The Hunter Family Five: Almost 25%

Well, Tuesday will make 8 weeks since Patrick left and I am feeling a little heartsick for my husband these past couple of days. There are many reasons for this- being lonely, being pregnant and missing having his help, the girls missing him, the list goes on. But I just have to keep in mind that he will be back in a little over 6 months and this will all just be a distant memory once he's back. And there will be a sweet new little addition to our family that he will get to meet for the first time and the girls will be so happy to see him and so will I! Trying to focus on the positives :)
On another note, Patrick's parents (Nonny & PopPop) came into town and we had such a good visit with them. The girls are smitten with PopPop and wouldn't let him out of their sight the whole visit and would ask for him until he appeared if he wasn't right there when they would wake up in the morning or from naps. Then he wasn't allowed to leave the room once they found him or else he would have 2 little tagalongs on his heels! They crack me up ;) They have always loved PopPop since the time they were very little but I think it was even more heightened this time with Patrick being gone. They are really eating up attention from males right now and I think it has to do with daddy being gone and them missing him. And of course they loved having Nonny here as well. Mike came for 4 days and then had to go home to get back to work but Debbie was able and willing to stay for another week to help us out, which was VERY much appreciated. The girls have begun talking up a storm and if I would go into their room when they would wake up without Debbie, they would both say "Where Nonna?" (they call her nonna instead of nonny right now) and then they'd say "I don't know!" and they'd keep saying it until she showed up. We did lots of things when they were here that I don't usually do on my own with the girls like go out to eat and go to the mall. Partly because these can be daunting tasks when you're outnumbered by one year olds and partly because my pregnancy bladder has me going to the bathroom so often and my double stroller doesn't always fit in public restrooms and I can't leave them out in the open unattended. Anyways, all that to say it was so nice to have a helper to be able to get out with them and do some fun stuff!
The girls are currently 20 months old and as I mentioned already, they have begun talking up a storm just in the past 2.5 weeks! They have truly become little parrots repeating everything they hear and saying it with whatever inflection they hear the person saying it. I will often say things that I want them to repeat like Thank you, I'm sorry, Please, Help, etc. but it's quite funny when they repeat something so grown up that I didn't intentionally say to get them to repeat. They really get me laughing so hard sometimes these days :)
Another new development is Hannah Kate's insatiable need for every single paci in the house and to switch them out for a different one over and over again throughout the day. It is maddening when she has a paci that is perfectly fine and she just starts crying and begging "Paci Please!" over and over until you give her a different one. I do think this has to do with Patrick being gone and her trying to make the paci make her world right again and when it doesn't she needs to try the next one. Ahhhhh! The tough thing is that the paci used to make her happy but now it just seems to stress her out and in the process it really stresses me out because we can be out somewhere and just out of the blue her paci is no longer good enough and she's crying because she wants a different one than the one she's got but mom doesn't have a spare! Temper tantrum without a solution. So...today I had had enough of this paci craziness and really pondered over whether to just cut her off from it cold turkey or do something a little less dramatic. I decided on the latter and decided to cut her off from using the paci during the day and only letting her have it in her crib for naps and nighttime. When she woke up from her afternoon nap I told her that paci was going to stay in her crib and explained that it would be there for her when she came back to go night-night. She initially cried for about 10-15 minutes and begged for the paci but I just kept repeating to her that it's not for playtime, just nighttime and that it stays in her room and she eventually quit crying for it. She played really well for the rest of the evening without it but did ask for it about 3 times. I just repeated myself again about the new rules for paci and she would go on playing again. I really expected her to cry pretty much all evening until bedtime and was SOOOOO relieved she did so well! She actually seemed happier and played better this evening than she usually does so maybe the paci was stressing her out. This is just day one though...praying that this continues!
Other things the girls are doing at 20 months:
*They want me to read "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" before every nap and nighttime while they giggle up a storm and spin in circles until they fall down!
*They have started jumping this past week with both feet coming off the floor. Charlotte is a little more agile at doing this than HK.
*The love buckles and figuring them out. They would rather fasten the buckles on their swings than actually swing in the swings.
*HK has decided that she doesn't want to wear any pants that have snaps or buttons like jeans and overalls and throws a huge fit when I make her wear them anyways. She has really developed a sense for what she does and doesn't like lately and she's very vocal in letting me know when she doesn't like something.
*They love playing with their play kitchen we got them for an early birthday present and are really enjoying all of the pretending that goes along with it like pretending to cook and wash dishes.

Hannah Kate bowhead

Charlotte bowhead

HK (L) & Char (R) with PopPop riding the train at the zoo.

Charlotte practicing her buckling skills.

Spinning in circles and hiding behind the curtains while Nonny reads 5 Little Monkeys.
Char (L) & HK (R)

Rocking together, HK(L) & Char (R) with Nonny

Taking their first ride on a powerwheels toy at a friend's house!
HK in the driver's seat and Char sitting on the back.

The girls tried and loved cinnamon sugar pretzel sticks at the mall!
Char (L) & HK (R) They have the cinnamon and sugar all over their faces and clothes and you can see HK signing for "more"

Mom and Charlotte riding on the Merry Go Round at the mall.

Mom and Hannah Kate riding the Merry Go Round at the mall.

The girls decided that I would be a great seat to watch Baby Einstein on one morning. This didn't last for long because I could barely breathe! Char (L) and HK (R)

All decked out and nowhere to go! When Nonny got here she broke out her stash of treats for the girls so of course they had to play dress up and put them all on! And they love to run up and down the hall with their ball poppers :)
HK in the front, Char in the back sporting her new sun goggles.