Add Dressed Up and Dirty

They girls are always adorably dirty when I get home from work. About once a week, Angela dresses them in cute dresses and then the girls spit up on them. It's still super cute though.

Tearing Up Newspaper

All the time the girls are experiencing new textures. They love magazines, but especially loved this newspaper. It also turned their little hands black. Probably wasn't the best texture to play with, but it was fun! They didn't even try to eat it.

Mommy & Daddy With Their Girls

Me and My Girls

I rarely have pictures taken with me and my babies. I have to beg for them. Here we are one weekend morning.

Sylvia On The Move

Sylvia is now scooting! She maneuvered her way to the tunnel and pulled it down to play with the toys. Check out this adorable picture Angela sent to us at work! Do you think it put a smile on my face?

Playing Together

The girls really are playing together. They steal each other's toys and make each other giggle. It's adorable. Turn up the volume on the video and you can hear Evelyn cracking up every time Sylvia looks at her.

Indian Summer

The girls enjoyed the Indian Summer day on November 16th. It was lovely and Angela took full advantage by taking them to the waterfront in Old Town. The girls enjoyed playing with leaves and showing their true personalities. Sylvia held onto the same two leaves the entire time and studied them carefully. On the other hand, Evelyn couldn't get enough leaves, she's crinkle them up and shove them into her mouth. It was a good day!

Gram's Visit

This is WAY over due, but Gram came to visit in early November. The girls loved being read to by her. We could also take a lesson or two from her on her neat feeding techniques (they are so clean when she's done...we don't know how she does it!).

Big Girl Eating Arrangements

For about a month now, we have been feeding them in their high chairs. They love it. They are also getting better at holding their bottles and picking up cups and spoons.

7 Months

The girls are sooo big now! We weighed them around their 7 month birthday and Sylvia was 18lbs 4oz and Evelyn was 17lbs. It is amazing how much they've grown and changed in 7 short months (well, really in the last 2 months!).

Swings!

The girls LOVE their new swings. No more baby swings for these girls, they've moved onto real swings outdoors! They will have fun all winter long in our backyard.

Latest In Gross Motor Development

Evelyn is scooting, leaping and crawling everywhere. She is quite busy. She also hikes her butt up into a traingle. Here she is on Daddy. She will definitely be zooming around the room in a full crawl by Christmas. Evelyn is still far more interested in crawling than she is sitting.

Sylvia is yanking on the activity mat showing off her expert sitting abilities. She is doing a great job moving around in a circle while on her belly. She doesn't move forward or back, but uses her arms to move within 360 degrees. We think Sylvia will pull herself to standing before she'll crawl. She's very skilled at standing and now responds to "Sylvia Up?" by putting her hands in the air and pushing herself up to standing when I hold onto her hands. She holds herself up there for several minutes and then understands "Sylvia Sit", and bends her knees and plops back down. She could do this for hours.

So cute, very cute.

Cuddly Evelyn

Evelyn is getting more cuddly. Over the weekend, I caught her snuggled up to Daddy several times.

Thanksgiving

Grandpa Benson (Mommy's Dad from Indiana) and Uncle Aaron (Daddy's brother from VA Beach) came to spend Thanksgiving with us. The girls enjoyed a yummy dinner of turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, pumpkin and oatmeal. They gobbled up their first bites of turkey, just like they do everything else. We saw lots of sites (Manassas Battlefield and Arlington Cemetary) and ate lots of food (Thanksgiving with all the fixings, turkey noodle soup, chili, etc). We also put up the Christmas tree and Sylvia was so curious she broke an ornament!

Sylvia's Laugh

Sylvia doesn't giggle. She's only giggled 3 times. But, now she cackles! It's so funny. I didn't edit the video so you can get an idea of how she gets going. She does this all the time and it's sooo adorable. What a big noise coming from a delicate little baby!

Cup

We have been practicing with a cup to be sure they are ready to fully transition from the bottle at 1 year. Sylvia is pretty good at it. Evelyn likes to chew it.

Evelyn Crawling

Evelyn is now moving around the room. She's not officially crawling (one arm then the other, etc), but she is getting it. It's super cute and she keeps herself super occupied. She will be zooming around the room in an official crawl very soon. She's trying to break records doing this at just 6 months! Crazy baby! Note, this video was on the 15th, we've made much progress since this time. Will upload another video soon.

Naked Time

The girls get wild during naked time -- we do this each night before bedtime to give them some freedom from their diaper. I think it's really helped with diaper rash. We've only really had one case. We are also crazy about changing them every 2 hours.

Messy Marvin

The girls are now in their high chairs and have been practicing with spoons and sippy cups. Sylvia is a pro at the cup. She pics it up and chugs water. They are both pretty good at finding their mouths with the spoon. They have now had squash (acorn and butternut), sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, pumpkin, broccolli, peas, and cauliflower. It takes a while to get through the foods because we wait 3 days before introducing something new to make sure they aren't allergic. They love everything! Here's Evelyn and her spoon.

Thumper

Sylvia loves to thump her legs. We are often worried she's going to bruise herself because she slams down so hard.

Gram Visits

Gram visited for a long weekend and we had a blast with the girls. We got them all gussied up and took them to the National Harbor for lunch. It was a beautiful November day!

Babbling

Both girls are now babbling, but here's a video of Evelyn's first babbles. Sylvia started soon after and favors Da Da, while Evelyn says Ma Ma. It's super cute.

Cute Smiley Picture of Evelyn

This is just an adorable picture of Evelyn and her gigantic cheeks, courtesy of our friend Jen Smith. She's a great photographer.

Play Date

We had our first real play date with our friends Ella and Max on Friday. They are all 6 months old -- Ella is 22 days older and Max is 14 hours older than the girls. It was fun to have them interact. Our typical play dates involve feeding them, feeding ourselves and then going on a walk. Now, they are nearly mobile, sitting up, reaching and "talking." Ella had a thing for Sylvia and kept crawling over to hear and grabbing her face. It was really cute. Ella didn't seem to care much for Max or Evelyn. They have similar features (blue eyes, ligher hair), so maybe she thought she saw herself. Max was super cute, babbling and rolling around on his belly. It was a great time had by all. Here's a link to the pictures taken by Jen (Ella's Mom). http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=770404109703%3A661315822

Here's a link a cute video of Ella reaching for Sylvia: http://sharing.theflip.com/session/fa65211d58735564cb2d0098bc7f83fd/video/7263818

Government Issued Fun

We have TONS of toys, but their favorite is my blackberry! Evelyn chases it around the room and Sylvia will fall over from sitting just to get a taste of the metallic goodness!

Jumping Sylvia

I don't think I ever posted a picture of Sylvia jumping in the jumper. While she loves the exersaucer the most, she does like jumping too.

Cute Smiles

Just a few posts of our girls' adorable smiles. I think Evelyn definitely has a dimple (Gram pointed that out a while and I wasn't totally convinced, now it's definitely there all the time). Sylvia's smile is always open mouthed and big. I call it her clown smile.

Mommy, Gram and Uncle Shane

Grandpa Benson was digging through some old pictures and sent this one of me, my Mom and brother Shane.

Blue Eyed Girl

Evelyn's eyes seem to be getting more blue every day. Click the picture and you can get a better look at them. Also, note the barrette. Her hair is getting long enough finally! But, they fall out fast. Sylvia's eyes are a really pretty hazel, but they change all the time. Some days they are more blue, sometimes grey, sometimes green. I don't know if they will stay hazel or settle into a specific color.

Sylvia Sitting

The girls are now both sitting for longer periods of time. I'm not sure who is "better" at it. They are both about as good as the other. Sylvia seems to like to stay sitting longer, while Evelyn prefers to be on her belly or held up standing.

Halloween

For Halloween, Evelyn was a pea in a pod (remember, this was also my shower theme) and Sylvia was a baby chick. David said because Sylvia is bigger (he now calls her three-quartey because she is in teh 75th percentile), Evelyn should have been the baby chick. He was worried about her looking fat. Babies are supposed to be fat! The chubbier the better, right!? They were totally adorable and didn't seem to mind being in their costumes at all. Our friends Lori and David came over with their 9 month old, Maddie. I think Maddie wanted to eat our babies! Soooo cute!

First Crawls

Evelyn is super active; we've said that many times. Now she is scooting quite well backwards. I never knew that for some babies it is the first step before they move forward. The videos were taken about a week apart. Can you see her progress?

Cute Girls

These girls are just so darn cute and changing every day.

Teething

While we haven't seen any teeth lately, the girls want to chew on everything. Evelyn really likes her frozen rings, but gets really mad when her hands get too cold. Sylvia has been gnawing on her star cookie in the exersaucer for a while now. Mommy didn't get teeth until 8 months, not sure about Daddy, so it could be a while until we see pearly whites!

Talking Sylvia

Sylvia loves to make noises. And, she loves her exersaucer even more. She's so cute and has so much fun entertaining herself in that thing.

Playing Together

After their bottles, we let them settle while sitting (lots of spit up happens if they are put on their bellies or backs). So, I entertain them with little toys.

New Noises

Evelyn has started this new noise--her grunt. At first I thought she was trying to go #2, but she does it all the time. It's pretty funny and a little weird.

6 Months Old!

The girls turned 6 months old this week. Gosh, time flies. Their doctor's visit went well and they were pleased with the girls' development. Here are the stats:

Sylvia

head: 17 inches -- 75th percentile

height: 25.5 inches--50th percentile

weight: 17lbs 3.4 oz--75th percentile

Evelyn

head: 16.25 inches -- 15th percentile

height: 25.25 inches -- 25th percentile

weight: 15lbs 15.4oz -- 50th percentile

Evelyn still holds her title of "itty bitty," but 50th percentile for weight is great. She has a solid little muscle-bound body. David calls her his "eel." Sylvia is definitely bigger; she's a chubby baby with fat rolls on fat rolls. The little ladies couldn't be more different and so special in their own ways. We are incredibly lucky!

Another 6 month note that they had their first fever 6 days before their half birthday. Evelyn had a really rough night and spent the entire evening in my arms. It was pretty terrible to see her so unhappy. Sylvia had a fever a few days before Evelyn, but was her typical happy go lucky self. We would have never known she had a fever if she wasn't taking super long naps and felt hot to the touch. I guess they were bound to pick up something eventually and I think six months is pretty good to be without a cold or any illness!

Happy half year birthday, babies!

New Toy

Who would have ever guessed that a blackberry would provide so much entertainment for a baby?! I guess it is shiny and lights up. Let's just hope they don't break it; it is government-issued.

Wind!

Anglea took this adorable video of the girls and it was definitely worth posting. She sends David and I pictures and updates every day; it brightens our day -- BIG TIME! I also come home to pictures on the camera and videos. Things really couldn't be better on the childcare front!

Lip Suck

Sylvia does this adorable little thing every once and a while, she sucks on her upper lip. The video is pretty good too. She just finished her squash in the picture above and was just about to be changed. Dirty girl!

Teething Rings

Evelyn loves these teething rings frozen and unfrozen. One day she stole her sisters. I have a feeling that's going to be a recurring theme. The other day, Evelyn took Sylvia's paci out of her mouth and Sylvia started to bawl! Poor baby!

Grandpa Benson and Grandma Snazzy Visit

The girls maternal grandparents visited (well, one set, Mommy's Dad and Step-Mom) all the way from Indiana. Grandpa fixed lots of stuff at the house and Grandma Snazzy helped keep the girls entertained while Mommy ran a few errands. We also got our H1N1 shots; the girls will get theirs soon (they aren't yet 6 months old yet!).

Enjoying the Outdoors

We've had super lousy weather lately, but Angela is good about taking advantage of every ounce of sunshine. Here they are enjoying a post-meal roll in the grass on a Fall day.