More of what we've been up to

Pedi parties and sponge curlers! Having girls is so fun. Now that Eleanore's hair is getting longer it has been fun to try new 'dos.

Playing in the sink. Eleanore helped me bake bread, which was fun, but she had much more fun playing the sink while I cleaned up. It entertained her for at least a half an hour, and I have since used the trick a few times while I need to get things done.

Reading stories...an important part of every day at our house. I am so happy that Eleanore loves to read. She has many of her books memorized and enjoys making up stories. It is amazing to watch her little mind become more creative. I think one her favorite parts of the day is sitting at the dinner table and listening to Bryan tell stories about all kinds of nonsense. He is a great Daddy! Ivy and Maya (especially Maya) also already love listening to stories and looking at picture books.

Holding babies. Ivy loves Eleanore. Seriously I think El gets more smiles out of Ivy than anyone else, just by walking in the door. Eleanore is showing much more interest in the babies now that they respond to her (both of them just squeal when she pays attention to them).

Trying food. (Isn't this pic hilarious!) We offered Maya rice cereal. I don't think she really swallowed anything and didn't care too much about it, so we held off on trying it with Ivy and we'll try it again in a couple of weeks.

Growing!

At their four month check-up on May 24 Maya weighed in at 13 lbs 9 ounces (50th percentile) and is 25.5 inches tall (90th percentile). At the check up we discussed Maya's obvious discomfort our pediatrician Dr. Keeley suggested we put her on Zantac. It seems to have helped a bit and we are getting more smiles and less screaming out of our beautiful Maya. Maya is great to play under our little baby jungle gym and will roll from her back to tummy and spin in circles on the floor. She still hasn't gotten a real laugh out, but she sqeals and grunts in effort to do it. She gnaws on whatever she can get in her mouth (including toys, her hands, a pacifier, my hand...anything) and she drools like crazy (I think she may be working on a tooth...but I can't see anything yet). Both she and Ivy (and Eleanore) have stuffy noses right now, which is really no good for Maya who already is a little snorer by nature. When Maya smiles her eyes light up and my heart melts. I love that little sweetheart.

Ivy is a little cuddlebug. At 4 months she weighed in at 11 lbs 12 ounces (10th percentile) and is 23 1/2 inches tall (25th percentile). She is happy most of the time and squeals and kind of giggles in delight whenever we talk to her or when Eleanore gives her attention. She is rolling all over the place and sticks her little bottom up in the air pushes her face into the floor. If she could just get her arms into it she'd be up on all fours. She reminds me of Eleanore in lots of ways. One way in particular is that it seems she doesn't want to miss a thing...already. She isn't too great a napper (yet...neither was Eleanore, but I forced the issue and intend to do the same...naps are my sanity and I think make for smart, healthy kids). She'll wake up after about 20 minutes and be ticked off that she got left alone. I've found that if I put her bouncy chair up on the counter (I know...very dangerous, but I don't go far from her when she is up there) she is much happier to let me make dinner or do dishes because she can see what I'm doing.

I'm really starting to see the special bond between these two. The other day I put them on a blanket and they sat and took turns cooing as they looked at each other and played with each other's hands. It is sweet and I am excited to see how they develop a special relationship (that I hope includes big sister Eleanore) as they grow.