The Twins at 8 Months

8 months? Are you kidding me?! How is it possible my babies will be a year old in 4 short months. 

The day they turned 7 months old

Having twins brings us a lot of attention, especially when I go somewhere with Kinsey too. The most common questions I get are:

"Are they twins?!" -- No, I just take two babies the same size and age everywhere I go.

"How do you tell them apart?" -- They look completely different. To those who know them, anyway. Do they really look that similar to everyone? Which brings me back to question 1...why are you asking if they are twins if you can't tell them apart?

"Are they two boys or a boy and a girl?" (when not wearing headbands) -- PEOPLE! Since when does wearing the color blue or green make you a boy? Do girls never wear those colors? And just because their carseats are blue and red does not mean they are boys. It's been a pet peeve of mine whenever I forget to put headbands on them. Can't wait for that hair to grow in!

Okay, rant over. 

They shared a bath for the first time this month! Shayla thought it was pretty awesome. Scarlett...not so much. She should've been in heaven the way she was sprawled all over Shayla. It definitely makes bath time quicker, but is more of a challenge taking them out by myself. But with most things these days...I am quite the multi-tasker, or in this case a juggler.   

Everyone requires mommy time when they are tired. Usually the saddest or loudest gets my attention first. 

We've gotten in a pretty good routine. Bedtime at 7 and wake up time at 7. The babies play on their own before breakfast, then a couple hours later it's time for their morning nap. Unfortunately, Scarlett and Shayla are very different sleepers so after the morning their naps tend to be staggered for the rest of the day. With that and Eric taking our only car to work, we're stuck at home pretty much all the time. 

Pre-breakfast play time. 

SCARLETT

This little bugger has become quite demanding lately. 

Her hair is getting so long I couldn't resist putting it into a ponytail. Yes, there is a ponytail there, you just have to look closely. Haha. 

 She still sits and rocks on all fours. Scarlett army crawls really fast and has maybe gone a step or two in the crawling department. She is getting frustrated not being able to follow everyone around the house with Kinsey walking and Shayla crawling everywhere. The desire is there, I think she just needs to get a little stronger. She's still teeny tiny. But one way to make her happy is to help her stand up. She loves to stand!

Hanging out with cousin Grant. 

One of Scarlett's most exciting developments of the month was hearing her first word: Dada. Okay, so maybe she has only said it on one particular day and maybe she didn't exactly know what she was saying, but I caught it on camera so it totally counts as her first word!

Daddy's girl!

SHAYLA

Shayla's favorite activity is playing with the doorstopper. She loves watching it move! 

 Shayla is progressing so fast physically. She is a speedy little crawler and will sneak up on you fast. She doesn't like her knees touching the hardwood so she goes into this cute pose. 

 She also started sitting up on her own -- after crawling. 

 And as if that wasn't good enough, Shayla decided she wanted to pull herself up onto everything around her. She loves to stand and always looks for something to help her do it. Currently, she practices standing unassisted by letting go of the object and balancing. It only lasts a second or two but she gets right back up and tries again. 

We're still a happy little family of 5. Daddy's been busy working on the house this month, but they love when he comes home for lunches. 

And of course I'm their numero uno!

But sometimes Kinsey sneaks in as their favorite. Kinsey can make her sisters laugh like no one else. 

Kinsey has a very tight bond with Shayla right now. Those two are like two peas in a pod (unless Kinsey is having a diva moment). 

 Sisters are the best and I'm so glad these three will have each other for eternity. I don't even mind if I don't have a boy anymore. They are just too darn cute. 

The Twins at 7 Months

This last month has by far been the hardest for me. I almost reached my breaking point (and maybe would have if it weren't for our family vacation). People like to tell you things get easier after the first 4 months or the first 6 months with twins. Well, I think the first 4 months were great and pretty easy. Give me feeding and sleeping all day and night over one ultra clingy baby!! 

After the girls turned 6 months old we were getting into a routine and they were becoming more independent. They played more with each other...  

and they played well with Kinsey. In fact, she has quite a fan club thanks to her little sisters. 

And then Shayla flipped the switch. She decided she didn't like anyone, and I mean ANYONE, except me...including her daddy...or else she would scream her head off. She wanted me to hold her 24/7, and it wasn't out of the realm of possibility for someone to look at her and cause her to cry. This by itself isn't really that bad. I've mastered doing everything one handed, so I can handle taking care of Kinsey and one clingy baby. But I have TWO babies, and even though Scarlett isn't ultra clingy, she still is and has always been a mama's girl. She loves me and needs me too. I'm exclusively breastfeeding both of these babies so I can't just pass one over to someone else any time I want, assuming I have an extra set of hands around. 

She snuggled up to me when someone looked at her

It was really challenging for a few weeks. Luckily, Shayla decided to warm back up to her daddy and other people. 

Hanging out with cousin Christian

 And then something AMAZING happened. Shayla started to crawl!! I think she loves the freedom of crawling around, but isn't a fan of the hardwood floors. It's freedom for Shayla and a leash for me. When I leave the room, guess who she is following? When I sit on the floor, guess who she wants to climb all over? I don't mind TOO much. I love watching my little babies learn and grow. 

Shayla started growling and laughing a lot more at Kinsey this month. They've started eating fruits and veggies, but I think Shay Shay would take nursing over solids any day--which is weird because we started feeding the twins cereal thanks to Shayla's interest in real food. She has a firm grip and pinches like a pro. Watch out for those fingernails!! 

SCARLETT

Sometimes I think I named my babies wrong. Shayla is demanding, needy, and independent all at the same time (she reminds me a lot of Kinsey when she was a baby). Scarlett, on the other hand, is an angel. Seriously. She is the perfect and sweetest little baby ever (sorry Shayla, but it's true)... 

 and then you give her a taste of fruit...Watch out world!! This girl is a screecher and will scream so loud and high pitched if you don't give her more food fast enough. She LOVES eating solids and is quite the diva at the dinner table. 

She'll kill you if you don't feed her!

Scarlett gnaws on everything she can get her hands on. She has gums of steel, which is not the greatest thing in the world when she's nursing. She started kind of talking aka saying babababa. It is adorable to watch her cheeks puff out when she "talks." 

She's my intellectual baby with her all her curiosity. Scarlett will see a small toy across the room and decide she needs to check it out, so she'll roll and shuffle until she gets it. Scarly isn't crawling yet, but she has started rocking back and forth on all fours. She's also my great napper and sleeper. And although I love my babies small, it comes with a price. They still need lots of nutrients and Scarlett wakes up three hours after bedtime to eat again. 

I don't think she is going to be a Star Wars fan like her daddy

 These kiddos have been killing me at night. I'm normally awake every hour. If I wake up, see the clock, and realize it's been TWO hours, I'm a happy mama!!

We do have more routines down now that the girls have reached 7 months. We have bath days, bed times, and nap times. Hallelujah! It was a rocky road at 6 months, but we're back on track. At least, we will be once Kinsey stops being a teething monster. *sigh* 

"Shhh...don't let Mommy hear what we have planned."

Cousins Are The BEST!

We had a lot of fun on our family vacation. It was more work for Eric, but a lot more relaxing for me having helping hands with the kids! All three girls got to meet their cousins Ella, Avery, Cody, and Joel. 

Avery and Scarlett

 Kinsey loved Ella and Avery! After warming up a little (which is her norm) she was following them everywhere around the house. And then she started telling Ella what to do!

Grammy with the twins

Ella and Shayla

 The babies were a big hit as usual! It's so cute how excited little girls get with babies. 

 After a family BBQ, we hit to the road once more and headed for home.

Driving 35+ hours in a week, I'm thankful this is how Scarlett and Shayla spent most of the trip. 

Then we stopped in Idaho once more to visit my sister's family. Eric was pooped after the drive.

He looks like a mummy. 

 Kinsey got to play with her cousins Amora and Savannah. And she experienced a bike for the first time. She thought it was the greatest thing ever!!

 So, of course, I had to try it out. After some wobbly pedaling (it's been forever since I've been on a bike), Kinsey and I were cruising!

We had a great trip with the cousins!!

Oregon Coast Pics

We made it to the Lincoln City beach!

So...I had this great idea to go to the Oregon coast as our final family vacation destination AND take Kinsey's two year pictures while we were there. I did not, however, anticipate Kinsey not being very cooperative (I should have known...). All she wanted to do was play with the sand. Kinsey LOVES the sand. She wouldn't even humor me by posing or looking up at me. So here are the not-so-awesome pics I got of her.

Happy to be 2!

At least she's cute!

 

Grammy and Papa gave her a suitcase for her birthday. Oh my cuteness. She is just a doll when she pulls it around!

Next up, we have Scarlett. She was my best subject for pictures. 

Love that little hair

 Nothing but smiles from this one!

And 100% love for Daddy. 

She played with Grammy and Papa. 

Even when she was cold and getting zipped up in Grammy's jacket, she was still a happy camper.

 

And then we have Shayla. She was great at first, and then wanted to be held by Mommy. 

Ahhh!! I love my baby girl. 

 

Even if she didn't love the water. She'll learn to love the coast as much as I do. 

 My dad and stepmom.

The babies at 6 months old.

 Did I mention Kinsey only wanted to play in the sand? Well...that is why the only family picture we could get was like this. Yup, she was screaming during the pictures. Ha. You do what you gotta do when a toddler is involved. 

 After a couple hours of hanging out on the chilly and foggy beach (thank you Oregon), we got cleaned up and headed out to Mo's for some seafood. I wanted to take Eric to that restaurant because we went there a lot during our beach trips when I was younger. 

We only spent one night at the coast and the next morning it was raining. I was a little sad we couldn't try to attempt more two year old pictures, but that's life!

We had a good, short visit!

Eric looks so stinkin' tan next to all of us.