five months

Babies are now five months old... already!

This past month has been my favorite so far.  I'll probably keep saying that each month, because these two are changing so fast, and the months are bringing so many fun, new things.

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Things to remember:

..They are now into legit 3 month clothes, and still wearing size 1-2 diapers. These kids are little..

..Charlotte and Grady are now sleeping in separate cribs. It was a little sad to move them apart, because they were so cute in the same crib, but I swear they were magnetized toward each other while they slept. This often resulted in kicks to the head or crying in each others' faces. So it was time. Now they hardly move an inch during the night, it's kind of strange..

..They are sleeping a good 9-10 hours at night. (LOVE!) They sometimes go down kind of late, but then they'll sleep until 7:30ish. The only thing is that they usually wake up around 4-5, and won't fall back asleep until they're nice and snuggled. We've probably gotten them into a bad habit of this, but I don't have much desire at that hour to let them cry it out..

..Unfortunately, Bryce and I are still pretty sleepy most days because although the babies go to bed around 9-10, we don't get into bed until 1 a.m. most nights. I know, we're crazy... but seriously. I can't get a dang thing done until they are fast asleep at night. So that usually means sacrificing sleep..

..C&G are starting to become quite ticklish. They kind of laugh, but mostly tense up and make little noises, like 'what is going on??' haha..

..They have started showing interest in simple toys just in the last couple of weeks. They're figuring out their hands, so they like to touch, hold, rattle, and suck on their toys..

..A schedule is finally developing. It' a nice eat-play-sleep schedule that helps me know what to expect each day, instead of random eating and sleeping..

..Got their last monthly synergis shot to help protect against RSV. They did really well this first season, and only came down with very mild colds for a couple days. Thank goodness they qualified for the pricey shots with their low birth weights, and we were able to avoid any really sick babies..

..We've been taking them to church with us. Well, Sacrament meeting (we're not ambitious enough to take them to all three hours yet). We had to wait to bring them around crowds, but it's fun to have them there with us now. They do pretty well, aside from a pretty good crying episode from miss Charlotte during one of the prayers..

..Charlotte and Grady are really loving bath time these days. They're starting to kick and splash, and they get the biggest smiles... until it's over and we're drying them off. Then they're not so happy..

..They have enjoyed reading stories more and more, which is fun. I love having them both on my lap with a cute book. They also like when I sit them with me at the piano and play primary songs. Grady will even try to sing along. Pretty great mommy moments :)..

..They really like music in general- their mobile, the piano, when I put in the Justin Timberlake CD.... But their favorite is when Bryce play the guitar and sings to them. They become mesmerized. Kills me with cuteness..

..Probably one of my favorite developments this month is that they have really started noticing one another. They love to stare at each other and usually get some pretty good smiles going back and forth. The cutest of all time is when they're on their backs on the play mat and their little hands link together.  Melts me..

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 -Grady now weighs about 12.5 lbs... He is officially heavier than Charlotte (by only half a pound, but still)! This is the first time ever since they were born and weighed the same.

-He is becoming a little tank. I know he's still small for his age, but he's getting huge for our Grady man.

-He drinks at least 6 oz every feeding, and usually knocks down 9-10 oz before bed.

-Unfortunately, this means that he frequently leaks out of his diaper during the night. We moved him into size 3 nighttime diapers, and that seems to help, but he still leaks sometimes. I haven't figured out a good solution for this yet.

-Grades sure knows how to turn on the waterworks. It takes about 0.5 seconds for big ol' tears to well up in his eyes and start streaming down his face. It's actually quite sad, and he can get pretty much anything he wants that way.

-This boy is such a charmer! He will smile and talk and laugh at anyone who will give him attention.  It is the cutest, and makes me so happy.

-Whenever Grady sneezes, he always makes this "ooooh" sound after.  Cracks me up every time.

-He has ditched his swaddle blanket. Every night, he'd wiggle himself out of it like an escape artist. Seriously, those miracle blanket brand swaddlers are amazing, and I don't know how he'd manage to get out of it. So we let him sleep without it, and he did great! Only fussed a couple times, and now he sleeps like champ unswaddled.

-Grady has figured out how to roll from belly to back! Pretty exciting stuff... a couple times, we put him down for his nap on his belly, and then found him flipped on his back. So we've been watching him more closely and have seen him roll several times- so proud of him.

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-Charlotte weighs about 12 lbs now.

-She is starting to smile and jabber quite a bit more, but she's still pretty mellow and such a sweetie.

-She loves to munch on her hands, but is always extremely drooly when she does.

-Her feedings have been 100% better, thank goodness! We still give her zantac, and then we started giving her gas drops after every single bottle, and that seemed to really help. Now we don't give it to her as regularly, but she still does great. No more crazy crying fits and struggling to get her to eat... hooray!

-C is still sleeping swaddled up at night. After we stopped with Grady, I tried with Charlotte too, but she wasn't having it. Maybe this next month.

-She loves to snuggle. I hope that keeps up, because I am a very affectionate person, and I absolutely love hugs and snuggles... especially from my baby girl.

-She is sort of a terrible napper. That's where the downfall of her snuggling tendencies comes in. She's not great at putting herself to sleep like Grady is. And if she's awake at all when I lay her down, she wakes right back up. I let her cry, but she doesn't stop and works herself up so much. So, pretty much the best way to get her to take a good nap is if I lay down with her until she is deep asleep. It's a love/hate kind of thing.... more love than hate, though.

-She also seems to like to sleep with a blanket by her face. This makes me nervous, since she doesn't know how to roll away yet, so I worry about her suffocating. I just keep an extra close eye on that video monitor while she naps (no blankets at night). She always sleeps really well like that.

-Charlotte has a very sensitive gag reflex. I don't know what's up with that. Giving her the bottle or binkie before she's ready... not a good idea. And she can hardly stand tasting anything that's not formula (i.e. zantac or gas drops) without serious gagging.

-Her baby talk is so incredibly cute. She moves her lips and mouth all around and makes noises like she's really trying to communicate.

-Charlotte really is such a great baby. She's so easy going and happy. I always love her company.

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Here are some of my favorite snapshots from the past month: