7 months

Now that the babies are 7 1/2 months..I am finally doing their 7 month post! We've been busy with vacation, Steph and Adam's wedding, and summer activities!!!!

The babies are getting harder and harder to photograph now that they are getting a little more mobile! Plus sometimes when I put them next to eachother, Scout likes to torment Finley. This is the best I got this month...





Is it just me, or do they look annoyed?



The twins are growing into 2 very different little people. It is fun watching them develop their own little quirks and traits.

Scout plays with her ear when she's nursing and/or falling asleep. Finley likes to reach up and touch my face when he is nursing, and he usually holds on tight to your hand when he is going to sleep, otherwise he flails his arms all over the place! When they are both nursing together, they usually each put their far arms up over my breast and hold hands in the middle of my chest. It's so sweet.

Scout has started doing "So Big", while Finley just shakes his head "no" when you ask him "are you so big?". Funny thing is, he only does it when you ask him that.

Both are sitting up completely on their own now. Scout can get herself from sitting up, onto to her tummy. She'll lunge forward, usually bonking her nose, but she doesn't cry, and then she'll push herself up with her hands. She is scooting all over the place. She'll soon be crawling I think!

I left her for a quick moment to do something in the kitchen and when I came back, she had scooted herself under the couch on her tummy! She just had her little head poking out looking around! Guess I can't do that anymore!

Finley is pretty content to just hang out wherever we put him, and play with whatever is within his reach!

No teeth yet for either of them. Scout has a tooth that is almost ready to come through though. She's got a big bump and you can see the tooth near the surface!

They enjoyed their first vacation up to the cabin. They loved the pool, especially Scout. She even fell asleep in her floatie in the water a few times! Finley enjoys the water too, he's just more sensitive, and got cold in the water sooner.

Finley acquired a new nickname while on vacation: Finner Finner Chicken Dinnner.

This past month we've started taking to the chiropractor for constipation. It has helped them a ton! My poor babies have never been very regular in that department. But it looks like we are getting things on track.

The twins are definitely aware of each other. Scout likes to bother Finley, and he gets worked up so quickly, and I think she thinks it is funny. One time they were sitting face to face, and she was grabbing at him, and he started screaming in anger, and the little stinkerbell, she started giggling!!!!

Scout likes to spit out her nuk, and then take Finn's nuk out of his mouth and put it in her mouth. She loves to grab his ears and his hair too. Oh and shes started chomping on his arms and legs too! It's strange though because Finley is the one that can be so rough when he gets upset, like when he is nursing sometimes he'll pinch my boob or scratch my face. But when he is next to Scout he is so gentle, and he'll just put his hand on her head softly. He's always smiling at her, and looking at her so adoringly! My gentle little lion...(when he's not tired and angry anyway!)

They both love to play. On their play mats, in their exersaucers, in their bumbos with toys. It's baby central in our living room!





















These 2 babies are so lucky. They have the most wonderful big brother and sister too. Both Malichi and Kinzie absolutely adore Finley and Scout.

Kinzie came in while I was trying to get them both down for their nap the other day, and asked if she could help. She sang to scout and rubbed her arm in her crib, while I rocked Finley to sleep. Scout calmed right down, and just stared up at Kinzie while she sang. I think the hardest part for me right now, is that is is incredibly hard to get 2 babies down for a nap alone when they are both tired at the same time. Especially when they scream when they get tired!

Malichi is always wanting to hold the babies, and feed them, and he LOVES to make them laugh. Loves it. He thinks it is just great when he can act ridiculous and get them to giggle!

This pretty much sums it up.....

Life with 4 kids. It's crazy...but I love it.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July from the 6 of us!!!



We went to the Delano parade with some old friends from Mom's club... it was so good to get together with that crowd again! Then we had a lazy afternoon at home (a little too lazy I think) .... and of course watched the Waconia fireworks as we do every year! It was a good day....and now it's time for bed!

Night!

so big...or not?

This made my day....

6 months

We are half-way to ONE! Can you believe it?!







Fin and Scout had their 6 mo. appt. last week.

Finley weighed in at 15 lb. putting him at 10%. Our little peanut.





Scout weighed 16 lb. 10 oz. putting her at 70%.






They are both little shorties just like their mama! Fin was 24 1/4" and Scout was 24". Under 10% for both! Sorry babies, you got my short genes!

This past month the babies have seemed to grow up so much!

They both have the rolling over thing down well. Finley started first, and then a couple of weeks later Scout started. Scout will roll over in her crib at night all the time, and then she gets mad because she is on her tummy. But instead of rolling back over (which she does all the time during the day) she face plants into the mattress and cries. Sometimes she'll just stay sleeping, but instead of turning her head she'll just have her face flat into the mattress and sleep that way. It makes me so nervous! Finley rolls onto his side to sleep.

When we have her on the floor playing, Scout has started to scoot a little too. She'll put her butt up in the air, pushing herself up with her toes, and then she'll straighten her legs and push herself forward a little.

They are both sitting up now for the most part. Scout is able to balance herself pretty well for quite a while. Finley will get tired after a bit and put his head down on his feet!

Scout has started to grab her feet all the time! She always has her legs way up in the air and is grabbing at her little tooties! :)

They are now eating dinner with us every night. On their menu is some type of rice cereal along with a fruit or veggie. So far they have had peaches, pears, bananas, apples, carrots, sweet potatos, and peas. They don't seem to dislike any really. Finley does great, he just opens his mouth right up and waits for the food. And he'll get mad if we aren't quick enough too! Scout on the other hand, tries to suck the food off the spoon. She is a little more difficult to feed! I thought it would be the other way around. I thought she'd jump right in to eating solids!

The great thing too with them being on solids now, is that we don't really have to give them formula anymore at night! I think they get filled up at dinner and then are satisfied with just nursing at bedtime.

We have gotten into a bit more of a schedule this past month too, which for me is GREAT! They are taking 3 naps a day usually, and bedtime has gotten MUCH earlier! We are able to feed them dinner, play a little, do baths and get ready for bed, then I nurse them, and by about 8:00 they are ready for bed. We are able to put them down awake and they fall asleep on their own most nights now! They have made HUGE strides in the sleeping department this past month! Some nights I only have to feed them each once in the middle of the night. We do still have the nights where it is every 2 hours or so, but they aren't every night anymore!

The babies are really loving their toys. They've both got great eye hand coordination. They love their excersaucers, and have started turning themselves around in them to play with all the toys.They love their blankies and love having the silky part up by their face to go to sleep.

One of the things I LOVE to watch with the babies, is how they look at each other and reach for each other when we have them close. They are almost always holding hands when they are next to each other. Usually it is Finley reaching out and looking for Scouts hand. It is so sweet.

Fin has started biting when he is nursing! OUCH! I've been told to pull them off and stearnly say "no", so they understand right away that they can't do that. Well I tried that, and he looked up at me and grinned!!! And he's continued to do it.

Both of the babies are starting to get back some of the hair they lost, and their little bald spots on the back of their heads are finally filling in.

Grammy came last week and we worked on a few little projects.

We made this little reversible sundress for Scout:



And we did these little bloomers:


My funny little gentle boy.





My sweet...and loud...sassy girl.



Thing One and Thing Two:



I wish I would have started the monthly stuffed animal pictures when they were newborn, but I didn't think of it until they were 2 months old. Here is how much they've grown in the past 4 months!

Malichi Andrew.

Mr. Malichi. The next birthday we celebrate will be his eighth. 8! My baby is going to be 8! Where has the time gone?



As of now he's lost 5 teeth!! He just recently lost his top 2 and he looks so stinkin' cute with those 2 missing!!!! He had a little lisp at first too!



He is such a wonderful big brother! Everyday after school he is eager to get home to hold and play with the babies. He misses them when he is at school all day!

Malichi is so observant, and inquisitive. He is always listening to us, whether we think he is or not, and he is always asking why. He is curious about lots of things!

I love the things he comes up with to say:

About the twins: "They don't know much about life yet, They are just new learners."

And when Tiffany asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up he said " A parent".
She says, "Do you want to have a job outside the house too".
And he says, "No I want the stay home like my mom does and take care of my kids".

The other day he asks me, "Mom, what was your last name before you married dad?" and I replied "Dotson". He responds with "Well, shouldn't I be a Dotson then since you had me BEFORE you got married"?
I was so surprised by this question! But we have never hid the fact that we had him before we got married. He is IN our wedding pictures after all!

It seems the way home from school is when he really likes to talk to me. One day he was asking me a bunch of questions about alcohol. Can kids be in bars? What about restaurant bars? Does everything they sell at a bar have alcohol in it? What happens to you when you drink alcohol?

I try to be honest with him, without telling him more than is ready to hear.

Yesterday he says to me "My friend at school told me he saw a Daddy in the car with a baby in the backseat, and the Daddy was smoking, AND the windows were all rolled UP!" I said "oh?" and he says "yeah it's true. My friend saw it. I wish that the Dad wouldn't have done that. Is that baby going to die"?

He thinks about these things. He still gets very anxious about certain things. It breaks my heart that he has had to deal with anxiety at such a young age. We have him in a group at school once a week and that has seemed to help him quite a bit. We are working on teaching him how to identify his feelings, and how to handle situations.

He is still working hard at Karate and has earned another stripe. Soccer is just finishing up for the year and baseball starts soon. I think he is excited to do baseball this year instead of T-ball!

He is still our dawdler and I think he always will be! He somehow always seems to find something interesting to stop and look at our touch or climb on!!! He is quite easily distracted and can be so forgetful too! We constantly have to remind him to bring his lunch home, or his coat, or his homework. I don't know how many pairs of mittens we lost this winter at school!

Things Malichi loves:

Having his new room WAY upstairs!

Crossword puzzles, word finds, and his rubix cube.

Pencil buddies. Apparently these are the new CRAZE in school!

Playing quitar hero.

Wall ball.

Doing magic shows for us.

Reading. Especially his Star Wars, Shel Silverstein poem books and Magic Treehouse books. He's got some MAD reading skills!!! :) He is in an accelerated reading group in school and is reading at a 3rd grade level!

He loves math too, and it's another one of his strong points.

I am so proud of Malichi. He is such a good kid.