7 Months Old!!

Wow- the munchkins are 7 months old! I'm a bit late in posting, but we've been busy around here lately. Grandpa Ron, Grandma Shannon and Aunt Danielle were here visiting and sadly went home this past weekend. We had such a great visit and the babies LOVED the attention. We ventured out to Kohl's and dinner with the kiddos in tow, and it couldn't have gone better. They loved strolling around with Grandpa Ron in Kohl's and then by the time we got to Cazadores (best Mexican restaurant ever!) they were tuckered out and napped pretty much the entire meal. Towards the end they woke and flirted with the staff. I don't know when we'll venture out again...it was nice having 3 other people to help! :)

It amazes me every day how much the babies are growing and changing.


Jack is my sweetheart baby. He will smile and laugh at just about anything. He is getting stronger at sitting, I can prop him with a boppy and he will sit in front of his toys for quite a while. He is still learning the whole rolling thing, and seems interested in the idea of crawling. I can see him taking off once he gets it down. He has started learning how to give kisses, like his sister, and when I pick him up I get true hugs. At night Jack loves his bath! He is a good sleeper, often sleeping 6-8 hours with a quick bottle and then another 4-6 hours. He pretty much always needs his full 12 hours. Jack likes baby food, but isn't too sure about the meats yet. He also likes sitting in his bumbo seat, on top of the table or island, and staring at us. My favorite time of day with Jack is right after he wakes, whether first thing in the morning or after a nap. He is so cuddly and happy!

Jack 7 Months Old






Maggie is my spunky, princess. She can be the sweetest little gal, but watch out for her temper! :) Though she doesn't laugh at just anything, she can smile big and wide. Recently she's been smiling so big she stinks her tongue out and lifts her legs with such excitement. Speaking of legs, she has definitely found her feet and loves to lay on the floor and grab at her toes. She also likes to do this when getting her diaper changed. She just recently started rolling a lot. She can roll onto her belly, but once there hasn't figured out what to do. I have a sneaky suspicion that once she figures the mobility thing out, she will be taking off! Maggie still would rather stand more than anything else, and she has even started learning how to hold onto furniture while standing. We're still working on sitting with the little miss, she's much too "on-the-go" to be interested. Maggie likes to give kisses on cheeks and has started pulling hair to get a face closer to hers. My favorite time of day with Maggie is bath time. Every night I lay her down on the bath mat in front of the tub while Jack gets his bath and she will play with her feet, sing, babble and just have a blast...just on the bath mat. Then when it is her turn, she is just the happiest little girl!

Maggie 7 Months Old





Both babies are biting and gnawing on fingers like crazy! They have quite a bite and I'm thinking there will be a tooth popping through any day now! We've started some baby foods. Jack is much more interested, but recently Maggie has started showing interest. They really like apple sauce, sweet potatoes and cereal. We tried chicken, but they were both very disinterested. Maggie actually gagged! A couple nights ago they tried carrots and seemed to enjoy them.

I'm so curious to see what they will be doing next month!

You wanna piece of me?

Dr. Fu did. I had a flat mole removed from my back Monday. First thing that morning Charlotte met up with the kids and I and they got their vaccine booster shots. They were so well behaved. It was snowing like crazy and they were happy as could be the whole drive to their grandparent's house. I was able to get an earlier appointment for my "surgery", and I was sore, but OK afterward. We ended up getting nearly a foot of snow in total from the big snow storm. It was nice to be with Jeff and Charlotte with the kiddos and watch the snow pile get bigger and bigger. We had a nice time. My back is healing up fine, tender at times and I need to stop trying to do everything, because I can definitely tell when I've over done it. Last night was another RSV round. Jack weighed 15 lbs. and Maggie 12lbs. My little preemies are turning into such big babies! Still no crawling or sitting, but they are getting much stronger and Jack will probably be crawling within the next month or so. Maggie might skip crawling and go straight to running. Due to bad weather their high risk appointment was rescheduled, so next week we'll get another full assessment on them and start talking about baby food!! The munchkins are currently napping, Brian is working from home, Wilma is off at the groomers and I'm getting things straightened up around the house. The Hennings family is coming to visit. Grandpa Ron, Grandma Shannon and Aunt Danielle will be here later this afternoon and we are all so excited to see them. They haven't met the babies yet!

Happy Valentine's Day!

A husband and best friend by my side, two wonderful babies that make me feel like the luckiest mom in the world, and a dozen red roses...what better Valentine's Day could I ask for?!

To all the lovers out there, enjoy your Valentine's Day with your sweet heart!

They're making me look like a buncha...‏

...dang strawberries!!

A winter cold

Wednesday morning I woke up with a cold! After getting up with Maggie around 1am, I knew I was sick. When Jack woke up around 2am I asked Brian to get him and when he came back to bed I told him I needed him to stay home and that I was sick. I hoped that if I could get a good rest of the night and into the morning sleep that I would be feeling better. When I did finally roll out of bed I was feeling worse! Brian ended up packing up the kiddos and taking them to their grandparents' house. There is no point in my hanging around with them when I don't feel good, and even more, I don't want them sick. We've made it this long without so much as a sniffle from either of them. So they've been there since. I'm starting to feel better, but I'm still congested, I've got a dry, tickle in the back of my throat and now I've started with the sneezing. I'm hoping that since my energy seems to be better I'm turning a corner with the cold. Yesterday was the first day since the kids were born that I didn't see them in a 24-hour period. I miss them terribly, but I know that they are happy with their gramps and granny, and better off there than here exposed to whatever I have. We are so lucky to have great family!

Venturing out into the real world

I took the kids out (on my own) to Target this afternoon. It went better than expected. I purposely tried to time our trip around their nap, but that proved to be pointless. We got all packed up and into the van without trouble, luckily they have learned that being in the van isn't a bad thing anymore. We got into Target, and made our way straight to the formula (the only thing I planned to purchase, quick in and out) and of course...Target only had 3 cans of formula! Seriously?! So... I grabbed the 3 and headed to checkout. Of course that is when Jack decided he didn't want to be happy anymore. He started fussing and although pushing the stroller back and forth seemed to make him a little calmer, he was still whiny. Now I've been in stores where I've heard babies crying, and I've always thought, "Aw, poor little one." or "Aw, poor Mommy." Never have I been annoyed or as the lady who was in front of me in line did...GLARED at the parent with the crying child. I was quite taken aback. I certainly wasn't standing there pinching him to make him cry and it wasn't like he was screaming bloody murder. He was just crying in a fussy baby kind of way. AND- it was 1 in the afternoon on Thursday, so it wasn't like it was inappropriate for me to be out and about with my kiddos. Needless to say, my feelings were pretty hurt and I immediately got the feeling that I couldn't do "this". I quickly made my way out of the store with my 3 cans of formula and got the babies packed back into the van. It is a lot of work to just get in and out of 1 store! By the time I was driving back towards home they were both asleep, so I put on a brave face and headed to the other Target in our area. Once inside Maggie did wake up, but she was happy to just look around and Jack stayed asleep. Fortunately this Target had tons of cans, so I was able to get a good stock supply (I go through 1.5 cans per day!). This time while in the checkout line Maggie began to fuss (pretty much because she was sleepy, but couldn't get back to sleep) and this time around the only comment was from the cashier, "Uh oh- double the trouble." and my reply was "Nope, double the fun." :) So we successfully made it out into the real world today. It was nice getting out of the house, I feel quite cooped up and lonely some days. Next week we might try taking a walk inside the empty Cincinnati Mills Mall. I really can't wait for Spring!

6 more weeks of winter?!

The babies were quite grouchy yesterday, I'm convinced it is because they heard we can expect 6 more weeks of winter instead of an early Spring. They are ready for warm weather and to get out of the house! I've been trying my best to entertain the kiddos each day, as they are starting to stay awake longer between naps and have such short attention spans. They love their jumperoo, primarily because they are able to be "up" and see the room. Neither baby is rolling or sitting independently, but they are super close. Jack likes to sit and Maggie is getting used to it. I can prop them with their boppy pillows and give them toys, which keeps them happy for a little bit. Maggie is a babbling, screeching, cooing little gal. She has discovered her pacifier and likes to play with it. She has also discovered her feet, which has been fun to watch. Jack has discovered his thumb, though he gnaws more than sucks. They still aren't sleeping consistently through the night. Jack will typically sleep an 8 hour stretch (which is awesome!), he gets a quick bottle and then will sleep another 4 hours, to get his total 12 hours. Maggie is still doing mostly a 6 hour stretch (still not bad), a bottle and then either another 6 hours or sometimes she wakes 3 hours in and needs to be patted back to sleep. We'll see if adding some food into their diet works, once we get the OK about their digestive system.

Aside from all that is baby, Brian and I have been watching the TV show Lost. We've watched season 1 and are in the beginning of season 2. It is certainly a different type of show, but we're enjoying it and it works with our nights because we can pause and watch it at our own pace. Charlotte and I have been enjoying our season tickets to the Aronoff. We saw White Christmas just before the holidays. And a couple of weeks ago we saw Spring Awakening, which was a good show, but certainly provocative. The music was very good and it was different seeing a less "showy" type of musical. We are seeing a bonus show Saturday with cousin Angela. It's Cats and I couldn't be more excited!

Jack & Maggie sitting together


Little man


Maggie looking at her singing polar bear