(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

My kids have mixed feelings about bananas but they will eat a whole bowl of spinach. Go figure.



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Nine Months!

These little guys are now nine months old. I brought them to their nine month well babies exam earlier in the week and learned that our identical twins are identical in their weight and measurements  .They are both 18 lbs. 12 ozs., 28 inches tall and a head circumference of 18.75 inches. That one surprised me because they have always had variance. The nurse was pretty amused by the whole situation as well. I really thought these kids had broken 20 lbs. but it was just my current lack of muscle strength.  Regardless, when you have these baby boys loaded up in their car seats they are heavy.  I can no longer carry them both in their car seats all the way to the car. I have to take breaks! So the little guys are on the lower end of weight and height (34 and 37 percentile) which I was surprised at because of their clothing sizes but their head size is off the charts according to the doc.  Poor guys do not like getting their shirts pulled over their giant noggins.

I love their fuzzy heads--Winston (left) and Abraham.

This is real life.  Abraham takes things away or pulls on his brother and

Winston lets me know how he feels about it.

This is how Abraham feels about green beans.

Abraham is becoming such a sweet and affectionate little boy.  He gives lots of hugs and it is absolutely heart warming.  He gave the nurse a hug when we went to the doctor's and she was thrilled because as the one who has to give kids their shots, she does not get many hugs.  Abraham also has a stubborn streak and does not like correction.  It's something we are constantly working on.  He is a texture eater and is not too crazy for things that are more grainy or that he has to chew.  He makes the sweetest coos when he wakes up in the morning and when he is done drinking milk. 

Winston checking out his apple.

Winston is so outgoing and loves to work a crowd.  When people stop to talk to the boys, Winston starts shaking his head and giggling to put on a show. He is more vocal (or whiny) about his needs and wants. In general he is more sensitive and once corrected will stop because he does not like disapproving tones and looks. His smile takes up his whole face.  Winston loves food. Period.  He is pretty open to eating whatever is set before him.  He still loves his mobile above his bed and gets so excited about it being wound up.  He flails his little limbs in anticipation and his eyes and smile show such innocent and joyful expectation. 

Observing babies in the wild in their natural habitat.

Abraham likes trying to open up drawers.

 "Hey mama, what's up?"

These boys are rolling all around and are figuring out how to crawl.  Abraham has the backwards scootch figured out pretty well but gets frustrated when he backs up into something and cannot maneuver back out.  They pivot on their bellies and do 360's.  They are both sitting up really well now. I just had to give Winston a little more time. It's amazing how one baby starts doing something new and his brother picks it up within a matter of days.  Both boys can say mum-mum and dada.  They have learned that when they want out of their play yard or jumpers that 'mum-mum' works pretty well.  I am working on some sign language with them and look forward to them hopefully learning to express their needs better.  This will lead to both happier babies and a less stressed mama.  Winston has six teeth, four on bottom and two on top.  Abraham has four teeth on the bottom and is right behind Winston with his top teeth as well. 

 "We are kind of busy here with the ornaments. Do you mind?"

 My beautiful family

 Love how they look like little men in button up plaids and flannels.

 Trying to motivate them to crawl.

These little guys love when someone sings to them, they are learning about how fun it is to have books read to them and they like to rock and shake their heads in unison.  They are a lot to handle at times but they are so much fun.  It's a blessing to see how much more they are each becoming their own little person with every passing week.

We are so excited for our first Christmas with our baby boys.  We have been so blessed with our  boys and look forward to teaching them about Christ their Savior and the reason we celebrate our Immanuel at Christmas time. 

We Like To Eat...

Some of the most entertaining moments in our household are during meal times.  The boys can make the funniest faces and are absolutely hilarious.  We are working on more finger foods.  Winston likes food period.  He will eat anything it seems, so it has been an easier transition for him.  Winston chews really well and with the three teeth he cut in the last week, he is catching on really fast.  Abraham is my texture eater.  He is not too impressed by table food because he likes purees.  I know it is just going to take him more time. 

It's amazing to see the similarities yet the differences in these little guys. It's also amazing to see how they change as the months go by. When the boys were newborns, Abraham was the big eater.  He picked up nursing quicker and was a much faster eater than Winston. 

Love these little guys:

Abraham can give such mischevious looks.

Winston likes gnawing on apple slices. 

I am Abraham and I am a stinker. 

They grab the spoon but the food does not quite make it in their mouth. 

Winston was all smiles here because he felt like a big boy. 

Just One Day

I have accomplished one day now as a SAHM (stay at home mom).  The boys are at a really pivotal stage developmentally and I am really thankful that the Lord saw fit for me to stay home with them at this time.  Abraham is starting to develop separation anxiety.  I walk into the next room and he gets upset.  I have to keep talking to him to help him try to understand that I have not left him.  Both boys are getting little tempers at times and Winston even arches his back and kicks his legs.  Where do kids even learn that?  Isn't it amazing how intrinsic (cough...total depravity) it is for them to act that way?  The boys are also becoming competitive in regards to attention from me.  I can play with and hold one baby for a while and then go spend some time with the other baby and the original baby starts wigging out.  I obviously want to quash that competitiveness.  I want them to understand that I love them both equally and that they should be happy to see their brother loved in the same way that they are.

I know that I have a big transition to go through.  My biggest concern is creating a healthy balance of spending good time with the boys but also getting things done around the house when Eric is at work.  I don't want to be slothful and waste too much time.  I had a good talk with Eric in regards to goals and expectations for the coming weeks.  We agreed that there should be goals but to limit any expectations. By expectations I mean things that I expect from myself or things that Eric could expect from me.  The problem with expectations is that they are not always realistic. Something I am trying to do to keep progressing forward in getting into a new routine is to keep a daily journal or record of items that I get done and goals for the week to accomplish.  For example, one thing for today was that I gave the dogs a bath and trimmed their nails so that got written down.  A lot of little things will eventually add up to the big goals. 

One thing I have been working on is introducing more variety into the boys' diet and letting them explore touch and taste by feeding themselves.  Even at four months they were starting to grab for food so I knew they were ready.  I did not want to get them too dependent on being fed all the time.  Winston loves food no matter the form and is taking to feeding himself pretty well.  Abraham is definitely more picky in regards to texture and flavor.  Both little guys love their apples however.  Winston has managed to bite off big chunks with his teeth so we watch pretty carefully to make sure he does not try to swallow the whole thing.  Here they are:

Video...finally!

Pterodactyls and iPhones

So what is new with us?  I am currently holding down the fort here.  Eric comes back from a work trip tomorrow.  Fortunately, his first two trips have been short so it has given me a chance to acclimate to him being gone.  My sweet husband decided to get me the new iPhone so that we could stay in touch with FaceTime.  I love him.  I am totally the type that takes a gesture like that to be really romantic.  Roses die and fancy dinners out can pad the hips but iPhones are forever (okay that's a bit of a reach).  It meant a lot to me however that he prioritized getting me a new phone so that we could stay connected. I was so excited because I thought I was going to be able to post a video but I am having technical difficulties with my phone syncing with You Tube.

I mentioned a while back that Abraham was my careful eater.  Yeah well, he let me know how he felt about a rice and green bean mixture the last two nights.  He was eating straight green beans a couple of days ago but I made the mistake of adding pureed white rice.  The child apparently prefers the store bought rice cereal.  He alternated between blowing raspberries with his mouth completely full thus projecting white rice and green bean mixture everywhere or just pushing it out with his tongue.  Oh, he also made a screeching sound like a pterodactyl as he was pushing the food out.  It was so ridiculous that I was trying not to laugh. The last thing I wanted to do was encourage that behavior however.  The crazy thing is that Winston was sitting right next to him chowing down on the exact same thing and getting antsy when it took too long for me to give him another bite.  These babies and their flip flopping. Man, now I am bummed I cannot get that video up.  Trust me, it's hilarious.  Hopefully I can get it figured out this week. 

I absolutely love being the mommy to these boys, every messy bit of it.  Sure they have their moments but how can I not just melt when I get a face like the one below?

"What, do I have I have something on my face?"

Wordy Wednesday: The Teething and Feeding Edition

I have fallen off the blogger wagon as of late and am trying to get back on. I really don't have an excuse. By the end of the day I tend to feel like mush and writing is the last thing I feel like doing. I figure the only way I am going to remember this crazy twin time in our lives however is to write it down; so forgive this more verbose post as I am trying to document what is going on with our little men and how quickly they are changing.

Abraham cut his first tooth two weeks ago and Winston quickly followed last week with his. They cut the exact same tooth. At first I thought they had each cut a tooth on the opposite side from one another but it was in fact #24 that was the first tooth cut for both of them. Winston cut his second (#25) tooth earlier this week and it looks like Abraham is just days away from it as well. The actual tooth cutting has been easier than the weeks and months leading up to it. Abraham especially was like a different baby once he got over that hump. The drooling, drool rash, biting and irritability have been way less of an issue. They don’t do the random pain cry (as opposed to whiny, hungry, tired, etc.) nearly as much anymore. We hardly used any pain reliever when the teeth were coming through and not any for the tooth that just came in for Winston. It was just a matter of checking one day and sure enough they had finally come through. I am not sure if it was the teething necklaces that helped so much or that our kids just have a harder time with the earlier stages of teething as opposed to the actual cutting part. Abraham is my biter, if you catch my drift, and I have had to flick him when he does it. He has not bit me in the last four days so I am hoping he has caught on.

Eric manages to show off Winston's toothlets

This is the face Winston makes every single time he tastes his food for the first time. 

Fortunately he warms to it pretty quickly.

Also these boys love their food and were definitely ready to start getting some variety into their diets. Abraham took to eating from a spoon right away and would get grumpy if there was a deceleration in the pace. It was like a constant shoveling motion with him. Winston was tongue thrusting more and would also keep bringing his right hand up to his mouth and start sucking his thumb. We kept taking his right hand and removing it from his face while telling him no. We would also hold his hand down until he figured it out. Winston now does really well and generally has about the same pace as Abraham when it comes to eating. Winston is still our little gourmand however and will roll the food in his mouth and play with it before actually swallowing it. We tend to feed the boys separately because they get distracted by watching one another. They both eat about a cup of oatmeal mixed with breast milk in the morning and a cup of a vegetable and rice cereal mixture in the evening. Their afternoon bottle gets some oatmeal added to it as well. They are learning to drink water out of sippy cups as well as regular cups. Winston picked up the regular cup really fast. Winston would be watching me drink water and his little mouth would make the motions so I decided to give it a try. Granted it gets a little messy when they take in a little more than they actually swallow, but that’s why we only use water for now.

Abraham open his mouth nice and wide.

Winston showing how off his big boy cup.

They are packing on weight quickly with the addition of more solids to their diet. My arms get tired quickly if I am trying to hold or bounce them both at the same time e.g. at church trying to keep babies that have missed their naps happy. Collectively they are over 30 lbs. of baby and with their car seats over 40 lbs. I need to get some weight training in so I can keep up with these kids. The increase in solids also meant more sleep for Eric and me (cue the sounds of celebratory music in the background). The increase in solids has also meant waking up occasionally around 3 a.m. to some gross diapers. Seriously, I wish the kids would contain their BM’s to daylight hours but I guess that’s how their little metabolisms work. Of course once they get their diaper changed, they are even more awake and they need something to eat (read milk) before they will go back to sleep. They take after their mom in that regard, not the milk mind you, but I have to eat something if I wake up for more than a couple minutes during the middle of the night. Six months was a really big milestone for us and I think it has gotten easier juggling the needs of the two babes. The boys are at a really fun age and I am looking forward to doing their seven month post and sharing all the little personality quirks that have come out in the last several weeks.

The Weekend

This past weekend I played Bunko on Friday night. Our Bunko group is comprised of mostly Christian ladies from our area and I always feel refreshed after getting to hang out with these women. I enjoy the conversations and the different stages of life we are all in. Eric encourages me to go and obviously stays with our little munchkins so that I can participate. He is wonderful :-)

Saturday morning we slept in. Eric brought by some visitors:



Once I got going after I made some coffee, I made the boys enough yams to get them through high school I believe.



And I still had three ice cube trays besides the thirteen cups I made here:



And here is our new family photo hanging up in our living room:



Just enjoying our little moments and feeling very content.

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Random Friday

-This past week was pretty difficult on the sleep front. The boys were both waking up to eat every three hours. Pretty sure it was the standard six month growth spurt. Last night was so much better. They each slept over eight hours before waking up to eat again--thank you Jesus! I was getting a bit frazzled there but am seeing strong hope for more sleep.
-Made a ton of pureed carrots for the boys last night. So much more economical than jarred baby food and it does not have all the preservatives and added junk. Think I might have to post about making baby food as I do more of it.
-The boys are picking up eating with a spoon pretty quickly. Hopefully the cereal and vegetables in their diet will help with the spitting up. We gave Abraham the first dose of his reflux medicine today. He has been more irritable the last couple weeks so maybe the meds will help.
-Tomorrow we are going to try to do photos of the boys again. Hopefully it will go better than last time.
-I am hoping to post about Adam and Alisha's wedding this weekend. I just have not had the energy this past week.
-Starting to see hints of fall. The mornings have been cool enough that I use my heater on the way to work. Then afternoon comes and it's hot again. Today had a cool breeze though. Looking forward to sweaters and scarves and pumpkin, lots of pumpkin.

Happy Friday everyone!

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