10 Months -- Can you believe it?

December 5 marked the girls 10-month birthday -- it still is so hard for me to believe that we are just 2 months shy of their first birthday. As I sit here and write this post, the girls are upstairs asleep in their cribs as the sound of a peaceful ocean tide plays softly in their room (daddy bought a new sound machine last week).

Another milestone is slowly advancing too -- my one year "blog-iversary." It was mid-December of last year that I started this blog from my bed, waiting (and worrying) for these girls to arrive! So much has happened since then, I know I have tried to stay on top of the blogger world, but it seems there is much more activity in my life now...

The girls at 10-months... here is a little summary of what they have been up to!

Abby has four teeth now -- her top teeth are about half way in. When she smiles now, you actually do get a good "toothy grin" -- no progress yet on the surrounding upper or lower teeth -- we will have to keep you posted. She has graduated to eating more table food; she has had real squash, potatoes, green beans, bananas and carrots. She LOVES her puffy thingys, and she is ever-so-patient when they get stuck to her hands. She doesn't like Chee-r-ios as much as the puffies; she makes somewhat of an "icky" face when she first tastes them, as if to say "those aren't those puffy things!"

She is still not mobile -- we are sure to put her on her tummy as often as possible, and last night she did move a bit; she just can't keep up with her little sister. I try to "motivate" her to move by placing her on her tummy away from her toys; but then I just feel like a mean mommy, because she just lies there and cries -- yearning to be close to her toys... Someday, she will surprise us. She has great leg strength and can stand for long periods while supported. She might just skip the whole crawling phase and just go right to walking... we shall see.

Her vocabulary is expanding beyond "bob, bob, bob, bob..." some times I swear she is staying "ma-ma" -- but I guess it is a stretch. She loves to just lie in her crib and babble in the morning -- making all sorts of sounds with her mouth. I think she is just fascinated by how different she can make each sound as it comes out of her mouth. Abby also has developed a significant "stranger danger" fear. She responds by crying when she encounters a new person -- especially if they stick their faces directly in front of hers and say something like "well hello there..." I suppose if it is anything like the Santa scene in "A C-hrist-mas St-ory" -- that would scare the hell out of me too. Speaking of Santa -- she did see the Jolly One this weekend and surprise, surprise -- didn't cry! Geoff and I were pretty sure she would have a meltdown -- I think his fuzzy costume and beard probably helped; and thankfully he refrained from bellowing his traditional greeting of "ho, ho, ho" probably in light of the fact he had wee-little ones on his lap.

Emily

Little Em' is showing up her sister by being the more mobile of the two. She has mastered the roll and uses it as her preferred mode of transportation these days. She lifts herself up with her arms, gazes across the floor as the plots out her travels and rolls her way to her destination. She will usually be after a far-away toy, but has recently shown interest in the TV console and unfortunately, Roxie's rawhide bones. Peg (Geoff's mom) caught her gnawing on one a few weeks ago -- I don't think she could grab and toss it away fast enough. So we have learned to be sure to move Roxie's toys out of her path as much as possible. There seems to be some level of respect that Roxie shows for the girl's toys -- she stays away and has never picked up one of their toys; the girls however, do not share that same respect for Roxie's toys...

Emily has made great progress with her eating. It took her a lot longer to catch on to eating solids. We started her at 8 months, while Abby started around 5 1/2 months. Emily has now graduated to Oatmeal and some thicker stage two foods -- she still has a strong preference for the orange foods (squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, mixed veggies and all fruits) and the unfortunate result is her orange nose (no, it's not just the color in the pictures). We are sure to give her a good balance of green stuff, but you think we are feeding her dog food -- oh the faces she makes! She does appear jealous that her sister gets to eat puffies (she was giving her a glare this morning at breakfast), but we need to take Emily a little slower through the process -- soon enough, she will get to where Abby is...

Emily too is exercising her vocal cords -- she makes all of the same vocal expressions that Abby does, but she has a sweet little "baby voice" that she uses that makes it sound like she is sounding out her "t's" ever so gently -- it's hard to describe, but when she does this, it makes my heart melt... Em' still seems to be full of smiles -- and it is still a lot easier to get Emily to smile than it is to get Abby to smile. Abby seems to be just a little more serious than her little sis -- and I think we are seeing the signs that we have a little daredevil on our hands, as Emily seems to be a little more adventurous than Abby.

So, that is our update -- we are very excited to celebrate Abby and Emily's first Christmas! Geoff and I feel as if we don't know what exactly they would want Santa to bring them; so we are welcoming any and all suggestions. We took a trip to TRU the other day to scope out the toys, but there just seems to be so much out there... so many choices, and so little room....