Ten Months!

Another month flew by!  Lyla and Archer are 10 months old!  That's right, we've hit the double digits.  Just as each month before, I feel like their growth and development has increased exponentially!  They both have picked up so many new skills over this past month.  They can both wave, which is adorable.  They each also know what the word "wave" means, so all I have to do is say the word and they know what to do.  They can both crawl like pros now and are fast!  I find myself running after them if they escape through an open baby gate towards the stairs.  Luckily, they are both quite noisy and enjoy smacking down their hands and knees with great gusto so I always know when they are on the move.  They haven't quite mastered stealth crawling...yet.

(Archer and Lyla didn't want me to get a picture of both of them together on this particular day.  Luckily Nana was able to get a few.  Thanks, Nana!)

  

In addition to crawling, they are both cruising around furniture.  They can walk around the ottoman and the length of the couch, as well as go from the couch to the ottoman.  Their little push walker toy is a breeze for them.  They also both enjoy pulling up and standing on everything- the windowsills, the baby gates, the front door, my legs, in the bathtub, in the swimming pool and on and on.  They are getting trickier for one person to contain!  Walking is on the very near horizon for both of them, which both excites me and terrifies me.  Since Lyla was the first to crawl by a good month, we figured she'd be the first to walk.  But now our money is on Archer.  He seems to have a very strong desire to walk, while Lyla is content to crawl around.

Both are pros at giving very wet kisses, which is adorable and a little bit gross.  I am basically covered in baby slobber by the end of the day.   They will also give each other kisses.  They give each other slobbery goodnight kisses before they go to their respective rooms for bedtime.  I've even seen them lean over and plant a kiss on each other's head or arm when they're playing.  It's so stinking sweet. 

Archer got his first (and hopefully last) black eye this month.  He fell on the edge of the windowsill.  He's pulled himself up and cruised around the windowsill hundreds of times now, but just lost his balance this once.  Oh, well.  It won't be the last bruise we'll deal with!

He's particularly fond of high fives.  He will hold his little hand up with such a hopeful look in his eye.  And when you hit his hand with yours, he smiles and lets out a little laugh.  It's just plain adorable!  Archer is racking up his tooth count- he's up to 8!  He can goble up his meals rather quickly with all those teeth now.  Speaking of mealtimes, he's getting a bit pickier about some foods.  I think it's more of a texture thing.  As soon as he puts hard-boiled eggs or pasta in his mouth, he quickly spits them back out with such a look of disgust.  It kind of makes me want to give him more of these foods.  He also likes to shake his head no and smile like crazy when I ask him to give me a kiss these days.  He thinks it's hysterical.  But then he usually gives me a kiss anyways.  I think he enjoyed my initial shocked face the first time he did it, so he keeps on doing it just to get a reaction out of me.  Or he's just ornery.

Archer still hates to be left alone.  He's okay if Lyla's in the room with him if I leave to go to the bathroom or switch over the laundry.  But if he's alone, he'll immediately start bawling and the tears start flowing.  If he wakes up before Lyla does, I can pretty much plan on him being attached to my hip.  I know some day he'll want me to disappear so I'm trying to just enjoy his company while I can.

Lyla has been waking up in the morning and from her naps as happy as can be.  She chatters to herself and gives me the biggest smile when I go get her from her crib.  She loves to explore and crawl all over the place.  She enjoys crawling up the stairs and darting out of the baby gates when I leave them open.  She enjoys putting all sorts of things in her mouth.  So far I've retrieved the following items out of her mouth while trying to dodge her 5 very sharp teeth: a rollie pollie, flowers, magazine pages, baby wipes, grass, and random pieces of who knows what she's found on the floor.

Lyla's new favorite thing to do is shake her head.  She's not one hundred percent sure what it means, so she's often shaking her head no when I ask if she wants a toy and then grabs for it.  It cracks me up.  I can already tell she's going to give us a run for our money.  As my mom pointed out to me the other day, "You'll be really glad Lyla's such a strong, independent girl when she's 18.  Until then, you're in trouble!" 

Lyla is one of the loudest babies I have ever come across.  She's generally happy, she just likes to make sure everyone knows she's around.  That's why we only go to restaurants that are noisy.  Speaking of restaurants, Lyla has taken the lead for least picky baby.  She has eaten everything we've ever put in front of her.  She didn't even bat an eye when we gave her pickles or peppers.  We'll have to give lemons a go and see what happens.  

I am loving this age!  Lyla and Archer are so much fun!  I love to watch them discover new things and learn new skills.  It's nice that they are becoming more independent and can stay occupied for longer amounts of time.  Things seem like they are getting a bit easier and I am gaining a little more confidence as a mom.  Bring on the next month!  

Jazzy, Big Sister

Jazzy is our firstborn and always will be considered our first child.  I have a special place in my heart for her and I love her even more after seeing how much love she gives Archer and Lyla.  I'm sure bringing two babies into her once calm, quiet home has rocked her little world.  But Jazzy truly has taken everything in stride.

One of my favorite things Jazzy does is greet her babies after I take them somewhere.  Whenever I come home, she's waiting by the garage door.  She even bypasses me and starts to look for her babies before telling me how much she missed me.  She'll even try to go out into the garage to look for them if I don't bring them inside in a timely manner.  Once their car seats are inside, she kisses each one of them.  Archer and Lyla both love when she does this.  And it almost makes me cry.  Every.Single.Time.

Here is Jazzy in action:

Jazzy also tries to give me a hand when the babies get all riled up.  If Archer or Lyla start to get upset, she'll usually come to check on her babies after awhile.  Lyla and Archer both adore Jazzy, so 9 times out of 10 they'll calm down when they see Jazzy.  They'll look at her, smile and try to have a chat with her.  Once they're not upset, Jazzy will leave and go back to whatever she was doing prior.  I am quite happy Jazzy helps me out with the babies. 

Jazzy is also kind enough to help me keep the floor under their high chairs clean.  If anyone has babies who are into feeding themselves, I highly recommend getting a dog, if only for the simple fact that you'll never have to pick food up off the floor.  Jazzy saves me a lot of time in the floor-cleaning department.  Thanks for taking one for the team, Jazzy.

One other adorable thing Jazzy tries to do with Archer and Lyla is play with them.  She'll get down on her front paws in front of them with her little butt up in the air and her tail wagging.  Then she'll playfully jump towards them, as if saying, "Hey!  Come play with me!"  Of course Lyla and Archer aren't quite sure what "playing" with Jazzy entails at the moment.  They just grab for her fur, which Jazzy doesn't appreciate.  So Jazzy runs off.  I think eventually they will figure out how to play with each other. 

As much as Jazzy loves her babies, they can certainly annoy her.  When they are hollering, sometimes she'll just leave the room.  She gives me a look as if to say, "good luck," and then casually saunters out of the room.  Lucky dog.  Then there's the whole grabbing at her, which she does not care for.  I can't say I blame her.  They don't really have the whole "gentle" concept down.  When they try to reach for her, I take their sweet little hands and help them pet her gently.  I figure one of these days they'll catch on.  And now with them crawling, Jazzy has to be a little more on guard.  She's still quicker than them, which is a good thing. 

I am still amazed at how the transition of bringing the babies home has gone for Jazzy.  There has been very little jealousy.  She did chew up one of their toys and one of their baby spoons, which was uncharacteristic of her.  To be fair, the toy was one that would vibrate if you pulled the top part of it.  I think maybe she thought it was a live creature since it moved.  And we all know what Jazzy does with live creatures...  And the kids do chew on their spoons, so maybe she was just mimicking what the babies do?  Anyways, a toy and a spoon are a small price to pay. 

I'm sure there will be a rough period ahead of us when the babies start walking and climbing up on the couch to get to Jazzy.  But we'll figure it out when we get there.  Jazzy certainly isn't going anywhere. 

Nine Months!

Archer and Lyla are officially nine months old!  They are growing by leaps and bounds and I'm amazed at how far they've come just in the last month.  Both are crawling all over the place and getting fast too!  I definitely have to keep the gates closed in the living room now.  We have a couple stairs that lead down to the family and a set of stairs that lead to our second level.  They can both crawl up the stairs, but don't realize they can topple down and get hurt yet.  So they get to stay in the living room unless Adam or I are around.  However, I can't leave them in the living room by themselves anymore.  We have a fireplace and they both love to pull up on it and Lyla even climbs up onto it!  Again, they don't realize they can get hurt if mom and dad aren't around to keep them safe.  So I've resorted to putting a pack n' play in our living room and put the babes in there when I need to go to the bathroom or make bottles.  Luckily they seem to like hanging out in there together.  I just keep rotating out the toys in there to keep them entertained. 

They are also both babbling up a storm!  It's so cute to hear them talk to not only me, but to each other.  They will stare intently at each other and "talk" back and forth.  I bet they are planning all sorts of trouble!  Even though they pull each other's hair and take each other's toys, I can tell they are going to be best buddies.  

It is getting increasingly difficult to take pictures of the two of them together.  They both want to move and prefer not to sit still.  Like, ever.  So I end up with a lot of pictures like this: 

Archer is going through a separation anxiety phase lately.  When he's not busy crawling around, he likes to be held.  He also gets very upset when I leave him anywhere alone for even the briefest of moments.  I have to get him distracted with a toy and then sneak off to go to the bathroom or get something to eat.  It usually works for a couple minutes, but then he realizes I'm gone and starts hollering, "Mum," with a few tears thrown in for good measure.  

But, boy, is he cute!  They way he gets so happy to see me melts my heart.  His 4-tooth smile is adorable.  I think he knows just how adorable he is, as evidenced by the picture below:    

Archer can also say "Dada" and even "Jazzy."  He is a champion eater!  He has still eaten everything I've ever put in front of him.  We've been getting into more actual foods (hard-boiled eggs, avocados, blueberries, peas, strawberries, bananas) and he just devours them.  He is becoming an expert with his pincer grasp.  He even realizes when he drops food in the little pocket on his bib and reaches in there to retrieve it.  

He is still a bit cautious when pulling up on things and can't quite figure out how to get down once he's up.  He is also quite dramatic if he happens to fall down or bump his head.  He also makes it quite clear when Lyla takes something he was playing with.  He still adores his Johnny Jumper!  We had to move one of the Johnny Jumpers to a wider opening so he would have more room to swing like Tarzan!  He's pretty entertaining to watch in it.  He will get a running start and then knows to lift his feet up so he can swing back and forth.  He's a wild man!    

Archer is sleeping well and still wakes up once for a nighttime bottle.  He doesn't require as much rocking or snuggling to get back to sleep like he used to.  I'm not going to lie, that breaks my heart just a little bit.   

Lyla is really on the go!  She is an expert crawler now and pulls up on lots of things with ease.  She can ease herself back to a seating position, too.  It's only a matter of time before she starts to walk.  Yikes!  She prefers to be moving around on her own most of the time.  She will tolerate the Johnny Jumper and exersaucer for short periods of time, but prefers to be independently moving.  

She is also quite LOUD!  She's generally happy, but likes to shriek rather loudly in public places.  I guess she wants to make sure people know she's there!  She's also a big flirt.  Whenever people stop to admire the twins when we're out and about, Lyla gives everyone her best smile and shows off her dimple.  

She is also a good eater, but has shown a preference for things like crackers, toast and fruit over things like peas.  She might be related to me.  She's good at picking up her food, but is also good at dropping things down for Jazzy to eat.  The two of them must have some sort of agreement.  

Lyla is definitely an independent girl!  She likes to feed herself and go where she pleases, without me helping out.  I can tell she is strong-willed and a bit feisty.  I am not looking forward to her teenage years.  She also likes to ignore Adam and I from time to time.  When I am trying to feed her lunch, she'll try to look around me out the window in front of her.  When I try to give her a kiss and she's busy playing, she'll dodge my attempts.  But when she wants some attention or loving, she'll smoosh her darling cheeks into mine.   And she'll grab my face and look me in the eyes and just smile.  She's going to be very good at getting what she wants.  

I love these two sweet knuckleheads more and more each month!