7 month update

Watch out world, they are on the move! Riley is ALL OVER THE PLACE and Landon is not too far behind.  Last week Riley started getting up on all fours by backing herself up against something (like a table leg) and now she has advanced beyond that and can get up on all fours without any propping help.  She gets up, rocks back and forth a few times, and comes back down.  Her new favorite trick though is to extend her legs when she gets up on all fours and do a little baby yoga. :) Landon has this rolling thing down now and can roll in both directions, especially in an effort to get what he wants.  He is much better about spending time on his tummy and likes to be able to prop himself up on his arms as well to play.  He is making the efforts to get up on all fours and does use his legs to propel himself across the floor as well.  Officially, Landon is diagnosed with Hypotonia (low muscle tone) which is causing some “developmental delays.”  He has shown a lot of progress in physical therapy and we are confident that this won’t be a permanent issue.  It is fairly common in twins as they are more compact for space on the inside, so one or both is not getting the “exercise” needed by kicking mommy.  It is pretty interesting actually, a baby’s muscles begin development in the womb by kicking and hitting the uterine wall- the wall provides the needed resistance to develop the muscles.  If they are not overly active or cramped for space, it can lead to low muscle tone and they will just require some additional work on the outside to teach the muscles to fire.  Both the Hubby and I work with him daily so we are confident he will "catch up" soon.  His DocBand is going well also.  He doesn’t seem to mind it anymore – until Riley grabs at it.  He still has several months left of wearing it, but he is already showing progress and I can’t believe the difference in the shape of his head already. 

Ready for the Valentine's Day Party at Daycare... (also the helmet before it's amazing paint job)

After - we went for an Illinois theme with representation of the Cubs,the Bears, the Fire, Sears Tower and Superman (Metropolis, IL)

They grab and touch everything, especially faces.  I have learned to wear earrings that are a “quick release” in case they get a hold of them.  My hair, however, is not a quick release and that is their other favorite thing to grab at.  They like to play in the jumpers and after some room arranging the jumpers are side by side so they can talk to each other as well.  We also set up a play yard area for them to play – the playpen just didn’t have enough space for them to roll around.  They seem to like their new play area and… the big news is that they now play with each other! Well, there is some battle for the toys that requires an intervention at times.  Riley is a bit of a toy hoarder and Landon gets a bit upset when he loses all the toys.  I love that they now talk to each other and interact.  They both do a lot of talking and laughing and have the cutest smiles.  Landon now has both of his bottom teeth and he loves to show them off!

I have really enjoyed being able to spend more time with them by staying home two days a week.  It can be hard as I still have responsibilities to work and I am trying to work as well as take care of them at times, but it is worth it.  On an average week day, I only really get to play with them for about an hour before it is time to feed them and start the bedtime routine.  Now I get two entire days to play with them in addition to the weekend and I feel a lot less overall pressure.  The weekend has always been so busy with cleaning the house and grocery shopping that I felt stressed out by it all.  Now I am able to find some time to relax and I have also learned to do some of the cleaning each night after they go to bed instead of saving it all for the weekend.  After seven months, we have also finally got a hold on this nap thing and the babies are taking consistent naps during the day most of the time) and they are asleep at the same time (again, most of the time).  They are getting “real” food twice a day now – cereal and fruit at breakfast and veggie/fruit combo at dinner and I plan to add lunch soon as well. 

The babies have been the subject of many photos lately! We had our friends next door take some pictures to document 6 months and a friend also wanted to practice her photography skills with babies, so of course I agreed! We were also finally able to take their 7 month photos….