It's a happy HALF birthday!

It is completely unbelievable to me that our girls have been with us for 6 months already...but it's true!  They are halfway to one year old!

The girls at 6 months:

They are growing like little weeds!  We don't go to the doctor til Monday so I'm not sure of weights/lengths yet but my little preemies have definitely caught up to full-term babies, they are about average for 6 month olds.  We're still wearing some 3-6 month clothes and moving into some of our 6-9 month stuff as well.

They are working on sitting up, getting closer to being able to do it on their own but right now they still need support.  They love to sit in their Bumbo seats on the table so they can be with the rest of us while we eat dinner.

It seems that they won't be using pacifiers.  It's weird to me to have babies that don't like pacis...all my other kids have been totally attached to them.  But neither Rylan or Sadie seem to like them at all.  They also don't suck on their hands, though.  They chew on their hands during the day but don't suck their thumbs/fingers to fall asleep.  I'm kinda thrilled that the taking-away-of-the-paci will be one less hurdle for me to jump with twins!

They are both such happy girls!  They love each other and the rest of us.  Smiles always come easily whenever they see their brothers or sister and Mommy or Daddy.  And watching them play together and laugh/talk to each other is still my favorite thing.

I love the way they always put their hands on each other.
The love to hold hands and touch.

Love you, sister!

I love these sweet baby girls!
(Love Sadie's cute little foot sticking out of the box in this picture!)

Rylan at 6 months old:

She has the sweetest little voice, I love to hear her laugh and babble.  It's not nearly as cute at 5:30 am when she wakes up wanting to play and wakes me up with her happy screeches (but I do enjoy those happy screeches when it's daylight!).  Thankfully her sister sleeps through it!

Rylan is not at all interested in trying to crawl or anything.  She lays on the blanket and will play briefly with toys within reach but is more of a people watcher.  She grins every time Sadie looks at her and will just stare at her other siblings when they're down on the floor with her.  She also enjoys watching Caedon's TV shows with him.

She has got a very calm personality and I'm loving every minute of watching it develop!

Rylan Grace

 Sadie at 6 months old:

She has got this amazingly huge smile that takes up half her face.  Rylan's smiles come more easily and frequently but when Sadie smiles it just lights everything up!

Sadie wants to GO GO GO.  She has absolutely no interest in just laying in the floor playing calmly.  She is getting up on her knees, rocking and pushing herself forward.  She just in the last day figured out how to roll from her back to her tummy.  Mostly anyway.  She still needs a little help remembering that if she just gets to her side she can finish the roll!

She seems like she's going to be our little spit-fire baby, she's easily excitable and has developed a bit of a temper!  It's funny because she was more calm as a newborn and Rylan was more needy and they have definitely switched that up on us at this point.

Sadie Jane

Our family, 6 months in:

Things are going great for us!  We have all adjusted pretty well to being a family of 7 and we are just loving having these girls with us.  Kyler, Melissa and Caedon are great helpers to us and love to play with and talk to their sisters.  Kyler is probably the most helpful and will often jump in and take care of things for us without us asking him to.  He loves to make the girls laugh and take pictures and videos of them.  Caedon still gets a little jealous sometimes and will bite or hit one of the babies.  It makes me sad but I know it's normal.  I just make sure to include him in everything, as much as possible, and give him special attention on his own as well.

I get easily overwhelmed, some days, by all that needs to be done.  I still don't really like to take all 5 of them out with me by myself but it really is never as bad as I think it will be.  They are good kiddos and I'm so blessed to have them!  I'm also blessed to have a husband who is a great daddy and helps out around the house so often.  I'm just thankful for my sweet family!

Out and about with twins (plus 3 more!)

I've heard many moms with several children (whether they have multiples or not) say that they have a hard time getting out on their own with the kids - or that they are just scared to try.  I totally get that.  It can be particularly stressful when you think about all the "what if"s....dirty diapers, potty accidents, kids running off, tired and/or hungry crying babies.  No fun for mama!  But I decided even while pregnant with the twins that I just could not stay home all the time.  I am pretty independent and Brian works late hours AND Saturdays.  Even still, when I start thinking about going out, I often waver on my decision.  The time involved in getting everyone ready to go and in the car sometimes make me wonder if it's even worth it.  But you know what?  It usually is.  And it usually goes way better than I expect.

Many of our "activities" are just getting out and getting groceries.  This summer I took all five kids to the grocery store by myself.  It's an adventure!  I would have Melissa push the twins in their stroller and Kyler push Caedon in the cart.  We take up alot of room in the aisles but it was fine.  And I was thankful to have the two oldest with me to help!  Since they've gone back to school I've taken just the three littles several times.  When it's the four of us, I put Caedon in the basket and pull it while I push the stroller.  It actually works out really well, but I'm sure I look like a silly train, lol!

We also go out and do other things. Playgroups, lunches with friends, etc.  This morning one of my fellow MoMs posted in our group that there was a free open house at one of the local fire stations.  Lunch, face painting, bounce houses, fire trucks.  I knew the kids would have a blast and if we stayed home we'd end up watching TV all day so....we got ready and headed out, just me and my five little rascals.

I love that Kyler and Melissa are older and at an event like this one I can give them boundaries and they will stay within them and I don't have to watch them every second.  They would tell me when they were headed to a different bounce house so I knew where they were and then would come right back.

Caedon WANTS to be that big.  But he's three.  So no.  He is getting used to the fact that he has to stay with mommy or he will end up on his "yellow rope" (i.e. toddler leash).  He doesn't like it so he stays with me pretty well with only a couple of warnings here and there.  We also have a backpack one, I think I'm going to try it out at the fair when I take them on Monday b/c it doesn't go on his wrist and he might like it better.  I know some people are totally against using these things...but chances are good that they don't have several kids!  My thought has always been that we use leashes for dogs for a reason - to keep them safe and from running off.  How much more do I want to keep my child close by and safe in a crowded/busy area or street/parking lot???  And let's face it.  Toddlers are basically dogs that walk on two legs.

This is a picture of Caedon at the Labor Day Parade last month, wearing his leash.  He kept running out into
the street (before the parade started) so after a couple warnings, he had to wear his "rope"

Another problem I have is that my girls do NOT nap well out of their beds.  And many of our activities are during morning naptime.  They will fall asleep in the van but as soon as I get the carriers out to hook into the stroller, they're awake and won't go back to sleep until we get back in the van.  They're mostly good, though, even when tired.  Rylan got fussy for a bit so I got her out of the stroller and wore her in my Baby K'Tan.  I love that thing.  I really need to practice wearing both of them - I think I can put one in the Ergo on my back and wear the other in the Baby K'Tan, I just haven't tried it yet.  (Bonus:  they take an AWESOME afternoon nap after missing the morning one!)

Rylan in the Baby K'Tan, Sadie in the stroller

One thing I almost always hear when we're out is, "Wow, you've got your hands full!"  Truth.  I do.  But I love it!  This morning it was so nice because a lady volunteering at the event commented several times about my kids or the babies and then when I walked by later holding Rylan in the K'Tan she said, "You've really got this down!  You should give lessons."  I just smiled and she said, "Really, you could have a couple more!"  When I said I thought we were good with five she said, "I'm just so impressed, everyone is so calm."  It was really nice to hear positive words about my big family rather than comments about how many I have and asking if we're done (sometimes telling us we should be done...as if that's a stranger's business...).

Anyway, I guess this post is really just to encourage those who are anxious about getting out with their little ones.  It can be done.  It IS sometimes stressful but you know what?  The good outweighs the bad and you can have so much fun getting out and trying things!  And our days go by much faster when we're not just sitting at home, which is definitely a positive for me.

A few pictures of the big kids from our morning at the fire station: