... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : 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.