Category — Babies

PBBBBLLBPPPPLLLL.

Today, I saw Althea learn to sit up all by herself.

She was on all fours. Then she slowly tilted her body toward the back left so that she sat on her left butt cheek. Then she teetered into an upright position and found herself happily sitting up.

All by herself.

Things are a little rocky right now. Sometimes I question why I’m not working full time. I question if the financial difficulties and the stress and the constant cleaning and cooking and feeding and rapidly deteriorating sense of self is really worth it.

And then I see Althea learn to do something for the first time, the very first time she does it, on the very day she learns to do it.

And I think, when it’s worth it, it’s really, really worth it.

What’s so funny? A couple of videos of the girls being ADORABLE, that’s what. In the second video, the first minute is riveting. After that, it’s just babies being cute, scooting, falling over, and my husband cursing at the end.

Due to recent events, I’m a day late in celebrating the girls’ 7 month-day.

For those not really interested in the fact that this blog essentially serves as an electronic baby book, then you can shove it check back soon for something more exciting. Here goes:

Eating

The girls nurse five to six times a day now. My milk supply seems to be doing better these days. Huge relief.

For solids, they each get about an ounce of fruit with 2 tablespoons of cereal in the morning, then about two ounces of vegetables plus half a tablespoon of cereal in the late afternoon.

I make most of their food at home, using fresh, organic fruits and veggies. (The girls definitely eat better than we do.) I’m really not sure how I feel about it. There are some foods that just aren’t worth it for me — they either cost more to make than the jarred stuff, or take way more effort than I feel like putting in.

Also, I don’t particularly enjoy the process. Between the shopping, washing/peeling, steaming, pureeing, straining and adding water, freezing, storage, and cleanup, it takes for-fucking-ever. It’s like, wow, carrots take two hours to make? It’s fucking carrots. They aren’t even seasoned. And with two babies, a lot of effort yields very little food in the end. You go through it twice as fast. I’ve been lusting after this Beaba baby food maker, but it’s $135. Sigh.

Tips for making it easier?

Milestones

Both girls have been rolling like crazy for months, but recently started rolling in both directions (they used to only roll to the left). Elise scoots using her left arm and right knee. Althea scoots a little bit, but she looks like she’d rather forgo the scooting in order to figure out crawling. Both girls love to get on all fours and rock back and forth. Althea even goes so far as to do downward dog. My little yogi.

Both girls also sit well unassisted, but they haven’t figured out how to get to a sitting-up position by themselves.

Other small things:

• They hold on when being held
• They’re starting to lift their arms up to be picked up
• They love to bounce

The most amazing thing that’s emerging these days is the spontaneous laughter. They just look at you and start cracking up.

Even cooler, though, is that they’re finally starting to show interest in one another. They first noticed each other at three months old, but they didn’t really care about the other until the past week or so. Just this morning, some unfamiliar noises on the monitor stirred me out of my sleep. It was Elise and Althea, “talking” to each other and making each other laugh. I walked into their room and found them peeking at each other over their crib bumpers and busting up. It was as cute as it sounds.

Sleeping

Hallelujah, after the issue with my boobs (or perhaps a growth spurt mixed in with that), they’re back to sleeping from 8 p.m. to 7-ish a.m. They nap in the morning for about 45 minutes, then take a cat nap in the evening for another 45 minutes. They have one long nap at about 1 p.m.

Personalities

Althea continues to be the firecracker and Elise is the mellow joker. They both love to laugh, smile and flirt. They do have a bit of stranger anxiety, which first started at about five months. They seem most wary of people with dark hair and ladies with a lot of makeup, jewelry and big hair.

Talking and playing

Althea’s kept mum for quite some time. Just recently, she’s started more frequently with lots of vowel sounds. She also likes to purse her lips out, like a duck, and blow raspberries. Today, she discovered how to stick her tongue between her lips and make the “PBBBBBLLLL” fart sound.

Oddly, Elise’s favorite sound right now is the “th” sound. She does lots of vowels too, but has also moved on to consonants — g’s, d’s, p’s, b’s, some m’s and r sounds.

They still put everything in their mouths. They’re able to entertain themselves for good stretches of time, maybe 20 – 40 minutes.

Size

Wearing 6 – 9 month clothes and size 3 diapers. They’re about 15 1/2 pounds and over 26 inches long by now.

in dresses

Elise eating Mum-Mums

Althea eating Mum-Mums

Things have been so serious lately so, on a lighter note . . .

In as few words as possible.

Except I want to say that the pool is relatively clean except the water’s kind of green because we started putting the pool cover on it because it’s unheated so the cover lets us actually swim in it otherwise it’d be really cold right now, but the cover also keeps the sun from killing the algae so the water ends up being green but at least it’s warm so we can take the babies in it.

Anyway.

Thoughtful - A

Thoughtful - E

Mom and A

Mom and E

Self Portrait

Glee

And where are you taking us???

Nothing like the sound of a baby laughing to brighten your day. Here’s Elise cracking up at Daddy in Babies R Us.

Elise is scooting. Now, I need a baby cage.