Claire 6 months

Our beau-ti-ful Claire Bear is six months old!!  My baby girl is growing to fast.  I wish I could bottle her up.  I mean, look at those cheeks!!  Seriously, the prettiest girl EVER!!

Sleep:  Claire usually goes to bed at 8 and wakes up at 6:30 (sometimes earlier :(, sometimes later :)  )  I think her gums have been giving her a hard time, or maybe she has extra gas from starting solids.  We are working on dropping to three naps a day.  I am lucky to get two good naps from the bear.  Even if she wakes up early, she wakes up happy and content.  If she wakes up early, she usually does chores with me - lucky her :)  She is so sweet when she sleeps.  I swear she is double jointed!  If she is on her side, her left arm is tucked under her back! Weird!  She has just started rolling over to her stomach and will stay like that all night.  I am starting to get used to it, although it made me nervous at first.

Clothes:  Bear still wears her 3-6 month clothes....some are still too big :)  She has the tiniest feet!  I bought the cutest eyelet sandals for her that were 3-6 mo and they are still too big for her. She is in a size 2 diaper.

Food:  She is eating 6.5 oz 5x a day, but we are working on dropping a feeding and adding solids!  She is a pretty good eater.  So far her favorites are pears, peaches, peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots.  We tried prunes, but they were both very cranky that day so I haven't given them to them again.

she grabs her feet ALL the time!

Play time:  Claire loves play time!  Her favorite right now is the exersaucer!  She usually just puts all the toys in her mouth, and can stay occupied for quite a while!  She likes most toys, but really likes ones she can grab with her hands!  recently, i have started putting them on a large blanket instead of their play mat.  She seems to love it!! especially since she can roll back and forth easily!  She is not crawling, but can do a 360! and move backward.  Justin and I need to start baby proofing yesterday!!

Milestones:   Bear can roll over both ways and does so often!  She can sit supported and is working on sitting by herself.  She follows voices and you can usually find her with a smile on her face!  great grip on her toys and can switch hands.  She is our wild woman and shows us by doing her wild woman scream/babble.  She blows raspberries non stop.  

Cheers for an awesome first six months, healthy babies and more fun in the future!!!

Love her!

Max 6 months!

not his best picture! I had just woken him up from his nap

My Max Man has gotten SO big!  Every time we go somewhere, people comment on how big he is.  I am really looking forward to our appointment on Aug. 3 so we can find out his percentage.

Sleep:  Max usually goes to bed around 8 and wakes up at 7.  He is now sleeping on his tummy.  We lay him down on his back at night, but he quickly flips.  Naps are pretty good.  He has been taking 4 naps a day, but we are in transition to 3.  One of my favorite things is when I go to check on him, I lean over the crib and he holds onto my hand or face and grips my hand so that I cannot leave!  He is the sweetest baby :)  We have recently been letting them sleep with their lovies.  We have like eight of them!!  I call them all bunny.  He likes to cuddle it or put it over his face.  It usually makes him start laughing though!

Clothes:  Most shorts are 9 months and shirts are closer to12 months.  He is really long, so 12 month pjs work best!  We just started our first box of size 3 diapers.

Food:  Right now he is eating 7.5 oz 5x a day, but we are working on dropping a feeding and adding solids!

so far he likes pears, sweet potatoes, carrots and bananas.  We have just started eating regularly and he does good most of the time

Play time:  Max's favorite activity is the exersaucer.  He goes to town jumping and playing with the toys on there.  They have almost outgrown the play mat.  I still put them on it in the mornings, but it doesn't last long.  We usually just put them on a blanket.  We also walk almost every day.  All three of us like getting some fresh air :)  I usually put in an einstein video once a day so I can pump.  Somehow, the kid already loves tv.  I have caught him laughing at the cartoons already!

Milestones:  

Max is able to roll over both ways and does so every chance he gets!  Not quite crawling, but moves backwards!  We are working on sitting.  He can sit well with support and for a few seconds by himself.  He follows us (especially me) by voice and when we walk in or out of the room.  His first tooth is coming in!  We are trying to eat baby food for breakfast and dinner, or twice a day.  He has his own form of talking.  He reaches for, and can usually get toys that are out of reach.

This big boy is so much fun!  Love to watch him and his sister together.  They are really starting to interact :)

Time to start planning their first birthday ;)

6 months down!

Can't believe our babies are six months old (yesterday).  Time has gone by WAY too fast.  I am loving every.single.minute with them. Each day they learn something new, get cuter and more funny!

They are in to everything and are busy all the time!

look at those legs!

 melts my heart!

Now that they are so curious, our photo shoots don't go as well as I would like.  I am lucky if they look at the camera!  I'm so proud of all they are accomplishing. (individual post to follow).  I'm also proud that I have made six months of breast feeding/pumping.  Originally, I thought I was going to quit at six months, but I am not ready.  I want to try to go as long as I am producing.... not to mention the cost of formula for two!!

We just started introducing baby food to their schedule.  They have been practicing since 4 months, but nothing consistent until now.

Their personalities are really starting to come through.  Claire is my miss independent, goes with the flow, doesn't like to miss what's going on and Max is sweet, smiley and likes his routine and doesn't do as well if it is messed up.

Love our little family :)

Wordless Wednesday

billy goat

Apparently Claire is half billy goat! Today's outing was to Target and when I was getting them out of the car, I noticed Claire had something in her mouth - my target receipt!  Ooops! I accidentally left it in her car seat and she must have been hungry :)

 We are finding new toys to play with. 

This tissue paper kept Claire busy for a few minutes.  She loved the crinkle sound it made!

My silly boy with bunny on his head!  He is so sweet!

Justin took off yesterday so I took advantage of him being home and went up to the pool for some quiet mommy time!  Of course, the minute I got there the sun hid behind these big, grey clouds!  It finally started coming out towards the end.  It sure was nice to have some "me" time.  I wish we could win the lottery so Justin could be with us every day.  We went for a family run, went to Costco (got some yummy Mahi Mahi burgers), Justin did the yard, I went to the pool and Claire went grocery shopping with me.

The minute we walked through the sliding doors, her head went left.  That means she was VERY tired!  Anytime we see her go left, we know there is a good nap in store!!

Not too much to say except my babies are growing up WAY TO FAST!!  They will be 6 months on Friday! I CAN'T believe it..... It kind of makes me sad.  They have grown up so much in the past two weeks.  So I don't forget when I do their 6 month post... Claire has been grabbing her feet :), both have been paying a LOT more attention to one another, Claire has been lifting her bottom in the air and kind of bringing a knee up...makes me think she is thinking about crawling, Max has a tooth that has broken skin! and I made their first homemade baby food today - sweet potatoes - and they loved it!

I put them in the same crib when they both wake up really early from a nap.  I heard them giggling and came back in to find Max with Bunny on his head!  He always has one of his bunnies covering his head!! lol

Justin was out of town this weekend on a golf trip with some of his old college buddies so Max, Claire and I had some family spend the night.  Friday, my youngest cousins came in town and stayed with us.  They all had the best time :)

Max and Claire loved spending time with them!

My Mom spent the night last night and this morning..She was huge help :)  We always have a good time!  I need to add we had a delicious french toast breakfast at Cracker Barrel! YUM!

We are glad Justin is home and taking Monday off to spend with us! and give this mommy some much needed relaxation time at the pool :)

OH..... and tomorrow we find out what my Brother is having.... if I haven't said before, he and his fiance are having twins too!!

I've got a problem

Let me just start by saying I am a cookie addict....there I said it, I have a problem - and admitted it.  I follow this blog and she does cookie time tuesdays....Recently I have been craving Oreos.  Not sure where that came from, but when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it.  Unfortunately, it was delicious.  I took the first batch to a friend who just had a baby minus 8 for us then made a second batch for Justin to take on his golf trip..... Problem is, I had two with my coffee this morning, one for dessert, after my ff frozen yogurt topped with 1 oreo dessert. oops!  I love cookies!!!!!!!!!!!

For the record, I have also started The 30 day shred again and have been doing that on top of running :) I'm having to do two a days to keep up with my cookie addiction :)

Anywho, here are some cute pics of the coolest kids around

This makes me laugh so hard!  Anytime something is near his face (blanket, lovey, bib, etc.) he covers his face and starts laughing and moving his arms up and down!! It's hilarious!

Baby girl modeling a new skirt!

 We have struggled with naps the past two days.  They used to go down so well and sleep for at least an hour, sometimes over two and recently, I'm struggling to get 30 min.  Claire is wanting to be rocked, or held to go to sleep and I just can't do that or get into that habit.  There is nothing I'd rather do than rock my babies to sleep, but I know that will lead to problems down the road x2.  Yesterday and today I have made them CIO for two of their naps and I hate it.

This next picture is right before they are getting swaddled for their last nap.

 can't get any sweeter :)