Vacation! And update on twins!

My sister and I went to the beach last week. Duane joined us over the weekend. The babies had a blast, although we had a difficult time
getting their second nap in daily. They get "over tired" with
excitement and then won't sleep! We went to the pool nearly every day, lounged on the beach, and the one day we were stuck indoors, I blew up their pool floats and put them in the master bathroom garden tub to play!




On one hand I am really happy about Lucas and Matildas development.
They both feed themselves now atleast two meals a day- Lucas will now
hold his bottle for all his feedings, but Tilly wants to fidget and
can't keep her bottle in her mouth really well except at breakfast
when shes half starved for a bottle- not that us feeding her helps
this- she fidgets so bad we have trouble getting her to hold still,
too. She rolls all around on our laps, and tries to eat on her stomach!

They both can also use a sippy- Lucas just needs to be handed him and
he will gulp down three ounces and hold it right the entire time.
Again, Tilly doesn't have much interest in liquids in general, and
other than hold it and sip for a few moments, once the interest wanes,
she throws it. She will drink half an ounce, anyhow.

Both can pick up finger foods in their thumb and index finger- but
neither like them.

Tilly is now up on all fours "rocking" and we figure she will crawl
soon with Lucas close behind. Both are trying to pull up now, too.

Tilly has a big babble vocabulary. SHE NEVER STOPS. She says "mama",
"dada", "baba", "yum" (when she eats, LOL), "yiyiyi" now when she
whines, "nanananana"... ok, it IS babble, but its cute. She is also a
very gifted squealer. Her squeal- and I am not kidding and have
temporary deafness to prove it- is as loud as a gym whistle. Lucas is
sticking with "dada" and "yaya".

Both understand the sign for "eat" so I ask them if thats what they
want when they act irritable. Thats been a big help.

So, heres my issues... one- NO interest in finger foods- not even the
puffs. They gag and act like they will vomit from them. NO interest in
homemade baby foods either, which we really need them to have since 8
jars a day is killing our food budget. How can we get the food as fine
as the jarred? ANY lumps and Lucas flinches, shakes, squints and vomits!!!

Second, its been two months since they started sitting up, and they
still topple over! They have no interest in sitting up unless they
have something to keep their focus for a few minutes. Today Tilly was
looking at her dresses embroidery and sat up unassisted without
support for ten minutes. The minute she lost interest in the dress,
she looks at me and flops to the side. Is that normal? I noticed how
well Kellies son sits up in his pictures and it has me wondering why
these two won't. Not even the tv is enticement to sit up. To be
honest, they both bore VERY easily and fidget constantly- everyone
comments on how "active" they are. I am constantly moving them from
one activity to another and its exhausting. I was trying to ween them
from the swings and after two weeks of lower back pain, got them back
out last night. Swinging AND watching disney for half an hour in the
a.m. and p.m. keeps them more focused than any other activity. Just
watching alone won't do it. After ten minutes they want ME to come
play again, and I can't get anything done and have trouble lifting
them. We bought a "super playard xl" thinking more room would help...
nope! But they do LOVE to swing an hour a day broken up into two
sessions. They will also entertain themselves in their jumperoo and
exersaucer for twenty minutes- thats my limit for that activity, I
read someplace that longer than that at a time is bad on their hips.
So, I do get breaks- but they are few and far between.

Back to bottles- Tilly only drinks a full bottle at breakfast. The
rest of the day she wants two- three ounce "snack bottles". She
probably wants a bottle 5-6 times a day- but just for a quick snack,
where as with her jarred food she is all attention and gobbles every
last drop and then some with full attention. I know when she wants one
as she will start getting frustrated and whiney. Two ounces later she
tosses the bottle and is back to being a cutie.

Also, still three naps a day. When do they cut back? They sleep about
15-16 hours a day. Its just too bad that I never know when they will
marathon nap. It might be an hour at breakfast and two ours at lunch,
or, two hours in the a.m., and an hour at lunch, or both one hour naps
then a 45 minute dinner nap...