September 7, 2015

Hi Christine-

I hope things are going well for you. I know you had a challenging summer and I hope that things have turned around. We’ve had a very busy summer! The girls are growing like crazy and are so full of life. I’m a little afraid of the day they start moving because I’m not sure I’ll ever get to sit down again. They haven’t started crawling yet but I think it’s coming soon because they get up on their hands and knees and rock back and forth. For now they roll all over the place and Taya likes to lay on her back and push with her legs which scoots her around. They also are very vocal. They talk all the time and if you ignore them they get louder and louder. They are the queens of jibber jabber. They have different voices. Taya’s is a little more deep and raspy. Emi’s is higher and she can shriek a high note that would break glass. She hates the grocery store and loves to pull that little trick out there, because she knows I’ll usually take her out and carry her. As soon as I start unbuckling her stroller harness she grins, because she knows she got me. They are both quite clever.

Speaking of the grocery store, I am there quite often because they have now started on solid foods. All errands with them take forever because they get so much attention from strangers. Part of it is because they’re twins and then also because they are so darn cute. Taya really plays it up for strangers and gives them big grins and giggles. Emi plays it a little cooler but they both love the attention. I often get stopped by people just to tell me how pretty they are. The solids are going ok. Emi is less finicky than Taya. They both like all fruit and zucchini is a big favorite. Squash and yogurt are also big hits. When they don’t like something they are not subtle about letting me know. Taya does this big huge gag thing (she’s not choking it’s all puree) and then locks her lips tighter than Fort Knox. Emi lets me get the spoon to her mouth and then blows a raspberry which results in it spraying everywhere. Then she laughs. For the record mashed potatos and peas have a pretty big spray area.

Physically the differences in them are pretty easy to spot for us now. Emi’s face is a little smaller and she has less hair. Taya developed a birthmark on her hip and seems to get to the physical milestones a few days or so before Emi. She got her two bottom teeth first and just today had a top tooth break through. Emi has her bottoms but the top isn’t ready yet. I think it will be another week before that happens. They don’t get too crabby while teething which is lucky for us. They are also really tall. My good friend has a baby girl exactly 10 months older than them and they are just as tall as her. Was their birth father tall or do you have tall relatives on your side? Neither one of them like to sleep very much during the day but Emi is a much better napper than Taya. Taya fights sleep. Even at night when she’s exhausted she’ll try bouncing or flopping to put it off. Emi happily lays in her crib and falls asleep. Taya will cry cry cry. Tim is the Taya sleep master and can rock and pat her to sleep in a matter of minutes. I’m not as good at it as he is. I think it’s something to do with the curve of his belly when he’s holding her that relaxes her. In fact when it’s an hour or 2 before bedtime I won’t let him hold them because I know they’ll fall asleep on him. He has to get down on the floor to play with them. 🙂

They are both happy and healthy. They have really started to interact with one another and often crack each other up. They have great laughs and nobody can get them going the way Tas can. I will put on a whole song and dance show for them and I might get some chuckles. All Tas has to do is toss a bib in the air and catch it and they think he’s a comic genius. It’s actually pretty cool to watch how much they adore him and he is very protective and proud of them. He tells anyone who will listen about his 2 baby sisters.