5 months

Merry Christmas!

 (These pictures are getting a bit harder to take, but much more entertaining at least)

A lot has happened with their development lately! So much so that I have been sitting back to enjoy and forgot to write about it. :)

They continue to love to chew on their own fingers, each other’s fingers, and mommy’s or daddy’s as well.  EVERYTHING goes right to the mouth now – even Jasper’s tail on one occasion.  They both recently “discovered” their feet and those have made it to their mouth as well.  It used to be that when you laid them down they laid flat out, now the legs go up in the air as soon as the back hits the floor.  We are officially using the pack n’ play as a storage center/baby play yard now.  They love to lay in there with all of the toys and each other – until Riley starts pulling on Landon’s face/hand/ear and he gets upset.  Yes, my little darling is apparently a bully.  Also, Riley is now rolling both directions so watch out world she is mobile and no surface is safe.  Landon still hasn’t mastered the back to front roll, but I have caught him on his side on several occasions so he is almost there.  In actuality, Riley has been rolling for several weeks, but I did not see it until recently.  For all you working mommies out there, we all know it does not officially happen until we see it. :)

They continue to “talk” to anyone and anything that will listen.  For the last several days, Riley has “talked” the entire way to and from daycare.  I manage to turn it into a conversation that we make people wonder about my sanity if they could hear it.  Landon has recently discovered his tongue and it is now hanging out of his mouth all the time. The Hubby loves to stick his tongue out at him and have it reciprocated.  They both enjoy spending time in the jumper and are getting the hang of the supported standing.  They both seem to be making moves towards sitting up on their own as well.  They love to reach and grasp – especially mommy’s earrings and hair causing mommy to wear smaller earrings and to keep the hair tied up! My favorite development is the laugh.  Each of them has the cutest distinct laugh and I love to hear them laugh – it truly melts my heart.  I will do anything to get them to laugh and smile these days.  

We have ventured into the world of food.  It took a few weeks for them to really get the hang of it and enjoy the cereal.  They also were not fans of sitting up in the Bumbos at first, but over time I can really see the difference in their ability to sit up straighter and keep their heads up.  Riley prefers to eat Oatmeal and Landon prefers the rice cereal – add that to the fact they eat two different formulas and we have a lot to keep up with!  The plan is to add some veggies very soon so we will see how that goes. 

Christmas has always been a big deal for me.  Last year we found out about the babies right before Christmas and we were able to share the news right before the holiday.  This year we were able to enjoy some time with the families before Christmas and were able to start our own family traditions.  We took the babies to Atlanta and visited the Georgia Aquarium and the Coke Museum. The babies LOVED the Aquarium.  Their eyes got huge on several occasions watching the fish and you could see their eyes following the fish across the tanks.  They slept a bit at the Coke Museum, but they liked all the colors.  Of course, they are like a mini side show when we go out in public.  Everyone wants to know if they are twins and how old they are and we still get the “Are they fraternal or identical?”   I try not to make an odd face and just politely answer that they are fraternal. J  My parents traveled to Atlanta to visit with us and then came back to Charlotte.  They brought my sister and my 20 month old Nephew with them so we had a lot of fun together.  

The babies were spoiled for Christmas.  I could not help myself from spending money on toys and many friends and family sent toys as well.  They seem to love their new noisy and bright toys.  I swear they will  know the alphabet and numbers in both English and Spanish in the next few days – I might have to give them a little leeway on that one though considering they can’t talk yet.  

Christmas Morning

Iowa Hawkeyes jersey from Aunt Trey

Opening presents wore him out... he always sleeps with his hands behind his head. :)

Four Months

Sometimes I feel so much happiness when I am watching the babies that I tear up… there I said it.  They truly are the most amazing thing I have ever seen and to think about all the emotion involved with getting them here can be overwhelming at times.  Every single day I fall a little bit deeper in love with them.  They amaze me every day with all that they have learned! 

They love to “watch” TV.  I know they are far too young to watch TV, but they seem to love the colors and changing pictures.  We catch them looking at it from across the room.  They both seem to constantly have their thumbs and/or fingers in their mouths at all times now… makes for some really drooly messes.  Riley “talks” all the time! She seems to especially love to have a conversation with the monkey we hung from her car seat.  Every morning she looks right at it and smiles.  Landon is a little bit quieter, but he has the greatest laugh. He loves when you move his arms around or tickle his tummy – he really starts giggling with a huge smile on his face.  Riley loves to laugh as well and she is working on getting as loud as her brother.  They are really starting to reach out to grab and hold their toys now.  They both love the O-ball.  The Hubby is excited because he thinks Riley is reaching out with her left hand more and he said if she becomes a left hand (or footed) person she can get all the scholarships! The big accomplishment this month was rolling over! Landon rolled over last weekend and his sister could not be far behind when she rolled over the next day. To be honest, she had rolled over before at daycare, but I have a strict policy that the milestone will not happen until I see it with my own eyes. We have started sitting them up in their Bumbo seats more and they seem to enjoy it – for short periods of time.  

We had their four month check up this week.  Landon weighed 12 lbs 9 oz. and Riley weighed 11lbs 9oz.  Riley is about half an inch taller as well.  Landon has earned himself the nickname of “Tank” due to his short stature – he never seems to want to stretch out completely- and his heft.  It is an affectionate nickname. :) We still call Riley “Squishy” due to her constantly having a wet diaper.  Hope she does not hold that one against us if that name sticks around for awhile – ha ha.  They are still sleeping in our room, but we are going to start the transition to their cribs soon.  Currently they both have some congestion, so it makes more sense for them to stay sleeping in the monkey rocker that holds their heads up a little.  Speaking of heads, Landon has developed a love of turning his head to the left and as a result his head is a little “off” of where it should be at this point.  We are working with him on that and will hopefully be able to avoid further intervention, but he is not happy about it at all. 

This past month has been busy! We had their first Halloween and we traveled back to Illinois to have them christened.  That was a really special occasion for us - we had the ceremony at the church where we were married, Christ the King Chapel at St. Ambrose University.  It was very special to me that the babies were wearing outfits made out of my wedding dress.  They looked absolutely adorable! The babies did pretty well in the car considering it is a 13 hour drive - a long time to remain confined in a car seat.  We were all glad to be home once we got here! 

Cousins... it was almost impossible to get all of them together, didn't manage to get them all facing the same direction.

Payton brought Riley a pumpkin - he was fascinated by them.

Not very interested.

 

The adventure with cereal will begin soon... stay tuned for more details. :)