Weeks 16 through 18: Found our hands!

Wow, I'm really behind!! Time has just been getting away from me. I can't keep up with the days! :)

Nathan and Kenna turned four months old last Wednesday. Can you believe it? And one year ago today is a very special day...it was the day of our egg retrieval and fertilization; basically the day that Nathan and Kenna were conceived - they have "existed" for exactly a year today! It is so hard to imagine how much has changed since that day.

Easter was a magical day for us as a little family. Christmas was their first major holiday, and it was amazing, but it was also a bit of a blur. They were about 3 weeks old, and we were sleep deprived, clueless new parents, just trying to survive. They were so little that they slept the whole day, so it didn't really seem like "their" first holiday. But Easter was different. We dressed Nathan up in a little suit (pictures to follow) and Kenna in a beautiful spring dress with a little hat, and they were so much more like small children than newborns for this holiday! They have such personalities now, and are so much fun, so it seemed like we were really "sharing the day" with them this time. We had the joy of taking them around grammy and papa's back yard for an Easter egg hunt (we have older nephews, it wasn't a hunt for them or it would have taken forever!). It felt like such a priviledge and joy to have our very own children this year to introduce our traditions to. Kenna was asleep during egg dying, but I had Nathan in my lap and "we" dyed an egg together. I was ecstatic and beaming. :) I LOVE holidays. I just love them. To get to experience a holiday with your own children is a whole new level of wonderful. It was an incredible, special day. B dyed an egg for me that said "MOM" on it and it brought tears to my eyes. I will never take for granted this incredible joy I have found in becoming a mom.

As for the latest and greatest news, it's all about hands! 3 weeks ago they found their hands. I had heard people mention babies finding their hands before and always thought it was a weird thing to point out - like, why is that a big deal? But now I understand it's a big deal because they have to FIND their hands before they can USE their hands. :) So 3 weeks ago they started bringing their hands together constantly (Kenna loved putting them in her mouth). Then 2 weeks ago they immediately started USING them to reach for things! What an amazing thing that develops so quickly after finding the hands the first time. When you dangle something in front of them, they concentrate really hard, put their arms out far apart, then slowly bring them together in the general area of the object. Kenna has really mastered this and grabs for things right away when presented with the opportunity (and then promptly brings the object to her mouth). Nathan isn't as quick to desire things presented to him, but when on the play mat, he has fun grabbing for the dangling things on his own. It's so awesome to see them intentionally reaching for things.

They have also started "talking" in a different way. They have been cooing for a while, but this week they have started this half squeal/half babble thing that is so cute. Kenna is doing it especially, but Nathan joins in sometimes too. Nathan spends more time enjoying his newest skill of blowing bubbles. This morning he did it for like 15 minutes straight! He gets giant smiles when you talk to him while he does it!

Big news for Kenna...she rolled over the first time on Monday! And I missed it! I put her on tummy time on the mat while I went to make breakfast. All of a sudden I heard "plunk" and turned around and she was on her back playing. She has never come close to rolling over before so I was more than a little surprised! And she hasn't done it since. I'm pretty sure she did it once just to cover off on the 4 month milestone that says they should have rolled over. :)

Similar big news for Nathan...he rolled over from back to tummy for the first time on Easter! He's been rolling tummy to back for a long time, but never the reverse way. It was funny - there were several people in the room (family gathering) and when he did it we all cheered. :)

Their personalities have really emerged and they each have some really cute things that they have made "their own"...

KENNA

Kenna LOVES attention! She is acutely aware of people - who is looking at her (or not looking at her), what they are doing, if they are happy/sad, etc. She really concentrates on faces, and gets a look of intense focus where her eyes get big and she purses her lips. When she was a newborn, she had that same look of concentration but she would actually concentrate so hard her eyes were crossed! I always thought that was adorable. Now she concentrates the same way, but she has eye control. :) Kenna really takes notice if I am holding Nathan and sitting next to her. She looks at him, looks at me, looks at him, looks at me. A lot of times she will start "talking" or even fussing at that point because mommy is paying attention to Nathan and not her! We have had to have several talks about how she is a twin and that means mommy must divide attention. :) Her favorite form of "attention" is being carried around. She just loves looking over the back of your shoulder. I think it's really interesting how much attention she seeks compared to Nathan. Nathan can play on his own forever and he never seems to notice her. She is much more aware of (and sensitive to) her surroundings. We left her and Nathan at the church nursery for the first time on Easter and ended up getting called back during the service because Kenna was crying uncontrollably (a rare event). Apparently, hearing all the other babies cry in the nursery was really stirring her up. So it seems that she is a sensitive, empathetic child already.

Kenna is a great sleeper. She's just like me in that you put her down when it's time (naps or night) and she is immediately able to conk out. Even if she doesn't seem very tired, when I put her down at the scheduled times, she's out within a few minutes and rarely cries at all (Nathan has to "wind down" just like his daddy and finds it very hard to just "go to sleep"). She sleeps soundly from 6:30 pm to 7 am and doesn't even cry when she wakes up. I go in at 7 am and there she is, happy as a clam, looking around her crib. She's a morning person just like mommy! When she sees me, she gets a giant smile, squeals and kicks like crazy! It is my favorite part of the day. It's so rewarding to see how happy she is to see me in the morning! I love that she waits so patiently.

Kenna is also a lot like me in that she is impatient and gets frustrated easily (I can't believe you can already see that in a 4 month old, but you can). When she is reaching for something and misses, she immediately fusses. I put it back in front of her and she goes back to concentrating. It's like an on/off switch!

Kenna doesn't smile as easily as Nathan does, but when it comes, it is pure gold. She is mommy's little sweetheart. :)


NATHAN

Nathan is a really good natured, happy baby...as long as he isn't hungry or tired, at which point he becomes a fuss monster! Smiles are so easy to get from him. Whenever you make eye contact, it takes less than 2 seconds of you smiling at him for him to give big smiles back. This makes picture taking loads of fun...the adorable "Nathan smiling" pictures are endless. And because he's not as aware of his surroundings as Kenna, he doesn't seem to care when the camera gets pulled out (Kenna sees the camera and gets totally distracted by it!). I can never get enough of Nathan's smiles; they just melt my heart because he always looks like such a happy little guy.

Something that I love to do with him is go in repeatedly to kiss his cheek and say "MWAH!" He expects it each time and as I get close he closes his eyes and opens his mouth really big, then has a big smile. He's started to make his own MWAH sound so I can stop making any sound and he says MWAH each time. It's so cute. :)

Like his daddy, Nathan needs to wind down before sleep time (B can never just go to bed, he always has to read or something - I can go to sleep in 30 seconds anywhere, anytime!). I usually put him the swing to make him sleepy before transferring him to bed at night. During the day he's gotten pretty good about going to sleep on his own, probably because it's right when he gets so tired, so he just conks out. It's very easy to know when he is tired because he hits a wall and goes from happy Nathan to fussy "mwah mwah mwah" Nathan in an instant. I understand, because I hit my sleep wall fast too. :) In fact, it's sort of a joke with people I know that I hit a wall at night and I'm done. I once slept through a Queensryche concert (in my seat)! lol

Nathan still LOVES food. If he is hungry, there is no distracting him with anything else. He eats full 8 ounce bottles and usually starts fussing as soon as he is done because he wants MORE! He doesn't realize he is full yet, so I have to distract him for 5 minutes or so then he is fine (he eats more than enough over the course of the day as it is). But it cracks me up that he ALWAYS must fuss after a bottle is empty. It's the only time he gets like that. My boy loves food. :) He is 15.5 pounds now and Kenna is 13.5 pounds.

*****

I will post pictures ASAP!