Spencer Max 6 months and Solids!

A couple of days before these boys turned six months I finally got my act together and gave them their first solid foods.  Their older brothers of course wanted to help.

 They liked the attention at first and amused us...

Max

Spencer

 ...it didn't take long for them to let us know they were less than thrilled about it.  All the boys kept telling me to STOP feeding them, they didn't like it!  Now that they've had it for a week or two, Spencer tolerates it and Max doesn't.  At first Max cried through the feeding, I crammed food in, then he would keep his tongue out so he didn't accidently eat any of it.  Now he's learning.  He smiles at me but keeps his mouth closed the whole time.  It's adorably annoying.

Cutest 6 months olds!

 Spencer:
At his 6 month appointment he weighed a whopping 20 lbs 1 oz (90%) is 28.5 inches (98%) and his head is now back on the charts with 45.8 cm (97%)  - it was off the charts last time.  We are glad that his head/neck are getting back to normal and he will not need a helmet!  He is perfectly healthy and EVERYONE loves his adorable cheeks.  And yes they get kissed a lot.  all the time.

 Spencer is rolling over both ways and can turn where he wants to, but he's usually content to stay in one area.  He has two teeth on the bottom, and my guess the top two will come soon.  We are still working on controlling that very large head of his, but he's getting good at standing on his legs and we are still working on sitting - it's a hard one.  He loves any attention and will give anyone his adorable smile.

 Max:
At his 6 month appointment he weighed 18 lbs 15 oz (76%), is 27.8 inches long (91%), and has a head of 44.3 cm (77%).  So still a bit smaller than his brother.  Other than refusing to eat solids, he's perfect.  It's funny how his personality already manifests itself, especially with eating.  If he wants something he WANTS it, and if he doesn't want it you cannot make him.  He's usually all smiles, but once again, if he wants to be held; you're going to hold him.

 Max has two teeth on the top and two teeth on the bottom (almost).  He loves to roll anywhere and everywhere.  He's my first kid whose not fazed at all with grass and will gladly roll in it and try to pick it.  He is all over the room when I put him down and is even starting to get on his knees a bit. He loves to kick his legs and if he's on his back he scoots himself anywhere. My favorite about Max:  whenever I kiss his cheek he always leans in for more.  He presses his head against mine to get all of my love, it melts me every time.  He is going to be the one always on the go, when I'm holding him and standing still for too long, he leans one way or the other or backward till we start moving.  Such a happy good kid.

 And yes, Max looks like Christopher and Spencer looks like Steven.

Max Spencer

I love Max's face on this one

Nothing cuter than naked babies waiting for the doctor to come in.

I can't believe we already made it to the half year mark with these two.  We love you boys more than words.  Thanks for being so patient with us and all the love from your older brothers.

Rough Moments

I live moment to moment each day.  Every day there are moments that are awesome: like going for a run even though it's freezing outside and being able to run almost twice as far I did the time before.  And there are moments that are really just horrible: like opening the door of the bathroom to find William, Ryan, and Christopher covered in toothpaste.  Then find that they started playing with it on the couch and now there's a trail of toothpaste from one end of the house to the other.

 Luckily the bad moments usually end fairly soon and then I can think of the good side of things:  I was going to give them a bath then anyway.  Now my couch smells minty fresh.  While washing off the walls and floor where the toothpaste was deposited I also cleaned off the stains that had been there for months.  And I got an adorable video of William telling me NO! over again because he didn't want a shower.  (It's not letting me post it though)

 Sweet moments are also interspersed through out the day though.  Spencer and Max are now 6 months and just so sweet and adorable, when you are paying sufficient attention to them.

Spencer

Max

Max

Max and Spencer

Also moments when I'm helping Steven with his homework and it's really clicking and he says things like, "I'm so good at learning, I love it!"  He loves math and is really starting to do well with his reading.

But true to the form of this post, disaster struck again during dinner:  I was holding a crying Max, Spencer was on the floor crying off and on, but I can only do so much, and stirring some soon be scrambled eggs, while also trying to get the muffins out of the tin.  I realized I had to put Max on the floor and just listen to him cry while I hurry and get the muffins out (it was a two hand job); I no sooner put Max on the floor than I hear a big crash from the kitchen and see Ryan running away and egg liquid all over the floor.  This moment lasted a lot longer than I would have liked, luckily Jacob came home soon after to pick up a still crying Max while I tried to clean up the egg and make a new batch (all the while listening to Christopher telling me his bandaid was on all wrong and needed to be changed).  It took me a long time to get over that moment but it will force me to mop the kitchen floor which I've been putting off for a week or two...or three (I've lost count)  So there's a positive, I guess.

Also before dinner was served, Jacob got this finger nail substance in the mail to help Steven stop sucking his thumb.  He put it on Steven's fingers, Christopher's thumb, and his own.  Jacob tried it and had to pour straight juice concentrate in his mouth and swish for a few minutes to get rid of the taste.  Steven put his fingers in his mouth during dinner (I think to be funny even) and hated it.  He started crying because of the taste, so Jacob told Steven to do what he did.  Except it didn't work and Steven continued to cry for the next 30 minutes...he eventually stopped thank heavens.

Scary Juice Costume complete
(One of Steven's ideas for his Halloween costume)

 It was a rough day today, the bad moments outweighed the good; usually it's the other way around.  But it always ends on a good note, singing to sweet chubby babies, tucking big boys into bed, hugs and kisses, and then somehow getting the house cleaned to a "good enough" state.  The truly good times come when the house is cleaned, before we sit down to watch a show, and we go to check on the boys one last time and see the positions they are in.  Yesterday William was lying on top of Steven, both fast asleep.  One of these days I'll love that I wrote this down and I'll laugh and almost wish to come back to them, but today I'm just glad the day is over.

After putting Spencer and Max to bed I found this

*Other moments to remember:  Ryan loving the apple muffins for dinner so much that when I brought in a plate full to the table, he stuffed every last crumb in his mouth as fast as he could so he could have another one.

Trying to feed Spencer and Max some rice cereal; Spencer tolerating it and Max despising it to the point of tears.  While I'm on the floor trying to get Max to eat something, William and Ryan are crawling all over me and handing the babies toys to help them feel better.  All the while Ryan is yelling on the top of his lungs right next to my ear, "MA...MA....MA"

Playing a game with the boys outside where they run from across the yard to knock me down.  Christopher and Steven would always be first then the second would come after and say, "Steven sandwich" or vis versa.  Ryan and William would come later and just give me a hug then say, "up, up".  I'm such a mom of boys!