The Twins Are SIX Months Old!

It's crazy to say out loud, but Vivian and Gavin are officially SIX months old today! You know how people say, "they grow up so fast," or "the time just flew by" or "I can't remember when they were that little"? Well, those people are crazy. Are you one of those people? Sorry, but you're crazy. G & V have not grown up too quickly and the time has not flown by. It has been a long six months (and we vividly remember when they were one week old). A mostly joyous and only moderately stressful six months. But a long six months nonetheless. Anyways...

... a lot has changed over the last half-of-a-year.

• The twins were each 4lbs 9oz when they were born and now Gavin is right around 18lbs and Viv is right around 17.5lbs! Its ridiculous.
• They slept for most of the day and hardly any of the night when we first brought them home and now they sleep for about 8-10 hours a night and are awake for the majority of the day with one or two long naps.
• In the beginning, we wondered if they would ever start reacting to us or even looking at us. Now, they're always smiling, giggling, cooing, screaming, and staring at us. And, they recognize us when we walk into a room. Although when we pick them up from school (i.e. daycare) it takes a few seconds for it register that they know us.
• They didn't move much at all when they were itty-bitties. Today, Vivi can grab objects with the greatest of ease, bring them to her mouth, almost sit up on her own, lift her head and prop herself up on her arms when on her tummy, and roll over from front to back and from back to front. Today, Gavin can do all of those things and scoot himself around-- he's getting close to crawling. All weekend, he's been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth repeatedly before falling forward on his face.
• During their first few weeks of life, their cries were not very loud. Now, we wonder if our neighbors are going to call the cops sometimes.
• Staying on the crying topic- they used to cry about anything and everything. And, we weren't always sure what it was about. Now, they still cry a lot, but we've figured out why they're crying for the most part.
• When they left the NICU, preemie clothes were still really baggy on them. Now, they're comfortably wearing some 6 month, mostly 6-9 month, and some 9 month clothes!
• In the beginning, they didn't acknowledge each other's presence (well, maybe except for this one time). And now, they stare at each other while laying in bed or playing together, look at each other from across the room, and grab one another's hand each and every time we put them near each other.

Okay, enough about that. We'll post all about the birthday festivities tomorrow...