I’ve been so delayed in writing about Abram and Madeline! An update is far overdue, I know! However, I often think about writing a post to capture what they are like in this current season and I feel at a loss for words. This is such a FUN (though very tiring!) stage and they are such amazing little people, and I want to somehow adequately describe them and what our days are like together! Below is a long post that took me about a week to write in short chunks of time, so I apologize that my writing is also very chunked!

I tried so hard to get a photo of both of them looking at the camera, but my goodness that is impossible these days! They are very busy for most of each day, until sometime little captures their attention for a few minutes.

They are explorers and love getting into anything available to them! Drawers, toilet paper, things on the countertop within their reach, mama’s purse, you name it! They’ve probably dug into it ;)

They are readers. Abe often prefers flipping through a book on his own, whereas Madeline could sit on my lap for the longest time reading the same books over and over. We recently got a big cozy chair (it’s actually called a “chair and a half”!) for our bedroom, and the kids love sitting in it together looking through a book with flaps!

They are becoming more and more affectionate. They {usually} love giving kisses (to us and each other) when asked, and Abe now chases Madeline around the house to give her a bear hug from behind! So precious!

{Pic below is the day Abe got another haircut. We’ve lost track of how many he’s had, probably 8 or so!}

They are more aware of and interested in each other than ever before. If one is doing something, it will be only moments before the other will join in and do the same thing. It’s pretty sweet, unless the first one does something naughty and after being told “no”, the other tries the same thing. Silly kids!

Madeline is often a little lover. She loves giving hugs and kisses, and the slow, tender way she leans in for a kiss is so precious! She loves her blankie and would drag it around everywhere with her if we let her! She has such a goofy side that is hard to capture on camera, so all of these serious photos of her don’t tell the whole story! She enjoys following commands like “give this cracker to your brother” or “sit down so I can put your shoes on.” Her hair is finally coming in and getting so long, so that she and her brother look even more alike these days!

Abe is our social butterfly. He loves smiling at strangers and giving them the sweetest “hi!” ever. I love how he makes strangers smile! Reading books, playing with blocks and doing anything outside are three of his favorite pastimes. He has a giggle that sends me into full-on belly laughs, and always surprises me with the things he finds to be so funny! He is pretty obsessed over dogs, and loves looking for dogs, squirrels and birds out the windows. He is going through his first ever phase where he’s not quite as motivated by food as he used to be, and often won’t eat much of his meals. He gets super excited when I turn music on, and loves to dance to the beat :)

We are LOVING this warmer weather, and are so very thankful to have a deck where they can play! We don’t have a fence around our backyard, so this deck is a life saver!

The biggest challenges we’re facing in this season? 1) constant whining because they don’t have many words yet and 2) squabbles while playing, whether due to toy-stealing or pushing/hitting. I’m afraid these two challenges will stick around for quite some time…perhaps all of toddlerhood?! Each day I am hoping their vocabulary will suddenly begin to emerge!

My favorite parts of the day? There are many! I love outings with them, because they love them too! I love how they will run off somewhere in the house by themselves and then just giggle and giggle over something together! Bathtime is always a hoot. And I love our rounds of kisses between all four of us before bed! I constantly have to remind myself to cherish these beautiful, wonderful moments in the midst of the craziness and exhaustion that is being a mama of twin toddlers!

They both love climbing into anything – I mean, who wouldn’t love getting into something their size?!

The day Grant mentioned he’s always wanted a picture with one of the kids laying on him, this moment happened :) So precious!