Christmas Traditions

Now that Graecyn is older and starting to get into the spirit of Christmas, it's been fun participating in various Christmas events and establishing what might become our family traditions.

We picked out our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.

We wrote a letter to Santa.  According to Graecyn, it says, "I love Santa and Mrs. Clause and my cousins, Addison, Colton, Camden, Abbie, and Anna."

We visited Santa and his reindeer.  Graecyn asked Santa for a chalk board, a bounce house, and a Barbie house.  Cody asked for anything he could chew on.

We made our holiday cookies and decorated a gingerbread house.

For the first time since Graecyn has been born, we stayed home for Christmas; we wanted to be able to wake up in our own beds Christmas morning.  Christmas Eve we decorated the gingerbread house, went to an amazing church service, and opened our gifts to each other.  We had hoped to drive around  town and look at Christmas lights, but with naps and supper, it didn't work out this year.

Graecyn signed her name

So excited to get her Thomas the Train Turbo Flip

We sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn, left cookies and milk for Santa, and Eric read her "A Night Before Christmas", something my dad always did for us.

Christmas morning everyone slept in until 7:45 a.m.!  Eric and I woke Graecyn up and let her know that Santa had made a stop at our house.  She jumped out of bed and we headed downstairs to see what he left.  She got the chalk board she asked for (it is a combination chalk board, marker board, paint set) and all the art supplies to go with it.  He also left her a Barbie DVD, hair bows, Frozen socks and tights, and some fingernail polish.  Cody got a ball tower, books, bibs, and teethers.

6 Months

6 months old...1/2 a year already! New things this month are...

• You are so ticklish, especially on your side and thighs
• You laugh easily at most things; your face lights up when you see your sister and Daddy.
• Everything that touches your hands goes straight to your mouth.  
• You drool like crazy...still no teeth, but it has to be soon by the amount of drool and the chewing on everything.
• You're still not sleeping through the night - still waking 3 or 4 a.m.  You love to sleep on your tummy with your butt in the air.  When you're really tired, you draw your knees and arms in and poke your little butt in the air.
• You're doing well eating solids and seem to like bananas, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal.  We're starting to give you solids twice a day now.
• You love to click your tongue.
• You push yourself up on your hands and knees often; I wonder if you'll start crawling before you start sitting up on your own!
• You are still a supported sitter, but getting very close to sitting on your own; you can sit for a few seconds before toppling over.
• You constantly move your legs – always kicking, especially when you gets excited.
• You are very jumpy - any sudden sound makes you jump.
• You are so strong and love to grab at eye glasses and hair.
• You love when I sing “Itsy Bitsy Spider”; this song stops your crying and makes you smile instantly.
• You rarely cry or fuss and usually only do so if you are tired, bored or hungry!
• Your sister loves to be around you, giving you kisses and holding you and you love to be around her too.
• At your 6 month check-up, you weighed 15 lbs (7th percentile) - you've had a stomach virus the past week that I'm sure has caused you to loose some weight as you haven't had much of an appetite; I'm sure you'll put the pounds back on once you start eating like normal.  Also, your length measured 26" (15th percentile), which I'm not sure is accurate (the nurse first captured your weight at 14 lbs and the doctor did a recheck...am thinking your length maybe should have been rechecked as well).

Thanksgiving

We traveled to Iowa for Thanksgiving this year; we were supposed to leave on Saturday, but the first big snowstorm of the season hit just before we left, delaying our departure by a day.  Graecyn and I took advantage of the new snow by exploring and making snow angels.

The Iowa drive was long, but much better than our first trip with Cody.  We had to stop about every three hours or so to feed him, burp him, change his diaper, or just let him stretch.  Graecyn was an awesome traveler and so happy to have the iPad with her favorite games and movies on it.  If we were traveling just with her, we could probably drive straight through without stopping.  Hopefully, four years from now, Cody is just as good of a traveler as his big sister is.

Graecyn had so much fun playing with her cousins.  We went swimming at the Y where she had a blast going down the slide and jumping in the pool.  

She played on Papa's rope swing.

And made a gingerbread house - I think they all enjoyed eating the frosting and candy more than making the house.

Baby Theodore

Twins

Growing Up

5 Months

5 months old already! New things this month are...

• Laughing - you have started to really laugh and it is the sweetest sound!
• You still love bath time and are so calm and relaxed during it.
• You have discovered your feet and have them in your mouth as much as possible.
• You drool like crazy...no teeth yet, but by the amount of drool you have, we're thinking it won't be long.  
• You're still not sleeping through the night - still waking around 11 or 12 and 3 or 4 a.m.
• You still won't nurse, so it's all bottles for you; I'm still pumping about 4 times a day and so far my supply is keeping up...except for when you recently went through a major growth spurt.  More than one night you ate 15-17 ounces in a 4-hour period - I had to dip into my freezer stash during this time!  Because of this, we went ahead and started you on solids a little early.  So far, you have eaten rice cereal, baby oatmeal, bananas and avocado.  The only one you don't seem to like is avocado, but I'm going to keep trying.
• Your grip is super strong - Graecyn and I have to make sure to keep our hair out of your hands!
• By our home measurements, you weigh around 16 lbs and are 26"" long.

It is so much fun to watch you change!