All Things Haley: A Year In The Life #1

A year in the life of a twin mama. What an amazing journey these last eleven months have been, and I am so truly glad that we've documented such an extraordinary story in this way. A glimpse at every single day in 2012. I'd say this year, maybe more than any other, was one I needed this release and this reminder on a daily basis.

This month, I'll be doing a melting pot of post themes. I'll redo some of my favorites and maybe come up with some new ones. I'll take a look back at 2012 and then spend some time looking ahead to what 2013 and beyond might have in store for this Haley family of four.

Before I get started on our last month of this project, I want to take a look back at November. It was hard for me to relinquish blogging duty in so many ways last month. Granted, it was a needed break from the nightly task, but I missed going through every photo of the day (I've seen every single photo this year except for last month, and believe me when I tell you that's a task in and of itself) and picking my favorites. I missed documenting some of the littles things I feel are so important for my own memory. I missed venting and breathing as I typed it all out. I missed feeling like capturing it in written word made it all truly real.

So, because I'm a tiny bit selfish, I'm going to take this post to look back at the November photos and pick out some of my favorites. I can't go on without mentioning how amazing Ben did last month in picking out HIS favorite pictures, creating HIS special tag lines, and documenting HIS little moments for memory. He's such an amazing dad! And it truly was an awesome break, so thank you B for taking the reigns and documenting so well!

First and foremost, I have to note that little Mr. Caleb officially has MOLARS! Oh yes, he cut his first two molars (top and bottom right) about three days ago and handled it like a champ. He's been a bit more grumpy than usual and screams bloody murder from time to time, but for cutting those giant teeth, I don't blame him. The other two are just below the surface and probably making their grand appearance in the next few weeks. TEN teeth already, crazy!

Gracie still only has her bottom two teeth, but those top two are so close. Little miss Grace has had a wild month of devlopment, especially in the gross motor skills arena. She's climbing like crazy now- including the stairs at Uncle Brian and Aunt Nicole's house today. She climbs onto the chair in the playroom and just sits up there, until of course she wants down and can't figure out how to achieve that task.

She's really started to enjoy books recently and will sit in the little toy box in the corner of the playroom and flip through all of the tiny board books we have over there. She'll do it over and over again and it's adorable to me!

Caleb is doing awesome with his gross motor and I have him on a strict workout every evening. We do two laps around the playroom crawling and the last lap ends at the piano where I coax him into reaching up onto the piano all by himself and balancing himself to pull closer to the piano and reach a toy that I'm dangling out in front of him. He hasn't figured out how to get his feet underneath him so he can pull up to a full stand yet, but pulling to his knees is awesome work! And he's starting to really try, he's just lacking some of the coordination and strength in his muscles to get his feet all the way under him. So close, though!

I'll also say that I started a new workout routine this month and I spend about 45 minutes most nights with the babies either out for a jog in our jogging stroller or in the playroom with my music blasting and the three of us doing some sort of circuit training. Usually that consists of Caleb stomping his legs on the floor repeatedly and Grace throwing herself onto me repeatedly as I try to do crunches or pushups. She particularly likes to try and push my head down to the ground while I'm doing pushups to make it extra hard for Mommy. Thanks for the extra push, baby! :)

Basically, it's been a great month and of course, a challenging month. But a year in the life of a twin mama...you come to expect that! I've got two budding toddlers on my hands and they're not afraid to show it! :)

Quick recap for today because we had a big day in our family...Miss Kate Bug turned 7 today! We took the babies down to Chandler to celebrate at Kate's favorite restaurant, and the littles got to try Kate's favorite dish- Dragon Noodles! They did pretty well, but taking them out to eat is starting to get more difficult. They've realized that they can reach for and usually get most of the items on the table, so we're on constant defense now. Caleb still isn't doing awesome with his fine motor, so he has trouble focusing and getting food into his mouth when there's a lot going on- like at a restaurant with his two favorite kids, Everett and Kate! So Ben had to feed him the whole time. Hopefully that will start to improve once we get more occupational therapy going!

We also had a big day in the Haley household...Ben and I both got iPhone 5's today! We've been Droid users for a while now, so it's a big shift. Unfortunately we spent over and hour at the Sprint store trying to get the phones activated and I missed my highly anticipated appointment for a facial. But it was worth it to finally have a phone that I don't want to throw out of the car window on a regular basis. Maybe I can try again for a facial next weekend? No promises. haha

Ok, here are some of my favs from November and a few good ones from today!