Six Months

Indulge me...

Dear Max & Kate,

Where does time go? It seems just yesterday that we were waiting to bring you home. You were impossibly small and fragile.




You came home at 4 pounds 5 ounces Max,



and Kate 3 pounds 14 ounces. What were they thinking sending you home so small? But you were strong and we haven't looked back.



I won't lie, it's been hard. We had a lot to learn and we are still learning. We were tired. I still am.



Max, you used to have hair.



Now you have chubs. Glorious chubs, big baby blues and the sweetest disposition. You are delightful, joyful and calm. You love to eat, you love to cuddle and melt my heart each and every time you lay your head on my shoulder or bury your face in my neck when you are tired. I never tire of your softness and love on you incessantly.





Kate your headbands fit now. You have grown into your big eyes and have a delicious double chin and squishy inner thighs. I love your dimples, your beautiful eyes, your happy squeals and chatter. I love how you light up when we come near to pick you up and you know just what to do to make sure you get what you need!



You are beautiful; full of spunk and life. And yes, attitude.


But most of all you are LOVED.

We are proud to be your parents, blessed to have you in our family.






Happy 6 months! We've come a long way!

Tummy Time

These were taken end of February and we have been working on tummy time. Well someone is not a fan! Max is great and ends up rolling over. Kate on the other hand...



She starts out well and then after a few minutes (if that!) screams like we are torturing her and ends up just giving up, laying her pretty head down and sucking her thumb.



As of today she is doing better, but still doesn't last longer than a 5 minutes at a time or think it is very fun. I am constantly distracting her with noisy toys and talking to her. Bless her little heart.

Sleep Update: Um, yeah. Definitely an isolated incident the whole sleeping from 7pm til 6am. The past few nights have been back to square one. Up at 10pm, 2am, and then wake up at 6am. Little stinkers. I went to them at the 2am feed and they were both on their backs and grinned so big at me, like "Hi Mom! Let's play! So good to see you!". I nursed them, burped, reswaddled and layed them down. Went to bed myself and as I am drifting off I hear little voices. Max talking as he is again on his back playing with his hands. I flip him over and he hollers at me. I ended up needing to rock him and then finally getting into bed an hour after the whole shebang started. Bless them!

And naps have been ghastly. 30-45 minute naps are the new norm. So stinky! Which means I get nothing done and have to entertain them since they don't want independent play time, just cuddle with mom time. Which is okay. This will pass. I think they are growing, so I feed them of course, and the rolling over bit is really cramping our (my) style.

I am proud that I am not freaking out like I would have in my earlier mommy days. I remind myself that this will pass, I need to enjoy the moment and them. They are still happy, good babies. And housework is over rated, right? Right. (But not when I need to prep the house for international company staying with us this weekend!)

Milestones

We have had a big week around here! Yep, we have some big kids now and they have had a taste of glorious food.

First I had to research this vast new territory of solids. Then we had to get all the gear; chairs, baby spoons and some little bowls just right for small servings. Finally we were ready for the big time. Don't they look so big? We placed Max in his chair first and he just sat there all tall and lifted his hands when I placed the tray on the chair. I gushed over him and lamented to Phil that they need to stop growing!



First food: Bananas!

Hmm, strange new texture.





She likes it!


And she knows just what to do with her spoon. Not really, everything goes to the mouth.


Another day of "nanas" and they love them. They now lean towards the spoon and open wide and are quite adept at working it in their mouths. And making a mess of course.


His chubs kill me.


The second and maybe more important milestone of the week:

Sleeping from 7pm to 6am last night! What?! I know! If only I could sleep as well as they did. I sleep with one ear open it seems and now I naturally wake and sleep really light between 1 and 3am, just waiting for them.

I tell ya, I was never so happy to see them this morning! My chest was rock hard and painful. I am not holding my breath for a repeat performance tonight but hopefully this trend continues. Our naps were stinky today though, not sure if it is related but I will do some troubleshooting and hope to have things ironed out by the end of the week. They would sleep for 30 minutes and then wake up and then be crabby pants less than an hour later. Stinkers.

They have learned how to roll over now and Max is always in a different spot. He pops his head right up when I lay him down and can stay perched up just looking around for 15-20 minutes. He inevitably rolls over and I have to go back in, turn him over and convince him to sleep. Today I had to rock him and within 5 minutes each time he would fall fast asleep. We think he now knows that is it more fun to stay up and play and he just fights it.

Kate is happy to lay down. She pops in her thumb which she now much prefers to the pacifier. Dang. I love it because she can soothe herself but then I hate it since it is going to be one mean habit to break. Oh well. Can't win 'em all and I will deal with it when the time comes.



I just love them.