Happy Half Birthday!

Julia and Caroline celebrated their half-birthday on Saturday!  It has been a pretty eventful month for them.  The thing that I am most excited about is that they started sleeping through the night.  Although I suppose that I should clarify that a little bit and say that we no longer give them any bottles in the middle of the night.  They do still wake up sometimes, especially more recently, bringing me to the second major change of the month.  They’ve started teething!  Julia got her tooth first and Caroline’s was about a week later.  And now Caroline has a second tooth already coming through and Julia’s looks visible but hasn’t started coming in yet.  Caroline especially seems to be having some teething pain that has affected her sleep in the past week or so.

They also started solid foods this month.  We did a week of rice cereal and now we’re onto smashed bananas.  They are doing pretty well with the solids.  They push them out of their mouths a bit at first but they definitely take in more than they spit out.  Julia is especially keen on them and opens her mouth hungrily to take in more.  Our next food to try will be sweet potatoes in honor of the season. They’re still taking a morning and an afternoon nap.  Their naps average about one hour each time.  Since we’re not walking every evening anymore (darn time change!) they don’t get a cat nap while we stroll.  So some evenings we put them in their swings for a little extra shut eye if they seem to need it. 

Oh and last month I was worried about their grabbing?  Now they are reaching, grabbing, clutching, holding, you name it.  Of course it all goes in their mouths as soon as they get it.  They're are interacting with each other more this month too which is just so sweet and fun to watch.  They like to sit in their bounce seats facing each other and "talk."  They sometimes go for the same toy while laying on the blanket and get upset about it.  I just love to watch them watching each other and smiling or cooing.  They are starting to sit a little bit, kind of tripodding it for awhile until they topple over.  Soon enough!

Caroline

Julia

Every month they just seem to get cuter and sweeter.  They have deliciously cute pudge rolls.  They love to smile and coo.  They rarely fuss.  And the way they put themselves to sleep at night is amazing.  How did we get so lucky?! 

Our six month sweeties

And just in case you thought taking a picture of infant twins was easy

Julia wonders what Caroline's head tastes like

Even with their ample sweetness, our family has reached its maximum potential.  Keith had a vasectomy on Thursday so we are done, done.  His parents came on Wednesday to help us out since Keith needed to be off of his game for a few days.  And what a big help they were!  They even took Colin with them when they left our house on Saturday.  He is going to spend four nights at their house and we’ll be reunited when we arrive there on Wednesday for Thanksgiving.  It is amazing how calm and quiet it is here without him.  It makes me reiterate the thought that I've had many times since they were born...how did we ever think having one baby was hard?  Even with two babies here it seems like a complete cake walk without Colin.  We can actually talk to each other without constant interruption.  Meal times are so peaceful.  Getting ready for work is so peaceful.  Pretty much everything is peaceful.  But I do admit that I miss him very much.  Walking past his empty room is pretty sad!

And now for some stats.

Julia:
Weight: 17 lb, 2 oz (50 - 75%)
Height: 26 1/4 in (50 - 75%)
Head: 43.5 cm (75 - 90%)

Caroline:
Weight: 16 lb, 2 oz (50%)
Height: 26 in (50%)
Head: 43.2 cm (75 - 90%)

I just checked and Colin only weighed 16 lb, 12 oz at 6 months so Julia has passed him up in weight! He was 28 inches long though. 

They had a great check-up today.  All is well with their health.  They had 5 shots each plus an oral vaccine.  Julia  is sleeping it off right now and Caroline is happily playing in the Exersaucer.  Happy Thanksgiving!