Lucy and Ellory are TWO!

Lucy and Ellory are two- what fun! It was so special to celebrate their birthday. Making their birthday boards and looking back on the wonderful memories is my favorite part. Kley and I talked a lot about those first NICU days and how He has been so faithful over their lives already. We are so thankful they are growing happy and healthy.

Stats/Doctor visits: Lucy and Ellory both had a weird something for a bit that gave them diarrhea for about a week, but other than that they acted fine. After that, we had the flu and Lucy and Ellory were both sick for a few days. It was so sad. Ellory only threw up once, but acted really sick, and poor Lucy threw up so many times and also had lots of diarrhea. Ellory and Norah only like milk/water, but Lucy likes any beverage, so she thankfully drank some Pedialyte and we seriously think that saved her from going to the hospital for dehydration. She looked really rough for a bit.

Teeth: 2/13- Both of Ellory's bottom two-year molars are coming in.

Feeding: Feeding is great. They are good eaters and aren't too picky. They do well with three meals and a bedtime snack. Lucy loves dip/sauce of any kind, and basically all foods. Ellory likes most things too, but says her favorites are roni (macaroni and cheese) and cheese pizza. They also took to liking “granola bar that's black” as Norah calls it (one of her favorite things), which is a chocolate granola bar.

Diapers/Clothes: Wearing 24 month/2T clothing. Wearing 5 diapers at night and 4 during the day, but will switch to all 5s soon after this last box of 4. Hoping to try potty training sometime soon (once these sleep battles are calmer).

Sleeping: Unfortunately, sleep has been rough this month. They switched to big girl beds over New Years, and the honeymoon phase has definitely worn off. Getting out of bed has been a big problem, and has made going to sleep take a long time. We want them to go to sleep independently in their beds, so we have been standing outside their door and going in every time they get out and putting them back in bed. We don't say anything (other than an occasional firm reminder to stay in bed), and then go out and repeat it until they give up and fall asleep. We are definitely hoping this subsides soon! Thankfully once they fall asleep they are good. Lucy sometimes wakes up in the night crying, but usually goes back to sleep okay.

Words: Hearing new words is so fun! Ellory's vocabulary is really exploding. She is using short sentences and has been loving to say, “Oh!” a lot after we tell her something or she asks a question. Lucy is starting to say more words too!

Developments: Both are starting to poop on the potty again (or tell us after they went), after their diarrhea stint, so that's good. Ellory still struggles with constipation, but she's getting better at going on the toilet faster, rather than sitting their multiple times and holding it in. Both are pretty good at independent play, Ellory does a bit more because she loves to look at books. Lucy is always going. It's fun to watch them play with Norah, and fun how Norah capitalizes on their top interests, like Norah will read Ellory books and chase Lucy. Lucy has started singing and it's so sweet. Her favorite is to sing, “Let it go!” over and over in a high octave. Ellory loves to walk around singing, “Let it go!” or “Open door!” as well, from Frozen. We've been trying to survive the recent super cold and tons of snow with sensory bins, painting, coloring, books, play-doh, trampoline in the basement, dolls, and an occasional viewing of Veggie Tales or Frozen. They both pat each other on the back whenever they cough and love to give each other bedtime hugs/kisses. It's the sweetest. They love to count, but don't quite get the order right, and love to guess what color things are (though are often incorrect, but are learning more color names!). They love to point at their birthday boards and say who everyone is. They love to facetime people too. Their favorite game to play is to say goodbye, pretend to leave, and then come back and say they're home.

Favorites: Ellory loves the soft blanket on her bed (she likes to sleep on the middle blanket instead of the sheet), puppies, Frozen, Bob and Larry (Veggie Tales), Minnie Mouse, reading books, milk, baby dolls. Lucy's favorite is when Kley comes home from work, baby dolls, helping get things or do things, saying hi to people, milk, and playing with a little bit of everything.

Happy 2nd birthday, our sweet girls! We love you so much!

I did not realize how hard it would be to get a picture of them holding the 2 in the right direction. It was usually always either backwards, upside down, or covering their face!