8 Months Old

Love these "Born in 2010" onsies from Children's Place

Loving his daddy

I think she's actually pulling my hair in this picture and thinks it so funny

I'm sure he's thinking about something he can get into in this one :)

Leah's goofy face

It's rare now that we can get a picture of both of them because Colin doesn't hold still much anymore :)

Colin is crawling all over the place and pulling up on anything and everything he can. Our living room is barracaded and gated (why did we go with the open floorplan when building?). We have furniture and gates blocking all openings and he does not like it one bit! Leah is rolling and army crawling but it won't be long before she's all over the place too!

They are both wearing 12 month size clothing and putting away the 9 months clothes was pretty hard for me. I may have been a little teary even :)

Leah is "talking" quite a bit. Colin doesn't have much time for talking because he's always on the move. Leah says "mumumum" and "baaaaa" and "daadaadaadaa". Colin says the same "words" but not as much at this point.

They both just light up our lives and their smiles melt my heart :)

Screaming

Colin has learned how to scream - literally. I'm not talking a little squeal. He thinks this is great and uses it at will - when I walk out of the room, when his toy isn't doing what he wants it to, when he can't (sort of) crawl as fast as he wants to...you get the idea. I mentioned when I walk out of the room. This is generally a scream that turns into a cry as Colin has become a bit clingy. He has always been a mama's boy but he has definitely been more clingy over the past few days and I'm hoping it is just a phase. It's something I don't know exactly how to handle.

So Colin kind of crawling. He gets up on all fours and then rocks and then lunges himself forward on his belly. He just can't figure out those hands yet. Leah started rolling from place to place and is doing sooo much better with being on her tummy. I seriously thought there for a while that she was just not going to crawl because of her hatred for tummy time. It is still not her favorite and she doesn't like being on her tummy as much as Colin does as she would rather sit up which she does so well. She loves to sit on the quilt on the living room floor and play with her toys - especially the magic mirror. This is actually a favorite of both of them and they especially love it when mommy sings along. Yes, I know all of the magic mirror songs and the order that they play. I also know their favorite ones and their favorite parts of the songs. They both love "Head and Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and "If you're happy and you know it" and the peek-a-boo part of one of the other songs.

C'mon people...really?

Ok so we get quite a bit of attention and questions when we're out with the twins. Here are a few of my (not sure if this is the best word) favorites....

1. Are they twins? Someday, Brad and I are going to get up enough nerve to answer, "No, me and his ex had them about the same time." They are the same size, we are walking together, and they do look like sibblings (not identical though - see #2).

2. Are they identical? This generally comes after they ask if they are twins and what gender they are. We dress them very gender specific (i.e. Leah is in pink and usually a dress, Colin is in blue). Since they are not the same gender, they cannot be identical twins.

3. How do you tell them apart? I would like to refer you back to #2 and the fact that I am their mother!

We've had other random questions. I loved it the day I was asked by the checkout lady at Marshall's if I breast fed them.

I guess we were just out a lot this weekend so we heard these quite a bit. Don't get me wrong - I totally love talking about my babies it just seems like these 3 questions get asked all the time. So, if you do see two babies who are obviously twins, please steer clear of these questions :)

Tooth and Nail Fairy

Don't let this first pic fool you. She's sweet but she loves to wrestle with her brother. It's hilarious because she squeals with delight like such a little girl and Colin belly laughs when they wrestle. Oh the fun has begun...

6 months! So busy looking at everything around him but mom caught a big smile!

Leah at 6 months! Such a pretty smile and I love her funny face!

Loves to sit on the floor and sit up and play.

No matter where we live, we are KU babies!

Yay! Dad got Colin and Leah to smile at the same time AND caught the picture.

Colin is not so crazy about the pool but Leah loves the water!

Well, the tooth fairy has visited Colin and Leah. She left Colin 2 teeth and Leah one (Leah's not too jealous though). Colin's first one popped up 4th of July weekend and second one last weekend. Leah's first one popped up yesterday. They have actually done really great with teething and we really can't complain. Neither have run a fever and both have been a little fussy but not too bad.

So onto the nail fairy...I actually wish there was a nail fairy because trimming nails (times 2!) is not so fun. I seriously feel like I'm on a secret mission when I trim their nails. For the most part (like all but one time) I slip into their room after they're asleep and pick them up, one by one, bring them out to the dimly lit living room, and trim and file their nails. My eyes are straining and my body is tense during this whole process and I seriously feel like I need a massage to unwind afterwards! I'm sure the twins just think the nail fairy came at night and gave them a little manicure but someday they will see that the nail fairy is their mom...

The twins are now 6 months and I seriously cannot believe half a year has gone by! Seriously where does the time go?! At their 6 month appointment Colin was a little over 20 pounds and 27 inches long. Leah was a little over 18 pounds and 26 1/2 inches long. They are both growing like crazy. We stocked up on clothes newborn through 9 months when I was pregnant thinking they'd last us longer than 6 months :). We have had to buy sleepers (it seems like they always move up in these first) and are now stocking up on 12 months and up clothes. Speaking of, my favorite sleepers are definitely the Children's Place ones. They are soooo cute! I also love Children's Place clothes in general. They have some great bargains and $5 shipping and I am all about the online shipping deals now that we don't always have the chance to go out and shop on the weekends.

Weekend in KC

We went to KC last weekend and had a really great time. It is really tough coming back because we do miss everyone up there so much. Driving back after going to church on Sunday is especially tough because we really love our church. They were like a family to us. We also miss our friends. It was wonderful staying with Angie but we run around so much while we are up there that I don't feel like we got enough time with her! It was also great seeing our friends, Evan and Casey, and their newest son, Grant. It was so crazy holding a newborn again! It's hard to believe the twins were that small since they're so big now. Speaking of big, on our way back to OK, Colin threw a fit about an hour from home. I'm thinking next time we're going to need a convertible car seat because I think he's a bit big for his (he's almost 18 pounds now) with the long road trip. Leah did great but I'm thinking she'll be more comfortable in a convertible too as opposed to their Chicco car seats.

Our friends, Sarah and Jim, and their kids, Kristin and Garrett, stayed at our house while we were gone. They thought we were doing them a huge favor but really they were helping us out by taking care of the dogs and our cat while we were gone :). It actually did work out great because they had the house to themselves and my mom didn't have to come over to take care of our pets. They were amazing house guests too and went above and beyond. They are definitely most welcome to stay with us anytime!!

I am writing from my work laptop so I don't have any pics to post but I will post some soon. They are getting soooo big!

Temper temper...

Grr...the title is appropriate for 2 reasons now. One, I just wrote the entire post and when I tried to publish it, it erased it and said there were conflicting edits! Grrr. Two, Mr. Colin has been showing his little temper lately. They both love playing in the exersaucers. Colin, however, gets very angry when he cannot pull off the toys that are attached to it. He starts out kind of whining and fussing a little and then moves to what we call "the meltdown". He throws a fit and hits the toy or tries to bite it. At this point, he is removed from the exersaucer and consoled. We have removed all of the toys from the exersaucer that clip in and can be removed. There are two though that spin and make noise that are actually attached to it. These he hates. In place of all of the toys that were clipped on there are now loose toys that we put up there.

Leah doesn't seem to have the temper like Colin. She's very impatient though and when she wants something you better get it fast - bottle, nap, changed, played with, to swing....whatever it is she wants it now. She's still not much of a fan of tummy time (Colin rolls over and sleeps on his belly most of the time). She is doing better though and will tolerate it more and more. I think she doesn't mind it as much though because she constantly rolls over to her back. So it's more like tummy time for a second, then on her back, then us rolling her back to her tummy. She's been having on and off days with spitting up. Some days she won't spit up any and some it's every feeding. We'll be calling the doctor if it doesn't get better since she is on acid reflux medicine.

They are both sleeping all night for the most part. They each had one night this week where they woke up and we moved them to the pack-n-play in our room so they wouldn't wake up the other. Colin, we have realized, does not like having his bed elevated. We had slightly propped up one side of his crib since he had been having some allergies and congestion. Well, Thursday night he was not having it. So I moved him to the pack-n-play in our room and he fell back asleep no problem and slept until 7:30. This was the same night Leah slept until 7:00 and we are quite sure this was a rare occurence that we won't see for many years - like a solar eclipse or something. Well, Leah spit up in her sleep last night and woke up but was not wanting to go back to sleep. So I had to stand by the pack-n-play and make sure her pacifier didn't fall out - so fun at 12:30am :).

We went bathing suit shopping last night for me and the twins. Either I didn't get the memo about skirt bottoms being out this year or everyone wanting the skirt bottoms went early to make sure they got them. Either way, I hate bathing suit shopping and stores should be required to have skirt bottoms in stock on Memorial Day weekend for us women who have had babies this year and are wanting to make sure we're covered up and have waited until the last minute to buy a bathing suit because we were hoping for some miracle to happen and wake up with a sculpted Carrie Underwood body. So, pretty much I did not have a good time swim suit shopping for myself. I did, however, have a BLAST swim suit shopping for the twins. My mom and I went and she found Leah the pink tutu bathing suit at Target I have been eyeing but all of the hangers said sizes 12 months and up. Leah needs a 9 month size to last for the summer. Well, I looked online and no luck - all 12 months and up. My mom said one looked smaller than the others and looked at the tag. It was a 9 month size on a 12 month hanger!!! Okay, it may seem silly to get this excited but it's their first bathing suit and IT'S A PINK TUTU!! We found Colin some adorable blue Hawaiian print swim trunks and found them both swim shirts to match their suits, already had hats, and we're ready to go! I'm pretty sure they're going to look like little baby models in their pink and blue suits :). We also bought two float tubes for them to sit in with sun shades. We'll probably get to my uncle's house today (who has the pool) and they'll want to take a nap lol! I really won't be at all surprised though if Colin is less than thrilled about getting in the pool since he's not a fan of baths yet :). I will definitely post pics though of them in their bathing suits!!

4 months and counting...

Well, I know it's been a while when my address bar doesn't remember my blog's address :). So, what's new with us...

Well, the twins are now 4 months old. I really try not to say "the twins" but it just happens sometimes and it's just easier than always typing or saying their names. I do try though to say their names so that I don't get in the habit of saying it and they know their individuals. Okay off the subject but just typing out loud. They had their 4 month appointment on Tuesday this week. Stats:

Colin:
weight - 16#12.5oz (90th percentile)
height - 24 inches (25th percentile)
head - not sure on cm (75th percentile)

Leah
weight - 14#8oz (75th percentile)
height - 24.5 inches (75th percentile)
head - once again not sure (75th percentile)

So, Colin is a chunky monkey and Leah is too but just more proportionate :). Their first round of shots, they did fine. Ran a slight fever but were just sleepy for the most part. This time not quite so easy. They were both super fussy Tuesday night and wanted held and bounced. They ran a fever Tuesday night so we gave them Tylenol (well the generic kind since the recall). Wednesday morning they both slept in a little but seemed okay when they woke up. My mom called me at 11:00 and I could hear both of them screaming in the background and she asked if I could come home to help. Even though I hated it that they weren't feeling good, I really loved spending the afternoon with them especially since they wanted to be held and snuggle :). They've also been battling some head congestion on top of this (it seems allergy related). We were going to go to KC this weekend but with all of this and them having not felt so great this week, we opted to stay here and not make the 6 hour drive up (takes a little bit longer with baby stops). So we are going to go up the weekend after Memorial Day instead.

Colin is rolling over and over now and actually enjoys being on his belly. He wants to crawl so badly but just can't quite figure out the arm coordination yet. Leah still hates tummy time but we're working on it and she's becoming more tolerant at least. She'll roll over when she gets good and mad but she's still not too interested in laying on her tummy. They're both smiling all the time and are starting to giggle a little too. They are so much fun and we are just having so much fun every day with them!