8 Months

WOW! Eight months!!! It's so hard to look back and think about my 5.13 and 6.3 pound babies! They have pretty much tripled their weight...it's so weird!
They are growing up so fast! It's truly amazing how fast these little babies learn. They have learned a lot of new tricks this month! I am one proud mama!
The girls have tried a few new foods this month. They LOVE graham crackers and they like French fries. I also bought them some of the Gerber cereal puffs and they LOVE them...Lyla is really good at getting them into her mouth, and Alya can get them to her mouth, but it seems to take a little more effort on her part. It is SO cute to watch them chew, though! They are adorable! Lyla also enjoyed a green pepper when we were in Idaho during Memorial Day weekend.
The girls have been trying really hard to pull themselves up on things, but they mostly just get stuck on their knees. When I do stand them up and let them hold on to something, they are really good at it! They love standing!

These two LOVE Mo. They get so excited to see him! Their little legs just kick and kick, and they squeal when they see him. We like to play "peek-a-boo" with Mo...he mostly just walks around unsure of what is going on, but the girls think it is one of the most fun games in the world! They also like to run around with him...or rather they like me to hold them and have me run around with Mo! Usually they laugh more at him than they do for Matthew or me.

Lyla is such a sweetheart. She has been a lot of fun this month. She has been very, very busy! She started out this month being SO close to crawling, but she was mostly good at scooting herself backwards. It didn't take her long to start rocking back and forth on her knees, but she was pretty stuck there for a while. She finally got to where she would scoot her knees farther under her belly, and then launch herself forward. She would get only as close to a toy as she had to and then lay on her belly and stre-e-e-tch to try to reach it. She practiced so much, she finally wore a hole in the toe of her pjs.

Finally, 2 or 3 days after she turned 8 months, she started crawling. Now she is a pro. She has started to follow me from room to room...she doesn't like it much when I leave a room, but she sometimes fusses for a second, and then starts to follow. It's amazing! She has also started to get her feet under her. I'm thinking it won't be too long before she starts trying to stand on her own.
She likes to tell me "no"...which is maybe not a good thing...but it's pretty stinkin' cute!
One day, I went into the girls' room to check on them, and Lyla was asleep ...kind of on her belly...with her head on the mattress and her knees tucked under her belly, so her bum was sticking up in the air. It was so funny! I tried to get my camera, but she moved before I was able to get to it. :(
She loves to do new things...I put them in the sink one day so I could get some stuff done in the kitchen, and Lyla had so much fun!! She also really loves to play the piano!

She still loves her daddy! She is definitely a daddy's girl. She smiles so big when she sees him, and if she hears him come home while she's nursing, she will STOP nursing. She wants nothing to do with me if there's a chance Dad will hold her.

My little mama's girl! Alya and I are definitely buddies. She usually seems to want to come to me over anyone else. She is really good at cuddling with me. I think she went through a little separation anxiety phase. She would wake up a lot in the middle of the night, and the only way I could get her to go back to sleep was if I would hold her or lay on the bed with her. While we would lay there, she had to be touching me somehow. Her favorite was to rest her hand on my eye or my cheek. She would leave it there until she fell asleep. Most of the time I would fall asleep with her and stay there for at least a few hours. I probably would have stayed with her had Lyla not woken up in her crib and needed someone to fix her binky. I am not going to lie, I really enjoyed how much she needed me at night. She is still very cuddly with me, and I try to make it a point to cuddle with the girls every chance I get...usually before nap time.

 Alya was a couple of weeks behind Lyla, but she eventually got really good at just scooting herself backward. She was stuck in that phase for quite a while. About 3 days after Lyla started crawling, she started to get her knees tucked underneath her belly, and then she would launch herself forward. Then it wasn't long after that until she started crawling. She started crawling really well over Memorial Day weekend.

However, she refuses to sit down when you try to get her to sit, and she LOVES it when she gets to walk around. That's all she wants to do is hold someone's hands and walk around. She would much rather walk than crawl. But she is really good at both!

The girls got in their first little tiff over Memorial Day as well. Aunt Jeni gave Alya a new nickname over the whole ordeal..."Mike Tyson." What happened was both the girls were practicing crawling, and they were headed straight for each other. They ran into each other and they both kept trying to move forward, but their sister was in their way. Lyla tried to grab Alya's shirt and kind of pull her out of the way, and Alya was trying to bite Lyla's ear, all while squawking at each other. Oh man! It was so funny!

They absolutely LOVE to be outside...I know I've said this in past posts, but they just really love it. They would much rather be inside than out. Even on windy days, when I feel like it's too windy to go out, they at least want to sit in the doorway and look outside. We spend a lot of time in the doorway...although now that they are crawling I'm going to have to figure something else out to keep them inside...or at least away from the porch stairs.

They also tried out their stroller without carseats and they really like that. They like looking at everything and they get to see so much more now that they aren't sitting facing me while we walk! And they look so cute and tiny in the stroller without their carseasts.
























Matthew and I celebrated our 4th anniversary this month, and we were able to go spend the night away from home. We had my mom and aunt come and watch the girls while we were gone. They later told me that they have a new appreciation for what I do every day...twins are hard. So hard! I can't help but think about how much easier things would be for me if I only had one baby. But as hard as twins can me, my life has been so blessed with these two in it. They make me completely crazy on occasion, but more often they make me extremely happy! I feel so lucky that they have chosen me to be their mom! I love them so much! I can't believe they are closer to a year old than not.

And, as always, because they are SO cute, I will leave you with a few more of my favorite pictures from this month! Enjoy!