Twins: 7 months old

 We are 7 months old!!!

We love to hold hands or arm wrestle....whatever you want to call it

We are going to be getting into so much trouble soon, can't you tell???

 

Miles sat so still for his picture this time

 

Calvin....not so much!



He is making all sorts of funny faces these days

He wouldn't sit still!

You silly monkey...I guess this will have to do :)

 

Here is what we've been up to lately:

 

 

Grandma and Grandpa Van Horn came to watch us all day one Saturday in August while mom had a class to attend and dad was away on guys weekend. We had a fun time being spoiled. Notice our shirts..."Grandpa's Favorite" and "Grandma says YES" :)

 

<note to our cousins: Grandma and Grandpa didn't buy us these shirts, mom did. Gma and Gpa told us they don't have a favorite :)>

 

We went to Omaha over Labor Day weekend to help Meg and Aaron celebrate their wedding. It was fun seeing all the pretty girls mom went to college with :) We did pretty well with our first hotel stay even though we both had our first colds. Mom and Dad realized that it is A LOT of work to travel anywhere with two babies. But we had fun!

 

We are getting pretty mobile now. Not crawling yet, but we are starting to roll all over the place. Miles can get from one side of the room to the other just by rolling.

 

And because of our new talent Miles has decided that he would rather practice his rolling instead of sleep through the night. We were so lucky that the boys started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks old, but now that Miles has figured out he can move.....he does it ALL NIGHT LONG! So, for the whole month of September we have gone back to waking up at night (sometimes 5 times/night because his limbs kept getting stuck in the bars) Mom finally caved and put the bumpers in his crib and it has helped a little bit. Otherwise, we're working on crying it out without replacing the paci (although some nights Miles wins).  

 

Telling secrets :)

Miles was almost a whole pound smaller than Calvin at birth, but now he is a whole pound bigger!!  Here are their stats from their 6 month checkup (9/6/12)

Calvin: 27 inches (52%); 17lbs. 15oz. (51%); 18.5 head size (99%)
Miles: 27.25 inches (63%); 18lbs. 12oz. (66%); 17.75 head size (87%)

The doctor was worried about Calvin's head size since it has grown quite a bit since his last checkup and it has always been off the chart in size. He was the baby with fluid on his brain in-utero so we've always been concerned about him. After birth he had a head ultrasound and it came back normal and then a few weeks ago we had another brain scan done and it came back normal too. The kid just has a big melon :)

We've had a physical therapist working with the boys since July because Calvin has a flat spot on one side of his head. Both boys were a little delayed on their rolling over, which leads to delays in pushing themselves up, sitting up and crawling. We're getting there....but a few weeks behind. I have to keep reminding myself that they were born three weeks early....so I just need to give them more time and they usually figure it out.

 

Speaking of delays....Calvin has been eating food since the beginning of August and Miles JUST figured it out about mid September. The doctor referred us to an occupational therapist to help Miles figure out the whole eating thing....but a couple of days after our doctor's appointment...he figured it out on his own! I guess every kid IS different :)

 

Calvin LOVES food......unless it is green :)

We are getting so big that we hardly fit in our 6-9 month clothes. We are wearing some 12 month clothes already!

 

 

Miles HATES getting his face washed!

 

We watched our first Iowa/Iowa State game. I guess we were wearing the wrong colors though :(

 

We LOVE when Daddy comes home from work!  Calvin is definitely a daddy's boy. His whole body shakes with excitement when he sees Andrew.

 

Miles is our "chill" baby now.....and Calvin is a little more high maintenance :)

 

We love to wrestle (Okay....so maybe Calvin just really likes to pull Miles' hair)

But then we kiss and make up :)

 

That's what we've been up to!

Come visit us soon 'cause we are growing up quickly!

<3 Miles and Calvin

 

Twins: 6 months old

Brother, let me tell you a secret...

We're a half year old!!!

Well....the boys turned 6 months old on August 20th. I think I have been putting off this post because I am in denial. My babies are a half year old! Where has the time gone?  I haven't cried yet, but I have been close!  I want time to slow down! 

The boys were REALLY easy for the first 3 months and now over the past three months they have become a bit more challenging. They have figured us out....they know what they can do to get our attention.  Calvin was once our quiet, sweet baby and now he has turned into a LOUD (sometimes whiny) baby. I guess he was sick of Miles getting all of our attention when he cried so he has figured out he can make this ridiculous cough/whine noise to get our attention.

We never thought we would say it, but over the past month Miles has been the easier baby (Miles was always a bit more high maintenance). Maybe they just wanted to balance things out for the second half of the year :)  

Either way....we have it pretty easy! Overall the boys are really good and we can't complain! Even during the toughest/fussiest/whiniest/sleepless/tiring/frustrating moments....I wouldn't trade those moments for ANYTHING! My life is pretty perfect!

Here is what we have been up to lately.....

Mommy bought us sippy cups, but we don't really know how to use them yet. 

Notice all the scratches on my head? We have really bad eczema and we scratch ourselves until we bleed. We have tried every soap and lotion out there and nothing helps :( Makes mommy sad when she comes in our room and there is blood all over the sheets....but we don't seem to mind. It makes us look tough!

Uncle Jason babysat us for the first time in July so Mom and Dad could go out to dinner for Mom's birthday. We had lots of fun!

We've started rolling over so we gave up our swaddles on July 27th (a little over 5 months old). Mom and Dad were dreading it, but it wasn't too bad. We figured out the whole "sleeping through the night without our swaddles" thing in just one weekend!

We went to Charles City for our Great Uncle's birthday party on July 29th. We had fun visiting our Great-Grandparents too (Gutharts and Stewarts)!

We are getting pretty big!! We love to stand up and we are working on sitting up on our own. Calvin rolls from his tummy to his back and Miles rolls from his back to his tummy (of course we are opposite :)

We went to Jester Park with Grandpa Brad and two of the daycare kiddos. We loved watching them play in the water. 

We started eating baby food. Calvin loves it! Miles hates it! (opposites again!) Calvin gets mad in between every bite because you can't shovel it in fast enough. We are lucky to get even one bite in Miles. 

We got our first (and last) pet! Dad bought us an ant hill. Okay...so it was really for the daycare kids, but we enjoyed it too (sorta).

We love to play together and have started picking on each other too. Calvin loves pulling Miles' hair--probably because he doesn't have any himself. Miles doesn't seem to mind and has only cried once from the abuse. We think it is really funny when we see our brother. We are going to be such great friends!

We helped our cousin Zachary celebrate his baptism. We did pretty well in church for the first time. 

Mommy and Daddy took us to the park for the first time. We loved the swing!  

That's what we've been up to lately! Hope you enjoyed it!  

Twins: Five months old

A year ago tomorrow we found out that the two of you had taken up residence in my tummy!  This is the first picture I had of you and a moment I will never forget. Look how tiny you were! 

Miles is baby A and Calvin is baby B (Cal...you even had a big head at 4 weeks in
utero...poor baby!)

And look at you now!

You are FIVE months old already. Where does the time go?? We think you boys are pretty awesome.....and so do lots of other people! We always get stopped when we are out in public....probably because of your super cute looks (or maybe because you are twins...and no one has EVER seen twins before*insert sarcasm*) Here is how the conversation goes.....

Stranger: Aww, are they twins? 
Mommy: Yes they are <isn't it obvious?>
Stranger: A boy and a girl?
Mommy: Nope, two boys <hence the blue outfits, car bibs, blue blankets, etc..... seriously people, not all twins come in a boy/girl package (Sorry Calvin...you have been called a girl at least a half a dozen times already...must be the lack of hair)>
Stranger: Two boys...you are going to have your hands full. <really?....can boys be THAT much more difficult than girls. I think not! I know some pretty wild girls!>
Mommy: Nah
Stranger: But you must be exhausted.
Mommy: We are really lucky...they are really good babies. I think two is actually easier than one!
Stranger: (trying to look convinced but in fact coming off as... who is this crazy woman... twins are cute to look at but I'm glad I don't have them) Well...they are really cute! <would you really tell me otherwise?>

Twins are awesome! I wouldn't have it any other way!  I can't imagine life without either one of you!  Just look how much fun we have...

I got your arm!!

ooo...payback!

Here's what we've been up to the past month:

 

In June we went to Minnesota to attend our first wedding for mommy's friend, Jessica. She was a beautiful bride! We apparently have stranger danger now because we didn't like all the people. Mom and dad left us at Grandma and Grandpa's while they went to party at the reception.

After spending the weekend in Minneapolis we drove up to Brainerd, MN to check out Grandpa Lyle's new lake house. We are going to have TONS of fun spending our summers at the lake!  

Backrow: Addie (2), Austin (5), Carter (7), Lauren (2)
Front row: Calvin (4.5 months), Miles (4.5 months), Zachary (4 months)

We went swimming for the first time with all of our cousins. We had so much fun in the pool (well....not tons of fun, but we didn't cry....so I guess that is a success!)                                                     

Addie, Uncle Steve, and Miles

We were so excited to see Uncle Steve, Aunt Jamie, and our three cousins from Ohio. We wish we could see them more often!

We celebrated our first 4th of July by doing....nothing.  It was way too hot to do anything.  Maybe next year :)

We've learned a few new tricks too!  Calvin started rolling over at the beginning of July and Miles just rolled over for the first time today (both directions!)

Miles is our LOUD baby! And I mean LOUD!!!  He screams ALL THE TIME. It is pretty funny right now, but it won't be too funny soon when we are out in public. 

We are starting to love our jumpers!

Mom dressed us up in these ridiculous outfits! We got the onesies for a baby gift....and mom just thought we needed the matching hair too!

And we've started cereal!

 Calvin loves it!

 And Miles....hates it!

 That is what we have been up to these days! Thanks for reading!