The Twins are 6 Months Old!

Happy half birthday babies! It's hard to believe the girls turned 6 months on March 21st.

Eden: Eden is such a spirited, little thing. She is a ball of energy and is so curious of the world around her. She rarely lies still and is happiest if she has something in her hands to look at and then put in her mouth to explore further. She notices everything and just wants to be a part of it all. I have to nurse her in silence because she is too easily distracted. If Nate tries to talk to me, she will cran her neck and grin at her daddy and scream at me if I try to make her turn back to eat. She rarely shows signs of tiredness (even though she is!) until it is too late and she has a meltdown. Lydia is much easier to read, so I put Eden down for a nap when Sister looks tired. We quit swaddling both girls around 4 months but that only lasted a couple of days with Eden. She is just so spastic that it's much easier to get her to sleep if we at least swaddle her arms. Eden has gotten pretty vocal when she doesn't like something. For example, Lydia has always pulled at Eden's clothes and now Eden has decided she doesn't like that. She'll scream at her sister until I come and make Lydia let go. At her check up Eden was 13 lbs 4 oz (5th percentile).

Lydia: Lydia is our mellow child. She likes to observe things and be a part of things as well, but she's much more laid back about it. She is happiest on her belly, propped up on her arms and poised to crawl away. She is so strong and I fear we will have a crawler sooner than later. She is getting better every day at sitting by herself as well. Another thing about Lydia is she loves to eat! She is loving pretty much everything she tries. The other day at Sam's Club, I was giving her some of the samples (mango, mandarin oranges, and a smoothie) and of course she was loving it. But she got mad at me because I wasn't giving it to her fast enough and threw an all out fit because she wanted more. Oh dear, isn't she a little young for tantrums? Lydia is also very affectionate. She might be a little too free with her kisses :) If you try to kiss her on the cheek, she will often whip her head around and give you an open mouth kiss instead. If you try to kiss her on the lips, she will always stick out her tongue and lick you! At her doctor's appointment she was 14 lbs 12 oz (23rd percentile).

Sisters: Recently, the girls have really started to pay attention to each other more. They used to be pretty oblivious to one another but they definitely notice what the other one is doing now. The upside to that is it's so fun to watch them look at each other and chat and interact with each other. The downside is they notice when mom is holding the other one and can get pretty jealous. The other day, Lydia was propped up on her belly and Eden was laying beside her on her back and Eden reached right up and pulled the binkie out of Lydia's mouth and stuck it in her own. Lydia just looked at her like what do you think you're doing? It was so funny!

See how much they love each other!

Breastfeeding: My goal for breastfeeding was to make it at least 6 months. Now that we have successfully reached that milestone, I plan to continue as long as possible. Eden will occasionally bite me if she is eating when she is really tired, so once she gets teeth, we may be done. But hopefully we can continue for several more months. In the meantime, they still nurse five times a day and have completely dropped all night feedings. I have my pile of pillows set up on the guest bed that we use for tandem nursing. I didn't love breastfeeding in the beginning, and my girls like to abuse me at times (biting, scratching, hitting, hair pulling) but I do love the peaceful moments when they hold hands and stare at each other or at me while they eat. It's so sweet!

This is pretty typical tummy time. Eden just wants to suck on her toy and Lydia wants to crawl.

I can not believe half a year has come and gone. The last six months have been the steepest learning curve of my life but the good news is I have learned! I could write a whole book on what not to do with newborn twins based on everything I did wrong along the way, but I honestly wouldn't do anything any different. I have two happy babies, a happy husband, a happy dog, and I'm happy. There is a lot of happiness going on around here, so we must be doing something right! I'm no twin-rearing expert but I love my children and feel so immensely blessed. I feel like Ammon in Alma 26:

• "I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things."