Eden and Everly 7 Months

Eden and Everly turned 7 months on our last day in NYC. We are headed to my parents' house in Michigan today for the first part of our summer vacation. The girls are getting so big and changing every day it has been hard to keep up! Their 6th month of life was sort of a rough one. They were basically sick the entire month with back to back viruses. Everly started it with a bad virus including a pretty high fever and a bad cough that lingered on. Eden managed to miss that first virus, but when Everly caught a second virus just days after kicking the first one Eden decided to show her comradery and join her. Two sick babies are not fun! I often felt like I needed another me to comfort both of them at the same time. Just about the time they were finishing up that second virus Everly caught hand foot and mouth. Symptoms include a rash over the whole body including the soles of the feet and palms of the hands, fever and mouth sores. We went to the doctor to have her checked out and she said it would be almost impossible for Eden not to get it. For a day or two we thought we might be in the clear, but then Eden started showing symptoms too. The worst part is that for this virus we have had to keep Ellasen away so she didn't catch it. She really misses playing with them! I am so ready for both of them to feel better because these illnesses have been tough on all of us! Our little patient zero is feeling much better now, and Eden is well on her way to recovery as well. Besides the illnesses we have had a big month! Sitting up, beginnings of talking, baby food fun, etc! When we introduced the solids this month the girls seemed like they were ready to drop a feeding and a nap. It seemed like they were pushing in that directions so we gave it a try. They did well for a day or two, but really reverted back to their old 3 nap/6 nursing schedule pretty quickly. I don't think they are quite ready so for now we are staying put.

Here are some things we notice about the twins together:
*They sleep 8-7 with a dream feed at 10
*They always sleep in their crib together
*They eat baby food and oatmeal twice a day (breakfast 8 AM and dinner 5:30)
*They take three naps a day (8:30-10, 11:30-1, 3:00-4:00)
*They nurse 6 times a day
*They are still swaddled
*They are laughing more and more
*They are wearing size two diapers
*Baby food has made them both constipated
*They are both saying dada (making the "D" consonant sound)
*They both can sit in the tripod position for at least 5 seconds
*Neither are a fan of rice cereal. We sneak in the oatmeal by mixing it with baby food.
*They are both really into toys now. Anything that lights up or makes noise is a big hit!
*They both get a sippy cup of water at meals
*They both wear mostly 6 month clothes

Here are some things we notice about Eden:
*She can roll onto her tummy from her back now
*She loves people and would prefer to be held or talked to all the time
*She can actually jump in the jumpy now, but still prefers just to play with the toys
*She says mama (making the "M" consonant sound)
*She is down to a half a dose of reflux medicine a day
*She loves most baby food except for pears
*Her favorite toy is a Baby Einstein Music Box
*She is not patient at meal time and usually ends up getting fed first
*She is not a fan of the sippy cup
*She weights around 14.5 lbs
*She loves to be tickled around her neck

Here are some things we notice about Everly:
*She can really get around by rolling. I usually find her in a totally different place than where I put her down
*She can put her own paci back in her mouth
*She is still so happy and independent
*She is so strong and flips around on the changing table a lot
*She is totally off the reflux medicine
*She loves all baby food so far
*Her favorite toy is any kind of rattle she can make noise with
*She loves to play in her high chair and push toys onto the floor
*She will drink here and there out of the sippy cup with some help.
*She weighs around 15 lbs
*She loves to be tickled on her belly

This next month we will be having three baby food meals a day, pushing to drop a feeding and a nap, and working towards being unswaddled during naps. Wish us luck!
Despite the trouble this month has been with all of our illnesses, we wouldn't trade these girls for anything. Twins are so much fun! We love seeing them start to interact with one another more. They seem to miss each other when they are apart, and we are hoping to foster a close bond for many years to come.

The Wind Down

The girls and I are down to two weekends left in NYC! We are headed to my parents' house on July 21st. We really feel like we have conquered New York City. We took advantage of our time here and accomplished a lot! We are leaving knowing we made a huge dent in our NYC bucket list despite being very pregnant half the year and having three small children the other half of the year. There is still a ton more we could have done and a lot that I would love to do again, but we feel pretty good about our year. Here is a look at what we have been up to the last couple of weeks:

We had to say goodbye to our good friends the Griffins! They are on to their next adventure, but we miss them already! We celebrated their last week with a Mets game, some Baked by Melissa mini cupcakes, many hugs and a few tears!

The girls at a favorite frozen yogurt shop for Sara's birthday party

Erin and Everly

Mets game! 

Ellasen with the Griffin girls at the Mets game

Baked by Melissa mini cupcakes

Last hugs goodbye

So pretty!

We also celebrated the 4th of July! It rained all day in NYC so we didn't do much. We baked a 4th of July American flag cake, and squeezed in a little park time between the rain drops. Tim and Ellasen also went out to see the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show. We live right on the East River so they just went down to the river walk to see how much they could see. They ended up getting lucky and seeing a lot of the show! 

Our Flag Cake

In their 4th of July best

Everly's first time on the swings!

Eden's first time on the swings!

Big Girls!

The Barlows also came for a visit on July 5th. We are so lucky they have been close by this year! We had fun with a picnic in Central Park and and a nice relaxing dinner outside at a Mexican restaurant. It was a really fun day! 

Kylie and Ellasen trying the giant bubbles in the park

Kylie and Ellasen watching a movie for "quiet time"

Kylie, Ellasen and Brooks playing on the couch

On Sunday we headed down to Chelsea to walk the Highline and to visit Chelsea Market. The Highline is a park/walking trail down an old raised train track. It was a beautiful day, and we had a little picnic in the grass.

Some art at the Highline

View of the Hudson River

Chelsea Market - a whirlwind of restaurants and food shops

Map of all the yummy looking foodie places

Ellasen also had to say goodbye to her wonderful teacher. Miss Rainia was great with the kids and Ellasen is going to miss her!

Besides running around NYC trying to fit everything in and saying goodbye to friends we have had a lot of normal moments too!

Ellasen and Eden

Cool slide in Central Park

Ellasen and Everly

A common scene in our house...Ellasen putting on a show for the twins and dressing them up. She is so good at helping with them! They just light up when they see her!

In twins news we have been meeting some milestones! The girls are eating more and more baby food, and so far there has only been one casualty...pears for Eden. We have tried many times with no luck! They are also sleeping in their cribs all night! No more bassinets! Next step is to un-swaddle them! 

The girls are continuing to eat cereal and baby food. They are loving it!

The twins caught a little bug that made them quite sick for a few days...no fun at all! Eden took it the hardest.

Couldn't even wait for me to put Everly down for a nap before conking out

She spent a few days just like this!

This is how Everly likes to spend her time...toes all in the mouth!

We have been practicing our sitting! 

Eden can now roll onto her tummy from her back!

The girls are out of their car seats in the stroller and into the regular seats!

We also had some pictures taken before the Griffins left. John has a really nice camera and does a great job snapping pictures so we took them up on their offer to do some family pictures of us in Central Park.