9 Months!

Ok, these kids are officially getting too big, they really need to stop growing! Now! I love them just the way they are, right now! I always think that though and then the next day they get even better! Somebody once told me that babies are like unwrapping presents within presents, each time you get so excited and can't imagine it getting any better... and then it does! I waited until today to do their 9 month post because we had the doctor's visit today. Here's what they've been up to this month:

* Jack weighs 18 pounds, 3 ounces and is 29 inches long. He's in the 20th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. Cullen is 18 pounds, 11 ounces and also 29 inches long. He is in the 25th percentile for weight and the same height percentile as Jack. She didn't write down what their heads measured but I remember that it was in the 25th percentile. So I guess my home method of weighing them isn't that reliable after all. I thought they weighed 18 pounds over a month ago! Or maybe they've just lost weight now that they're burning so many more calories lately!

* I think they may be a tad behind developmentally because the doctor asked me if they were doing a bunch of things and I answered no to almost all of them. They aren't waving hi or bye yet, they aren't clapping, they aren't pointing, they aren't pulling up to standing (they sure do try though), they aren't saying 'dada' or 'mama' discriminately yet and they're just barely crawling. I'm not worried at all because they're still within the range of normal but it's sometimes hard to not compare them to other kids their age. Oh well, I guess they'll just be late bloomers!

*They're wearing almost all 6-9 month clothing now but they still have a few things that are 3-6 months that fit just fine.

*Still no teeth! I obviously don't have the slightest clue how to tell if my kids are teething. I have given up thinking it's coming soon and will just be surprised when it finally does happen.

*Slightly more hair, though they're still little baldies. Their bald spot is a lot smaller in the back now that they spend most of their time sitting up and crawling around but hasn't fully grown back yet. At the rate these guys are going, they won't need a haircut until they're entering pre-school! :-)

*They aren't proficient crawlers but do a combination of an army crawl/frog hop that's pretty stinking hilarious. (I will post a video of this soon) They creep along the floor pulling themselves forward with their arms, then they get on their knees, rock back and forth a few times, do a little hop with both feet, then return to their tummies to pull themselves forward again. Sometimes they just do the army crawl but they're realizing that it's alot faster to be on their knees and use their legs.

*Although Cullen has been up on all fours rocking for about a month now, Jack has passed him up on the crawling department. I joke that he cheated by watching Cullen painstakingly figure out all the hard parts and then just jumped ahead to do it all himself. Cullen is the only one who can go from his hands and knees to sitting up again though.

*Both boys babble pretty much non-stop now. They're always yelling 'dadada', 'bababa', or some other jibberish. I wake up every morning to the sound of spit bubbles and 'badada ladada.' They talk to themselves sometimes for over a half hour before they start getting antsy to get out of their cribs.

*Speaking of cribs, we've finally had to separate them. I was much sadder about this than I ever thought I would be. The sweetest sight in the world was to watch them cuddled up next to each other sleeping. They would always rest their faces together and the cuteness was so overwhelming that I nearly died everytime. But about a week ago they decided that instead of going to sleep it would be much more fun to whack the other one in the face and steal each other's pacifiers and toss them out of the crib. They started waking each other up doing this so it finally had to be done. The past few days they've also decided that being in the crib is their favorite playtime because Mom's not around and they have free reign. Today I had to go in there 3 times during their morning nap because Cullen had crawled over to the side of the crib nearest Jack's crib and was hanging onto the bars talking and laughing to Jack. Poor Jack couldn't fall asleep with his brother making so much noise.

*I got a great deal on new Britax's on Craigslist last week so we switched over to convertible car seats. They still fit into their infant carriers fine, but were getting a little snug. They're still rear-facing for another few months but they already seem to be a little more comfortable in their new seats because they are able to sit up straighter. They do not like to lay down, they only like to sit up like big boys so they like their new seats a lot.

*Everything is new and and more fun lately. They have such bigger personalities than they had even a few weeks ago. They think everything is funnier and more exciting lately. Bathtime is a new favorite. They've always loved baths but now I think it may be their favorite thing to do. They laugh the whole time and splash so hard that they sometimes knock themselves over. I always have to be ready to catch them and they're usually stunned for a second, but then they go right back to splashing like there's no tomorrow.

*They've gotten much better at the pincer grasp (holding small things between their thumb and forefinger). A few weeks ago I started letting them eat small bites of bread. I tear a piece up and put all the pieces on the floor in front of them. They have been devouring the pile much faster now that they've got the hang of the pincer grasp.

*They've been eating new foods too including pureed meats, yogurt, cottage cheese, and the bread of course. I have stopped pureeing most of their foods too and usually just roughly mash it up. The other day I cut up a banana into small chunks and fed it to them. I also gave them waffles yesterday and they LOVED them! These are my kids for sure! They eat 3 meals a day, have 3 bottles a day as a snack and right before bed and sometimes have an extra snack or juice.

*I've been working on getting them to use their sippy cups but they still think of them more as toys than anything.

*They still adore their daddy and want to touch whatever he happens to have. So naturally their favorite things are keys, cell phones and the Mac ;-) Whenever we skype with our families they try to bang on the computer keys.

*Still absolutely zero separation anxiety. They don't like being left alone so they do throw little tantrums when I leave the room for even a second, but they couldn't care less as long as some adult's with them. I told Brandon last week that I secretly hope they develop severe separation anxiety so at least I'll know that they love us more than strangers! (I'm only half kidding!)

*They love to play hide & seek and peek-a-boo, they love being read to, and they love banging things together. Their new favorite toys are a set of sports balls I bought last week. Brandon freaked out when he realized we didn't have any balls in the house and said that they were already way behind in learning sports so I had to make an emergency Target run to get some balls ;-) Oh, boys! We roll the balls to them and they try to catch them, then they'll accidentally roll it away and have to go after it. They better turn out to be good athletes or else I'll be blamed for not getting any sports balls sooner, ha!