Lunch Time

Our boys have been enjoying their new high chairs and their adventures in eating “solid” foods and drinking from sippy cups. Plus, Alex worked some more on crawling tonight.

Other tidbits:

• Dom and Alex continue to work on walking while holding Mommy or Daddy’s hands.
• Their smiles are contagious.
• Tonight, when we tucked them into their cribs, Dom and Alex babbled happily to themselves until they went to sleep – so sweet.
• Both Dom and Alex know their names now and will look when you say them.
• They recently started playing with the classic baby toy of the stacked “donuts” by pulling the colored donuts off and sucking on them.
• One of their favorite songs is “5 Little Duckies.”
• The last song they hear at night is “Goodnight, Sweetheart.” (Anyone remember “3 Men and a Baby?”)

The first two photos are from Friday, Feb. 4th, and the rest are from today. Click on the photos to see the full pictures and the back button to return to the blog post.

We’ve been sleep-nursing the boys for the last few weeks at around 10 PM. Typically, Dad picks up a little limp noodle who snuggles into his chest and brings him to me. With eyes still closed, he reaches and seeks for the source of all milky goodness. He thirstily nurses and then falls back asleep, and Dad carries him back to bed.

Tonight, Alex started the routine like normal, but after he had nursed for a little bit, he pulled back and gave me a sweet grin and a giggle. He just wanted to take some time to smile and be happy. Dad came over, and we basked in his smiles and soft laughter (and yes, I got a little teary-eyed). After a bit, he started trying to fall asleep, and a little grin would flicker across his face briefly.

He did have a little trouble falling back to sleep, but it was a priceless, precious, perfect moment.

Dominic and Alexander started solid foods today! 2 teaspoons of rice cereal mixed with 40 ml of breastmilk. While they weren’t sure what to make of this new texture and eating off a spoon, they soon warmed up to both and were eager to help – as you can see in the photos below. We fed the boys in their exersaucers as their second high chair just arrived today, but tomorrow we hope to feed them in their high chairs (fewer distractions and less bouncing). Check back for a possible video of their first meal, though I’m guessing we’ll get better faces in a few days when we try avocados!

Dominic and Alexander turned six months old today! Our little darlings are cute as can be, and they’re learning new skills all the time. They’ve started turning pages, touching (and grabbing) Mom’s and Dad’s faces, and stealing each others toys (mostly Alex right now). While Mom eats breakfast in the morning, they are also practicing with holding spoons, and we’re planning their milestone First Solid Food Day for this Thursday. Super-thin rice cereal! Yum!?!? Avocados will follow a few days later.

We had a well visit with the pediatrician today, and the doctor declared them “perfect.” (We certainly agree!)

Alex (left) & Dom: Ready to party!

Weights:

• Dominic: 16 pounds 9 ounces
• Alexander: 16 pounds 13 ounces

Alex (left) & Dom: Having fun

A Homemade Gift

At lunch, Dominic made an extra special gift for Mommy all by himself. The Twin-Daddy was about to send someone into the restroom to check on us before we made it back out – mostly clean after the biggest out-of-diaper experience I’ve cleaned up yet.

I also learned a very important lesson: Don’t fold up those thin papers normally used to cover the toilet seat and put them between a poopy boy and his changing mat. The poo just pastes the paper onto his back, and then you are not only scrubbing poo off the boy with wipe after wipe but also caked on paper. Still, it could have been a much bigger mess considering the amount of time I had my boy diaperless during the de-pooing process.

A New Toy

Alex and Dom really love their new Baby Einstein exersaucer. (Thanks, Craigslist!) They’ve been taking turns in it yesterday and today, and Alex absolutely loved it his first time with new gadgets to play with in all directions.

Alex having a blast

Dom turning pages

A Little Entertainment

This afternoon the boys and I took a nice stroll in the sun, and then we spent some time listening and dancing to songs on YouTube – mostly celebrities performing on Sesame Street like Ray Charles singing the ABCs (Wonderful!), Katy Perry’s controversial song “Hot N Cold” with Elmo, Will.I.am singing “What I am,” and Norah Jones singing “Don’t Know Why” about the letter “Y.”

Birthday Pie

We bought a little peach cobbler to celebrate Dom’s and Alex’s half-birthday. They got to see their half-birthday pie with a couple of candles in it (and they were fascinated!), and then they got to enjoy watching Mom and Dad eat the cobbler. (Yep, we’re meanies.)

Yummy cobbler for Daddy

Alex helps Dad with the cobbler

Over the past week or so, Dominic and Alexander have started scooting backward, and as part of their self-soothing sleeping ritual, they have started rocking, rolling and scooting all over their cribs. As a result, in the last couple of days both Dominic and Alexander have started proto-crawling by pushing themselves up on their arms and then getting their knees under them. We expect crawling to start any time. (We better start baby-proofing!)

Alex (left) and Dom work on their proto-crawl.

Snuggles, Hugs and Kisses

Both Dom and Alex have started doing the bashful snuggle into one parent’s chest after having given the other parent a great big grin, and they both will give you hugs around the neck sometimes – especially Alex. Every once in awhile Alex will also give you a kiss on the cheek (which feels a bit like he’s testing just to make sure milk doesn’t come out of cheeks too), and Dom has given a kiss or two himself.

Napping

Napping has been a bit chaotic the last few days. One boy sleeps only 45 minutes and the other 2 hours at one nap. The next, they might switch or both might sleep 45 minutes. Plus, this causes them to end up on different schedules. When the boys take short naps, I’ve been working to resettle them to sleep with varied results. With the current chaos, Mom hasn’t been able to catch a good nap with her sons.

Sleep Update

Alexander slept through the night again! Dominic awoke only once just before 3 AM! (We are still sleep-nursing them at 10 PM.) They both woke up a few minutes early this morning and softly babbled to each other until Mom got up at 6:30. Mom got a pretty good night’s sleep.

Reasons I Keep Putting Off Stopping the Night Nursing:

1. That nagging worry: Are my boys getting enough milk? Will I be starving them?
2. The hope that they’ll start sleeping through the night on their own (and Alexander seems to be doing this).
3. The dread of several miserable and exhausting nights and days for me and the boys.
4. How easy it is to simply nurse them and pop them right back in bed.

Dom: Hello, world!

Next week they will be starting solids, and if they haven’t stopped nursing on their own, I’ll be taking the plunge. I am looking forward to the prospect of a full night’s sleep.

Update: Dom is now getting his second tooth on the bottom!

[Photos all from today.]