A Recap

I cannot believe it has already been 6 months... it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun... or something like that right?

I won't lie, I have been pretty conflicted lately about wether or not to keep blogging, for the obvious reasons of course; time, privacy, writer's block, but then for every reason there is to stop there is another reason to keep going. I was reminded today by a sweet friend about how neat it will be to look back one day and have these memories recorded. She also reminded me what a nice thing it was to have someone else's story to read when she was just starting out as a mom. So with that being said, I am going to shortly recap the last 6 months today and hope that you will continue to follow along with us. My goal is to write at least a paragraph... okay sentence per day. Some days will inevitably be more exciting than others but hopefully, if our boys are anything like their sentimental pack rat of a mother, they will appreciate having this to read some day, and if they don't, at least I know I will.

What a blur. Seriously, any new mother can tell you those first few weeks at home FLY by. Between both our mothers, countless friends and family members we were never without an extra set of hands. Thank you to everyone who brought food, cleaned our house, washed our cars, raked our leaves, and held us together as we navigated and adjusted to our new normal. This month was full of newborn snuggles, sleepless nights, first smiles, cluster feeding, tummy sleeping and a lot of tears. I will one day write a whole post on what adjusting to parenthood was like for me but let's just say I survived and so did they, which is all that really matters right?

This was a big one... first visit with their cousins on my side, first shots, first road trip, first blow outs, and many more anxious moments for mama. This was also the month that near the end I finally started to realize what that "love" everyone talks about really was. These little creatures that had invaded my body 11 months prior were actually starting to seem human. We traveled to Houston to celebrate our Manna's 80th birthday and we got to spend a week at Yaya & Papa's house with our 7 cousins. It was a hectic week for everyone and my first time to spend the night alone with the boys. I also discovered my first irrational fear, that led to me pulling the car over every 10 minutes to make sure the boys were breathing. Lessons were learned, more tears were shed and everyone got a little bit tougher.

Oh what a fun month. This was our first month flying completely solo as parents, no extended visits to anywhere or from anyone, and we finally started to get into a routine. We found a buddy to hit up the park with and started walking regularly. The boys LOVE to be outside, and have since day one. Anytime they are crying or fussy I found you can take them outside and they will calm immediately. This month they finally started to settle into sleeping a bit longer at night - still not all the way through but I know we will get there one day (at least that's what I tell myself so I won't go crazy).

The boys had their first airplane ride and first extended period of time in their own room! I of course being such a great mom didn't catch a single photo of the boys on the plane, but they were such champs. I will eventually do a whole post on flying with two babies but we were so lucky that both boys behaved really well and slept most of the way. We traveled to Colorado to spend some time with my husband's extended family and introduce the boys to his grandmother. This month marked the transition from newborn to baby in my mind. Both boys really started to respond more to everyone around them and we started getting giggles out of both of them. Ticklish would be putting it mildly. We moved the boys to their room for sleeping, which was not as hard as I thought it would be. Some of their favorite things from month 4 are books, bath time and brother time - they really started watching each other this month and babbling back and forth, I'm crossing my fingers they create their own language. We also visited the pumpkin patch and participated in Halloween festivities.

First Thanksgiving, first Christmas, first cold, first foods and first true test of sanity for mom and dad. We spent Thanksgiving in San Antonio and Christmas in Austin. Both were so much fun and included lots of quality family time. As is very typical of holiday season, this was a long month for everyone, a fun month, but also a very long and busy one. We tried out pears and avocado at Thanksgiving and moved onto carrots and mangos at Christmas. Both boys love the baby purees, and hate the cereal/oatmeal, so we may skip those or revisit them down the road. I plan to start making some of our own food eventually. Owen caught a cold over Thanksgiving and quickly passed it to Wyatt, they then spent they next 4 weeks passing it back and forth until it settled in Owen's ears. We broke in the saline spray and Nose Frida and spent a lot of time researching cold remedies for babies under 6 months, I'll save you the time, there aren't any. For about 3 weeks no one in our house slept more than one hour at a time and Ben and I didn't spend a single night without a baby on our chest. On the bright side we both discovered we have the ability to sleep sitting up, so there's that... After both boys finally received a clean bill of health the teething began. Thanks to the lack of sleep and creation of some pretty terrible habits we will be starting month six with our first round of cry it out... On a positive note this is the month where both boys learned to sit up and really started to take an interest in each other. Watching them play together is the most fun Wyatt really studies everything and Owen enjoys exploring things by banging them together.

We are only half way through and my gosh what a month it has been... We dove head first into baby food this month and are trying to offer it at LEAST once a day. I am still horrible at scheduling, but the boys seem to have a routine down. Still no teeth but we are crawling, sitting, and pulling up pretty regularly. They love their exec-saucers, or as they are called around here the circles of neglect... go ahead and judge but sometimes mama needs to shower, or drink her coffee in peace. You name it they are trying it. Owen has mastered most of the gross motor skills and Wyatt remains our little brainiac. Both boys are little daredevils and love to be thrown in the air, held upside down and tossed around. Peek a Boo is a favorite game around these parts, and it is so much fun to watch them discover new things and try out new skills. The sign language we started with around 4 months is starting to take hold, Wyatt understands the sign for change and will hold still for diapers now, Owen loves to show off the sign for milk. I often find myself just staring at them and observing them as they test their limits. You can see the wheels turning with each new toy discovered. Some of my favorite things are the way Owen studies his hands, moving his thumbs between each of his fingers and how he barrels over everything, climbing pillow mountains and over his toy piano. I love the way Wyatt has started to look for and chase daphne around the room and watching sort through his toys, you can tell he truly is thinking through every action. I wonder if these things will continue to permeate as their personalities develop, will Wyatt always be the pensive one and Owen always be charging ahead?