Dear Madison and Jackson,
5 months old already. I can’t believe the dramatic difference in you both from what seems like yesterday when we brought you home. You both are still a dream to take places and we are often not home. Grandma always laughs when she calls me on my cell phone and we’re not at home. She says "Are you EVER home??" Daddy and I fall deeper and deeper in love with you every single day. Not a day goes by where we don’t tell you how beautiful and handsome you both are and how much we love you. I couldn’t even count the number of kisses you get. It’s astronomical. You both eat 7-8 oz of formula 4 times a day and wear size 2 diapers (a little big for Madison but just fine). I think you’re both starting to teethe. You drool a lot and love to chew on things. You’re both still content to lay in the pack-n-play, which I cherish because I know someday this will not be the case. You are really noticing each other more and more. I often find one of you staring at the other followed by a grin. It’s so cute! Both of your eyes are still a dark color that I can’t even describe…not blue, not brown so your eye color is still up in the air.
Putting away your preemie and newborn size clothes was so sad. It was incredible to think that such a short time ago you fit into those tiny outfits! Your schedule hasn’t changed much in the last month. I thought your daytime napping schedule had no rhyme or reason to it until I thought about it. You both eat at the same time in the morning, 30 minutes later Jackson falls asleep for 30 minutes just as Madison is falling asleep. Then When Madison wakes up Jackson goes back to sleep. You both manage to be awake for the next feeding though! You alternate naps all day long which means I can’t get ANYTHING else done. I am attempting to put you both down at the same time after eating in the morning and if Jackson wakes up after 30 minutes I’ll give him a binky and he’ll go back to sleep and you’ll both sleep for 2 hours. I just need to make the effort to do that every day…every day that we’re home, that is. This month we stopped swaddling you in your miracle blankets to see if you'd sleep later by being able to suck on your fingers if you woke up. It hasn't worked. I suppose the next milestones for you both are sitting up and eating solid foods which we'll try you at 6 months unless you start showing signs you're ready before that.
Dear Jackson,
You are a tank! I know I said at 4 months that you had started to really put on some weight but all of a sudden look like a completely different baby. Your face is so big and round and your neck seems to have disappeared. Auntie thinks we need to give up our dreams of you being a golfer because you’re going to be a linebacker. You are now reaching for things but haven’t quite mastered holding although you desperately want to bring everything to your mouth to chew on it. You now gurgle on top of cooing. Even I don’t know how to do what you do! You seem quite impressed with yourself so you do it often. You are wearing 3-6 month sized clothes. When you chew on a frozen teether (which you seem to enjoy) you end up getting cranky. Probably because it starts to hurt! You definitely love the exersaucer/jumper although you spit up every time you’re in it. The play mat is still a lot of fun for you especially now that you can reach out and touch things. You are not very interested in rolling from your back to your belly although you totally know how to do it. Your brown hair is almost completely gone now which has left the softest fuzzy head that is fabulous to touch. You are very close to laughing so we keep tickling and doing raspberries on your belly to get you to. I can’t wait to hear you laugh! You found your feet today! It was kind of funny though because you were trying so hard to grab them but your chubby belly seemed to get in the way. Your head is starting to get flat in the back since we stopped swaddling you and sleeping you on your sides with the sleep positioners (those are gone now too). Madison flips over as soon as we put her down so her head is fine, but you're content to just lay on your back. You must figure it's not worth the effort to roll over. I guess I have to make more of an effort to have you not laying down during the day but if you're sitting up in your bumbo or exersaucer or doing tummy time you seem to spit up more.
No injuries this month :-) oh, unless you want to count the circumcision.
New names I call you…Tank, Chubbo, Chubbaroo, Big guy.
I love you more than you'll ever know.
Dear Madison,
You are a peanut! Suddenly in the last couple weeks the difference in weight between you and your brother is so apparent. You wear size 3-6 month sized clothes although they are a little big and you can still squeeze into a newborn onesie. You now reach for things but not aggressively. You are more interested in looking at your hands. You study them like they’re a novel. The concentration on your face is priceless. You are a professional flipper. You flip and roll over in your crib. I never know what position you’ll be in when I go to get you after a nap but it’s NEVER the same way I put you down. You talk so much now…mostly to yourself and if we come near, you stop. A lot of times it sounds like you clearly say "HI!" or "HEY!" It’s really funny. Your hair is still very red and today I realized where it is growing in the front it has a curl to it! Basically you just have longer hair on the top of your head. The sides and back are mostly bald. You also like the exercauser/jumper and play mat. The bouncy seat now that we’ve put on the tray with toys on it is a hit with you too. You have laughed a few times when someone "eats" your belly or neck but even if you don’t laugh your huge wide smile is fabulous! You even smile and almost laugh when I shake my hair in your face. So far your laugh is adorable and I can’t wait to hear more of it. You've been grabbing and looking at your feet for a couple weeks now. It's so cute when you grab your feet then roll to the side.
Injuries this month: I didn't want you to feel left out of the "cutting the skin off the tip of your thumb" club, so I (accidently of course) did that for you a couple weeks ago at Auntie's house. You cried and cried and bled. I reacted much better than when I did it to your brother at 2 weeks old but I still felt horrible. Auntie got a bandaid for you and you were fine in a couple minutes.
New names I call you…Peanut, Baby peanut, Flippy girl. Mostly I still call you Baby Girl.
I love you more than you'll ever know.
M sitting up! She's leaning on her hands but is able to balance herself for a very long time.
M's first do
J and Grandma
J and Auntie
Apparently he was fussy because his sister was kicking him in the face! Then I sang and they both smiled ear to ear.
It was a perfect day right around 75 degrees. M&J were perfect angels all morning long and ended up falling asleep in the stroller. I took this sleeping moment to cut their nails!!
I was able to see their boat coming back right by where I was standing. That's Ben in the red shirt. The duck tour was eventually over and we all went to the cafeteria to get lunch. That was the most chaotic mess I've ever seen! But I did randomly bump into my friend Borina that sits next to me at work! What are the odds that we would both be at the MOS and at the cafeteria at the same time?? M&J woke up once we got in all that noise so of course they wanted to eat when we were trying to eat. My mom fed Jackson who proceeded to spit up all over the front of her shirt as she was demonstrating to Ben why we can't play "Super Jackson" after he eats. (Super Jackson...or Madison is a game we play where we put them high in the air like they're flying. They both get the biggest grins but it can be dangerous if Tank has just eaten). I think she asked for it. I fed Madison who again didn't finish a whole bottle. 
Jack had fallen asleep on the way there so I put Jackson in the baby carrier while Jack shared the double stroller with Madison.
We were pleasantly surprised to find a LOT of animals there. I think we had heard bad things about the place so we weren't expecting much but we saw eagles, tigers
a jaguar
a snow leopard, meerkats
a spider monkey, these other monkeys that looked like skunks
owls, a yak, other monkeys
and pink flamingos!!! There was more than that but that's all I can think of right now.
Misty (olympic gold medalist) and me (mom of twins...is that close?)
Popeye!!!
"Whatchoo talkin bout Willis?"
Grandpa and Papa with M&J with their party hats on.
Grandpa, Grandpa, M&J
Mommy and Maddie
My pretty girl
