6 months

Today, my little guys are six months old (4 months corrected)!

I thought that time really flew by when Rylen was a baby, but this is ridiculous. Everything with these guys seems to be in fast forward. From the moment I went into labor, to this very minute, life has been crazy hectic and the days go by so quickly. I don't think my mind has really had time to catch up and process everything that has happened!

Garrett and Rhys are doing so well. I say it all the time, but I really can't believe how far they have come. From little 3 and 4 pound preemies to these chubby, smiley, happy babies. I remember when they were in the NICU, thinking that we were never going to get out of there and just move on and live our lives. But here we are!

Garrett and Rhys are pretty much on track developmentally for their adjusted age. They are smiling, laughing, talking, grabbing and holding onto toys and rolling over from tummy to back (Garrett actually despises rolling over. Every time it happens he freaks out and is quite irritated that such a travesty should occur!)

Rhys is a bit bigger than Garrett and he is getting into size 6 months clothes, while Garrett is still quite comfy in 3 month stuff. They are both in size 2 diapers.

Both guys still feed every 3 hours or so. At night, they do a small stretch of 4-5 hours from around 8pm to 1am. After that, they are awake every three hours and start their day around 7am. As a result, Mark and I are still doing our "shifts" and taking turns getting 5 hour stretches of sleep each.

Rhys is a pretty laid back baby. He has quite a bit of patience and is willing to go with the flow. If something does set him off, he starts off by jutting his lower lip out in a perfect pout while his eyes fill with tears. It's pretty much the saddest thing ever and is guaranteed to get him some attention ASAP.  Rhys has a big smile, and the cutest little chuckle when you tickle under his chin.

Garrett is Mr. Extreme. He is super happy and smiley. Or not. He has no patience whatsoever! When he's hungry, he wants to be fed yesterday. His cry is so loud and piercing. His smile is HUGE with a giant open mouth. And he LOVES to be admired. As soon as he catches somebody's eye, he bursts into this giant smile that draws you to him like a magnet. He's so sweet, and such a charmer.

These last six months have been crazy and stressful. Looking after two babies is a lot of work! Really, everything is very "task oriented". You feed, burp, change bums, and then move onto the next kid. There isn't much time left over for cuddles and all those little moments that make having a baby so enjoyable.

 But, we are finally feeling like we are settling into things. Garrett and Rhys are so much fun to interact with now and we are starting to really enjoy our time with them, rather than just feeling like we are feeding/burping/changing machines!

Today, in honor of their "six month birthday", I made the effort to coordinate their outfits and do a mini photo shoot. My goal was to get both of them smiling, but of course, getting babies to cooperate for photos is pretty much impossible.

Here's what I got! (Garrett is in orange, Rhys in grey)