Evelyn's Silliness!

Evelyn is silly! She leans back or forward in her seat, glancing at you like "what's up?". She also just sits and raspberries, and makes the cutest grunts and squeals to get your attention.

Sylvia's Funny Faces & Antics

Our little girl who we once thought was a little too relaxed is now full of new expressions. Here are a sampling of them. She's also clapping, dancing (rocking back and forth while sitting), and loves to jump! She is a very happy baby though and only seems to fuss when she's hungry or tired. She's easy to calm down with a cuddle.

First Christmas Celebration!

Evelyn and Sylvia celebrated Christmas twice...first with Grandpa and Grandma Benson. They got their new set of carseats! They enjoyed sitting at the big table while everyone enjoyed steak and lobster. Sylvia literally smacked her lips and acted like she was chewing while we ate. She's our little piggy!

Tons of Snow!

The girls' enjoyed their second snowfall and it was a doozie! We got 18 inches!!!

Holding Bottles

The girls are now holding their bottles at breakfast, lunch and dinner. At the night bottle, we still cuddle and hold them like babies, giving them a break from being big girls!

New Hair-do's!

Do you like the girls' new hairdos? I'm not sure Sylvia did!

Holiday Pictures

Well, I might be ruining the holiday card surprise and gifts for the grandparents, but here are the girls' holiday pictures! Don't you LOVE the hats? I think they are adorable!

Girls Visit Santa and Mrs Claus

This weekend, the girls had a visit with Santa and Mrs Claus. Evelyn was a bit unsure of Santa's big, white beard, but Sylvia was pretty easy-going about it.

The Girls Visit The White House

The girls enjoyed their first visit to the White House and even saw Bo, the First Pet. We brough Angela and Matt (her boyfriend) with us. The first picture is of Evelyn in the Blue Room under the official White House christmas tree. Her sister was ahead of the pack with Daddy visiting the State Dining Room and gingerbread house (we all know how much Sylvia loves to eat!)

Evelyn Explores

Evelyn climbed right under the exersaucer. Angela sent this picture to us at work and it made me smile widely! She's so silly.

Sylvia Loves Her Dolly

At my shower, my Mom gave the girls two dolls that were created to be EXACTLY like the dolly I obsessed for when I was a girl. It's 2 headed--one head for day, the other for night on either end of the doll. Sylvia goes nuts for hers. She wiggles her feet and screetches in delight. So adorable.

Self Discovery

We got this great baby-safe mirror to put at their level and they are LOVING it. There's no sound, but you can get the idea of how much fun they were having.

Evelyn and a Pear

Since the girls have enjoyed pear, we let Evelyn gnaw on one the other morning. She didn't even break the skin, but she enjoyed it.

Sylvia Giggles

I was playing with the girls after dinner and got Sylvia's giggle on camera! Listen closely and you can hear it. She's also doing this cute nose wrinkle, which is adorable. Daddy says I do it too, so she must be copying me.

Ba Ba Fun Meal Time

The girls get WILD at dinner. They are very chatty and messy, and lots of fun. Often Sylvia moves her mouth like she's eating or talking and nothing comes out. It's cute. This video sort of looks like one of those kung-fu movies where english is overlayed and the mouth movements don't match.

First Snow!

The girls experienced their first snow this Sunday. We tried to have them sit up, but they were not having it. It was super wet snow so they quickly got wet too. Not the greatest experience, but it was still fun.

Big Girl Sylvia

Sylvia is now officially in 9-12 month clothes (yes, at 7 months!). Here she is in her first adorable 9-12 month outfit, which was a gift from our friend Lauren. She's in the exersaucer, but playing with a phone from another toy. She loves that phone, her jingle bells and dolly.

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.