you, at six months: will.

William,

You are almost 7 months old! Here's a glimpse into your personality right now.

You are the sweetest, calmest, most content little babe there ever was. If all babies were like you, the average size of families in America would be something like 25. You never cry, and only make the quietest little whimper when you are upset accompanied by big alligator tears that just melt my heart.

You are still a spitter, but you've improved a lot over the last 2 months. Your tummy is happy these days.

You are a Mama's boy. Or maybe I am just a William's girl? You have me wrapped around your tiny finger in a big, big way. I cannot resist your sweetness or the way you squirm and kick your legs and arms and squeal when you see me to try to get me to pick you up. It works every time.

You love to sleep on your tummy and will roll there to fall asleep no matter how many times I place you to sleep on your back. You always wake up first in the morning with the softest little noises and a beaming smile.

You are skinny and long with a perfectly round face and really thick blonde hair. You drool nonstop and have permanently rosy cheeks and huge blue eyes. You are gorgeous.

You love Nora, but you don't like her to get in your space too much, it stresses you out. You especially don't like it when she gets excited and reaches for you but just ends up scratching you instead. This is a constant issue between you two.

You can be shy and have a bit of stranger danger. You prefer to be held by Mom and Dad.

You are more reserved and observant in your personality and like to hang back and watch things unfold. You give strangers a bashful little smile until you've warmed up to them and then the giggles and personality come out.

You just cut your very first tooth on the bottom two days ago.

You love rice cereal, are a PRO at eating, swallowing and grabbing the spoon, and you want a bite of everything else, while we're at it.

You love to stand and have a strong little body. You aren't much of a cuddler because you stay stiff. If I lay you in a chair to play with a mobile you will flex your little tummy and do a crunch until you are almost siting upright. You can sit up in the boppy and are close to sitting up without it.

You are the calm and peaceful in our family. You make the world stop spinning when things are hectic and crazy. I am so grateful for you, William, and I love and adore every thing about you.

These past six months have been a total pleasure. Please never grow up. I can't even bear to think of it. Oh, the heartbreak.

All my love,

Mommy

you, at six months: nora

 

Miss Nora Hattie,

You are almost 7 months old! Here's a glimpse into your little personality at this age.

You are the perfect combination of fiesty and sweet. You are both things, simultaneously, all the time. When you are happy you are really happy and when you are mad you are furious. You switch between the two emotions effortlessly, but you can always be coaxed to smile even in the middle of a shrill scream (you have a really, really, really, loud cry that pierces the air and drives your Dad nuts). You are the happiest when you are watching Evie play or getting tickled or kissed and you are the maddest when you have to wait even 2 minutes for your bottle to be made. 

For the record, I love your fiestiness. I love that you know what you want. I love that you have opinions. I love that you are strong willed and passionate. These are all great qualities that you may or may not get from your equally feisty mother (bless you) and that served you well when you were fighting for you health in the hospital for so long. You are brave, Nora.

For as fiesty as you can be, you are equally sweet. You have the most darling smile on planet earth centered between two of the chubbiest cheeks. You giggle, all the time. You smile easily and automatically and you are social and friendly and happy. You love to be tickled, you laugh when Evie passes you, even if she hasn't done anything particularly funny. When you smile it's from ear to ear and your whole body tenses along with your face.

You aren't so sure about rice cereal. You're warming up to the idea.

You are soft and squishy and a total cuddler. We LOVE your hugs and your open-mouthed kisses and your silky soft skin.

You have a chubby little face and fluffly duck hair that sticks straight up. Your eyes and hair are the darkest of all 3 kids. You are completely edible.

You love Will and you want to be near him always. You like to roll to where he is and reach for him, touch him, and scratch him. You smile when you see him. You are a doting sister.

You are the happy and joyful in our family. When I wake you up in the morning (you always want to sleep longer than Will) you give me the biggest smile and you curl into my body as I lift you to me. I get so excited to play with you and cuddle you and make you smile. You bring me joy every single day and I can't imagine my life without you.

I think you are so special, Hattie girl. I think you have been special, right from the start.

I love you.

Mommy

life with twins - six months in.

Somehow (seemingly overnight) I'm now the mom of six month old twins.

No longer newborns, the baby stage is slipping by me faster and faster. Will and Nora are both sleeping through the night (that started around 3 months, bless their souls!), eating rice cereal (when I can find the time, honestly you guys, it's not often.), putting their own binkies back in their own mouths, smiling, laughing, babbling, rolling all over the room, teething, paying attention to books, idolizing their big sister, beaming at Mom and Dad, and embarking upon "stranger danger".

I want to throw all the cliches at you. "It's gone by too fast! In the blink of an eye! I turned around and half a year had passed!" And it's true. But it's not. It has been fast, but it's also been slow. Life with twins is strange that way. A month flies by like lighting, but a day can be excruciatingly slow. I've learned so much about myself in the past six months, and I've been pushed to my physical, emotional and mental limits. It has been a big experience in my life, one that I know I'll look back on fondly but also with a deep sense of "how the hell did I survive??" because at times, it has been really rough. Truth be told, I could use a full-time mother's helper, or nanny. I could use a cleaning lady (oh my gosh, I need a cleaning lady). My husband works long days and I run up and down the stairs in my house no less than 200 times a day and my kids NEVER all nap at the same time (never, ever, we aren't getting back together, IT DOESN'T HAPPEN.) My kids are all really little and really needy and they all poop their pants and sleep in cribs and are down right exhausting.

But even still, it's a JOY.

I can honestly say that everything about having twins has been better than I expected. Everything has been happier, been brighter and sunnier and I have found myself to be more capable than I ever thought I would be. I really don't mean to toot my own horn here AT ALL, I just want to offer up my perspective. Having multiples is really hard and you will find no shortage of people who'll tell you just how hard multiples can be, so I just want to throw my own little voice into the mix and chime in to say "it wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be!". Because so far, it's really not as bad as I imagined it would be (but that said, I imagined that it would be REALLY bad. Like, I was barely even excited and mostly just terrified). I know that most of this is due to the fact that I love babies. I've always liked babies, but having babies (and especially have two babies simultaneously) has made me realize that babies are my sweet spot. Babies are my jam. So, give me TWO adorable, smiley, squishy, cuddly, drooly babies, and most days I'll really love it.

My life didn't end, the way I thought it would. Today I took all 3 kids to Tracy Aviary and things were fine, and Greg and I take our kids out to dinner and it's fine, and really, the last six months have been so good in so many ways. I have also been so blessed to be surrounded by so many loving people who've made all the difference during this time. My Mom has been an angel and spent so much of her time during these past 6 months helping me and babysitting for me and cheering me up and cheering me on. We've received countless dinners from friends, ward members and neighbors. Greg's mom has a heart of gold and wants to visit and babysit anytime she gets the chance. I have the sweetest sisters-in-law on planet earth who've helped with the twins and with Evie and been such a source of comfort and support for me. I don't have the words to thank everyone adequately. I have been so humbled and touched by the service we've received and I wouldn't be as happy or sane or okay as I am today without each of you. It means the world. So, thank you.

We are 6 months in, and we have 6 months to go. I know that these next 6 months will be just as challenging as the past 6, albeit in different ways. And I know they will be just as happy and exciting as well. I am up for the challenge. I am lucky to be their mom. I am so lucky to be a Mom, period. It is the biggest blessing I've ever known. It is hard and exhausting and wonderful and I hope it won't pass me by too quickly.

A picture's worth a thousand words, so here are a thousand of pictures to say all of this better than I can.

THEN:

AND NOW:

 

And there you have it. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

PS. This random assortment of pictures are essentially from the first 2 weeks of Will & Nora's life and the most recent 2 weeks. And I really narrowed it down. The other day I was saying to Greg that I worry I don't take enough pictures. Let's all have a good laugh.