The Twins Explore New Tastes & Go On New Adventures

Little eaters

These girls are changing every day. They're eating so much food now and they love everything - from chicken to eggplant to plain yogurt. I'm looking forward to making them more meals as they learn about new tastes. It's a lot easier to cook since they enjoy watching me and will try pieces of veggies, etc. as I'm preparing them.

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This setup was something I imagined being able to do while Matt was away, so I'm really glad we were able to get the second booster chair for Squish:

Growing up fast!

Their personalities have also really started to develop.

Squirt is the one who likes to explore. She'll crawl around and get into things. But she also listens well. If I tell her not to touch or to move away from something, she'll look at me and think for a minute. Then she breaks out into a smile and comes crawling straight at me.

I may be biased, but her hand-eye coordination seems advanced. She can chuck her toys (which means I've got to keep a close eye on them if she's playing with one in the car or in her stroller). And food doesn't stand a chance. If she drops a piece, she notices and will look for where it went.

Squish takes longer to get into things. She'll watch her sister, then decide if she wants to join. Once she does, she's made up her mind that it's okay. So it takes longer for her to respond when I tell her no.

But she's very affectionate. She'll reach out to touch her sister's hand or her head. And she's the first to respond to me emotionally - whether I'm sad or playful or serious. Her smile is contagious when she's playing peekaboo and engaging with people.

Even though Squirt is stronger physically, Squish is the only one who can crawl on her knees right now and sits up easily by herself. She was also the first to pull herself up to standing. This is her favorite place - leaning on the window, looking out at the pool - of course, she hasn't quite figured out how to get down.

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Matt said that at the airport he heard a baby crying and thought, "Oh, there's Squish, needing to get down from the window." LOL

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Midnight wakeups

Good news! I think I figured out why the girls were waking up in the night. The other night, I heard a loud crashing sound right before Squirt cried out. I realized that I'd actually heard it the other nights too, but it had become part of my dream, so I didn't remember it in the morning. I think it may actually be a power surge that happens right then (and throughout the night), so the last two nights I've turned off all the outlets and it seems to be helping.

I'm really relieved because getting up every couple hours was pretty exhausting.

Solo Adventures

So, per @filnette's request, I took the girls out swimming last week. I couldn't get pictures of us in the pool, but here's us getting ready.

It was actually a spontaneous decision (which isn't like me at all). I was really missing Matt because he's my motivation to do fun, spur-of-the-moment things and I kept thinking how much the girls loved all the swimming time they had with Dad.

...So, after their naps, I decided we'd go.

I'd already thought about how I'd manage them (getting in and out of the pool) and what I'd need to be prepared for when we got back (bottles, changing clothes, etc.) so it was time to just do it. We had so much fun! I can't wait to take them out again this week.

Later in the week, we went out to the mall/grocery store together. I needed to pick up some things and decided it would be good to go someplace new. They enjoyed looking at all the colorful things and I enjoyed the exercise of pushing/carrying them around. When we go for walks in the heat, we can't stay out for more than half an hour, but in the mall, I was able to walk for at least an hour.

When we have to take a Grab somewhere, both girls ride in carseats, and then I store one carseat under the stroller when we walk around. But this is our setup when we go out for walks:

Fun With Friends

Friends came over the next day and we went swimming again. They brought lots of things to spoil us and the girls loved all the attention.

^{Enjoying teething rusks from our friends}

After they left, the girls kept calling out for Dad. I think that having people around reminded them of him. The house just isn't "full" when he's gone. We've been able to video chat regularly and they seem to be getting more used to talking to Dad through the computer.

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We missed Matt a lot on Father's Day. It would've been nice to take him out and spend the day with him, but we made him a photobook that the girls can enjoy while he's gone and that he can have once he's back.

Happy Father's Day, @ironmanmatt! We love you so much!

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And to everyone who still stops by to catch up ... thank you so much! I love reading your comments! My new goal is to drop by Steemit for at least an hour this week, just to catch up a little bit. Hope to "see" you then!

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