Happy 7-Month Birthday, T and E!!!

Evie on the left and Tamsie on the right, with the bear they posed with in their NICU pictures

Dear Tamsie and Evangelyn,

Today you are seven months old! I can hardly believe how quickly the time has flown by! You two are so much fun, and every day with you is a new adventure. Here are some highlights of what you're up to these days:

Tamsie looks like she's trying to convince Evie of something here

* We continue to see more and more of your unique personalities each day. You laugh all the time at all kinds of things, often catching us off guard. What one of you laughs at may not be what the other laughs at, but a lot of times you do laugh at the same things. You're also playing together more and more. Sometimes you'll put your hands on each other's faces and look at each other in wonder. You also love to grab each other's feet!

Speaking of feet, Evie just found hers this week and has been loving to play with them!

* When you discover a new trick, you want to practice all the time! Like now that you know how to roll from your back to your belly, I have to keep a close eye on you because any time I put you down, you want to try it out! Both of you are also trying to sleep on your bellies at night, which scares me because of SIDS. And yes, I know that if you're putting yourself in that position, it's pretty safe - but that sure didn't keep me from going in your room to check on you about 100 times the first night you started trying it out. The only way I finally got to sleep was to remind myself that we have movement sensor monitors, and I reasoned that if the alarm isn't going off, you must be doing just fine! YES, I'm a first-time mom and it totally shows!

Chris was trying to get them to laugh, but they had just woken up from a nap and were very much acting like it!

* You are both learning to crawl, although Evie is currently a little better at crawling than Tamsie is. You also rely on rolling around to get where you want to go, and you love to practice sitting and standing. Consequently, you are rapidly outgrowing your bouncy seats and Bumbo seats, because you are always trying to roll or pop out of them!

Here's an outtake I had to include: Tamsie pinching poor Evie's nose!

* You are playing with your toys on a much more advanced level than you were last month. You've learned to pull things that are meant to be pulled and rattle things that are meant to make noise, and you're getting REALLY excited whenever I show you a toy you haven't seen in a while... and by "a while" I mean anything longer than five minutes! :) Ha!

You make the funniest little faces!

* You are constantly trying out new sounds, and some of them are starting to sound more and more like actual words. Both of you also say, "Pfffffttt!!" ALL the time. Evie started saying it first, and you both go about it a little differently, but it's hilarious!

Tamsie once again appears to be having fun at Evie's expense!

 * You study our faces so closely when we talk to you and read you stories. Sometimes when I read, you're more interested in watching my face than in looking at the book! You also love meeting new people, and you especially love it when random people talk to you when we're out and about. (You generally love it a lot more than your mom and dad do! haha!)

Two girls = drama! Chris had to come to the rescue.

 * You actually enjoy getting dressed and helping us out as we dress you. You put your arms through the sleeves and your legs into your pants very easily, and you even roll over for me on command so I can button the backs of your outfits!

This is Tamsie's famous "How could you?!" face. Evie is unfazed.

* You started solids this month, and you seem to really enjoy them - especially sweet potatoes! You quickly learned how to open your mouths for a bite. This has been one bright spot in your feeding times, as you have generally been very difficult to bottle-feed this month. Sometimes both of you have even been impossible to feed, and your poor mom has had to go to a different room away from you and just cry. We think it's related to a feeding aversion that is pretty common among preemies who had to be intubated and who had to have feeding tubes at some point early on, but we really do wish it would go away. Our doctor should be making an appointment for us to go see a speech pathologist about this soon, but it can't come soon enough.

Evangelyn Rose

* You are back on milk and Neosure again. I'm not even going to say how much you're actually taking - it is too, too depressing for me! Tamsie weighs 12 lbs 3 oz, and Evie is 12 lbs 3.5 oz. We went to see your old NICU nurses this week, which was so much fun, and they were impressed at how Evie has caught up with Tamsie so well and so quickly!

My big old Evie girl! 

 * You started out the month on a spree of waking up constantly overnight. Thank heavens you seem to be past that again, and you are once again sleeping very well! We find that when you nap well during the day, you're more likely to sleep well at night.

Tamsie Pearl, trying to play with her headband. She's no longer allowed to go around in them unless I'm keeping a close eye on her, because she loves to play with them and bite them!

 * Your hands are always in your mouths, but we're still waiting on your first teeth to break through!

Tamsie looks like she's plotting something pretty intense... like how to get Grandma to send her a treat! ;)

 * You are enjoying bath time again and loving to splash!

You also love sticking your arms and legs out of your crib, which Tamsie demonstrates here. Have I mentioned how sad I am that bumpers are now considered unsafe?! I LOVE the bumpers we have but am scared to use them!

Tamsie

Evie again... I seriously had a hard time limiting the cute pictures! 

Tamsie eyeing her bear suspiciously

Every couple of weeks, we get the girls a new book, so that their library is always growing. They absolutely love the book they picked out this time!

And I love that Tamsie is attempting to eat it (if only they were this eager about actual food), and I also love Evie's face here!

They can't get enough of it!

When one of them plays with it, the other wants in on the fun!

Tamsie waiting to get her renal ultrasound and rockin' her awesome hospital anklet. She had her kidney check-up and we found out that nothing has changed at all, for better or worse. They're going to keep checking up on her as we go along, and she's staying on antibiotics for now.

Evie took time out of her busy day to come and provide support for her sister during her tests.

Tamsie immediately went to work crinkling and tearing up the paper on the exam table at the doctor's office! We think she loved the noise it made.

Girls, as always, your dad and I love you so very much, and we can't wait to see what this next month brings! We thank God every day that He chose us to be your parents, and we hope we can model Christ's love for you every single day!

Love,
Mom