5 months old!

I can't believe that Addison and Fischer are 5 months old already. The past 5 months have gone by so fast, and it scares me that the next 5 months or years will go by just as fast. That's why I'm constantly in their faces taking pictures. Good thing they are used to it now. :) I took these pictures today - they look a little worried in one of them.

Exactly one year ago, I got the most exciting and scariest news of my life. I was pregnant!! We were in Topsail Beach, NC with my family when I found out. We were heading home that day because I had to go to work by noon, so we planned on leaving pretty early. I woke up at 6 am, way before the alarm went off, and decided to go ahead and take the test. I guess my body was too anxious to sleep any later. When I took it, I expected it to be negative since that's what I'd gotten used to seeing. So when the line starting forming, I thought maybe I was just too tired and my eyes weren't seeing it right. It was a VERY light line so I wondered if I was making it up. So I ran out and woke Scott up and he said he thought he saw a light line. We decided I would take another one that night when I got home from work to see what it said. We had to say goodbye to my parents about 20 minutes later, and it was hard to act normal!! We didn't want to mention it to anyone until we knew for sure. I was really excited but also didn't want to get my hopes up until I took another one, even though I knew that a line, no matter how dark, means a positive test! So, I went to work (where I didn't get much work done at all), went to the gym, then came home and took another one. Yep - another line!! A little darker this time, but still very light. So, I took the 3rd test of the pack the next morning and this line was even darker! I was so excited, and so nervous! It definitely didn't feel real. I called the Doctor that day and was very disappointed that I had to wait 4 long weeks to go in for my first appointment. We told just a few people before the appointment, but waited until we knew everything was OK to tell everyone.

So much has happened in the past year but I remember that day as if it happened yesterday! I hope I always remember it that clearly because I don't ever want to forget how excited I was!

I took the babies out to Kiawah Island to my old office for lunch today. It was nice to get out for a little while, and wasn't so hot to day so that made it extra nice. While I was there, the lady who replaced me asked if I thought staying home was harder than my office job. Without hesitation I said YES!!! This is the hardest and most tiring job I've ever had, but completely worth it. I love seeing how the babies change everyday and it's so rewarding when they laugh and smile!

My parents left yesterday morning and we miss them already. We'll see them soon when we go up to their house and meet up with my brother and his kids. It'll be a full house!

The pictures below are of my parents with the babies at around 4 weeks, and then this past weekend. They have changed so much!

It's been a busy few days around here, but things are starting to settle down. Scott had surgery Thursday (nothing too serious, but still surgery!) so my parents are in town helping us out with the babies since Scott has to take it easy for a few days. They got here Wednesday night and are leaving tomorrow. They are getting a lot of quality time with the babies and Addison and Fischer are loving every minute of it. They get held a lot more when Grandma and Grandpa are here. :) Scott is recovering really well, and is even feeling up to going out to dinner tonight, so we get to go on a date while the babies stay home with Grandma and Grandpa. YAY!

Addison and Fischer are now on vegetable #3!! They had the green beans, then peas, and today was the first day for carrots. They seemed ok with the peas, but seemed to really enjoy the carrots! I plan on giving them a bigger serving of them tomorrow. I hope this means they'll be good eaters when they get a little older!

We are struggling with Addison's sleeping habits, but hopefully she'll get on a better routine soon. Fischer is a great sleeper and only wakes up during the night when we wake him up to eat (and that's only because Addison wakes up on her own to eat). Napping seems to be going a little better - today they have been asleep for 2 hours already. Hopefully they, well Addison, will sleep well tonight!

Weight Update

We had to take the babies to get a shot this morning, which I always hate. We get their official weights anytime we go though, and I do enjoy that. As of this morning, Addison weighed 12 lb. 7 oz. She has gained exactly 8 pounds since she was born. That's crazy!! Fischer weighed in at 12 lb. 3 oz. He has gained over 8 pounds since birth! At their 4 month check up just 3 weeks ago, they were only 1 ounce apart from each other - Addison is pulling away again. Fischer always starts closing the gap, the loses ground. Just the first of many competitions to come, I'm sure. :)

My parents are coming tomorrow for a few days - the babies are very excited to spend some time with their Grandma and Grandpa Suttle!!

We bought these onsies in Seattle when we went last October to visit Mary Anne and Rajiv. At the time we didn't know what we were having, so we got two that could go either way. This doesn't help Addison's cause of always getting called a boy... Oh well, I think they're cute! :)

Green Beans... YUM!

Yesterday Addison and Fischer tried green beans for the very first time. It was also their very first taste of anything other than formula, rice cereal and oatmeal. I think they liked them... Addison smiled while she was eating, but didn't finish her whole bowl. Fischer finished off his whole bowl and I think he was looking for more - I think he's going to be a champion eater.

We decided a long time ago to make our own baby food, and Scott made the first batch yesterday. We went and got organic carrots, sweet potatoes and green beans, and he pureed them yesterday. We bought some freezer containers made just for baby food and filled them up. We should have enough for a few weeks. We'll do green beans for 3 days, and as long as there aren't any reactions, we'll move on to carrots or sweet potatoes. Once they've tried all three, we'll try some fruit. Right now they are just getting one serving a day, but we'll move to two eventually. It certainly gets messy too - I think we'll be doing bath night every night pretty soon instead of every other night!

This past week wasn't as hot as it has been, so we've gotten to enjoy some outside time in the evenings. We sit out on the patio and I think Addison and Fischer really like it, especially when there is a nice breeze.

It seems like the babies are doing something new almost everyday. This week, they've both discovered their thumbs...uh oh! When we see them sucking their thumbs, we try giving them their pacis instead, but they are pretty sneaky about getting their thumbs back into their mouths. We'll keep replacing as much as we can though - it's much easier to get rid of their pacis later on than their thumbs! They also seem to be noticing each other a little bit more. They aren't smiling at each other yet, but they are touching each other more, grabbing each other, sucking on each others arms and hands and things like that. Sometimes it gets a little violent - I found Fischer holding on to Addison's toes really tight the other day while she was screaming. The fighting has already started! :) I'm looking forward to when they start really interacting and smiling at each other!

4th of July and Other Things

For July 4th, we went to Edisto Beach for a few days. We were in a house with 10 other people and 2 other kids. It was a good time! The babies got to see the ocean for the first time, and we walked them out into the water just a little ways. We ended up only taking them out once because it was so hot and they just slept in their stroller most of the time anyway. We got a lot of quality time in with a lot of friends during the time we were there, so it was really nice. I was worried the babies would get completely off schedule while we were there, but we all did pretty good at keeping them on it. They actually slept until 7 am a couple of mornings, so that threw us off a little bit, but that isn't a big deal. Most mornings they sleep until 6 now - can't complain about that!

While we were there, each baby developed a new "skill." Addison discovered she can roll over from her back to her tummy and does it ALL THE TIME! The problem is, once she is on her tummy, she gets stuck and gets really mad and screams until someone comes and turns her back over... then she does it all over again. This goes on all day and all night, so we've been waking up a lot more lately to a screaming Addison. Hopefully soon she'll realize she can also turn back over to her back - she's already done that but I guess she doesn't remember that yet. Fischer's skill is that he is now very interested in holding his own bottle, and has even done so for about 10 seconds at a time. He puts his hands on it most of the time, so we've let go a few times and he can actually hold it for a little while until it falls!

Today I gave them oatmeal for the first time! It's baby oatmeal...not the big pieces you are probably picturing. I decided to try oatmeal because Addison refused to swallow the rice cereal, and even gagged a few times. Can you say drama queen? :) Fischer ate it pretty well though. They both seemed to really enjoy the oatmeal. Addison ate her whole bowl, even smiling at times during her meal. Fischer finished off 2 bowls! After I was done with his first one, he started screaming and wouldn't stop, so I tried giving him more and that was apparently what he wanted. We are going to do oatmeal tomorrow and Friday, and if all goes well, we will introduce a veggie this weekend. I can't believe it's time for that already!

The bad news is that naptime isn't going so well anymore. They were doing great for about a week and now they sometimes nap and sometimes don't. Usually one falls asleep, the other one cries...then the first one wakes up and the other one sleeps. I would really like them to sleep at the same time for at least part of it so that I could have a little quiet time. We'll keep working at it. I talked to other moms who have had napping problems in the past so I feel hopeful it might work out eventually.

Below are some pictures from our trip. The adorable July 4th outfits were from Uncle Chris and Aunt Jamie!