Halfway to baby

We went today for our 20 week ultrasound and got to check up on this sweet little one. Everything looks great! We did not find out gender so we have to wait til May to see who this one is! With our other pregnancies, except the first, I felt like I had a clear intuition of who the baby was and what we should name him/her. This time I don't! I started out thinking it was a girl, now I think maybe it's a boy. I really don't know! And we don't have many name ideas. But we are excited to meet this new one in another 19-20 weeks! 

Half a dozen

Lord willing, we will be welcoming baby #6 in May! Here's our first glimpse of our newest little one. We could see little legs wiggling already. Incredible! Every single time it is just incredible. 

It does seem a bit overwhelming at times to think about having 6 children. We feel like we are just getting our feet back under us after having twins. But God has planned this one for our family at this time and we are so thankful. 

I know some people think we are crazy to have this many children. A few years ago when a friend of mine was expecting her sixth, I remember thinking "this is getting out of control." And I even knew I would like to have a big family and I still thought that. It was very judgmental of me! 

All I can tell you is that this is what God has called us to. When I feel fearful or overwhelmed, I have to remind myself of the truth. And the truth is that He is the only one who gives life and that He says children are a blessing. So we will celebrate this life and blessing and run to Him with any fears, frustrations, or worries we may have.  

We are excited to see who you are, little baby! And you have five sisters and brothers who are VERY excited to meet you! 

Look How Much They Grew in One Year!

Eleven Months

James and Elizabeth are 11 months old! I can't believe we are already getting ready for their birthday!

This June is so much more enjoyable than last June, when we were all waiting on a daily basis for them to arrive. They are so much fun right now!

I especially love watching their interactions with each other. Now that Elizabeth is on the go too, they really are almost always together. I find them together in the kitchen, in the shower, by the door, in the closet. One day, Elizabeth had crawled around the corner from James and started playing with something. She started babbling on and on, then leaned her head back around the corner to babble some more to him, and he promptly babbled back and crawled over to see what she was playing with. It was very obvious that they were communicating with each other.

In their whole entire life, I think they have maybe spent 6 hours separated from one another. 

That's kind of crazy!

They are definitely into everything and can quickly pull every toy out of the closet, dishes out of the cabinet, pull magazines off the table, books off the bookshelves. I usually spend the first 15-20 mins of each of their nap times just picking up things and putting them back where they belong. Sometimes it looks like a baby toy explosion happened!

Elizabeth has become very attached to her pink bunny "lovey". She loves to hold it and snuggle it and play with the tag on it. She usually immediately puts her 2 fingers in her mouth to suck when she has it. But when she's on the go, she'll just tote it around in her mouth! James is a thumb sucker, but he only does it when we put him in his crib. We've never had a baby be a thumb sucker before, and although it may be a hard habit to break later, it is really cute right now! especially since it is one of the only signs he ever shows of slowing down!!

It's almost birthday time, sweet babies!!

"official" 10 months

Alright, so my computer/blogger finally decided to recognize my last import of pics and I can add their official 10 month pics. Don't you love these cute outfits my mom made for them? She's so crafty and has made lots of cute things for all the kids lately. But I especially like this little tie and dress combo.

So at 10 months, the babies are getting into all kinds of things! Both are crawling all over. James is still faster and we have to watch him very closely; he is quite adventurous. Elizabeth usually crawls to try and stay with us. She is a people person and does not like to be by herself. 

They have started interacting and playing with each other more and more the past few weeks. They'll babble back and forth and keep a constant watch for where the other one is. If one of them cries, the other immediately checks out what's going on. They snatch toys, food, and sometimes bottles from each other. James tries to play and love on Elizabeth by smacking her in the head with his toys. She tries to poke him in the eye. So loving!! The other day they gave each other a high five.

Elizabeth definitely weighs more. I'm not sure exactly how much but I'm guessing she's around 19-20 lbs. I think James is probably 18-19lbs. She has 4 teeth (2 top, 2 bottom) and he has 8 teeth (4 top, 4 bottom). Both are eating real food. I decided at 10 months to stop buying baby food. They eat lots of fruit (bananas, strawberries, applesauce, pears, cucumbers, etc), vegetables (carrots, zucchini, corn, etc), beans, yogurt, cheese, turkey, crackers, and breads. The one thing I can't get them to do is drink from a sippy cup. I'm trying to work on that so that we can transition from bottles. They currently still drink four 6-8oz bottles a day.

They sleep from around 7:30pm to 7:30am, nap for about an hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Well, that's what Elizabeth does and that's when James is in his crib. Sometimes he sleeps and sometimes he doesn't :) She sucks her two fingers and he is a thumb sucker. She also has become attached to a little pink lovey and snuggles it close while she sleeps. Very sweet.

Happy 10 months, sweet babies! We love you so much!! I can't believe they're so close to a year old!!

10 months

The babies are 10 months old. For some reason, the pics I took of them with their very official 10 month sign aren't showing up on Blogger, but here are a few cute pics of them from the past few weeks. They're super sweet and fun!!

Look who is learning to crawl!!

Go Elizabeth go!!! We are so excited!
We were playing at Jill's last week and she had some of these little tunnels. Elizabeth seemed very interested and the next thing we knew she was crawling through it!! She finally found something motivating enough to make her want to go! So Jill let me borrow her extra tunnel and Elizabeth has been crawling all week. Big progress!!

9 months old

These little sweet babies are 9 months old!

 (Again, actually 9 1/2. I do take the pictures within a day or two of their actual month birthdays, but I'm just really behind on posting them! I feel like that's how much life is a lot of the time--like I'm running about 2 weeks behind. but anyway, I digress....)

We are enjoying them so much. I know I say it every month and you're probably tired of hearing me say how cute they are and how much we love them. But it's true. Yes, having twins is a LOT of work. It's exhausting, especially now that they're getting bigger and heavier. It's like a workout just to get people in and out of the car, the bathtub, and the high chairs. It's draining when they're both whiny and clingy and needy at the same time. But it is also just a continual blessing and joy to have them in our family.

I think back to this time last year. Spring is my favorite time of the year. Last spring was difficult for me to enjoy. I was starting to slow down considerably. I was huge and uncomfortable and tired. And to be honest, I was scared. I did not know how we would manage having twins. We felt overwhelmed at times with the 3 kids we already had. I just couldn't imagine what life would be like with two babies. 

And now here we are, with 9 month old babies! Every day around here is a gift and filled with God's grace. 2 Corinthians 12:9 tells us "But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

God tells us that His grace is sufficient for us, not overwhelming, but sufficient. And that's how I feel most days. He gives me enough grace to get through that day, that hour, that bedtime, that meal. And in my weakness (which is a lot), I am filled with his power. Having children, especially a lot of small ones at the same time, has a way of teaching me this lesson.

Alright, on to these cutie pies. They're both growing and developing so well. At their 9 month check up, Elizabeth weighed 17 lbs 11 oz (28%) and was 28 inches long (65%). James weighed 16 lbs 13 oz (3.5%) and was 27.5 inches long (23%). We've got to get little James to gain some more weight, but I truly think he's just burning off all the calories he eats. He is such a busy body!!

Elizabeth is continuing her physical therapy and doing well. She is so close to consistently rolling over. She'll occasionally do it, but still struggles to reach her arm across and get all the way there. She will push herself up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. Just last week she started going from being on her hands and knees to sitting up on her knees. She also seems a little more motivated and interested in trying to reach out for toys and wanting to move, so that's progress for sure.

James is crawling and pulling up. He even stood up for a minute yesterday without holding on to anything. He gets mad now if I put him in the jumper or exersaucer because he does not want to be contained. He would rather crawl and get into the dog's water bowl or his big brother's toys. We constantly have to watch him near stairs (he has already tumbled down a couple of them) and he loves to crawl to the bathroom and push the shampoo bottles in. He's constantly looking for an adventure!

They both are getting teeth. Elizabeth now has two on bottom; James has 3 bottom and 2 top. it's so cute to see their little smiles with those teeth showing!

They sleep well at night, generally from around 7:30pm to 7:30am. They still take two naps a day. I put them down from 10-11:30am and 2-4pm. Elizabeth usually sleeps that entire time. James sleeps for about 45 mins in the morning and maybe an hour in the afternoon. But I just leave him in there to play for the rest of nap time. If I try to sneak him out of there, it wakes her up. He does protest and fuss at every single nap and bedtime! He can be quite vocal. She would rather just snuggle up and suck her fingers. So Sweet!

We're still doing lots of baby food, but I'm trying to give them more real foods to try--small pieces of fruit and crackers/bread. Elizabeth is more adventurous to try them than James is. He still doesn't even really like cheerios or puffs. But hopefully he'll catch on soon and we can stop buying so much baby food! They take bottles 4 times a day, but have been decreasing the amount they drink at each feeding to about 6 oz (instead of 8oz) now that they're eating more food.

By the way, Anna loves for Elizabeth to wear this shirt with the 3 ballerinas on it. She says it's Catherine, Anna, and Elizabeth. So even though it has snowflakes on it, Elizabeth has worn it quite a bit lately :)

We're heading into 10 months quickly.....which means that first birthday is just right around the corner!!

New highchairs

Having two of every piece of baby equipment can take up a lot of space.

We had two highchairs--the one we used with our other kids and one a friend loaned us. They were great except that they took up so much space in our kitchen. And the trays were constantly getting knocked off the table or tripped over on the floor.

We were at a friend's house a while back and they had a great, simple highchair. Jay was very interested! Ikea to the rescue-- $25 each and transport from a great friend in Charlotte and we are loving the new, simple, easy to clean, smaller high chairs. I would recommend it even if you only have one baby!

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.