Half a Year Old!

It's almost too hard to say, but my babies are now 6 months... half a year old! How does it happen so fast? I can't believe that in another 6 months they'll be the big 1 year old! Okay, I can't let my mind go there...

Ella and Evan are so much fun! It seems as if everyday there is something new and exciting that they do.

Ella~

My little bean girl is such a character. She's a feisty one, for sure! I love it in the morning when I go in there and she starts flailing her arms and legs all around and a big smile in excitement to see me. Her nose scrunches up every time she smiles and she loves to give kisses. One of her favorite things is to play with her toys, either in the exersaucer or on the floor during tummy time. We call her a little hoarder because she grabs ALL the toys at ONCE to be sure that no one has a chance to get them. She quickly collects them and throws them down in her seat. It is not uncommon for her to steal toys away from Evan when they are playing on the floor. Fortunately, Evan doesn't care too much and will usually just look for another toy. She's also my good little eater with eating solids from a spoon. It pretty much gets inhaled and she will cry during the time that I give Evan a bite. I've now found that I need to feed solids at the end of the meal because she'll eat for days and reject her bottle. Stinker. Screeching and "talking" are among her favorites as well. She has great eye contact and could totally beat me in a staring contest! =) She thinks it's hilarious when you blow on her belly while on the changing table too. Thank goodness, Ella has returned (for the most part) to her normal sleeping routine. Crazy girl!

Evan~

My sweet little Buddy. My mama's boy is exactly that. It would be unusual for him to not cry when I left a room unless totally distracted with someone or something else. He gets the saddest look on his face and turns beet red when he cries... I can't handle it. And then magically it stops once I pick him up. Hmph. And it isn't wise to speak to him while he's playing contently by himself either. He'll whip his head around and start crying. :( Ella does this, too, but not to the same extent. Much like Ella, Evan gets SO excited when I go in to get him from sleeping and naps. He'll lift his head up and give me the biggest grin and out of excitement buries his head into the mattress. Silly. Evan loves to eat as well, but gets frustrated that the solids are not a continuous flow. I often need to feed the bottle a little and then introduce the vegetable. He rolls all around and when down for tummy time will spin around in circles continuously searching for toys. They'll also scooch themselves forward and backward to get the desired toy. It's hilarious to watch. Fortunately, Evan is pretty good at being able to talk him out of crying. He'll usually starts smiling and laughing if you respond to him with a "What?". He still continues to sleep on his side or tummy, but sleeps REALLY well. It is very rare to hear from him AND he'll sleep for very long periods of time (even past the 2 hour nap times).

Both of them absolutely love to be held, read to, given baths (and now splash-- SO cute!), smiling, "talking", and laughing at each other. We love walks and go on them at least once a day, but usually two times. We check out the neighborhood, listen to the birds, watch the leaves blow on the trees, and check in with the neighbors! It's fun to watch them lay on their bellies for tummy time and play for a long time. They love, love, love to be sung to as well! "You are my Sunshine" is definitely a favorite. They'll stop whatever they're doing and turn toward me and smile away throughout the whole song. They react very differently to this song as opposed to any other. I would sing this to them when I was pregnant all the time... I like to think they remember it! =)

There are a couple of things that make me sad though. The babies have decided that they no longer like to be rocked before they're placed in their cribs for the night or their naps. That was our routine. I would rock them until they were drowsy and then they'd go to sleep in their beds. Not anymore. I just take them up and put them in their beds and they decide when to go to sleep. Sometimes they'll watch their crib aquarium for a couple of minutes, and then other times they'll just roll over and go to sleep. Greg's reaction to this was, "Isn't this what we want?" I suppose so, but now that it's actually here, I feel like they don't need me anymore. Every once in a while I can get one of them to let me hold them until drowsy. Luckily, they both still love to snuggle and lay against me during wake time, just not when they get tired and decide it's time to sleep.

One other sad thing is that I'm no longer nursing or pumping. It was very difficult for me to decide to stop at 6 months, but the reality was that I had hardly any milk coming in any longer. 6 months was our original goal to make it to initially, and we're there, but it's been really hard on me. I feel a lot of guilt and sadness about not giving them milk from me. I'm happy that I was able to do it as long as I did though.

The babies are still on a 4 hour schedule with 2 - 2hr. naps and 1- 1 hr nap in the late afternoon. I've been feeding them closer to 6:30 than 7:00 p.m. and putting them down more around 7:00 p.m. now. We then start the day over, feeding around 7:00 a.m. (or sometimes later if mommy is being lazy or they sleep in). Right now we're eating solids twice a day at the 1st and 3rd feeding. They LOVE it! I bought some more containers that should come in the mail any time now for putting their baby food in. We haven't started fruits yet (except for the occasional bite of my banana), but will be shortly.

Tomorrow is their 6 month check up with their doctor. We'll get to find out their weights and measurements. They'll have to get some yucky shots though! :( I'll post later about the check up and update their weights.

God has blessed us so much by bringing these precious babies into our lives! Our lives are so much better and richer because of them and we look forward to raising them the way that our Lord wants us to! Thank you Ella and Evan for bringing so much joy to our hearts. We love you both more than you could ever know. Happy half birthday, our little monkeys!

And here's a couple of pictures of Ella's "Then and Now" pictures... such a sweet face!

Here's a couple of "Then and Now" pictures of Evan... he looks so much the same, yet so different!

6 months old!