Blake & Amanda: It's Jensen & Everett's Birthday!!! The 12 Month Update

I can't even believe it. My adorable, sweet little guys are turning one today. It's been one whole year since they were born to the sound of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb (yes, I'm proud of that fact.) I'm having so many emotions just writing this down. They have grown so much from those tiny 3 lb babies that they were a year ago. I am so proud of them. They went through so much in those early months of life, so much more than anyone so small should ever have to. They thrived despite being intubated, put on a ventilator, having IVs stuck in their hands, feet, and heads, having a feeding tube, having oxygen tubes stuck to their faces, dealing with apnea, needing to learn how to breathe and eat, and so many other things. They are my little heroes. Every day I am so amazed and so grateful that they were able to do so well when they had such a difficult start to life. God is good. They also taught me that I am so much stronger than I thought I was. Those first few days of their life were insane for me and I feel like I kept a positive attitude and pushed through so much to be able to be by their side. They made me a mother and I will always be so grateful for that.

Now that I've bawled my eyes out, let's move onto their 12 month update. My boys are crawling! Everett started first and about 2 weeks later Jensen joined in on the fun. They are so adorable when they crawl, it's one of my favorite things. They have also learned how to pull themselves up to standing and will move around a bit using furniture and whatnot to hold themselves up. Jensen especially loves standing. Everett figured out how to climb stairs and can get all the way up our staircase. They are really good at finding whatever random tiny piece of lint or paper or whatever and trying to eat it before I can fish it out. They are completely off purees now and feed themselves for the most part. They seem to be learning so fast right now.

They celebrated their first Valentine's Day as well as celebrating mommy's birthday for the first time. We had lots of fun together. Grandma gave them a book and a cute balloon each for Valentine's Day. They are so amused with the balloons (they're mylar, not latex, don't worry.) I think it is fun for them that it goes up instead of down like most things do.

Jensen has two teeth now and after AN ETERNITY OF TEETHING Everett finally got his first tooth yesterday. That poor boy teethes super hard.

Everett has developed a love for books. He has learned how to turn the page and open pop-ups, and whenever we sit in the chair in their room he dives for the box of books which is next to the chair.

Everett is always doing the silliest things. He is my little class clown. Jensen is a giggly boy and laughs at Everett, so they make the perfect pair. It is so cute when one of them is about to do something and gets a mischievous look on their faces. They still mostly ignore each other/poke each other in the eye/crawl on each other's faces/etc, but sometimes they will look at each other and seem to be saying something. I love how they each have their own little personalities and behaviors.

Happy birthday Jensen & Everett! You guys have been my greatest challenge and my greatest blessing in my life. I am so glad that I get to call the two cutest little guys in the world mine! I love you so so so so much!