Happy 1st Halloween

The girls first Halloween was a spooktacular event! The girls spent most of the day stuffed into cute, warm ladybug costumes and I carted them across the Niagara Region visiting friends and family! The girls were a huge hit everywhere we went, I swear we made half of downtown St. Catharines smile while visiting the St. Catharines Farmer's Market.

We have been building up anticipation to Halloween with awesome outfits, Mommy's Little Monsters and My 1st Halloween! Yesterday, the girls happily ripped up newspaper while Daddy and I carved pumpkins; we created a "spit up" pumpkin and another one with two bottom teeth in honour of the girls.

Here are some pictures of our adventures on Halloween!

We started the day off visiting Auntie Jen at work!

Then we visited Nana and she read us some new books!

After visiting Daddy at work we went to visit Great Nana. Here the girls are enjoying the bears she gave us!

Sitting on Grandpa's knee!

Singing and playing with Aunt Pat.

Hanging out with Great Grandmother!

Molly, Sophie and Abigail

 

Trying out Sophie's clown wig!

The Feeding Frenzy Continues!

I clearly remember a time when the girls ate seven-eight times a day. Most days back then were a vicious cycle of formula mixing, baby feeding, bottle cleaning, sanitizing, repeat! It seemed endless and felt as though it consumed most of my days. There was nothing worse then getting ready to crawl into bed when you suddenly realized we needed to make formula for the next day. 

This week however, with the weaning of their afternoon bottle, the girls are down to just two bottles a day, one first thing in the morning and another one before bed. Although I haven't done as much reading on the topic of weaning as I would have liked, so far the girls have done really well. The removal of the afternoon bottle came as a result of me following their lead. Most days they seemed disinterested in stopping their play for a bottle and even then would only drink about a third of what I was offering. Now that we're down another bottle, the feeding frenzy has reach new heights!

New additions to the girls diet include cheese, cherry tomatoes, grapes, spaghetti with chicken (oh this goes down so much better now!) and toast strips. While the girls still hide more cheerios in their high chair than they eat, they are becoming masters of the pincer grasp!

 Abby loved spaghetti!

 Has anyone been as happy about eating spaghetti as Molly?

The Sippy Cup Selection

As the girls are approaching 11 months of age, we have begun introducing the sippy cup! I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. The end of formula making and bottle cleaning will likely be the greatest milestone accomplishment, second only to successful potty training!!

It's remarkable the endless sippy cup selection available to infants. Not only by colour, but some have handles, others have straws, sometimes you can put your child's name on them! When I attended an Eating Workshop put on by the Ontario Early Years Centre and Niagara Public Health they talked a lot about transitioning to drinking from a cup as early as 6 months. We have been trying water in a cup and it is super cute to see the girls make progress with this skill. 

Here is the selection of drinking cups we've tried with the girls, some were gifts, others we purchased ourselves for the girls to try.

 

Every baby is different but so far our girls seem to be most successful with cups with handles. They don't seem to understand the concept of having to suck on the spout to get the water out. Perhaps this is because they have been drinking out of little cups with help so they are used to the water just flowing. Whatever the reason, the girls seem to really like the Avent Revolutionary cup. It claims no spout, no straw, no mess...and while the first are true, we have had some wet pajamas from the girls releasing some water and then enthusiastically shaking their cup all around! LOL All joking aside, what I do like about the most recent addition to our sipply cup repertoire is that the girls can easily mimic drinking from a cup on their own by holding the handles and bringing the cup to their lips, when their upper lip gently presses on the release valve, water enters the cup drinking area and the girls can drink water exactly as if they were drinking from a cup. 

Here are the girls showing off their latest accomplishment!

 Abigail trying out her new green sippy cup!

 Molly mastering the art of sippy cup drinking!

Sharing a drink of water together!

Mini Vacation in Niagara Falls

This past week, the girls and I joined Daddy at his work conference to vacation in Niagara Falls! LOL The girls had a ton of fun exploring their new space (why is it they can always find the cords and electrical outlets???) I felt like a Sherpa carrying a 4 day supply of baby belongings up to our room, but I guess that's the price you pay for vacation with babies less than a year old! 

The Bumbo chairs make feeding time a lot easier when you're away from home and this hotel table had a convenient serving drawer! The girls really enjoy holding their own spoon during meals.

 This was the first time girls had ever seen Niagara Falls and it motivated a lot of standing and Abigail even pulled herself up!

 Molly standing on her own, enjoying the view!

 Abigail getting her first view of the Falls!

 Abigail standing on her own, looking at the Falls!

The girls looking out the window, Abigail has pulled herself up to get a better view!

The girls really enjoyed all of the exploring they were able to do in the hotel, plus they were a huge hit with Daddy's colleagues and all of the hotel staff!!

The girls are always making people smile, wherever they go!!

Turkette Talents

For the longest time the girls' talent list included sitting with assistance, rolling, pushing up on their arms, smiling and laughing. It felt as though months had passed at this phase of "staying in one place". Suddenly with the girls first attempts at crawling in mid-September, we've had an explosion of activity. With a little movement and exploring, the past three weeks the girls have mastered sitting unassisted, have perfected their crawling styles (Abigail is doing a modified worm and Molly is often up on all fours and moving with some speed), and exploring has reached new heights - who needs toys when there are vents and door stoppers to be had! It is amazing to watch the girls turn pages of board books (with one finger, ET style), they also move easily from sitting to crawling and back to sitting which we really appreciate because Abigail in particular had trouble mastering this skill resulting in transitions from sitting to crawling ending with a loud BONK! Quite possibly the most amazing thing to watch is the girls interacting with one another. They have just started to play peek-a-boo when under the table and chairs or around corners. We love hearing them laugh at one another especially if you're not in the room and have to go discover what they are finding so funny.

This morning the girls have been discovering the land of baby gates and lowered cribs. These safety precautions along with mounting the video camera monitors have resulted from our curious girls reaching so many new milestones in the past few weeks. With less than two months remaining in my maternity leave I'm looking forward to many new milestones in the coming weeks!

Much To Be Thankful For

The girls first Thanksgiving Weekend was jam packed with family dinners, parties, late nights and eating turkey dinners for the first time. Thanksgiving, that magical weekend when overeating is encouraged, orange is everywhere you look, family time is in overdrive and everyone needs to wear pants with elastic bands! This year we celebrated cousin Sophie's 1st Birthday with a great party for the birthday girl. We couldn't have asked for better weather and the girls were able to play outside on a blanket!

Molly, Sophie and Abigail

The girls had a great time inspecting all of Sophie's toys and were so happy that she liked her birthday present of the Tickle Monster book! A wonderful book that will be sure to bring many giggles! The girls wore 1st birthday party hats and even received their first ever loot bags from Sophie!

During Thanksgiving dinner the girls had dinner at the table and enjoyed some turkey, potatoes, carrot and still their favourite, sweet potatoes. They have also started eating toast strips and can easily eat these on their own in their high chair. Their taste buds have been in overdrive as they have tried many new foods in the past two weeks. New on the menu include egg/banana pancakes, turkey, mashed potatoes, toast strips and mixed grains. Their little pincer grips are improving and the girls are enjoying "attempting" to feed themselves. We've even tried offering them water in a little cup more frequently which has been entertaining as they swallow down approx 2mL at a time! After eating, using the little finger tooth brush is fun to watch as the girls often start laughing when they feel in on their gums and teeth. 

Speaking of teeth, we still only have two each, but the moaning we hear in the middle of the night tells us more is on the way!

Put Your Hands Together

Clap, clap, clap, clap your hands! This week brings the art of clapping! Ever since the girls have figured out their hands can make noise when they smack them together, being in the sitting position brings on lots of clapping! I'm not sure what is more entertaining, listening to them clap or watching them laugh at each other once they start clapping together!!