Happy Half Birthday R&B

Happy 6 month birthday!!!

Six months ago today our little ones made their much anticipated arrival!  The last six months have been truly amazing...everyday is an adventure with R&B.

Rooney's personality continues to develop and keep us on our toes.  She is full of energy and seems to have an opinion about most things.  She is the most particular baby I have ever met.  We now find her up on all fours rocking back and forth trying to get to things, but she hasn't quite figured out how to move forward any way except to take a leap and fall on her face.  She gets back up and does it over and over again, despite me trying to convince her otherwise.   She is most definitely full of fun and I can only imagine the trouble she will convince her brother to get into in the future.   Lee and I are completely smitten by her and she knows exactly how to work us already!

Brady continues to be our cautious, happy, wise guy.  Over the past month, he has picked up a new past time - flirting!  He smiles at anyone and everyone and loves being the center of attention!   The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as he clearly gets his skills from his father.  He has finally realized that playing should be done during the daylight hours.  He still wakes for a bottle once during the night, but at least he goes right back to sleep after it.  Lee also discovered that our once early riser can be easily convinced to go back to sleep, if he is cuddled up next to his daddy in bed.  Brady seems to be a little behind Rooney in hitting milestones, but he doesn't just accomplish things, rather he masters them. 

Over the past month both babies have started eating solids, so far we have tried oatmeal, rice, barley, carrots, peas, parsnips, sweet potatoes and avocado.  Brady was the first to start solids and really took to the cereal. But once we introduced veggies he was no longer a fan of food and stopped eating solids all together.  One day I put both babies in their bumbos and began feeding Rooney and wouldn't you know it, Brady ate like a champ. He always makes a bad face when he tries new foods...and has even choked, puked and cried due to the taste, but we now know he will eat anything as long as Rooney is eating next to him. It's clear that he eats the food only to make sure that Rooney doesn't get it. He often reaches for the spoon when its heading towards her mouth instead of his. Brady is the messiest eater I have ever seen.   He keeps his hands in his mouth when he eats and then typically wipes them full of food all over his face, hair and body. Thus far, parsnips seem to be his favorite food. 

Rooney loves every bit of food we've put near her mouth and usually makes a sound similar to the word YUM with every bite. She is such a neat eater we could probably feed her without a bib.  

Now on to the fun part of the post...

This is both babies go to move to tell us they are tired or scared. 

Our big girl

I love watching them play together

Just chillin' in the grass

The Jumperoo - Brady's new favorite toy

I walked into the room and found this...love it!

The family in front of the White House

Rooney getting ready to crawl

Brady loving hanging out with Courtney, Bryan and his soon to arrive buddy, Baby D.

5 Month Update

We just got back from a great weekend in Connecticut visiting family and while a little late, I felt the need to put an update up for R&B's 5 month birthday. This month was filled with many changes...some good and some not so good.

Our little ones are officially on the move.  They both are rolling fools, which is exciting for them, but I can no longer put them down and expect them to be in the same place when I turn around.  I know this is only the beginning, but it took a couple of days to get use to the mobility.  Brady has some sort of fascination with whatever hides under the couch because he can frequently be found "stuck" with a limb under it. It's pretty funny to watch them try to scoot - they're only successful with their heads, which are luckily still too heavy, resting on the ground, butt high in the air and pushing with their feet.

Brady, previously known as our super sleeper, has decided that the hours between 2AM and 7AM are prime playing times.  UGH.   He started taking a bottle in the middle of the night again :(  I started him on rice cereal and it seems to shorten the "nightly play time" but we would love to get him back to his all night marathon sleep.  Any suggestions???

This month Rooney's appetite really took off.  She has always eaten small amounts frequently.  At their four month doctor's appointment, I was explaining to the doctor that I can never get her to eat more than 4 oz/120 ml at a serving.  We walked out of the office and she decided she needed to eat before we got home and for the very first time ate 5 oz/150ml.  I swear she understood my conversation with the doctor and off she went. She is now eating as much as Brady, if not more and even threw back 7 oz/210 ml in one serving last week.

Rooney periodically sleeps through the night, which makes us very happy.  Since becoming efficient with her rolling over, she, not surprisingly, has decided that sleeping on her stomach is comfortable.  It scares me and I usually roll her back over a few times a night.  If only she would understand that sleeping on her back is best!

Rooney started singing herself to sleep..ok, really its more of a groan.  It is so stinking cute!!  I laugh every time.  The great thing about it, we now know that when the groaning starts our girl is ready for bed.

The babies are so fun to watch interact with each other.  They talk and laugh at each other and seem to usually enjoy being around each other.  While they obviously aren't using "real" words, their talking seems to be more deliberate and Lee and I enjoy thinking that some of their sounds are actual words...we know, and are excited, that they soon enough will be.

Enjoying each other's company :)

Rooney keeping Brady in his place :)

We love tummy time now

Eating rice for the first time

Rooney's new favorite contraption...the jumperoo. 

R&B's first "babysitter"....our lovely 6 year old, Irish neighbor

Happiness..

Happy 5 Months to my babies!

Happy Birthday Aja!

Happy Anniversary Aja and Aji!

Happy Easter to Everyone!

Warning Picture Overload..... 

The Khan Family enjoying a beautiful day in CT

Pupu, Big Cousin Ben and Uncle D

My three favorite people

We have our hands full:)

Such a big boy

Smelling the flowers

You know he's happy when that tongue is out

Picking Flowers

Yeah, the flowers smelled good

Cuteness

Happy Girl

Uncle D with Ben

Ben on the run

Happy Ben

Our Favorite Sounds

Our little apartment has gotten considerably louder lately.  We love R&B's new sounds and as you can tell in the videos below we are willing to make a fool of ourselves just to hear them.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Four Months

Without our permission, our little babies turned into little people.  Both babies have changed dramatically over the past month…in their own ways, of course.   They both seem much taller, heavier and stronger each week.  Our four month appointment isn’t until next week, so we’ll know their exact growth then.  But, they both have full control of their heads, love to stand with only a little balance support, sit upright with minimal support and enjoy trying to rollover…not quite there yet.

Brady is still our laid-back, old soul that continues to impress us with many long uninterrupted nights of sleep!  Our “big man”, as we call him, has the best smiles and hugs ever.  His hugs are so strong and I am sure will get him out of a lot of trouble in the future.  His vocal skills are impressive and he “talks” every chance he gets.  He has developed a new skill, which involves him raising his voice to the point that no one else in the room can be heard.  Luckily, he saves it only for important occasions and when I am holding/playing/changing his sister and not giving him the attention he feels he deserves.  He also reserves this talent for the hot blond lady instructor at the exercise class I take them to, which works out pretty well for him since she is an ex-Rockett and holds him through the whole class, so that all the other moms can get their workout on. He must’ve picked up that trick from his daddy!

Rooney has changed the most this month…well actually the past two weeks.  She woke up one day about two weeks ago and gone was the fussy baby that struggled with her acid reflux.  The acid reflux doesn’t seem to bother her these days and in fact she now can sleep on her back shortly after she eats, a great improvement from holding her upright for an hour after every feeding.  She used to wake up screaming until she was fed and now wakes up with a huge smile and very patient cooing.  Last Friday night, she slept from 9:00 PM to 7:30 AM with only a forced feeding by us at 11:00. Prior to that night, she was up at least twice between midnight and 6:00 AM.  She has gone back to one or two feedings per night, but has started sleeping until 8:30 or 9:00 AM, giving us plenty of time to catch up on our sleep.  Rooney isn’t quite as vocal as her brother, but she gets her baby talk in every chance she gets.  She’s mastered the tummy time routine and needs very little support when standing.  The other day while I was holding her hands she even took a couple of steps forward.  Rooney’s drooling is getting pretty intense and she chews on everything, including my nose.  Gross.  Her new talents this month include open mouth kisses, reaching for me to pick her up and generally just being a happy, patient baby. 

Uncle Jay came to visit us from Atlanta and brought with him several Aunties and an Uncle from NY

 Rooney getting a headstart on her French

 Brady learning how to fix a plasma tv from Dad and Uncle Chris

 Rooney having fun wearing her "I heart India" onesie and princess baby legs

 Brady enjoying an afternoon in the park

 Uncle Scott had a big Saturday night and followed Rooney's lead of sleeping through Sunday brunch

 Rooney showing off her tummy time at the park

 Their first swing!

 Brady is loving his time on the swing

The full tongue, smile I see all day long:)

Reverend Erik cuddling Rooney into a deep sleep



Quick Update

The babes had their three month doctor's appointment this week.  Brady is now two feet tall and weighs 12 pounds, 7 ounces and has transitioned almost exclusively to six month clothes.  Rooney is 23 inches long and weighs 11 pounds, 2 ounces.  Her acid reflux seems to be turning a corner, we still struggle with it, but it seems to continue to get better. 

Brady is definitely our sleeper. He is in bed no later than 8:00 and more often than not sleeps for 10 or 11 hours (a few times 12 hrs).   Rooney typically gets up to eat twice a night and often times we find her waking up her brother by kicking or hitting him...or so we thought.  With the help of Grandma G. visiting this week, we decided to separate them at night.  What we learned was that the culprit was not our feisty Rooney, but rather our sweet Brady.  While alone in the crib the first night, I found the little rascal in all four corners, crying once because his foot was stuck and he had kicked the mobile button enough to turn it on twice. Quite impressive in my opinion because he doesn't rollover yet and slept through all the movement!!  Miss Rooney on the other hand was found peacefully sleeping in the exact same position she was placed in.  Whoops.  I guess I was blaming the wrong kid.  Either way, the days of them sharing a crib are over!

 Our little reader

 Wearing camo like his four older cousins

 Giving us a wave hello

Stylin in her skinny jeans, while eating Sophie and pulling her hair(which she does all the time!)

3 Months

My babies are three months old today!  Lee may have been a bit premature to celebrate sleep last week. Brady has only slept through the night one other time and has had several nights he was more interested in talking than sleeping.  He is definitely our vocal one at this point!  His talking and laughing are the best sounds in the world!  Rooney is busy smiling and has a few sounds she shares with us, but is mostly just a drooling, smiley girl with her tongue out:)

Since, Lee did a great job updating everyone last week on the babies I won't bore you with too many baby milestones, except to say they continue to keep us very busy and we fall more madly in love with them everyday! 

This past weekend, we made the trek via public transportation to Brooklyn to an art showing.  Is it normal to take 3 month old babies to an art gallery?  Well, Lee, Brady and I decided it was just to support one of our favorite organizations Burma Ed.   Ms. Rooney apparently wasn't to keen on the idea and slept the entire way there (two trains and a walk through a busy section of Manhattan), the entire 2.5 hour stay at the gallery and the return trip home...just to wake as we walked in the door.  She is one funny girl, as that was close to the longest stretch of sleep she has ever had!  OK, enough rambling...here are some pictures of my loves....

Rooney was not interested in smiling since she was hungry:)

Trying out their Bumbos for the very first time

Brady is a big fan of his Daddy

The beautiful Rooney

While Daddy works, we take naps by the water.