The Walkers: The Reality of Having Twins - 10 Months and 2 1/4 Years Old

Is it hard having twins? I get this question quite a bit, and to answer: it's twice the work. Obviously. But for the most part having twins is pretty straight forward. The hardest part is when they wake up at the same time in the middle of the night (they sleep through the other's cries more than half the time). When this happens I pick them both up, walk around for awhile, and put them back in their beds. This never works. They want food. But they are at the age where I am supposed to sleep train them and wean them off night feedings.

They steal toys and pacifiers back and forth.

But when two babies are crying, the weaning goes out the window and I nurse them both. After nursing I can usually put them both in their beds and they'll go back to sleep. Since I'm holding two babies, the first one I put down is kind of awkwardly dropped into her crib. Sometimes the baby doesn't like that and will not go to sleep. Or sometimes Shayla finishes nursing earlier, as always, so I try to rush Scarlett and just take the food away. Scarlett doesn't like when this happens.

After stopping the food flow, I put the babies in their cribs. Let's say Shayla goes down okay but Scarlett is mad that she didn't get to finish eating. I then tend to Scarlett so she can finish eating. Well Shayla does NOT like this (she must be the last one I go to before leaving the room) so she stands up and starts crying for me. I put Scarlett down (she starts crying because I interrupted her again) and I pick up Shayla since she is the much louder cryer. I calm Shayla down and put her back in her crib. Scarlett is still crying but I can't go to her because if Shayla sees me do that then she'll get mad again and start crying. I have to walk away and hope they both stop crying. Which they usually don't for a very long time. And this is the hardest part about having twins.

This is their favorite drawer in the kitchen. They love taking everything out of it.

But they are so dang cute that every second is worth it. Would I have another set of twins? Maybe. It would be nice to be able to love on just one baby and not worry about juggling them. I wish there was more of me to go around. We'll see what the future holds.

They love playing with the water bottles.

SCARLETT

Scarlett has had a great month! She is getting stronger at pulling herself up and standing. She now stands up in bed when she's ready to get out.

Scarlett has the cutest little face that consists of scrunching her nose and blinking. When you blink at her, she'll blink back and make the face. It is so freaking cute!! Of course I can never get her to do it on camera. It almost makes up for the phase she is going through of screaming at the top of her lungs during meal time. SOOOOO annoying and loud.

This little girl has been sleeping a lot lately. I've definitely noticed her gaining weight and feeling more dense when I hold her instead of feeling like a feather. She still loves to eat paper and seeks out tiny pieces on the floor. Scarlett and Shayla are both addicted to Puffs. I'm pretty sure they only eat their food so they can get Puffs afterwards. She likes standing in front of the heater and feeling it blow in her hair. Scarlett said Mama for the first and only time on Thanksgiving!! I'm pretty sure she was saying Papa (Grandpa) the other day too.

She looks like a little girl kneeling like this.

SHAYLA

Shayla is reaching higher and higher these days and can hold on to the top of the dining table. She makes her desires known by crawling right up to you and lifting her arms to be held. One of the cutest things she does is standing with her walking toy and then start walking. Ahhh she's growing up so fast! She took two steps the day before turning 10 months old.

Shayla started waving the other week. It consists of opening and closing her fist. It's pretty adorable. Both girls are in the copying stage so they dance to music. Shayla sometimes claps when she sees me clap.

Shayla loves looking at herself in the mirror. She gets jealous when I give Scarlett too much attention. Recently Shayla won't relax and let me sing her to sleep. It makes me sad. My ex-cuddle bug just pushes away from me like "just put me in my bed." I hope this is just a phase. But hey, I have another baby to cuddle, so that's something!

KINSEY

Kinsey's big milestone is sleeping in her big girl bed!! We transitioned her about a week ago. After the excitement wore off, she started napping in the bed, but naps are pretty hit or miss now. We've only had one night where she played for hours before falling asleep. Watch her adorable reaction to the bed here.

She is a little mini-me. If I brush my hair or teeth then she must do the same. If I put on make-up then so does Kinsey. She even used crayon to do her make-up a couple times. One time I got out of the shower to find Kinsey wearing my make-up. Let's just say if you see a black spot on Kinsey's face then it's most likely not a bruise. Speaking of bruises, Kinsey is ADDICTED to bandaids. Whenever she gets an "owie" then she needs a bandaid. She believes bandaids are instant healers.

Cousin Addie came to visit for Thanksgiving. You'd think with two baby sisters Kinsey would have enough babies in her life, but NOPE! She LOVED Addie and wanted to hold her all the time.

She's also pretty obsessed with her cousin, Christian. These two are two peas in a pod.

Kinsey loves her books and I love seeing moments like this when she reads on her own. We have been trying to see what she wants for Christmas and all she has said yes to so far are bubbles and an iPad. Great.