The best bits (part 2)

by Bex

When the babies were just a few weeks old, I wrote about my favourite little things.  There are more and more little moments and things they do which I absolutely cherish and wanted to write them down again now they're 8 months old.  Today they are 37 weeks + 2 days - they've been on the outside as long as they were on the inside!

Kalyan tickling my side when breast feeding.

Priya wrinkling up her nose giving us full on toothy grins.

Watching the two of them interact when they don't know I'm there, sat upright - they will grab each others' feet, take toys off each other (Priya cries, Kalyan just finds another), say "da da da"...

Priya bum shuffling across the playmat (and further) to get what she wants.

Priya's chubby wrists.

And her amazing ability to pick up the smallest morsels of food!
This watermelon scrap did get swallowed up!

Their excited shrieks and squeals when they're happy.

Priya putting her arms up to ask to be lifted.

Kalyan clapping his hands.

Making them laugh - kissing their toes or bellies pretty much never fails!

Or blowing on his face like I was doing here!
(Photo taken by my Dad.)

Priya enjoying her food - she really LOVES eating, it's such a joy to watch her!

Covered in food and sad that it's all gone!

Cuddles, always the cuddles, especially when one of them falls asleep on me (and the rare occasions when I get to leave them as they are, all snuggled in snoozing on my chest).

(Photo taken by my Dad.)

Priya sucking on her dummy so loud I can hear it through the baby monitor.

Going for walks through our village and in the beautiful sunny countryside around our new house, Kalyan loves to gaze up watching the trees go by from the buggy.

Hovering over their sleeping bodies and listening to them breathe, watching their soft lips and beautiful faces while so blissfully at peace.

Looking at Kalyan sitting up super straight, the wee curve of his neck and his straight back, so perfectly balanced as soon as he could sit up on his own.

Watching Priya bend forward from sitting, so far over she licks the carpet/rug/play mat/sofa, and then sit right back up again!  She has abs of steel that girl!

The giggles, especially when they go on and on and on!  Be it from tickling feet, making silly faces, kisses, snuggling into their tummies - the giggles are just awesome!

Kalyan's love of holding his own hand.

When Kalyan falls asleep in my arms during his bedtime feed(s) and I lift him to transfer to his cot.  He snuffles into my neck and I kiss him on the cheek and whisper "I love you, goodnight" (usually multiple times) before I put him down.

Stroking Priya's super soft hair when settling her - it's getting quite long now, I loved the short fluffy stage too once it started growing back after her bald stage!  :)

Watching their wee faces light up whenever we walk into the room, especially for Granny & Grampy or Dadaji & Grandma.

When I see Kalyan watching me out of the corner of his eye during a feed, I kiss his hand and he can't help but smile (while still keeping a grip on the nipple!!)

Priya rolling, over and over and over, til she gets stuck and yells for assistance!

Seeing how much they enjoy water - swimming, bath time, drinking it!  They're so good at being dunked under water, getting splashed doesn't phase them and they have a grand old time in the bath together, especially now they can sit up in their bath seats and play with toys - Kalyan loves to try to catch the water falling through the stacking cups.  They both love drinking from glasses too!!  (Sippy cups are a challenge.)

I piled bubbles on her head and then she bent down to try to eat some from the water, hence the bubble beard!

She turned her head and dunked half her face!

Kalyan stroking Granny's cat and being so very gentle.

When I think Kalyan's finished feeding and fallen asleep, I gently move him away from the boob and there's a sudden panic as he smooshes his whole face back into the boob and sucks harder.  Clearly not fast asleep nor finished feeding!

Watching them get fascinated by something, be it a cat, a toy, a piece of food... the look of concentration on their faces is just precious.

There are so many more things which I always think of when I can't write them down.  I'll just have to make more lists in the future!  Kalyan and Priya are an absolute joy, we're so lucky!

Note: Although we are lucky that K&P seem to be very content, happy babies most of the time, they most definitely DO have their moments of un-joyful behaviour, don't get me wrong!  I just don't feel the need to list those as memories!!  Haha.

Baby Led Weaning & twin update

by Bex

This is a rather muddled post which was initially just going to be about baby led weaning but is now a random mish mash of my thoughts and life with the twins lately.  And of course, some of my favourite pictures taken over the last few weeks/months.  They're actually 37 weeks today, on Thursday they will have been on the outside as long as they were on the inside!

I'm going to share a few recipes I make for the babies when I have time over the next few months but I haven't really written much about their new solid food diet (or anything else for that matter!)  I've only managed to post a few photo posts with minimal writing, for obvious reasons.  Life is pretty busy with twins and I struggle to balance taking photos of them (which I obviously love and try to do as often as possible) with editing said photos (it's hard to keep on top when you take so many!) with actually playing with, feeding and generally looking after the twins!

The twins are now 8 months, we're in Saudi Arabia staying with my parents for a month before I go back to work and can't be away for such a long time.  Nik was supposed to be joining us this Saturday for the final 2 weeks but his visa was refused, we don't know why, they don't say and we tried reapplying but it's "still in progress" thanks to Ramadan so we've had to give up as the last thing we now want is for him to be stuck at home without us, wasting 2 weeks of annual leave!  He has instead booked the week off when we return and another week at the end of August so we can hopefully have our first proper family holiday.  (Obviously somewhere cheap since our flights here were quite expensive, although luckily due to the Heathrow protest, BA cancelled Nik's flight to postpone it which meant he was entitled to a full refund for his in the end, phew!)

Anyway, this is turning into more of a general update so I'll just summarise the past few months.  The twins started solid food in May when they were 6 months old.  Priya took to it really well and is still a champion eater (and pooper to match!), Kalyan is slower but is enjoying food too, just not quite to the same extent (or quantity!), although he does love broccoli!

Sheer foodie joy!  Definitely my daughter!  ;)

And they both love flat peaches which you may remember I devoured when I was pregnant!

Don't worry, I did remove the stone!

We had our wonderful naming ceremony (which I've still to write about, having just had time to share our beautiful video by Anna) and I've had help ever since as my Mum stayed for a whole 6 weeks until we flew to Saudi as I can't fly alone with two infants (nor would I want to!).  She's now having to fly back with me again or we'd be stuck here since Nik could no longer come and therefore fly back with us!  It means an extra week of Granny time for the twins (and I) though so silver linings!

Wearing clothes which used to be mine and my brother's. 

I've been enjoying getting out and about more as it's so much easier with an extra pair of hands for when both twins kick off in a shop for example or want feeding at the same time while out and about.  Having help on hand to distract the second baby makes a big difference to stress levels!  (There was a rather rude lady who commented when I was, rather successfully I thought, settling a hungry Priya while feeding Kalyan in the M&S cafe in Crawley on an attempted day out alone with the twins aged around 4 months.  She was a mother with a 1 yo and 3 yo and also had her mother with them.  She walked past me coping with my 2 little bundles and commented "Oh I don't envy you."  Just no need lady and clearly you have no idea how awesome twins can be despite those tricky moments trying to keep both happy.  So much for Mum solidarity.)  Anyway, we've since been back to Crawley and managed to get a bit more shopping done with one of us spare to keep the buggy moving while the other browsed if the twins were getting bored!

I thought I might have a bit more chance to blog as well but instead I've been making the most of being able to take more photos of the twins.  I've taken more than twice as many as in previous months which meant a lot more time needed to download and edit them all!  I also selected a few for printing too for a couple of small photo books and some frames for Father's Day but I really want to find the time to make a proper photo book of all my favourites since they were born but I need a lot more time for that so maybe in a few years!!?

I have a few notes I've made along the way as I wanted to blog regular updates like I did during my pregnancy.  I hope to fill in a month by month properly despite already being at month 9, adding in my notes, pictures and any milestones I've recorded on my phone list app.  Who knows if they'll ever be published though, I just want to have them to look back on and remember all the little moments of their first year.  I think I might publish them in the run up to the twins' 1st birthday if I get them all finished in time!

As for the twins themselves, other than the eating, they are developing so many new skills and are so much fun!  Priya now has four teeth!  Kalyan - none (he still loves chewing his thumb).  We hope and wish for them every day as he often seems to have miserable moments, despite trying to be the happy chappy he usually is!  They are super strong and love to stand with support, I think they'll be cruising before long and P is so close to crawling, although I'm more than happy for this to be delayed as it's going to be a crazy train once they're properly on the move!

They beam at me every morning (and anyone else who happens to be nearby), they love being around people and relish in the attention they get when meeting friends or being at the village pop-in.  We've never really had much of a daytime routine and naps are hit & miss but usually still one in the morning and one in the afternoon, we just never know for how long!  They absolutely love bathtime though and we really enjoy playing in the water.

And Kalyan still loves his balloons!

I do think Priya's happiest when eating though!