7 Months

Well I am only 15 days late this time.  Maybe next month I will be closer to their actual "birthday."

Hadley and Harper,

Seven Months old has made me say "I am feeling the craziness of twins" out loud, once or twice.  You girls are mobile. I can't let either one of you out of my site, but I can hardly hold both of you at the same time anymore.  This is very challenging when I am alone with both of you and I need to take you upstairs for a bath, or downstairs to eat. I feel like every day is a marathon, but it is a rewarding run and a lot of fun. 

We have hit some milestones this month, You both have teeth and you can both crawl.  It is still the "army" crawl but none the less you can get where you want to go, and quickly. 
Teething has not been that bad so far.  There has been a few days that your teeth got the best of all of us, but otherwise you have not had any major changes in temperament or activity. 
Your favorite toys are little rubber ducks (you like to suck on their heads), a little doll house girl that your cousin left over here, a cloth flower that makes a crinkling noise when you touch it's petals and any rattle or ball that makes a shaking sound when you roll it.  You also love the TV remote, the baby monitor, and Mommy's cell phone. We try not to let you have any of these but, sometimes you find them.
 
You are still great sleepers, you sleep 12 hours at night and take 3 long naps during the day.  We tried to eliminate your third nap but it did not work very well, so you are keeping all three for now. 
You still get 4 bottles a day (2 are 6oz and 2 are 8oz).  Just recently we have taught you how to hold your bottle!  You have NO IDEA what this means for mommy and daddy.  Feeding 2 bottles is such an ordeal.  You were both propped up on pillows, we had to use both hands to hold the bottles and then every 2-3 oz we had to put both bottles down to burp you one at a time, you both would scream until you got your bottle back.  There are still many days that we go through this process, but it is getting easier now that you can hold your bottle some. You are now eating baby food for breakfast and dinner.   You eat fruit, oatmeal and rice cereal for breakfast and peas, carrots, or green beans for dinner.  After dinner we give you a piece of fruit for you to suck on. You are both silent once we give you your fruit....until it is gone and you let us know that you need another piece.  We let you get MESSY and then carry you up to the tub.

You still go to Ms. Maria's house during the day.  You'll love to laugh and smile at her.  We still have to paint your toenail, Hadley.  Ms. Maria can't tell you apart yet!  Even after being with you everyday for 6 months:)
 
Your great grandma passed away this month.  It was the first time I had to leave you.  It was a hard weekend in many ways but Daddy did a great job of sending me pictures and keeping me up to date about was going on at home.  You girls would have loved to hear your grandma sing the Oklahoma fight song to you. 
Hadley, you never stop smiling. You can play independently well, but you also liked to be held.  You have both learned that if you whine, we will pick you up.  You will let me rock you before putting you in your crib.  We have such special time singing, tickling and kissing before I put you to bed.  You enjoy your paci at night, and hardly ever cry.  You have 2 bottom teeth and love to drool........and spit up.
Harper, you like to suck your bottom lip.  I don't know if it is habit, or makes your gums feel better.  You enjoy being held. You play independently, but not for too long.   You let me rock you a little bit, but you think it is so funny to try to put your paci in mommy's mouth while we rock.  You don't care about your paci much at all.  You sometimes have to fuss a little before you fall asleep.  You definitely know that when I put you in your crib that means that I am leaving...you don't like that very much.
You both kick your feet hard when we come to get you from your crib. It is one of my favorite parts of the day. 
Thank you for being such sweet babies!  Often times I say to your dad, "What is it like to have 1 baby?" and he always answers "It would be boring."  I agree.  We love our crazy life.

Love,
Mom
 

Appetites the shape of Texas

We started working on using/accepting a spoon with rice cereal at 5months old. Harper did really well.  She opened her mouth and swallowed what was on the spoon without a problem.  But sweet little Hadley really did not like the spoon or the cereal.  She would gag or spit every time I put the spoon in her mouth.  We kept practicing and finally after a few days she started to enjoy the rice cereal.  She could not quite swallow the food for a while, but they got it now.
We started giving them fruits and veggies at 6 months old.  They have eaten everything we have tried.

 Hadley does make a sour face at apple sauce but she still opens her mouth for more.  Martin and I laugh every time she tries it.

The girls are now getting breakfast and dinner.  At almost every meal Hadley sits like this.  I guess she thinks she can get to the food faster....she has come a long way.

I have been making their baby food and freezing it in these ice cube trays.  So every night I pop out two "Texas peas" and have dinner:)

The girls are OBSESSED with these fruit/mesh holders.  They love watermelon, cantaloupe, berries, bananas...anything we put in them.  They cry when they are empty or when we take them away to refill them with fruit.  They make a MESS but they are great!

I spy....

 A tooth!!!!!!!

This is a typical Hadley face, smiling with her tongue out!

 Hadley has been an easy teether (I think I made that word up)!  She has had a little bit of a fever, sleeps a little longer and has had a few more dirty diapers.  The only reason I knew she was getting a tooth is because she was drooling so much, I looked in her mouth. I saw a little white line Monday night and then Tuesday morning the tooth popped through. Her first tooth was on the bottom left.  

Harper is so close to getting her first tooth.  Her gums are swolen and she has the same symptoms as her sister.  It will be any day.

War Eagle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The girls watched their first Auburn Game!

My little Tigers.

Hadley got a little nervous at the end of the game, but the Tigers got a Win!

6 Months Old...just pretend

I am just going to pretend that I made this post on August 10th when the girls really did turn 6 months old.  So I am going to share all their habits and milestones that happened between July 10th and August 10th....because I am going to be posting them at 7 months old in just a few days or so:)

Dear Hadley and Harper,

You girls smile and giggle all the time.  We love to tickle you are make you laugh.  You are becoming a little more independent everyday.  You girls love to play.  I can be holding you and laughing with you, and as soon as you spot a toy, you are done with me.  You both absolutely love your play mat.  You will both lay on your play mat for hours if I would let you.  You like to grab at the toys and suck on anything you can get in your mouth.  You have learned how to roll over.  Hadley you rolled over first.  You were asleep in your swaddle.  I came to get you out of your crib and you were face down without any hands to hold yourself up.  So that was the first time you rolled and the last time you were in a swaddle.  I thought breaking you'll of the swaddle was going to be hard, but it wasn't.  One day I just stopped putting you in and it was no problem.  Harper you started to roll over a few days after your sister.  I thought rolling was going to be a fun and easy milestone, but it was a nightmare at first.  You both roll to your belly and then get stuck and can't roll back over.  You would scream and scream because you were mad.  I tried to keep going in your room and rolling you back over to your back but that was no help because you rolled back to your belly before I could even get out of the room.  I tried sleep positioners and sleeping in a bouncy seat but nothing really worked.  So eventually you learned to just sleep on your stomach.  Now you both love sleeping on your stomach and you don't care that you don't know how to roll to your back.

Hadley, you are still scared of strangers, especially men.  Harper you are not bothered by strangers....for now.  Hadley, you always have your tongue out but you are always smiling. Your nicknames are Michal Jordan baby and smiley.  We started rice cereal this month.  Harper, you loved it and Haldey, you hated the spoon in you mouth.  You gagged every time.

You are both wonderful sleepers.  You sleep for 2 hours and are awake for 2 hours.  Sometimes your morning naps last 3 hours.  You take 2 long naps during the day and 1 catnap in the evening.  You both still love bath time.  You kick and splash.

I have loved watching you grow.  You definitely know who your mommy and daddy are, and we love to watch your eyes follow us around the room.  Thank you for another wonderful month!

Love, Mommy and Daddy