8 Months old already!

Well 8.5 months actually since I'm posting late. I usually start with Ella but I'll start with Ms. Olivia today!

Ms. Olivia:

1.) You are finally drinking your milk again!!! It was a very long and ROUGH month and half battle with you. I really did think I was going to have a nervous breakdown for a minute or two there. You are so skinny that I was worried about you losing weight and not getting enough nutrition. I tried switching back to your previous formula (Nutramigen) first, and then to the Similac version of the hypoallergenic formula (Allimentum) and you hated both. I gave in one day to giving you your sisters Similac and you drank 4 ounces without stopping. After 2 days you jumped up to 6 ounces. Now after 2 weeks you take 2, 7 ounce bottles a day! Yippee!

2.) You are just about to crawl. You get up on all fours and start swinging back and forth. You still roll around to get to where ever you want to go and you cannot be contained. You want to reach for everything!

3.) You have become a scaredy cat! You are now becoming weary of strangers and do not seem to like new sights and sounds. You bury your face in my chest and rub your face side to side. You especially hate it when I blow dry your hair.

4. You are on a pretty good schedule and you really like your naps. You do better than Ella at naps now. You have slept up to 3 hours straight. Add to that the 12 hours you sleep at night and Momma is a happy camper!

5.) You are wearing 6-9 month and 9 month clothing and 9 month PJ's. You are still very skinny and long. You have my long and skinny feet but HUGE hands!

6.) You have discovered that you can take off your bows and eat them. That does not make me happy!

7.) There is no discipline with you. We tell you "no" and you think it's the funniest thing in the world. We are gonna have to work on that.

Ms. Ella

1.) You are still my chubster and are getting heavier by the minute. You love your food and will not wait for it. You start whining the minute you see a bottle or a plate of food. You sound like a monkey! You also see a plate of food we are eating and immediately your mouth and hands start going!

2.) You are still as lazy as they come. You don't like to roll over anymore and you will not even make an attempt to crawl if I paid you with Puffs! You still like for us to sit you down and if you fall you just scream your head off! I have just left you there to see what you would do and I swear you can scream for an hour if I let you. And not just mad screams, I'm talking red faced, sobbing, snotty tears!

3.) You have become less weary of strangers now. You love to smile at people more and love it when you get attention.

4.) You are also pretty good and naps but you don't sleep as long as your sister. You will usually just play in your crib with a toy for a while before you fall asleep and sometimes a 30 minute nap is all you need! You do fall asleep faster at night and I think you have only woken up once in the middle of the night since you were about 4 months old!

5.) You are growing out of clothing in the blink of an eye. You are wearing 9 and 12 month clothing and 9 month PJ's. It's funny to see your belly hang out of your shirts sometimes. I wonder how come that doesn't look so cute on Mommy?? Ha!

6.) You have also decided that bows are to eat, not to wear! You take EVERYTHING off your head. Do you know how many times I had to fix this flower on your head in order to get a picture?? Every time I sat down, you would pull it off!

(And yes, these are their 4th of July outfits that I did not get to snap pictures of them in because they wound up falling asleep after about 10 minutes. So I figured I would try it again.)

This is a perfect example of what you do when we lay you on the floor to play...

A total lazy bug!

In her travels, Ms. Olivia has now discovered that she can open and close doors. She was trying to close this door with little pushes for about 5 minutes before finally giving up and pushing it back open in one swing!

Who me??

There's never a boring moment around this house I tell ya'!

I try, I really do!

How does a blog that is supposed to be updated daily, go to being updated once a month?

I ask myself that question every night when I think about blogging.

And truth be told, I just don't feel like it!

I'm tired!

I'm stressed!

I'm overwhelmed!

I'm frustrated!

I'm worried!

I'm anxious!

I'm preoccupied!

I'm about damn near ready to lose my mind!

Life with twins is hard! It's incredibly emotional, incredibly exhausting, and incredibly wonderful! And yes, ALL at the same time. Most days, I just want to scream "I miss my Mommy" because doing this without her is damn near impossible. She always told me that a woman carries ALL the responsibilities of her family. She runs the house, the kids, the husband, the family, the phone calls, the finances, the plans, the worries, and the chaos. I didn't grasp the reality of her words until recently. Carrying all this weight around is exhausting and no lie, there are days when I wonder how and, if, I can even do it all.

Then I see these faces and I remember that I don't have a choice. Like my sister-in-law says, "Switch to survival mode and just go!"

(No, Daddy did not give permission for the bikinis. Mommy just didn't tell him! Ha!)

I have decided that for my sanity, I need to switch things up around here. I am going to try and get out of the house at least twice during the week. I usually try to avoid it because it's such a long ordeal to get 2 babies ready and out the door, let alone all the luggage I have to carry around with me. I feel like i'm going on a weekend trip sometimes. I am going to sign us up for classes at the library starting in August. I am going to find the best, non-toxic, insect repellent I can get my hands on and take these babies, and Cody, on a walk. I am going to try and get dressed before I leave the house instead of throwing on yoga pants and a t-shirt. I am going to attempt to remember how to put make-up on before I go too. I am going to go buy myself something once a week, even if it's a pack of head bands! (Somehow I misplace those. A LOT!) I am going to make sure my toe nails are always painted. For some reason it just makes me feel a little bit more put together. I am going to try to remember to just sit and ENJOY my babies for however long I can! They are growing up too fast! I am NOT going to fight with Olivia because she doesn't want to take her milk. I am just going to adjust the schedule and try to give her as much as I can when I know she'll take it, like every night when she cuddles in bed with Daddy. I am not going to worry if I don't have a whole lot to say on this blog. I am going to post what ever it is I feel that day because this is for my girls. Whether they just like to read about what it was like for me when they were small, whether they just want to laugh at a funny picture, or if they just want to one day feel that they are not alone. This is ALL for them.

And speaking of them...

This past month has been the hardest month since they were born. They are wanting a lot more attention and activity. They scream when they don't get what they want. And boy, do they know what they want! They get cuter by the day and literally do something new every day.

This is Ella today, trying to bend down far enough to eat her foot.

When that didn't work...

She tried to lift her foot to her mouth! I was laughing hysterically because I could see the little wheels in her mind starting to spin as she debated on the best possible method of putting said foot, in said mouth!

Don't even try to tell me that this is not the cutest thing you have seen in your life!

I have my very own Pebbles!

And we FINALLY got to use the wagon! This is the first thing I bought for the babies when I found out we were pregnant.

They rode in it all the way to Tia Cindy's house on 4th of July! It was a sight to see these 2 bikini princesses riding down the sidewalk. Ella had a ball. Olivia, as you can see by her pose and her expression, was glued to the side of that wagon as if her life depended on it! She's on a scare-d-cat phase at the moment. Is that even a word??

Oh and where are Olivia's pictures you ask? Well, tell her to sit still long enough for me to snap one and then you'll get some! That child is a rolly-poly, literally!

A puff eating Houdini!

Isn't it amazing how much this child looks like her father???

(She got the cute gene though! Ha!)

We finally started eating puffs. I was waiting because I was afraid that they weren't ready plus if Daddy saw either of them gagging or choking on a puff, he would probably have a heart attack!

Ella picked it up with her pinchers on the first try! I was a very proud Mommy!

Olivia would pick it up with all her fingers and then it would get stuck in the palm of her hand. She couldn't figure out how to get it into her mouth...

(We fed her this puff.)

Now this...

This is a problem!

I was making myself breakfast and I look over to find Little Miss Houdini-ette,

trying to crawl out of her rocker.

Apparently it bored her and she decided she had enough time in the rocker.

I was tempted to find the duct tape...

Me? What did I do???

A first & 7 Months!

Our first beach day!

(It was all Tia Genelle's idea! She always wants to go to the beach.)

I wasn't sure about how this was going to go since these little munchkins have been a tad fussy for the past few weeks. As I predicted, the fun lasted for the first 10 minutes. We went into meltdown mode shortly after.

Olivia loved the sand. She kept jumping up and down and looking at her toes. I couldn't even get her to look up at me for the picture!

Ella was a little unsure but I think she liked it. She kept digging her feet into the sand and sank all the way up to her ankles.

I LOVE sandy little toesies!

Once we saw that things were going downhill, we gave them a bottle and laid them down for a bit. I didn't think they were going to sleep since the sand was so compacted and hard but they knocked out almost immediately.

They slept for about 30 minutes and woke up happy so I figured we would try to put them in the water. It was freezing cold so they weren't having any of it. We laid on the mat and played with them for a while and after about an hour, we attempted it again. This time they didn't even protest. They loved it!! I didn't get any pictures because all of us were in the water with them. We bounced them and let them splash around for a good 10 minutes. They would have stayed longer but I didn't want them in the sun very long. They are really starting to love the water.

Isn't beach hair usually a good thing??

Overall I would definitely take them to the beach again! It's a mission and a half with all the extra stuff we have to take but it's worth it to see them have so much fun!

Is it a little bright in here??

Here is what you're up to at 7 months old:

Ms. Ella:

1. You LOVE food! You drink about 25 ounces of milk a day along with 3 meals. You usually start with cereal and a fruit for breakfast. A yogurt with a fruit for lunch or sometimes a veggie and a fruit, and mixed veggies and a meat with a fruit for dinner.

2. You are as impatient and whiny as your Mother! UGH! Especially when it comes to food. You start wailing the minute you see a spoonful going to Olivia and not you. You cannot see a bottle or see a bib without panting like a doggy. You would think I don't feed you chubsters!

3. You are wearing 6 month clothing and some 6-9 footsie PJ's. I think I change your clothes more now than when you were first born. You love to spill food on yourself or my favorite, you love to sneeze with a mouth full of food!

4. You are still lazy as ever. You don't like to roll over unless you want to reach a toy. If you are tired of being in a certain position you pretty much just scream until we move you.

5. You still aren't sitting or attempting to crawl and trust me, I'm not in a hurry!

6. You are very sentimental. I have had to very strongly tell you no a few times and you just look at me, pout, water your eyes and then just scream! It breaks my heart to have you look at me that way but sometimes your whining is OUT of control!

Ms. Olivia:

1. Oh Olivia! You are such a trouble maker! You and food are not seeing eye to eye at the moment! You DO NOT want to drink your milk. And I mean DO NOT! I can get about 10-12 ounces of actual formula in you a day and the rest we do by giving you yogurt or formula mixed with your cereal. We had to call the Dr. after about a week of struggling to get you to drink and she said that you need about 20-25 ounces of dairy a day. She said we can continue to give you yogurt and we can also try cottage cheese and that will count. I still try to give you as much formula as I can but NOTHING I do will make you drink more. I have tried it all, literally. (Even trying to give you milk in a regular cup, sip by sip.)

2. You are still a spunky little jumping bean! Your new thing in the morning is that you stay lying down with your eyes closed until we come to get you. Once you hear the door open you open your eyes but stay very still. Once we come over your crib you become a wild child! You start flailing your arms and legs and start rolling from one side of the crib to the other and then back again. We just stand there and laugh at you. You are so funny!

3. You are wearing mostly 6 month clothes and PJ's. You are long and skinny as always. If you keep eating the way you are now, you are really gonna turn into a real life "olive oyl!"

4. I keep thinking that you are going to start attempting to sit or crawl soon because you are all over the place... but so far, Nada! I think you just like to roll over to where you want to go.

5. We have to tie you down to everything! You seem to wiggle out of every contraption we put you in. (Minus the jumperoo.)

6. You are a nosy busy body. You want to know what's going on in every corner of the house and will strain your neck to see. I would swear you have ADHD! You can't sit still when something grabs your attention. And might I add that something new grabs your attention every 5 minutes!

I thank God that you guys are healthy, happy and growing!

I say it all the time and will keep saying it, but you guys are just growing up too fast!

I can't believe you are 7 months already. I have already started planning your first birthday! How insane is that? Weren't you just born?

Nothing in this world makes your Daddy and I happier than being your parents!

You make our life worthwhile and I wish there were more words to explain just how much we love you!

Aren't they stinkers?

Always something!

That appears to be the motto that I have to have stitched to my forehead!

My mother-in-law has been in the hospital for a week now and I have been on COMPLETE baby duty all by myself! NOTHING has gotten done since Daddy comes home late every night. He visits with his mom for a few hours a day. I have been so exhausted that I don't even take out my camera. Yea, it's that bad! My aunt came over yesterday to help with the babies and I did get a lot done in the girls' room.

These babies are changing so much daily! I look at their newborn pictures and I cry. I have trouble remembering what they were like 5 months ago and that makes me incredibly sad. I don't know if most Mom's feel that way or if it's just me. I'm glad they invented the video camera and video phone!

I bought them these teething feeders and boy were they a hit! I put bananas in them and they went to town.

Since Olivia has grown teeth, she thinks it's ok to bite down on EVERY spoonful of food I feed her. How can this face not make you laugh till you pee in your pants???

"Sssshh! Don't tell Daddy that I'm showing off my belly!"

Today I tried to get a picture of each of them in their outfits because they looked absolutely adorable. But they were not very cooperative. Ella was just fussy and sleepy so I snapped what I could with her in her highchair.

(They did have cute sandals on but those went off with a diaper change and never made it back on.)

And.....this is what you get nowadays when you bring out any type of camera in front of Olivia. Ha!

Olivia cannot stay still if you paid her. She is just on the go! Ella is calm and tranquil. Total opposites!

A little note on the allergies:

Both girls are allergic to blueberries!

Ella's allergy list consists of Eggs, Blueberries, Cherries and Strawberries.

Olivia's list is Milk, Eggs (as a precaution), Green Beans, Cherries, Strawberries, Rice Cereal, Tomatoes, and Blueberries.

Olivia has shown a lot of improvement with Apples, Pears, Peaches, Barley Cereal & Brown Rice Cereal so I won't include those in the list. I just keep giving them to her every few weeks to see how she does. Her reaction is only eczema rashes so I feel more comfortable than I would if it were a reaction like Ella had to Egg. Ella also gets little rashes to the fruits.

Olivia and the green beans still puzzles me!

Visits & Dr.'s & Baptism & Pools!

Oh my, what a week!

Let's start with last Wednesday the 18th. The girls went to the Dr. for their 6 month check up. Ella is a chunker as usual and Olivia is still a string bean! Everything went smoothly except that the pediatrician wanted Ella to go and see an ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) Dr. for her tongue tie. She has recently started playing with her tongue and when she sticks it out, it looks like it's split down the middle. Her "tie" was up to the front tip of her tongue so it was pulling the tongue back exactly down the middle and causing it to like like 2 separate pieces.

Thursday was total cleaning day because the Grammy, Grampy, Tia, and Tio were coming to stay at our house for the girls' Baptism on Sunday. Cleaning with 2 teething babies = stressful day! Oh, and let's not forget that Ella ate an egg yolk for the first time and she is SEVERELY allergic. She blew up like a blowfish, turned red as a boiled lobster and was covered in hives, head to toe! I freaked! I was in such a panic I can't even explain. I thought she couldn't breathe, she wasn't talking so doing anything. She would just rub her face. Thank God daddy was home and I was able to run out the door with her to the Dr. and leave Olivia with him. I grabbed my phone, wallet, Ella and ran! I FLEW to the Dr.'s office like a mad woman! She said it appeared to only be an external reaction but she isn't allowed near eggs till at least 2! She recovered by the end of the day and was 100% normal by the next morning. The Dr. also told me to keep it away from Olivia since she's the allergy prone baby. (Olivia is not allergic to Apples, Pears, Peaches, Green Beans, and Tomatoes.)

Friday was a finishing up cleaning morning & everyone got here in the afternoon. I think they were in shock of how much the girls grew in 2 months. They have changed A LOT! And of course with a house full of people.... the AC breaks! It had been giving us issues and just when we thought we had it under control... Poof! We were ROASTING!

Saturday, as we were still roasting, we made a trip to Wally World (with a quick trip to Hobby Lobby first of course!) for some groceries and then ran home to jump in the pool. It was the girls first time in the pool...

Grandpa put her in sloooooooooowly.

Um... Mom? Please Help!

There we go!

Olivia as usual was up for anything....

What's the big deal about this whole pool thing?

Ok, Ok, I guess it's kinda cool!

(Note to Target: Please carry more than one pink hat. Thank you.)

Mommy and Daddy had to jump in too! Just in time to snap a picture and take the babies out of the pool!

I think somebody changed her mind after we took her out! But i'm not naming any names.

Sunday was their Baptism. I decided to hire a photographer and i'm so glad I did. It was so nice not having to take the pictures myself and I can't wait to see how they came out! It was a wonderful day!

Monday, we went to visit and spend the day at Tio Coqui's house. Of course, I didn't take out my camera once! I'm so mad at myself!! I get so caught up in my parents visiting that I forget to document these events. We had a really good time if you don't count the fact that Ella was refusing to sleep and throwing fits like I have never seen her throw before. It took hours for that child to fall asleep! I think it was too much commotion for her for 2 days straight. They aren't used to it.

Tuesday was Ella's ENT appointment. I really thought they were going to tell me to wait a few more months to see how she does and then we'll re-evaluate her. Boy was I wrong. We scheduled her surgery for Thursday! Her issue was so bad that he said she would definitely have speech issues in the future. He explained that it was a very quick procedure although she would have to go under general anesthesia for about 5 minutes. It would be with a mask so there was really no need for an IV or a breathing tube which made us feel better. He also said it was up to us when it would be done, between now and a year. He said it didn't matter but sooner was probably better because she isn't talking yet. I wanted it done now just because she's still unaware of a lot of things and I figured the older she gets, the worse it would be for her. Especially, having to be handled by a bunch of strangers. And on top of all of that, everyone had to leave to go back to North Carolina. Mommy was not happy!

Wednesday was CRAZY! I had to run out with 2 very fussy babies to pick up paperwork at the Dr.'s office. Ella was just impossible. She wants to be in my arms all day long! She was having fit after fit and I was pulling out hair after hair. I don't know if it's because she had a million hands to carry her all week or what, but this mommy needs to become half octopus to keep up!

and finally Thursday! Surgery Day! I was not looking forward to this at all. I had massive stomach aches leading up to this. We got to the surgery center at about 6:45 AM. We signed paperwork and sat down for about 3 minutes before they called us back. Daddy stayed out in the waiting area with Olivia to feed her while I went back with Ella. All the staff was great, and her specific nurse was with us the whole time before she went in. She was carrying her and playing with her which made me feel a little better. The anesthesiologist was the nurse's husband. He was just as nice as she was which was great. Then I saw the Dr. and knew it was time. That's when my knees sank and I almost lost it! They had me walk her back to the OR and lay her on the table. I was shaking at this point. They put a mask over her face and she was fighting. There was the tech with the mask and a nurse on each side of her holding her arms. I was just trying to rub her belly to calm her. She started to get groggy within 10 seconds and she started babbling. It was so sweet to hear at a moment like that. In another 5 seconds her eyes kinda started going blank and they told me she was out and I had to step out. That's when I REALLY lost it! I wanted to kick and scream my way back in there with her. That look of emptiness is not something you EVER want to see on your child and it scared me to death! I was sobbing uncontrollably. I didn't want to leave her there with strangers. I didn't want to not be there if something happened. I didn't want her to wake up and not see me or know that I was there. I just wanted her back in my arms! The nurse tried to hug me and calm me down but all I could do was cry. And I cried all of the 10 minutes I was away from her. When they called us back in to see her, I couldn't run fast enough. They let Daddy and Olivia come back too which was great. She was screaming in the nurse's arms when we got to her. They said she would be very upset because of the anesthesia and the feeling of being confused and disoriented and let me tell you, she was! All morning she was screaming. You could just see her and know that she didn't feel well. They let us go home after about 10 minutes in recovery which was fantastic. The Dr. said he had to cut more than he expected and she has a couple of stitches. I can't see much and I don't want to bug her too much. It's over now and I couldn't be happier.

This was her most of the day...

and I did get a couple of these!

She was such a trooper! Too bad we can't say the same for mommy! Ha!

Ms. Olive Oil must have known that I was having a rough day because she was sooooo good! She fell asleep on the playroom mat for almost 3 hours. In this picture, I had left her playing on the mat under the gym and noticed she had fallen asleep. Ella also fell asleep in the rocker so I left them. I went back to get Ella after about 10 minutes because she woke up and I couldn't see Olivia. She apparently thought that the mat was too soft and she preferred a harder surface such as the floor! She rolled over a few times and found herself a comfy spot. I put her back on the mat and she slept without any issues.

And just because....

Tia Cindy and cousins Gaby and Danny came to check on Ella and wanted to play so we all sat in the Playroom to play. Tia decided to see if Olivia would sit and stay on her own, and she did. For over 2 minutes straight!!!

Ella was still weeble-wobbling!

Olivia and her faces!

So now you know what I mean when I say CRAZY week! You'll have to excuse me for not posting again in the next day or so. Momma is kinda tired and would like to sleep for a week! If Daddy would be so kind to oblige me, it would be greatly appreciated!