following Granny's recipe, and some other food items.  James requested all of the food, and he said it was "yummy".  James received some unique gifts.  Ironically, Susan and I both got him beef jerky!  He also received a multitude of spam!  Also on Christmas Eve, I had the girls open two gifts apiece.  They opened matching pajamas and a Christmas book (The Night Before Christmas, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas).  I'm hoping to make that a tradition in our family to have Christmas pajamas and a book.

Jubilee having a fun time opening her Christmas book.

           On Christmas morning the girls enjoyed opening their presents (eating the wrapping paper).  We then went to my grandmother's house for more activities.  We had a nice, relaxing day eating too many sweets and watching the Indiana Jones movies.

             This past Sunday we celebrated at the Gnap's house.  We had some delicious homemade sushi!  We then had fun opening presents and talking.  The Gnap parents and Jim and I wanted to go see Les Miserables. Susan and Kristen had already seen it, so they offered to babysit.  James and I enjoyed the movie, but we both think we would enjoy it even more live.

             On New Year's Eve we ventured to Muncie again.  I painted pottery with the Gnaps like last year, and we all gathered together to watch the Muncie Ball Drop.  Dennis stayed at his house to be with the girls in case on of them woke up.  It was an interesting way to bring in 2013.

             All in all it was a great holiday season, and I am sad to see it go!  It was our first Christmas with children, and a lot more goes into it than I ever imagined. Now I return to the daily life of taking care of the girls and studying for the NCLEX.  I hope everyone had a great New Year!