Happy 1/2 Birthday!

I cannot believe it has been 1/2 a year already!

I can't WAIT to see what this next 1/2 year brings!

Crawling, Walking, Talking, Self-feeding, Laughing, Crying, Playing, Sleeping...

Ah.. I'm so excited for these next 6 months!

I was looking back at some of my previous blogs when they were 3 months, 4 months.. etc. 

Seemed like they would NEVER get to this age!

We had our 6 month doctor appointment today.

I always schedule their appointment for the earliest time possible to give them the rest of the day to recover (And that's what they do...SLEEP all day!)

But, unfortunately their earliest time is 9am which is right at their nap time. So, this time, I got SMART.

The boys woke up and ate at 7am just like normal, but instead of waiting around to leave at 8:30, I packed them up at 7:40am and drove around to do some in-car errands. Why, you ask?

BABIES SLEEP IN THE CAR.

So, the boys slept for about 1 hour while I drove around and finally got to the doctor's office- put them in the stroller and they slowly woke up. Which means they still got a nap and I had HaPpY kids!!!

Unfortunately, the doctor's office was in short supply of their 'All-in-one' Vaccine, so the boys were lucky this time and got 4 shots each! :(

I must say, I have some tough little boys. They cried during the shots (expectedly) but as soon as I picked them up, they smiled and laughed when I tickled them. I put them in the stroller and they just started playing with the toys hanging down-- Like nothing even happened to them. SO. PROUD.

Some Stats:

Eli is:

18lb. 3oz.

27inches long

44.5" head circumference (this might not mean anything, but it puts him in the 80% area, which means my kids have HUGE heads hahah)

Blake is:

18lb. 5oz.

27inches long

44.3" head circumference

She checked out their teeth and said their top teeth are officially pushing through! THANK GOD. That means very very soon, they will not only have their bottom teeth, but also their top teeth and I'm so hoping that means most of the painful teething will be over- we'll see.

These are pics of the boys at the doctor's office.   It looked like a tornado blew through by the time we left!! You would think these boys are 2 years old by the mess they made!

HILARIOUS.

The doctor also noticed that Blake is getting his Fear of Strangers already. She claims that it's SUPER early for this to be happening, but it defintely explains why he has gotten into the bad habit of needing held before naps and bedtime.

Both of my boys have always been self-soothers when falling asleep and it has never been an issue. Until recently, Blake will  cry and cry and cry until I go in and pick him up.  He doesn't need much, he puts his hand on my chest and falls RIGHT asleep in my arms- so I slowly put him down, and he is out!  Easy as Pie, but I didn't understand why he was acting like that so suddenly.

Apparently he misses his mama!
I could look at that sweet face sleeping in my arms all day.

I haven't had too much of an opportunity to write about our daily life and schedule- days have been flying by and meshing together, so I will try to rack my brain now and remember what all has been happening.

The boys have really been struggling with the evenings recently.

Brad gets off work and by the time he gets home, it's "hell time" in our house.

Around 4:30-5pm they just can't seem to take it anymore and just want to cry cry cry. Which means daddy doesn't get much 'fun' time with them.

We have been playing around with their schedule a little bit, but after being on such a structured schedule for 6 months, they have a hard time leaving the routine. 

**We worked really really hard to make it impossible to mess up their schedule, so we had more freedom around this time-- I must say, we did our job PERFECTLY...they won't get off the schedule**

~If we wake them up from naps early, they end up back on the old nap schedule,

 ~if we let them sleep longer, they still take their next nap on time.

~If we add a late nap and an extra snack time, they still go to bed with their dinner bottle right on time.

~If we put them to bed 2hours late, they still wake up at 7am the next morning, ready for their structured day.

Bravo! to Brad and I for training our kids so well! <3

I have been trying to get them out of the house in the outdoors more often. I usually have them walking in the grass in the cool mornings to get them used to walking on different textures.  We usually walk down to the playground and swing a few times a week.

Things are getting better and better with them.

Blake is totally self-sufficient during 'play time'. He sits and plays, goes onto his belly and plays, rolls to his back and plays, goes back up to sitting..and somehow is able to travel across the room doing this.

Eli is slowly getting there.. he can go from sitting down to his belly- but can't quite get back up. He is rolling all over if he doesn't like where he is, but is still getting much more frustrated easier than Blake.

Blake is becoming quite the bossy brother.

If Eli has a toy, Blake crawls over and steals it.

If Eli is getting loved on, Blake finds a way to push in to get some love too.

If they are sitting next to each other, Blake will hit Eli, pull his hair, push him over ..etc.

Eli kind of goes with the flow and will always just find a new toy to play with or just try to grab blake's hand or arm and play with him! It's really funny watching them interact.

When they are in really good moods they love to 'chat' with each other or laugh at each other!

We stopped by Grammy's house one day, and while she was gone, I took advantage of her beautiful, shiny wood floors..

I had sooo much fun taking these pictures!

Lucky that Grammy wasn't home, because Eli ended up Peeing on her floor 3times WHILE he was on his belly-- it got so slippery that he was spinning in circles on his tummy, in his pee.

So. Gross.

But so funny!

Totally worth it to get shots like these :)

So,

HAPPY 1/2 YEAR BIRTHDAY baby boys!!

We are so thrilled and couldn't be happier since having you both in our lives!!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy.