Sitting, Teeth, and Inch Worming (Pics and Video)

Alex (in grey) talking with Ben (in blue)

http://youtu.be/0N3JLC0VaIA

     

100%He
He has a beautiful voice!  Ben was talking back, but I didn't catch it on camera.  I had to put the table against the couch because they were very determined to make it to the floor.
 

More baby wrestling! 

       

 http://youtu.be/kN3uxi__X9A

Ben is not happy!  Alex is trying to hug him to make it better.

Here is one of them chatting back and forth.  I think Alex is the one laughing.  I couldn't get any closer or they would stop to look at me.  You can hear  better than you can see.

Here are some new pics, but I don't know which baby is in some of them.  Maybe I'll update later, or maybe you can guess.

Ben (I think) sitting

 

Ben (I think)

 

Alex has gotten pretty mobile.  He doesn't exactly crawl, but he .... inch worms? around.  he scrunches up and then pushes out.  It is slow movements, but he found himself stuck under a toy.  He was not pleased.

 

Alex (I think).  He was standing on Cody's chest and ended up with his legs on each side of Cody's neck squeezing.  Cody took this as an invitation to play fight.  He made the angry face and faked choking Alex.  He couldn't see that Alex spit up at the same time.  I think that nice long streak of white goo makes the picture way more awesome.  Alex has the last laugh when that spitup fell on Cody's face.  You win Alex, you win.  (No babies were hurt in the taking of this picture)

 

Taking a nap together.  Alex in grey Ben in blue

 

This is a little vibrating cow thing.  It is really hard to turn on.  Alex decided it was easier to just suck on its nose.

 

Ben (I think)

 

Cousin hugging Ben

Alex in grey Ben in blue

 



 

Alex in grey Ben in blue

 

The babies have an odd love for that green stuffed toy.  Not sure which is which.

     
The babies are doing really well.  Ben cut his first tooth last week.  He has a second one coming any minute.  Alex cut his first two teeth yesterday. 

They have started to really chat with each other.  They move around relatively well.  Sometimes I catch them pivoting to face each other and then laughing back and forth.  It sounds like one tells a joke and the other laughs then the first one laughs too.  I notice they get a little fussy if they don't get some time together.  It is very cute. 

They are sitting on their own okay if they are in the mood and you position them just so.  They haven't started leaning on a hand to hold themselves up, but they can use their abs to correct their position.

100%

        

Growing out of Toys

 

Today our grill decided to basically run a self cleaning cycle.  We put the babies down while we were taking care of it.  Here is what they were doing while we were dealing with the grill:

 

 

They are doing really well.  I'll do more formal updates later.  They are rolling both ways, a lot.  They can pretty much sit for short periods without help.  Sometimes I catch them talking to each other.  Sometimes I catch them stealing each other's toys.

 

Here are more pictures:

 

 

Alex is solidly a tummy sleeper now.  Ben now does the same thing in the rock and play.  It looks like the rock and play is getting retired.

 

 

The activity center on the floor is also getting retired.  Here is why.

 

Here is  Alex yanking on the leg of the overhead thing.

 

Ben enjoying his new spot.

 

Alex playing with the leg of the overhead thing.

 

Overhead thing knocked over.  Ben playing with all of the things that were dangling above but are now in a pile on the floor.

 

View from above

 

Ben with his crinkle blanket

 

Ben in the green Alex in the red.  You will see that they now play on the activity mat, but the overhead thing is gone.  The boys holding hands.  They put themselves in this position.

 

 

Ben on left Alex on right.  Cody's face is starred out.  I think it is a great picture, but Cody will complain about the weird face he is making. You can see Alex making a move to steal Ben's chew toy.

 

Alex looking at the camera

 

 

 

25 weeks! (5 months 4 weeks)

 

Baby Battle.

 

Alex in red.  Ben in blue.  You can see Ben is holding on Alex's foot.  That is because Alex was using it to karate chop Ben's belly.  The blue thing on Alex's leg is a legwarmer.  I refer to that later in the post.

 

 

Alex kicking Ben

 

Alex using Ben to pivot.

 

Ben outside playing a trumpet.

 

 

Alex chewing, as usual

 

 

 

Alex

 

 

 

Weight:  over 15.5 lbs

New developments: Rolling!  He started rolling back to belly yesterday.  He's been rolling belly to back for a while.  I'm super excited.  That is on track for a baby his actual age, not adjusting because they were premature.  Normal babies!  So happy.  That doesn't mean all milestones will be on track, but I'm happy. 

He laughs at weird noises.  Cody has taken that as his opportunity to make all the weird noises he wants that I would usually yell at him for making. 

The boys are finally starting to pay attention to each other.  They only do when they are in the right mood though.  It is funny because very rarely are they in the mood to interact at the same time.  They've only cooed back and forth a few times for instance.  Usually one will try to make contact and the other one gets nervous and cries.  Every now and then they'll have a baby wrestling match like in the pictures above.  It is very slow motion and very uncoordinated, but hilarious.

What he is wearing:  They have made it to their 3-6 month stuff.  Some things are 6 month + if their giant head gets in the way.  I got some SUPER cool leg warmers.  I first saw them with cloth diapers.  They are super cute.  The leg warmers are supposed to protect the knees of little crawlers and make diaper changes quicker since you don't have to deal with pants.  If you know me, you know I love leg warmers... so any excuse is a good excuse.

See: http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?products_id=1785  cute.

Favorite memory of the week:  The triumph of rolling over.  Also, I'm loving the baby giggles.
Least favorite memory of the week: Now that he discovered rolling over, when I put him in the crib he immediately rolls over.  The problem is that he HATES being on his belly most of the time.  So, he just starts screaming.  When he gets worked up he just sticks his arms out to the sides and can't roll back to his back.  That little pain in the butt.  That means I have to come flip him back over.  He rolls belly to back just fine when he isn't worked up.
What we're looking forward to: I think sitting will be fun.

 

Smiling

 

sleeping with arms up and a blanket on his face, as usual

 

 

 

Ben

 

 

Weight:  over 15 lbs

New developments:  They are both now solidly on the weight growth charts.  They are in the area of 20th percentile for babies born at the same time as them.  They used to be in the 0 percentile.  Their doctor was quite pleased with that.  It basically means they are now just a little on the small side for their age, but not like circus small.

Ben did his first official roll back to belly today.  He did a naked one a couple days ago on a changing pad while Cody was changing him, but Cody says it doesn't count because he used the edge of the pad with his leg to get over.  Either way, he's doing it now. 

They both have a favorite toy.  Unfortunately its the same one.  That has caused problems already.  They will steal it from the other or grab it and smack the other with it.  Fun.

What he is wearing:  same as Alex

Favorite memory of the week: He was in his room scream crying, refusing to nap.  He curled up with his legs in the air, so I used his hand to grab his feet.  He stopped for a second and then started laughing.  That made me laugh.  It was good he made me laugh, because I'm getting pretty tired of them not napping.

Least favorite memory of the week: They are no longer my good sleepers.  One or the other is waking me up 2 times at night.  Once around 2:30 and once around 4:30.  I'm getting really tired of that.  Also, Ben has decided not to take a morning nap.  This gets him off schedule from Alex and makes everyone grumpy.  They are currently in their cribs screaming, but they need to nap!  Sorry babies.

What we're looking forward to: The NICU reunion is this weekend.  I think it will be a lot of fun to see the people that took such good care of our babies. 

Monkey feet like his mommy.  The red toy in the bottom right corner is their favorite.

 

favorite toy

 

The purple circle is where he scratched under his eye.  Well he scratched it or Alex did.  It was so close to his eyeball.  It looked bad for a while.  The green circle is over his giant hand.  His hand is not usually that giant, I think it is a camera trick.

 

 

same without circles

My baby the supermodel

 

 

He wants that toy in his mouth.

 

They are not really crawling, but they sure do make a lot of progress doing whatever they do.  He started off over on the blankets.  He wasn't even on the red blanket, so he was farther away than you can see with the image.  They roll and wiggle pretty far.

 

 

 

I'm not sure which baby this is, but it is very cute.

 

 

For my sister.  Mom will make her look at the stupid baby pictures, so here is a baby picture that you will actually enjoy!  :)  Sheppy in our unmowed grass.