10 months old!

Double digits!

My babies are creeping up on the one year mark.  How is that even remotely possible?  This time last year, Brennan and I were enjoying Mommy and Me swimming lessons and I already thought that I was as big as a house.  Ha!  I was blissfully unaware that in 2 more months I'd end up being induced and push out a collective weight of 13 pounds 3 ounces of baby. 

I must say, life is finally getting easier.  Don't get me wrong, it's still complete chaos around here and I'm always busy, but we're settled into a nice routine.  The boys all entertain each other fairly well during so I'm better able to get household chores completed.  Naptime routines are fairly easy now as both twins will fall asleep on their own in their beds after a nice cuddle and bottle.  And big brother Brennan is very well behaved while I put his little brothers down for their naps.  More than anything, it's really fun to see the 3 of them play together during the day.  It makes me excited to see them grow up together.

Beckett

Mr. Beckett had another big month.  He's become a pro at crawling and can finally give Kiernan a run for his money in the speed department.  It's so much fun to have them both moving like madmen, even though it's a bit chaotic at times.  On June 18, after physical therapy, Beckett pulled himself to a stand on his little activity table.  He didn't do it much over the next week, but after physical therapy on the 25th, he started doing it more regularly.  I'm so used to seeing a baby standing up and assuming it's Kiernan that when I look closely and notice it's Beckett it still catches me off guard.  Physical therapy with Ms. Leslie has worked miracles and he's pretty much caught up with where he should be.  Our insurance company has denied any further visits, so when we return from Michigan, we'll have an appointment with Ms. Leslie to determine whether or not he needs further treatment.  My gut feeling is that he won't need any, or he'll only need a visit every other week, which won't be too bad.  I'm so proud of him for working so hard. 

Beckett is getting more and more vocal too.  It's been easy for Brian and I to tell the twins' voices apart from a few rooms away since they were just a couple months old, but it continues to get easier.  Beckett has a deeper voice than Kiernan and deep belly laughs and cackles.  On the morning of June 14, Brian went to get the twins out of bed while I made their morning bottles.  When I came into the family room, Brian said, "I know you won't believe me, but Beckett is saying Da-Da".  I laughed at him and said of course I believed him.  And Beckett confirmed it for me later that day.  It's very cute to see Brian's face light up when he says Da-Da.  That mouth isn't only good for babbling though.  It's also very good for eating.  Mr. Beckett will eat pretty much anything if you put it into his mouth.  Other than squash, he hasn't met a food he didn't like.  I'm feeding the boys a lot of table food now, and while Beckett is quite good at the pincer grip, he's also pretty slow and laid back about eating table food.  But he gobbles down purees when I spoon-feed them to him.  He also enjoys spitting the purees back at me with a big smile on his face.  I don't enjoy that as much as he does.   

Brian sometimes describes Beckett as "lazy", but I prefer to call him "laid back".  He continues to be a very easy, mellow, go-with-the-flow baby.  But his wild moments come out when he's in the bath tub.  This month we started to bathe all 3 boys in the tub at the same time.  I can only describe it as extreme insanity, but it's definitely fun.  And Beckett greatly contributes to that fun.  He splashes like a wild child and laughs louder than ever.  I can't wait to take him into my parents' pool when we're in Michigan!

Kiernan

Oh, Kiernan.  We call him our "angry bird" and it fits him perfectly.  He is just completely crazy in every way.  He never stop moving.  EVER.  He's constantly trying to climb - furniture, people, dogs, the baby gate, out of the bathtub…  If you're on the floor, Kiernan will try to climb you.  Even if, no, especially if you're attempting to change Beckett's diaper.  He very much likes to be the center of attention. If nothing else, Kiernan is a constant source of entertainment.  And as always, he feels every emotion very fiercely and can change in the blink of an eye. 

Teething has been very rough on him.  He's a drooling machine and has been very fussy.  His top left front tooth finally cut through on June 24 and I think the right one isn't far behind.  He's constantly chewing on something, partly because of teething and partly because he's always hungry.  Kiernan loves to eat.  He prefers to feed himself and is very proficient at stuffing fistfuls of food into his mouth.  He can't be bothered to learn the pincer grip.  Personally, I think he thinks it's just not an efficient method of getting food into his mouth quickly.  Kiernan's tray is always clear before Beckett's and he usually eats twice as much table food.  He gets about half as much pureed food as Beckett, mostly because I double up Beckett's spoonfuls since he doesn't eat as much as Beckett.

Kiernan continues to impress Ms. Leslie when she comes to see Beckett by cruising all around the furniture.  He's also standing on his own for up to a minute and has stood up and sat down a few times without holding on to anything.  I can't believe how far he has come!   He is still terrorizing his brothers, but has been known to get attacked by Beckett now and then too.  And now that both Kiernan and Beckett are a little more hearty and aggressive with Brennan, he isn't afraid to rough house with them a bit.  I found Brennan dragging Kiernan around by his left leg just the other day.  Luckily, Kiernan thought it was funny, which is why I didn't know about it til I saw it. Otherwise, there would have been insanely loud shrieks of terror and rage coming from the angry bird. 

On the same day as Beckett started to stay Da-Da, Kiernan began saying Ma-Ma.  I love to hear them chat back and forth with each other, although Kiernan almost always controls the conversation.  He babbles all day long, especially in his crib when he should be going to sleep.  Lately I've begun to notice him developing the same language pattern as Brennan had - saying Ma-Ma when he's sad, tired, hungry, or wants something and saying Da-Da when he's happy.  They learn young, don't they?