Ten Months Old

12 December 2016

Dear E,

You are getting so big! I can hardly believe it. You love standing up. The other day, you took your first step. Pretty amazing!  Of course, you took that step while you were screaming and crying, so it was not anything close to the moment I had imagined. Darn teething pain! Your dad keeps saying that you've got to be almost done now, but it just doesn't seem to go away.

You can often be found clapping. It's the cutest thing. You clap a lot while you are standing.

One of your hobbies right now is getting stuck under chairs. You always find a way to get yourself wedged into the little spaces that are tricky to get out of.  

A few days ago, you woke up from your nap while I was finishing something in the other room. I wasn't able to come right away, but you still kept a good attitude. I checked the video monitor to see what you were doing. You had pulled down the stuffed turtle from your dresser and started playing with him. I was so impressed at your ability to entertain yourself.

You and your sister are both big fans of sticking everything in your mouths, playing with anything that resembles a string or a cord, banging toys, shaking rattles, touching technology, sucking on books and paper, and eating Cheerios.

 

Love you forever,

Mom

Dear L,

You are growing so well and practicing your standing all the time. You were not going to let your sister show you up this month. You took your first step on the same day that she did.  I was not expecting that so soon from either of you!  

You have been making all sorts of noises lately. Your favorite probably has to be blowing ‘raspberries.’ You've also been doing a lot of growling and baby talking. Last week, you were making so much noise in church while someone was sharing a very personal experience. You always seem to have the best timing.

You love waving. I think it's your way of expressing how happy you are. The people in the grocery store love it when you wave at them.  Well, they just love you in general.  

Spoiler alert: you are both getting new car seats for Christmas.  You are just too tall for your current ones. The best part of this gift definitely has to be the giant boxes that they arrived in.  Hours of countless fun.  Dad and I have to keep stopping you from eating the box, though.   

Love you forever,

Mom

Nine Months

12 November 2016

Dear E,

You finally got to meet Great Grandma Rogers and Great Uncle Paul this month. They loved being with you so much. We had to drive about four hours to get there. You did fine on the drive up, but got really upset on our drive home. You cried so much that you threw up all over yourself and your car seat.

Your first two teeth are in! I'm loving your smile.  The doctor told me he can feel a ton of teeth that are just about to break through your top gums. No wonder you've been so miserable lately.  The picture below sums up how you and I both feel about teething. 

You have also grown a little bit more hair. It's the perfect amount for you to play with. You love to play with it when you're trying to fall asleep and sometimes while you're drinking your milk. Another thing you started doing while falling asleep is slowly kicking one of your legs against the mattress. 

Even L likes playing with your hair. 

You love standing up. You are constantly practicing. You're getting pretty good at staying up for long periods of time now. It's so fun to see the big smile on your face as you do so. 

You have had a cold twice this month. Combine that with teething and it's no wonder it's been pretty rough for our family. I can't wait until you are totally better. I'm sure you can't either. It's not like you to be grumpy this often. 

You love your dad so much. It's so fun to see your face light up when he gets home from work. Nobody can get you to laugh as much as he can. Riding on his shoulders is a favorite activity right now. He also created a game where you and L try to escape to the kitchen over and over again. I could just watch you playing with him all day. 

The favorite toy right now is a teething ring shaped like a fish. Thankfully, we have two because you and Lucy always steal one from each other until I place the second one in your line of sight. One is currently lost and I'm searching high and low for it. Sometimes when you and your sister steal toys from each other, you get really upset. Other times, you both start laughing. It's the best. Oh, how I love watching you two interact.

I've taken you to the store before, but I always had you stay in your carseat.  Now that you're such a good sitter, you have been sitting in the grocery cart.  You love it so much since you can see everything going on around you.  The people in the store love it, too.  

Serious shoppers 

I'm sure I say this a lot, but you are such a wonderful baby. I'm so blessed to be your mom. 

Love you!

Mom

Dear L,

Great Grandma Rogers and Great Uncle Paul were so excited to meet you earlier this month. We had a great time visiting them in St. John's. They couldn't get enough of you and your sister.

One of your trademark things right now is ‘eating’ people. You open your mouth super wide and go for their face or whatever body part you can reach. Then we get covered in lots of your drool. It’s so funny (especially when you get Dad).

Speaking of your dad, he sure loves you. He loves to play with you so much and you are always in heaven when he does so. When he gives you shoulder rides, you hold on tight to his hair and you sometimes eat it. It's a guaranteed way to get you in a good mood. Another favorite is when you ‘escape’ by quickly crawling to the kitchen and Dad pretends to freak out. He brings you back to the carpet as E escapes. You both loving being ‘caught.’  It goes on and on until you wear him out. 

You have had a really hard time sleeping the past few weeks since you have been sick. There have been many nights when it takes forever for you to get back to sleep in the middle of the night. On one particularly hard night, your dad slept with you on the floor all night long because that was the only way you would sleep. It was so precious to see you asleep together when I went to check on you. 

You are moving around so much. And you are starting to stand up on your own. I had to borrow a baby corral since our kitchen isn't very baby proof. You don't really like being caged in, but I think you like it better than falling and hitting your head over and over. 

You are OBSESSED with the fish shaped teething toy. It is in your hand all day as you crawl around the house. You even hold it sometimes while you are sleeping. It's always still in your hand when you wake up. One of the two was lost for a few days, so you kept stealing the green one from your sister. Sometimes when you steal toys from each other, the unfortunate one will get really upset. Other times, you both start giggling. Oh, how I love watching you two interact. 

You are such an amazing girl who brings joy to my life each day. 

Love you!

Mom

8 Months Old

Dear E,

I am loving you more and more each day. You are my little talker. You just jabber on and on. I love it when you make sounds that remind me of “old man noises.” It's the cutest. It is also fun when L talks back to you. Sometimes you both squeal back and forth for quite a while. It makes me so happy to be a twin mom. 

You have totally mastered the skill of sitting up on your own! You love looking around from this new perspective. You were getting pretty tired of being down on the floor all of the time. Over the last few days, your crawling has gotten really good, too. I've been pretty impressed. 

You are so funny while you are eating food. You like to smile and make noises while you're eating peas, spattering them all over your tray. So far, you've liked everything you've tried, with the exception of avocado. Your dad recorded a pretty hilarious video of you and L making funny faces while he tried to feed it to you. We will have to try that one again another time. 

You and your sister are such good babies.  The only time you go crazy is when you're tired or hungry (which is totally understandable). You do really well around other people. However, you girls are not fans of animals right now. You start crying whenever you are around your grandparents’ dog or the Carrolls’ cat.

You are obsessed with lights of all kinds.  It's fun to watch you play with the lights that shine through the little holes in the blinds.  You also love screens.  TV is a favorite, but I think you prefer phones the most since you can also chew on them (if nobody catches you first).

That basically sums up our month. The only other thing I can think of is that you drool a lot and put everything into your mouth. Your teeth are so close to coming in. I'm going to miss your gummy smiles when they're gone.  

Love you lots!

Mom

Dear L,

You are little Miss Adventurous! You want to explore everything. It's your determination that lead to you learning how to crawl and how to climb up on things. Yes, you climb on everything. And you fall a lot. I'm hoping the falling dies out soon. It breaks my heart every time. You quickly figured out how to pull yourself up on the furniture and on your crib. It was pretty easy to move your crib mattress down, but ‘baby proofing’ the rest of the house has been a little tricky.  

Watching you learn to crawl was so fun. You used to lift your arm way up in the air and then slam it down as you would move forward. Now you're cruising around like a pro. Since you figured out crawling a little bit before E, you definitely used that to your advantage. When there was a toy you both wanted, you would quickly crawl to it and take it before she could get her hands on it. Or you would steal something right out of her hands and crawl away. She's stealing things back now, though. I didn't realize I would have to deal with toy snatching so soon.

 

You have a tooth! It just barely poked through. It had caused you some pain, which was so hard for me to see. The second one will be here any day now. Who knew I could love your smile any more than I already did?

You have been pretty quiet up until now. You just started making more noises this week. I can't wait to hear what you have to say. 

You are such a good girl and are generally easy to please, as long as I keep the milk and the naps coming. You don't like being around animals right now, but I think that will probably change as you get bigger. 

I just love being your mom. You are such a fun, curious baby. I love watching you play with the sunlight shining on the carpet.  You are growing so fast and amazing me every day.

Love you lots,

Mom

Seven Months Old

Dear Daughters,

You two are wearing me out! I'm glad that you let me sleep pretty well most nights, because you keep me busy ALL day long.  You're moving all over the place.  I'm constantly trying to prevent collisions with furniture and between the two of you. Still, it's pretty incredible to see how much progress you're making physically.

I propped this big pillow up against something hard to keep you from hitting it

and you pulled it on top of yourself.  Thankfully, the hole was in just the right place for your head.

You both want to crawl sooo badly.  A few weeks ago, you started getting really frustrated because you wanted to get something and you weren't sure how to get there.  Every day, you're getting a little bit better at moving forward.  Miss L, you are an unstoppable force now.  Once you set your eyes on something, you plow forward until you reach it.  Dad actually calls it the 'snow plow' move.  You put your head down as you move forward.  Then you look up once you've stopped to see where you ended up. You just started getting into the crawling position a few days ago. You are so close!

There has been a lot of sitting practice at our house.  Miss E, you're a sitting pro.  I was blown away the other day when you sat up for over a minute by yourself.  Miss L, you are getting pretty good, too, but you usually get distracted by a toy or something, so you generally don't stay in one spot for very long.

Your toes! You are both obsessed.  You love holding and sucking on your own toes, each other's toes, and even my toes.  You sometimes get upset when I move my feet away since you don't understand that my feet are a lot less clean that yours are. I made the mistake of painting my toe nails a bright color yesterday. Now you're even more drawn to my feet. 

You have the best laughs I've ever heard.  It never gets old.  It's so fun that you're starting to get ticklish.  You also laugh when we play peek-a-boo with you, when we get silly, when you splash water in the tub, when we lift you in the air, and sometimes I have no idea why you are laughing.  The other day I was using tape to get a bunch of lint off some fabric and Miss L thought that was so funny. 

Miss L, your favorite game is hide and seek. You hide the pacifiers and Dad and I find them. You always seem to get them  in the trickiest spots. I now keep the grabber right by your crib. Dad suggested that the reason people get crib liners must be to prevent the loss of pacifiers. 

You started eating solid foods! Woohoo! You are pretty good at eating from a spoon.  You started with rice cereal and then moved on to butternut squash.  Your dad prepared a whole bunch of squash for you, so that's basically all you've been eating.  

I can't wait to see what you do next!

Lots of love,

Mom

Six Months

12 August 2016

Dear E,

You are one talkative little baby. It's kind of crazy how loud you are now.  Whether you are happy or upset, you like to be heard. I can't wait until I can understand what you are saying.

You went on your first campout this month. You did really well on the long car ride and you really enjoyed the great outdoors. I was really worried that you would be too cold at night, but it turned out just fine.

Sitting with Grandma Jones

Sleeping in the tent

You started waking up early at 5:00 in the mornings and I figured it was because the sun was waking you up. So, I ordered some light blocking curtains and Dad and Aunt Anna helped hang them in your room. The first morning they were up, I was so surprised to find that you didn't wake up early. In fact you slept in even longer than your sister, who got up on time at 7:00. It was amazing. I was ready to tell the world how the new curtains were magical or something. Then, a few hours later, your dad pointed out to me that we had somehow put you in the wrong crib the night before. So, you were really the baby who woke up on time. I couldn't tell it was you because of the crib switch and because it was still dark in the room from the curtains. Ha!

Sleeping Beauty

The curtains are helpful, but sleep has not been your strong suit this month. There have been nights when you have been so angry at bedtime. I think part of the problem is your teeth might be coming in. It's also been tricky for you to sleep because you learned how to roll and we stopped swaddling you in your Miracle Blanket. It's probably going to take a while for you to get used to falling asleep without it.

You caught a cold from your dad this past week.  He felt so bad for getting you sick.  Surprisingly, you were still a happy baby.  We had some rough nights sleeping, but you did pretty well during the day.
    

Dad went back to working for the new school year, so you are stuck with me for most of the day.  You love spending time with him, though.  He is so good at making you and L laugh.  I love seeing you get excited about things.  You get really excited when you see your bottle now.  It’s so cute.

Dad reading a book to you (en espanol)

I’m so lucky to have such an awesome daughter.  I just love you so much!

Love,

Mom

Dear L,

You love to move! Dad calls you a little “mover and a shaker.”  You rolled over from your back to your tummy! Of course, you did it for the first time while Dad and I weren't looking. You sneaky little girl. Before that you were always rotating in circles or we would find you had shifted off the blanket that we had laid you down on. For several days, you would roll to your stomach and then get frustrated because you thought you were stuck. It was like you forgot how to roll the other way onto your back. Now you are getting better at that and I have to watch you closely because you have rolled right into your sister a few times.

Rolling means that we aren't supposed to swaddle you at night anymore. I was concerned that you wouldn't sleep well. There is a small red spot on your cheek from one night when you moved your face back and forth over and over, rubbing your soft skin against the sheets while trying to get comfortable.

Although there were a few rough nights at first, you really do love sleeping on your tummy. Back when we first introduced you to ‘tummy time,’ you were not building much strength because you would just fall asleep since you were so cozy. Now you are on your tummy again and we often find you sticking your bum up in the air, as well. It's pretty cute.

Our whole family went camping this month. We only stayed one night and all went well. It helped that you and your sister were not mobile yet. You both really liked being outdoors.

Another first was your first cold. You and your sister both caught Dad's cold. You had runny noses and a cough that broke my heart every time I heard it. Even with being sick, you were still a happy little baby.

You love spending time with Dad and me.  Unfortunately, he had to start teaching again.  I’m glad that you and E are a little more independent now so that it’s easier for me to take care of you by myself.  I am so glad that I get to hang out with you all the time.  You’re one awesome baby!

Holding your bottles!

Love,

Mom

P.S. I love being a twin mom. You both love each other so much. You were 'talking' to each other recently and Grandpa Jones decided that this is what you were saying: