Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

The babies are now over 8 months old. They're pros at crawling (in their own ways - still not on their hands and knees yet), Milo can get acorss the room in a flash doing his fishflop, and Serena could win an army crawl race. They love it when we let them out of baby jail AKA the playyard and let them crawl across the floor and chase the cats. They're also very attracted to wires and basically anything else at their leve. I guess we need to get to babyproofing asap.

We also had to lower both of their cribs all the way down because they can (and do) pull themselves up on just about anything these days, including their crib slats.

I haven't seen any new tooth, but they MUST be getting them. They've both been teething like mad and drooling like a saint bernard. Milo in particular is super-drooly and I've started calling him Slimer because anytime his mouth comes in contact with you it's like you were slimed ala ghostbusters.

We signed the babes up for swim lessons starting in September, just as something to do and to get them used to the water. I'm sure I'll post pictures from that experience later on.

We also had a little photo shoot right around their 8 month birthday.  A woman in our neighborhood is doing a Twins 52 project and we got to be one of the families for her project (it's called TwinBug Photography on facebook if you want to check it out). Some of the highlights are below.  Also, this woman has TWO sets of twins - 4 years apart. I just.. cannot fathom...

 My boys!

 

 Milo's pout

 

 Love their expressions in this one.

 

 My arms were shaking!

 

 Milo conspiring something.

 

Family shot.

 

 

Lastly, we've been weaning Serena off of the medication she's been on for her hemangioma (propanolol).  She's now completely off it and we're going to monitor her for a few weeks to make sure the H doesn't start growing again/get darker. If it seems stabilized, then we'll go ahead and schedule surgery for this fall. While I'll be glad to get it over with, I am pretty nervous about it. Better now than when she is older though.

 

 

I'll be leaving the babies behind this weekend as I head to Vegas for my friend's fake bachelorette party (see: http://imtyingthenot.blogspot.com). I am soooo excited to see my friend and to get away, but I also know it is going to be really hard being away from my family.  I wish I had taken a trip when they were younger and wouldnt have been so aware of my absence! Oh well, I guess I will just have to drown my sorrows in a beverage...by the pool....with my book in hand...

Where does the time go?

OK, I'll admit, those first few months, when people told me to cherish every moment because time will fly by, I thought they were nuts. The first 3 months felt like decades. But now, oh my gosh, I can't even believe how quickly the babies are growing and changing! I feel like every day they've learned something new, sprouted a new tooth, or grown more hair.

They are now 7 and a half months old. They are both doing a version of crawling - Milo pulls himself forward on his arms and then flops down. Serena is army crawling on her elbows. They can both sit up for long periods of time, and are getting close to being able to pull themselves up.

Serena now has 2 teeth. Milo has one but another is coming through now. Serena has started babbling alot and mama has slipped out a few times, though not intentionally. Milo still mostly just grunts.

I don't like getting teeth!

I love my jumper!

The big challenge these days is getting them to eat more food, less formula. Neither of them are too keen on the food thing yet, but Serena in particular really hates it. We've tried a wide variety of stuff too.  Typically for breakfast they'll have oatmeal mixed with either banana or mango, and then a veggie for lunch like sweet potatoes. We have to sneak in spoonfuls between sips of their bottle or they wont even open their mouths. Serena still gags alot and just hasn't figured out how to swallow without the bottle to wash it down. I keep joking that I'm going to have to puree her lunches and put them in a bottle when she starts school :)

Other than that, things are going really well. We've moved up their bedtime, and amazingly they seem to sleep so much better (and longer) now! They go down around 7:45 and usually sleep til about 7am.  We've started a new tradition of bringing the babies into our bed on weekend mornings to watch Sesame Street with us (buying us a few more minutes to rest):

Holding hands watching Elmo :)