They're changing way too fast...

Seriously, my little babies are just growing up way too fast!
In the last two weeks, Sofi has cut her two top teeth, is pretty much crawling and exploring, she's pulling herself to standing, and she's so stinkin' cute! We find her "stuck" in the most funny places - she manages to get under the jumparoo, but can't quite fiqure out how to climb back over the metal rods! So she sits under it, trying to get out, but her head hits the contraption and she gets frustrated! My mom has also found her trying to stand by using the bottom bars of the bar stool chairs, and she's also been found on the platform thing of their high chairs. It's so wonderful to see her explore and find new things, and she's taken a liking to licking the floor. Yeah - I actually have to tell my child to not lick the floor. I can only imagine what it's going to be like at the playground with her.

Miss Alex is just as fun to watch! She's finally managing to sit from all fours! She still lays there and "complains" for a while, but we all know she can do it. She's also able to put her snacks in her mouth! I think she's getting the hang of her pincer grasp (I think that's what it's called!) She took each snack I had in the palm of my hand and put them right in her mouth! She also seems to be my early riser. This morning she was wide awake at 6am. I needed to get to work, so I left her to play in her crib with some toys. She's standing in her crib too - but she's not as quick to do that, so she's still pretty safe to just leave in there.

Goodness - what else. Easter is this weekend, I'm excited to take them for their Easter Bunny pictures (hopefully we'll make it on Saturday) and then we're off to church and my mom's on Sunday. It's going to be nice to hang out with family.

My aunt and uncle are also supposed to be at our house today to hang out with the kids - I hope they all have a fun time and get to play and go outside.

The girls just love to be outside! Anywhere! This past weekend my friends L & N were coming over and instead of going to the grocery store the night before, we went to the local high school's food truck fundraiser. (Which was so much fun and yummy!) That meant that on Saruday morning I had to hit the store, by myself, with the girls. Well, it actually went really well! I strapped Sofi in the Bjorn, and I put Alex in the cart. I will admit to doing a little dancing around to make sure we didn't have any tears, but that was totally fun. I gave them their bottle as I was loading the car and they slept all the way home. Unfortunatly, they didn't stay asleep for very long after I took them upstairs. I was barely getting myself into a nice groove to put away groceries and get some snacks ready for my friends - when what do I hear, but both girls crying. Well, I scratched the groceries and decided to get them bathed and dressed. We came downstairs and I had Sofi in the jumparoo and I was holding Alex when L & N came in.

Off the bat, L asks to hold Alex. She gets in L's arms and looks at me with a pouty lower lip (remind me to take a picture of this - it's way too cute!) but otherwise she's fine. We get to Sof who is not enjoying the jumparoo so I take her out. N asks to hold her. I warn him that she may start to cry. It didn't take more than 30 seconds for all out screaming and crocodile tears. Poor N was a champ and took it in stride, not giving up the chance to hold her. Unfortunatly, Sof just didn't want anything to do with him. And as we have learned, if Sofi is that upset, it gets Alex upset, and as soon as Sof calms down, Alex gets all riled up. So you can imagine to their surprise, that we needed to sit on the floor so I could manage to hold both kids and calm them down a bit. It took over a half hour, but soon Alex really warmed up to Lauren and even fell asleep on her lap. Sofi totally warmed up as well and was having fun with both of them.

This little episode made me very nervous about having my cousins watch the girls the next day. I went in prepared for a crying fest and was so suprised when they were totally fine with them. They have seen my cousins more than L & N, but I was still worried. They had a great time while mom and grandma went to the shower.

Well I'm off to get Alex and Sofi their hair bows for this Sunday! I hope the kiosk has the colors I need!

More Milestones!

I can't seem to keep up with this blog! The girls are just changing so much. It's incredible to see but I want time to slow down!!

So on March 14th, Sofi figured out how to get into a sitting position from her belly. Now she just does that to move around and get to the toy that she wants! And nothing can get in her way. She constantly sits on poor Alex - and Alex gets the "WTF! Get off of me!" look going. But Alex is also quick to take the opportunity to give Sofi a huge hug like that! With Sofi's back at her chest. It's priceless.

Then yesterday, March 21, I went home early to take Sof to the GI doctor's appointment and my mom had the girls dressed and sitting in their cribs. They were cranky, they needed to eat, but we wanted to get them in their car seats first and hit the road. So I see Alex actually kneeling in her crib and think it's cute that her paci reaches the top of the rail. I go to grab my jeans to change out of my work clothes and come back to see her standing in her crib and smiling from ear to ear! I yell for my mom to come and see! Then I run to get the camera, and by the time I got back she had fallen and was back to being miserable again. We coaxed her for a little bit and finally got her to stand again to get a quick pic.

Alex has also mastered the art of clapping. After the dr, we went to grab some take-out and there was a tv in the restaurant showing the NY Nicks and the 76ers (that's basketball), Alex sat in her stroller watching the game and cheering (aka screeching)and clapping. I was too busy ordering the food to really see when she was "cheering", but it was the cutest thing to me. I tried to tape it, but as soon as she saw the camera - she would look at me and smile and stop what she was doing. Oh well, I see many more sporting events in her future, I'm sure I'll capture it then.

So the GI dr said that we should try to get the girls eating more solids and reducing the amount of formula. The reduction in the liquid should help with her spit-up. He also said that new studies are showing that kids should be allowed to/given whatever they want to eat except for honey. This means that there is no need to wait for eggs, peanut butter, strawberries, etc. The research has shown that there may be a small window of opportunity to introduce all of these foods and have the child to help build up their immune systems/tolerance for this stuff. They don't think it helps to prevent allergies by waiting so long. So, this is what we shall aim for. It should be much more fun to get them to eat so many different things. Even I was getting sick of the 10 things they were eating!

Thankfully my mom understands my frustration - I've been trying to follow all the guidelines the medical world offers and yet not dismiss the "old school" things that have gone on for generations. This is going to be a change for me, but a good one. I really want the girls to be exposed to all types of food and to have healthy eating habits. I see too many kids around me who don't - not that they're unhealthy, but it's heartbreaking to see the parents have to try so hard to feed them and the kids becoming so frustrated by it. It's just not a battle I want.

So other than that - all things are good! My cousin just got engaged and is getting married in October. She really wants the girls to walk down the aisle - not really as flower girls, but junior flower girls - I guess. They should be walking by that age if they follow all the regular milestones. I just have a fear that they'll reak havoc! We'll see how they are as we get closer - but they will be attending the ceremony for sure. The reception - not so much - that's when mommy wants to kick off her heels and celebrate with her little sister! But how the heck do I find a sitter when the ENTIRE family is going to be there. I hope by bff is up to the task of watching them!

And they turn 8 months old tomorrow .... someone hold me... how is this happening so fast...mommy isn't ready.