6 months old

James and Elizabeth turned 6 months old at the end of December. I can't believe it's already been 6 months. They are getting to such a fun baby stage where we can see their personalities developing and they learn new things all the time. I love watching them interact with each other, the other kids, and Jay and me. It makes you feel like you won a prize to get sweet smiles and coos.  They both really love to touch faces, out of curiosity and affection. It's really sweet when they touch each others' faces, and they still like to hold hands.

James is our crazy little man. He has 2 bottom teeth and has taken to liking baby food pretty easily. He's still active/crazy. I can only put him in sleepers with zippers at night because he rolls and thrashes around so much that he kicks open the buttons and undresses himself. He loves to jump and will jump in the jumperoo, exersaucer, or just in your arms. He's a great night sleeper, but a terrible napper. Some days he barely naps at all. I don't know what the crazy kid does in there when it's nap time. Well, sometimes he poops. That always makes him mad and he won't nap. But if he's happy, he so so happy and smiley and melt-your-heart-adorable. I could eat him up. 

Elizabeth is our sweet baby doll. So peaceful, but also very observant. She loves to be held and snuggled and is content to watch all her brothers and sisters. She loves to be held by Will and Catherine. She has this great laugh--it's a lot deeper than you would expect from a sweet baby girl and it makes us all laugh every time we hear her. She's a great night sleeper and napper, and thankfully can sleep through her brother's antics. She is curious about the baby food, but not totally sold on the idea yet. She, too, loves the jumper and exersaucer. We do have a few concerns about her gross motor skills and muscle tone. For example, she doesn't really roll over. She's probably only done it 6 or 7 times, and when she does she is primarily using her head and neck muscles and it's a huge struggle. She also feels "loose" when you hold her and has a hard time supporting herself. She's going to be evaluated by BabyNet (the SC early intervention program) to see if it's anything we need to pursue OT/PT for. I think it's just a mild delay at this point, but we want to offer her any assistance we can if needed.

At their 6 month checkup, James weighed 14lbs 7oz (4%) and was 26in long (29%). Elizabeth weighed 14lbs 5oz (15%) and was 26.5in long (73%). The slight differences in weight and height still make a huge difference in those percentiles at this age, especially for boy vs. girl. I think James hasn't gained as much weight because he is so busy and active that he uses up all his energy every day!

A super handy trick they've learned this month is holding their own bottles. For feedings, I have been nursing them when they wake up and when they go to bed and giving 8 oz bottles 2 to 3 times per day. I think I now am going to have to either alternate nursing one in the morning and giving the other a bottle or pumping and giving them both bottles. I think I'm only making enough milk for one baby :( While it is easier to hand them both bottles while they're propped on boppy pillows simultaneously, it makes me a little sad and I feel slightly guilty that I can't nurse them as much as I did my other babies. I'm doing the best I can and I recognize that, but nursing them was one of the only times during the day that I sat down and snuggled them individually. 

Jay and I had our first night away from them in December. Mimi and PopPop stayed here with them while Jay and I went to Charlotte for our anniversary. They did great! Which is good....because in a few weeks we're leaving them for 4 nights with Mimi and PopPop. I'm both excited for a vacation and nervous/sad to leave them.

We've made it 6 months with twins! We might just survive this after all.