CHA-CHA-CHA-CHANGES

Well as the title suggests (and yes you are supposed to sing the title), we have had a lot going on this week. As a result, this post will be quite wordy and pretty non-sequitor. So to all of my friends who don't like to read, I will put random pictures throughout to keep you engaged.

I will start with Brooke. She is clearly spurting...my little term for going through a growth spurt. She seems to have just shot up overnight. In the past 2 weeks she has grown at least 2 inches...and this is not a Hadden exaggeration. I have measured her and she is huge! I also think that she has gained at least 1 more pound. She also has grown a neck. We have had to officially move her into her 9 month clothes...which means we have had to buy some 9 month clothes. Audrey is now in sole possession of the 6 month wardrobe.

Brooke has also learned to make noise this week (lots of coo, goo, ga, oh) and to spit out bubbles on purpose. She has also decided that she likes to stand up all the time. She may be the first child to ever walk before she rolls over (no progress on that as she refuses to lay down!) Our solution has been to use the Jumperoo and a Play Center...both keep her upright and will hopefully encourage her to use her arms. Currently all she does is either put her arms on her belly or in her mouth. Unfortunately she and Audrey both put their hands in their mouths so much that their little faces keep breaking out. And they both stuff them so far in that they frequently gag themselves..at least once resulting in a massive spit-up.

We are currently trying to transition to sleeping unswaddled and in separate cribs. So far we are just working on this during selected nap times as I do not want to, in any way, disrupt that night time sleep.

We have also adjusted their schedule again. We shifted their meal times around so that they would eat their last meal around 7pm and be in bed around 7:30pm. We were quite worried that the first night we tried this, we would have babies up in the middle of the night. But our little stars made it all the way to after 6am!! SUCCESS!!

We have also started "eating" solid foods. I use the term eating very loosely. We are currently working on pears. It is hard to say whether they don't like the taste, texture, or spoon or whether they are just getting used to something new. Audrey has been more receptive and has eaten much more than Brooke. She seems to like or at least tolerate the new food. Though Audrey's chewing seems to involve sticking her tongue out so it has been a little bit of a challenge. Brooke seems to totally dislike the whole experience and basically just squenches up her face and refuses to let you put any in her mouth....any that does make it all the way in is promptly spit out using her new skill of blowing spit bubbles!

Also related to food, we have put Audrey on a new formula that is specially designed for babies who spit up frequently. And for any of you who have had the opportunity to feed the girls you know that Audrey is a massive spit-up machine. So far all the new formula seems to have done is make the spit up chunky...not sure that is really an improvement.

Finally I am putting a little video of Brooke making some of her noises. She really makes many more than this but seems to stop when the camera is present. However, she has been distressed that all the previous videos have featured Audrey so here is this one.