Twinspiration Tuesday: 8 Month Update/Our New Nightly Routine

And just like that we've crossed off another 30 days! My babies are now 8 months old (Back on Nov. 17th)! Not too much has changed from last month. Sitting up is still our biggest accomplishment, but we are much sturdier now. I still continue to keep the boppys nearby for support (especially since I have a toddler who has discovered one tap of a finger is all it takes for them to fall over). 

One of our biggest game changers this month was their ability to play with toys independently. I kept all the teethers, rattles, and cups in an easy to access basket in our living room. I would place the basket in front of them and they were satisfied for a solid 30 minutes, or until they had removed and chewed on every toy in the basket. Occasionally, I could even reassemble the basket and start again fresh for another 30 minutes. It probably helped that their first two teeth surprised us this month! They had been drooling extensively for months (especially Harris). Wynn's tooth made the first arrival with Harris' just days after, and the second tooth wasn't far behind for either of them. 

                                                     

I'm also excited to report, these little ones upgraded to a fancy new ride at the grocery store. It was never easy toting their double snap in go around the grocery store, not to mention the limitations of how much I could carry before overloading the basket on the bottom. It was an amazing feeling to purchase milk, bottled waters, and a case of La Croix all in one visit to the grocery store. These smiles made it hard to concentrate on what I actually needed, but it was all worth it. 

Naps still look the same as last month. One in the morning and one in the afternoon, but we did change up our night time routine a little. I am still nursing and since the babies weren't consistently sleeping through the night, I was always worried they weren't getting enough to eat before bedtime. This concern was making it hard to have them cry it out in the middle of the night if there was a chance they were starving. So, we decided to bust out the frozen milk and have them drink out of the bottle so we knew exactly how many (8oz's) that they were getting before bed each night. This way, if someone woke up during the night we knew it shouldn't be from starvation. Since the babies were able to hold their bottles on their own, it was the perfect time for this new change. 

So the new bedtime routine which we moved up to 5:30pm, started with a bath (separate baths in their plastic tub), then bottles on their boppys, and finally a bedtime story in the glider. Sleeping seemed to improve in the beginning, but it wasn't long before someone was trying to sneak in middle of the night cuddles. I keep telling myself, this too shall pass. 

** I Love You All the Same is another random book I chose from Diapers.com based on the title and we completely hit the jackpot. It couldn't be more perfect for our little family. It's about three different kinds of bears (two boys and one girl) that live together and explains how their mom and dad love them all the same despite their strengths and weaknesses.

We also celebrated Halloween during this month. We had a hard time taking Pumpkin Patch pictures because it rained so many weekends in October. The only time we could find was during the week without Brian. I had to spend so much time keeping up with all the kiddos that it was hard to get smiles from everyone. Harris wasn't really feeling it and was hoping for a photo op another day with just his sister. Better luck next year!