Twins 18 month check up & Ruby's school

James and Hallie had their 18 month checkup at the beginning of August and the numbers show that they are growing like weeds! Hallie was 33 inches tall and nearly 27 pounds (80th percentile in both categories) and James was 32.25 inches tall and 25.5 pounds (40th percentile in both categories). So, Hallie is still taller and heavier than her brother, but the doctor did say James had hit a growth spurt.

I also discussed their communication skills with the doctor. James is fairly verbal - not quite as verbal as Ruby was at this age, but, he does a lot of talking. He is constantly making noise or talking in gibberish about everything that is going on. He has quite a few words that he uses (mama, dada, doggy, meow, choo choo, mine, truck, elmo, Ruby and Hallie, just to name a few). Hallie, on the other hand, doesn't really talk at all. She will say mama and dada and occasionally we can get her to say "please" but she just isn't as interested in verbal communication. Her non verbal communication, however, is excellent. She will nod or shake her head to answer questions and will follow most commands. James doesn't know how to answer with a nod yet -- everything is just "no." So, they are definitely two very different kids.

Ruby has started going to "school" 5 days a week. She has three full days at the Early Learning Center, which I am still convinced is the absolute best place for her. And then she does two mornings a week at Camp Faith (or "Big Boy School"). I think this schedule will continue to be great for her. She has just started working on nighttime toilet training, which is interesting. No accidents on night one, but I can tell she is really anxious about not wetting the bed, so she has a hard time falling asleep.

That's about all for now. I will put pictures up soon, I hope!

Great Great Grandma's 100th Birthday!

Near the beginning of July we took a big trip to New Jersey for my Great Grandmother's 100th birthday. It was such a nice trip and great to see everyone. We are definitely lucky that all of the kids travel really well. There was almost no crying for any part of the road trip.

On the way there, we spent the night in Maryland and then went to the Crayola Factory the next day. The kids loved trying out all of the different crafts, but I think the best part for all of us was the Crayola store. Ruby had fun making her own crayon collections and found a pink stuffed crayon that she just had to have. I found all sorts of new Crayola products to try out.

We had a lot of fun in New Jersey visiting with family and Great Grandma's birthday party was a blast. Ruby thought the cocktail hour was really neat (she loved having hors d'oeuvres served to her) and James was enthralled by all of the balloons. Hallie was just happy wearing a pretty new dress.  Happy 100th Birthday Great Great Grandma!
 

Garage Sale/Basement Project

One of the big projects to get ready for the new baby is getting the basement turned into a play room. This means that the basement had to be totally cleared out and painted (because the brown wood paneling was UGLY). So, we picked out some paint and then found a good weekend for a garage sale. I ended up selling our large desk, the futon, the coffee table and end tables as well as a bunch of other stuff. Jason has just finished with the painting and will spend some time doing a few touch ups, but the basement project is just about done! I'm hoping this means that the kids will be able to play downstairs while the baby is sleeping and have a little more room to run around.

Next we just have to figure out the room situation ... Ruby thinks that all of the kids should share a room (and she wants bunk beds). I'm not really opposed to that idea, but we'll have to see how it works out. I think Jason would kill me if I made him start painting the kids' rooms next!

It's A Girl!

It's been quite a while since the last update, but we had our "big" ultrasound last month and found out that we are having a girl! We are very excited about this and couldn't be happier. We have decided on the name Clara Margaret (though Ruby thinks it should be Clara Margaret Anderson Hill because then it has all of Aunt Maggie's name in it ...) Things are going well with the pregnancy, she is measuring right on track and I haven't been too terribly sick, at least not any more than the other pregnancies. It's a little strange being pregnant with just one this time because I haven't had nearly the quantity of ultrasounds. I was going to post one of the pictures of her "kissing" at the ultrasound, but I just realized that my new computer doesn't have a cd drive. Hmmm ...