Beth and Jake Turn Double Digits - 10 Months!

"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.

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.

They're so excited to be 7 months old. LOL.

They were so full of smiles that I had a tough time picking which picture I wanted to highlight this month.

Their nine month pictures were taken about a week after the actual ninth month and the day after we'd returned from our week long cruise. While on that cruise Jake developed a cold and didn't get as much sleep as he would have liked. Beth came home almost happier than she normally is. So this was honestly the best photo I could get of the both of them.

"Yay, Mom kept us alive for 10 months!"

I am fully honest when I say that this is the only photo that doesn't have something (or someone) blurry in it. Trying to get two very active little people to lay or sit still for a photo was impossible. :-)

The biggest milestone this past month for these kiddos was that they became international travelers! Our family went on a Caribbean Cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, Belize, and Isla de Roatan, Honduras. The two of them did GREAT and adjusted to ship life just swimmingly. Pun intended. :-) Individually, Beth learned to pull herself into a standing position and is so cute as she tends to have her legs as far apart as possible when doing so. Jake is being taught that biting hurts and that it's not funny (seriously, people, he'll be nursing...clamp down hard....then give me the biggest shy grin when I tell him no....it's so hard not to just squeeze him then because of how cute that grin is). They are both army crawling everywhere with a few moments of getting up on all fours. But no actual 'real' crawling yet. Still maintaining strong in the 3-6 month sized clothes and size 3 diapers. Naps are pretty consistent at twice per day. Night time is still hard with multiple wake-ups but I can taste sleep training on the horizon. Once these two are cold free (and we're home from the Thanksgiving holiday) it's game on.

Abby Loses Her First AND SECOND Tooth

At Abby's last dentist visit we made mention to the dentist that her front right tooth was occasionally hurting her. We were surprised when we learned that this was because her tooth (in fact all four of her front teeth) were loose. Their wiggling around was what was causing the occasional discomfort. Fast forward a few months and on Saturday, November 5th Abby woke me up to the surprise of a missing bottom, right tooth. Sadly, she'd been munching on cheerios when she felt a funny crunch and then apparently swallowed her tooth! She was so excited about losing a tooth that swallowing it wasn't a big deal to her, but I'll admit a little sadness on my part that I wouldn't have that keepsake. Then I wondered how we would do the "Tooth Fairy" without an actual tooth.

Abby with her first missing tooth.

Well, I need not have worried. Throughout the day Abby had fun wiggling her other bottom tooth that was loose. She even had fun making some videos similar to the ones that she watches in the Kids YouTube channel. She kept trying to pull it out but there was one little root that just would not budge. I figured it'd be another few days until the tooth loosened itself enough to allow her to give a yank without it hurting too badly. However, after putting the babies down I shut their door and turned around to a widely grinning Abby with a huge gap in her teeth and a baggie in her hand. She'd pulled the second tooth! Two teeth in one day! My first thought was that I was so excited she had a tooth to show off and my second was how in the world the Tooth Fairy was going to pull this off as she'd had no preparation time and Nate wasn't home.

Abby missing her second tooth. The missing teeth just change her look so much. Just another step towards leaving childhood and heading towards being an adult. sigh.

Thankfully a wonderful friend and neighbor saw my post on Facebook and came to the rescue by watching all three kids after they were in bed while I ran to the store. I'll admit the Tooth Fairy went a little overboard for this momentous occasion. Two teeth in one day, a swallowed first tooth, Nate gone, and well, money just didn't seem to cut it. So instead, the Tooth Fairy knew that a Monster High doll (Frankie to be exact) and a Littlest Pet Shop figurine would be a huge hit. I almost got made being the Tooth Fairy though as the exact moment when I made the switch of note and tooth for present Abby rolled over and started to flutter a bit like she was going to wake up. I hit the ground and then realized with her bed also on the ground I had no cover. LOL! So I froze like the stillest statue and prayed very hard for her to fall back asleep. When continued movement kept happening I dashed to make the switch and raced out of the room. Thankfully I got out of there before she saw anything and she fell back asleep.

Her note reads "Lucy Tooth I swallowed down tooth. I hope please give money nother. Love, Abby." The translation is "Lucy Tooth, I swallowed down a tooth. Please give money for another tooth (meaning leave money for both teeth). Love, Abby."

Abby's letter from the tooth fairy.

And a tooth receipt because I couldn't make up my mind which one I wanted at 10:30pm after a 6am wake-up time.

In the morning I found her cuddled up next to me, but as soon as she fully woke up she got the biggest smile on her face as she realized that the Tooth Fairy should have come in the night. She raced to her room and was delighted when she saw both presents. There was that much looked for spark and amazement in her eyes when she realized that the Tooth Fairy got her her much desired Frankie doll. I know that she won't believe much longer. But I love seeing the child wonder and amazement that these childhood fantasies bring.