7 Months

This has been quite the month! I feel like it went REALLY fast. Really, really fast.

Both girls are now sitting on up their own really well. They love to sit up, and they are in much better moods now that they have a little bit more control of things.

They have tried a few more new foods this month. They do NOT like my green beans, but they loved cucumber, cantaloupe and peaches. They also still really like blueberries. I mix them in bananas and they have had them in applesauce. Both have been big hits.

We made it up to Idaho this month and were able to have dinner with some of our friends and the girls got to meet a new little buddy, Beckett, and hang out with Annalyn.

 

Of course we had to document all of us together. Unfortunately, it was bed time when we decided to take the pictures, so Lyla and Alya were getting a little grumpy...

The girls started drinking out of sippy cups this month. At first I thought Alya was going to just love it - she drank out of it so well - and now she just chews on it. Lyla, however, LOVES her sippy cup. I have let them have some water and some watered down apple juice, and she drinks them both really well. She may just be my little water baby...hopefully I can get Alya to drink water, too.

These girls have been SUPER wiggly! I frequently find their heads in the corner of their cribs during naps, and today I walked in to find Alya almost turned completely around with her head where her feet started. Diaper changing is becoming more and more challenging as well. Picture this, I am changing Lyla's diaper, and she is twisting and turning and reaching for Alya, trying to steal Alya's binky - even though she has her own binky - and Alya is trying to wiggle away from Lyla and no matter how far apart they start out from each other, they inch ever closer so that I am trying to keep 4 wiggly little feet out of a wet (sometimes dirty) diaper. It can be quite an adventure!

The girls love to play together, but they also really like it when they can play alone. I had them sitting next to their car seat one day, and I was just watching them touch it, and explore it, and Lyla did something and I noticed Alya watching her pretty closely, and then Alya did the same thing that Lyla did, and then she looked to Lyla to make sure she was watching. It was really cute! They also really like to take each other's toys, which causes tears sometimes, or they just move on to another toy and let their sister play with the one that was taken.

Lyla has been so much fun this month. She has been a little more cuddly than usual - but not because she is sick or anything...just because she wants to cuddle a little more! She sure loves her Daddy, too. A couple of weeks ago, while we were at Matthew's sister's house, Alya got sick so I stayed home from church with her and Matthew and his family took Lyla to church. During sacrament, Sarah was holding Lyla, and I guess she kind of looked around and once she found Matthew, she put her hand on his shoulder and stayed like that the whole time Sarah had her. I just think it is so cute!!!

She LOVES Mo, and Mo - I think - kind of likes her. He is really so good with the girls. He will sit by them and let them balance on him while they pull his hair out. He sometimes looks at me with sad eyes that seem to be saying "do I have to stay here?" But usually he just tries to kiss them, or sleep through the ordeal. While Alya was taking a nap one day, Lyla and I went outside with Mo and started playing fetch with him. She would laugh and laugh every time he would bring the stick back to us. After he destroyed the stick we were playing with, Lyla and I just ran up and down the yard and Mo was right on our heals, and again, she would laugh and laugh and laugh. It was SO cute!

She has been so happy this month - it has been awesome! She likes to hang upside down. I like to hang her upside down and let her pick up whatever toy she dropped, and then swing her back up. She must think it's pretty fun cause we played that game for at least 20 minutes one night!

She is SO close to crawling. She will get up on her hands and knees and push back on her hands, so she ends up moving backwards. But she is trying SO hard!

This poor little girl has not had the best month. She got pretty sick - and kind of scared her mom! Her fever came out of nowhere and got up to 103+, and it lasted almost a week. I am pretty sure she is teething molars. I felt so bad for her! We obviously took her temperature a lot over the course of the week, so one day after taking her temperature (it's the type that you swipe across their forehead) she was playing with the thermometer and touched it to her forehead as if she was trying to take her own temperature. It took her a while to get back to her normal happy self. I am glad she is back to being her content little self!

She has one of the greatest laughs! Most of the time, it's easier to get her to laugh than her sister, however, she rarely laughs at the same thing twice.

She has not been sleeping very well at night - but it's given me a chance to cuddle with her a little more than usual.

She doesn't really like to be on her tummy anymore. She used to love it, until she learned to sit up. Now she's pretty happy to just sit and look around and watching her sister explore trying to crawl.

They started drinking out of sippy cups! Alya LOVED hers at first - maybe it's because it had apple juice in it. Ever since I tried giving her water, she just plays with her cup...she doesn't drink it.

The girls are really wiggly. They rarely wake up in the same position that they fell asleep in. Lyla tends to sleep more on her tummy - which doesn't surprise me since she frequently napped on her tummy when she was tiny - and Alya just turns herself around and she is either completely sideways in her crib, or her head ends up where her feet started.

They usually wake up so happy! It is fun to walk in their room and see them twisted in their cribs looking at each other, or playing with their stuffed animals and talking and squealing.

They are so smart! They are very observant - remember how I told you about how Alya tried to take her own temperature? - they have also started playing a new game with me. I steal their binkies from them and lately, once they get it back from me, they try to give it back. You can tell that they are trying to get it in my mouth, cause that's where they are looking, but their hand - eye coordination isn't that awesome yet. It's so awesome, though! I just think they are the cutest, smartest little babies! :)

We have found a new way to bathe - and Lyla really likes it, but I don't think Alya likes to share her space.

But it works really well for me! They don't have to reach for their toys - which means they won't fall over in the tub. If they do get tired, they can lean against the laundry basket - as you can see from what Alya is doing.

They LOVE to be outside. Now that they have discovered sitting on a blanket outside, that's pretty much all they want to do. If they are really fussy, and the weather is nice, we go on walks or play with toys in our front yard. I am really excited for summer - and I don't think they know it, but the girls are too!

Anyway, I just really love these girls! And I love to take pictures of them...so I will leave you with some of my favorites from the past month!  Enjoy!

This last picture, is quite possibly one of my favorites!