And They're Off!

Another post of playing catch up. These pictures and stories are from January/February

I could not wait for my little beans to crawl. People often comment on how much more work they must be now that they are mobile, but it is exactly the opposite. Our quality of life has increased 10 fold since they started crawling. However this increase in quality of life is a result of two things independent of each other, but they seemed to happen around the same time. 1: they crawl and 2: they sleep through the night. And just like that my life went from being a crazy sleepless exhaustive whirlwind circus to a crazy somewhat exhaustive whirlwind circus. ( more about the circus part later)

Adelyn was the first to crawl. She started showing signs she was ready to crawl back in December right around Christmas. It didn't take her long to go from getting up on all 4 to scooting. Here are some fun pictures and video of when she figured it out.
Step 1: Figuring out she could push herself up

Step 2: Figuring out how to postion herself so she could move and not face plant

Step 3: Give up on crawling and just scoot.

Emma was not very happy her sister was moving and she wasn't. It only took a few short weeks before Emma figured it out too. Emma was the funniest little scooter. I don't know how she managed it, but she learned to scoot using only her arms. That little girl has some buff arms! After months of crawling like that she has some serious chiseled biceps. When she first started she would grunt every time she pulled herself, I can't say I blamed her it takes a lot of effort  to pull your whole body using nothing but your two little arms. I would always know when Emma was on the move because I'd hear these little grunts around the apartment every couple of seconds as she pulled herself. Super Cute! Although I must say it has worked to her advantage a lot. She might be tiny and petite but that girl gets what she wants and there is no messing with her. In a tug of war between toys she can beat any kid around. 

Around the middle to end of February they ditched the scoot and army crawl and started crawling. They are pretty fast now, it gets to be interesting when they decided to go in different directions at the same time.

When we got home things were a lot different from when we left back in November. They have become much happier babies. My mom is even shocked with how much better they are doing now as compared to their first few months ( My poor mom was such a big help the first few months. She can testify to how much Emma and Addie both cried and how difficult they were as infants. I don't know if I ever mentioned but both girls had colic, for lack of a better term. Every time the sun went down their "colic" would set in and they would cry no matter what we tried to settle them down they just fussed for hours until they went to bed. They both also had reflux. Emma had it really bad, she could projectile like no one else's business! It was bad. I think every time my mom left to go back to St. George she was a little worried about how I was going to survive.) BUT I have reached the light at the end of the tunnel. Now that they can crawl to the toys and other things they want they have become such happier babies.  Their colic has ended and their reflux has improved a great deal. In  February we sleep trained the girls. They were getting up every 3 hours during the night and often times they weren't on the same schedule so I was getting up every 1 1/2 with them. It got to be too much so I followed my pediatricians advice on sleep training them. It was 5 days of a lot of crying and extra clingy babies. At one point I called my sister crying because I thought I had broken my children since they had become so whiny and clingy. It was a hard few days but it paid off! After the first day Emma was pretty much sleeping through the night and after 5 days they were both sleeping 10+ hours a night and taking wonderful naps during the day. Like I mentioned earlier, our quality of life has increased 10 fold! My little sweet hearts are such happy little girls now! They have so much fun crawling around the house following each other from room to room. I am starting to see how twins can eventually become easier than singletons. They play so well together some days they can go an hour or so playing together without coming to me once.

One day I was cleaning the kitchen. Emma was playing in the living room, but I couldn't see Adelyn. I checked everywhere in our apartment and there was no sign of her! I called her name and I heard some noise com from my bedroom. I went in and I couldn't see her anywhere. I called her name again and I heard some squeaks come from under our bed. She found a pretty good hiding spot!

Hiding under our bed

Shortly after they learned how to crawl they would get tired easily. I found one or both of them several times zonked out in the middle of their toys.

Their favorite room to crawl to is the bathroom. They go in there often and stand up next to the tub and pound on the tub until I come into the room. Bath time is their favorite time of the day. I think they are trying to get me to give them extra baths!

Little Miss Adelyn begging for a bath

We had a check up at with the dr. a few weeks ago. He asked if they were crawling. When I told him they were crawling, pulling themselves up and walking along furniture and Adelyn can stand alone for a few seconds he was blown away! He told me that for 9 month old babies born 6 weeks premature he would expect them to be just barely be figuring out how to crawl. He couldn't believe they were so advanced! I was and am a very proud Momma!