Allison: 8 Months

8 months with Allison and she shows us more and more every day how quickly she is growing up. Only four months months and we hit the big O.N.E.

This girl reeeeeeeeeeally wants to move. Any time she is on her tummy she is pushing up onto all fours. She hasn't figured out what to do once she gets there, but I think this might be the month we have a crawler! I'm pretty positive at this rate we are going to skip the army crawls and go straight to hands and knees crawling. I really thought she would army crawl this month. She will reach with everything she has to try to get something, but she hasn't got the arms and legs going. She can turn around in circles and push herself backwards, but no forward motion as of yet.

She still enjoys baby crunches and putting everything in her mouth. She is sitting for pretty long periods of time, and only gets upset when she can't figure out how to lay back down. Though I've looked over and seen her back on the ground after I had sat her up, so she's working on it. If she isn't on her belly when she's on the floor, she's grabbing at her toes and pulling her socks off any chance she gets. 

We have hit the purees hard this month with her and she is loving eating like the big kids. Veggies have been her favorites- carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans. She tends to eat those better than fruits. She is not a fan of anything mixed with a meat. It's a pretty hard no from her after a bite or two- shaking that head no, batting the spoon away, and pursing those lips closed. We've tried to give her a few whole foods too, but so far they only place those have gone has been the seat of her high chair ha!

Allison has had her second tooth pop through on the bottom left side. And I swear she is starting to wave. When she is on her tummy I've seen her lift one arm up and wave it back and forth at me. Whether it's a real wave or not is still to be determined. 

Favorite toys this month include the wipes container, a soft book, and her sensory play board. She is still a fan of the jumper and loves being able to see what everyone is doing. She has really enjoyed being outside and going for stroller rides. Which is great because we spend lots and lots of time outside! She also enjoys sticking her tongue out at you, and thinks its so funny when you stick yours back out at her. 

Dislikes this month include the snot sucker and not being able to reach or get to what she wants. 

Allie was in six month clothes almost the entire month, but I did just get out her nine month clothes. She is wearing size three diapers. She drank 30 ounces almost the entire month, but here at the end of the month she got super congested and basically refused to eat. She was leaving 2-3 ounces in almost every bottle, so I brought her bottles back to 5 ounces instead of 6 while we were going through that phase. She seems pretty back to normal so we will bump those back up to six ounces again now. 

We switched up when her bottles were a bit to accommodate feeding her food in the evenings. So now she gets them at 6:30, 8:30, 12:30, 3:30, and then 7/7:30 ish. We've dropped her down from three naps to two naps, one around 8:30 and one around 1, but boy is she struggling by 6ish and needs some distraction to make it over that last hump and not fall asleep. She also had a stint this month where she got up at 5 every morning for like a week- thankfully that is over now! I know I shouldn't complain because we've been blessed with the best sleepers, but man that was rough on the weekends haha.

Allison weighs about 17 pounds and is about 26.5 inches long. She was all decked out in green for her first St. Patrick's Day. No pinches for this little cutie. 

Here's to another month of fun!

Katie: 8 Months

Eight whole months with our sweet Katie. Oh what a joy this month has been with her!

Katie enjoyed her first New Year's with a sleepover at my and dad's house.

She took her first big trip-an overnight stay in St. Louis! We had planned on visiting Katie and Jaycen over the summer, but we got Covid and had to cancel. When a free weekend popped up this month, we hopped on the chance to go visit our friends. Katie was pretty clingy the entire time we were there, but did finally warm up by the time we left. Enjoy this awful quality picture-luckily the fun made up for it!

Katie's really taken a liking to food this month. We started doing purees at the beginning of the month to just get her more used to the taste of real food, and I think that really helped. If you put some on a spoon, she will grab the spoon right out of your hand and bring it right to her mouth. 

She still gets actual food too, and has really shown an interest in eating those more than the purees. She's really enjoyed noodles and pulled pork, and has also munched on carrots, corn, bananas, and bread. We've tried peanut butter and eggs with her and are allergy free. 

We introduced Katie to a straw cup this month and it took one time of me squeezing the bottle to get water in the straw for her to know that she needed to suck to keep getting more water. She really enjoys drinking from her cup!

We've mastered sitting up this month and can sit for very long periods of time. Sit her up and give her her ring stacker or carrot toy and she will be a happy camper for a long time.

When she isn't sitting on the floor, she does still like being in the bouncer, but I'm sure that will end soon as she definitely wants to see what the twins are doing and be where they are. If you lay her on the floor, she will almost instantly roll over to her tummy. She spins around in circles so she can see where the action is or to reach her preferred toy. I've just recently noticed that she is really pushing up with her arms and is starting to get her belly off the floor. If you put your hand behind her feet, she will push off of them to move herself forward. It won't be long before she is on the move!

Katie's favorite things this month are her brother and sister, chewing on everything, and being where the action is.

She is not a fan of waiting to eat or being put somewhere where she can't see what is going on.

She is grabbing her toes and chewing on them and can hold her own bottle (when she wants to). 

She is still in 6 month clothes, size 2 diapers, and is drinking five 6 ounce bottles a day. But I will say I'm probably bumping her up in clothing size soon, and just today we upped her bottles to five 7 ounce bottles because she is acting hungry still after finishing a bottle. We've been stretching her wake window to 2.5-3 hours between naps.

Katie is measuring 26 and 1/8 inches long and is weighing 16.6 pounds at home. 

Katie likes sleeping on her tummy now instead of her back. And we almost have our first tooth! I saw the white circle ring in her gum that lets me know its on its way soon. While I love a good gummy smile, I can't wait to see her toothy grin.

 

Here's to all that the next month has in store for her!

Brayden and Ashley: Eight Months

Another month bites the dust and it's been our best month yet! Brady and Ashley are growing and changing each and every day and we can't get enough of it. Here's a look back at our month!

This month started out with a date night camping trip with Brian and Mara down at Pyramid State Park in Pinckneyville. It was a relaxing day and night away from the babies enjoying each other and our friends. And in case you were wondering, we camped out in the back of the truck. Eric's souped it up even more now (as it now includes a platform for the air mattress allowing more storage underneath. I'm looking forward to camping again in it.

On September 27 I got to spend a little time with my best friends for some kid free girl time. I decided that we don't do this often enough and next time we need to stay for longer. But man was it good to see them and catch up!

We've been enjoying these last remnants of warm weather by taking the babies outside as much as we can. 

My grandpa was released from the nursing home to come home, so mom and I took the babies to Altamont to celebrate with him. Seeing his big smile when he held his great grand babies sure made my heart swell.

    

This past weekend included a trip to the pumpkin patch with our cousins, aunts, and uncles! Schaefer Pumpkin Patch in Beecher City was the perfect place for the babes to experience their first patch. It was an absolutely beautiful day filled with unimpressed babies in the corn pit, a goat loving petting zoo, and me realizing that I may never get us all to look at the camera at the same time again. We can't wait to go again next year, and are already planning a fun Christmas tradition!

Tonight we wished Eric a happy 31st birthday! We are so lucky that he is ours.

And other things we don't want to forget:

• Brayden is weighing 22.4 pounds and is 28.5 inches long. Ashley weighs 19.4 pounds and is 27.75 inches long.

 

• This month we stretched our wake windows to 2.5 hours. Our current schedule is as follows: Wake up at 6, bottle, get to daycare, breakfast and play, nap from 8:30-10, bottle/play/lunch, nap from 12:30-3:30/4, bottle, get home, dinner, play, bottle around 6:15/6:30, then bed around 7. 

 

• We are still getting four bottles a day. Brady still takes four 8 ounce bottles for 32 ounces a day and Ashley is taking four 7 ounce bottles for 28 ounces a day. Since we are eating a lot more real food now, we don't always take all of every bottle, but most days we do drink it all. The two bottles they get at home are breastmilk and the two bottle they get at daycare are formula. 

 

• They are getting pretty good at holding their own bottles, which has been a total game changer for us! It's so nice to pop their bottles in their mouths and then go do dishes or fold laundry.

• In addition to their bottles, we are also eating three meals a day now- and are officially done with purees! We've added some exciting new foods to our repertoire, including eggs, corn, asparagus, strawberry, kiwi, mandarin oranges, blueberries, meatballs, mashed potatoes, pancakes, spaghetti, pizza, hotdogs, macaroni and cheese, chili, peanut butter toast, and I'm sure a bunch of other things that they've had at daycare that I'm forgetting. Both babies are pretty dang good eaters.

  

 

• I'm trying to avoid sippy cups, so we've been hitting the open cup hard. Some days are better than others, but they can both grab around the outside of the cup and bring it to their mouths. We might end up spilling more than we actually drink, but it's a learning curve, right? Straw cups are our next thing to tackle!

   

• We are in size 3 diapers during the day and sleep in size 4 diapers at night. Still going through 10-12 diapers a day between the two of them. Here at the end of the month Ashley has stopped pooping on the way to daycare, so fingers crossed she doesn't start that again now that I'm mentioning it out loud!

  

• Our wardrobe still consists of 9 month clothes, and I can see us staying in these for a little while longer. At the rate Brady is growing, he will probably bump up to 12 month clothes before Ashley does. 

• I would still say that favorite toys include sqwish and the toy keys, though the yellow nubby ball is giving them a run for their money. I think they like it so much because it has plenty of things to chew on.

• Speaking of chewing on things- we officially have teeth- one tooth each! I first noticed Ashley's tooth popping through when we got back from our camping trip on September 20. I probably wouldn't have even noticed it then except she put my finger in her mouth and I felt the sharp little bump. She never once acted any different or acted at all like it was hurting her. If you look real close in these pictures you can see where their teeth are just starting to pop through. Ashley's is really sticking out there now!

• Brady on the other hand, boy oh boy. I first noticed his tooth popping through on October 12. He was laying on the floor laughing and I thought he had food on his gum from breakfast still. I put my finger in to clean it out and realized it was a tooth. Looking back now, he had been a pill the few days leading up to that- super clingy, not napping well, waking up a lot in the night, putting even more things than normal in his mouth. I really hope that all teeth don't hit him this bad or we are in for a rough few months.

• Another big milestone this month was Ashley starting to crawl! On October 2nd after a diaper change I swore I saw her army crawl to get to the wipes. I moved the wipes farther away and sure enough she crawled to them again. This girl is unstoppable now and we are in so much trouble. I've come to realize I will never be alone again. It doesn't take long for her to crawl to find out where I'm at.

• Brayden hasn't quite mastered the army crawl yet, but he is getting up on all fours quite often and has started pushing himself backwards. I don't think it will be long before he figures it out too!

• Ashley is chatting away, and Brady has become a lot more vocal too. B, D, M and Y have been added to their babbles, and we are both doing reduplicated and even some variegated babbling. Favorite phrases include "babababa" and "yayaya" interspersed in squealy screams (by Ashley) and coos (by Brayden). 

• We've reached the point in their development where they realize when I leave the room and then cry because I'm gone.

  

• They are interacting and actually playing with each other more now. Ashley was playing peek a boo with Brady from Eric's lap the other night and it was THE cutest thing ever. 

• Favorites for Ashley this month include being tipped upside down and getting her belly tickled, crawling to any cord she can find and putting it in her mouth, blowing raspberries on your cheek, arm or leg and stealing toys from her brother.

• She doesn't like sitting in a stopped car, getting the snot sucked out of her nose, and staying on her back for diaper changes. (I swear diaper changes have become like wrestling an alligator!)

• Brady's favorites include napping on the way to daycare in the morning, cuddles, sitting up to play, being outside and watching the dogs, and eating.

• Brady doesn't like startling noises and having to wait too long to be fed.

Each month keeps getting better and better, and I'm so looking forward to the fun we will have in the months to come!