{green beans}

They weren't as big of a show stopper as the sweet potatoes and bananas have been, but they like them.  I love those faces they make when trying new foods.  Always a "wtf is this" face followed by a smile.  They are such great eaters.  Its back to sweet potatoes tomorrow and then maybe peas or we might try introducing another fruit.  Those peaches look pretty yummy!

They'll be SIX months old on Thursday.  Completely unbelievable.  Its been the most incredible, yet most challenging six months of my life.  They are amazing.  I'm in awe of them every single day.  I still can't believe they're mine ours.  I'll do a milestones post on their actual month day, but briefly, here's what they're up to.

Fancy:

*She's gotten up on all fours, rocked for a second or two and then fallen down.  She's oh so close to crawling.

*She loves "Thriller".  Its the chorus line that get her.  As soon as she heas "'Cause this is thriller, thriller night..." she starts giggling uncontrollably.  M randomly started singing Thriller one evening and Fancy literally couldn't stop giggling.  Its hysterical.

*She talks non-stop.  She's using her tongue now and starting to mimic words we say.  Some of the easier sounds we've heard from her are the "da" "ma" "hi" etc.  They're not words yet, but she's definitely starting to hear things and repeat in her own way.  I think this kid will be an early talker.
*She can wave!  I wave at them from the kitchen when I'm cleaning up or cooking and they're in their plays stations.  She has started to mimic my hand gestures.  She sees use wave to her (hand open hand closed) and she looks down at her hands and opens and closes them.  Occasionally she'll lift her arm and actually wave AT us.  Its still very much a work in progress, but we're getting there!

Coach:

*He grabs EVERYTHING.  He's a hands on kid.  His favorite thing to grab are shiny things (mommy's earrings) or mommy's hair.  Although, he's VERY interested in food these days, so he goes for whatever we're eating also.

*Daddy's boy.  He gets to a point every evening where nothing satisfies him.  He'll fuss and we'll try a bottle, diaper change, time in wally, time on the play mat, swings, etc.  Then I hand him off to daddy.  Problem solved.  M and Coach have the sweetest bond (so do M and Fancy).  Coach knows daddy's a lot of fun, so he expects results.  M tickles him and plays with him, which send him into fits of the sweetest giggles ever.
*He's very interested in the animals.  That will be trouble.
*He stands very well and he's almost totally corrected his head/neck control issues we worried about a few months ago.

We're heading home on Thursday, so we've got a ton of packing and planning to do.  I'm hoping to take some more pics this week and get them uploaded, but we'll see how it goes.

I'm gonna turn in, this is what's waiting for me upstairs :)

*They fell asleep like this after their bottles.  They're now safely in their cribs for anyone judging concerned.

{solids}

This afternoon we dipped our toes every so gently into the world of "solids".  We skipped cereal (at everyone's behest) and started with sweet potatoes.  I'm not all that confident in my pureeing skills yet, so we went with Gerber "first foods" sweet potatoes.  Here's how it went!

Ready and raring to eat!

"Mom, its ORANGE?"

First BITES

Homerun!

They weren't quite sure what to do with the spoon or how to get the food into their bellies, but as time went on, they started to figure things out.

Poor Coach had the hardest time.  He didn't understand that sucking on the spoon doesn't make more sweet potatoes come out.  He got REALLY upset everytime we took the spoon away.  He thought we were taking away his food.

I'd say 1% sweet potato ended up in their bellies and 99% ended up elsewhere.

See!  Poor little man was just beside himself when we went back to scoop more food.  He'll catch on.  This is when we called it a day and decided to try again tomorrow. 

The only thing that would console him :)

Happy Fancy Face!

Best daddy ever.  He's not afraid to get down and dirty.  He loves playing with them and making them smile/giggle.  He's also a particularly snuggly guy to fall asleep on ;)

All in all, I'd say attempt one went very well.  Fancy is a natural and Coach will eventually come to understand that a spoon is independent from a bottle and the two work COMPLETELY differently.  You can't blame him, its all he knows.

I also had my endocrinologist appointment today.  She's lovely!  She explained the radiology report in greater detail.  I have a 2.5 cm cyst on my right lobe and a 3 mm nodule on my left lobe.  I do have a "reactive" lymph node near my thyroid, but she's not concerned about it at all.  I am, but I don't have the M.D. behind my name, so we'll move on.  She said that everything about my cyst/nodule points to benign.  I have no risk factors for thyroid cancer and no signs of it.  She's confident its benign, which is reassuring.  I'm not going to be comfortable until I get the results.

After a crash course in how the thyroid works, she told me she was going to take some blood then we'd move into the ultrasound room for the biopsy.  I had NO idea I was about to get my neck all needled up.  Its a good thing.  I got a couple numbing shots and we were on our way.  She took about 4 samples and drained what she could.  Yummy.

She told me that people who grow up in the midwest have a much higher incidence of thyroid dysfunction.  Something about the water supplies being low in iodine.  Interesting!

Please keep me and my worthless thyroid in your prayers!

{solids}

OK so for the peanut gallery, we don't know when we'll start or what we'll start with.  They're OUR children and we'll start feeding solids (by the book) when we feel they're ready.  You do what works for you, we'll do what works for us and we'll all be happy :)  Now that we have that out of the way...

Our high chairs came! (Sans trays)

We got Fisher Price Space Savers.  We didn't see the point in having a dining room table, 4 chairs AND two high chairs.  This works well.  We can eat at the table and each feed a baby-SCORE!  

Here's the tentative solids plan.  In the next couple weeks (maybe Monday, maybe a couple weeks from now) we're starting to introduce FOOD.  We're unsure if we'll start with organic whole wheat cereal or sweet potatoes/avocados.  I hear that cereal just constipates babies and there isn't much nutritional value.  We're thinking sweet potatoes are the way to go.  We'll see.  Either way, Coach and Fancy are PUMPED!

So excited!  Note: daddy put two different socks on today.  Yes, it was on purpose.

Oh dimples how I love thee!

  

They're so stinking cute!  They're showing signs that solids are the way to go in the very near future.  Great head/neck control, doing well sitting (though not yet unassisted), they watch us eat, they chew on their hands constantly, they mimic our mouths when we eat, they are always ravenously hungry, etc.  

Wish us luck!