I give you the 18 month picture:
B&K are visiting Grandma & Grandpa until Friday. Tim has been in Istanbul Turkey since Sunday (well technically Monday there) and he won't be back until late Saturday night. Tabasco is living large as an only child again and I've been trying to tackle projects around the house and reconnect with some friends in my limited number of "single" days. It is really quiet in the house -- very weird.
I went to Catholic grade school (I went to a Catholic college, too). You pray a lot when you go to a religious school. And when I was in the 4th grade I prayed every.single.day that God would give me a Cabbage Patch doll (obviously I skipped the lessons on not being materialistic). You see, CPDs were ALL the rage that year -- they would sell out in a nano-second. My prayers were answered later that year when I finally received my first Cabbage Patch doll. Her name was Hildi Merla and she had hair the same color as mine (and I still have her, along with my Preemie doll Megan Isabelle, in a storage tub in my basement). Why am I taking you on this trip down memory lane? Well, this weekend my parents came to town to hang out with B&K and they gave them each a special toy (they each received something I loved to play with from my childhood). Bennett received a sock monkey and Kendyll received her first Preemie Cabbage Patch doll. And she has the perfect stripper, er Cabbage Patch name -- Bobbie Estella. I'm not sure what stings more . . . the fact that K only had to wait 18 months, 1 week and 1 day to get her CP doll or that the box has "25th anniversary year" tattooed all over it (yeah, like that doesn't make me feel OLD!). Seriously, though, B&K love both toys and want to thank Grandma Angie & Grandpa Mike for being so thoughtful (and bringing them gifts for their year & a half b-day). Kendyll - showing off her good mommy skills:
This was the best I could get of Bennett:
Today was bittersweet. We're super excited for Lauren and her new adventure back to school. We know it will be a great change for her and we super happy for her to plan for her future. But we are going to miss her so dang much!! Remember this post where I professed my deep appreciation for everything she does for us?!? Bennett & Kendyll LOVE her (B especially. . . he gets this "hey baby" grin every morning when L arrives). We know we'll see her (and hopefully Mark too) every so often around the 'hood, but it won't be the same around here without her. Good luck, Lauren!!
Not much tonight. Just wanted to document that Bennett climbed the stairs ALL BY HIMSELF tonight! Go B-dude!!And today Lauren heard Kendyll say "book" today (because we can't leave her out too). No *new* pictures, but here are a couple from the last week or two.Kendyll likes to clap for herself every time she makes this gears toy go around.
Bennett is pointing at something outside (he loves to look out the window). 
Yeah, still no pictures. Sorry. I've updated B&K's weights to the right. I'm so glad to see they've made a jump in the poundage department. Yeah they are still peanuts, but they are on the charts and despite never sitting still they are gaining weight. Might be all of the pudding and chocolate milk and Wendy's Chicken Nuggets & Fries they've been eating. Just saying . . . Let's see . . . Bennett will sing the alphabet!! Ok, not exactly but we have this darn Leap Frog "Leap" doll toy that sings the alphabet and whenever B presses it (or if anyone else does) he starts to sing "bey-bey-bey-bey". So cute. He will do it almost every time.Kendyll's favorite new word is "um". She says it over and over and over again. It has replaced "uh-oh", although that one is in a quick second. "Dada" is her 3rd favorite word. She is such a daddy's girl.They are really starting to understand what we are saying these days. Although I think they are still using their selective listening skills . . . like when we are trying to go upstairs for bath or bedtime we let them go to the stairs on their own (and K will climb them herself). Yeah, I will liken it to herding cattle. Ugh -- lots of "Kendy, no this way" and "B-dude don't stop to play with the buttons on the cable box". But they are learning independence. Kendyll walked herself into the dr office today. Tim got her out of her car seat and since she was wearing her fancy (ridiculously expensive) shoes she marched herself right on through the doors. And let me just tell you she sounded like a freaken large cow clomping those feet all around the dr's office. So funny!Bennett is rocking in PT, too. I know I don't mention it much, but he is really doing so well! He is so good at climbing over things while crawling (and crawling while holding on to something). He is also thisclose to being able to pull himself up on his own. He can climb the stairs at PT (our stairs at home are soooo steep . . . like almost twice what they have at PT) and he has finally started to cruise while holding on to something. Yesterday we witnessed him "walking" on his knees for the first time -- he was pushing Kendyll's shopping cart. Hopefully the light bulbs continue to go off and he is really walking in no time!Ok, I triple promise to get some new pics up soon. We're preparing for a couple of really nuts weeks. We're super sad to report that Lauren is leaving us this week to return back to school FT. We're super happy for her, but we are going to miss her like crazy (more on that to come soon). Grandma & Grandpa & Uncle Mark will be visiting us this weekend while Tim and I help Nana & Papa move into their new house in town. Then Tim leaves to go out of the country for a week and B&K may go spend some time with Grandma & Grandpa next week, too. Whew! I'm just trying to warn you all that it will be getting a bit nuts!!
Yeah, yeah. I didn't forget! I was hoping to be able to include some cute pictures, but alas Miss Shiner Boch still had a nice black mark under her eye and Bennett decided to join her in the "lets-make-our-parents-look-like-they-beat-us" club by banging his forehead into the ledge of the playroom TV stand. ::SIGH:: They go to their pedi tomorrow for their 18 mo check-up and I'm hoping no one says anything about our beat up kids. :) I'm also hoping to snap some cute pics while I "work from home" tomorrow afternoon. . . I have been dying for a reason to put Kendyll in this and take a some new cute pics to replace the 11mo ones I still carry in my planner. So watch for weight updates and dr reports and hopefully some 18 mo pictures and other tidbits.
Actually it is more like black eyed K's. Poor Kendy. Anyone who is a parent of multiples can attest to the HELL that is bath night. Especially if said multiples are mobile. I'm normally in charge of bath night and you will typically hear me say "Kendyll sit your butt down" and "Bennett be careful" about a eleventy-billion times. Kendyll has taken a couple of good spills (despite having a mat on the bottom of the tub AND a no skid bottom to begin with). But Monday night she took a REALLY good spill. I had just pulled the plug on the water and stood up to get her towel. Down she went, face first into the back rim of the tub, hitting her cheek right below her eye really really hard. Thankfully Tim was home that night and he came racing up with some ice. After keeping an eye on her for a few minutes we determined she would be OK (her running around their room and pulling out every book on the self attested to the fact that she seemed to be her good old self). But poor little boo has quite a shiner now. (I felt like MoM of the Year as we toured the Taste of UA festival last night . . . I'm sure there were quite a few people who thought they might need to call in child welfare services!).Here are a few pics of the injury right after it happened and as it looks today. I may postpone the 18mo pics a day or two until it heals. :(
