1 year ♥

The boys are in size 4 diapers!


Drake weighs 21 lbs 11 oz!


Hunter weighs 21 lbs 1 oz!


They wear sizes 9 months and 12 months in clothing!


Hunter has 4 bottom teeth and 4 top teeth! 


Drake has 2 bottom teeth and 4 top teeth! 


Hunter does not seem phased by getting new teeth. Drake on the other hand has a really hard time. He cries, swats at you, and cannot be soothed. It breaks my heart. Hopefully it gets a little easier on him!


The boys celebrated Easter this month! They looked adorable in their camo egg outfits! This holiday is even more special now because they were born on Easter last year! We celebrated at home for a couple hours! They both received Easter baskets with books, eggs, stuffed bunnies, and sidewalk chalk! We bought them lawn chairs that they loved! We went to my parent's house first! After celebrating with my family, we headed to Nanny's to celebrate with Brandon's family! It was a great day spent outside with our families! We missed my daddy dearly while he is working out of town!

I was really excited about the Easter baskets!

 Drake with his Easter basket!

Hunter with his Easter basket!

Drake and Hunter with their chairs!

Drake started walking this week! This past Sunday he decided he was done crawling. He has not crawled since! 

Hunter has become much more confident this week! He began walking the day after his birthday! 

It is so neat to watch them walk around the house! Makes me realize how fast they are growing up!

We will be making the change to milk from formula. The boys have drank the Target brand Up and Up formula since I stopped pumping at 6 weeks. It is DRAMATICALLY cheaper, and has a comparison to Enfamil on the label. It is exactly the same ingredients. They have grown to be chunkers, and I am confident in my decision to use this formula. We went through 4 cans a month because the cans are much larger. It was perfect for our family!

They eat table food completely now. They eat fish sticks, chicken nuggets, fries, tator tots, hot dogs, Mum Mums, Gerber Cookies, macaroni and cheese, cheese, scrambled eggs, yogurt, cheerios, Gerber Puffs, Gerber cheese chips! 

Daddy bought them donut holes for the first time! They LOVED them, of course! ;)

They do not seem to like red sauce! I tried Spaghettio's and other types, but if it has red sauce they do not like it!

Drake is weird about touching textures! He will not pick up bananas, noodles, and hated the icing on his smash cake!

They do not like the feeling of grass. This causes us to stay on a blanket when we are outside! The boys received a ton of great outside toys for their birthday, so they will need to work through this fast ;)

We just switched to convertible car seats! I am one happy mommy! The infant carriers were becoming VERY heavy! Aunt Lacey and Uncle Casey bought one and Nanny and Pop bought the other for the boys' birthday! We decided to go with the Graco MyRide 65 LX. I love them! We are going to continue to keep the boys rear-facing. It is recommended here by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is completely worth it to me to keep my boys safer another year :)

They boys say ball and any ball is their favorite toy! They also say bye-bye and wave!

Their vocabulary includes momma, dada, bubba, baba, ball, bye-bye, and pop! 

They have figured out how to flip their ball pit and really enjoy doing so! This means I am picking up all the balls at least 3 times a day!

Drake discovered he can turn and back up when walking behind his Sit-to-Stand Walkers! He loves these toys now. I found this strange since he found this fascination after learning to walk on his own.

Hunter's teeth are sensitive to cold foods. 

They still like their Safety First sippy cups best!

They did great at their birthday party with having so many people around! No tears and happy babies!

Drake got his first knot on his birthday! He was walking and lost his balance. The entry-way table stopped his fall :( He only cried for 2 minutes and then he was fine. He has quite the knot and bruise. 

They typically go to bed around 8 PM and wake around 7 AM. They take one to two naps during the day. Lately, a good 1 to 2 hour nap in the late morning or early afternoon. 

They get excited when they hear the garage door opening. They know either mommy or daddy is home! They go straight to the door!

We ate at Guidry's for the boys' first birthday! They each ate a piece of popcorn shrimp and liked it!

Drake has started to throw fits. He will swat at you, shake his hands, and lay on the floor. It is incredibly dramatic. 

Hunter has turned into such a smiley baby!! He has really started showing his teeth off!

Drake showing off his teeth!

The boys went to a crawfish boil at Uncle Casey's and Aunt Lacey's! They enjoyed sitting outside. Here they are with their PawPaw...

They were also on the news this month! We took a wagon ride to Aunt Lacey's! Unfortunately, there have been some robberies in our area and we spoke to ABC 13 about it. 

We gave the boys Power Wheels for their birthday! It is Lil' Lightning McQueen and is made for their age! They love the cars! They push the button to make them go occasionally! They enjoy standing in them, jumping in them, or pushing them! I know once they really grasp the concept they will LOVE them! :)

 Drake playing in his car!

Hunter playing in his car!

Dear Drake and Hunter ...

My sweet boys,

In a matter of 24 hours you are going to turn a year old. As I put you to sleep tonight I had tears in my eyes of what the past year has meant to your daddy and I. There are just no words to explain the amount of love I feel for you. Only when you become a parent will you understand. I have so many things I want you to know, and I hope that one day you will read this blog and it will mean something to you!

In October of 2010 when I found out I was pregnant with you two, I was terrified. I have always been a planner, and this was not in my plan. There was a point I wondered why I was having twins when all my friends GOT to have one baby? I know that is terrible sweet boys, but I was scared. I was so wrong. I would not change one day of my pregnancy with you boys. I loved you so much and was determined to hold you in as long as possible! I was blessed to make it to 35 weeks, Easter Sunday 2011. You completely changed our world. I had prayed for you to be healthy for months. When daddy came in the operating room with Hunter I was so happy! You were perfect! We had been told you were going to be around 4.5 lbs and  you were 5 lbs 10 oz! Then they told me I was not going to see you Drake because you were having breathing issues. My world was spinning. I had made it so far, why would you need to go to the highest level NICU?!?!? As they wheeled me into the hallway I got to see you. I was able to put my hand in the incubator and touch you. Daddy went with you since you were having some issues with breathing. I know this had to be even scarier for daddy to go with you. Hunter you went to meet our family in the waiting room! They were so excited to meet you, but concerned about mommy and Drake. They got to see how much hair you had and look at your chin to see if you had daddy's dimple! Of course, you had daddy's dimple :) 

Drake you spent a day in the level 3 NICU and then moved to be with your brother in the level 2 NICU. The night nurse said she held you all night because she knew you were too healthy and would be transferring soon! You were right next to each other! The two of you needed to learn to drink your bottles better. You were "growers and feeders." You spent 10 days in the NICU and there are no words to express how hard it was to leave you there. Mommy and Daddy shed many tears. On May 4th we got to bring you home!!!!!

I gave birth to you 365 days ago and I can remember it like it was yesterday. You boys have made the past year the most amazing year of our lives. Now, I know I was CHOSEN to be a mommy to you boys. I was BLESSED with twins. My friends will not GET to experience the amazing moments I do with you two! I cannot imagine having any other life. You are great babies, and make it easy for us. Watching you two interact is the best part of having twins. You boys will have a bond your entire lives. Being identical twins is such a special bond that only identical twins can understand. Even mommy and daddy will not understand everything you guys experience. 

In the past year your personalities have not changed much from when you were in mommy's tummy. Drake you were always incredibly active, and you are still this way. You are a little dramatic like your mommy ;) You started walking this week. You have not crawled in two days! You are a snuggle bunny! You love to lay your head down on our chests. You enjoy being held by mommy and are definitely a mommy's boy! You have an electric smile that lights up the room! Hunter you are SO laid back like your daddy! When you were in my tummy, you moved so little it worried me at times. This helps more than you know when Drake is having a moment ;) You are very independent and on the go! You are not quite walking, but are taking steps when you want to! I know it will be a matter of days and you will start! You have the sweetest smile. I cannot explain the sweetness that you have Hunter Paul. You both give kisses that melt mommy and daddy!

I hope you are always close with each other, and know that your mommy and daddy love you to the moon and back !

Happy 1st Birthday my beautiful boys! 

Love you,

Mommy

Dr. Seuss 1st Birthday Party

When the boys were around 7 months I made the decision I wanted to do a Dr. Seuss Thing 1 and Thing 2 birthday party. Thing 1 and Thing 2 are characters in The Cat and the Hat. I loved the turquoise blue and red, and the characters. 

I spent my Spring Break researching everything I could about a Dr. Seuss birthday. I looked up parties and ideas on Google and Pinterest. There were so many great ideas, so I pinned them, wrote them down, put them in my favorites, etc. There were so many great ideas, and I wanted to narrow down to the things I would have the time/energy to accomplish!


The first idea I started was creating a ribbon topiary. They were on Etsy and I loved them! I assumed they used a Styrofoam ball, straight pins, and ribbon. So, the boys and I went to Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart. We bought different types of ribbon that would match, dowel rods, and some Styrofoam balls. I made the 3 ribbon balls during my break. 

Next, I found a shop on Etsy that would create all of the banners. I used Modern Bebe to create for me, and she was amazing. I ordered the "Happy 1st Birthday Drake and Hunter," high chair banners for both boys, cupcake toppers, water bottle labels, Dr. Seuss quotes for decoration, invitation, Double the fun party banner, monthly banners for both boys, menu cards, favor tags, book sign in, and cupcake wrappers. I absolutely loved everything! It was exactly what I wanted for their birthday! 

The Happy Birthday Banner...

The high chair banners...

The water bottle labels...

I knew I wanted to include some things in the menu that would coordinate with Dr. Seuss books. 




I used goldfish for "One Fish, Two Fish, Blue Fish, Red Fish"


I had hot dogs for "Go Dog Go"


I had a popcorn machine for "Hop on Pop"

I had green ham sandwiches and green deviled eggs for "Green Eggs and Ham"

I had sprite with red and blue jello in it to match our party colors. It was very cute! Unfortunately, the jello clogged the spout, so we had to use a spoon to get it out.  

Favors were more difficult for me to make a decision about. I was going to have quite the range of ages in my guests, and I wanted them to all have something to take. I finally decided to do Dr. Seuss notebooks with Dr. Seuss pencils. I of course told them all to use this adorable pencil with an over sized eraser in their math class :)


I also had bubbles and lollipops for the younger kiddos to enjoy. I put the favor tags from ModernBebe on the lollipops. They stated "So sweet of you to celebrate with us! Drake and Hunter" I also added a circular favor tag to all of the bubbles! It was in Dr. Seuss colors, and had the boys' names on them.

The monthly banners were my favorite part! I cried when I put all the pictures on the banners. Seeing the difference from their newborn photos to 1 year was absolutely amazing. These boys have come so far from being my 35 week NICU babies. 

I also loved the twin birthday banner she created for us! I wish I had a better picture of it!

I ordered personalized Birthday hats from here and she did a great job! 

I ordered the plates, cups, napkins, forks, striped tablecloth, and lollipops from Oriental Trading. They had great prices, and it matched perfect.


I ordered the lanterns from Luna Bazaar. They were way cheaper than I ever expected and looked perfect! I loved the look they gave the party!


My in-laws were able to borrow the popcorn machine from their work! It was quite the hit at the party! The kiddos were lined up for popcorn! :)




The cake, cupcakes, and smash cakes were made by Annette Riggenbach. I was able to tell her the colors and she ran with it. Unfortunately, the 3 tier cake she had worked so hard on fell over in my car on the way home :( I was absolutely devastated. I called her crying and she was so sweet to help me out. Lacey and I drove the cake back to her. We had 2 hours until the party, and she was able to create a 2 tier cake that looked perfect! It meant so much to me that she was willing to create another one. 

I loved the idea of having a book for all the guests to write a note to the boys! I purchased the Dr. Seuss book "Happy Birthday to You" for both boys. I sat it on a table with the boys pictures and the quote Modern Bebe had created with some pretty pens. Everyone wrote them sweet notes that I know they will love to read one day.

Their adorable birthday shirts were made by Sandy and she did an amazing job as always. I absolutely loved the shirts!

Here are some of my favorite photos from their big day!

These are two very blessed little boys! They received so many great gifts. From swing sets, sand boxes, books, gift cards, car seats, sprinklers, clothes, power wheels, chairs, water table, slide, blankets, and many more awesome gifts!



Thank you all so much for spending this special day with us. We love you all more than you know.