6 Months

Look who's 6 months old!! Happy half birthday Anna and John. In case you're wondering, the twins are technically 7 months old right now, but I like to write about all the new things they've learned each month, so that's why I post at the end of the month rather than the beginning.  With that being said, we've had big changes this month!! Here are some new things the babies learned in their sixth month:

*Anna found her voice. She experiments daily with the different pitches she can create, usually ones that are extremely high and loud :) It's actually really cute and she looks so proud of herself when she produces a new sound.

*John grew not one, but two teeth this month. He got his first bottom tooth on April 1st, followed by another bottom tooth on April 8, Easter :)  We think his sister is teething too, but no teeth just yet.

*Anna LOVES the jumperoo. This girl can bounce!!  She looks like a little ballerina jumping off her toes rather than the balls of her feet. John doesn't exactly jump yet, he just kind of throws himself from side to side. I'm sure his jumping will come!!  They're both really enjoying the exersaucer too.

*John loves kicking his feet in the air and grabbing his toes.  He also has an extreme focus and concentration when he's looking at toys or studying faces. He can be pretty intense :) He loves to look at his hands and other people's hands and has good fine motor cooridation.

*The babies know their names (this may have happened earlier, but we just really started noticing it this month). It's so cute to call their names and have them turn their heads and search for your voice.

*Anna and John can both be little jokesters and giggle pots. They think it's hysterical to give raspberries and laugh and laugh when we make silly faces and tickle them.

*The babies also celebrated their first Easter this month. We had such a wonderful time in Pittsburgh with the Rooney and Weaver families.

This shirt says it all!!

John's two bottom teeth

Anna in her jumperoo

John in the exersaucer

Yummy! Anna and John enjoying their first time eating squash.  Anna gets so excited she pants like a puppy and kicks her feet really fast. This girl loves her food, just like her mama :)

Hanging out with cousin Amelia

One of the babies favorite things to do in Pittsburgh is to spend time with their cousin Amelia.  They like to play with her, read books with her, and even eat with her.  Anna and John are happy Amelia only goes to school in the morning, so they get to spend lots of time with her on our visits to Pittsburgh.

Anna loves when Amelia shows her new toys on Nana's play gym.

John loves when Amelia shows him how toys work.

Amelia enjoys feeding Anna her cereal and carrots!

John's loves being fed his dinner by Amelia!

John loves being close to her! Amelia loves both twins, but she has an extra special bond with John :)



Easter in Pittsburgh



Thank you Christina and Danielle for our bunny ears and hats!

Anna and John celebrated their first Easter in Pittsburgh with the Rooney and Weaver families. We drove in on Friday after John worked a half day, made a quick stop at Nana and Pop's to drop the babies off, then headed to Tara's for our annual Good Friday party. The babies stayed with Nana and Pop so they could get a good night's sleep, while John and I got a chance to unwind with good friends.

Easter morning started out a little crazy, as all mornings do when we all need to get ready and be out the door at a certain time. The Easter Bunny brought Baby John his second tooth, so he was a little cranky. We fed him and he seemed to settle down. Then we loaded the babies into the car to go to church, turned the key in the ignition and the car wouldn't start. John realized he left the radio on all night!! By now it is 10:30, when church was starting, so we put the babies in the rental car and drove the 2 minutes to church. Miraculously, all the children were well behaved during the service. Anna and John even fell asleep! When we got back to Nana and Pop's house, we took some pictures, had an Easter egg hunt, and looked for Easter baskets. Later we had a delicous meal made by Nana, then John had to drive back to Cincinnati :( We were sad to see him go, but he made the drive back to Pittsburgh the following Friday to hang out with us for the weekend.

Seersucker twins :)

Amelia and Ethan hunting for Easter eggs.

Cousins!!!! Anna, ,Abby, Amelia, John and Ethan

Chicago comes to Cincinatti

We were so excited to have two very special visitors in Cincinnati last weekend. Mommy- to- be Danielle and Nina road tripped down to see us- Danielle's first time meeting Anna and John!  They brought the babies adorable Easter baskets and an early birthday gift for me from my favorite place, Paper Source!

 We went to lunch at Rookwood, a former pottery studio turned restaurant, in our neighborhood. The babies enjoyed stretching out and playing on the benches.

From there we took a stroll around the neighborhood, with a stop for some ice cream along the way. We relaxed and hung out the rest of the afternoon, then we went out for a night on the town, while the babies and John stayed home to watch basketball. We ate at Nada, a Mexican restaurant downtown. It was amazing, and so nice to just hang out with the girls and enjoy a mojito.

Pardon the demon eyes, I could not fix them!!

The girls with John (Anna was upstairs napping).

John is fascinated by peoples' faces. Watch out Nina, he's got quite a grip!

The next morning D and Nina came over for brunch and for some more baby time before heading back to Chicago. D helped me make my first ever quiche. The girls said it was yummy. We also had some pumpkin muffins and yogurt and fruit. The babies enjoyed the girls giving them their bottles and I enjoyed the break!



Nina and Anna

D and John

We were wondering why baby John was just not himself this weekend. Well, after our visitors left, we discovered he cut his first tooth! That explains the fussiness and lack of sleep. I guess he had so much fun with our visitors, his tooth decided to spring up!!

It's there, I promise. He got his bottom right tooth on April 1st.

Feeling prety cool with his new tooth :)

Our first solids

In the twins' 5 month blog, I mentioned that the babies started eating solids. Well, now in their 6th month, we are rounding out the vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, and peas), getting ready for fruits. Both John and Anna have shown interest in feeding themselves and reaching out for whatever John and I have on our plates. Baby John even held his own bottle a few times. Miss Anna is happy and content to have her parents feed her- no surprise:) Here are some pics from Anna and John's early food adventures:

Big boy holding his own bottle!

Peas have not been a big hit so far!

Sweet potatoes and carrots were received with a much warmer welcome!