Eight Months

Our baby boys are eight months old.  I can't believe it!  They are so much fun - crawling and sitting up and pulling themselves to a stand next to usually stable objects.  All this progress means that I get out of the house even less than before.  (Only Jennie will get this, but if I thought I was a homeboy before!)  It was much harder to photograph all the cool stuff they do than I thought it would be. 

Emil

The babies entered this new stage so seamlessly that I didn't notice they needed new toys to play with.  The jungle gym I put over them a few months ago is now boring.  Thankfully Angelyn brought over an exersaucer and one of those musical table things they can stand next to - which reminded me that we also have one of those table thingies.  Emil and Colin both love to stand up and slap at the table and do little dances.

One of my favorite things Emil does is give me hugs.  He'll put his cheek against mine and grab onto the hair at the back of my neck and say, "Awwwww.  Awwwww.  Awwwww." into my ear.  Emil thinks I am HILARIOUS when I say no.  When he's not occupied by the exersaucer or strapped into his bouncy seat to eat, he crawls (more like a breast stroke) over to the rug under the sink in the kitchen, lifts it up and tries to suck on the disgusting rug pad underneath.  GAG.  MORE GAGGING.  It grosses me out big time.  When I move him away and say no, he smiles.  Best game ever, Mom! 

Emil was throwing up so much (so very very much) that we started making his food (rice or oatmeal combined with a vegetable or a fruit) using water rather than the regular formula.  When he didn't puke that up (first time in days - my arms were tired from all the scrubbing) we decided to try an acid reflux formula (he has been officially diagnosed with acid reflux, by the way).  He still throws up a little, but nothing compared to what he was doing before.  Relief!  Emil sits very well on his own and he transitions into a crawl easily.  We have to set him in the sitting position, though, because he can't quite get there on his own.  He follows the sound of my voice and crawls to me to be held.  Emil's talking is all vowels in a gentle, raspy little voice.  His hair is sandy blond and he's got beautiful brown eyes.  No teeth yet.

Colin

Look at that sweet little face!  Colin cannot help himself - even if he is crying he will smile when we look at him.  He does the same breast stroke crawl that Emil does, but Colin can go from the crawl position to sitting up.  He still falls over after a few minutes of sitting.  That head is so heavy!  ("Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain!")

Colin is very observant.  He noticed he could see me in the oven window and he spent about half a day looking in there and laughing and looking at the real me and then back to my reflection.  Can you see his face in the window?  Cutest thing ever.  Both boys watch Bridget intently, but Colin seems more interested in teasing her.  My new favorite thing is giving Bridget a Popsicle and watching the boys crawl all over her to get at that Popsicle.  Colin laughs hysterically when we play Peek-a-Boo, too.  So easy.  His hair is the same blond as Emil's, but Colin has blue eyes.  And no teeth.  He has added consonants to his vocabulary.  Every time I try to get him to say "Mama" he smiles and says, "A- DADADADADADADA."

Our boys don't play "together" exactly, but with the exersaucer and the activity tables, they're in the same place at the same time more often.  A few days ago they were across the little table from each other dancing to the same music and laughing at the same time.  Adorable!  Then Colin reached over and grabbed Emil's face.  A mother of twins recently told me that grounding one of her twins did no good because he had his best friend in his house anyway.  That sounds like a nice problem to have.

We've put a gate on the stairs and small objects out of their reach, but both boys manage to find a flip flop to chew on.  Emil introduced Colin to the boinging door stops.  They sleep pretty well through the night if we time feedings perfectly.  I've done a few errands with all three kids in tow (the phrase "you've got your hands full" crosses all gender and age barriers, for crying out loud) and that is the day for me even if it only takes a few hours.  Sometimes just getting them diapered makes me sweat.  (So much twisting and back-arching and flipping over!  They're worse than dressing a cat.  Which I've done.)  We're loving every minute of it, though.