Hattie and Tille's personalities are coming out stronger and stronger.  Hattie is learning to be a really good big sister.  Any time Tille is sad or hurt, Hattie will give her a hug or pick out a toy and hand it to her.  Last week Tille was coughing in the bathtub and Hattie reached over and patted her on the back.  She sure loves her sister!  She's also learning to help.  Last night after the bath I had dried and lotioned Hattie and was doing Tille.  Hattie picked up the lotion bottle and handed it to me.  I would get some, then set the bottle down to rub the lotion on Tille, and Hattie would pick up the bottle again and hand it to me when I was ready.  It was pretty cute.  I have a big green double nursing pillow.  Lately, I just have to ask Hattie to get the big green pillow, and she'll run over and grab it and try to drag it to me.  It's a little too big for her, but she really tries.  If I give Hattie a wet rag or paper towel or anything and ask her to clean something up, she's really good at wiping it around.  And if I ask her to throw something away, she'll lift the lid on the garbage can and put it in.

Tille is really into learning how things work.  We have the standard baby toy that's a stick on a base and it has rings to stack up the stick.  Tille was determined to learn how to put the rings on.  She would sit and try and get really frustrated when she couldn't do it.  But then she started being able to get the rings on faster and faster.  Until one day she mastered it- and then she would sit and stack all the rings, dump them off, stack again, repeat, repeat, repeat forever until we made her go to bed.  She didn't crack a smile or a laugh or pause to look around.  She concentrated hard and practiced a ton.  We have a baby gate/wall that was in front of the fireplace, and we put all sorts of forbidden things behind it (lamp, diaper wipes, dirty diapers, etc- all the things our babies most want to play with).  Tille and Hattie both learned how to move it around so they could get behind it.  So Matt arranged dining chairs and high chairs on their sides with the legs sticking through the gate, and the gate folded a couple times to lock it into place (I'm not describing it well, but basically it was a tangle of gate and chair legs).  Tille took her time and studied the construction, and then moved the chairs away and got into the gate.  So we've given up on the gate.  Now Tille is really into buckles.  When I take them downstairs to play, she spends most of her time standing by the stroller studying the buckles and trying to see how they work.  She does the same with her high chair.  And anytime I buckle her into anything, she hands me the pieces of the buckle and watches closely to see what I'm doing.

Ever since the babies were born, I've been expecting them to poop in the tub.  Other than a couple little poops in their first week or two, we haven't had any.  I was starting to think that my girls just weren't interested in bath poop.  And then this week happened.  Saturday night Matt was bathing the girls and I was cleaning the kitchen.  Suddenly Matt yelled 'Tille's pooping!'  I ran in and he handed me Hattie and got Tille out fast.  He cleaned up while I got the girls ready for bed.  I think we were both so surprised, we didn't really know what to do.  He bleached everything and we called it good.  The next night, I was bathing the girls while Matt was cleaning.  They were playing nicely and then Tille got the look.  She pooped again and I got them out of there as fast as I could.  Again, Matt cleaned up while I got the girls ready for bed.  Thankfully we've had 2 poop-free nights in a row, but I'm paranoid now that Tille just likes pooping in water.
And now, some pictures.

My boss's wife works (runs?- I'm not sure) for an online boutique girl's clothing store.  Every now and then he'll bring in some outfits for the girls.  Usually they're super cute frilly dresses.  Most of them are still too big- their sizes are from XS to whatever, rather than 9-12M, etc. So I have a bag of really cute dresses that I'm excited for Hattie and Tille to grow into.  A few weeks ago he brought in these dresses.  They're still a little too big, but they're pretty cute.  If you look really close, you can see that they're unicorns.  There's a face on the chest and a little horn sticking up at the collar.  Hattie loves  putting on frilly, lacey clothes.  These dresses have flowers and beads and lace and frills and everything.  I put it on her and she just sat and looked at all the details.

Every now and then we have a girl from down the street come and babysit.  The girls DO NOT like her.  They scream and cry the whole time she's there, whether it's 1 or 3 hours.  Luckily, the babysitter has little siblings who were sad babies, and screaming babies don't bother her.  Also, as a coincidence, her family has just started going on volunteer trips to the Mexican orphanage with A Child's Hope Foundation, so she's trying to earn money so she can go on the next trip.  So we're happy to let her babysit and she's happy to sit with the babies while they cry.  A couple weeks ago Matt and I went to my friend Emily's wedding in Springville.  Matt's sister babysat some of the time and our neighbor girl babysat the last few hours.  I assumed the girls would be at their wits end after a day with other people, and I was scared for how they would treat their babysitter.  But she said they actually only cried for a few minutes at the beginning.  She said if she stays on one side of the room and lets them play on the other side, they're happy.  Phew!  I'm glad they're learning to be ok with strangers.  Anyway, this picture and the next are from a few weeks ago.  Matt had to go to a meeting before I got home from work, so our neighbor girl came over just for an hour or so before I got home.  Hattie and Tille were screaming when I walked in, and cried the whole time the babysitter was putting on her shoes and saying goodbye, and cried when I took them downstairs to play for a few minutes, and cried when we came upstairs to play.  I wanted to see how their hair would work with gel (practice for their Halloween costumes), and since they were crying anyway I wasn't worried about making them mad by doing their hair.  So I tried, and I got these sad little spiky-haired girls (Hattie above, Tille below).  They stopped crying a couple minutes later.

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Hattie and Tille love animals.  If an animal (any kind) comes on tv, they get excited and point and laugh.  They're still pretty timid around animals and take a lot of coaxing to pet one, but they love seeing animals.  Here they are playing with Arthur at FHE. (Hattie in white shirt, Tille in pink shirt)

They love love love shoes.  If either baby sees a shoe lying around (or in a closet), they have to try putting it on their feet, then my feet, then Matt's feet.  And they're getting comfortable with wearing shoes for an extended time.  Tille wore hers all day yesterday.  Tille above, Hattie below.

When I lie on the floor, the babies use me as a pillow.  Usually they'll kneel on the floor next to me and lean their elbows on my chest with their hands propping up their head.  But sometimes they'll climb right on me.  This is Tille being super comfy. She sat like than on me for a while. That wasn't a fresh diaper. 

The Bodens handed down their little tykes car for Hattie and Tille.  And the girls LOVE it.  For a while we had it in the basement, and they would crawl all over it and push it around.  Now we have it in the backyard.  Anytime we go outside, they climb in and ask for a ride.  We just push them around and around the cement area and they laugh and smile and honk the horn and turn the wheel.  This is Hattie showing off her sweet sweet ride.

Here's Tille looking for acorns.

Both girls are chewing acorns about half a second before I fished them out.

I love how they hang their arms out the window like they're so chill.  What you can't see is that Hattie's other arm is around Tille's shoulders.

Hattie's having a blast while Matt drives her around.

On Fridays, Matt's sister Kathryn watches the girls for a few hours.  Usually his other sister Kim and his niece Tyler will bring their boys over to play (5 kids total, all under 2).  I love that theses babies will get to grow up being friends, and that my girls get to learn to socialize with other kids.  Last week, they all went on a field trip to a petting zoo in Eden (Ogden Valley, near PineView).  They got to see dogs and turkeys and goats (and probably other animals), and they got to ride a horse and a tractor.  Kathryn said the girls had a lot of fun watching the animals, but got scared if anything came too close.  Tyler posted a picture of her baby right next to a fence as a dog came running up.  In the background, Hattie and Tille were running the other direction as fast as their little legs could go.  Haha!  In the farm pictures, Hattie has two pigtails and Tille has one.

Both girls love anything resembling a seat.  They'll play in their carseats for almost an hour before they get bored.  We had to hide their baby rockers because they kept climbing in and rocking way too hard.  At church if they get antsy, I'll sit them on a chair next to me and they'll sit and swing their legs and wave at everybody and be happy for a while. 

A Birthday!

How are these girls already a year old?! How?!  This year flew by.  I feel like we just brought the babies home from the hospital a couple weeks ago, and suddenly they're on the verge of being toddlers.  Both girls love looking out the window and reading books.  If they're being grumpy, I'll say, "Go pick out a book to read", and they stop crying and go over to the bookshelf and pick a book.  They can sit and study a book for 5-10 minutes by themselves.  They'll point at the pictures and really get into it.  If I'm reading them a book, I'll say "Turn the page" and they (especially Hattie) knows exactly what to do.  Lately, I can start reciting one of their books to them, and they'll go and pick that book off the shelf.  Sometimes when they're napping my phone (connected to the video monitor in their room) alerts me that they're moving.  I'll look at the video feed and see Hattie sitting up in her crib reading a book.  Hattie usually needs 5-10 minutes to think about life before she's ready to really wake up, so she'll always play/read quietly in her crib for a while before she cries to get out.  Once Tille wakes up, she's awake and wants out.  Yesterday after I put them down for a nap, I heard a weird noise in their room.  I looked at the camera, and Tille had reached out of her crib to a chair we have sitting next to her crib.  I didn't think she could reach it, but she had dragged it over to be right in front of her crib and was just playing with it, rocking it back and forth, dragging it around. 
Hattie has gotten really good at walking. She rarely crawls anymore. It means she has a lot of bumps and bruises from falling, but she's walking all over the house now.  Tille has been walking for a few weeks, but just a few steps at a time.  Just in the last few days she's gotten more adventuresome and will walk across a room.
The weekend after their birthday, they started really sleeping!  Hattie almost always sleeps from 8:30-5:30ish.  Tille wakes up around 2 or 3 most nights, and every now and then she'll scream loud and long enough that I'll go hold her.  But usually she just cries for about 10 minutes and goes back to sleep.  It feels so good to sleep again.  Now if we can just get them to sleep in a little later on the weekends.  That'd be golden.
Tille gives super good hugs.  A few weeks ago I was holding her in sacrament meeting, and every few minutes she would wrap her arms really tight around my neck, sometimes giving me a slobbery open mouth kiss on my chin or nose.  Ever since then, she's been giving great hugs, just whenever she feels like it, or whenever I ask her for a hug. Hattie and Tille love hugging each other.  If we say, "can you hug your sister", they'll both stop whatever they were doing and cuddle each other.  It's so cute.  Often, they'll be playing and start hugging each other.  They start off laughing and smiling and taking turns hugging, but it usually ends in a wrestling match with them mad at each other. 
For Hattie and Tille's birthday, we took them to their 1 year doctor appointment.  They got shots, which they hated, and they got their eyes, ears, nose, hips, etc checked, which they also hated.  But afterwards, the nurse let them choose toys out of a box.  Tille chose a yellow maraca and Hattie chose a blue squeaky whale (see the above video).  It was cute to see them study the toys in the box and choose the one they really wanted.  And they love them.  They rattle and squeak all the time.
Yesterday I tried putting shoes on them for the first time.  Hattie was amazed.  She grabbed one foot at a time and studied and stared at it.  Tille, not so much.  She only cared about getting the shoe off as soon as possible.  For the rest of the day, Hattie would try to put her shoes on, then take them off, then show me, etc, etc.
Oh, one more thing.  These girls really love tv.  Tille has always loved tv.  Even when she was just a few months old, she would stare at the tv for a good while.  But now, they both love it.  If they hear a baby or a kid talking on tv, or even kid type music, like in an ad or something, they'll stare until it goes back to being boring.  I think their favorite show is Sesame Street.  If they even see the logo come on the screen they'll get excited, and they squeal and bounce up and down when the music comes on.  When the characters sing songs, Hattie and Tille will bounce and rock to the rhythm.  Yesterday they were being super moody while I was trying to work and Matt was canning peaches at his parents' house, so I put Sesame Street on and they watched 2 1/2 episodes straight.  I didn't think they had that kind of attention span.  I sat on the floor, with Hattie laying on her stomach over my legs, propping up her head with her hands, and Tille leaning against my legs.  My computer was on the couch behind me, and if I moved at all, Tille would get sad and demand more cuddling.  So I worked in that position, craning my head around to see my computer.  But it bought me about an hour of work time, so it was good. 

A few Fridays ago we went to a Greek restaurant that Matt used to go to in college.  Hattie and Tille usually do really well at restaurants.  They sit in the high chairs and smile and wave at everybody who walks past.  They usually aren't super interested in eating though, when there's so much to see. (Tille on left, chilling in her seat, Hattie on right)

The babies weren't at all excited about eating birthday cake at their parties.  They were super sad and just wanted to hold hands to get through the ordeal.  They did eat their cakes over the next few days. (Tille left looking at camera, Hattie on right trying to get comfort from her sister)

Tille is quite the little poser. 

Hattie on left, Tille on right, celebrating their birthday.

Hattie looked so cute sitting in the grass. 

Here's Hattie swinging at East Canyon when we went up for the day.  I love her hair flying around and her cute little excited smile.

On their actual birthday, Matt and I got KFC and took the girls to a park for a picnic.  They LOVE playing at parks.  They love playing in the woodchips and swinging.  Look how excited Tille is to be swinging!  Hattie was smiling, but I couldn't get it on camera.

 I can't figure out how to get these pictures and videos in any kind of order. Sorry.  A couple weeks ago Hattie started a thing where, after we drain the bathtub and get Tille out, Hattie turns the tub into a little slip 'n slide.  She'll face the back, then hurry and turn around fast and slide on her tummy. She only slides a few inches, but she'll do it over and over again, and fight when we try to get her out. She hasn't done it as much anymore, and this video doesn't show it really well, but it was super cute. I'm hoping the other video is loading, but I'm not sure.  For the last week, Hattie and Tille have started putting their toys away.  Hattie really likes looking around the room for all her toys and putting them in the box.  Sometimes Tille will help, but more often she likes to dump them all out.

Tille is the selfie queen

Some of Matt's siblings came to our property in the Uintahs a few weeks ago for an overnight camping trip.  We were all hanging out at Mirror Lake Saturday afternoon and I took the girls for a walk around the lake.  When I rounded a corner, I looked back and could barely make out the group hanging out on the beach.  I had to zoom in a ways, so it's kind of blurry.

Tille started eating this way a few weeks ago.  She does this during every meal now.Sometimes she'll wave her foot around.

11 Months!  What?!

Now Hattie has gotten into eating with her feet up too.  I guess they just like to be really comfy while they eat.

This is Provo Falls on the Mirror Lake Highway.  I'm told there's a great hike to get there, but we just parked in the parking lot and walked a few feet.  It was super pretty.  There was a little trail that took us down several levels of the falls, with pools to wade in.

Oh my gosh, look at those smiles!

Tille always likes to sit on Grandpa's lap when we go to their house.

Hitting Some Milestones

Hattie and Tille like watching tv, and especially kid shows.  When we watch jeopardy, they both stop whatever they're doing and jerk their heads to the tv when the final jeopardy music comes on.  When we put on kid shows, they recognize that the talking and music are aimed at them and they'll pay really close attention.

I love this video so much. Hattie and Tille didn't know we were watching them, and they were hugging and cuddling on the floor for a while before I got my phone out to record.  Of course, once they saw my phone, they stopped what they were doing to come investigate.

Two weeks ago (July 3), I noticed that Tille had an actual tooth poking through her gums.  I got excited and told Matt and he said he had felt it a few days earlier.  I think it had started breaking through earlier, but it didn't actually show until the 3rd.  For months, every time the babies have been extra drooly or fussy or had a fever, we've thought, 'well this it, they're teething now'. And then nothing happened.  So I was pretty excited to finally see an actual tooth.  A few days later, the 6th, I felt Hattie's first tooth coming through.  Interestingly, Tille's tooth is her front left bottom; Hattie's is her front right bottom.  Also, Tille's hair swirls clockwise; Hattie's swirls counter-clockwise.  So maybe mirror twins?  Anyway, neither of them likes me putting my finger in their mouth or holding their mouth open, so I've still only gotten a few glimpses of their teeth, but I'm glad they're finally coming in.
The same week (I think the 3rd again), I was trying to get Hattie to stop digging through the recycle bin in our kitchen, when suddenly she was standing on her own.  It took me a few seconds to grasp it.  I looked and looked to be sure she wasn't holding anything, and sure enough, she was standing all on her own.  For the next week or so, she would do it every now and then, and every time it kind of freaked me out.  She's not sure what to do when she gets up, so she just stands there smiling, with her legs wide apart and her hands out.  Since I'm not used to her being upright, it looks almost foreign and unnatural.  But now that we're getting used to it it's really cute.  Last Friday (July 13th) I had been home from work for about 20 minutes.  Matt's sister Kathryn had been babysitting and was there sitting on the couch.  Hattie was over by her, and then stood up and took a couple steps towards me.  I'd seen her kind of move her feet while falling before, but this time they were actual steps while she was upright.  Yay!  She was so excited and proud of herself.  For the next 15 minutes-ish, Hattie kept trying to stand up to walk some more, but she was so excited she couldn't stop bouncing her legs to get balance.  I love seeing her so proud of herself.  Since then, she's taken a few more independent steps, but mostly she's focusing on standing and balancing right now.  Tille has started standing a little.  She hasn't been able to stand for more than a couple seconds at a time, but she's starting to practice.  I think they'll both be walking within a week or two.  Yikes!  And Yay!
Last Thursday the Michigan and Draper Glausers had arranged to have swim lessons at a neighbor's pool in Draper.  I invited myself and the babies along.  I've been wanting to take them swimming for a really long time, but we just haven't found a good time for it yet.  Either the pools are closed, or somebody is sick or we're too busy or the weather is no good. So I took work off for the day and went swimming with the babies.  Grandma and Grandpa held Hattie and I held Tille.  They were a little unsure, but ultimately had fun.  Hattie got right in and was splashing and kicking.  Tille clung to me, but as long as she felt safe on me she was smiling and kicking.  It was a good time.  I thought we'd only last 20 or 30 minutes at the most, but we were in the pool for 1 1/2 hours, with the girls having fun the whole time.  I'm glad we finally got them into a pool.  Hopefully we'll find more opportunities before the summer is out.

Grandma, Hattie, Me, Tille

Hattie loves to clap lately.  She claps for herself when she stands or walks, when Tille makes her happy, when somebody comes in the room, etc. She also loves waving to people.  A few days ago at the grocery store, Matt had Hattie in his cart and I had Tille in mine.  Matt said Hattie waved at everybody she saw.  Meanwhile, Tille talked to everyone we saw.  All through the store, she just talked and talked, telling everybody her story.

Hattie trying out Grandma's sunglasses

Hattie on left, Tille on right

Hattie's showing some attitude while she stands (and claps for herself)

Sometimes in the morning I'll take the girls for a walk around the neighborhood.  They usually just sit and chill and watch the houses go by.

When we put the babies in their cribs, they ALWAYS IMMEDIATELY flip to this position.  It doesn't matter how we lay them down, they roll right over and into a ball.

The girls sporting their first pony tails (Hattie on right, Tille on left)

They're getting pretty good at going upstairs. Not so much downstairs, but they try.  A few days ago, I had brought both girls upstairs, and with my hands full I couldn't close the door behind me.  A few minutes later Matt found Tille 3 stairs down, headfirst, trying to get down by herself.  Scary!

Hattie's so proud of her new skill

Both girls like to make squishy faces and breathe heavy.  It's a little game they play with us.  They might start and we'll do it back, or we'll start and they'll do it back. (Tille in red, Hattie in white)

The babies fell asleep eating on me. I had to take a picture of the cuteness.  Hattie in yellow, Tille in pink

9 Months!  Tille in white, Hattie in red

Everybody is wearing their soccer shirts!  We're fans of the Arsenal Gunners in our house.  It's a team in London.

The babies are both super ticklish.  Just a little squeeze gets them giggling.

Hattie waiting nicely for lunch

Tille trying to stay awake for lunch

She didn't make it

Hattie passed out pretty hard here

Tille is so flexible!

The girls love to read the grocery store ads with me on Tuesdays (Hattie in yellow, Tille in green)

Hugs!

I love these outfits! Look at those ruffle bums!

Here's Hattie being flexible

The girls love playing with my shoes. Mostly the red ones. (Hattie in short sleeves, Tille in long sleeves)

I found these cute outfits in a box in the closet. Probably 85% of their clothes come from a box in the closet that Jenni sent us from her girls.  Every couple of weeks I'll go through the box again and pull out the clothes that fit.  I think these pajamas are super cute.  I've also found a bunch of dresses that will fit in the next month or two. Thanks Michigan Glausers!

On the nights that Matt has HOA meetings, I'm on my own at bathtime.  This means that one baby has a few seconds to make a run for it while I get the other baby out.  Hattie took full advantage of that situation the other night, and this was the result.  She's so funny.

A couple weeks ago Matt and I were watching tv and the girls were doing their own thing.  We kept hearing giggles and laughs behind the couch, so I sneakily hung my phone over the side of the couch to try to record the girls.  This is what I caught.  They were just having a blast playing with each other.  This was kind of the tail end of it, so they weren't laughing as much in the recording as they had been, but it's still fun.  Side story- Hattie and Tille have never been big on binkies.  For a couple weeks we could give them a binkie to calm them down, but they would only suck on it for a few minutes and then they were done.  Now they only want a binkie if they can take it away from another baby.  But over the weekend they found their old binkies and started sucking on them, just for fun.  I was in the kitchen yesterday and the girls were playing on the floor.   They were cracking each other up, so I looked over and Tille was sucking on the binkie and making faces, and Hattie thought it was really funny.

The girls love to dance.  Anytime they hear anything even resembling music, they dance.  The other day Matt was doing dishes or something and they danced to the scrubbing noise. Here they are getting down to some reggae.

Matt got these pictures of the girls a few days ago.  Hattie above, Tille below.  They posed so perfectly!

We blew up the wading pool and let the girls try it out on Saturday.  It was smaller than the bathtub, so I don't think they were thrilled by this.  They spent more time crawling out and eating sticks and rocks on the driveway than they spent in the pool.  But it was something new for them to try.

We still have several outfits in the closet that I've been anxiously waiting for the girls to grow into.  These are some of them.  They might still be a little big, but I think they're adorable.  I couldn't get a great picture of the girls in them, and they hate wearing headbands, but trust me, soo so cute.

10 Months!  It's getting a lot harder to take these monthly birthday pictures!