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| The babies are enjoying one of their last car rides of the year with Grandma (Hattie at the wheel, Tille looking at Grandma) |
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| Tille is being cute at breakfast |
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| If you look closely, you can see a full bite mark on Hattie's cheek. For a few weeks, both girls always had bite marks on various parts of their bodies. It's getting more rare, which we're very glad about. |
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| Tille REALLY liked the cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving |
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| A few Saturdays ago we got our first real snow of the season. The babies were super grumpy that morning and just whined and cried and followed us around. Finally I said, "Who wants to go outside?" and they both smiled and clapped their hands. So we bundled them up and played outside for a little while. When they first got out there, they were laughing and clapping. It took them a little while to be brave enough to walk around on the grass (where the snow was kind of accumulating), but they did eventually. (Hattie in purple pants, Tille in pink) |
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| Snack time while Grandma and Grandpa were babysitting (Hattie on left in blue pants, Tille on right in gray pants) |
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| One morning after I got ready for work, I came out to the living room and found this. It's so cute, I had to get a picture. Both girls were completely asleep. Hattie in pink, Tille in blue. |
Every now and then, Hattie and Tille will have a real wrestling match. It usually starts out slowly, with one taking the other's toy and the other leaning in for what looks like a hug but is actually a death squeeze, and sometimes a bite. Sometimes it'll end there, but sometimes they death squeeze each other back and forth. A few weeks ago, I was sitting on the couch and they started wrestling. It escalated until one would stand up and the other would pull her down, then they'd tackle each other back and forth. At one point, all I saw was Tille almost standing up, but very slowly getting pulled over backwards as Hattie reached out for her. They were laughing and growling and huffing and puffing. It probably went on for about 10 minutes. It was so funny, I wish I'd gotten it on camera.
Lately, the girls have started playing pretend. Every so often, Hattie will grab an invisible object out of my hand and put it in her mouth. She'll do it a few times in a row, and then she'll smile and laugh so I know she's not thinking there's actually something there. It caught me off guard the first time, but now it's really cute. Matt's parents gave us a Little People nativity set, with shepherds, camels, cows, sheep, wisemen, angels, etc. Tille has started setting them up in different configurations on flat surfaces around the living room.
Most mornings, I wake up way too early and go downstairs to exercise. Usually the girls will wake up while I'm down there, so Matt gets them up and gives them bottles and cuddles them in the living room. Then I sneak up and go take a shower. When I get out of the shower and go in my room to get dressed, I always hear two tiny sets of pajamed feet shuffling their way down the hall. The first baby will push the door open, and then squint and look down at the floor to avoid the bright light, but with a big morning smile on their face. Both babies come in and pull clothes out of our dresser or shoes out of the closet, or play with the radio, or get up on the bed and pretend to go to sleep in the pillows. It's one of my favorite morning rituals. Their little faces when they first come in are just the best. Then we play and they help me pack a lunch while Matt gets ready for the day. And then I give them all hugs and kisses goodbye and go outside, while they go to the front window and wave at me as I leave.
Since Halloween (ish) we've only had one or two full weeks where the girls weren't sick. They'd just be getting over one cold when a new one would start. This week has been the worst yet. We've all had it pretty bad. The girls have been really congested and coughy, and so so grumpy. They just whine and cry all day. I'm excited to be done with this phase.
On Sunday we were having a good Sunday dinner, and Tille was grumpy, so I put her in my lap. She grabbed my spoon and started playing with my mashed potatoes, and got some of them into her mouth. So a few times now we've given them their own spoons for dinner. They mostly just play with them, but they also practice getting food onto their spoons and into their mouths. It's exciting to see them learning these new skills.
