11 Months Old

Our next monthday celebration will be counted in years. Twenty four Thirteen days to go (I started this post a long time ago, my life is in super slow mode). I can't even believe it.

Eleven months brought about tooth numbers 6, 7 and 8 for Ryan and tooth number 7 for Reese.

{ a little risky business, baby style }

Ryan is now up to three haircuts. Little guy's hair grows like a Chia Pet - fast and straight out! Miss Reese fell victim to Mommy's scissors as well. I was attempting a bang trim to keep her wispy hairs out of her eyes. She turned at the same time as I snipped, and instead of taking off the tips, we took off a few inches. All diagonally, of course. A few deep breaths later I was able to (mostly) straighten out her horrible hair cut. Thankfully it has grown back well and either it's hardly noticeable or I've gotten used to her Dorothy Hammil look.

{ sporting her terrible bangs }

My little puffle has really come into her own. She is the giggliest, squirmiest little girl you've ever met. Junior Miss is two feet of pure trouble. If I could define 11 months for that child in one word it would be curious.

She is into everything. Opening up drawers and pulling out everything inside, examining all of the contents piece by piece. Climbing on top of toys to see what's just out of sight. Standing on the very tip of her biggest toe to reach something on top of tables (she'll be an excellent ballet dancer some day!). Stripping toilet paper off of rolls. Pulling food out of the fridge. You name it, she's in to it.

Ryan is my little engineer. He is focused on and fascinated by how things work. Much of his day is spent stacking objects, fitting toys in their rightful place or, his very favorite activity, dropping something to observe how it will react and then crawling after it in order to drop it again. He's very into noises and sounds. How something sounds when it is tapped on the floor, the wall, another toy. How something sounds when it drops. What happens when two things clank together.







While Reese tends to focus on whatever it is she's doing, Ryan is observant of the whole space that he is in, from the floor to the ceiling. He's processing what things are and how they function.

I've been very surprised to see them catch on to how objects interact, open, close, function without any prodding or teaching from us.

Reese is our little bookworm. She's constantly pulling books off the shelf and pouring through them. She'll point to things inside the books, even though I'm quite sure she doesn't know what those things are. She loves to dance and bounce. If you tell her to dance she will do a little sumo squat thing and gyrate. Where did she learn that? I have no idea. The baby einstein puppets make her laugh her pants off. When she smiles she smiles crookedly, with her lower teeth shifted to the right. It's quite funny and I'm sure we'll see that crooked smile in many school pictures to come.

Ry continues to be my cuddly snuggly baby. He'll be standing up holding onto the coffee table, when all of the sudden he'll let go and lunge at your neck, nuzzle in and just hold on so very tight. He'll hug you for twenty minutes at a time, only stopping on occasion to pull back, look at you in the face and kiss you before returning to the crook of your neck for another hug. He is goofy beyond goofy. Always laughing. Loves to be tickled and thrown about and spun in the air.

That boy is absolutely fearless and seems to catch up with Reese developmentally at times out of sheer will and lots of courage. He went from doing the worm as his primary means of transportation to crawling on all fours to standing to jumping to CLIMBING to taking assisted steps all in a matter of 3 weeks. I was sure he'd walk after Reese, and he still may, but he caught up to her so quickly that it will be an interesting race.

Reese is very trepidatious. She enters new situations cautiously and, while she could easily be running already, she's only taken a few independent steps. She is literally too afraid to stand on her own two feet.

Ryan is a weird child. He does odd things all. the. time. I tell everyone he's my little goalie (if you know a hockey or lacrosse goalie, you understand exactly what I mean by that). He'll collect all of his toys and throw them in the dinosaur ball popper and then lean over the hole to allow everything in the dinosaur's belly to hit him in the face. Who does that? The other day I was sitting in a chair and he crawled up to me and started licking my leg like a cat. Strange little bird he is.

My favorite part of the space between ten and eleven months was definitely the babies' full acknowledgement of one another. They went from playing with the same toy or toy stealing to actually playing and interacting with one another. Reese will walk around the coffee table and Ryan will crawl full speed after her and try to bite her heels. She never laughs harder than she does when they play together. The love and patience they have for one another makes my heart swell.







I can't believe we are rounding out our first year as a family.

{ last year, 35 weeks pregnant }

{ this year, two 11.5 month olds }

Cheers to eleven months and happy new year to you and yours!

10 Months Old

We're on the countdown to one. I can hardly believe it. 

{ 10 months old! }

Ten months has brought about tooth number 5 for Ryan and tooth number 3, 4, 5 AND 6 (all at the same time, lord have mercy!) for Reese.

{ Oh, hello Sophie! Who designed a teething ring to look like a gag ball? WTF? }

Ryan got his first hair cut. It broke my heart to do it, but he was starting to look like a chia pet. Now he looks like a little boy (who is this little boy that ate my baby?).

{ I think he knows he's cute... }

Miss Reese is full of personality. When she eats she sits with her legs crossed. She's also learned how to fake eat. She takes food to her mouth, puts it in, gives it a small chew (a taste test if you will) and then slyly spits the food she doesn't want into her hand, holds her hand out over the edge of her tray, waits for Gracie to move closer and then drops the food to the dog. Little shit. I got an email from baby center that says they don't know what they're doing with food throwing, it's all about cause and effect, yadda yadda. I guess my kid is smarter than the kids that baby center tested, because she knows.

She dances to music, says "mama", "mommy" and "hi daddy" which cracks me up. We call our daddy a few times a day and I'm always telling the babies to say "hi daddy" and one day Joe came home from work and she looked at him and said "hi daddy". We both almost died. 

She can give hi-fives and thinks it's the funniest thing ever when you hold up your hand and say "hi-five". She plays with Gracie nonstop, and follows that poor dog wherever she goes. Just last week Gracie was eating and Reese crawled up to her bowls, stood up, reached in the bowl and grabbed some kibble for herself. I grabbed it just as she was giving it a taste test. Lordy, lord. 

Reese loves to read. The book nook I made for them in the basement has been a huge hit. She crawls over to her book racks, pulls down a book and sits down with it. She'll whimper until you read to her. And I am more than happy to oblige. Our favorite right now are the Karen Katz lift the flap books. We're learning about body parts and where they are. Her favorite part of "ears, nose and toes" is the tongue. She thinks it's a riot when I stick my tongue out at her and when I reach in and touch her tongue. Giggle fits.

She giggles when you kiss her. But she doesn't like to be held for long. This girl is on. the. move. She can walk behind toys, cruise the furniture and even walk while only holding onto one of your hands. But she hasn't taken a solo step yet. Peanut is a fraidy cat. 

Both babies are mobile now, which necessitated a few well-placed baby gates. Baby jail is kind of funny. Reese has figured out that the bunched fabric is flexible and she will press her face into the fabric as far as she can so she can look down the hall and see what's going on. Ryan recently figured out how to pull up to his knees and (sometimes) pull up to standing. The problem is he doesn't know how to fall. So he just hangs there and when he gets tired, he cries. Baby Huey.

Ryan still moves around utilizing the worm. Although lately he's been getting on all fours and rocking. His daddy is holding out hope that he'll "really crawl" someday. I can tell he's already more focused on standing and walking. I think he's tired of being outrun by his sister. 

This sweet face is the face of a biter :( Stupid mommy nibbled on this munchkin every day of his cute little life. It makes him squeal with delight. And then one day he crawled up to me, pulled up to his knees, leaned in and gave me a hug and just like I have for all these months he "nibbled" on my shoulder. Except his puppy teeth and baby brain don't know how to not hurt you. And he bit me HARD. He has since bitten his sister on the shoulder too (breaking skin). I taught my kid to be a biter. Oy. That's not been fun. The worst part is he thinks he's being affectionate. 

And affectionate he is. My boy loves to hug and kiss. When his nanny comes he leans in for the kill 263 times. Love him. He'll kiss you all day long. That's fine by me. He hugs with his whole body and rubs your back when he hugs you. I can't stand him. The cuteness is too much. Lately, he's been grabbing his sister and pulling her in and giving her a big open mouthed kiss. It looks like he's trying to eat her face. This makes her laugh hysterically. In my lifetime, I've never witnessed something as sweet as this. 

Ryan is a wonderful sharer and loves playing with other people and his sister. He'll offer you his food while he eats. The only thing he doesn't like to share is his milk sippy. That kid thinks drinking from a straw is the coolest thing to ever happen to him. He gets giddy and waves his hands in the air and starts to shake. When he sips his eyes get wide and he gulps frantically like he may drown. He's a character. If I offer his sister the cup, cue. the. tears. 

Ryan is proving to be a boy's boy. He loves roughhousing, rolling around, being tickled till he can't breathe, bouncing, jumping, being scared (Joe will jump out from behind things and shout "boo" and he laughs hysterically). He loves trucks and banging on things and bouncing a ball. He's a hearty laugher and there is nothing better than making him lose it.

I think the last half of nine months and the beginning of ten months has been my all time favorite age. They are affectionate, interactive and they laugh all the time. I love it.

{ ten months }

{ ten months }

They play together (a lot). Joe and I often wonder how hard singleton parents have to work to entertain their kids. Ours have a built-in playmate. Sometimes they don't even want to play with us, they're so busy with each other. Life is amazing. I'm so thankful for these little mushies. They take up every second of my day and every space in my heart.

Eight Months Old

The babies turned eight months (35 weeks) old last week. It won't be too long before they have been outside of my belly longer than they were inside my belly. I can't believe how much time has passed.

Eight months is a combination of fun and laugher and pure hell. 

Fun and laughter because the kids' personalities are really emerging. They will reach for you, (in Reese's case) crawl to you, laugh with you, play and interact with you and toys. This is awesome. Pure hell because they now have awareness of their surroundings but no ability to communicate their wants or needs. What you are left with is a whole lot of this:

At eight months old Reese:

• can crawl, go from sitting to crawling, and from crawling to sitting.


• will pull herself up to standing (in her crib, on furniture, on her toys).


• is able to walk on her own while holding onto us or a toy.


• babbles a lot. So far we've heard a definite "dada" and "mama", though it's quite clear that she doesn't associate those words with us yet.


• is an excellent eater and loves all food.


• can feed herself and will get food in her mouth 80% of the time.


• will give you a kiss if you ask for one.


• LOVES animals, and will go to great lengths to pet them. She is generally fearless. Almost a little too fearless at times.

{ feeding time at the zoo }

{ earning her keep }

{ too cute to be mad at, but she really should be sleeping }

{ kissing her own reflection in the drain cap }

{ rocking out at the music table - Daddy put her in Ryan's PJ's }

{ standing in the tub for the first time, so proud of herself }

{ Dancing in her crib during naptime. This is after 

she threw her pacifier over the side at her brother. }

At eight months Ryan:

• can sit unassisted and hold toys (he no longer needs his hands to balance).


• has four teeth! (Two bottom and two top.)


• hugs me tight when I get him from his crib.


• will kiss you if you ask for a kiss, but often gives kisses without prompting. To do so he grabs both sides of your face and pulls you into his lips. There is nothing better than this.


• rolls to his tummy, but then just stays there. And after months of forcing him "back to sleep" he's finally a very happy belly sleeper. 


• is a picky eater and will inspect the colors/smells on a spoon before opening his mouth.


• prefers to feed himself and is very good with the pincer grasp.


• laughs like a maniac all day. When he's really tired he'll start laughing at every and anything and you know that this is the happiness before the storm. Get the boy to bed!

{ loves to eat on his own }

{ bathtime is their favorite }

{ his hair is completely out of control, but I love it }

{ a typical day: one just got done throwing a tantrum, 

while the other is laughing hysterically }

{ miss sassy pants }

It is amazing to watch them blossom. We were told by so many multiples parents that the second six months are so much easier than the first six months. I haven't exactly found that to be true. But I can say that when the kids are on and fun - life is amazing. Their hugs and kisses and cuddles and laughter is so rewarding. Watching them interact with objects and figure out their world is incredible. But now more than ever Joe and I look at each other and actually ask things like "what the fuck just happened?" We can go from insanity to amazing and back again in the same day. 

This momma is really looking forward to words. 

7 Months

The babies had their Seventh Monthday on Thursday. Time is really flying lately. I can't believe they are closer to one than birth. What a thought. They've become more interactive, more vocal and more playful than ever.

At 7 Months Reese:

• is getting up on all fours and rocking.


• has two bottom teeth and you can see the mounds of the two top teeth in her gums.


• can sit unassisted using her hands (like a tripod) for long periods of time and can sit up tall (unassisted) and interact with toys for short periods of time


• is screaming like a banshee - when she's happy, when she's sad, when she's tired, when you look at her, when you don't look at her. It never ends.


• rolls all over the place, we have to be extra careful about where we put her now, constantly thinking about what she can roll into/onto/over.


• can hold her own bottle.


• can stand and take practice steps.


• recognizes her own name, and who Ryan, Mommy, Daddy and Gracie (puppy) are, if you say one of these things she will look at that person/object.


• loves to jump in the jumperoo and pretty much anytime she's being held upright.


• loves music class - she squeals, laughs and talks through the whole class and is an entirely different baby for the rest of the day.


• loves bathtime and rolls all over the tub. Lately she's been practicing crawling in the tub and the buoyancy has really helped her improve!


• is a champion eater, I think she has a hollow leg. She is able to chew a few kinds of finger foods and eats anything I give her. She recently tried and loved garlic powder, peccorino romano, cinnamon and nutmeg (mixed into her food, of course).


• loves her puppy and will go to great lengths to reach her (she still kisses her puppy back when her puppy kisses her).


• laughs when her puppy plays with toys, but rarely laughs otherwise. 


• pulls you in to give kisses. Big wet ones that last forever <3


• can stay awake during our daily runs, she just watches everything going by and chills out the whole time. If I'm running particularly fast that day she'll kick her legs and squeal and laugh. She's definitely my adventurous, wild child.

At 7 Months Ryan:

• is just starting to roll with regularity. He rolls to his belly a lot now, and will work on crawling when he does. He gets frustrated by his immobility much more than Reese does and will often just lay flat and unmoving after a few seconds of struggled "crawling".


• has two bottom teeth, has just started to cut one of his top teeth and has started to work through his other top tooth and his two lateral incisors have large swollen mounds as well. Poor baby is a drooly mess with lots of bleeding gums :(


• can stand on his own when holding onto our hands or a stationary object.


• is a finicky eater, but when he gets going he can eat you out of house and home. He's not so much into finger foods and is funny about foods with different textures. He's not above spitting something back at you and he's become very observant during meals. If you try to sneak in a bite of something he doesn't like between bites of things he does like he will watch the spoon as you approach him. I don't know if he can determine the color difference or the difference in smell, but he knows when you are giving him the thing he doesn't like and will purse his lips and turn his head away until you put something yummy on his spoon. Little stinker.


• can hold his own bottle.


• talks and chatters incessantly. I mean seriously all.day.long. When he's tired he moans to himself. It's ridiculously adorable.


• laughs all the time at pretty much everything, the more tired he is, the more he laughs. I call it the storm before the storm.


• loves the sound of his name and has a special Ryan, Ryan, Ryan song that makes him giggle like crazy.


• loves bathtime, especially chewing on rubber duckies and washcloths, but is terrified is soap or water gets on his face :)


• smiles everytime he sees the Baby Einstein caterpillar.


• LOVES sophie and loses his mind when you pull her out of hiding for him to play with.


• chews on spoons and tries to feed himself. All of our spoons have tiny tooth nugget marks in them.


• is a crazy flirt and will make googly eyes and smile at women in stores who pay him any attention.


• is obsessed with his exersaucer, especially the parts that spin with balls/rattles inside of them.


• gives hugs on his own, will nuzzle into your neck when you hold him and is, in general, a very cuddly baby. But even more so when he's tired.


• falls asleep as soon as he's in motion (car/stroller/otherwise) no matter how recently he's napped.


• is definitely my cautious and apprehensive child.

 

{ little miss sassy pants, can you sense the attitude?

what a flash forward this picture is! }

 

{ my big, big boy. Just up from a nap, cutting a top tooth,

and not wanting to deal with his crazy mom and her camera at all. }