So, since I know my time is limited even now, I will do the brief updates from the past few months and of course, will post pictures of my little beasts...I mean, babes! =)
The boys just hit 9 months old yesterday on New Year's Eve and what a great day it was. We were fortunate enough to have my in-laws in from Christmas Eve until this morning and had a grand time celebrating the boys' first Christmas and NYE with their grandma and grandpa. And they had a great time discovering these two very distinct personalities that have blossomed from their grandsons. I am sure you are wondering, but no, no one made it 'til midnight in this household. Actually, the boys were down by 6, grandma and grandpa by 8, and us by 9. And I woke at midnight to the thunderous roar of fireworks from the Las Vegas Strip just a few miles away. That was neat to see from my bedroom window. Fortunately, the boys' as well as the rest of the house, slept through it all. Phew! I have to say, the last few months have been AMAZING! The hubster and I agree, we seem to really be having a ton of fun now. The boys are moving all over the place and talking up a storm. Parker is our master crawler. If we put him down, it must definitely be within the confines of "baby jail" as we refer to it. We can't count out Landon though; he has this move we like to call the wounded soldier. He pulls himself with his left elbow, giving a little push from his right foot, but like I said, he can really move quick with that. He has been in about the last week or two, up in 4 point (on hands and knees) rocking away and every now and then crawls for a step or two, but he feels his mastered soldier crawl gets him around faster.
As for talking, Landon takes the cake with that. He talks from the minute his eyes open in the morning (usually for 1/2 hour to and hour before we get him) until the moment his eyes close at night. He is pretty expressive vocally. Parker isn't quite the man of few words that he leads everyone to believe he is, he just seems to be a little more selective as to when he wants to chat. It is a sound that we just gush over in our house, the babbling babies. And as for actual words, well Parker takes the lead on that. His first word..."UP"! That's right, up! He says it as he crawls over to one of us and wants to climb on our hands which are extended, or even lately on our bodies, up in to a standing position. He has really mastered it too. I all started right around the time my mom visited the first week of December. He could climb and stand, and was absolutely excited to do so, but then we realized we quickly had to teach him how to get back down. So, it became a game. Up and Boom was all he wanted to do. Climb up holding on to someone's hands or the "baby jail" fence, and then Go Boom and sit back down. Once he put them both together, all got a little better in our house. Otherwise, he was climbing to stand up in his crib in the middle of the night (and at some points I am sure while he was still sleeping) and didn't know how to get himself back down. Luckily, he has mastered it all and sleeping isn't effected anymore by it! Thanks heavens too, because Parker is definitely our night sleeper. He's good from 6 until 5am or 6am.
As for sleeping and Landon, well that has been an adventure for me and him mostly. Landon was still nursing during the middle of the night until the first week of December. Of course, it was probably more for me than for him but I told myself that when he would wake up in the middle of the night, it was always easier to spend 10-20 minutes feeding him and putting him back down and he'd fall right asleep than any of the alternatives (because he wasn't the kind of baby to have you give him his binky and he would go right back to sleep, and I wasn't ready to just let him cry it out even though we had for going to be time). Needless to say, the night after my mom left us, Landon with his two bottom teeth out and in full force bit me several times instead of nursing. I knew then, he didn't need to be nursed, it was just a comfort thing and a bad middle of the night habit I had created. I know this because he would awake almost the same time or two every night, almost down to the minute. So, cry it out was our next option. He did well. The first time the first night he cried for 29 minutes total. Same thing the next night. The third night he went longer and I was starting to worry. But then I remember everyone saying the third night is the hardest. And it was. The next night, little crying here and there but he would put himself back to sleep. I think it was definitely what he and I both needed. I am happy to say that the past 4 nights have been great. No waking or crying from my little big man between 9 and 4. That is huge in his sleeping world. We have even had to wake him up a couple of those mornings.
With Winter Break in full force, we took it as an opportunity to adjust the boys' schedules. Lately, they had been finishing only a full bottle here or there. So, it was time to drop a bottle and to work on establishing a better nap schedule. I am happy to say both have been going well. The boys drink an 8oz bottle at 6am when they wake up, then we have started to feed them breakfast around 7:15 or 7:30am. Then it is usually right down for a nap after that. Don't ask me why (although it I had to guess I would say it's because one of them hands down is usually up for almost an hour before "wake up" time playing in his crib), but there are pretty tired and ready for that first nap. They usually sleep for about an hour to an hour and a half. We consider that a good one. Then it's up, play a little bit and then their 2nd bottle at 10am. This one is usually 6oz but either one will take turns not finishing it all (I am wondering if this has anything to do with the recent spotting of teeth popping up?!). Then play some more, lunch at 11:30ish, and then down once more for a 2nd nap. This nap has been tricky. The first couple of days they both slept well (about an hour and a half), but the last couple of days one has usually woken up after about 45 minutes. Then it tends to be a bit of a hairy afternoon! Then up again, 6 oz bottle between 2:15pm and 2:30pm. Then it's off to play some more, run errands, whatever distracts two 9 month olds long enough for them to realize they probably aren't going to sleep again until bed time. Then it's dinner at around 4:30pm, play a bit more, baths and relaxing time getting massaged with lotion, reading books and then their final bottle of 8 oz right around 6pm. Then lights out! Aaaaahhhhhhh! Then, sleep! And for the most part, they sleep very well, especially in those first few hours.
Sorry for all that babbling about their schedules and food intake. I think I do it more for me than anything...only because the way my brain has been working lately, I know I won't remember a lick of this information even a week from now! Now, before we get to pictures, we need to talk about the "elephant in the room" as they say. What do I mean?! Well, it is glaringly obvious to people when they see them that the boys don't look alike (which a lot of people don't understand then how they can be twins, but we won't get into that). However, their looks alone aren't what seem to baffle people...it's their sizes. Landon, my "tubba" boy has about 5 lbs on his brother. As of about 2 weeks ago (we went in because the boys had their first major head cold and we were making sure there weren't any ear infections) Landon weighed 22. 4 lbs and Parker weighed 17. Yup, one is HUGE and the other comparably seems very small! There is such a distinct difference that a lot of people have begun to ask us how much older is Landon because he's too big to be the "little one's" twin. LOL! It cracks us up every time.
Finally, there is the matter of our little "Helmet Head" Landon. He has had his helmet on for about 11 weeks now. As of his last appointment the day after Christmas, we were told that he can now wear it just for naps and bed time! His head looks amazing. A lot of people said they couldn't tell he any mis-shape to his head when we first got him in it, but trust me there was a big difference! Our biggest concern was how his ears were not symmetric and overall what that, along with one side of his head being flatter than the other would do to him when it came to wearing helmets for sports (because with us as his parents, it's pretty inevitable that our boys will be athletes of some kind). His doc said he has been the poster child for helmet wearing. He wore it for about 23 out of 24 hours a days, just off in the early morning to clean it and again off in the even around dinner to clean it again (because boy howdy let me tell you, that thing can get nasty stinky!). His doc said he now is at a 1 (which basically means there is a 1 millimeter (I think it is millimeter difference from one side of his head to the other). No matter what, Landon is one handsome little dude! He is always smiling and just the sweetest little guy, but this makes us feel much better that we did the helmet early to help him. We also have just recently had him start therapy for the kink in his neck that he hasn't quite gotten rid of yet and it is working wonders too! Landon is definitely our little trooper and I am so grateful for that! I love that kid!
Ok, enough of my New Year's rambling. On to some pretty cute picture moments if I may say so. And just a little note, thanks again for all our family and friends for all their continued love, support, and help. We hope you all have the most amazing and prosperous new year and that 2013 is as great for everyone as we feel 2012 was for us! Love you all!
