9 Months!

Happy 9 months, beautiful babies!

"So then, Lily was all 'Yaaaaaah!' and I tried to tell her 'Graaaaaa!' but she didn't listen..."

"Roy, wait! Where you going, buddy? There's more to that story..."

Sunny Days

Boy, have we been enjoying this week of awesome weather! Charlie and Lily have been putting their new stroller to good use. We've been out walking every day, usually more than once. Joe and I have been loving taking the babies for walks after dinner. It's a great chance for us to talk and spend time together as a family, plus Charlie and Lily love to go out so the walks totally eliminate the evening fussy time. Besides our walks after dinner, the babies and I have had a chance to get out with some friends. On Wednesday we met my friends Gretchen and Trish and their sets of twins, Michael and Daphne and Angela and Daniel, in the park for a stroll. Needless to say, three sets of multiples strolling together through the park together certainly attract a lot of attention, especially when one set of babies is riding in little race cars! The following day we met my friend Jill and her daughter Maya (Charlie's future girlfriend - they've been promised to each other since Maya was in utero) for a long walk in the park. So nice, and a great chance for mommy to catch up with her friends!

When they weren't out seeing the world, Charlie and Lily were busy at home working on their solids. We had been doing some sweet potatoes each day, but recently Charlie has started acting up at bottle time. He's just not eating well and seems more interested in playing with the bottle than drinking from it. Lily also wiggles and twists and is easily distracted during her bottle feedings, although she still eats plenty. Anyway, some friends suggested that we try more solids since the babies may be losing patience with their bottles, so we added a second "meal" of oatmeal and bananas to the day. Lily eats like a champ - she opens her mouth for each bite, swallows immediately and eats a ton! Last night we even had to get her more sweet potatoes after she finished her whole serving. Charlie isn't quite as in love with the solids as Lily - he eats a couple bites, but then he starts pushing them out with this tongue or drooling the food out. We're hoping he just needs more practice and will take to them better soon.

Charlie has been doing awesome with his rolling though! So awesome that I found him on his belly at 5:15 am this morning clawing at his mattress because he was stuck! He's also been grabbing everything in sight, including faces. Lily is also a big grabber, and anything she gets her hands on goes right in her mouth. She's recently discovered her feet too, and grabs at them constantly. They are very busy babies!

Gretchen, Trish and me with all the babies in the park.
Mommy and Charlie, just chilling on a sunny Saturday morning.
Lily modeling one of her new spring outfits from Grandma. Joe calls the "Easter egg pants" and says Lily looks like a box of Paas egg dye.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope the luck o' the Irish is with you today!

Charlie is totally a McCutie!"Come on Mom, don't you these look a little silly?!"

The dual photo shoot didn't go too well. These were the best we could do!

Lily and Charlie were so excited for St. Patrick's Day that they couldn't even wait until they were out of their pajamas to start celebrating!

(Thank you to Nana for Lily's awesome outfit and headband! Thank you to Carolyn for Charlie's headband! The McCutie shirt and hat were all Joe!)

Another roller!

Today Charlie finally did it - he rolled! He's been close for several days, and today he just put a little muscle behind it and rolled right over. Like Lily, he rolled from back to belly and hasn't yet figured out how to roll from belly to back. So, also like Lily, he rolls to his belly and then lays there and cries until I flip him back over. It looks like I am going to be spending a lot of time flipping babies. Lily still rolls to her belly every chance she gets, and once Charlie did it once today he kept doing it over and over again. I was thrilled to be able to see him do it for the first time. Both babies were on the play mat this afternoon and I could see that Charlie was so close to rolling over. I waited patiently and then - boom - over he went. I was so proud of him - I started clapping and cheering and jumping up and down, then I got down on the floor and started kissing him. Lily stared at me for a second, then rolled over herself and looked at me like, "Um yeah, I can do it too, remember?!?"

I've also been working with the babies on sitting up. I know they are still young for that, but inspired by my friend Sarah who has been "practicing" with her little girl, I started sitting Charlie and Lily up on the floor and seeing if they can remain unassisted at all. Today Charlie sat up on his own for about 10 seconds, which was awesome!

Yesterday Crackers came over to visit and put together Charlie and Lily's high chairs for us, so today Charlie and Lily ate their sweet potatoes while sitting in their new seats. They really seemed to like the chairs, and both of them ate their entire 1 tablespoon serving of sweet potatoes like champs! I think we'll do sweet potatoes for one more day, then try something else. Peas, maybe?

Charlie and Lily in their new high chairs, waiting for their food.
Charlie LOVES his jumperoo! He bounces so high and hard in it and grins so big.

And Lily loves her exersaucer. Notice the pink ball - we temporarily lost the red ball and had to replace it with a pink one (another cat toy). She seems to like it just as much, but I did eventually find the red one under the couch so now we have a back up!

Take that, paparazzi!

You'll never recognize us now!

Sweet potatoes!!

It's been a very exciting two days here - Charlie and Lily seem to finally have gotten the hang of eating solids! We first attempted solids as per the pediatrician when the babies were about 3 months adjusted and they had no idea what to do with them. We tried for about a week with rice cereal, and then stopped. We tried once a month or so after that, but they couldn't really get the hang of swallowing. The other day I decided to give them a try with something other than the cereal since it certainly didn't look very appetizing. We tried sweet potatoes on Thursday, but neither baby got the hang of it.

Yesterday I saw the open jar of sweet potatoes in the fridge and decided to try them one more time rather than just throw out the jar. Nana was visiting and I thought she'd enjoy seeing the babies make a mess with them. I started with Lily, and much to my surprise she ate them!!! She started by sticking her sweet potato-covered tongue out then sucking it back in and swallowing the food. But after just a few minutes she was swallowing like a champ and even opening her mouth for the spoon! When I tried Charlie he swallowed a bit, but wasn't quite as into them as Lily. This morning Joe and I gave the babies more sweet potatoes and they both did fantastic! Lily got right into them, opening her mouth and swallowing them all down. Then Charlie seemed to catch on - he swallowed many mouthfuls and even opened his mouth a time or two. Both babies ate about 1 tablespoon, which is great! Joe and I are so proud of them - they are growing up so fast!

Contrary to the look on her face in this picture, Lily really enjoys her sweet potatoes.
Charlie is just happy to have everyone looking at him for a change!

"Hey Lily - where's your hair? I have hair....why don't you?"

"I don't know, Mommy. I couldn't find any hair on her either!"

Mr. Cool in his jeans and plaid.

Princess Lily, chilling with her toys.

Charlie and Aunt Jill take a snooze.

Spring is springing

The weather is finally warming up! The last few days here have been in the mid-5os, which has been awesome. We've been able to get outside, take some walks and enjoy some fresh air. The babies don't enjoy the walks quite as much as Mommy does, but I think a lot of that has to do with the sun. It really gets in their eyes, and the sun shields on their car seats really do nothing to block it. We currently use a snap n' go stroller, which is why they are in their car seats, but Crackers ordered Charlie and Lily a brand new double jogging stroller so pretty soon they will be taking their walks in serious comfort and style (and hopefully shade!).

Both babies are doing well. Charlie is loving his jumperoo - he bounces like crazy in it and grabs for all the toys. Lily is her usual busy and curious self. She still rolls from back to front every chance she gets, but this evening she actually rolled back - from her belly to her back! She's never done this before and while Mommy was in the other room Daddy got to see it. We're hoping for a repeat performance tomorrow!

Our main challenge right now is napping. The babies take three naps a day on a good day. Lily is a girl who needs her sleep. She becomes a miserable mess when she's tired. However, now whenever it's time for a nap she gets MAD. I swaddle her and bring her to the nursery and she just screams and cries and arches her back and wails. The whole time I'm just rocking her and going "Shhhhh" but she'll have none of it. She carries on like this for 3-5 minutes, then falls asleep. It's easy for me to be patient because I know that she is going to go to sleep, I just wish it didn't have to be so rough! She does not do this at bedtime or in the middle of the night - just at nap time and just for me. She does not cry for Joe, Crackers or Grandma. When they are rocking her to sleep she spends her time laughing at them, cooing, smiling and trying to get them to play with her. My theory is that she hopes that she can manipulate them into playing, but she knows I won't fall for it so she's mad. I'm hoping it's something she grows out of soon!

Charlie has been doing a great job going down for naps most of the time. At nap time I lay Charlie in his crib and turn on his mobile while I rock Lily (there is no putting Lily in the crib as she will scream like a nut). For the past several days he has been falling asleep all on his own, which is great! However, he doesn't sleep quite as long as Lily. His naps are shorter, he wakes up more at night and he gets up earlier. Joe has two weeks of spring break coming up soon and the babies will be close to 6 months adjusted so we're going to try to work on some sleep training while he's home. Hopefully we'll be able to get the babies to go to sleep on their own and start sleeping through the night. Fingers crossed!

Daddy and Lily hanging on the couch watching some TV. (Notice that Lily is clutching her new favorite toy, the maraca.) While Daddy and Lily were chilling Mommy and Charlie were in the kitchen making some apple crisp and dancing to Lady Gaga.
About to get ready for bed.

This is why Lily must be strapped into the bouncer at all times.

Mr. Angelic.

"Look Charlie! Can you believe the poodle is wearing this skirt?! It does nothing for her hips. Are you looking?"

Bigger is better!

"Bigger is better!" is something I used to yell out to my Body Attack students when I wanted them to put more oompf into their cardio moves. But I think that phrase also fits nicely into this post, because Charlie and Lily are getting big and we are so happy! The two of them saw the pediatrician for their final Synagis shot of the season and had a weigh in while they were there. Both babies have gained 1 1/2 lbs since last month! Charlie now weighs 16 lbs and Lily is 14 lbs 9 oz. We are so pleased with their progress!

This has been a busy week for Charlie and Lily so far. Not only did they visit the doctor on Tuesday morning and get to spend the day with Crackers, but on Monday they took a field trip to Nana's house and had so much fun! Nana bought the babies a little musical instrument set so that we could have parades around the house, and Lily has discovered that her new favorite toy is the tiny maraca that came with the instrument set. It's the perfect size for her little hand and she takes great pleasure in waving it all around. On Monday night she was holding it in the swing but kept dropping it. She would cry when she dropped it, but as soon as Joe handed it back to her she'd break out into a big grin and hold the maraca in the air all proud of herself. She is too funny! She gets quite intent on certain things. When in her exersaucer, for example, her main focus is on the little red ball that rolls down a track. She spends a ton of time grabbing that ball - she focuses so intently on it. I haven't told her that it's really a cat toy that I reincarnated for her, or that at night when she's asleep Roy and Roger steal it back and bat it around the kitchen ;)

Charlie is also doing wonderfully with grabbing at things, be it toys, Lily's face or Mommy's hair. When he feels like it, he can come very close to rolling over, but most of the time Charlie prefers to chill out rather than practice his rolling skills. His new favorite time of day is around 5:45 am. That's when he likes to wake up so that he can get some private Daddy/Charlie time! Most of the time I am the one who gets up with the babies at night if they wake up and do their middle of the night feeding, so when a baby wakes up earlier than we'd like Joe gets up with them. Charlie seems to have caught on to this because he's been waking up pretty consistently before 6:00 am so he can hang with Daddy while Lily and Mommy sleep. Charlie is just the sweetest, happiest, most easy going baby there is and Joe really likes his time with Charlie, even if it does occur before the sun comes up!

30 1/2 lbs of baby!
Pretty soon we'll have to rethink the pack n' play. They almost don't fit anymore!

Charlie making music in the jumperoo.

This is where Charlie and Lily hang in the mornings while Mommy does her 30 Day Shred workout. They love watching me jump around like a fool, but it's often hard to break Lily's concentration on the little red ball. Look at her staring it down!