Overnight Away

At nearly 9 months, Mommy and Daddy took advantage of their friends' offer to watch the girls while we went away for 24 hours. The Lemon's took the 11am-5pm shift and Angela took the over night. Sylvia cried and cried as soon as they arrived. I think she knew what was going on. It was a bit weird that we had to set up shop in the family room because our contractor was at the house converting the office to Evelyn's room and updating the basement bathroom. Anyways, we went less than 10 miles away and stayed at the Hotel Monoco in Old Town. We had a great time -- went to lunch, walked around Old Town, hung out in the hotel, had a great dinner at Jackson 20, and then got home at 10am the next morning. We really missed our girls, but had a great, well-deserved night away.

Bed Head

Angela sent us this picture at work today. It's of Evelyn's awesome hair-do after her 1.5 hour nap! Go Evelyn (on the nap!).

Sylvia Swimming

Sylvia gets all excited when crawling around and stops to "swim." She flaps around her arms and legs; so cute!

Girls Playing

Just a cute video of the girls playing.

Play Room Re-Do

Standing Tall

I already posted about Evelyn standing (pulling herself up), but Sylvia loves to stand and play too.

Temper Tantrum

It's already starting, baby temper tantrums. This is pretty funny. Evelyn was so upset yesterday. Everything got her going!

Super Big Smile

Evelyn has a super big smile. She's yacking it up all the time. Her eyes get all squinty like Mommy's when she smile big.

Fun with Diapers!

The girls LOVE to get into everything. This time it was the diaper caddy. Of course, these are clean!

Cute Babies in Bucket

We put the babies in the toy bin and zoomed them around the room. They loved it.

Evelyn Standing

Evelyn is pulling up and standing on everything she can. She snuck around the couch and found this box, which was a perfect height for her. We tend to get a lot of good pictures before their morning nap, when they are still in their sleepers. We are typically running around in the afternoon. They really do change clothes every day!

Eight Months!

It is hard to believe our little 6lb babies are 8 months old. Sylvia now weighs 20lbs6oz and Evelyn 19lbs6oz. They have maintained their distance of a pound consistently. We don't go to the doctor until their 9 month appointment, so we don't have any other statistics to report.

They are healthy, happy babies. They still sleep 12 hours at night, take 2 naps during the day (we are still working on the naps). They are great eaters and have meals and bottles at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm with dinner of two vegetables and grain at 5:30pm. At 7am they have fruit and yogart, lunch they have 2 veggies, 3pm one fruit, and 7pm just milk. They get a multigrain of oatmeal, rice, barley and whole wheat or pieces of toast, cheerios, rice cakes or crackers. They have started to eat finger foods -- peas, corn broccoli florets, green beans, beans, banana, avocado, etc. Soon they will be off pureed foods entirely. They are still receiving Momma's milk and they haven't had one bite of commercial baby food. Angela and I have prepared ALL of it! They fill their days with a program that Angela created (remember, she's academically and professionally trained to raise babies!) and they are learning the colors (red), shapes (circle), signs (drink, eat, change, more), and we are teaching them some spanish (aqua, leche, mas). They have song time, outdoor time (including play group on Tuesdays), fine and gross motor development activities, and lots of other stuff.

In January, they will begin baby swimming and a song/sign class (where they learn more sign language). In addition to the Tuesday play groups, I have at least 2 other play dates each week, so they are getting a lot of social interaction with other Moms and babies. Overall, they are doing great. We are lucky to have such happy, healthy babies. Also, another big deal is that we're separating their rooms. They have been in separate cribs since 3 months, but they are now napping in separate rooms and we're officially converting the study to a second nursery in a few weeks. Evelyn is a super light sleeper, so she needs to have her own space. It's ok though, they spend a ton of time together all day, every day. Mommy is a little sad about it though.

Sylvia At 8 Months!

Our little Sylvia is a joy. She's easy! Sylvia is a quick learner and is clapping, waving hi (this is sooo cute!), and army crawling. She loves to eat, but prefers when someone else holds her bottle. She's quickly realized we don't hold her bottle any more! She is an easy sleeper (goes down easily) and she's funny while she does it. She makes these adorable, LOUD groaning noises before she sleeps. She loves to sleep too and will power nap some days over 2 hours (this is new and because we separated the girls at nap time). She does fuss when she's not picked up when she wants to be and will throw a bit of a temper tantrum when Evelyn steals her toys. She loves plush toys like her dolly and these fun boxes we found in our closet. She leans in real close to mirrors and licks them (I think it's a kiss, but she doesn't do it to us). She knows her Mommy and Daddy very well and gets excited when she sees us, which makes you feel sooo special! She is very vocal too and loves to babble. She loves to stand and will babble very loudy when she's pulled up. She also is very good at mocking sounds you make. I think talking will come very easily for her. I've also mentioned that she's big--she's a BIG girl wearing 12-18 month clothes too. We love her very much, and her big belly!

Evelyn At 8 Months!

Evelyn is BUSY! She is all over the place. You can't turn your head for long because she will race across the room, pull herself up, stand for a while and then move into another location before you look back! She loves to explore and is incredibly curious. She loves to feed herself and will often refuse being fed by a spoon in favor of picking up the food herself. She actually gets excited when I take out the Cheerios box! She's a pro at holding her bottle. She's a pretty independent baby and keeps herself entertained by roaming about the room. She is getting better at napping, but typically only takes 2, 30 minute naps a day.

She's so easy to get to laugh and smile. She does this adorable hissing sounds and raspberries when she's happy to see you...it's her way of saying "I love you and I'm happy, I've decided." She wants to be climbing all over us most of the time, which is a lot of fun. Evelyn still seems tiny to me. I call her itty bitty, as we have for a long time. We love her very much and feel fortunate to have such different babies that are so special.

Evelyn Is Officially Crawling

Evelyn is now officially crawling, climbing over/into things. She is also pulling up half way and moving from her belly to sitting. So big! The last video was taken on the 12th, the first on the 13th and the second video on the 26th. She's made great progress in just a short period of time. I expect in a few weeks she will be "cruising" where she crawls to something pulls up, takes a few steps, and then crawls to the next spot. Things are going to get really interesting soon.

Sylvia is making progress too -- she is still pulling herself forward like an Army crawl, but this weekend she got on all fours and rocked back and forth. She's heavier and bigger than Evelyn, so I think it's harder for her to get up. She's not far behind though, which is fine with me.

Sylvia Loves Her Mommy

Sylvia has gotten really attached to her Mommy lately. If I come home from work and kiss her without picking her up, she will start to cry. Here's an example of her being held by Gramps, but crying when I walk by. So cute! The first part of the clip is of Evelyn muching on pears. She loves to chew on everything. They are definitely teething, but still have no teeth (they are nearly 8 months old!)

Bedtime Fun!

Like many babies, Evelyn and Sylvia can get a bit naughty at bedtime, but their spirits improve during bathtime and reading/cuddle time. They especially like when Gram is here to read them stories. These cute polka dotted sleep sacks were given to them by their Great Granny who's going to be 90 years old in February!

Merry Christmas (Celebration #2)!

The girls enjoyed their first Christmas with their Mommy, Daddy, Gram and Gramps! It involved their usual schedule of bottle and fruit at 7am, playing until 8:15am, nap time for Sylvia 8:30am-9:15am and nap time for Evelyn 9:15-10:20am (this girl was not ready to nap at the usual time -- too much excitement, I guess), presents got started around 10:30am and it took a long time to open everything so the girls enjoyed their bottles by the tree. After they enjoyed lunch, their Honorary Grandparents Richard and Julie made a Santa drop and gave them each special iBooks (hard cover books!) with all sorts of cute pictures and followed the alphabet (like, A is for adorable, etc). After they went down for their second nap, we finally finished opening presents. When they woke, they played while Mommy made Christmas dinner. After the girls' 3pm snack, we enjoyed a great meal at the table. The rest of the day included a bath, lots of story time and play. It was a wonderful first Christmas for everyone.

Cute Together

The girls' are becoming so adorable as they play together. They also definitely try to communicate with each other, but making funny noises and laughing. They are super cute when eating because they are close enough to grab each other and hold hands.

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!)