Updates

just a few minutes here as we're getting ready to leave for the Lego exhibit at Henry Ford Museum in a few (yes, I'm taking all the kids....yes, I'm insane)

RYAN: started waving 2 weeks ago, says "da-dah" all day long.  at a very clingy phase right now, if he's not held, he's crying and fussing-I can sometimes put him in the highchair and he'll be happy there for a while, but if he's low to the ground he's mad.  There are exactly 4 people in this world that he is comfortable with (caitlin, mom, dad, inna. favorite person = daddy, hands down) and he falls apart if anyone else gets near to him (he tolerates Nora and sometimes they even babble together, but usually he needs one of us from the 'inner circle').  about a month ago, went from loving his baby food to hating it, so we're struggling with that.  Is 19 pounds 1 ounce at 7.5 months (adjusted) which is pretty much humongous and amazing.  He is wearing size 12 month clothes easily right now.  Still sleeping thru the night for 12 hours. Rolls from front to back faster than you can set him on his belly and will scoot a bit with his feet if you prevent him from rolling, but rests on his elbows, not his hands, so has some way to go with arm strength.  Completely uninterested in rolling from back to front.  Could sit up if he wanted to, but won't--he can balance if he's distracted, but gets pissed that he's not being held (remember he's a cling-on right now) and throws himself backwards.  Oh, and remember how last month I posted that he had a tooth, well, he had SEVEN and he took it like a champ (four across the top and three across the bottom simultaneously). Hates baths and makes it known, so I'm still doing sponge baths b/c he doesn't seem to mind them.  He's fussy right now but easy to please as long as you have available arms/hip to hold him all day :)  Right now we are working on getting him off the gtube pump during the day and just running whatever food he doesn't take during the day, at night when he sleeps.  Trying to train him to be hungry which he never is b/c he's used to being pump fed all the time.  Praying for normal here!  Whenever we go out to the hospital (sorry but that's pretty much the only place I take the poor boy) he gets lots of attention--comments on how handsome he is and how beautiful his big brown eyes are.

NORA: is a petite 16 pounds 8 ounces at 7.5 months (adjusted), which is still about the 50% percentile for her adjusted age, but the contrast in size between the two babies is really profound right now.  Sitting up independently for the past 2-3 weeks and prefers that position to laying on the floor.  Still will not roll in either direction and basically pouts and yells (not cries) if you put her on her belly.  Also, sleeping thru the night and saying "dah-dah."  It's funny how two babies can make the same sounds and it is so different to hear it from each kid.  Just got her first two teeth last week (bottom two) and took it like a champ.  I love the baby-with-just-two-bottom-teeth look.  She has a very sweet disposition and doesn't seem to mind being walked away from or playing by herself--except when you are putting her down for a nap because she will RAGE.  She squeals with delight and starts pumping her legs when she sees me after a nap or first thing in the morning and pretty much always smiles unless she's tired.  She is a very happy girl.  And she smells like I imagine heaven smells.  I wish I could bottle it, b/c I could make millions.  I spend a considerable amount of time each day inhaling the top of her head.  

UPDATE: rolled back to front 6 times today (12-20-09)

Caitlin:

Holey Moley, do I love this age!  She is so articulate and says the most hilarious things.  She's really in to writing and drawing right now and is very good at it.  She helped me make most of our christmas gift tags and all my notes to myself on my desk have a big block "CAITLIN ONEILL" written across them suddenly.  

-We've been celebrating Advent by reading the Christmas Story pretty much each night and she has it memorized and "read" it to me last weekend and it was darling.  She put a pink blanket over her back and announced that she was Mary with Jesus in her belly and they were travelling to "the Bethlehem world." The she switched to a brown blanket and made a little nest and said she was baby Jesus in the manger now that she travelled to "the Bethlehem world."

-The other day she was looking at neighborhood Christmas decorations and saw a nativity scene and proclaimed "There's Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, Bambi and The Great Prince of the Forest!"

-She is very curious and is constantly asking about things like how are cars made? How do Firemen help when there's a fire?  How does a police officer stop your car?  What makes a police officer stop your car?  What's jail like? What does "government" mean? what does "anxious" mean? recently asked about dying and what it means to be killed (thankfully John got that one! phew!) If you were a mommy with no nipples, how would you feed your babies?

-She's gotten fearful of creaks in the house at night and I've been talking to her about it and encouraging her to pray when she's scared.  Yesterday she told me that when she prays when she's scared, she asks God what the noises are and he'll tell her whether it's mommy in the shower, daddy with a hammer or Inna clicking the mouse on the computer.

-She's really interested in dinosaurs now and absorbs everything on Dinosaur Train like a sponge.  She has corrected me a few times re: dinosaur identification and will tell you the important things about each dinosaur like the ornithomimus are great runners, corythosaurus had a crest on their heads, velociraptors had feathers, etc.

-And finally, I want to note that she is at a huge mommy stage right now.  Always requests me to put her to bed, snuggle extra with her in the morning, etc.  It's been since I went back to work about 5 weeks ago, but I'm not complaining--I love the snuggles too.