And things change again

This morning I put the boys down for their first nap and left the room as usual. They talked for about 10 minutes and then Charlie got quiet. He is my good sleeper and usually nods off long before Jack gives in. 20 minutes in Jack was still talking and fussing some so I went in to settle him down. To my surprise Charlie was not asleep at all but sitting up in the middle of his bed sucking his binkie and playing with blankie. While both boys are great sitters this is the first time either one has been able to go from lying down to sitting up without help. He knew he had done something because he looked at me and smiled big around his binkie.

Since then he has started to do it twice while playing but has yet to show me all his moves. I'm hoping to get it on video and will try to post it later.

One free hand

OK, I've been meaning to update this for days so here goes:

On Monday my aunt Phyllis gave both boys a trim. Just a little off the sides and in the back. Neither of them cried but Charlie was a bit of a challenge and will probably get a revision to his 'do this week sometime. Jack sat very still on my lap watching Einstein during the whole process. Charlie kept trying to get a good look at the scissors (and maybe a taste, just for good measure).

On Tuesday we were installing some baby gates when we found out that Charlie is afraid of the drill sound. While Chip was fussing about the gate and I was calming Charlie down, Jack was quietly feeding himself his entire dinner with no help at all. This may not seem like a big deal but I have been putting most of his food into his mouth up until this point. In fact I was starting to worry, he wouldn't pick up much himself but it seems to mostly be a case of "why should I do it if you'll do it for me."

On Wednesday aunt Ria came over and discovered that Charlie had finally mastered the fine art of drinking his own bottle. He has been able to hold it for a while now but could not tip it up enough to actually drink from it by himself. By Friday he was an expert and wants very little help now (as with most everything). Thus, I now have "one free hand". Jack, true to form, is much happier having you do things for him than doing it himself. He'll try it but only for a minute.

Today the boys are 11 months old. How time does fly! At church we left them in the nursery for the first time. (We had visited briefly several times before, but never spent the whole service in there.) My aunt Julie was scheduled to help in there today. When we first got there she hadn't arrived yet. Charlie lost it. The ladies in there assured me that he would be fine and they would come to get me if he didn't settle. I knew Julie would be there soon so I left, and immediately began to cry. I have never left him with someone he didn't know before. Within a minute Julie came in saw me and went to get him. She and my uncle Brown took care of him for the rest of church and said he was fine. She mostly stayed in the nursery with Jack, who couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. Charlie hung out in the lobby with uncle Brown because, while he was fine out there, he cried every time they went back into the nursery. Jack just kept trying to get Julie to put him in the swing, which he is way to big for, but otherwise had a ball with the other kids. I know it had to happen sometime, but boy is that stuff hard on a momma.

The last couple of nights the boys have really enjoyed their baths. They also love the oscillating fan we borrowed from Grandpoppa to keep them cool at night. They love for you to hold them in front of it and let their hair blow.

Boy are they finding each other funny. One will laugh, then the other, and back and forth for 15 minutes or so. I took these pictures tonight.

Duck race

Last weekend I took the boys to their first duck race (first of many I'm sure). My uncle John is the big wig at the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley and the Great Knoxville Rubber Duck Race is one of their biggest fund raisers. It is also a family tradition. We ride the river boat up to see the ducks be dropped into the Tennessee then back down towards the finish line.

They really seemed to enjoy the boat ride which was surprisingly cool due to the nice breeze. Aunt Phyllis carried Jack around while aunt Julie wrangled Charlie, giving me a nice break as well. I did feel like a terrible mother though. While slathering Jack in sunscreen, I apparently got it in his eye which was swollen and red the whole time we were there. He didn't act like it hurt but I felt bad none the less. (Shortly after this picture was taken of Charlie he threw his green duck overboard. I guess he wanted his own entry. Apparently, it landed on the lower deck and was returned to us by a nice deckhand later on.)

Hidden chicken

Today, when the boys woke up from their afternoon nap, I was standing over Jack's crib talking to him. Suddenly this piece of pinkish stuff flew at me from out of nowhere. I picked it up thinking it might be something out of his mouth caused by his molars coming through. It was a piece of chicken. It wasn't wet so I guess it didn't come out of his mouth. I think he must have been holding it in his hand, although I did wipe their hands before nap. I can't believe he held onto it and kept it hidden for all that time. They had napped for over 2 hours.

New chairs

The boys are getting so tall they have outgrown their swings. For their birthday (which is still over a month away) we decided to get them new chairs of their own. I went ahead and ordered them because Charlie keeps trying to crawl into his swing which clearly does not work. They arrived this morning. The boys really seem to like them. Jack sat happily in his rubbing the arm (he is a feeler) while Charlie mastered the finer points of lounging.

Jack still doesn't crawl and every time I put him on the floor to practice he gets so mad about moving backwards that he immediately rolls onto his back and cries. Charlie is getting up on his hands and knees more and more. Today he launched himself forward from this position but, as he doesn't move his hands or knees, he just did a face plant and went back to army crawling.

Both boys are also working on molars. Our tooth count has been stuck at 8 each for over a month now. Suddenly they both have huge swollen places on their gums (4 each). One of Jack's looks like huge blood blister which just makes me want to cry for him whenever I see it. They must hurt because neither of them will eat much of anything other than their bottles. Hopefully those suckers will push on through in the next couple of days and give them some relief.

It's official, we're on the move

Let the chaos begin. Charlie can "crawl." His belly is still on the floor but both arms and both legs are being used to army crawl towards whatever toy he wants. He went just a foot or so yesterday but today he has taken off. It is a lot of work you can tell and he is totally exhausted afterward. Every once in a while he'll stop moving forward to get up on all fours. But from there he just looks around, plops back down, rests for a minute then goes again. Jack wants to crawl too and pushes up on his hands, rocks back and forth and kicks his feet. Unfortunately, he only succeeds in pushing himself backward which just makes him mad. A few nights ago I sat Jack in their bedroom floor to go catch Charlie from his bath. When I came back into the room I found Jack half-way under his bed. The past few nights they've spent at least an hour "talking" to each other during the night, maybe tonight Charlie will tell Jack how it's done.

Church

We went to church as a family for the first time this past Sunday. The boys had been once before with my aunt and uncle (obviously they are very brave) but this was the first time we had taken them. They did really well. We kept them with us in the service and they didn't cause any trouble. Charlie got a little restless around their usual snack time but after he had his bottle he was fine. They ate their snacks with no problem and were overall pretty quiet. I thought they looked way too cute in their outfits. As you can see their hair is getting super long. We are trying to hold off until their birthday before having it cut but several people at church told Charlie he was a cute girl so we have to move that up. Jack has recently decided to be very serious in every picture. He used to be such a ham but you just cannot get him to smile in front of the camera now.