Thanksgiving Part 2

For Thanksgiving we went to Virginia Beach. My grandmothers, aunts, uncles and cousins all live in that area.  It was the first time that the babies got to meet their extended family. They did really well with being around that many new people. They adapted well, and had very little fear of strangers. That was nice, because then I didn’t have to feel bad about Titus and Adelaide not liking their family or freaking out while being held by others. 

Titus with Nanny Ellie

Adelaide with Nanny Ellie

Titus Chilin With Grandma Goodwin (aka G.G.)

Adelaide would rather get her picture taken than snuggle with G.G.

Adelaide feeling Uncle Dave's beard

Adelaide admiring her Auntie Tess

Adelaide was blowing raspberries when this was taken.

Adelaide with Grandma Denise

Spending time with Grandpa Carl

They love their Aunt Lori

Thanksgiving Part 1

At first I was quite worried about how this vacation would turn out. Our last vacation was very stressful. The babies didn’t want to nap at all, and trying to get Adelaide to sleep at night was a terrible experience. She would scream at the top of her lungs for 45 minutes to an hour, most of which was spent in the bathroom so no one else could hear her,   before she would just collapse into sleep. I did not want to relive this experience on our Thanksgiving vacation.  

Luckily everything ran smoothly. The babies were able to get their morning nap at the hotel before we headed out for the day. Their afternoon nap was normally taken in the car as we drove from one place to another. Sometimes this meant sitting in the car once we arrived at our location so they could finish their nap. At night we would feed them their evening bottles before we left whoever’s house we were at, and they would fall asleep in the car. When we got back to the hotel they went right back to sleep. I think there was only one night that they were asleep later than 7:00.

Having the babies keep their normal routine really helped make this vacation enjoyable. I am thankful that everything turned out great.

Blossoming Friendship

Recently Titus and Adelaide have become more aware of each other.  For the longest time they didn’t interact much. Occasionally they would make eye contact and smile at each other and possibly babble for a moment.  Now they are fully aware that they have a built in playmate. Where one goes, the other follows. What one baby plays with, the other wants also. It is so neat to see the bond growing between them.

Of course being babies, neither Titus nor Adelaide understand personal space. Sometimes “playmate” translates into “plaything”. There are many times in a day that I have to stop one of them from pinching, biting, or pulling on the other’s face, head, or limb.

“Playmate” can also mean “partner in crime.” Once again, where one goes, the other follows. They don’t always lead each other into trouble sometimes it is just into things that are messy, such as: pulling all the shoes off the shoe rack, taking clean laundry out of the baskets, and dumping every toy basket on the floor.  I am sure as they get older the crimes will become bigger and more elaborate.

It is exciting to see the friendship growing between Titus and Adelaide. I am sure they will be best buds growing up.

The Perfect Spot

Next time I have trouble getting comfortable in bed and finding the perfect spot to settle, I am going to try this.

Note: These are pictures of Adelaide

All About Titus

Titus is a fast learner. Once he learns how to do something, he perfects it quickly. One day he got up on his knees, and the next day he was crawling. A few days after this, he started to pull himself up to standing. He skipped pulling himself up onto his knees, and went straight for the harder of the two. Even though this was a big feat for him, standing doesn’t seem to suit him any longer. Lately he has been moving from one object to another. His favorite place to go back and forth is from the window to the TV table. He has also started to scoot around the table from toy to toy. I believe walking will follow shortly. Then I will really have my work cut out for me.

Titus is perfecting his fine motor skills with Cheerios and KIX. He does very well at this. He loses very few Cheerios to the highchair.  Soon we will be moving to other finger foods for him to try. 

I expect Titus to be talking or at least saying a few words soon. Over the past two days, he has started to repeat word sounds.  Two mornings ago I had him sitting on my lap and he tried to pull my glasses off. I told him “No glasses.” He then repeated me with what sounded like, “Dodasses”. He also repeated me when I pointed out a duck to him.  I am not sure he associates the words with the objects or if he is just repeating sounds. Either way it is exciting to see him learning.

All About Adelaide

From seven months to eight months, Adelaide has progressed significantly. She has hit many milestones just this month.  It seems that once she learned how to crawl she has not stopped learning new things. After a month of mobility, Adelaide is finally starting to pull herself up to standing. For a few weeks all she would do was pull herself up onto her knees and not much more. It took her a while to get rid of her jell-o legs and be able to stay up without doing a split.  She is now a pro at standing and wants to practice every chance she gets (normally on my leg).

Another skill that Adelaide is working on is picking up food with her fingers.  At least once durning the day she is given Cheerios or KIX to practice with. So far all she can do is pick them up with her fist, but it is a start.  Since her fine motor skills are still being formed, she doesn’t always get the food to her mouth. She gets about 1/4 into her mouth, and 3/4 on her lap.  

Adelaide has also been a lot more vocal recently. She has started to put syllables together and seems intentional when she babbles.  The cutest part of her speech development is when her and Titus babble back and forth. I expect her to say her first word soon.

Not only has Adelaide changed physically, but her personality has started to change also. Since birth she has always been my independent child. She has always been happy to sit and play on the floor by herself. Adelaide has never been one to want to be held for long periods of time, but lately that has changed.  In the past few weeks, she has wanted to be held more and snuggle more. Some days she actually protests when I put her down. This is something she has never done in the past. I think this is partly because at this age babies start to have separation anxiety, and what I call “stranger danger”.  Despite not having time to hold her all day, I find it sweet that she wants to be close to me.

There are many other little things that have changed in Adelaide over the past month. These are just some of the highlights. I am excited to see what she learns to do this month.

October 31st

I really enjoy the “firsts” that our babies experience. Yesterday was their first time being able to dress up and go to our church's harvest festival/community outreach.  We didn’t purchases any outfits for them since they would only wear them once and not for very long. Instead, we had them wear matching panda hats that were a gift from a friend at my parents church. To complete the outfits, they wore black pants, white onesies, and white socks. I wanted to color their noses black, but figured that was a mess that I didn’t want to deal with.

Titus was not happy about being dressed up

Getting them dressed was a task in itself. Both Titus and Adelaide were in terrible moods. Neither one of them wanted to be put down. While I dressed Adelaide, Titus climbed all over both of us crying. I had to keep moving him out of the way which made him cry harder. This processes was repeated by Adelaide when it was time to dress Titus.  Thankfully once everyone and everything was loaded into the car, the crying stopped and we were able to enjoy our time out.