A very happy half birthday to you (and you)

Anyone recognize the inspiration behind the title of this post? Probably not. It was inspired by a this Sesame Street song. Anyway...

The girls recently turned 6 months. As stated in my earlier post, half birthdays will be a big deal in our family since I don't have one, but have always wanted one. I wanted to go to the zoo to celebrate, but for a few reasons it didn't happen. However, we did go out to eat at Famous Dave's and the girls sat in high chairs for the first time and they LOVED looking at everything and feeling like 'big kids'. They had their last baby rehab (otherwise known as physical therapy) appointment the morning before (I already blogged about that) and they had their 6th month check up that afternoon.

Sophie:

26 1/4 inches (although, the nurse's way of measuring length was pretty ridiculous. I'm not sold on the accuracy of her measurements.)

15 lbs 11 oz

She continues to have such a big personality. It's ridiculous. She is fully aware that people think she's cute and fully aware that people can hear her. She's got the most beautiful smile and is never afraid to show it to anyone. She also reaches for everything. Her hand has gone in many a dinner plate of mom's and if there's a toy within 2 feet of her, she has to reach out for it. She also sits up really well. Her longest stretch has been about 8 minutes. She's getting really good at leaning over and reaching for things and then getting herself back up straight. She's also got this funny habit of being on her side. If she falls asleep without being swaddled (yes, we're still trying to figure out that fiasco out) she ends up on her left side. She's also rolled over a few times from her back to her belly while trying to get on her side. It's made her very mad each time she's done it though, because she still hates being on her tummy. She lasts about a minute and a half before she lets you know (not very politely I might add) that it's time to be turned over. She would much prefer to either be standing or sitting rather than be on her back, and she is constantly kicking and squirming around. She cries and eats more than Lillian and her longest sleep stretch has been 6 hours (we're working on that too). She's already such a big flirt and like I said, she definitely knows she's cute and loves attention. She's pretty attached to me and is starting to fear 'strangers'. She LOVES her dad and giggles for him more than she does for me. She's probably got the biggest personality of anyone in our family and we love her to pieces.

Lillian:

26 inches

15 lbs 9 oz

Lillian become more and more hysterical every day. She is LOUD and gets very excited to see her sister. She's got this high pitched squeal that she does when she's happy and I'm not joking when I say it's loud. She also makes the funniest faces. She'll puff out her chubby cheeks and contort her eyes crazy and then end it with a squeal. It's hilarious. She shows her excitement in her facial expressions a lot more than Sophie does. Her eyes get ginormous (yes, even bigger than they normally are) and she opens her mouth in a big "O" shape. Her head, hands, and feet start shaking like crazy and then, out comes the squeal. I adore her. Lillian is also getting better at sitting up. She's not quite as good as Sophie, but she is getting better and can hold herself up for a little less than a minute at a time. She's still noticeably more passive than Sophie and is content to sit, make noises and look at her surroundings. She's become obsessed with her hands and toes and always has her hands in her mouth. I can feel a tooth trying to break through on her bottom gum line (but seriously, when will it break through? It's been weeks...) and sadly, she's been battling quite a round of diaper rashes (aka a fungus) lately. She also loves her dad and like her sister, would rather laugh for him than for me. She loves hearing his voice and gets a HUGE smile on her face when he walks in the door each day after work. They've got this little game where he flips her and she gets so excited and scrunches her face up to the point of looking like an old man. It's so funny that it's made me cry from laughing so hard. I've tried and tried to get a picture of it, but she notices the camera every time and stops. Seriously though, it's hysterical. Lillian is the perfect little baby for our family and we're so glad she decided to hop on board and come into our home with her older sister. We really, really love her.

We also gave the girls their first taste of solid food on their half birthday. I didn't want to go the rice cereal route (yes, I know...gasp!) so we decided to go with avocados. The girls had typical reactions, confused, funny faces, laughs, and more confusement (yes, I realize confusement isn't a word....) Honestly though, I'm not sure we'll regularly give them baby food again for a while. In fact, that's the only time they've had it. I've been reading a lot about baby led weaning, and most people skip pureed foods all together. Anyone had experience with this? Is anyone actually reading this? :) I'll be honest, feeding them baby food wasn't too much 'fun' like everyone says it is. Our days are pretty systematic and throwing another thing to do in the mix seems like a lot of work. Call me lazy, but remember, I'm home alone with twins all day using cloth diapers (on the babies of course) while trying to go to school. So when I heard that starting solids (aka traditional baby food) wasn't necessary, I got excited. So yeah, I know a couple of people who read my blog went this route, but I'd love to hear if there's anyone else.

And there you have it. A wordy update on the adorable Mangel-babies.