Hello! Happy New Year! I thought I would start out with two pictures of the ultimate morning faces. Can't wait for the prom dates to see these!
Here we are under the tree on Christmas Eve. You can see that Matthew totally understands the concept--we had to keep taking Uncle Dennis's present (his yearly dose of socks) out of his hands. Like most babies, though, we were much more interested in the paper than in what the paper was hiding.
Christmas was a blast. We have had a Toys backward R Us explosion in our living room. The hits of Christmas seem to be the butterfly-shaped rocker that Grandpa M. gave us and the giant Fisher Price jungle contraption that Grandma & Grandpa R. gave us (it's bigger than the babies!) We also got some shape sorters from Nana. We can't sort the shapes yet (okay, Mommy & Daddy can, but Rachel & Matthew can't) but the shapes are fun to bang together. We're working hard to find new places to store the toys. I think for their birthday we'll be asking that all gifts be able to fit inside a shoe box.
Another highlight of Christmas was that the babies got to meet their Great-Grandma Miller for the first time. They thought she was fabulous! I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual. It was great to have a chance to talk to her, since Kris & I hadn't seen her since before the babies.
We actually celebrated Christmas four or five times--starting with Grandpa Roach's family on Saturday night, then Nana on Sunday night, then my cousins on Monday night (more people we haven't seen for ages! Hello to San Antonio!), then Grandpa M. & Great Grandma on both Tuesday & Wednesday and Grandma & Grandpa R on Christmas morning. We got to see Uncle Dennis twice, and all of the cousins several times. I'm hoping that this week of crowds will help cure Rachel of her extreme separation anxiety. We were calling it stranger anxiety, but it's not just strangers. She screams at anyone who's not me, Kris, Aunt Kelly or Aunt Jan. Her grandmothers love this, let me tell you.
The babies have discovered Shana--this is about as close as she will get to them, but they are fascinated by her!
I realize it's been a while, but we've been busy! At our November doctor appointment, Matthew was 19lb, 9 oz, and Rachel was 16 lb, 9 oz. They were both 27 inches long. Yes, he's a hefty boy! We're already breaking out the 12-18 month clothes for our 7 month old darling. We're eating stage 2 baby foods (prunes with apples! squash! peas! YUM!) and rice cereal. By February we should be able to start more interesting foods. We'll see.
Matthew is trying really hard to crawl. He can get up on all fours & crawl, but he can't quite get the forward motion yet. Daddy's trying to demonstrate, but for some reason, instead of inspiring Matthew to crawl, this only inspires him to laugh like crazy. I think if he just hangs out with his cousin Zachary a little more, he'll figure it out.
Rachel shows no real interest in crawling. While her brother flips to his tummy the second he's on the floor, she is content to sit & chew on everything in sight. Her hair is getting really long, and this morning she sat back up for the first time after being on her back.
Both babies seem to have the beginnings of some teeth. At least, the crankiness, drool, and red gums are all there. I haven't seen any actual teeth. In spite of the crankiness, most nights they go to sleep around 7 and sleep through until 4 a.m. I wish Kris & I were getting that much sleep! Unfortunately, after they go to bed, we still need to clean up the destruction they caused in the family room & kitchen.
We have found that there are a few things that can almost always cure the crankiness--Blue's Clues (with Steve, not with that poser Joe!), the 'host' of Noggin, Moose A Moose & his songs (if anyone knows where I can get a DVD of just Moose, I will be eternally grateful!), and a fascinating show called Yo Gabba Gabba. We have a stuffed Blue & a stuffed Brobee from YGG, and Rachel hugs them all the time.
My New Year's resolution is to be slightly more on top of things, so I hope you'll be hearing from me before the end of January! Love & hugs to everyone!
