Daily schedule:
Wake up: 7:30ish; nurse
Nap: 10-11; nurse
Lunch: 12-1
Nap: 2:30-3:30; nurse
Dinner: 6pm; then playtime
Bedtime 7pm; nurse; wakeup to nurse at 4am-ish

The days when I work the whole day (Monday and Friday, usually) they skip both midday nursings (we haven't been offering bottles since I went back to work) but then nurse when I get home from work at 4 or 5 and then again at bedtime, so they only end up actually skipping one nursing.

Beck is now mostly refusing any food offered by spoon because HE CAN FEED HIMSELF. This has led to a burst of creativity as I try to prevent him from starving. In the last two days he has had: whole peas, orange slices, veggie burger fingers, toast fingers, cannellini beans, swiss cheese fingers, carrot slivers, and apple slices. He will also eat mushy type food from a spoon if it is the food he has already seen me eating, e.g. soup, lasagna. Theo is still happy with oatmeal, yogurt, veggie purees, etc. He'll also eat at least a half an orange if given the opportunity. Things are definitely evolving on the food front!

Other developments: Theo has been waving on and off for a week or so, but Beck just discovered waving in the last 24 hours and is loving it. He is also thrilled out of his mind about clapping. Theo has been clapping with one hand still and the other moving for about a week, but Beckett just started doing it today and he is going crazy with excitement about it. Both babies LOVE standing up and trying to pull themselves up to standing on chairs, their plastic jungle thingy, and the ottoman. Both can scoot backwards on their bellies but there is no indication of forward movement for the time being.

More NJ Pics

Here are some additional pictures from our trip to New Jersey last weekend including pictures with cousins Kelly, Tabitha, and Samantha.

Visit to New Jersey

Nine Months Old!

eating and sleeping

So there's a fair amount of self-feeding going on in our house these days. Theo and Beckett eat 2-3 times a day, and usually one or two of those is self-fed. Plus for snacks they're eating Cheerios and these baby puff things that taste like peaches. They seem to enjoy the social aspects of eating, and they relish having control over what and when food is put in their mouths. Favorite lunches when Mama Lovebo is around to supervise self-feeding include toast fingers, orange wedges, and cheese sticks. Dinner is usually cereal, plus a pureed fruit or veggie, plus yogurt. Theo cannot get enough yogurt and oranges, but Beck usually prefers the carbs.


Since our last pediatrician visit in December the boys have been sleeping really well. They go to bed between 6:30-7:30, depending on how tired they are, and they sleep through til between 7 and 8am. They wake up around 3:30-4:30 to nurse, and then after I have fed them both (usually tandem, because they wake each other up and are then ravenous) I put them back in their cribs wide awake and they fall asleep. At night they nurse to sleep about a third of the time, though I usually end up waking them up by jostling them into their cribs. They are great about putting themselves to sleep.

The other morning I came in to grab Beckett before he woke Theo up, and I found Theo sleeping like this. When I laid him down, he was perpendicular to how he ended up here. His head was banging against the mirror in his crib, and his feet were practically through the rails. He was still asleep. Both boys love to put their blankets over their heads when they sleep-luckily they are crocheted and they can breathe through them. Note the fingers through the crochet holes--this is how they both sleep!

I'm reading a thought-provoking article about parenting, a kind of response to helicopter parenting. I like the idea of not trying to prevent all bad feelings and failures for our kids, but rather understanding that our kids need to experience those natural feelings, and helping them through it. I'm sure it's easier to write about it than to parent this way, but I find it intriguing.

Pictures to follow of visit with family in New Jersey this weekend....

Theo and Mark

This is Theo with Mindy's husband, Mark, who often comes over to spend time with the boys when he gets home from work as a teacher. As if their four beautiful, good-natured kids aren't proof enough, he is as awesome a dad as Mindy is a mom!