10 months

This post is almost 10 days over due but better late than never. I started this post a few days ago but now it is Friday night and I am just now getting to it again. Ten months....it sure has gone by fast.

I am a little hesitant to say this because I don't want to jinx myself but life has gotten so much easier with the girls. We are in a great routine,they are on a wonderful, somewhat flexible but predictable schedule. The girls are sleeping 12-13 hours a night, can I get an AMEN???!!!! William and I are rested and if we are tired it is typically our fault, not theirs! We feel so refreshed. The past two months have been a lot of fun and I am really enjoying this age. They have become a lot more playful and more importantly they play with each other. I can now leave the girls in their play area, clean up the kitchen, or start a load of laundry, or even go to the bathroom with out them standing at the gate screaming at the top of their lungs for my attention. I love hearing them giggle back and forth at each other, it is downright cute. Along with playing with each other have come a few tiffs over "something." The "something" being whatever is viewed as valuable to other at the time. Sometimes it is a book, the tv remote (that one became heated with crocodile tears and all), really you name it! For the most part one will bow out and let the other have it but occasionally I either have to take it away or distract the one who wants to take it away. For the most part life with two babies the same age is not nearly as overwhelming as it once felt. Some things are still hard for one person...getting two babies in their car seats, navigating two carts in the grocery store but most difficult is bath time alone. Thankfully William's job doesn't take him away too often in the evenings so bath time alone is not very often!

As far as milestones go:

Ellie is moving right along in the gross motor development. She is pulling up on everything, cruising furniture, walking with the "push" toys with wheels in front of her at pretty fast speeds. She is also standing alone for periods of time. I suspect her first steps are right around the corner! She is super flexible, very coordinated and extremely active! As far as fine motor skills go, she is using her pincer grasp to feed herself. Speaking of eating..she loves real food! She has started to really boycott formula but will eat whatever I put in front of her. She loves plain yogurt mixed with any flavor of baby food. She will try anything. Tonight she ate broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and noodles. I made a vegetable soup and she loved it. She loves cheerios, goldfish, puffs, baby mum mums, toast, grilled cheese, ground beef and bananas but her most favorite thing is a fruit bar, kind of like a nutri grain bar but the Earth's Best brand. She would eat them all day if I let her.
Ellie now has 4 teeth, the bottom two and her top two have cut through. She babbles and is saying mama, dada and a whole bunch of jibberish I don't understand. She is a friendly child but slow to strangers and she needs time to warm up.

Lindley Kate is moving right along as far as gross motor development goes as well. She is not nearly as coordinated as Ellie but she is pulling up on everything, and walking behind her push toys, just a little bit slower than her sister. I don't think she will be walking as soon as Ellie but I don't think she is too far off either...I was kind of hoping for late walkers but I don't think it is going to happen! Lindley Kate uses her pincer grasp to eat her food as well and she also turns pages in books. Unfortunately I have to watch her closely bc she likes to eat books or tear them and one day they will really enjoy these books. She too loves to eat and has no problem drinking all of her bottle. She is introduced to all of the same foods as her sister and loves most of the same things. For a long time I wanted to feed them myself but the problem I was running into is that if I put it in their mouth they would spit it out, touch it themselves and then put it back in their mouths, so I started just putting it on their tray to feed themselves. It is beyond messy and often stresses me out but I want them to learn and explore new foods and even more LIKE them! Lindley Kate still spits out her food though. She will gum it in her mouth, get it good and soft, absorb the flavor then spit out her already been chewed food! It is pretty yucky. She loves plain yogurt mixed with any flavor of fruit baby food. She still has no teeth, who knows when they'll be making their appearance!? LK is not nearly as stranger weary and is pretty easy to wam up. Lindley Kate is definitely the more talkative of the two and is much louder. She babbles all day long, saying Mama, dada, blah blah, gaga...just a bunch of baby talk but she is nonstop!

LK and Ellie both love going out...to the grocery store, out to eat, walking in their stroller. We don't go out to eat often bc it just isn't in the budget but when we want to we don't hesitate because of them. I am taking advantage of this stage because they do so well when we are out to eat and I don't think it will always be this way. Both of the girls have very sweet dispositions. They love to be held, sit in my lap and reciprocate the affection. When I ask Ellie for a kiss, not always but often I get a mouth wide open, tongue sticking out coming right for me! They are both very loveable, giggly and overall happy girls and we couldn't feel more blessed.

These pics are getting difficult as you can see the transformation below!

My girls love the swing!