11 months, March for Babies, new tricks, twin group

May is already a super hectic/busy month (as opposed to the previous 11 months, when having twins was a piece of cake and we sat around, ha).

First, the girls posed for their standard monthly photo shoot in the adorable sailor outfits I got at the twin sale. Check out the 11 month vs 3 week comparison. This is the last month my girls will officially be babies (toddlers start at one year). I can't get over how big they are and how much they are changing every single day.

Their newest trick is learning to stand (albeit a bit wobbly). Brooklyn does the craziest baby moves ever where she basically gets into a down dog or complete plank in an effort to try and stand herself up. This often results in her doing the splits and just rolling around like a maniac. She is so funny. Bailey is still trying to sit herself up but I can tell it's coming soon. She won't really try to stand on her own, but will hold the position if you put her up. She is also a good walker if you hold her hands.

Bailey learned to give hugs recently which is so adorable. Who received the first hug? Mom? Dad? Trick question - neither. The cat. Bailey loves Dexter soooo much its ridiculous. She could sit and hug that cat all day. But she is hugging people now too which will melt your heart!

Brooklyn is still the wild child in that she is always on the move. Even giving the girls baths in the sink (just once a week, ha) is a completely different experience between the two. Bailey plays with her toys in the sink and laughs the entire time, Brooklyn reaches for everything around it and never fails to find something she shouldn't have. She even wants to climb out of the sink. She can't be contained!

We had our twin survival get together this weekend. Five sets of twins ages 16 months to 10 months (minus one baby who was sick). It was so much fun. It is so cool to see so many babies in a similar age range all doing funny baby things. Plus I really like all the parents so we have a lot of fun eating and drinking and swapping war stories.

We also did the March for Babies with my twin group at the end of April. The girls were six weeks early, which is obviously not THAT early, but enough that the NICU made a big impact on me. I really truly believe too that organizations like the March of Dimes that fund research to keep woman pregnant (and provide care for babies born early) are the only reason I made it to 34 weeks anyway (that whole I was in the hospital at 30 weeks overnight and they had to give me meds to stop my labor episode). I'd like to try and do this walk every year since it has special meaning to me. I know how lucky lucky lucky we were to make it as far as I did. I've been following a blog of a little baby boy (Benton) born at 23 weeks that my cousin Alice knows through a friend. He's been in the NICU for 175 days. For me, 11 days was hard. 175 is just... unimaginable.  If you feel like having a good cry (very emotional, but an incredible story), read his story on the Blessings for Benton blog.