8 Months Old

8 months old and sweeter by the day. These two are continuing to show us their very different personalities every day and we are loving watching them learn and grow. Read on to see a few of our favorite new things about month 8! 

The Magical Merlin Sleep Sack Transition

Sleep. Boy do I LOVE sleep and even more than myself getting sleep, I LOVE when my kids get enough sleep. You know those Snickers commercials where the person is a completely different person because they are hungry and then they get a Snickers and they become who they are again? That is pretty much my family when it comes to sleep vs no sleep. We NEED our sleep in order to function at our highest level of happiness. So needless to say when it was creeping up on the time to transition the twins from their Magic (yes, the first word in the name holds complete truth) Magic Merlin Sleepsuit to something else I kept putting it off. On the company’s website they advise you to only keep your baby in this sleepsuit until he/she is able to roll over. Well, Harlow starting rolling over at 3 months and she was barely big enough for the sleepsuit by that time. The baby has to be at least 12 pounds in order to wear the sleepsuit to begin with. It is generally used as the next step after babies are swaddled but still need to feel cozy. With Rhett I remember following this rule to a T. Once he started rolling over, we took him out of the sleepsuit and for the most part transitioned wonderfully. Now with the twins I was super worried because they were both great sleepers with the Merlin’s and I really, I mean really did not want to mess that mojo up. I decided to start attempting them to transition to the Zipadee Zip sleeper next and only begin with one of their naps during the day to test it out.(PS I LOVE this company, I messaged them asking if they had any coupon codes because I am buying for our twins and they had a twin discount! Woo Hoo! Never hurts to ask!) Anyway, back to the story the first time did not go great. I was completely discouraged after ten minutes. Initially the babies fell right asleep, or so I thought and then out of nowhere both babies had flipped on their tummies and and were screaming upstairs in these adorable starfish type sleeping blankets. I attempted to roll them back over and then they would immediately flip back on their tummies. I for sure thought our days of good sleep were long gone at this point. I ended up switching them right back to the Merlin’s and told myself that tomorrow is a new day and we would revisit and try again. And that we did. We tried the Zipadee sleepers for a few days in a row and eventually the babies got used to sleeping on their tummies or they flipped themselves back over! The challenge I am finding with these sleepers is that the babies aren’t able to access their hands. It’s really not a HUGE issue because Harlow is quite content chewing on the sleeves because that’s all there is and she loves doing that, but she also really likes her pacifier and it is a bit of a challenge for her to grab the penguin, find the paci and get it in her mouth with little to no use of her hands. Somehow though she has figured out a way because some mornings I go in to pick her up and she is in a completely different spot in her crib and has that paci right in there. As for Ryne, I initially thought I wanted to have my mom sew a bit of a hand hole for him to stick his hand out because for some random reason he has chosen to not really take to the paci but he has decided to suck on his left ring finger when he is sleepy. Go figure right? Anyway, the way we have worked around this issue is just zipping his right arm in, keeping his left arm out and zipping the sleeper right up under his left arm. It has worked great! He stays cozy and still has access to his left hand! Winning! I am hopeful that when we are ready to leave the Zipadee’s all together it will be easy peasy since they are already rolling and flipping around. I do know that once they are able to sit themselves up or even stand/pull up that will bring its own set of challenges when it comes to sleeping, but for now we are enjoying some continued Zzzzzz’s.

They See Me Strollin....

SPRING IS IN THE AIR!!!!!!!!!! Oh wait, it’s Indiana...so let me rephrase that SPRING IS IN THE AIR ONE DAY AND THE NEXT IT’S NOT BUT THEN IT COMES BACK AND YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT THE WEATHER WILL DO!!!! Okay, okay really though when you feel that first teeny tiny sign of a spring day how PUMPED (so many capital letters Claire) are you? One of my husband and my favorite things is to go for a drive on Purdue’s campus on one of the first nice spring days and just see everyone coming alive. People are outside throwing frisbees, riding bikes, running, day drinking, blaring music and seriously loving life. Well, it’s really no different here at the Brown house. Minus the day drinking and music blaring at a much lower volume we most definitely can be found outside smiling and loving life just as happy as the college kids. When the twins were first born last summer and into the fall it was a tad tricky enjoying the weather if Matt wasn’t home to hold one of the babies because they were so tiny and we didn’t have stroller to fit them then and I wasn’t able to carry them in a baby carrier when they were so tiny either. I remember once or twice I put them in their carseat stroller and we were able to go on a walk, but that really wasn’t always ideal. So now, we are so excited that they have enough head and body control that we are able to put them in a regular double jogging stroller or the double umbrella stroller. Hallelujah! The first time we put them in one of the strollers without their carseat I am pretty sure they looked at me like “what in the world are you doing lady?” In fact, I actually laughed looking at their expressions. Once they both got settled in, had a blanket, their sock hats and a toy to chew on they were set. I began to push them around and they seemed to think things were pretty fantastic at this point. They were able to watch Hattie and Rhett playing like maniacs because they were also so excited to be outside just as much as the rest of us. We have gone on walks around the neighborhood, to the park, I took them on a run in the jogging stroller and we also just straight up chill in the driveway. Knowing that we are now able to rock the double strollers, toys and snacks, we will not let anything hold us back from enjoying the nicer weather days ahead. If only Indiana would get their act together and realize it’s March and it needs to lighten up on the snow and cold wind gusts already eh?

Teeth!
FYI it is SO hard to take pictures of their two tiny teeth, these are the best I could do!

We have two teeth people! The day finally came, I checked and checked multiple times a day and then one day there it was, one tooth and shortly following a day or two later a second tooth. The months, weeks and days leading up to these first teeth popping in I was afraid of how I would react. I remember crying when I felt that first one poke through with Hattie and Rhett I was shocked because his first one appeared at 3 months old. Well, this time I felt Low’s first and I immediately told myself after I announced the tooth to Hattie and Rhett (Matt was at work) “Wow, look at you. You’re doing just fine. You’re able to talk about it and you’re not upset at all.” And then it happened. I texted Matt and my parents that I just felt a tooth and then out of nowhere I just started crying! I kept telling myself to stop crying and it would not stop. I was overwhelmed with emotions and I had prepared myself to be excited and not be upset and you can see how well that prep went **insert sobbing tears**. Anyway, I am happy to report that now that those little teeth have popped through they could not be any cuter! I was afraid of losing those sweet gummy smiles and now they are replaced with the sweetest little toothy smiles and I am excited to see more teeth pop through for not only the adorable grins but also for the babies to be able to chew food even better!

One Does Not Simply "Spring Forward"

Seriously, the time change is a pain. How can changing one hour ahead or behind really mess up someone’s schedule? You would think just one hour would be easy to get back on track but let me tell you it was quite the challenge. This is the first time the time change has ever affected us at least in a negative way. In the past it just kind of happened and we went about our business. Sure, Matt or I might be tired and feel a tad “off” when the sun was shining when we were used to it being dark or vice versa but this time the twins were on such a schedule that it was completely thrown off. I was surprised at how hard it was to get them back on their schedule again at the times that worked for us. I’m not even kidding when I tell you it took days to get back. Having two babies thrown off and trying to get them back on schedule together is not an easy task. There was a lot of keeping tired babies awake past the time they wanted to go down for a nap, putting them down before they were officially ready to go to sleep, holding a baby trying to get him/her to sleep when their clock was crazy off and a few other things that I’m sure we had to do that I don’t remember because I was insanely sleep deprived for a few days. Not to mention I did all of this without having a clue on what to do to get them back on schedule. All I knew was the times that they usually napped, ate, played, went to bed and so on and that one hour threw it completely off. I just wanted it back to that schedule and it took some working on but we got it back. Not sure how, but we did it! Fingers crossed next fall they will be older just enough to not have as much of an issue as they did this last time. Here’s to hoping!

A Whole New "Seated" World

Last month I talked about how I felt like I was juggling when helping the babies learn to sit up and how much of a challenge that was. Now they are sitting up on their own and I couldn’t be more excited. Sure, I get a tad sad when we leave one stage and move on to the next knowing that I will never get that previous stage back the way it was but I also know that growing, learning and changing is what we hope and pray for our children. I am trying so hard to embrace every change and look at all of the positives to each new trick and how amazing it is. I know there will be challenges when they start moving but also many exciting things too. Back to sitting up, here are a few thoughts I have on why having both babies sit up is totally awesome and incredibly helpful for me! Now that the babies can sit up they can interact with all of us on a whole new level. They can practice rolling a ball back and forth, playing with toys in a new way, playing with bigger kid toys, can choose toys they want to play with, can turn their heads and see things around them instead of just straight up at the ceiling, have control of their own bodies, working on their core muscles and balance, begin to reach for things, sit up in a high chair in a restaurant and we can get rid of some of the bouncy seats, bumbo seats and other baby gear that is taking over our living room...times two!

Below are their 8 month old milestone pictures.