At their six month milestone we once again had professional pictures done. We had to get a little inventive on photos since Beth and Jake were super wiggly when laying down, but couldn't sit up to be stationary. But I still got a bunch of favorites!
Just starting the day and still trying to figure out if the camera is okay or if they need to cry about it.
Where'd my belly-button go?
My favorite picture of Beth. I just love her toothless little grin.
Someone is not happy that the sun is so bright.
My favorite picture of Jake. Just his sweet innocence coming through.
And this is the magic of Photoshop and shows how awesome my photographer is. Each baby was held up by yours truly in a separate photo session. Heather digitally erased my arm holding up the baby and then merged the pictures so that the babies showed up together in the same photo. She does amazing work!
Six months. Holy biscuits and gravy my babies are six months. On the one hand this feels like such a major accomplishments (I've kept twins alive for six months!) but on the other I feel like I'm drowning in various ways every.single.day. But you know, just when I'm feeling so overwhelmed and outnumbered one (or both) give me just the biggest grin and I know we're going to be okay and I'm going to make it one more day.
This month has seen some big changes for both kiddos. Beth learned to roll from back to front, reaches for objects, stands with support, bounces like a crazy loon in her jumper, gives real laughs when she finds something funny, and twists in circles in her activity center. She's had her first bites of food and definitely likes it. She enjoys being pulled up to the dinner table when we're having dinner and being a part of the family. She still wakes every 2.5 or so hours to eat and struggles to stay asleep longer than 30 minutes but I read an old blog post about Abby during this age and she was doing the same thing. So there's hope for eventual nights of rest. Jake learned to hold a bottle by himself (which is pretty neat since they rarely get them), loves to jump as high and fast as he can in the jumper, has perfected rolling front to back but still prefers someone to turn him manually. He also enjoys eating and tends to only stop when the food runs out. Like his big sister, Jake is up every 2.5 hours during the night and after 30 minutes during the day but doesn't fight sleep as much as he tends to go out like a light. He's still my big snuggler and knows exactly when I need him to burrow into my neck and just love on me. I will say I'm getting pretty darn close to wanting them to be in their own room in the big crib, though. I've gotten into the habit of pulling them both into bed with me at night and while this does help me sleep a little more I think they've gotten used to frequent snacks at night instead of one (or two) good feedings, which is probably not helping the longer sleeping sessions I so desperately want. So sometime in the future I'll be biting the bullet and moving them out, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.
"Birth" - First night at home around 5 days old.
One Month Old - Wondering who this other person is.
Two Months Old - Looking like their own person now.
Three Months Old - Getting their own personalities.
Four Months Old - Beth poses for her picture while Jake is totally over the camera.
Five Months Old - I got them on the same side as before! Starting to really enjoy baby life.
6 Months Old - The unofficial monthly picture where they're smiling and holding hands. Such a sweet photo!
And the official 6 month photo where they both refuse to smile at the same time no matter what I do. This was the best of the bunch! I do like how it shows the difference in body types between the two. You can see that Beth is just tiny compared to Jake, especially their chest and waist size differences.
Here are Elizabeth's stats: Height Weight Head CM Birth 17.5 in. 5 lbs. 8 oz. 2 Weeks 18.0 in. 5 lbs. 7 oz. 33.0 cm 1 Month 19.2 in. 7 lbs. 9 oz. 36.8 cm 2 Months 21.0 in. 9 lbs. 7 oz. 38.7 cm 4 Months 22.5 in. 11 lbs. 6 oz. 41.0 cm 6 Months 24.1 in. 13 lbs. 0 oz. 43.0 cm Beth put on the hoped for weight at the one-month follow-up! She's officially just a teeny, tiny peanut. Per the "not sure I'm reading this right" CDC charts she's 5th percentile for both height and weight. Our Doctor also pulled up the premature growth charts and as of their four month appointment (which is as high as the chart he pulled up went) Beth was 57th percentile in premature baby weight. Here are Jacob's stats: Height Weight Head CM Birth 17.5 in. 5 lbs. 10 oz. 2 Weeks 18.0 in. 5 lbs. 7 oz. 33.5 cm 1 Month 19.0 in. 8 lbs. 2 oz. 36.8 cm 2 Months 21.1 in. 10 lbs. 2 oz. 38.3 cm 4 Months 23.0 in. 12 lbs. 14 oz. 41.0 cm 6 Months 24.8 in. 14 lbs. 3 oz. 43.6 cm Jake is still a chunk compared to Beth. I'm thinking that even with Beth starting to catch up his body type is just more sumo wrestler to her ballerina physique. Time will tell! His "not sure I'm reading this right" CDC chart shows Jake's in the 1st percentile for height and 3rd for weight. According to the premature charts he's 63rd percentile for weight as of his 4 month appointment. Again, growing nicely for being a month early and a twin.
At just shy of six months (Nate beat me down!) Jake and Beth had their first taste of food. Granted, it was Oatmeal Cereal but breast-milk it was not. My "rule" with Abby was that if everyone let me exclusively nurse until six months without making a big issue of it then, once she'd hit six months, I wouldn't make a big issue out of whatever she was fed (within health and safety reasons). It worked great for Abby so I figured it'd work for Beth and Jake as well. I liked knowing that I'd get a peaceful six months and the families liked knowing that they'd eventually be able to give their desired treats without getting yelled at. Win-Win!
A week or so before the big six month mark, my own husband and daughter began to bug me big time about feeding the babies real food. I resisted as long as I could but their sweet pleading broke me down and so, on Tuesday (July 18th) at two days shy of six months (because, yes, it does matter) Beth and Jake had their first try of food.
Jake getting his first bite.
He liked it so much he tried to grab the bowl. :-)
Jake definitely likes 'real' food.
Beth wasn't so sure about her first bite.
Deciding if she likes the taste of not.
"What was that, Mom?"
"Do I have to take another bite?"
In the end, she likes it!
I'll admit that a part of me is really looking forward to all the different foods they can try and another part is not excited about trying to feed (and clean!) two babies from messy meals. But, I know I can't keep them on Mom's milk forever so here's to the beginning of a fun food journey!
