November 2011
I think this has been the hardest message to write you guys so far. This month was really only a few weeks ago, but looking at the pictures and reliving your "firsts" from November, well it might as well have been years ago. So much has changed since then. Your faces even look different to me. It breaks my heart to see so clearly how fast you are growing.
Reesie, you really started to break out of your shell in November. You started developing funky little mannerisms (Reese-isms) that are so you. These things make my day. Your predictable unpredictablility - like crossing your legs when you eat, booty popping when you dance (who taught you that anyway?!) and giggling like a maniac when I ask for a high-five and then pounding my hand with yours 250 times.
Ry, you were the worm master this month. And considering your belly never left the ground you got around quite quickly. You started getting on your knees and rocking...and you also started pulling up from your knees to standing. The only problem is that you didn't know how to get down/fall. I can't tell you how many nights I found you jumping up and down in your crib, crying because you stood up when we laid you down and got stuck there. You'd cry because you were so tired and you were finally ready to go to bed, but you couldn't. Ha. You're such a nerd.
At ten months, I'm pretty sure you guys grew hollow legs. Our grocery bill is seriously over $200 a week. I've never seen two tiny humans eat like you two before. A typical lunch was a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a string cheese, crackers and berries. That's a lot of food, kiddos!
Reese you started getting naughty with your food by pretending to eat. You would put food in your mouth chew it for a second or two and when you thought I wasn't looking you'd spit it into your hand and feed it to the dog. Again, where do you learn this from? I'm pretty sure this is why Gracie likes you better than Ryan :)
Ry, this month you started sharing your food. You'd get such a kick out of feeding me and Daddy. So often we'd have to remind you that you had to eat yourself because you'd become obsessed with feeding us instead.
You guys were pros at drinking from cups - sippies, straw sippies and open cups - but your favorite cup is the straw sippy by far. I think at ten months drinking from a straw was the highlight of your life, Ryan :) Your eyes would get wide and you'd start shaking with excitement.
At ten months, you had four words Reese - hi, mama, daddy and nyny (Ryan). You loved to read and would crawl to your book rack, pull down a book and fake cry until I came over to read to you. Your favorite kind of books were the kind where you can lift the flap.
Ryan, when we read the lift the flap books, you'd crawl over and read with us. And you'd try to "lift the flaps" and instead you'd end up ripping the flaps out of the books. You're such a meatball. This would make your sister so mad. Ha!
As much as you were rough and tumble, loving to be thrown and tearing pages out of books, you are also my sweet and sensitive boy. Affectionate as the day is long. You are the best kisser ever. And so generous with the kisses. When Laurie came to watch you, you'd kiss her for the first five minutes she was here.
By November your hair was out of control Ry! You looked like a feather pencil. We took you to get your first haircut. What a handsome little guy you are. You're new haircut was so dapper.
Socially, wherever your sister is is where you want to be. You love playing with her and sharing toys with her. I loved watching you guys lean over a toy together. Opening and closing the lid on your keyboard or mini laptops. Or clanking two stacking cups together or chasing after a ball and laughing. I loved laying on the floor of the playroom and letting you guys attack me. Or sitting in your big kid chairs with both of you on my laps while we read books. You guys loved turning the pages, and I loved feeling your tiny cold hands rub my arms while I read to you.
In November we celebrated your first Thanksgiving. You guys got sick for the very first time. Ry, you were sick through the holiday and you hardly ate anything on Thanksgiving, I felt so bad for you because you could tell you were hungry too. Reese, I've never felt worse for you. You didn't get sick until the day after Thanksgiving, but your fever was so high and you were terrified. I held you for 24 hours straight while you woke up, cried and went back to sleep on my chest. I sat in the tub with you trying to break your fever. I slept sitting up because it was the only way you were comfortable. My heart ached for you.
As we get closer to your big day I keep thinking, don't grow up babies. I keep trying to remind myself to memorize the way your tiny fingertips feel on my skin, the way your heads perfectly fit into the nook of my neck, these times when I'm able to pick you both up and hug you and carry you up for your naps, just the three of us.
Your tininess is slipping through my fingers and I'm watching you become big kids right before my eyes. And I know as much as I'll miss all of these special moments, that the next part of our lifetime is going to be just as amazing as the last year has been.
