480,960 Minutes

11 Months...
334 Days...
8,016 Hours...
480,960 Minutes...
28,857,600 Seconds...
... and counting.


Madeline and Elizabeth are now just a month shy of their 1st birthday. They have come a long way in just a few short weeks. Both of them are babbling a lot more now. No discernible language yet, but they are very chatty. Madeline in particular has taken to pointing at things and saying, "Dah!", which we accept to mean pretty much everything. There is more clapping and waving as time goes on as well, so we practice every chance we get. They have mastered the art of feeding themselves and pretty much eat whatever we are eating (just cut up into small pieces). Sippy-cups are still a challenge, however.

One unmistakable sign that they are getting bigger is the gradual transition to a single nap during the day. We are still at the point where they sometimes still could use two, but more often it works out pretty well when they just take one nap around mid-day. This is a slight transition for us as well and we tend to get a little less done around the house on weekends.

We picked up some fun new toys for Maddie and Lizzy to play with. The tunnel was definitely a big hit. The girls crawled around together and laughed like crazy. They would get to one end and then race back to the other, sometimes even rolling the tunnel around from the inside.



We had a very special visit from Great Aunt Gail all the way from California on her first trip to see us in Chicago. My dad was staying at our house and flew his sister in to join us around mid-week. Cody might have been the happiest of everyone because he had all sorts of company during the day. We were thrilled to have her stay here and especially fortunate when one day the girls were ill and both Erica and I needed to be at work. I don't know what else we would have done if they weren't here to save the day! Come back and see us anytime, or maybe our family would love to go back to sunny California.