8 Months Old

WOW....I can't believe my little babies are 8 months old. It has been an amazing adventure. This is my favorite stage so far but I keep saying that so I guess that means that it just keeps getting better.

We have had many new things happen in the past month. It is such a joy to watch the girls learn new things and to see their personalities come out more and more. Sophia and Claire could not be more different. Sometimes I question if they are really twins. Regardless they just love each other. They hold hands while they take their bottles, they laugh at each other and they are always interested in what the other one is doing.

Both girls say Ma-ma, Da-da and Hi. We normally wake up to Claire saying Da-da. I know Matt just loves that. He gets a smile on his face every time he heres it. We have fights over toys on a daily basis. It is cute to watch the tug-of-war in action. They can have 20 toys sitting in front of them but they always want what the other one has. Sophia seems to always win the fight; she is our strong one. It is hard to get a toy out of her firm grip. We also have daily hair pulling which always results in one of the girls screaming hysterically. Sophia actually took Claire from a sitting position down to the floor with a few tugs of her hair. She seemed pretty proud of herself. I can only imagine how this will escalate as they get older.

I am still overly worrisome when it comes to them sleeping. I check on the girls constantly. Matt gets a good laugh from it. After we put them to bed I check on them at least three times before we head to bed. I put my hands on their bellys to make sure they are breathing. I am thinking this will never go away. As a Mommy you can never be too precautious! The girls have such different sleep habits. Claire is always on her stomach with her hands up by her mouth...often times with her butt in the air. It is so cute! Claire does not take a pacifier at all and refuses to have a stuffed animal. Sophia on the other hand mostly sleeps on her side or her stomach with her arms laying every which way around her head. She loves her pacifier and absolutely has to have her rabbit to sleep with.

Sophia loves to blow bubbles. It seems to be her new fascination. She is also pulling up on anything and everything. She is so strong. She loves to pull herself up and peak over her crib while Mommy and Daddy play peek-a-boo with her. Sophia loves to be standing up which explains why she is pulling up. You can tell she really wants to crawl but she can't quite get her legs underneath her yet. As much as I want her and Claire to hit this new milestone I also know it will be nice to have them immobile for a little while longer. Sophia has mastered clapping which she showed off for the first time during the Super Bowl for all of our friends. She has been clapping ever since. If only her adorable cheering would have brought the Colts some luck. Sophia waves hello and goodbye which is so cute with her chunky hands and wrists.

Claire loves using her feet to do things. She plays with toys using her feet quite often. It is really funny to watch. Often times she just lays back on the floor and just kicks the toys in front of her. Claire has also figured out how to make fishy lips and combines it with a cute lip smacking noise. She does this all throughout the day. She loves to wave hello and goodbye. From that she has started to put her hands into fists in the air and move them like she is riding a motorcycle. It is so funny to see. Claire is close to crawling as well but like Sophia she can't figure out how to get her legs underneath her. I am sure it won't be too far off.

Matt had his first long trip for work. He was nervous that the girls would forget him but of course they didn't. Unfortunately the day Matt left Sophia, Claire and myself all got sick. Bad timing but we all made it through. I am lucky that the girls sleep really well when they are sick. Unfortunately for Matt he got sick as well and spent his 4 day trip the same way we were spending our week. At least we got it out of the way all at once.

I can't express enough how amazing this past 8 months has been. I knew we would love these two little girls but it has far exceeded our expectations. Being parents to our girls is a really special gift that we don't take for granted at all. I now see why people continue having children and forget about pregnancy, labor and those sleepless first few months.

7 Months Old

Sophia and Claire are 7 months old now and so much has happened in the past month. Both girls are sitting up now and loving the new view of their surroundings. Claire began sitting up in November and Claire followed suit a few weeks later on December 19th. It is so cute to see them sitting on the floor playing with their toys. Recently they both have figured out how to pull themselves back up to a sitting position after falling backwards. It is amazing how much they progress each day.

Both girls said Mama first which pleased me. Sophia said it first when Nanna and Pappaw were babysitting. Claire began saying Dada last week and likes to repeat it over and over again. Matt was so excited the first time she said it. We are still working to get Sophia to say Dada but she is a little more quiet and loves just listeneing to her sister. Both girls wave hello and sometimes say "hi". It is so cute!

Although we have had teething symptoms for over a month neither of the girls has teeth yet. I am sure it is not far off. I think babies start to look so much older when they get teeth so in a way I am thankful Sophia and Claire don't have any yet. I want them to look like my little babies as long as I can.

Claire is our mischevious child. We call her the "sock and pacifer bandit". I put socks on her every day and within seconds she has them pulled off and is eating them. I normally put her socks back on 15 times a day. When I give up and just let her go with bare feet she turns to her sister and takes her socks or trys to take mine off. One day Claire sat and pulled off her socks while looking at me hysterically laughing. Once she accomplished her task she waved them in front of Sophia's face and kept laughing. She does the same thing with pacifiers which is interesting because she doesn't like to use a pacifier. She will stretch and strain herself to get close to Sophia to steal her pacifier right out of her mouth. It is so funny!

Both girls have learned the "fake cough". They use it to their advantage whenever they can. If they don't have my undivided attention, they cough to get it. Sophia has started to become somewhat of a thumb sucker. I think it has more to do with teething than anything because she doesn't do it all the time and I haven't found her doing it while sleeping.

Claire loves playing with her hair and twirling it around with her fingers. She got this from Matt. When I met him I thought it was so cute how he would sit and twirl his hair in his fingers. So it is now official...Claire is her Dad through and through.

Georgie is finally warming up to the girls. He now will sit close to them and let the girls pull at his ears. Sophia seems to really love him and finds him very interesting. Georgie really likes that the girls are eating crackers and puffs now because they drop a lot of stuff on the floor for him to snatch up. He stays very close to their high chairs during snack time.

The girls really love each other. They now just sit and giggle at eachother and babble back and forth like they are in deep conversation. It melts my heart to watch them together. Times like these make having twins so special. It is like they have their own little language. To see them laugh, hold hands and grab at each other is precious.

We had our first official sickness. We made it 7 months with a clean bill of health. Both girls had small colds and for Claire it turned into an ear infection. I felt so bad for her. It is so hard to see your child sick. I did love that she wanted to cuddle all day long. Thankfully we were able to get her on the wonderful bubble gum medicine (the best part about being sick as a kid) and she was better within days.

We shared our 1st Christmas together. It was so wonderful to enjoy it as a family. The girls visited Santa Claus with their friend Noah and they did really well. They did not cry at all. They just sat quietly on his lap and gazed up trying to figure out who this guy was with the big white beard. The girls put out Cookies and milk for Santa along with some carrots for the reindeer. Santa brought the girls great gifts. They were more excited about the wrapping paper and ribbon than the toys themselves. Grandpa Benny came over on Christmas morning to watch the girls open their gifts. The girls got a music table, jumperoo, a rocking horse, books, pajamas, clothes (including camoflauge onesies from Grandpa Benny), instruments, videos and had sock monkeys in their stockings. They loved spending time with the entire Sorrells and Anderson family. It was a very special Christmas and we look forward to another one next year.

Sophia and Claire spent their first New Year's Eve at The Kinder's house with their friends Addilynn and Sam. They were so good and made it to 10PM. We then took them home and put them in bed. Matt and I got to watch the ball drop before heading to bed. It was a great evening spent with wonderful friends and their kids.

As I said in my 6 month post, the girls will be welcoming a new cousin in June. Uncle Chris and Aunt Shannon found out they are having a little boy. The girls are excited to have a buddy to grow up with. It is hard to believe Sophia and Claire will be a year old when he arrives.

We hope you enjoy the pictures from the last month!!!

6 Months Old

I am a bit behind on the blog. We have been very busy. Needless to say the girls are changing by the minute. I look forward to each day because I know something new or funny is going to happen with Sophia and Claire. We have had many great moments over the last month and I am excited to share them with you.

The girls had their six month doctors appointment on December 2nd and the stats are below. Sophia continues to be our chunky monkey. Claire moves around so much I think she works off her weight. Both girls are tall and we are super excited about that. We are thinking tennis, volleyball or basketball players.

Sophia
- 15lbs 13 oz (48th percentile)
- 27 inches long (90th percentile)
- Head is in the 67th percentile

Claire
- 14lbs 15oz (30th percentile)
- 27 inches long (90th percentile)
- Head is in the 38th percentile

We have started fruits and vegetables. I am making all of the baby food which has been fun. The first thing the girls ate was sweet potatoes and it didn't go very well. Claire made a funny face similar to a reaction you would have by eating a lemon. Sophia just gagged and vomited (twice). We tried again the next night with a bit of oatmeal mixed in and the girls were begging for more. They got bananas this morning and loved them. We will be trying butternut squash tomorrow. It is hard to believe the girls are even old enough to be eating fruits and veggies.

I introduced the girls to cups at 5 months and they love drinking water on their own. They took to it right away and don't want Mommy or Daddy to help (it is already starting). They look like such big girls drinking by themselves.

Sophia is sitting up on her own and is loving her new view of the world (November 25th). I believe last month I told you she was rolling one way but soon after was rolling both ways and all over the place. Claire is not interested in sitting up. She is too busy and prefers to be able to roll around and get to her toys. She really wants to crawl so I assume that won't be far off.

Both girls have been sleeping on their stomatch's. It streses me out and I check on them constantly. I am starting to not worry as much about it. Before I went to bed last night I checked on the girls and Claire was sleeping on her belly with her butt in the air and her arms tucked under her sweet little face. It looked really uncomfortable but so cute!

The teething has begun. The girls normally get fussy towards the end of the day and had a couple nights of waking up due to sore gums. We haven't had any teeth come through yet but I don't think it is far off. Thank goodness for the all-natural teething tablets. They work wonderful...a lot better than orajel.

The girls have begun fighting over toys. They always want what the other twin has. They are so strong and don't give up. One of the girls always ends up crying because they lost the battle. I am sure this is only the beginning of many fights and quarrels over toys.

The girls and Matt were baptized on November 15th at Locust Grove Church. This is the church I grew up in and where almost all of the Anderson grandchildren have been baptized. It was such a special day to see my husband and girls baptized at the same time. I pray that it is only the beginning of an amazing relationship they will have with God going forward. The entire Sorrells and Anderson clan as well as both great grandmothers attended which made it very special. The girls got their first bibles and bible story books. Nanna and Pappaw prepared a lunch for everyone after church to celebrate the wonderful day.

Matt and I prepared our very first Thanksgiving for the entire Fitzpatrick family. We had 30 people at our house and it was such a great day. I love entertaining and having people filling the house with laughter and noise. The turkey and dressing turned out wonderful. I was so worried because Grandma Stella always does it so perfectly. The girls sat quietly through the entire meal and enjoyed being passed around from person to person. This was the first time some of the family had met the girls. It will be fun to see the girls next year at Thanksgiving since they will be able to eat with us.

The day after Thanksgiving Matt and I began a tradition with the girls I hope we continue for many many years. My Dad always took my sisters and I to the tree farm and cut down our Christmas tree. It is one of my best memories. Our first adventure was good. I bundled the girls up (they looked like the little kid from a Christmas Story) and we picked out a beautiful tree. The girls don't seem to notice the Christmas lights but do like touching the tree.

I have two picture frame ornaments I purchased 4 years ago which say "Daddy and Me" and "Mommy and Me". The past two years I cried each time I got the ornaments out and realized I couldn't use them but this year I had no tears, just a HUGE smile. Our family is complete and wonderful!

We are looking forward to Christmas morning at home and opening gifts with the girls. I am sure they will like the wrapping paper and ribbon more than the gifts. It is just amazing to know that we get to experience this Christmas as a family.

Lastly, and some of our most exciting news.....the girls will have another cousin arriving in June. Aunt Shannon and Uncle Chris are very excited to be adding to their family. We could not be happier. YA!!! It will be nice to have our girls grow up with their little girl or boy.