Michael and Thomas are SIX MONTHS old!!

Here are some bullets about the babies at six months:

• They can both roll both ways, but sometimes Michael forgets he can roll front to back.
• They love being smiled at.
• Thomas is a chew-a-maniac.  He chews on everything.  His favorite thing is still someone else’s thumb.
• They can often be distracted by toys or singing and dancing.
• Neither can sit up or scootch yet.
• I weighed them (in a diaper and onesie) a couple of days ago and came up with something like 14lbs 6oz for Michael and 15lbs 4oz for Thomas.
• They nurse 5-6 times each day.
• They can go 10-12 hours at night without feeding.  One night over the weekend they went 13 hours.  It was… uncomfortable.  :)
• Most of the time Michael is the first to wake from naps and in the morning.  That is not the case today.  Something’s up with Thomas.  :(
• They both loooooove to be held.
• They are each pretty happy being worn in the Ergo or sling as well.  I’ve really only worn them separately.
• They don’t mind riding in the car but have to be very tired to fall asleep.  (This is mostly a very good thing.)
• They are sort of predictable in needing three naps per day.  Each is less than an hour.  :( (But I might have mentioned the loooong nights? Yay that!)
• They wear size 6-9 months clothes very well.  Michael can still wear 3-6 months, but it’s kind of a stretch for Thomas.
• I think they would still wear size 1 disposable diapers.  We haven’t put any on recently.  :) Their cloth dipes are on the middle rise with two rows of snaps showing in the middle.
• Thomas has recently discovered he can put his toes in his mouth.
• Thomas must always be wearing a bib.  He drools constantly.
• Both babies love to laugh.  Typically, Thomas likes to be tickled, and Michael likes laughing at funny jokes.
• They haven’t started solid food and I don’t have any plans to start immediately.  They’re not really showing any signs of readiness, aside from the date on the calendar.
• Neither has teeth yet.
• They are super spoiled by their three older siblings.
• They are so very loved by their momma and daddy.

I can’t believe half a YEAR has passed since they were born!

And now for some pics!

I typed all that up there on Tuesday (I think), and now it’s Friday.  I’m just going to publish a few pictures I took of the boys SOOC (straight out of the camera), even though I want to play with editing them soon.  I’d rather go ahead and get these cuties up though, instead of waiting!

I managed to do TWO mini photo shoots with the babes on Tuesday; the first was inside on the couch.  Mr. Sock Monkey made a quick appearance.  Thomas is very into his feet lately.

I love this one!!

Michael looks so concerned here.  That’s probably because he knows Thomas is going to try and chew on his hand.

Still trying…

I like this one as well, but it’s a little blurry.  I love their smiles though!

And then the domino effect began to kick in…

And they’re down!

Then I got one with my photo shoot helper.  The middles were at preschool.

Then that evening, we went outside to try and get a few more.  I like this one a lot, but of course I cropped off Michael’s knee. That’s what happens when you must engage in wild shenanigans to get them to smile. :)

Then I tried for some individual ones.  I guess they don’t have to be a unit all the time.  :)

Michael:

It appears Thomas wanted to be first.  He wasn’t super happy when Matt put him back down on the blanket.

But then he did a little self-soothing with his two fingers.

Then rolled over to play with his feet for a bit.

Then Matt went over at some point to fix the blanket and cheer him up.

Then he wasn’t so sad!

Now for some silly faces:

And PLENTY of drool and raspberries.  He loves to spit these days!

The boys were pretty done by that point, but my bigs wanted to lay on the blanket for a picture.  I sure do love them.  :)

So there we have it – I can’t believe the babies have made it half way through their first year!! Today I ventured to the Mudpie with them to start working on their foot print plates.  They just got to come for the actual foot printing.  Now I get to go back and decorate them ALL BY MYSELF.  :)

I will update when they’re all done and I’m sure I’ll post info about their 6 month check up next week!

Easter Sunday!

The big three woke up Sunday morning to a yard full of treats from the Easter Grandpa.  :)

I asked them to stand over there so I could take a picture, and they all three faced away from me.  Ha!

There was chocolate on Daddy’s car!

Having a conversation:

They were always putting things in each other’s baskets – such sweet sharers.

James’ little giraffe basket filled up pretty fast, and he had to switch over to his bunny bag that he made at school. :)

Back inside, I let the kiddos eat half of their chocolate egg and the Peep inside… before breakfast!  Best mom ever.

I’m pretty sure they’ve never had so much chocolate in one sitting before.

The babies slept through all of that fun.  I wouldn’t have let them eat chocolate for breakfast anyway.

We got all dressed up and stopped by Gran and Grandpa David’s house for some roses.

We arrived after the 9:40 service had started, so Matt dropped me and the big kids off while he found a parking spot.

Pretty roses from Gran’s bushes!

James wanted the biggest rose.

I delivered the children to their Sunday school classes and then watched them come to the flower cross.

Joanna:

James:

Natalie:

She’s got some great expressions.  :)

Even though they came at three different times, they all put their roses very close to each other.

We dropped off the babies in the nursery at some point so they could hopefully have a little nap, and we took the bigs to worship in the Sanctuary at 11:00.

Natalie was throwing a bit of a fit about something and didn’t want to go up for the children’s sermon.  Rev. Judy saw her and beckoned Natalie to sit with her.  Natalie was pretty happy about that, and it cured whatever she was mad about.

You can see James listening to Rev. Ellen:

Rev. Ellen passed out some eggs with critters (that come from eggs) in them, talking about new life and birth and how eggs relate to what we celebrate at Easter.  Joanna is opening her egg with a lizard in it here:

And then we may have snuck out of the service because the best time for taking pictures in front of the flower cross is while everybody’s in church.  :)

This next one is my favorite of the kids as far as composition and lighting and bokeh and who knows what else. But James and Natalie’s faces aren’t the best.

So I took eight million and am posting several here because when you have many children, they all look best in different pictures.  And I like all of these for different reasons.  I may have to see if I can figure out how to swap out a head or two here and there.  :)

And then the kiddos really started to look sweet and at the camera, but PEOPLE began walking in the background.  (Only kidding of course!)

Then I had Matt take some of me with the kiddos.  I’m going to pretend he was trying to be artistic with the crooked photo here, instead of just not paying attention.  Ha!

I look so sweet above with my brood, but I’m sure this is how my face usually is:

I can’t even remember why I was making it.  :) But the boys look super cute!

It was a beautiful Sunday to celebrate our risen Savior!  And it sure felt nice not to have any responsibilities in the service, to just be able to worship with my family.  Then we had a super low key afternoon, much of it spent enjoying the lovely day in the backyard.  Happy Easter friends!