4 months on

 Ava and I hanging out in Russell after Drew & Nathania's wedding (27 March 2013)


My baby girls are growing up way too fast!

I can't believe that they have been in our lives for just over 4 months, and yet, sometimes I can't remember what life without them was like.  We are more and more in love with them every day and feel so lucky to have such gorgeous little babies.

HANDS
Ava is fascinated by her hands. Used to be just her left hand, which we named Alfred, cos it's like a little friend for her. She could stare at that hand for hours (or so it seems). Although these days she seems to be sucking her hands more (and arms, her sisters hands, my shoulder, knuckles, anything she can get into her mouth).  She has also discovered her right hand (Boris) in recent days, but she still seems to favour her left hand more.

Ruby will also often gaze at her hands in wonder (more so her right hand) but definitely not as much as Ava. And she's not into slobbering all over them and still prefers the dummy.

SMILING/TALKING
Both girls smile and laugh ALOT. Love it! Especially at 4am when they spot us :) Makes the middle of the night wake ups so worth it.  They smile or laugh (silent laugh) when we smile at them, sing, pull faces, etc.

Ruby loves to chatter away and coos and makes mouth movements. Sometimes she'll do the mouth movements without sound which is so cute and funny. She loves to try and imitate us when we talk to her.  Her latest sound though sounds like a squeaky door and is not so cute.
Ava is a lot quieter but every now and then she'll try and talk as well (usually in the evenings or in the middle of the night when its very quiet and we have her one on one)

TUMMY TIME/MOVEMENT
They have both lost interest in tummy time, and if anything, Ava is better at lifting her head. Which is strange as Ruby used to be the one with the strong neck. But Ruby constantly tries to lean forward, as if she wants to sit up on her own. Seems to be frustrating her immensely.

FEEDING
I'm still exclusively breastfeeding. Quite rewarding to be able to look at their chubby thighs and tummies and know that I did that.
I haven't tandem fed in a while now as they are pretty good/quick at feeding and seem to get hungry one after the other. I really enjoy feeding one on one and does mean that I can do it on my own, which I often have to do as Josh has seemed to be quite busy in the last month or so, with lots of gigs and out of town gigs as well.

Ruby, Ava and I checking out the view. Having a mini break (and nappy change cos someone did a MASSIVE poo) at the Uretiti campsite rest stop on our way home from Russell.

 

Sidenote: I just re-read the post that I did at 10 weeks and it seems like the girls often switch (eg., Ava was the first to start talking but now she's pretty quiet and Ruby chatters away). Very interesting.