New addition to Friends and Patriots

Check out Momma Owl's Lab, clickable on the right of your screen. Momma Owl is a fellow IHS alum who has an awesome kids' science blog with great experiments. I can't wait to try them out when these guys are a little bigger.

More baby-led weaning and attempts at language

Broccoli florets, baby-led weaning style.

Both boys pretty consistently babble "dada" and "ah-da-da-da". Beck also has been experimenting with V and F sounds, which come out as "vuh-vuh-vuh" and "fuh-fuh-fuh". It looks like he's working pretty hard to push out those syllables with the Vs and Fs. One time he was so emphatic with the "fuh" sound that it sounded like a "fuh-K". Which Mama Lovebo thought was funny. There have been a few "bababa" sounds but nothing resembling an M yet. When Tara was over Friday evening I heard a number of "ta-ta-ta" sounds from both of them, which was pretty exciting for two potential reasons: either they recognized Tara and were calling her by name, or they recognized her tatas. Either way, they're learning.

Whole wheat toast and bananas, BLW.

Baby-Led Weaning and Adventures in Sitting Up

This morning we tried Baby-Led Weaning for the first time. I made oatmeal "sticks"--more like mushy balls--and cut up an apple in quarters. Jeff attached the highchair trays for the first time and told the boys to have at it. It was a huge success--it appeared that they enjoyed feeding themselves, they ate a good quantity of both oatmeal and apple, I could enjoy my own breakfast simultaneously, and Haylie enjoyed the food thrown overboard. Win-win-win-win!




They are doing awesome sitting up, for long stretches of time. Basically until they get bored and tired of sitting up. It also facilitates playing together in a way they haven't been able to do previously.



While I was uploading the pictures for this post they were sitting next to each other and stopped looking at the blocks at the same moment. They locked eyes and smiled and laughed while pawing at each other. Then Theo started babbling at Beckett while Beck smiled and laughed at his brother. I will try to capture this digitally next time!

A good picture of Theo's two big bottom teeth, and the bruise on his upper gum. Apparently it's caused by a combination of things, including teething and gumming something too hard. Amazingly it is not tender at all, so it doesn't bother him.




Jeff reading his new favorite book, Tickle Monster, to Theo.


Beck and Theo with their new friend Aria, 6 weeks old today!

Mom art!

Just saw this article and feel so inspired! What creative ideas using household items.

Similarities/differences: 7.5 month edition

Skills/acquisitions:

• Theo: FOUR teeth (two down, two up--new as of today!), curly eyelashes, gets up on hands and knees and scoots forward, rolls back to front, says "dada" (not to Jeff, but still), consistently sleeps 8+ hours in a row at night, sits up for long periods of time without support.
  
• Beckett: two teeth (two down), gets up on hands and knees, rolls from front to back and back to front, a full head of hair, eats consistently and variedly, jumps like a crazy fool in the jumper for HOURS, can drink out of a sippy cup, sits up for short periods without support.
  

Beck will almost always eat what is put in front of him, whereas Theo is a picky and temperamental eater. Theo ate a bunch of vanilla greek yogurt with Mindy today, but many times when we sit him down to a meal, he refuses anything except the cup of water. Beck slogs through just about anything we put in front of him. Tonight the Lovebo family dinner was fresh mozzarella from the Pags and yummy garlic tuscan bread from Wegmans. Both babies enjoyed some of the cheese and bread--it felt like our first real family dinner!

Beck's legs are getting VERY strong because he jumps ALL THE TIME. He would probably tolerate being in the jumper for hours every day. Even when he is kind of bored of being in it, or has a dirty diaper, or is hungry, he starts whining to get picked up but continues to jump. When you hold him in front of you, he drops his knees and pushes off from your lap. As a result, Mama Lovebo's arms are getting quite strong!

Books are starting to hold the babies' interest more. Sometimes when they are grumpy I pull out one of their favorites (e.g. Little Blue Truck, Corduroy, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Moo Baa La La La, Mr Brown Can Moo Can You) and they calm right down and start talking back at the book.

As for sleep, the babies seem to be inching toward a more manageable routine. They have gone to bed at 7pm for a few months now, but have woken up as many as three times in the night before 7am. For the last several weeks they have been waking up between 3-4 am to eat, then going back to sleep until sometime between 6-8am. I find that the later they wake to eat, the later they wake for the day. Sometimes Beck wakes up before 3 or 4 and we have been letting him cry or fuss for a little while (he doesn't wake Theo up). Sometimes when Beck wakes up he is so upset that Jeff has to go in to calm him down, and a few times I have nursed him to get him back to sleep. But generally we are moving toward a pretty good night's sleep!

I am beginning to identify with my friend Megan K who used to tell me, when her son Ben was very little, that she had to stop herself from gnawing on his little feet and knees and ears because they were just so perfect and delicious. I often go into their bedroom before we go to sleep, or pick them both up, and just gaze at how wonderful and perfect they are! I just want to eat them up!

Babies' first Christmas!

The week before Christmas the babies and I enjoyed a nice visit with Stacey and her new daughter, Aria. What a cutie!

My friend Mac arrived in Syracuse a few days before Christmas and we enjoyed the whole day with him before his parents whisked him to Ithaca. The handlebar mustache was a big hit with the babies, as was his generally calm and fun demeanor. Lauren came over for a nice evening stroll!

Grandma Joanie with Theo.
Grandma Joanie with Beckett.

Karen P with Beckett, all dressed up for Christmas.

Christmas Eve with the Kennetts and Johnsons!


Grandpa Greg with Theo.

Theo helping Mama Lovebo with some laundry.

Auntie Alexis came over for a wonderful afternoon with the babies. Joanie leapt up like a specter in this picture.

The boys are doing great standing up against a stationary object like the back of the couch.


Grandma Joanie reading to Siena, our friend Dave's daughter. They live in Portland, OR but we wish they were closer! We had a great Christmas celebration with most of the Pagliarulo clan (we missed you, Mike and Amanda!). Yummy food and quite the cacophony, what with three 6-7 month old babies and one nearly 3 year old, plus a bunch of rowdy grownups.

Theo enjoying his new toy Bigsby from his cousin Diane and the Burches!

All in a day's work for Mama Lovebo! I don't know how mamas of only one baby do it--so imbalanced!
Benji is just one baby-loving member of his family. Theo is our tough cookie and he would be happy for hours with Benj!

Beck with Grandpa Stu.