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Sunday, September 25, 2011

7 months

The boys are seven months old. Time is absolutely flying. Now that fall is here, I'm beginning to realize just how long it's been since they were born. It was cold out when they were born, and here we are again with crisp temperatures. Pause button, anyone?

This age is just so fun. Eli was crawling at seven months, and these guys are little wigglers, but no crawling yet. Ryan spends all of his time on his tummy and refuses to stay on his back while his diaper is changed. Spencer likes both his back and tummy. Ryan is starting to scoot a little and both can rotate and roll all over.

Both have two teeth and have enjoyed eating vegetables. They also both try to hold their own bottles- sometimes successfully. They jump like crazy in their jumperoo. They seem more and more interested in each other too. They like to nibble on each other- a hand, a leg, whatever they can grab. Now that they both have teeth, it usually ends in crying.

Bathtime is so much fun. Ryan is a splashing machine and tries to dive frontward into the water. Spencer likes to first stretch out and relax and then he gets all into it too.

Both are making more sounds. Ryan is starting to make raspberries. Spencer has started sing-songy stuff. It's so cute.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Our weekend

Eli has been in Milton for the past few days having a blast with my parents. I'll have to post more about their adventures once I get the pictures from Mim and Pop. Meanwhile back in Urbana, we've have a pretty good weekend ourselves. It's been nice spending more one on one time with the little guys and focusing on just them. Spencer had another tooth pop through on Thursday. Ryan has been sitting up for longer stretches. One thing I got to do this weekend was sit and hold Ryan while he slept. I rarely get to do that anymore and it's so sweet just watching a sleeping baby.

On Saturday we walked in the 10th annual Buddy Walk in Frederick at Baker Park. The walk was to benefit kids with Down Syndrome. The four of us were there in support of our little friend Julianna. Her team was called Team Cupcake- complete with Georgetown cupcakes for everyone who walked on her team. The weather was a little crappy- rainy and a little chilly- but the event was great and we had such a good time. We went over to Sean and Michele's after the walk and hung out for awhile.

Eli will be coming home tomorrow. We've missed him, but I think he's been having too much fun to miss us. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Two for Spencer

Two teeth for Spencer. The first one made its appearance on Sep 11 and the second on Sep 15.
He's pretty happy about it, too--can't you tell? :)

Saturday, September 10, 2011

A Brief Moment of Silence

All the kids are napping, but I'm sure one will be awake before long. Eli just went down. Spencer fell asleep on his play mat (he even still had his hand up in the air holding onto one of the dangling toys), and Ryan has been napping for exactly 3 hours. The family room still has some toys strewn about and I'm halfway through mixing pumpkin chocolate chip cookie batter in the kitchen. It's just so quiet right.this.very.second!

Julia and James Came Over to Play!

So my friend Christine came over for a little bit on Friday with her kids Julia and James. We didn't get any pictures of the actual playing. We were on full alert with 5 kids all age 2 and under. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of James. He is all over the place! It was a glimpse into what our lives will be like in a couple of months. He can sit up, crawl, and pull himself to standing. He also learned how to clap yesterday. I forgot how fast all of this happens.

The kids all had fun playing together. Eli and Julia hammed it up for the camera.



The obligatory silly face picture

Cheeks and Teeth

Ryan's second tooth popped through about a week after the first one. He looks so cute with his toothy grin.

Monday, September 5, 2011

More funny things...


Here's two more to add to the list I just posted.

Eli brought over a pair of shorts that he wanted to put on. He said, "I want to wear these black shorts." I said, "Ok, but those are navy blue." Know-It-All replied, "They're not navy blue, they're navy black."

(Background: When Eli wants to play with a different toy, I often tell him that he needs to put the other toy away first.) Fast forward to this morning. Eli, Ryan, and I were playing downstairs. I then went upstairs to get Spencer from Kevin. When Spencer and I walked into the room, Eli looked at me and said, "If you want to play with that baby, you need to put that one away first" and pointed at Ryan. I laughed and said, "Where exactly do you want me to put him?" He answered, "Away."

6 Months

The boys turned 6 months old on August 24. Wow. Half a year old. Kevin and I went through and packed away all their old clothes- preemie, newborn, 0-3, 3... all packed away. It filled more than one giant bin.

They are doing so many new things everyday. First, their hair is starting to grow in again. Ryan's is pretty dark- much darker than Spencer's. Ryan's eyes are brown and Spencer's are still bluish-brown. One of the strangest things to me is the difference in their skin. Ryan has the most perfect baby-soft baby skin. It's flawless and as soft as can be. Spencer's is rough and blotchy and dry--not baby-like at all. Very strange.

They are both rolling over, although Ryan mastered it a few weeks (5 months) before Spencer (5 months 3 weeks). Ryan can sit up unassisted for a little while, but Spencer can't yet. Both love to grab toys and put everything in their mouths! Both like to manipulate all the little gadgets on the exersaucer. They both love to fly like an airplane too.

We're slowly building up our supply of pureed baby foods- but they've only tried a few things so far- asian sweet potatoes, rice cereal, and zucchini. Spencer's got a strange rash on his face so we went back to straight cereal for a few days so it can clear up. I'm not sure if it's a reaction to food or not. I've got green beans, cauliflower, carrots, and peaches ready to go too.

Both are sleeping well- all through the night most nights. And by all through the night I mean 8pm-7am. Pretty good. I wake them up each morning Monday-Thurs to nurse before I leave for work. That seems to hold them over until about 9am or so for their first bottle.

They are currently wearing 3-6 mo, 6 mo, and 6-9 mo clothes. I pulled out a pile of things to keep- the outifts that they came home from the hospital in, etc. I can't believe they were that little!

Their personalities are very different. Ryan giggles at the wind. Spencer is more serious but will give us big giggles and smiles too. Spencer seems very observant. Both coo and gurgle a lot.

Spencer prefers to play on his back still but is starting to roll over more to play. Ryan prefers to play on his stomach and will stay on his back about 10 seconds before he rolls over.

Both love bathtime. Bathtime with Eli was always so much fun. I guess one of the drawbacks with twins is that bathtime is often rushed and is very assembly line-like. I always have to change the water in between babies because whoever goes first always pees in the tub. But they both love the time in the tub and the lotion and play time afterward.

Both seem to enjoy reading. Eli has a couple of books entirely memorized, so he'll read some to them too. "That's Not My Tractor" is a current favorite for Eli to read to them. While Eli paid no attention to the TV at this age, both babies will scoot and wiggle and strain their necks to see Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Ah Laundry....

I came across this print on this blog today and had to laugh. We sure do a lot of laundry around here.

Funnies

This blog has become a place where I document the milestones and stories about my kids. In addition to the blog I also do a yearly photo album. But I don't do baby books. Eli has one and I think I filled out a whopping 3 pages. Big failure. But I want to document the funny things the kids say and do. Maybe someday I'll keep a little book instead of jotting them down on post-it notes. I once bought little books for two of my friends for that very purpose, but I neglected to buy one for me.

So anyway, here are some funny things that Eli has said lately that I want to remember.

1. When I was picking up Ryan and Spencer in their room at daycare, they told me that Eli stopped in for a visit earlier that day. On the ride home I brought it up in conversation. "I heard you visited your brothers today in their room." He replied, "Mommy, that was hours ago!"

2. One morning I went in to his room when I heard him wake up. He had wet through on his jammies. I said, "Oh Eli, those jammies are all wet." He reaches down to feel them and says, "Oh yeah, they sure are."

3. At the beach a couple of weeks ago, I was holding Eli at the edge of the water. I was obviously wearing my bathing suit and Eli looks down, puts his hand on my chest and says, "Wow mom, that's a really big hill."

4. Eli really likes string cheese. Sometimes I pull it into strings for him. In an attempt to do something fun at lunchtime one day, I peeled back 8 "legs" and left a head and called it an octapus. He got a kick out of it and held it by the head and made the legs dance. Fast forward to the next time he was home with Kevin. Kevin got out string cheese for his lunch. Eli looked at him and said, "I don't want an octapus." Needless to say Kevin was a little confused.

5. Eli says he is a daddy and that his baby is his stuffed Mickey Mouse. He takes Mickey to bed and to the playground and puts him in the exersaucer and bouncy seat. One morning while holding Mickey on my bed, he told me he had to feed Mickey. I asked him if he wanted me to get a bottle for him. He said, "No, I'll do it myself. I'll feed him from my belly." Then he lifted up his pajama shirt and pretended to nurse Mickey. I could barely contain myself and went to find Kevin so he could see.

6. One day at the beach Eli and I were outside on the balcony. He was his usual chatty self and was talking  a mile a minute. He's the king of stating the obvious and it really cracks me up. He goes over to a picnic table on the balcony and points to it- about 1/4 inch away from it and asks, "Is that a picnic table that I'm pointing to right there with my finger?" Well yes, Eli, that is a picnic table that you're pointing to right there with your finger.

7. One of the gadgets on the exersaucer plays music- maybe 5 different tunes. Eli recognized "If You're Happy and You Know It:" and keeps pressing the button until that one plays. Just like #6 above, he will ask, "Is this If You're Happy and You It?!?!?!" Then he starts to clap his hands along with the song. One day he asked Kevin if that was the song playing. Kevin said it was and Eli said, "Well then clap your hands Dad." I think the tone of voice was the best part. It was like, duh Dad. If you know the song, it tells you to clap your hands.

8. Eli was running on the sidewalk one day and tripped and fell. He looked down in horror at his scraped knee and in between sobs cries out to me, "THE SIDEWALK GOT ME!"

9. One day during nap I heard Eli crying out. I went in to see what was wrong. He was holding his toe and crying saying, "My little toe is broken!" I calmly kissed it and asked what happened. He replied, "It got grabbed." "It got grabbed:? By who? By Mickey?" He holds up his hand and replies, "No, by my hand."

10. And finally today, Eli comes running past me 50mph on this way to the potty. I follow him in and he says, "Go away Mom!" I said, "That's not nice way to talk to Mommy. How about you say, 'I'd like to try it by myself.' So then he answers, "I'd like to try it by myself. Go away Mom."

Friday, September 2, 2011

Playdate

Last week the kiddos and I went to my friend Christine's house for a playdate. We got together with friends from work. Eli was excited to see "Mrs. Michele and Julianna, Mrs. Davidson, Mrs. Edmonds and baby Bryn, and of course Julia, James, and his favorite... Mrs. Walsh. We left a little after naptime and right around the time that Hurricane Irene arrived.

Danielle and Spencer became quick buds


Sadie and Bryn

Cutie Patootie James


The whole gang minus Julianna... Spencer, Julia, James, Ryan, Eli, and Bryn

wrestling...and some hand eating







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