10 Months Old

I'm sorry this is late! The twins have been 10 months old for a few weeks now. But I promise there's still plenty to share. :)

Delilah is just growing into the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen(not that I'm biased or anything)! Her eyes are that same crystal-clear blue and her hair is coming in a lot thicker. I'm even beginning to notice blond highlights. Delilah still only has her bottom two teeth in. She's not as rolley-polley as before, but her cheeks are still satisfactorily plump. :)  She's about 20 pounds.

She's still very clingy and attached to Mommy & Daddy. It's really sweet but it really is time for her to start claiming her independence. We're trying to slowly help her along. Delilah has also gotten a lot more giggly and will even laugh when tickled!

As far as her recent accomplishments go, DELILAH IS CRAWLING!!!! FINALLY! I'm so happy for our little girl. She can finally at least attempt to stay out of Porter's way instead of getting mowed over. I call her our Clydesdale Pony because she daintily lifts her hands and feet when she crawls across the floor. It's too funny to watch her crawl as fast as she can because it's quite slow and her feminine style is really cute. Delilah has also mastered her first AND second words! The first one was "Da-da" and the second was "Ma-ma-ma-ma". There's a trick to it though: she will never say my name unless she's upset. I'm her rescuer and Daddy is for all other occasions. I'll even ask her to say "Mama" and as soon as she hears me say it she proudly says "Da-da"! Delilah is also advancing in her dancing skills. She loves to throw her head from side to side while you copy her. She's also taken to furiously shaking it back and forth like she's saying "no". She expects you to copy that one too. Delilah definitely never ceases to amuse!

Porter is our big handsome boy! Coming in at 22 pounds he fits anywhere from 9 month to 14 month clothing. It all depends on how snug we want it. His hair is extremely thick and now falls into his face and is beginning to grow over his ears. It's definitely brown and, like his sister's, goes curly when wet. His large dark blue eyes are beginning to develop a ring of green around the middle (just like ME!). He also has 4 of his top teeth and 2 of his bottom. DO NOT LET HIM BITE YOU. My finger has been marked for death thanks to him. We're working on "No bite". He's begun to loosen his hold when he hears me say that.

Porter went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a hernia. We don't know any specifics since the doctor will wait on doing the ultrasound until January when their insurance kicks in. Porter doesn't even know he has a hernia and behaves normally. We've been told to monitor his behavior and bowels to make sure things don't change. After he gets his ultrasound in January, no matter what, we will be referred up to Primary's Children's Hospital in Salt Lake. We agree with the doctor's reasoning on this: if we're this close, why NOT send Porter to the best hospital in childcare around? Knowing that he'll be going there has taken a huge weight off our shoulders. We know that whatever probably surgery he has will go as well as possible in their hands. Their cousin Zachary is more than enough to convince us of that!

Our little man's accomplishments seem to all center around one word: GO! Porter doesn't ever run out of the desire to keep moving. Only extreme exhaustion slows him down. He has no fear and will crawl over anything in his sight (including us). We're careful to keep things spaced apart in the house since he is beginning to figure out how to crawl. It freaked me out the first time I turned around and he was excitedly sitting in one of our lower standing chairs. Porter is very FAST when crawling and is getting very good at free-standing. Sometimes he'll try to figure out how to stand from a seated position. He has also figured out how to wave! It is so cute to watch his flail his little arm around in greeting. He's only done it so far with JT and myself so I have no proof. My one complaint is that Porter has figured out how to WHINE. It's the worst sound in the world--just thinking of the high-pitched squealing makes me shudder. I think he knows it.

The twins are interacting a lot more together and enjoy making each other giggle. After each nap I put them in one crib to share a batch of toys. Their squeals of glee can be heard through the whole house! It's so cute! Once they had so much fun that they never wanted to come out of the crib and spent the whole 2 hours of playtime and 2 hours of naptime in there cuddled together. I was a little upset about that one. Even though I left them alone, I was very sad that they didn't "need" me.  But I am grateful that they find so much enjoyment in each other's company.
Their nap schedules continue the same with morning wake-up call being at 7am. From that point on it's every 2 hours. It's 2 hours of play, 2 hours of nap, 2 hours of play, etc. They let me know when it's time for their next nap if I forget to watch the time. These babies like their sleep. They continue to sleep through the night.
I'm trying to get them developmentally on the same track. It's hard teaching Delilah to be as independent as Porter though. Even with her crawling abilities, she'd much rather sit and cry for me to come pick her up. I usually have to pull open a book and wait for her to actually do on her own whatever she's whining for me to do. This can take 10 minutes (which is a LONG time in baby minutes). I really do think though that she is learning from Porter's example...albeit slowly. :)