Ellen and Harris - 8 Months

These two are getting to be so much fun!  This month is full of new, exciting and exhausting (at least for me) adventures! They are finally starting to pay more attention to each other and interact a little bit.  Occasionally they will hold hands and make each other laugh, but most of the time it is stealing each others toys or pulling hair bows.

They can both can hold their own bottle now which is HUGE!  We still do most of our bottles in the table for two, but now that they can hold their own bottles it does make it easier to eat on the go or different places in the house.

Both are sitting up for long periods of time.  Which has certainly been a game changer.  They both show much more interest in their toys, the TV, Graham and each other now they they can sit up.  Sitting up also means they can now ride in the grocery cart!!!!!  YAY!!!!  I finally have room to actually buy more than one or two things!  Before I would take the double stroller and hang a basket on my stroller hook.  It was the most effective, but I was limited to what I could fit in the basket which let me tell you isn't much.  So I am thrilled that they can sit in the cart now and I'm sure we will be in the Publix race car buggy before too long!

They are both mobile (Ellen- rolling and scooting/Harris - crawling) which has presented a whole new set of challenges.  To help contain them in the living room I decided that a play yard was our best option.  Not necessarily the "look" I was going for in the living room, but it is temporary and at least allows me to walk out of the room for a second and know that they are safe.

Our schedule seems slightly different every day but for the most part this is what it looks like:

6:00-6:30 Wake Up
6:30 Bottle (7 oz)
7:30 Breakfast
8:45-10:00 Nap
10:00 Bottle (7oz)
11:30 Lunch
1:00-3:30 Nap
3:30 Bottle (7oz)
5:00 Dinner
6:00 Bottle (7oz)
6:45 Bath
7:00 Bed

The biggest change is that they are eating three meals a day.  Between 4 bottles and 3 baby food meals...I feel like all I do is feed babies!  They also are eating puffs...which is their favorite part of meal time.


ELLEN

Ellen is definitely the easy baby at the moment.  She will sit and entertain herself for long periods of time.  She falls asleep on her own and sleeps all night!  Her favorite time of day is bath time.  The second we take her clothes off she gets excited and smiles and laughs throughout her whole bath. She is starting to show an attachment to me and not a huge fan of strangers especially if she thinks she is going to be left with them.  But once she warms up she is content with whoever will give her attention. Her favorite toys right are her toy car keys, Sophie the giraffe, my iphone, the remote control and anything that has a string or a tag.  She is also a paci hoarder.  She LOVES her paci and most always has one in her mouth and holding another one in her hand.  She will even take Harris' out of his mouth if it is within reach.  She is sitting up and getting on all fours just hasn't decided to take off yet (which is perfectly fine with me)!  She is definitely starting to plump up and getting the cutest little cheeks and even a few legs rolls.  She adds much needed softness and sweetness to our family!

HARRIS

This boy is giving us a run for our money right now.  He started crawling, pulling up and has decided that sleep is not important to him a the moment.  For the last several weeks has started waking up 3-6 times a night.  We are hoping that this is somehow tied to all of his new mobility and that he calms down and starts sleeping again VERY soon.  Mommy and Daddy need sleep!  He loves to eat and mealtime is definitely his favorite part of the day.  He wants his bottles the second he wakes up and the spoon can not go fast enough when it's time for baby food.  He loves to play peek-a-boo and chase after shoe strings.  He LOVES strangers and will smile and flirt with anyone and everyone.  He started making the motorboat noise and it keeps us laughing!

Even though I am exhausted all of the time...I try to remind myself just how precious these days are and how quickly they pass.  Still find it hard to believe they are 8 months old.  We have certainly come a long way!

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

Oops!  Didn't get a 4 Month Picture

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

Fall Family Update!

And we’re back! You’ll have to excuse that long break, folks. Life has been a little crazy since the last post. Sadly, we’re starting to see that crazy is the new normal! This post doesn’t include everything that we’ve done, but it’s a start.

FAMILY

We started the fall season by getting ready for all the fall festivities, which included pumpkin painting!

And the babies tried on their first Halloween costumes!

We also made a trip down to Camden in October. I observed that Ellen is at her calmest when the vehicle is traveling at 60 mph or faster. Red lights are gruesome! It was the first trip to Camden for the babies and the trip also included some extra Halloween fun for Graham. He really enjoyed the fall festival put on by the Camden Baptist Church. Everyone liked his Gecko costume!

The weather was nice, which presented a great opportunity for a picture with Grandmommy and Granddaddy!

The babies have made a few trips to the doctor for help with all kinds of things their big brother passed along to them. If only they could blow their noses!

We made a return trip to Camden for Thanksgiving and enjoyed a lot of good food. Global warming isn’t all that bad if it means we can spend time comfortably outside in late November!

BABIES

Ellen and Harris are no longer sleeping in their swaddles. They now sleep on their tummies under some blankets. Their swings have really come in handy during sick spells. We’ve gone through approximately 400 size D batteries! Their bouncy seats have been very helpful at keeping them upright so they can nap.

Both babies experienced an allergic reaction to cereal and it took about 3 weeks for their tummies to bounce back. Not a fun period due to very little sleep. Julie has powered through and kept us all alive. The babies stayed with an all-formula diet until recently when fruit flavored baby food was introduced, with much success! Just as these babies are different from each other, they eat baby food differently, too. Ellen savors the flavor while Harris barely even tastes his food. Sometimes we don’t go fast enough!

Harris is still a little heavier and longer. At a recent doctor’s appointment, Harris was weighed 14.5 pounds. Ellen was weighed 12 pounds and 1 ounce.

Judging by their drooling and the way they constantly suck on their fingers, these babies will have some teeth soon. There is rarely a time now when something isn’t in their mouth, especially for Harris. I don’t remember Graham being able to stick his entire hand into his mouth.

If one finger is good, all five are even better!

A photo posted by Nick Baggett (@nick_baggett) on Oct 12, 2016 at 7:53pm PDT

Aside from their tummy troubles, ear infections, the occasional sniffles and some chest congestion, Harris and Ellen are genuinely happy babies. Harris is the more expressive baby but Ellen will give you a big smile every now and then too.

They still don’t really acknowledge each other. They spend time on their activity mat with each other and sometimes suck on each other’s fingers but they don’t outright look at each other. I thought that would have happened more by now. Maybe it will happen soon – Julie and I are really looking forward to them entertaining themselves!

GRAHAM

Graham has had a very busy fall. He’s had a blast along the way, from school to yardwork. It won’t be long until I can count on Graham to rake the entire yard!

Graham also discovered that leaf piles make don’t derail trails as much as one would think.

New concept for the next Thomas the Train film: Thomas and the Dad Who Just Gives In.

A video posted by Nick Baggett (@nick_baggett) on Nov 13, 2016 at 11:29am PST

This might be my favorite photo from this fall:

He has enjoyed learning lots of great things at school. He's REALLY become quite the artist. Check out this family portrait he sketched.

Be sure to check out his depiction of the babies.

As evident by his school photo, I’d say Graham really likes school.

He also helped us celebrate his Aunt’s birthday. They are kindred spirits that share December birthdays.

More recently, Graham has been working very hard at staying on Santa’s “nice” list. He got off to a great start with an EXCELLENT visit to see Santa with Harris and Ellen. Not the first tear was shed!

Grahambo also helped with our Christmas tree decorations.

And here it is, time for Christmas! Time really flies. I think this last picture really sums up our hectic lives! I don’t recall what was going on in this photo, but it seems to capture any given moment around here - - Julie hanging out of the window and Graham slinging his Spidey webs.

Thanks for reading! We’ll work on having more frequent posts in 2017!

Family Update - 11 Weeks

Now that Ellen and Harris are 11 weeks into this thing called life, it’s time for a family update!

THE TWINS

We so often associate “twins” with “same” but I’m here to tell you that these babies are not very similar. I’ve constructed the following table to highlight some of their key differences.

	Harris	Ellen
Gender	Boy	Girl
Head Shape	Square	Round
Body Shape	Long, Solid	Thin, Delicate
Hair Color	Dark Brown	N/A
General Mood	Content	Fear of Missing Out
Type of Sleeper	Great	Light
Type of Eater	Slow	Messy
Likes Paci?	No	Yes

I should note that these findings are based on my observations.

It would be unfair if I did not share the their commonalities. A few examples of their shared traits are:

• These babies grunt. When they’re eating. When they’re sleeping. When they’re trying to escape their swaddles. All. The. Time. 
• It’s unfathomable to imagine a pair of babies that toot more than Harris and Ellen. There is nothing dainty about their toots, either. Instead of “thunder and lightning”, I refer to this duo as “thunder and thunder”. 
• Both babies have begun smiling at us. This has been a huge game-changer. After weeks of blank expressions and unbreakable eye contact, it’s amazing to see how a slight smile changes their whole look. Harris definitely has the Baggett sideways grin. Ellen’s smile is just like her – beautiful! 

Both babies are doing extremely well. At a recent doctor’s appointment, Harris tipped the scales at 10.9 lbs and measured 22 inches long. Ellen weighed 8 lbs and is right behind at 19 and ¾ inches.

BIG BROTHER

Graham continues to be very interested in the twins and loves to help. I’ve never seen him get mad or frustrated with them, even during prime crying time. He has earned some nice rewards for his great attitude.

Graham and I recently took a trip to Toys R Us. Did you know that you can buy a life-size Star Wars figure??

Graham has spent time with all of his grandparents since the babies came home. My parents visited on their return from a recent cruise. While they were here, we dined at one of the nicest restaurants Birmingham has to offer and my Dad and Graham got a close look at the lobster tank.

Graham has also been doing a lot of swimming...

biking...



and he even helped me celebrate my birthday with a cookie cake that featured a theme he picked out just for me!

In addition to all of this, Graham started a new school year recently. It was an incredibly short summer and I know it won't be long before he will be starting kindergarten next year. I am not looking forward to that day!

JULIE

Mommy. Wife. ROCK. It's not uncommon for two babies to be crying, a 4 year old to be craving attention and me being grumpy all at the same time. Julie thrives in those moments and whips us all back into shape.

I've been so amazed at the way Julie has commanded every situation. She's so organized and structured - - it's like God made Julie to feed, cloth and transport these children. She somehow finds time to make a warm dinner for us every night to enjoy inside a clean home. She keeps us all in line and I don't tell her enough how great a mother and wife she is. Julie makes us ALL feel LOVED around the clock.

A lot of our home projects - - both inside and out - - have paused and it's more about maintaining things now. We wouldn't trade it for anything though! Come see us...we'll even let you hold a baby!