1. Double Umbrella Stroller: After the twins grew out of their Chicco Keyfit car seats, I had to start looking for a new double stroller since their old one was just a frame that held the car seats (tear…I loved their first stroller!) I stumbled across this Jeep brand stroller on Amazon and I love it! It’s super light-weight, easy to fold and maneuvers well. It also fits through a standard single door frame (barely). We are still saving up for a nice double jogging stroller to take out on the trail in the back of our house, but for now, this stroller does just fine for neighborhood walks.

2. Fisher Price Ipad Case: Whenever the twins see the Ipad, they make a mad dash for it and it usually ends up in their mouths. This case holds the Ipad and protects it from slobber/sticky hands/dropping, plus it’s propped up, so it makes it easy for the girls to play with it. Our case came with little toy shapes that the girls can “stamp” on the Ipad with one of the games we downloaded. As a bonus, I’ve been pulling up recipes on the Ipad and using the case in the kitchen when I cook so that food doesn’t splatter all over it. I think technically kids aren’t suppose to have screen time until they are two, but letting them “play” a game on the Ipad for a few minutes a day allows me five minutes of peace to eat!

3. Aden + Anais Snap Bibs: With both girls cutting teeth, we’ve had an epic amount of drool going on this month. I have become quite the drool bib connoisseur and have tried everything from terry cloth to waterproof bibs, but I haven’t found any that are effective and comfortable for the girls. We have tons of the Aden + Anais blankets, which I love, so when I saw that they made bibs, I thought I’d give them a try. The velcro on most bibs irritates the girls’ necks, but these bibs have snaps and are way more comfortable. They are also super thick and soft, making them perfect for playtime and keeping the girls’ clothes dry. I love the Bumpkins waterproof bibs with pockets for meal times, but these Aden + Anais ones are great for play time. I only have three of these because they are pricey, but so far, they’ve been worth it.

4. Zo-li Baby Gum Massagers: I have no idea why, but the girls love these so much that they will fight over them and pull them out of each other’s mouths.  Next to Sophie the Giraffe, these are the girls’ favorite teethers.

5. Bath books: The twins were starting to get fussy during their baths, until I gave them this to play with. Now they just grab their bath book, chew on it and are happy campers while I scrub the prunes off their necks.

6. Random kitchen utensils, such as spatulas: Except for a few favorites, the girls are pretty unimpressed with most of their toys. Give them a spatula or anything else from the kitchen drawers, and their eyes will light up like they’ve won the baby lottery. They love tupperware, wooden spoons, measuring cups and spoons, bowls, plastic spoons, and silicone basting brushes, to name a few. I don’t even keep many toys downstairs anymore, because they love playing with random kitchen items so much.

7. Baby tunics: If you haven’t noticed, the twins are super tall and chubby! Therefore, most shirts that fit up top don’t fit their middle because they come up too short. Last month, I started buying more tunic-type shirts, which are working way better! These would probably look more like dresses on smaller babies, but, paired with leggings, they fit Samantha and Amelia perfectly!

Stats and Milestones:

Samantha: On her 8 month birthday, Samantha was a whopping 24 pounds and stood just shy of 30 inches tall. That’s one big baby!

Amelia: On her 8 month birthday, Amelia weighed in at 21 pounds and stood 29 inches tall. Even though she was also a huge baby, that three pound difference made her feel light as a feather to me!

Feeding: This month, the girls continued their adventures in solid foods, and ate three meals a day with an occasional snack. They loved eating frozen veggies or fruits in their mesh feeders and usually ate out of those twice a day. Their morning meal included oatmeal with prunes/pears/peaches/applesauce/bananas. For lunch, they would have a fruit and veggie, and then a veggie for dinner. For a snack, they would have a fruit or veggie in their mesh feeders, or toward the end of the month, a little bit of yogurt.

Their favorite veggies included squash, sweet potato, green beans, carrots, avocado (except for Samantha…she started hating it)! Samantha was definitely more picky overall than Amelia, who was happy eating just about anything. Samantha used to love avocado, but started hating it this month! During feeding time, we called Amelia, “Amelia the Lion,” because she made a funny roaring noise every time we put food in her mouth. The solids seemed help stretch out the time between bottle feedings for the girls. This month, the girls went about 3 hours between bottle feedings and typically had 25 ounces of formula and 25 ounces of breast milk (combined) each day.

Diapers: Size 4 diapers! With the increase in solids, they generally pooped once or more per day and their poop became decidedly more adult-like. In other words, it was smelly and harder! Yuck!

Clothes: Amelia wore 9-12 month clothes, while Samantha wore 12-18 month clothes.

Sleeping: Sleeping was all over the map this month! The girls went to bed around 6:45-7, until day light savings time hit and then they were wanting to go to bed at 6! Toward the end of the month, they finally regulated back to their normal 7 p.m. bedtime and sometimes stayed up until 7:30. They obviously coordinated who was getting up each night because for almost every night this month, one or the other would wake up and start crying once or twice a night. We’d usually pop their pacifier back in and they’d go right back to sleep, but sometimes, they would wake up hungry for a bottle or want to be held. We were definitely pretty exhausted this month with the night wakings! It was also frustrating that they would practice crawling backwards and sitting up in their sleep and would wake themselves up.

Besides the night wakings, the girls would usually get up anywhere between 6 and 7 a.m. this month. I experimented with going from three naps to two, but the girls wouldn’t have it, so they typically had two naps of 45 mins-1.5 hours each and a shorter nap of 30-40 minutes later in the afternoon. Amelia was typically a better sleeper than Samantha, who would usually wake up about 45 minutes in and would usually want to be rocked back to sleep, or have her pacifier popped back in at the very least. Sometimes, she would put herself back to sleep, but more often than not, I’d come in and she’d be sitting up in her crib, crying.

Milestones and other favorite things this month:

I started signing more with the girls this month! I started sign language with them just after they turned six months, but wasn’t very consistent. This month, my goal was to use the signs for eat, drink, more, sleep, mommy and daddy more regularly. The girls don’t sign yet, but it always seems to catch their attention when I make the sign for “eat” and say the word over and over again!

Samantha:
Pulled herself from a prone to sitting position
Pulled herself up to her knees
Crawled backwards constantly
First crawl forward
Pulled herself up to standing at her activity table and crib
Got her first tooth
Crawled off the bed backwards
First time at a pumpkin patch
First Halloween
First time being babysat by Great Auntie Lynn and Great Uncle Steve
Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Sarah came to visit
Said “mama” over and over again

Samantha’s other favorites:
Playing peekaboo with Daddy
Being carried in the Ergo
Pulling on my face and hair
Pulling on Daddy’s hair when sitting on his shoulders
Scooting around, especially in between the couches
Diving off our laps for things on the floor
Sliding off chairs and couches onto the floor
Trying to get her hands on my phone, the Ipad, cords, outlets and anything she wasn’t supposed to touch
Bubble baths and splashing
Playing in the tunnel
Watching Daddy dance

Favorite songs and books:
Flying Trapeze
Happy Song
Pat-a-cake
Why We Love Momma
Bath books
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Los Pollitos Dicen

Amelia:
Played peek-a-boo
Crawled backwards all the time
Pulled herself up to her knees
Pulled herself from prone to sitting position
Pulled herself up to standing at her crib and activity table
Got one more tooth, making that two total
Said “mama” constantly
First time at a pumpkin patch
First Halloween
First time being babysat by Great Auntie Lynn and Great Uncle Steve
Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Sarah came to visit

Amelia’s other favorites:
Loved it when I smacked my lips and squealed, “Yummy!” before giving her a bite to eat
Opening her mouth like a birdie during meals
Playing peek-a-boo
Playing games with me while eating
Was highly distractible while eating
Watching kids play at park
Watching Bandit
Eating her Wiggly Caterpillar book
Scooting backwards into holes or between couches
Peeking out from her crib on her knees
“Singing” and repeating noises when I would sing to her
Pulling grass
Trying to put my phone, the Ipad, walls, cords, outlets in her mouth
Playing in the tunnel
Watching Daddy dance

Favorite songs and books:
10 Little Monkeys
All the Pretty Horses
Doggie in the Window
Flying Trapeze
Why We Love Momma
10 Wiggly Caterpillars (she loved to eat the pages)
Bath books

Overall, this month was full of exciting new milestones. It took my breath away how fast the girls were changing and moving!

Lots of love,

1. Beaba Babycook Pro. Despite the annoying instructions in French, this is my favorite kitchen gadget. It will steam fruits or veggies in fifteen minutes and will then puree them. I make big batches of baby food to freeze, while other foods that aren’t as good frozen (pears, avocado, bananas) I make fresh for the girls in a snap.

2. Farm Roller by Infantino. Grandma bought this for the girls when we were in Utah and they were instantly fascinated. Their love for this toy is going strong, except now, instead of me rolling it to the girls, they roll it to each other! I love that it will keep them busy so I can run and grab a snack!

3. Stackable rings. The girls will take all the rings off and suck on each one…then, I’ll re-stack the rings and they’ll start all over again. Minutes of entertainment! I reallllly want this onesie for the girls:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/98574756/lord-of-the-rings-inspired-by-lord-of

4. Stacking bowls. Same thing as the stackable rings. I’ll stack them or clip them together to become a ball, but all they really care about is trying to eat these things. I’ll also put an object under the bowl and have them lift it up to grab the object. Object permanence skills!

5. Any kind of box, but specifically, the girls’ owl box in their nursery. The girls loooooooove boxes. Take any toy they could have cared less about five minutes ago, throw it in a box, and BAM! Instantly their favorite toy in the universe. The girls love taking things out of boxes, as well as sucking on the boxes themselves.

6. Nosefrida the Snotsucker. I was really skeptical about his at first, but after reading all the reviews praising this thing to the high heavens, I broke down and bought it. It is definitely way easier and more effective than the bulb syringe in getting out snot and I used it a ton at the beginning of October when the girls were sick. Plus, it’s Swedish!

The stats:
Samantha: 22.2 pounds, 29.5 inches in length.
Amelia: 20 pounds, 28.5 inches in length.

Feeding: the biggest change in this area has been eating solids! The girls started eating solids around 5 1/2 months and have slowly increased types and amount of food they eat this month. For almost the entire month, they ate three meals a day: oatmeal and prunes, banana, peaches, apples or pear in the morning; squash, avocado, sweet potato, carrot, or green bean, plus a fruit for lunch; and a veggie for dinner.

The girls have gotten way better at opening their mouth and swallowing their purees, although they still manage to get most of it all over their faces, hands, and high chairs. Cleaning up after them takes forever! Samantha and Amelia’s favorite part of meal time is getting a drink of water from their sippy cups…I’m not sure why they like it so much, but they go crazy as soon as they see me putting the lid on the sippy. The girls also love eating out of their mesh feeders and typically eat from those once or twice a day.

In addition to solids, the girls have kept up their “snacking” on their bottles. They will typically drink 5 ounces first thing in the morning, and then they will snack throughout the day every few hours, taking in 3-5 ounces at a time. These girls absolutely refuse to drink an 8 ounce bottle in one sitting! That means a lot more making bottles for me, but oh well. The girls are getting about 26-30 ounces of formula a day combined and 25 ounces of breastmilk combined.

Diapers: Size three diapers reached the end of the line toward the latter half of the month and the girls started wearing size 4!

Clothes: Samantha wears anywhere from 9-18 month sizes and Amelia wears 9-12 month.

Sleeping: Sleeping has been crazy! I miss those few months where the girls slept through the night every night! I don’t know if it’s teething, or the introduction of solid foods, or them being sick at the beginning of October, but the girls did not sleep through the night once from their 6-month birthday to their 7-month birthday! It was either one or the other every single night who wanted to get up at random hours….sometimes midnight, sometimes 3 a.m.

Many nights, they would “sleep through the night,” only to get up at 5 or 5:30 a.m. ready for the day. In addition to their weird wake times, the girls threw a fit if they were not put to bed by 6:30 p.m. Even though they were waking up super early, I have to admit, I loved the 6:30 bed time! I got so much more done when they were in bed by 6:30 than I had when they were in bed at their normal 7:30 p.m.

A huge milestone during the month was transitioning the girls out of our room and into the nursery. Amelia was first to move to the nursery since we only had one crib. I kept Samantha in the twin pack n play next to my bed since she started rolling over on her stomach at night and I was worried. Once we bought another crib, Samantha moved in with her sister. It was so hard to have the girls out of our room at first, but now everyone’s used to it. I think the girls are happy to have cribs next to each other too!

Another milestone was Samantha starting to sleep on her stomach a lot more. I I always put her to sleep on her back and she would inevitably end up flipped over. I attribute her penchant for stomach sleeping to her love of laying on her daddy’s chest when she was a newborn! Sometimes, she will wake herself up by pushing up on her hands and scooting backwards, which is super annoying!

Naps started to regulate a little bit this month, but were still not as scheduled as I’d like them to be. Everything depended on their wake time. If they woke super early at 5 a.m., they would be awake for 45 mins and then would go back to sleep until 7 or 8. After that, the girls would be up for an hour and a half to two hours and then would go down for a nap for 45 mins-1 hour, and sometimes 1.5 hours if I was lucky. After ending their first sleep cycle, around the 40-45 minute mark, one or both of the girls would start crying. If I was quick enough, I could usually run in the nursery and pop in their pacifiers, which usually helped the girls extend their nap by about 30 minutes. When the girls decide they are up, however, they are up!

Recap of milestones from their 6 month bday-7 month bday:

Samantha and Amelia’s first time it the swimming pool
Samantha and Amelia’s first BYU/Utah game and first time watching football games with Daddy
Samantha anad Amelia’s first time being sick with the croup 🙁
Samantha and Amelia’s first time being bathed together!
Samantha and Amelia’s first time sleeping in separate cribs in the nursery!
Samantha and Amelia’s first time eating three solid meals a day!
Samantha and Amelia’s first time using a sippy cup!

Samantha:
Samantha was cleared to stop wearing her helmet! Yay!
Samantha started sleeping on her stomach consistently.
Samantha could sit up and balance in this position really well.
Samantha could grab toys and then push herself back up into a sitting position.
Samantha started eating more solids (loved oatmeal, prunes, sweet potato, pear; Samantha turned her nose up at green beans, peas, avocado (even though she used to love it!) and sometimes squash).

Amelia:
Amelia got her first tooth!
Amelia started sleeping on her side consistently.
Amelia started sitting up on her own and balancing really well.
Amelia started grabbing toys and pushing herself back up into a sitting position.
Amelia started eating more solids, and pretty much loved everything except for peas and green beans.

Favorite books: 10 Wriggly Wiggly Caterpillars, Peter Rabbit, and Where’s Spot

Favorite songs: Pat a Cake, See See Oh Playmate, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, The Happy Song, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and All the Pretty Horses

Samantha’s other favorites:
Being active! Playing tug-of-war, hugging, biting and scratching her sister.
Being proactive! If she saw a toy across the room, she would wriggle or roll over to get it!
Being outside, feeling the grass, swimming in the pool and watching kids play at the park
Banging her fists or utensils on her high chair tray
Listening to herself babble! She was very outspoken, much more than Amelia
Being carried in the Ergo.

Amelia’s other favorites:
Amelia loved laying with Samantha, although was generally a little bit more gentle than her sis. She was more content to sit and play with toys that were near her, instead of moving around to grab toys farther away.
Swimming in the pool and the park! She giggle uncontrollably whenever Bandit would run around with other dogs or when she saw kids running.
Walks! Instead of the stroller, she preferred to be carried by Daddy.
Amelia was very content to play with the same teether or feel the grass in her fingers for a big chunk of time instead of moving around from activity to activity like Samantha
Stealing Samantha’s Wubbanub!
Chewing on tags, ribbons, cloth books and Sophie the giraffe! Cutting that first tooth really took a toll on our teething toys!

As you can see, it was a wild month! I can’t believe I’ll be doing this again in a few weeks for the girls’ 8 month birthday! Slow down, time!

Lots of love,

1. Birds in the Trees Foam Play Mat: This is the play mat to conquer all play mats. I bought it in Utah at Costco and am kicking myself for not buying a second one while there so that I could put it on the hard wood downstairs. The foam is soft enough that I don’t have to place pillows everywhere in case Amelia tips over (Samantha’s fine either way with her helmet!) and it’s so easy to clean. I just wipe it down every night and roll it up in the corner. This is definitely an all-time favorite thing!

2. Munchkin spoons: When they first started solids at 5 1/2 months, Samantha and Amelia weren’t too interested in the eating part, but whenever I’d take out these spoons from the drawer, they’d start flapping their arms in excitement. It’s like Pavlov’s dog or something. The girls love chewing on the spoons and Amelia has been known to stick them too far in her mouth and choke herself!

3. Sophie the Giraffe and other teethers: Even though the girls have been drooling for months, they haven’t been too interested in chewing on any toy that was specifically made to be a teether. They’ll chew on books, ribbon, toys, but not teethers…until this month. Just like every other baby in the world, they love Sophie (what is with that giraffe? It is seriously addicting to babies!), as well as all of the teethers that can be refrigerated/frozen.

4. Mesh feeders: This is another product that causes the girls to flap their arms in excitement. I’ll put a frozen strawberry, piece of cantaloupe, or ice cube in the feeder and watch the girls suck it dry. They love it so much, they’ll start crying when there’s nothing left to suck. Genius product.

5. Jumperoo: Starting around month five, the girls were tall enough to reach the ground in their jumperoo, but have just recently started going to town bouncing. I have the jumperoo and the exersaucer in the hallway next to the laundry room and they usually buy me ten minutes (an eternity in baby time) to wash bottles or do some laundry. I recently obtained another exersaucer from a friend that I’ve put downstairs to keep one of the girls entertained while I make dinner. Our house is quickly being taken over by baby gear! Luckily, I’ve been selling some of the gear the girls have grown out of on Craig’s List and have gotten back what I paid (or more)! I bought the exersaucer and the jumperoo off of Craig’s List for around $45 each, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to sell those back when the time comes. So far, they’ve been well worth the price.

6. Take Along Tunes: The music on this thing is pretty non-annoying as far as baby music goes and it’s useful for getting the girls’ attention for a split second if I need to take a picture or distract them while I clean their ears.

Six Month Stats:
Samantha: 20 pounds 6 oz. There are officially only about ten babies in the world bigger than her.
Length: 28 inches

Amelia: 17 pounds, 12 oz.
Length: 27 inches

I think I feel pretty good about letting my work outs consist of pushing the twins in the stroller since I now know I’m pushing around 37 pounds!

Favorites songs:
Lollipop
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
All the Pretty Horses
Doggie in the Window
Hymns in Spanish

Favorite books:
10 Wiggly Caterpillars
Madeline
Baby Animals
Peter Rabbit

Favorite activities:
Being carried
Tug of war with each other
Stealing each other’s Wubbanubs and other toys
Putting things in mouth
Diving for toys (Samantha)
Banging plastic spoons/bowls on her high chair (Samantha)
Eating her spoon (Amelia)
Exploring toys
Being thrown up in the air by Daddy
Raspberries by Daddy
Petting Bandit

Milestones:
This month, the girls became really interactive with me and with each other. If I set her on the floor, Samantha will turn her head and try to find me, will smile, and then will go back to playing. She always wants to make sure I’m there, and will sometimes protest if I’m not.

The girls steal toys from each other all the time and will play tug of war with each other. It’s quite entertaining to watch.

They love to pet Bandit, tug on my hair (and everyone else’s), and babble with each other. The girls have started flapping their arms and making weird, hyperventilation-ish noises when they get really excited and will wave their arms like crazy for me to pick them up. If I place Amelia lying down in the boppy, she is now able to do a crunch and sit all the way up on her own. No more leaving her in the boppy on the chair or bed while I go grab something across the room!

Bath time continues to be a favorite and the girls have started to play with their toys in the bath more. They love toys that can squirt water. Interestingly, they hate going in the kiddie pool on our patio and hated the one time we brought them to a shallow pool at the waterpark in Ladera Ranch. We’re going to try again soon to see if they have the same reaction.

 The girls have developed an increasing dislike for being confined to their car seats and high chairs. Instead of walking them in the stroller, we have been putting them in our front packs and walking outside so they can see out. They seem to enjoy that much more than being stuck in their strollers. Their max threshold for being in their high chairs is about twenty minutes.

Samantha started rolling from her back to tummy in her sleep! She seems startled when she does it and often wakes herself up at night by flipping over. It freaks me out when I get up to check on her and she’s sleeping on her tummy! I just flip her back and she doesn’t seem to notice.

Both girls are sitting up really well. Samantha will see a toy from across her mat and will dive forward to get it. She’s also getting prettty good at scooting around–she can make it from one end of her mat to the other, backwards! Amelia can sit really well and will reach for toys, but doesn’t put much effort into reaching for them if they’re across the mat. She seems pretty content to watch Samantha play with new toys as it takes her a while to warm up to new things.

The girls also got their first cold this month, back in August, which wasn’t fun, but could have been worse.

The girls took their first road trip to Utah! It was a lot of work getting there, but the change of scenery did all of us some good.

The girls also watched the Utes games with Daddy for the first time this month! Jake is quite determined to make them into little football fanatics.

It seems to me that the girls are teething because the amount of drool they spit everywhere is ridiculous. I’m putting about 20-30 bibs in the laundry daily just to keep their clothes dry. I can’t see or feel any teeth yet; maybe next month!

Sleeping: The girls are sleeping in different rooms for the time being until we buy a second crib. They are too big to fit in the same pack n play or crib anymore, so we moved Amelia to her crib in the nursery and Samantha sleeps in the pack n play in our room. Her flipping over to her tummy in her sleep freaks me out, so I’m keeping her in our room to keep a better eye on her. The girls still go to bed at 7:30 p.m. and wake up at 6:30 a.m. While they’ve slept through the night pretty consistently since 4 months, they have recently begun waking up randomly at 2 or 4 a.m. a few nights a week. Besides their consistent wake up and bed time, their nap schedule has been pretty sporadic. Once in a while, they’ll take a miracle two hour nap, but most of the time they nap for 45 minutes to an hour, which leaves me basically no time to get anything done. They take 3-4 naps a day and have recently dropped their little 20 minute evening cat nap.

Feeding: Now that I’m chasing the girls around more, I’m pumping a lot less frequently, and, as a result, they’ve been getting more formula than milk. It’s about 60/40 right now. They will drink about 5 ounces of milk in the morning and then the rest of the day, they pretty much snack every 2 hours, drinking 2-3 ounces at a time.

The big feeding event of this month was, of course, starting solids. Technically, the girls started solids at 5 1/2 months with rice cereal, and then oatmeal. So far they’ve tolerated sweet potatoes and oatmeal, have hated rice cereal, peas, and squash, and have loved avocado, pear, watermelon, cantaloupe, and strawberries. They typically have one “meal” a day (usually lunch) and sometimes I’ll give them a frozen strawberry or sweet potato ice cube to suck on with their mesh feeder. They absolutely loooove their mesh feeders and will start to cry when whatever was in them runs out!

Diapers: Size 3 Pampers Swaddlers or Pamper’s Baby Dry

Clothing: Almost all of Amelia’s clothing is 6 months. Samantha wears a few 6 month outfits, but mostly 6-9 months and a few 12 month outfits.

I wrote a draft for their five month favorites last month, but never posted it for some reason. Here it is!

1. Sassy Crib and Floor Mirror: The girls love looking at their favorite people…themselves! They like to play with the little ladybug and toy ball on the mirror as well.

2. Cloth Books: These are perfect for the girls to put in their mouths and crinkle in their hands…basically anything but reading. When they get tired of slobbering all over every page, they will turn the pages themselves and always seemed fascinated that there’s something different on the next page!

3. Water-Resistant Bibs: Lifesavers. These have saved me countless outfit changes from the girls’ drool.

4. Sensory Bags: If I had known the girls would love these so much, I wouldn’t have bought a single toy. These easily rank among the girls’ favorite toys…so much so that they will fight over them. All it is is a ziploc bag filled with hair gel and random small toys, then sealed with duct tape. I think after feeling hard, plastic toys all day, the squishy gel is a new experience, and the gel feels cold inside the bag, which they also like. Even I have fun playing with the sensory bags I’ve made!

5.  Lamaze Muffin Moose and Freddie the Firefly: Both girls love all the Lamaze toys. They’re growing out of the little play mat where they used to swat at toys, but we still hook these to their stroller or car seats to entertain them. Putting the toys in their mouths is always a favorite. These are bright, easy to grab on to, and make squeaky or crinkly sounds, which always makes Bandit think they must be his toys.

6. Izon video camera monitor: We have a regular Angelcare sound monitor I carry around with me as well, but I love this video monitor because I can look at what the girls are doing right from my Iphone using the Izon app. It’s pretty useful when I’m downstairs and the girls are napping. If I hear a noise on the regular sound monitor, but want to see if the girls are actually awake before going upstairs, I can look and see what they are doing on the phone. Theoretically, I could also use it to spy on people if we ever have the guts to leave the girls with a babysitter, but we haven’t gotten around to that yet!

Favorite songs:
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Pat a Cake
Monkeys on the Bed
Lollipop
Rubber Ducky

Favorite Activities:
Tickles
Walks
Being carried around the house
New people
Oopsy daisy
Raspberries
Babbling to themselves

Feeding: Still so random! Both girls eat a ton in the morning and then taper off toward the afternoon and evening. Sometimes they even go to bed without a bottle and don’t wake up until morning.

Sleeping: 7:30 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. Naps are still pretty sporadic. Typically they have a few 1-2 hour naps in the morning and a few 40 minute naps in the afternoon. After about 5 p.m., they are up until bedtime, with maybe a 20 minute catnap in their stroller.

Diapers: Still in size 3

Clothes: Samantha’s 6-month clothes are nearing the point where they will be too tight pretty soon. She has a few 9-12 month outfits in brands that run small. Amelia can still fit into some 3-6 month clothes, but pretty consistently wears 6-months.

Milestones: Both girls are sooooooo much stronger and better at being on their tummies. Samantha’s arms and neck are getting pretty buff holding her head up all the time when on her tummy. Amelia has far less tolerance for tummy time, but is way ahead of where she used to be. Both girls are learning to balance better when sitting up and can usually hold a sitting position (although they bend forward a ton) without anything behind them for 30 seconds before face-planting or tipping over. Their legs are becoming stronger as they are spending more time in their jumperoo and as we hold them up on their legs.

My oh my, months five and six flew by!

Lots of love,