Month 10: Moving on Up

This is the best 10 month "birthday" picture of these boys I could get.  They are busy and mobile and have no intention of sitting still for mom!  Oh joy oh boy, these guys are moving!  Luckily, I was able to steal some pure moment while they were exploring their world!

 This was one huge month!  It seems like every day there was a milestone achieved.  Thank goodness for cell phones and texting records.  Because of texts to Chris, I was able to reconstruct what happened this month and remember just how far these guys have come in 30 short days.

Brody.
Brody is crawling!  This boy can move and he is so happy!  He sprints down the hallways, crawls over anything in his path (including his brother) and in general, is super ecstatic that he can explore his space! Brody has earned the nickname "bull dog" due to the way he looks when he is roaming around.  His little arms turn in ever so slightly, his wide chest puffs out and his little behind waggles as he plows around the house.  He struts around with so much purpose and confidence that it is hard not to laugh when he is barreling down the hall toward your feet.   Before crawling though, he learned to pull himself up into standing position.  I watched as he did this for the first time, looking on with awe and amazement that he was going to use the overturned laundry basket I left not he floor as his first prop.  He crawled over to it,  placed his hands on top of the basket and pushed himself to standing.  He looked at me, smiled ear to ear, and sat down so he could promptly do it again.  Attempt number two was the same, instant success, and then on the third attempt, he looked right into my eyes, and removed one hand from the basket.  It was as if he immediately knew that standing was just one small task he needed to master in a linear path of skills that lead to walking.

look mom, no hands

Brody also has learned to wave.  His wave is adorable.  He tucks he thumb in, leaving this four fingers standing and moves his hard back and forth.  He waved whenever you look at him, he waves at strangers, and he waves after he has crawled away and when he is taking a rest.  I joked one day that his wave is like his version of small talk.  He pulls it out when he is not quite sure what to do or what we are thinking.  It always make us smile and cheer so it is really a fool proof plan on his part!    He has also started shaking his head back and forth as part of a game.  He shakes, we copy, and so on until someone changes the movement.  Smart baby!

Gunsy (Gunderson, B B the Guns -all still nicknames we use) is obbsessed with the animals.  He tries to crawl over to them and pet them (or pull their hair) every chance he gets.  Adriane and he have a special relationship.  Whenever she comes over to sniff his face, Brody opens his mouth and she proceeds to [french] kiss him.  It's gross and cute all at the same time.  Oliver also is very tolerant of Brody's love pats.  He will lay within range of the babies and let them "pet" him just because he wants attention and he stays until he absolutely can't stand being fondled anymore.

Last, I can feel Brody's two bottom teeth poking through.  This makes me a little sad because 1. he likes to bite and getting him to stop biting is going to be hard! and 2. I am not sure I am ready to lose that gummy smile.  For some reason teeth say to me "big boy"  Oh well, I know time marches on and I can't stop this freight train from getting older.

 you can just barely see them in there!

Brady.
Brady too has accomplished some major milestones this month!  He has learned to stand, doing this first in his crib and then using either Chris or I as his rails.  When he stood for the first time, he immediately started to try and jump up and down almost like he was cheering for himself!  His movements are so much more calculated than Brody's.  Brady looks at the furniture and decides how he is going to stand instead of just going over and muscling his way up.  He has also learned to sit up on his own, affording him the freedom to change positions.  He still mainly scoots or rolls to get from point a to point b, but now that he can sit and stand, he is that much closer to crawling and less frustrated.  He is still a bundle of potential energy though.  Often times he will be sitting in one spot and when I look back at him, he has managed to move himself feet away just by flapping his arms in excitement.  He giggles relentlessly when he sees one of the animals and I suspect he is plotting ways to chase them around as soon as he learns to crawl.  Brady has become a much better eater this month.  He does not gag every time he takes a spoonful of food and he even seems excited when he gets to eat.  This change is a good reminder to me that parenting is largely about diligence and sticking with things.  Kids change so fast and they often do not like things the first few, or 10, times they try something.  But, if you keep exposing them to new things, they will eventually learn to like them.  

Chris has enjoyed helping the boys learn these new tasks.  The weekends seem to include some sort of "clinic" where we work standing, crawling or walking. Really, it's just a chance for boys to play like boys do while mom looks on adoringly. 

Brady has also learned how to say duck and ball.  Teaching him these world was a matter of me looking at him, holding out a duck and saying "DUCK".  He repeated immediately after me and now every time I ask him what the object is, he says duck.  Same with ball.  This boy is meant to talk. It is a good reminder to me that I need to expect that he will be able to communicate with me instead of filling in his worlds for him.

Brady is super good natured.  Since Brody has learned to crawl, Brady has been crawled over, pushed out of the way, used as a handle to stand up or sit down, been gnawed on and drummed like a bongo. He takes all of these brotherly affections in stride and you can pretty much count on him giggling when he see Brody approaching as if he knows some kind of mayhem is going to ensue. 

This month was so much fun.  I hope to do some more frequent posts as we approach the boys' first birthday!  There is so much I want to remember, so many things about raising twins that I want to write down and reference as they grow.

9 Months: Sitting and hoping

 9 month fist pump. (Brady may be pumping his arms because that shirt is too small and he needs to keep the circulation going, but I squeezed him into it for. . . well, for me!)

 How aMOOSING are these shirts.  Thanks Auntie T, mom makes us wear them all the time!

 Babies + flannel = adorable

Month 9 came and went way to easily around here partially, I think, because we were coming off the high of my mom visiting, we were enjoying the summer to fall transition in the Bay Area and we were looking forward to celebrating my 34th birthday as a new mom.  One thing became abundantly clear this month, my babies are not babies anymore.  They are little boys with minds of their own who want to explore their world!

We have a couple of fun things to highlight this month! Top on the list was that we made our first attempt at having the boys sit in high chairs at a restaurant.  Up until this point, we have either avoided going out to eat or, if just me and the boys, I leave them in their stroller and sit at an outdoor table.  Now that they are sitting and eating solid food, they are more comfortable sitting with the grownups  One of the very first times I had the boys out to eat I was with a mom's group.  We had gone for a long walk and then stopped at a cafe to eat.  My boys were amongst the older kids in the gathering, so for space, it seemed to make sense for me to seat them at the table.  What a dibocale.  Within 3 seconds of them sitting down, I had hot coffee pouring down my lap and my food was on the floor.  Four hands verses my two won handily (he he)-no contest.  They won that round and I totally felt like the other moms were looking at me with pity and a little smirk.  Practice makes perfect  though, and after a few family breakfasts out,  the boys were ready to sit at the table while my mom, Aunt and I enjoyed a light lunch! It looks like they enjoyed themselves too!

 Here is Brody going in for the steal.  Tricky baby.  How can they take their time at everything else, but they can pull food off a table in nanoseconds?  Ninjas. 

Another highlight for this month was the start of college football season.  Chris was very happy to have his boys to watch the season opener with.  Shockingly, we had no Michigan gear in this size so we quikly make these onsies in honor of the first game.  #craftsy

The boys started doing this funny thing we call "dolphin calling".  It started with Chris kind of mocking the boys when they grunted.  Not to be outdone, the boys would repeat his grunt in what turned out to be a game that could go on forever.  This game morphed into a round robin sort of song where all four of us would "grunt" in sequence.  The boys totally get that it is a game and that we are all playing together.  Now they dolphin call to each other when they are in their cribs and to us when they are not quite sure where we are.  It is so fun to see them start to understand their world and how to interact with it.

Bath time is so fun with these guys.  We bathe them in an inflatable insert so they are kind of corralled and more manageable.  A few weeks ago Brady and Brody learned how to splash each other in the bath.  One starts slapping the water and the other twin follows and soon Chris and I are soaked beyond belief!  They love the water and we are really looking forward to getting them some swimming lessons.

Brady
Brady's tricks for this month include waving, saying Mama, Dada, hi, and rolling like a champ.  This cute guy is still super vocal and really sweet.  He giggles when his brother comes toward him, even if it is just to steal his toy or bite his head!  Brady is parts tough guy and part sweetie. Sometime when I am walking around his room so he can go back to sleep, he finds my hand and slips his tiny paw
into mine.  No matter how tired or cranky I am, my heart melts and my eyes well up when he does this. It is like his own silent text message saying that he is happy I am there.  When Brady smiles, his little checks puff out and become even more kissable than I thought possible. 

Brody
I say that Brody has spent a large amount of this month frustrated!  This boy wants to be mobile and wants to crawl!  He has learned how to roll out of his room and into the hall but once there, this is often the face I see!

Distant toys frustrate him and he often screeches in annoyance that he is not able to get someplace he wants to go.  He is able to say Mama and Dada, but he speaks less than his brother.  He is interested in smashing, thrashings and playing and once he can crawl, he will be so happy!  Brody gave me a very personal gift on my birthday, he sat up for the first time on his own.  This skill has made him very happy and put him one step closer to freedom! He is still the master of the flat line smile, one eye brow raise and super cute giggle.  He likes to rub noses and still, on occasion, does the Brody bite.  It is takes restraint everyday not to kiss his checks raw.

Taking a good picture of these guys together is a thing of the past.  Now, I just enjoy the funny moments captured "on film" while I am acting like an idiot trying to get them to look the same direction and smile!

8 months: Voices Carry

 

I think month 7 to 8 time lapse was the fastest yet!  It seems like it went by in a blink of an eye.  Please don't let the other months go by this fast, I want to be able to take all of these new milestones in!

 Worst picture of them together!  It is getting harder to get both of them to smile in pictures. The outtakes are so much better!

We were lucky to have a visit with Barry, Jane and Samson in Golden Gate Park on their 8 month birthday.  Such a great way to spend the afternoon.The boys loved sitting in the grass and trying to eat the grass. . . 

Feeding is still a terrifying and somewhat daunting experience.  Seating, feeding, and cleaning up after two babies is really hard.  Introducing new foods and watching for possible allergic reactions is scary and annoying.  The fear of choking, especially when I am feeding them by myself is unpleasant.  To this point, we have them eating once a day but sometime soon, I need to increase meal time to twice a day.  Send reinforcements.  Good thing they look cute with food on their faces!

 Probably the most fun thing that happened this month is that the boys started talking.  Both boys  mastered "Dada" and "Mama" and nothing could sound sweeter than these words coming out of their mouths.  Brady has always been very vocal so his transition from babbling to actually saying "Dada" (yes, that was first word, much to my chagrin, thankfully Mama followed soon after) seemed seamless.  Brody's first words, however, were more startling.  Up until the moment he yelled out  "Dada" and "Maaaaaama", I had not realized that I had never actually heard his voice. I guess his grunts and closed mouth mmmmmmmmm's translated into words in my head, but when the actually said a real word for the first time, it was startling.  It's hard to describe how amazing it was finally hear what Brody's voice sounds like.
 

The second thing that was so much fun this month was seeing the boys start to playing together.  Granted, playing consists mainly of biting hands and/or feet or stealing the toy that the other one has, but I consider it playing nonetheless.  They are so funny.  No matter where you put them on the floor they migrate to each other and end up intertwined and when you say hi to them, they look up a you like thy were doing something wrong.  As you can see in the pictures below, they like tochew on feet and hands, preferably someone elses.  I particularly like the picture series where you can see Brady reaching for Sophie the Giraffe and Brody rolls away to keep it from him.  Classic brotherly love. 

I have witnessed two funny occurrences..  First, I have seen Brody roll over to Brady and proceed to hold Brady's arm down while he takes a toy with his free hand.  I have also witnessed the boys master the "around the corner grab" where one pulls a toy away from his brother while sitting in the Bob stroller even though they can't see each others faces.  And parents wonder why my guys don't react when a kid crawls up to them and takes something during play time at the library.  It's because it happens all the time at home!  The boys are now too active and too wiggly to be put in the same crib or pack n play.  If I do leave them together, I always find one is covered in spit from his brother's mouth, a gross but cute find!  

Rolling is still their main form of transportation and they are very effective at it.  It is amazing to watch them roll, pivot, and roll again to get to where they want to go.  They can also scoot on their butts, though Brady does this more than Brody. Brady gets so excited about something the starts to flap his arms and lift this butt off the ground and the next thing I know, he is 10 or 20 feet from where he started! 

I feel that there will be many milestones in the next few months, and not just because I am 6 weeks late in posting this update!  :)