6 Month Check-Up

Yesterday was the twins 6 month check-up and they are doing great...just as we suspected!! Here are the current stats:

Lilly Anne

14 lbs, 13 ozs

25.75 in. long

head measured 43 cm

Alexis Kathryn

15 lbs, 6 ozs

26.25 in. long

head measured 42.5 cm

Now if you remember, at birth Lilly weighed less, was a half inch longer, and had a smaller head. They are growing so well. We were given the gift of 1-2 size diapers when the girls were born. We had this giant box of them. About 10 days ago the girls finally fit into them. Well, today we bought size 2 diapers, since we may fit into that size before using up the smaller size. It seems like it took forever to grow out of preemie diapers and then grow out of the newborn size. Now we are just catching up sooooo fast! When they were still in the hospital, we told them all they needed to do was eat, grow, and let us love them. I think they listened!! :)

The seem to be completely caught up on development too. I realize that they were only a few weeks early, but it is good to see them sitting up fairly well, rolling over time and time again, and trying to crawl.

Lexi wants to move and crawl and fights sleep during the day. Lilly loves to suck her thumb, which puts her to sleep (anytime) and while she likes to move and keep up with her sister, she seems to prefer to be calmer and just look pretty. She flirts with her daddy a LOT!! Lexi is louder and more vocal most days. I am just so excited to keep watching them grow and change!

So cool...

I wanted to post a couple of cute photos of Eric. This picture was the normal scene in our home for the past 4 months...

NOW...this was the scene yesterday at the house. He wasn't asleep, but he and Sneezy were cuddling while the girls took a nap and I wrapped some presents. He soooooo needed this break to relax...looks like he is doing just that!!

When the twins take baths, I put the girls on our bed and Eric hangs out with them while I bathe one at a time. The other night, I had already bathed Lexi and she was snuggling with her daddy. So I bathed Lilly, laid her on her changing pad, dried her off, and put a clean diaper on her. Then I asked Eric to watch her because I forgot her pajamas. All I did was walk into the living room and come right back...Eric was laughing and this was what I saw. They can ABSOLUTELY not be left alone anymore. It takes them about 2 seconds to roll over several times.

She was so cute though because she got tangled in her towel and just kept rolling over in it. Here she is...

This is my favorite picture of the week...I put tights on them for the first time. I got this picture of Lexi before putting her little dress on. I just love those ruffles...

The girls got a sweet gift card from their Nana Parr for baby walkers. Eric and I picked out our favorites and purchased one of each. His favorite is being shipped a few days before Christmas and this one below is my favorite. I love the fact that it is so bright and colorful, plus has all the little animals on it...I guess it's the biologist in me. We purchased this one at WalMart and set it up. The girls LOVE it!!! Here they are playing in it yesterday....

These 2 pictures are Lilly!

Here is Lexi playing...their feet don't touch the ground yet, but they are starting to learn how to bounce and touch their toes to the ground.

And last but not least, I get the UMHB Alumni magazine and have been SOOOOOOOOO excited to send in the baby announcement. I got the latest edition a few weeks ago. Here are the girls being announced to the UMHB community. YEA!!!

It took me hours to choose a photo and when I sent in the picture, they were still sleeping a LOT during the day. Most of the other baby photos showed the babies faces, but I still think this is such a sweet little picture of them. They were only 1 month old in this picture.

Sisters...

Toby jumped up on the couch yesterday and there was a toy in his way. So he just laid down next to it and snuggled it. It was pretty cute....I did clean the toy later :)

Here is Lexi in a new "cowgirl" outfit....it is so cute and warm!

Here is Lilly in their little yellow outfit...she loves to sit on the couch by herself, and of course, I never leave her side.

Then this afternoon, I put their hats on them again and the funniest thing happened..they looked at each other and started smiling, laughing, and talking to each other all excited...here are 2 pictures of them looking at each other in their hats.

The week so far...

Our Christmas tree this year...

My first fireplace mantle...

My table all set for Christmas...I don't have enough cabinet space for my Christmas dishes so we just set the table all fancy and it is staying that way for a while! :)

I don't know about the rest of you, but I cannot believe Christmas is just 9 days away!! Around my house, we are not getting everything done. I have decided to let certain things go. I may not have all the lights up and may not have made a single Christmas cookie yet, but we are healthy, happy, and the girls are still having a lot of fun everyday. The fireplace is super decorated and the tree is beautiful and that is enough for my first year as a new mother, let alone a new mother of twins!

Eric came through the semester with a 4.0...my smart, brilliant man!! I am so proud! I would not have had the motivation that he had at this point in our lives. Last night, he went out and got us a nice dinner. That may sound like a small thing to some, but to me, who was having a bad and stressful day, it meant the world. He happily came home and even got it all together so I could keep doing the things I needed to do. The stress just melted away because I knew that he cared and that he wanted to be helpful!! Thank you, Eric! I love you!!

Here are some pictures of him playing with Lilly...

Today, I went to one of my favorite consignment stores in town to see if they had a baby walker that Eric and I want to get for the girls. I know my other favorite store has it, but they are not open until tomorrow. So I ran by to check and ended up coming home with these...I couldn't help it. They are so adorable and I have been looking at little hats with flowers since I first found out I was having girls. I have never had anything that large on their heads, so it looked funny at first to me. It only took a few minutes and I was in love with them...the girls liked them a lot. After about 10 minutes, Lexi realized that there was a large flower on her head and tried to pull it off!!

Lexi looks so grown up in this picture...
Also, since it was so cold today, I put the girls in their awesome handmade booties. My friend Jennifer Rogers made these as a baby gift. They are perfectly made and the girls like them so much. They kept pulling them off to get a closer look. This was the only picture I could get with all 4 booties on...

The Girls Are Famous

Feel free to watch the video on our girls' first time eating rice cereal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol7dlonApoE

Here are some other fabulous photos of them!!

Lilly playing with her toes...

Lexi smiling at Toby...

Time with Daddy. I got lots of photos during this time. I LOVE how Eric cuddles and plays with his girls!

Lexi showing off her new hair bow and then Lilly in hers!

Our Day

What a fantastic day we've had...I got up early and got some of my least favorite chores out of the way. Then the girls got up around 8 am, ready to giggle and play. If you read any of the entries from around Thanksgiving, you will recognize these darling little red jumpers that their great-grandmother made them. First we have Lexi smiling at how cute she looks, then comes Lilly checking out her skirt!

Then the other big thing today was the first introduction to rice cereal. Eric and I read a LOT and decided to wait until the girls were at least 6 months old before introducing anything other than my milk. They have their 6 month check-up next Friday, so we thought we would try it for a week and then talk about how it went with the doctor. The girls have been showing signs since the week before Thanksgiving that they were ready. Eric and I got out the video camera, got the girls in their highchairs and prepared the cereal.

We were both excited and after the way it went, the girls were SUPER excited too! We gave Lilly two bites first and she made a funny face, but then swallowed. That was all it took and she was hooked!! Lexi had the same reaction...it was adorable.

We are so pleased. They were really ready and they could have eaten all of it. We only gave them about 1.5 tablespoons to see how it affected their tummies, but I think they are going to be just fine!!

Lexi's eyes got really big as each bite approached her mouth...

She did lose quite a bit down her chin, but she ate a lot too. I love that little gooey face.

Lilly's eyes stayed big the whole time. I can't wait to post the video on YouTube of their first bites. It is hilarious. They also liked to munch on the spoon after swallowing.

This last one is Lilly's excited expression. I was just giggling so much by the time they were done eating. They drank a bottle and then happily got in their jammies and went to bed. I cannot express how much I enjoy being their mother!! It is truly the BEST job I have ever had and even though I miss them being so tiny and new, I am also LOVING this new chapter in their life. It is so cool seeing them learn and grow....and this is only the first 6 months!! :)

Naptime

Today we took a nap in our highchairs. Mom brought us in the kitchen to hang out and play while she washed some dishes and cleaned up. It was fun for a while, but we got sleepy. Here are some pictures that mom took of us...

Lilly is sitting straight up and Lexi is the one who fell asleep with her forehead to the tray...she was trying to bite it and then fell asleep!