Half a Year Old!

I can't believe how big my girls are...

Okay so they're on the smaller side for being 6 months old (5 months adjusted)...

But seriously now, they are not the tiny babies they used to be any more. And that makes me sad [sniff, sniff]

But alas...in some ways this is wonderful news! I feel a whole new level of freedom with these girls, now they are six months old. They are getting to be so much fun! And a big plus is we are able to get out and do a few things with them here and there AND it's manageable....even by myself with all three kids.

Here's their SIX month stats: 

Kathryn Mary

Weight: 14lbs 13oz (22nd Percentile)

Height: 27 inches (86th Percentile)

Head Circumference: 42 cm (32nd Percentile)

Olivia June

Weight: 13lbs 3oz (4th Percentile)

Height: 25 inches (19th Percentile)

Head Circumference: 40 cm (1st Percentile)

Yep she's a tiny one! 

They are STILL awesome sleepers and take three naps a day. Usually a really good morning nap from 8/8:30 to around 11 am. Then they'll go down again around 1pm and sleep until 3/3:30pm and they take a quick catnap from 5-6 then down for the night by 7:30/8pm. Or if we're out and about,the last nap sometimes gets lost in the shuffle and that means early to bed by 7pm.  They sleep through the night and Kathryn will always wake up first around 6:30a and Olivia is more of a sleeper in the mornings and doesn't wake until 7:15 or so. I am very blessed to have babies that LOVE to sleep and know how to put themselves to sleep. It makes life for me so much happier!!

I've decided I love to just watch these babies sleep. They are so precious. I also adore these pictures I snapped...coincidentally they are both wearing the same pair of jammies in these pictures! :)

The biggest thing this last month or so is both girls started eating solids. Honestly, I was kind of avoiding this phase for as long as I could. We have the whole feeding two babies thing down, why throw everything off by adding solids.  It's been interesting this time around with these girls....with Andrew we had his feeding therapist teach us every step of development with regards to feeding and what the tongue should do, from 4 mo of age to almost 3yrs old. I keep thinking back and remembering every little milestone with him was huge. Feeding is the first step in talking. Gaining control of the tongue to make sounds all starts with feeding. So I intently watch as these girls learn each new skill. Counting my blessings for the time I spent on bedrest and that these two are healthy girls. 

I've decided that feeding two hungry babies takes multi-tasking to a whole new level! When we started solids back in March, it was just too crazy to do both at the same time. So for a few weeks I would focus and do one baby one-on-one in the morning with solids and one baby one-on-one in the evening. Once they got the whole spoon thing down, then I switched and did them both together again. Now we do one feeding in the morning (usually rice cereal and a fruit) and one during dinner time (a veggie or fruit).  They've both had rice cereal, bananas, peas, apples, squash, sweet potatoes and prunes. 

Before their first time trying rice cereal

 Olivia after her first time trying rice cereal

Kathryn after her first time trying rice cereal 

Solid foods is A LOT of work with twins. In the morning after Andrew heads off to school and Stephen's getting ready, I nurse one baby, bottle feed the next. Diaper both babies, get rice cereal ready for both babies, then feed them. After the cereal they both usually need a bathe...so I bath one baby, dry and dress them, put them to bed. Then the same routine with the other,  bathe, dry, dress and to bed. That usually a 2 1/2- 3 hour ordeal. But that's my mornings now and I'm not sure what will happen this summer when schools out. It will be busy to throw Andrew in the mix. 

These girls continue to remind me they are their own little selves. They had opposite reactions the first time they tried rice cereal and continue to have their own little eating style. 

Kathryn gobbles every bite down and can't wait for the next. She is the messier of the two, which usually requires an outfit change for her and sometimes for me too. She also could use a whole bath after each feeding, but that doesn't always happen. She's always grabbing for the spoon and has her hands in her mouth, probably because mom is not fast enough.  She however is also a spitter and likes to blow raspberries when she has food in her mouth. (Which Andrew finds hilarious and seems to reinforce this action with his laughter) She's loved everything I've tried with her, if I had to name one, peas would probably be her least favorite!

Nom Nom Nom

Olivia is more of a picky eater and it's taken some time to adjust to solids, She took forever to even open her mouth for a bite. She'd stick her tongue in there and press her lips together. It took all I could to get 5 or 6 bites down her. I felt like I was pulling every trick out of the bag. Once we tried the fruits and veggies though, she did a little better...but she would only take 10 bites or so before she was finished. I decided one morning to mix a fruit with her cereal and she gobbled it down with a wide open mouth for every bite. She's now doing better with the eating thing. She's usually pretty chill and waits patiently for her turn (which isn't like her) But she will certainly let you know when she is finished! Bananas, prunes and sweet potatoes are certainly her most favorite so far! 

See...hardly anything on her bib! 

A little about Kathryn at six months.....

• This little girl finds her brother hilarious. It doesn't take much for her to smile and laugh. Andrew is pretty good at getting her to laugh. He can just be talking or singing to himself and she will start to giggle. Then when he starts taking to her it's a fully on belly laugh. It's pretty funny! 
• She LOVEs the game peek-a-boo! Andrew's pretty good at playing this with her too.
• Her eyes are starting to change color. They have little specks of darkish color in them, so we may have another chocolate brown eyed kiddo or possibly a green eyed girl. We'll have to see! 
• She loves to reach for her toes and finds them quite tasty!
• This girl is my talker and will jabber to just about anyone who'll pay attention. I think she'll be our little social butterfly!
• Kathryn loves her bath. She's discover the wonderful job of splashing the water and getting mommy wet.
• She also has the best reaction to raspberries blown on her tummy! Cutest thing ever!
• Kathryn isn't rolling over yet, but she can sit up pretty good on her own for quite a few minutes!

Nope this isn't Kathryn, this is my mom around 6 months old! I couldn't believe how much this picture looks like my little girl.

My happy little girl! 

Chubby Baby after her Bath

 Practicing sitting up

Mommy's little laundry helper! 

 At her six month appointment she exploded out of her diapers and I had forgotten to refill the diaper bag, so the nurses make-shifted one for her. Just look at that little face! I'm not sure how she felt about the whole thing! 

These are her cute and precious sad faces...that bottom lip...melts my heart!

A little about Olivia at six months.....

• A funny thing about Olivia is lately she always seems to put some sort of cloth into her mouth. She loves to chew on blankets, her dresses, her bib, the burp rag anything. If she's laid in bed a while before falling asleep and I go in to cover her up, the blankets are soaking wet. 
• She is our roly-poly girl. She's rolling over and is all over the place. I'll put her down on one side of the crib and when I check on her she's clear on the side, then when she finally falls asleep she's back where she started, just upside down! Silly Girl!
• She loves to be out and about. We've started to go on walks with the warmer spring weather and she lOVES to just look around and take it all in. No falling asleep on walks with this girl. There's way too much going on for her!
• Olivia is going to be our blue eye girl. They are a bright and brilliant blue and they melt my heart!
• This girl loves tummy time too! She could stay on her tummy for hours and be happy! 
• She is always reaching and grabbing for what's out of reach for her. She'll turn her self in circles a few times on her tummy trying to get at different toys. I think she's going to give us a run for our money down the road.
• Olivia loves to read books and really intently looks at the pictures on each page!
• Her hair has really started to grow! She was my bald little baby, but now she has the longest hair on top! 

Love her Blue eyes

I was getting ready one morning and she was laying on our bed. Happy as can be she pulled the sheet right over her bed. All I could see were these two little legs kicking. She didn't seem to mind at all either. She just loves anything with fabric! Silly Girl!  

 Yep! Had to catch another one of her like this. She doesn't get mad or cry. She's as content as can be.

Look at all that hair! She's no longer my bald little baby. She's surpassing Kathryn with the hair growth. I can almost make a little ponytail out of it! 

 Happy girl on her tummy!

Sitting up like a big girl!

Here's just a few pictures of both the girls together! It's so fun to see their connection! I sure hope they grow up to be the best of friends.

Playtime on the floor

 Love these Girls

 Taking pictures can sometimes be dangerous!

I love the phase they are in right now! These seem to always find each others hand and hold it. It's darling and it reminds me that these two have a special connection that no doubt started long before they came here. So precious! 

Going for a walk!

awwww sisters!

Andrew and the Grills

One big question I get asked a lot is, how does Andrew do with having two little sisters?

It's a interesting one to answer, he's gone through a few different phases with them. 

At first it was like there was not much difference, probably he was mostly glad that mommy was now home and not in the hospital any more. Plus the girls slept ALL THE TIME. He really showed no interest in them and was somewhat afraid of them actually.

Then gradually the girls started to take more of mommy's time and he was finding anything he could think of to get mommy's attention most often the wrong way. 

One day I found him in the kitchen going through the food cupboards and dumping everything he could get his hands onto out on the floor. Thankfully I caught him before he got to the potato pearls and quinoa.

Or another favorite is he's figured out how to climb up on daddy big rolling computer chair and he'll play on daddy's computer, which is a big no no at our house.

But the latest is he'll tell me that he's going potty while I'm feeding the babies and he'll close the door and start cleaning the toilets with the toilet brush. Oh what a helper! The first time I didn't know what he was doing and thought he was in the bedroom playing with toys...come to find out he was in our bathroom with toilet water everywhere from ceiling to about 1/4 inch of standing water all over the floor and he was soaked himself. Oh I was sooo grossed out. What a stinker!! Straight to the bathtub he went.  

Now that the girls are more interactive, he's starting to warm up to them more. As they are babbling, I'll sometimes respond to them like they are talking by saying "Oh really? Is that what you think? etc... and he'll usually say in a very matter of fact voice "Mommy, she didn't talk to you. She's just a baby."

He always call them "The Girls" except it sounds more like "The Grills"....it's cute and at first I tried to help him hear the difference, but really I love it now. "Bye bye Grills!"  "I love you Grills"  "Night Night Grills" "Can the Grills come too?"

He's the best little helper. He's always wanting to get diapers for them, throw them away or help hold their bottle. He also LOVES to help buckle them into their carseats. One of the biggest helps, is if I'm feeding one and the other wakes up and is crying. I'll ask him to go in and talk to them. It doesn't matter who is screaming in their crib. They stop and calm down when the see their big brother Andrew. He'll sing them a song or bring them toys. (Which usually buys me another 5-10 minutes to finish feeding one baby before moving onto the next.)

One of my favorite things that melts my heart is he's my little shadow when it comes to putting Kathryn and Olivia to bed. He helps me change their diaper, swaddle them and sings to them with me. He so sweet to both of them. If I ever dare do this routine without him by my side. He gets really sad and cries. The first time this happened, I couldn't figure out why he was crying for the longest time.

He's starting to share his toys with them too. He'll play the little baby piano for them or bring them one of their toys or he'll drive his cars on their blankets so they can see. One day he even shared the coveted school bus. 

Just the other day I found him really sharing his toys, I'm afraid that most of those were thrown over the top. Just grateful they didn't hit Kathryn. 

When he comes home from school... he's always asks where the girls are. It's like they are his welcoming committee. 

These girls are troopers and sometimes they get dragged a long to his many doctor appointments. He loves "showing them the doctor's office" and helping mommy push them in the stroller! (He's especially stylin' after the eye doctor last month.)

I know he loves his sisters and I know they love him. Kathryn and Olivia will just sit and watch and smile and laugh at their brother half way across the room. He is pretty entertaining!

It's pretty rare that he ever asks to hold them. (I think because they are so wiggly) but once in a great while he shocks me and will ask. One day he got off the bus and as we were walking into the house he said. "Mommy I just want to hold ONE baby, not two babies, Just ONE!" it was pretty cute and totally caught me off guard.

Peekaboo has become the new favorite game. If one is sad or I'm helping the other baby. He'll play peekaboo. Kathryn laughs and laughs every time and Andrew thinks it's great to be the center of attention. here's a quick video of him trying to keep them happy and entertained during a doctor's appointment. Although I didn't catch the giggles from Kathryn, it's still a pretty cute video.

He's starting to tell the difference between the two girls and who is who. But most of the time he ask. "Who's baby is that?"  (Combining the questions Who is that? and which baby is that?)

These girls also make good weights for Andrew to practice his therapy exercises. It was pretty funny. Kathryn was all smiles and laughs and Olivia wasn't quite sure what was going on.

It will be interesting to see in the next few months as they become more mobile and start grabbing at his things how sweet he'll be then. But for now....I'll savor these moments!

"I like Kathryn mommy" 

"Can I do tummy time with the Grills mommy?"

 Everyone climbs into mommy & daddy's bed in the morning....

There's not much room left for mommy and daddy!

"Mommy Olivia's trying to hold my hand!"

It's so fun to see the connection he's making with these girls. I hope these three can all be the best of friends someday! 

Easter Celebrations

Even though Easter was somewhat early this year, it felt like it took forever to get here. Partly because our ward had an Easter egg hunt almost two weeks earlier and every day after that Andrew kept asking if the Easter bunny was coming. And partly because, Stephen's family was planning on driving down for the weekend and so we had something fun to look forward to.

 Little did he know that picking up each egg was great practice for Therapy! ;)

Easter Egg Hunt = work out for Andrew

 On the Hunt!

Andrew always wanted to know where the Easter bunny was as we were eating our breakfast and hanging out before the hunt started. I think he was either a little excited or a little nervous that the Easter bunny was there. Or maybe a little of both. It was 80 degrees all week long and then the morning of the hunt a cold front came in and it was only 38 degrees that morning. Brrrr! And I braved this somewhat crazy and cold activity all by myself and all three kiddos, while Stephen played basketball at a different church building in our Stake.

Andrew definately got the whole "Easter bunny" thing! Although he was a little confused as to why Santa didn't come too. But it was also neat to be able to teach him and explain the true reason we celebrate Easter. I think he kind of understood on a 4 year old level it was more about Jesus than chocolate candy and Easter bunnies.

Sorry for the picture overload!

 The girls got in the egg dying action bumbo style!

Trying to be patient as he waits for the eggs

Grandma giving lots of loves to Olivia

This year is the first time I've dared to dye easter eggs with this kid. We had a few mishaps...one of which included that the orange die tablet tastes like playdough. How do we know this? Don't ask how many times I've had to fish play dough out of his mouth...

Andrew found the white crayon that came with the dye kit and had to leave his mark on every egg!

Going on an Easter egg hunt around the house. After every egg Andrew had to stop and check what was inside. 

He finally found his Easter basket!

Andrew was just as excited that the easter bunny left baskets for the girls too! 

Trying on his new Sunday tie and Belt! He was SUPER excited to get a belt this year! 

Happy Easter from Kathryn & Olivia!

Playing with Uncle Jacob

Getting Trapped by Grandpa!

On the Friday before Easter we decided to get out and enjoy the nice weather. Spring is absolutely perfect down here, not to humid and nice and warm! We decided to go exploring and found an old trail (we think was an old Golf cart trail) around Lake Lanier Islands. We were able to see a small glimpse of this beautiful lake.

Throwing rocks into the lake. Uncle Jacob was brave to first of all, carry Andrew in the hiking backpack and second, to let him throw rocks right by his head.

Daddy and Olivia

Mommy and Kathryn

On this hike, I found out how out of shape I really am. I realized even though I've lost all the baby weight with being pregnant, I haven't really done anything physical(other than chasing/carrying a little 4 year old around and taking care of two babies)  for over a year! With being pregnant for 8 months and especially for being on bedrest for 10 of those weeks. Then the last 6 months I've just tried to survive. I am committed this summer to get back in shape!

The gang!

We enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend and LOVED having family visit. 

I always love when general conference lands on the same weekend as Easter. Focusing all day both Saturday and Sunday listening to the prophet and apostles speak right to my heart! Couldn't think of anything better. I especially loved being able to celebrate the life of our Savior and reflect on all that he's done for me. It is #becauseofhim that I have such joy and peace in my life. That I'm able to be sealed to my wonderful husband and spend eternity with my family! 

Love this family of mine!