Hanging out

Here they are hanging out watching Baby Signing Time.

Just a regular night at the Hyem's

We made turkey meatloaf (thank you November Mom's Pinterest Board) and Payton loved it. Rayla ate it for about 30 seconds. But the one who couldn't get enough was Brogan.

Payton thought it was hilarious to turn he light switches on and off. Kind of makes for a difficult evening for cooking.

And then here is Rayla cleaning the floor. Have to start em early, ya know?

It's been a day

Let's call this day Sunday and hope for a better tomorrow with happy babies.

But the end of the night was amusing. Payton decided to put meatloaf in between her toes while dangling them from the high chair. Why you ask? So Zen would come lick them. Eww and hilarious. She also crawled up on the couch and would flip the closet light on and off. Each time she did it though, she would turn to look at Brogan who was sleeping on the couch. Payton was looking for approval or waiting to get in trouble. And lastly, Payton runs to the other side of the couch and turns the tv on and off. She's such a cute little stinker.

Rayla's trick of the day was to taunt Brogan. And then she wonders why Brogan meows and swats. But she goes back for more after each time.

Date night

Yay, we had a date night tonight. Alyssa and I went to a murder mystery dinner show. It was pretty cute and of course we figured out who the murderer was. The picture is a list of suspects we had to choose from. We learned about theory roles throughout the night and then had to out the pieces together.

Thank you to Uncle Todd and Aunt Olivia for babysitting (and for Grandma and Papa Mike coming to visit).

15-month appointment

Rayla and Payton saw Dr. Lessman yesterday for their 15-month appointment. The visit also consists of reviewing their milestones with the Healthy Steps Program. The woman who runs it said the girls are right on track. She also said there will be more times now where they might become frustrated because the need or want something but they can't quite verbalize it, so we should be prepared for more physical acting out. She also mentioned we should begin thinking about potty training. We already have pottys for them and they use them for playing in.
Their stats for this visit were:
Rayla - 22lbs 14 oz and 32.25"
Payton - 24lbs 8oz and 32.75"
We aren't sure these measurements are truly accurate because the girls were squirming and screaming the whole time.

Meeting a November Mom

The girls' due date was November 10th. Based on that, I went to The Bump (.com) and found my Month board. The girls talked about everything. Then we moved it over to. Facebook group and talked about even more. The majority of us are still friends and I had the pleasure of meeting one of them in real life (irl) tonight. Her name is Laura and she and her husband have a little girl name Lucy. And Laura is pregnant again, this time with a boy who is due at the end of April. We had so much fun and so much in common. We barely even spoke of our main group. I hope to meet more of these great women.

Lounging around

Last night was a night field with lounging. Since Mom had to work late Mamo and the girls decided to take it easy and watch some Baby Signing Time. As the DVD began to spin Rayla and Payton decided to take all of the blankets and pillows off the couch so they could relax and enjoy the show. Got to love how they already know how to just sit back and enjoy and evening!

Mamo's birthday

Yay, it was Mamo's birthday yesterday!
Rayla and Payton showed off their first finger-painting picture as a present to Mamo. It was a fun-filled day of birthday wishes from all over. Mamo also spent it being sick and taking a trip to urgent care. Boo :( Let's hope she feels so much better today.

We love you Mamo!

A sign of the future?

Are bedtime routine consists of dinner, play (exercise if they play along), milk, play in their room, wind down, sleep.

Tonight Alyssa and I tried to learn some Zumba moves. Well let's just say we aren't quite experts yet. Just when you think you've got the foot/leg parts down, they throw in hips, and then add arms. And by that time you forget the basic foot step again. It was fun and embarrassing and we are going to try it again tomorrow.

Then we moved the party into the girls room. They were hilarious! Both had the best belly laughs ever, which in turn causes us to laugh. One of ky new goals is to try helping them laugh every day. I think they sleep better :)

Payton crawls up on the toy box (where diapers are currently stored) and pulled off all of the diapers that were out on the changing table. She methodically pulled them down and threw each one on the floor. With every diaper throw came a laugh. Then she moved on to bathtime penguins and plastic blocks, and then anything she could get her hands on. She thinks gravity is the best thing.

While Payton was playing with gravity, Rayla gathered every diaper on the floor, one by one. She purposely grabbed each diaper with her right hand and stuffed it between her left ARM and chest. She was only done when she couldn't find anymore diapers. She would then take each diaper and give it to me until all diapers were out of her grasp. She started the process all over again after each release and gathering period. She also thought it was hilarious to finally drop them all on the floor and roll around.

Thanks for the laughs girls, you're pretty funny.

Wonder what.....

If was very hard to figure out what Payton wanted for breakfast this morning. Maybe you can tell us :)!

Sledding on the deck

Chicago was hit with a great snowstorm, so today we played on the deck. We bundled up the girls and headed outside. Mamo taught them how to smash snow with their mittens and how to shovel. Mamo then ran to grab the sled and pulled them around the whole deck. The girls giggled in delight. We had some good laughs out there.

Potty Heads

Happy 10-year anniversary to Uncle Todd for his double lung transplant!

Due to the snowstorm, I was allowed to work from home. So I was kind of around while Gennifer babysat. Today was a hectic day. The girls both seemed to be a little off. They were constantly crying, screaming, and clingy. Alyssa and I figured out later that they probably had stomach aches from eating a whole thing of blueberries (or Boobr as Rayla calls them). Looks like we will have to chat with Gennifer on that one.

The evening went much better after Mamo came home. Payton and Rayla played in the kitchen drawers, had potty heads (you'll see), and stomped around in Mamo and Mom's shoes. Then we Skyped with Auntie Shannon and Uncle Euan and the girls showed off their skills of peek-a-boo and wrestling.

15 months

Can you believe it? They are 15-months old today! They never cease to amaze us.
We just wanted to jot down a few things about what they can do these days. Their sign language is phenomenal. They can sign all of the following: Eat, banana, cereal, cracker, all done, drink, milk, water, baby, mom, grandma, diaper, potty, more, bird, fish, cat, dog, horse, frog, shoes, socks, hat, please, thank you, sorry, car, train, bus, airplane, boat, ball, doll, bear, wash hands, sleep, bath, brush teeth, book, day, outside, wind, rain, snow, sun, tree, grass, leaf, stop, go, again, up, down, friend, share, feel, hot, cold, apple, and telephone. They don't necessarily completely understand what each one of those things means, but they truly do get some of them. They also know how to say many of those words and their vocabulary continues to grow each day.
One of the things they do now that we love is share. They will bring each other bottles, food, toys, and tupperware. It is so cute to watch them interacting with each other.

Looking at other milestones they've reached: follow simple commands, understand the meaning of short phrases, babble talk (and boy can they tell a story!), point to body parts (eyes, nose, toes, feet, belly button), likes to feed themselves with plastic forks and spoons, scribbles, stand on their tippy toes, throw a ball, say vroom when playing with their airplane and bus, and give kisses and hugs (Rayla gives great hugs and Payton puckers her lower lip to give kisses).

I'm sure there is so much more, but we at least wanted to document what we could currently remember. They are so awesome!
We love you Payton and Rayla! Happy 15 months today.

Stomping, playing, and peek-a-boo

Tonight has been so much fun already. We've stomped around the house, played with the colored mats, and Payton played peek-a-boo around every corner. Another high five to Mamo!

Day off

I had the day off for MLK and I spent my time doing errands. Most people would dread days like that but I welcomed it with open arms. After sick children who only remember how to whine when they need or want something, I needed a break.
I had a nice relaxing full day and when I came home, the girls were again in fantastic moods. I think Mamo has the magic touch.
We played a little bit and they love stomping/marching up and down the hallway. I love the sound of their little pitter-patter feet.
While we were winding down and playing in their room, Payton thought it was hilarious to climb up on the toy box and jump off. This girl is going to love roller coasters! Rayla walked around sporting new pajamas as a scarf and wearing her sunglasses. She looked like a movie star and loved our ooohs and ahhhs.
After they went down for bed, we started cleaning up and we found their boots in a tupperware drawer. Seems like a good place to keep them.
Another great day in the Hyem household.

Family's best friend

Operation No Suck went well last night and today's first nap was ok. We still can't tell if their fussiness is due to their colds and/or not having their pacifiers. We are currently on nap #2 and they are giggling and playing. Maybe they are in better moods because we just got back from a nice long walk.

Operation No Suck

Operation No Suck has begun. We took their pacifiers away last night. They did great throughout the night with only a few short scream shouts. Today is a different story. They both have terrible runny noses and a slight cough. Nap times have been almost nonexistent. When Payton finally settles down, Rayla is up screaming. When Rayla is quiet, it seems Payton needs to scream. I think they've had a total of 45 minutes of sleep time today. That's not good. I hope they feel better soon and forget all about their pacifiers too.
We all got bundled up and went on the deck for a little while. It was fun for a few minutes, but it was chilly out there. Here are a few pictures from that mini adventure.

Tunnel Vision

I came home tonight to Rayla and Payton being in great moods. I love when that happens.

We had a great night skyping with Auntie Shannon and Uncle Euan. It still cracks us up when Uncle Euan talks to Rayla and calls her a "shy girl". She ducks her head and blushes every time. Rayla also did something kind of fun tonight. She came up to me and said "Mamo", so I repeated "Mamo". Then she said "Baba" (not sure what that means yet) and I of course repeated it. Then on her own, she went back and forth repeating Mamo and Baba with me. It was fascinating watching her mind work while she thought out her next word.

Payton's night consisted of hiding in the large cardboard box in the living room. She is the best at playing peek-a-boo. She knows just when to poke her head out and when to keep the suspense just long enough before someone comes looking for her.

Then they both took turns crawling through the tunnel Yaya and Papa Joe got them for Christmas. Ah, I love these nights.