Happy half-birthday Eirin and Liam!

Dear Eirin & Liam,
Six months!! Half a year has gone by, my precious little marshmallows, since you graced our lives, forever changing the world as we knew it, making everything more meaningful and just so much better! Six months is a wonderful age. You are more engaged, you reach for toys and each other, you suck your feet, you babble and squeal in delight. Your vocalizations are just amazing, it is mostly nonsense but once in a while I'll hear a "Maaammamaaaamamaaamama"! (Ha! Maybe your Mama is crazy and making stuff up in her head, hearing what she wants to hear.)

You are sitting up unassisted for longer stretches of time, you still topple over sometimes, but this happens less and less. When on your bellies you lift your torsos high off the floor, rocking, pushing with your arms and kicking your fat little legs behind you. I'm convinced you'll be crawling soon! You just need to figure out how to put all the different movements together. You two are becoming sweet curious little human beings, growing right before my eyes. You are on the verge of becoming mobile babies, just a little bit more independent of your Mama.

You've discovered your feet in earnest and will suck on your toes. The oral exploration has grown exponentially, everything within your reach will inevitably wind up in your mouths. This includes your sister's/brother's hands, fingers, toes even! One of the sweetest things I've witnessed this month is just how much you already love each other. You reach for each other so enthusiastically, squeezing your little fists around whatever you got a hold of...an arm, ear, hand, shirt. In an apparent attempt at a big slobbery kiss, you'll lunge towards each other, open your mouths wide and suck on each others plump rosy cheeks. It is the cutest thing to see. Since you are both still very clumsy, I watch you closely, afraid you'll accidentally scratch each other, butt heads or god forbid, poke an eye.

We are feeding you solid meals twice a day. Eirin you are such a good eater, very rarely do you give me any trouble. Liam, you are a different story altogether. I thought that you would be eating much better by now, but you are one frustrating child to feed. You will take a mouthful and proceed to spit half of it out. This applies to both solids and your bottle. You'll gulp away but not swallow and then spit it out. It is so annoying, especially since I know you can eat well because there have been times when you've proven you can eat like a champ.

You are both still mostly bald. The peach fuzz growing in is so soft that I can't get enough cuddle time so I can touch my cheek to your downy heads. Eirin, I don't know where you are getting such dark hair from, it is really a dark, dark brown. Liam your hair continues to come in a shade of red, it is definitely more red than blond now. You are my little Irish boy.

Eirin, you continue to sleep through the night beautifully. Liam, for the past week we have been having some issues with your sleeping. You have been waking up at 1:30am, just fussing and crying. I bring you into bed to nurse you and you'll fall asleep quickly after five minutes of nursing, so I am not convinced that hunger is the cause of this disruption in the middle of the night. When I put you down in your crib, you'll wake and cry, so back to bed we go and we sleep together until my alarm goes off. Are you waking, my dear son, because you need the close physical contact with your Mama? The jury is still out, but for the time being, if you need to be cuddled at night so you can sleep soundly, I am not going to deprive you.

I'm excited for what lies ahead and sad that time is flashing by so quickly. Can't we just freeze time so I can enjoy you at this stage for a little bit longer? For now, I promise to enjoy you as much as I can, cheer you on and applaud your accomplishments.

Love, Mama