Eight Months Old

James and Elizabeth turned 8 months old sometime between Feb 28 and March 1. I guess there was a split second somewhere in there that celebrated the 29th. 

I really can't believe it has already been 8 months. I can't describe the delight that these two are to our family. It is so much fun to see their different personalities continue to develop and see them interact more and more with all of us and with each other. Their laughs and babbles are fantastic. Just this afternoon, Will was in the nursery playing with them when they woke up from their nap. He was pretending to shoot his bow and arrow at James and James was cackling. Catherine came running downstairs saying "Did you hear that? That's the best sound ever!!" And she's right. Baby laughter is about the best sound ever. 

They both LOVE their daddy. They both have made "da-da" sounds lately, and I really think Elizabeth may say it to Jay specifically. They light up whenever he is in the room, jump and kick their arms and legs and are so excited to be with their daddy. Now that they're getting a little bigger and are moving out of the newborn stage, daddy has more fun with them too.

They are both working on teeth. James is getting numbers 3 and 4 (on the bottom) right now--I guess technically that's happening in month 9 since I'm behind with posting. Elizabeth has 1 tooth on the bottom that has come through and the second one isn't far behind.

They are pros at eating baby food---pears, apples, squash, sweet potatoes, yogurt, etc. We are working on cheerios and puffs. They'll eat a few but don't really love them yet. Mostly they enjoy the challenge of trying to pick them up and then drop them. They are not that interested in trying real foods yet, except for the occasional taste of whip cream or dessert that Mimi keeps sneaking them :) We are done nursing, which makes me a little sad. I'm trying not to dwell on it, so that's all I'll say about it before I get really sentimental and cry.  They drink 6-8 oz bottles 4 times per day, in addition to eating 3 meals of baby food each day. Anna is my baby food helper and thinks it is her job to select what they are eating for each meal. 

James is crawling all over and learning to pull up. He is by far the most mobile baby we've had. He still can only sleep in sleepers that have zippers or else he kicks them open and gets himself all tangled.

Elizabeth is starting to push herself up onto her hands and knees and rock back and forth. This is huge progress for her! We are so excited! 

Both babies can sit up, which is making bath time easier. They love bath time, but rarely get to enjoy playing in the water. I usually give them a bath in the morning when I realize that they are covered in pee from the night. There's not enough time in the morning for a leisurely bath before we take someone to school, so it's in and out pretty quickly.

Elizabeth has started with her Early Interventionist (EI) and physical therapist (PT). The EI will come every two weeks and the PT will come weekly. Thankfully they come to our home, which makes scheduling much easier. We still think her delays are mild and mostly are based off of her not using her arms to cross her midline--like her right arm reaching across to her left side--and some low core muscle tone. She also sometimes just forgets to use her hands and needs to be reminded that she can use them to get what she wants. She's a pretty laid back baby and I think that contributes to some of this. If a toy is out of her reach, she's content to just look at it and wait for a big sibling to eventually give it to her. Why should she work so hard for it?? Sweet girl! I think that with the EI and PT we will start to see improvements pretty quickly.

Sometimes it feels like we had our "normal" family--you know, the typical 3 kids--and then the whole family had babies. It's really a group effort around here. We love you sweet James and Elizabeth! We are so glad you are our babies.