Happy Birthday Twins!

Ben and Jack are ONE YEAR OLD! I feel like the year has flown by, but at the same time it's hard to remember a time without either of them. They are precious to me. So, so, so precious. *heart squeeze*

One of the most fun things is seeing how different all three of our boys are, especially Jack and Ben since we can watch them grow side by side. I've often heard, "Well every baby's different!" but it wasn't until I had Jack and Ben that I've wanted to be like, "WHOA! BABIES ARE SO DIFFERENT! CHECK OUT HOW DIFFERENT THESE BABIES ARE!!" Don't get me wrong, these two little boys also have a lot in common, but their sweet and vibrant personalities are very individual.

Benson:

 Ben has ptosis in his right eye, which is why his eye lid doesn't open quite all the way. We will take it as it comes and see what needs to be done about it later, but for now I think it makes him look dashing. :-)

Ben loves eating bananas, but can get sick of them if you over do it. However he will down Veggie Straws like they're going out of style. As far as pureed food goes, he's a big fan of the "homey" stuff like applesauce and butternut squash. More adventurous fruits tend to be a bit too zingy for him at first and he gets a really cute tart face when he eats them. Every time someone takes him after he's had his bottle I want to say, "Careful, he spits!" because he is definitely our spitter-upper. He'll nail ya when you're least expecting it!

When you rock Ben to sleep he likes to be held up right so he can put his head on your shoulder. He also likes to be swaddled with his right arm left out, which he uses to hold on to your shoulder while you rock him. Sometimes when he's having a hard time falling asleep you can lay him down in his crib and then rest your hand on his face to let him know you're there and it's enough to calm him down. Although, Jayce swears he has it down to a science of how many sways it takes to get him to sleep. I think it's around 250?

Around a large group of people he prefers to be held by mom or dad. Every so often when you're holding him he'll just rest his head on your shoulder and give you a surprise 10 second snuggle. We love this. A lot.

He's very quick to give smiles. Sometimes when we're smiling at him he'll just reach one of his hands out in front of him and wait for us to reach out our hand in return. This leads to more smiling.

He loves playing with our hands. He's naturally a pretty calm baby, most often preferring to sit and stare than crawl after something. He also seems to take interest in how his toys work and what their purpose is. He's also really into talking baby talk and can get pretty expressive with his sounds.

And his eyes just light up when he's happy.

He also likes long crawls on the beach and tummy rubs. ;-)

Jackson:

Jackie Boy! Jack is a mover and he's in to everything. Opening cupboards, climbing onto the dishwasher (Really. I've given up loading the dish washer when he's in the kitchen.) refusing to sit down in the tub, climbing all over Cameron's bed. The other day the twins were playing in my bathroom while I was getting ready and I looked over to see Jack standing next to the toilet just nonchalantly swirling his fingers in the water. (!)

Fun fact about our mover is that he took his first few steps on his birthday! He'll walk a good distance just holding on to your hand, and now if you stand him up he'll take a few steps toward you before falling into your arms.

Jack LOVES wrestling with Cameron. And by "wrestling with Cameron" I really mean Jack will be crawling around minding his own business when Cameron will come clobber him and start rolling all over him. Amidst my constant reminders for Cameron to be soft Jack's just laughing away!

He also really loves food. He gets that from his mom I'm pretty sure. He'll eat almost anything you put in front of him and it will be gone before you sit down to eat your own food, so put a lot on his tray. However, I'd have to say that bananas and Veggie Straws are probably his favorite too. He does take the Goldilocks approach with his milk though, so make sure you get the right temperature!

He really likes grabbing things. Toys, blankets, food, earrings, hair, faces...just to name a few. He's always searching for the next thing to put his man hands on. I saw man hands because his hands are just so strong! You should see him read books! Normally I can get him to calmly sit for the first page. Then he'll calmly turn the page and about 3 seconds into looking at the next page he's grabbing the whole thing, pulling it out of my hands and trying to figure out how much of it will fit into his mouth.

Jack can also fall asleep just about anywhere. The jumper, the car, the bumbo, my lap, the high chair...we've got them all documented. When we're putting him to bed he likes to be completely swaddled and to be cradled while you rock him. This gives me lots of opportunities to kiss his squishy cheeks as I rock him.

Lastly, we love Jack's expressive eye brows. Sassy, curious, confused, happy eyebrows. They say it all!

Life is good wee babes, life is good.