8 Months

I really can't believe that Quinn and Riley were 8 months old yesterday! It seems like I just blink and another month has gone by. We are, of course, loving life and having fun as usual!
Some of my favorite things:
-Geoff bringing Quinn and Riley to me in the morning.
-How curious Quinn is about everything around him. I think his curiosity is motivating him to crawl, he just wants to get to everything to explore it!
-How Riley smiles the biggest smiles when she sees me and her daddy. If we catch her eye from across the room she will let out a "ha" and then smile from ear to ear. Melts my heart!
-Bath time: Quinn has started splashing around, and they just smell so good after bath time! I bathe them separately right now for safety but I can't wait till I can put them in the bath together.
-Mealtime: I am still nursing them 5 times a day and then they eat 3 meals as well. Quinn loves feeding himself puffs! Riley keeps rhythm by banging her foot against her highchair. They haven't refused any foods that I have offered them but they do seem to love peas, bananas, squash, and sweet potatoes! We just had mangoes today and they were a hit too!
-Playtime: We have so much fun playing with different toys, reading books, singing songs, petting Haley, and just giggling and smiling together. They both love to be held up in the air and zoom around.
-Nap time: Riley likes to be put down when she is tired and I sing her a little song before she goes to sleep. Quinn likes to hold his froggy and be rocked and sang to for a few minutes before he gets in his bed. When they get up they are usually very happy and will play in their cribs until I come get them. I love how they are just so happy to see me after naps!
-Twin time: The other day Riley was in the stroller and Geoff was holding Quinn and facing Riley and they were just smiling and giggling at each other. He would zoom Quinn towards Riley and they would both just laugh! So Fun!

Some challenges:
-Teething: Quinn has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom and boy have we felt every one of them! Riley has 2 teeth on the bottom that were also felt!
-Sleep: A few months ago they just weren't sleeping together very well. Now they don't sleep in the same room. I don't like this, I really wanted them to be together, but I have found that I would rather have happy and well rested children...sleeping in different rooms! Also, when teeth are coming in they don't nap well so some days are very long and exhausting. We are currently in the process of dropping the 3rd cat nap that they were taking in the late afternoon. That means they are pretty tired and last night went to bed at 5:30pm! Crazy early I know but they were asleep by 5:40 so it was what they needed. The good thing is that most of the time they sleep through the night until about 7:30am with no problems so I am very thankful about that! Not sure what will happen with Daylight Savings... we'll wait and see!

I dressed them in their Halloween costume for their pictures yesterday. Quinn is a lion and Riley is a Tiger. It's so hard to get the "puppy picture" because Quinn just flips over and tries to start crawling away. So this is the best I could get. So BIG!


Here he is flipping over...


If Riley is right next to him he will put his leg on top of her just like the puppy...


And here you can see that he is crawling... kinda. He is making forward progress but I wouldn't say it's a conventional crawl.


Riley with our pumpkin, we plan to carve it tonight!

Quinn just wanted to taste it.

Just relaxing...

See, no fingers in the mouth! They still are there plenty, but sometimes she will actually take them out. She has found she can replace her fingers with her toes in her mouth :) and she just loves, loves, loves her feet!

He learned how to rock the chair by moving himself back and forth. Wild boy...makes mama nervous!

Adorable... and this picture is classically them, Riley with her fingers in her mouth and Quinn making a funny face!

My Sweet Babies, I love you both more and more everyday and I am doing my best to just treasure these "baby" days because I know that soon enough they will be gone. You are the sweetest and cutest babies and I am so blessed to be your mother. Thank you for coming into my world and teaching me about love and selflessness and family and joy! I believe that I have to best job on the planet to get to spend my days with you both. I was looking back at the pictures of you in your first days (in the NICU) and I am so amazed by how far you have come and how much you have grown and developed. God is so good! I love you my darlings!

Love,

Mom