The babies turned 10 months old last weekend--and they have so much going on! They are both totally mobile. They were both standing up and tapping their feet, so we decided to buy them a walking/push toy a couple of weeks ago. It took Jackson a day or two to be steady on his feet, and only a few more days to master the walker--now he is a walking machine! He always has a huge grin on his face when he is walking by himself (it also plays "Rockin' Robin," which he kind of dances to, which is adorable). Addison used the walker to hold onto and stand up for a long time--then she decided to use it to walk, too. And now both of them are pros. Addison stands up by herself without holding onto anything for 10 - 15 second stints--Jackson has stood up and let go a time or two, so won't be far behind her. Both babies can walk along the couch, holding onto it, and around the ottoman. When they are in the living room and I walk into the kitchen or when Daniel or I come home from work, the babies will hustle over to the gate that is between the living room and the kitchen and stand on their tippy toes to see us over the top of the gate. They aren't supposed to climb up on the gate, because it isn't meant to hold both of their weight--but it is pretty adorable to see their little fingers grasping onto and little eyeballs peering over the top of the gate.
And now, for the big news from this past month: a few weeks ago the babies and I had a heart-to-heart. A sit down. We had a much-needed talk about the fact that we weren't sleeping AT ALL. The babies were each waking up two and three times per night, which meant that I was up five and six times per night--which wasn't good for any of us. I realized one night, when Jackson had started crying in his crib and I'd jumped up to get him, only to have him continue crying in my arms, that
I wasn't helping. He needed to work things out on his own, and go back to sleep. Furthermore, eating two or three times per night was messing with the babies' schedule during the day--they weren't hungry for their bottles when they should have been. And I was a wreck--feeling lucky if I was only up twice a night, for 30 - 45 minutes each time (time enough to feed and burp two babies, to be precise), and feeling devastated if I was up 6 times a night (if the babies didn't cooperate and wake up hungry at the same time, and maybe didn't go right back to sleep after eating). Trying to work full days and put together complete sentences was almost impossible on such little sleep. I was so worried about meeting their needs, and doing it quickly so that one crying baby didn't wake the other one up, that they were just in the habit of waking up and hanging out at night. And they needed to sleep.
We had tried a little bit of sleep training when they were about 6 months old, but I didn't (and still don't) have a stomach for letting a baby cry until they can cry no more and finally fall asleep. Furthermore, I felt like they just weren't ready at 6 months. I didn't mind waking up once in the night to feed them--but then we had some serious regression and started waking up like newborns, every three hours. Anyway--I told the babies: I love you. I am always here for you. But we need to sleep. So, I will come in once to feed you little stinkers and check on you--make sure you're safe and sound and full, and essentially don't have anything to cry about. And then you're on your own (for a while, anyway). And you know what? After our talk, they were ready. It only took a couple of nights with a couple of wake ups and middle of the night cries--but they slept. And slept, and slept, all on their own. After three or four nights, we didn't even wake up for the one middle of the night feeding (their pediatrician assured us that given their body weight, they should be able to sleep through the night without needing to eat, no problem).
And ever since, they have been sleeping like champs! Jackson is my early morning boy--we encourage the babies to stay in their cribs until 7ish, but lots of times he wakes up at 6 or 6:30, totally awake and ready to go. And Addison is my silent waker-upper. Jackson cries when he wakes up, then will sit and talk to himself and play with his blanket--I'll walk into their room to get Jackson, who I know is awake, and look over at Addison, who will be cuddled up with her blanket, sucking her thumb, and have her eyes wide open. When you enter the room though, she's on her feet in a jif, excited to see you and ready to be picked up. So, that's our big news for this past month. Thank goodness we're sleeping!!
In other news, the babies are both getting tooth number five, a top left tooth. And it hurts, and makes them a little bit extra sensitive and cranky--but overall, they take it like champs. They are both still eating really well, especially Jackson who will try anything. I read somewhere that to make bananas less slippery to pick up, you can coat them in graham cracker crumbs. So, a couple of weeks ago I crumbled up a graham cracker over banana chunks and gave them to the babies--turns out, graham crackers are like crack to Jackson. The kid can't get enough! Addison likes them too, but not quite as much as Jackson does. This is their first taste of the stuff:
Messy, but delicious! The babies also LOVE Cheerios--they eat them by the handful. They still like to feed themselves (and Spud, via the floor) most of their meals, but I usually try to feed them one item per meal (either yogurt smoothies, fruit smoothies, smashed sweet potatoes or apples or bananas, or risotto). They are loving peas, carrots, cheese, pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese, rice, blueberries, bananas, Ritz crackers, watermelon, chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes--they are such good eaters.
The babies are still very vocal--Jackson continues to make new sound combinations, and "talks" to us in his sweet voice (lest you think our experience is a bit too angelic, Jackson also has what we have coined as his "crazy cry" where he screams and cries like a wild man--it doesn't come out very often, but when it does it certainly draws your immediate attention!). Addison has upped the ante and now does a lot of high pitch squealing and screaming--the squeals usually start out happy or to get attention, but sometimes end up unhappy. She has also started clicking and clucking her tongue, as well as making "s" "st" and "sh" sounds (often hissing like a snake), and will mimic the sounds when you make them. Both babies love singing and music, but especially Jackson--his favorite is Old MacDonald and the Jeopardy theme song. If he is fussy in the evenings, all we have to do is sing and he's enraptured.
We are blessed with such happy, sweet babies who are so much fun! Everywhere we go, people are absolutely charmed by our duo. And the fun just keeps on coming with these two!!
