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!



We Bought a Truck

 

 

 

Now Matthew has a vehicle that he can sit comfortably in while there is a car seat behind him. And if we take Mo with us, I don't have to sit in the back seat between two car seats. All 5 of us can travel comfortably, and enjoy the journey! :)

6 Months

These two little girls have been a handful this month! But it has been such a fun month! Some days were  awesome, and some days were terrible. I am pretty sure they have had quite a growth spurt, both physically and cognitively. It is pretty apparent that they are learning so much, so fast! For the most part, they have been very smiley!
I tried weaning the girls out of their swaddle...it kind of worked for Alya. Most of the time she can lay down and sleep really well without it. Lyla does not sleep well without her swaddle blanket. She was sleeping for only 30 minutes and then REFUSED to go back to sleep. I am pretty sure that contributed to Lyla being unhappy this month. I decided to go back to swaddling her, and it's made a world of a difference!
We rearranged our room, and set up another crib, so now the girls are sleeping in their own cribs. It's only been a couple of days, so hopefully it goes a little better. Lyla sleeps really good in her own crib, but so far Alya has been struggling. I am really excited to get them in their own room! We just have to put them downstairs, so we are waiting for the weather to warm up a little more...and until I can get their room painted...before we move them down there.
They are getting so wiggly. I lay them on their tummies and they spin in circles. It's really cute! They can get their knees under them, but they can't really be up on all fours at the same time. It's either straight arms, or on their knees with their chest on the ground.

Like I said, Lyla did not do well napping without her swaddle blanket.  Now that I am putting her back in her swaddle blanket, I have to wake her up from naps! :) She wakes up in the mornings happy and talking, and I LOVE it! I lay in bed and just listen to her talk for about 10 minutes or so before I make myself get out of bed. Sometimes she doesn't want to be rocked to sleep...she just wants to be laid down awake so she can put herself to sleep. She is very, very stubborn! She definitely knows what she wants and she knows which of my buttons to push to get what she wants.
She has recently started screaming...just screaming. She isn't necessarily mad or upset. She just screams. It's pretty funny. Until she screams to the point that she gets mad, and then it's not quite as funny.
She is so close to rolling from her back to her front. She will twist her body around to try to reach for her toys or her binky, and she gets so close to rolling. She still loves to play with her toes.
I have managed to get her to laugh a couple of times!!!! It makes me so happy!
We did our own weighing and measuring of the babies the day they actually turned 6 months, and according to us, Lyla weighed 15.03 lbs and was about 26 1/4 inches long. When we went in for their 6 month appointment, Lyla was 14 lbs 15 oz and 25 inches long. I'm pretty sure she moved a little, so that's why she was so short...I don't know for sure, though. She is definitely smaller than her sister, though!
She loves to look at herself in the mirror, so we had some fun with one of my wall mirrors one day!

She is a wild child! And I think Matthew and I are both a little nervous for her teenage years! :)

Alya is hilarious! Most of the time, she is very easy going. If she gets really ornery, I know something is wrong with her and my mind instantly goes to "she's sick" or "she's teething". She is such a happy baby!
She has been loving tummy time this month. She's learning that she can move around when she is on her tummy (unlike Lyla, who moves a little better when she is on her back...) She spins in circles, and scoots off the blanket. She never ends where she started. It makes me so happy, yet so sad, that my little tiny babies are going to be crawling around soon! It scares me a little bit to think about it.
She rolled from her back to her front...once. I keep hoping she'll do it again, but she hasn't. I'll be patient! She is starting to sit up on her own, though!
Alya is really so funny! We love to play with each other! She will put her hands on my cheeks and pull my face to her, and she'll try to eat my nose, or my chin. I like to pretend she's trying to kiss me, but she really is pretty much just attacking my face. It's really funny.
She has been a little more cuddly this month, but I'm not complaining! When we hold her, she has been grabbing a piece of our shirt or something to help keep her steady. She almost always grabs the collar of Matthew's shirts, but with me...she just grabs a chunk of my neck! Haha!
When we did our at home measurements of Alya, she weighed 15.97 lbs and was 26 1/2 inches long. At her doctor's appointment, she weighed in at 16 lbs 4 oz and was 26 1/2 inches long.
She is so easy going. Sometimes it's quite a fight to get Lyla to go down for her nap, so while I'm trying to get her to go to sleep, Alya is left on her own. Once I get Lyla down, I come back in to get Alya and she is asleep where I left her.

Either that, or Lyla will be wide awake and playing, and Alya will just pass out!

I love moments like this, though! I love Lyla's and Alya's personalities! I am still amazed that they are mine! They make me so happy!

It really blows me away that these two little girls are mine. They are so much fun, even on the days that they are hard. They definitely keep me busy! They still LOVE to go on walks. I love to take them...especially on their hard days. Getting fresh air is the best thing for all of us! It's been getting warm enough, too that we have gone out the last couple of days and sat on a blanket and watched the neighbors play.
The girls are loving food. I'm pretty sure they like everything we have tried giving them. They like some things more than others. We've tried applesauce, pears, avocados (they have been the funniest to watch them eat so far), carrots, sweet peas, squash/zucchini, blueberries, and they LOVE bananas.

 These are a couple of the avocado tasting!

They are really grabby with each other, still. They can be playing with the same toy as their sister, but they will want the toy their sister has. It's a constant battle. :) They also like to steal each other's binkies...even if they are chewing on their binky at the time. It's kind of funny. I love watching them interact with each other. Things that I imagine would drive other siblings crazy doesn't seem to bother these too. They pretty much climb all over each other (as much as they can...since they aren't really crawling yet) and they don't seem to be annoyed by it.

They have also become Dad's little hunting buddies! We went on a drive one night so Matthew could decide where he wanted to go horn hunting. As you can see, the girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves! I am pretty sure they are going to be Daddy's hunting buddies!

Well, I feel like this post may be a little scattered...it's taken me 3 (maybe 4?) days to write it, so I can't be held responsible for any repetition or confusion! In closing, as always, I will leave you with some pictures of two of the cutest babies in the entire word!