Emily and Erin's 9 Month Update: Twins on the move

Erin-left, Emily-right. It's hard to get a still picture of both girls at once!

Emily and Erin are 9 months old! Well, actually, they are 9 months and one week, but let's not get too technical. In the past month, they've become very mobile and extremely curious about the world, and they've started to seem more and more like toddlers instead of babies. They're constantly exploring our house, and everything fascinates them. Everything goes in their mouth, and I mean everything. Erin even tried to eat a snail that found its way into the living room via our step-stool (stored in the garage). Other notable "snacks" include jewelry, especially the cross and medal I have around my neck, and the edge of our laptop. I'd chalk it up to teething, but they seem to have definite preferences when it comes to teething. I wish I knew the brand of their favorite teething rings because they are awesome - they are shaped like an apple and a strawberry, and they are safe, soft plastic that can be chilled for baby's comfort. Emily cut 4 more teeth right around their 9 month birthday, so we've been using her strawberry a lot! If you've got a teething little one of your own, these and these are very similar to what we have - I think they're the same but I don't remember the package.

When I came home from work on Saturday, all of their "baby furniture" was in the garage - they wouldn't stop climbing it, so Dan removed it. Pulling up and climbing is their newest trick. Emily pulled herself up on the edge of the bathtub about three weeks ago, and Erin followed suit a few days later. They love the bathtub for standing because it's the perfect height. I don't love it so much because there's nothing soft for them to land on underneath, but they're not really interested in my opinion right now. Their other new mobility is on the changing table - they seem bound and determined to escape. Distraction sometimes will work, but you have to be quick either way. I can't decide if it's easier to work with cloth or disposable diapers when your baby is trying to escape - on the one hand, you have speed on your side with the disposable, but the cloth diaper has weight and doesn't slide away as easily. Either way, we're using disposables full time right now, so I have to work on my positioning skills to keep the diaper where it belongs during the change.

Playing with Mommy's pots and pans to try and keep them from climbing in the cupboards - distraction is key!

First night of big girl jammies! Erin-left, Emily-right. They love them, but it's been too cold for anything for footie pajamas lately.

Size wise, we had their 9 month checkup last week and both girls are still growing well. Emily is now the smaller baby by a significant amount, which is surprising only because she was an inch longer and a pound heavier at birth. She is just over 17 lbs now and 27 1/2 inches long. Erin is a whopping 18 lbs 10 oz and just over 28 inches long. She has tripled her birthweight and then some! It's really impressive to see how big they've gotten, especially when it comes to length. Truthfully, they are not very heavy (only around the 20th-30th percentile) but they are in the 60th percentile for height. The pediatrician says that tall and thin is a good thing, so not to worry.

Emily's favorites: singing, cuddles with Mommy, pointing at everything with her index finger, eating out of a spoon, playing with the spray from the shower head at bath time, chewing on rubbery toys, riding in the swing at the park, talking to her sister
Erin's favorites: eating everything but peaches, having her hair blown on or blowing in the wind, crawling, climbing in cupboards, climbing on the coffee table, the Xbox controller, playing with noisy toys, smearing food on her tray, holding things we're holding, riding in the swing at the park, talking to her sister, taking Emily's toys away (we're working on that last one!)

Holding the Costco bottle of ranch was the highlight of her day-  or maybe the week!