10 months

Yesterday Four days ago my girls hit the ten month mark. I'm actually not exactly certain how this happened. And I mean that quite literally. The last ten months have been pretty much a blur. And the thought that they will be a year old in two months is seriously way to much for my brain to comprehend. Yet, at the same time, last February seems like an entirely different lifetime ago. Crazy. The last ten months have been soooo full of change. To think that one year ago today we lived in Santa Monica and I was crazy pregnant with the girls...not possible. That had to have been at least five years ago...

Anyway...an update. :)

Sleep is starting to get sorted a bit after a VERY rough few (read: many) months of sheer insanity and very, VERY little sleep (for them and me). Naps are pretty patterned and bedtime is an actual bedtime that ends within 30 minutes or so (depending) from jammies to asleep in the bed (nursing, sometimes books with brother, etc) and it lasts a whopping two hours or so before I'm back on duty for preeeeeetty much the remainder of the night. Haha. But I'm telling you...those two hours have made me such a happier woman.

sweet sleeping bubs.

Teeth are bursting through. Each babe has the bottom center two and have for a few months now. Lilah's top center two are through the gums and making their way in. Alice's are just about there. They both have this cheeseball grin that they do with their bottom jaw jutted (is that a word?) forward a bit and their noses all squinched up. It is quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. Alice really likes to do this when she is done with a meal while looking up at the ceiling and waving her head around. Hard to explain so you'll just have to trust me - it is freaking adorable.

Alice squinchy face

This is as close as I could get to a picture with her head back, squinchy smile. Doesn't really represent it fully.

It took them a long while to have any interest in food, but now they are quickly becoming foodies just like the rest of us. We have been using the philosophy of Baby Led Weaning, which is a British phrase that translates to Baby Led Introduction to First Foods in American English. ;) If you are a new parent, you should totally check it out. Aside from baking a yam here or there when  no part of our dinner seems age appropriate, I haven't pureed a single thing. They mostly just eat what we eat. It's pretty sweet. And water...holy moly, these girls love, love, love drinking water from a cup held by mama.

Thirsty Alice.

Alice.

Alice.

Alice.

Alice.

Lilah. Haha.

Avocadoy Lilah.

Thirsty Lilah.

When it is just too much work to use her fingers, Lilah uses this method.

Yammy Lilah.

They are always on the move. Alice started crawling at seven months. Lilah army crawled at eight months, but really picked up her pace with the regular style crawling at nine months and now they are all over the place. I never thought 1100 sq could seem so big. Haha. Just kidding. But they are definitely curious. Lilah wandered into Grandma's room the other night and then managed to close the door behind her. She was less than happy with that maneuver. They are obsessed with the bathroom (gross) and being under the kitchen table. Now that they are so mobile, they are much more entertained by their surroundings and my back is so much happier. Haha. The number of hours spent double ergoing them has dropped dramatically. ;) Alice roams around the house, pulls up to standing on any possible surface...and then gets mostly gets stuck. She is starting to perfect her dismount. Haha. Lilah is pulling up to standing too, but not with quite as much conviction as A. Lilah also just maneuvered herself from crawling to sitting for the first time today three days ago! Yay! We have been following the RIE philosophy with physical developmental stuff and have not sat her up alone and instead have let her discover the process on her own (although we fudged that a bit with the high chair). She looked so proud today. :) Alice pulled herself to standing on the side of a push toy today three days ago...it is only a matter of time. Yowsa.

Alice stuck standing under the dining table at brother's seat.

Lilah under the coffee table.

Lilah's new use for the bouncy seat.

Alice...so close to being really, really mobile. Ha.

They love: all of brother's toys, being involved in anything brother is doing, any form of strap or tag, to play the stack-'em-up-knock-'em-over game with blocks (obviously with me...or someone else...doing the stacking), the little bead maze thing, to eat any and all books they can get their hands on, and de-shelving bookshelves. Alice also really loves removing her diaper. Thank goodness for snap-closure cloth diapers! Sophie the giraffe is still huge and they really enjoy anything musical.

Reading with brother.

Taking over brother's bed to get to books.

Alice eating her self-removed diaper (newly put on and clean, luckily).

Alice taking off yet another diaper...this time instead of eating lunch.

Alice helping Bug with the daily rhythm chart.

Brother cuddling Lilah, cuddling a giant bear at the library.

Brother holding Lilah and making each other giggle.

The nightly trip to the bath. Always upon Nolan's request. Haha. He calls it marching (like the Jungle Book elephants).

With brother playing music on the Pooh disc player.

Busy Alice.

Helpers...

Playing with Nolan and Daddy's Angels hats. Alice kept putting Nolan's on her head/face.

They do not love: riding in the car (though it has improved substantially), being made to stay out of the bathroom...or brother's room when he doesn't want them in there, when momma leaves their sight for too long, teeth cutting through their gums, laying on their backs for more than one second (which as you may imagine makes diaper changes tricky), when you take their toothbrushes away, having their faces wiped after meals (woah...they REALLY hate that one), sitting in the high chair for even one minute without having something to eat or play with...or brother jumping around making them laugh, and they do not seem to understand all the hullabaloo over plain yogurt. ;)

Lilah chomping down on a green onion to help with teething pain.

Their personalities are amazing. They make me laugh every day. It is incredible to watch them interact with one another. They will look directly at each other and just start smiling and laughing and then often start making out. Haha. Lilah used to be the chatterbox and Alice was pretty quiet, but more mobile. They have evened out both. Lilah's first word was "Mama" and Alice's was "Dada". Just yesterday, Alice started saying "Mama" to me too (she was already chatting up a storm with other sounds). Warms the heart, you know? Suddenly last night four days ago Lilah said the beginnings of "cat" when we were petting Roxie (she has since become so incredibly tickled by this. She looks for the cat when you say "kitty cat" or "cat" and starts flapping around and giggling and saying "cat" and such). Crazy. Talking? Really? Lilah is always up for socializing. She waves "hi" and will pop up from nursing roughly 100 times if there is anyone else in the room. Alice is my little love bug. She is much more content to cuddle up and nurse without interruption and gives "kissies" upon request. :)

Alice giving kissies to the baby in the mirror.

Before I was pregnant with the girls, I was baffled by multiples. I would look at moms with twins and think, "holy cow...how in the world!?" and "there is no way I could do that!" Now that they are both here and I've gotten used to it a bit, I can't imagine one of them without the other. I still am in tears many times a week. I maneuver children around by their clothing more than I ever imagined was even possible out of sheer necessity when there is no other option and I only have one hand free. There are far more baby tears than I would ever like there to be when everyone needs mama all at once. And I often still feel overwhelmed and like there is no way this is real. Like I said before, these past ten months have been a blur of survival mode. But...all in all, it is pretty neat. Double ergoing, a makeshift Pack n' Play baby gate, a giant Lazy-Boy rocking chair, a sound machine, a ridiculous amount of online article reading (for ideas and encouragement), a FB multiples support/community page, and removal of most any sort of decor from waist level down has all contributed to slightly increased sanity. Haha. The other day, I even managed to nurse one baby while changing the other one's poopy diaper. Surely that means I am getting the hang of things. Ha.

Alice finished nursing earlier than Lilah...this is my lap while Alice plays and Lilah continues her meal.

Juggling babies at library story time.

We still don't know for sure whether the girls are identical or fraternal and my opinion still changes by the day. Nolan used to have a nearly perfect record (once he started really paying attention) on who was who, but the last month or so he has been all thrown off. Haha. I've even been tricked a handful of times, albeit briefly. It's like they growth spurt at slightly different times or something that makes them briefly look different from one another and then boom, the other catches up and it's like "woah!". Growing up, identical (or very look alike fraternal) twins always kind of freaked me out. The thought of two people looking exactly the same gave me the willies. Ha. Now I think it is just special.

Sissies. Lilah left. Alice right. All bundled up on a walk.

Everyday is a crazy adventure and although some of it is the typical (and sometimes mundane) routine with babies, mostly I never know what I'm getting myself into when we wake up for the day. I love the way they smell and the way they light up when I walk into the room. I love the way they crack up for their brother. I melt when they hold hands. I am so honored to be their mama. I thank my sweet Sofia for bringing them both to me.

Lilah.

Silly Alice.

Snow Angel Lilah. - first snow!

Alice. - first snow!

Alice and the spoon...