"Oh wow! The twins are growing so fast!"

My dad sent me this text this morning: "Oh wow! The twins are growing so fast!" They sure are. They really are. When I was printing the "24 weeks" pages for the photo-shoot it really struck me that we are only 2 weeks away from 6 months, half a year. HALF A YEAR!!! And, while the first 2 months were the longest 2 months of my life, longer than studying for the bar exam, and seriously made law school seem like a joke, these last 4 months have flown. Blink blink, 12 weeks, blink blink, 24 weeks.

This past week begins a new developmental phase - its a 3 - 4 week growth spurt where distance is perceived, which coincides with baby wanting to move to get to things. Clinginess, crying, sleep issues, etc. all come with that. Josie checks all of those boxes - she's really trying to move, and she has succeeded with the rolling to get to things. She is amazing - she sees something she wants, and rolls back and forth in a star pattern to get there. When not practicing moving, she wants to be in a pair of arms, and not just sitting, she needs to be carried around the house.

Alex is a bit behind though showing signs of wanting to sit up and rake things towards her, and she is definitely deep into the social side of this phase - the "stranger danger" as she now is understanding that people exist outside of her perceived world. She's also talking to us like we totally understand her, then busts out a huge smile after her paragraphs of stories, then looks a little bummed that we didn't really understand her. She is mimicking, too - if I growl and yell, she will growl and yell (her yell is adorable). If I make raspberries, she makes raspberries. Brilliant, Alex!

My secretary quoted: "we spend the first year teaching them to talk and walk, then the next few years telling them to shut up and sit down." - Mother of a 7 and 3 year old.

Josie is close to holding her own bottle.

This is just a cute one of Alex, she's miles of smiles always. 

Alex sitting for about a minute at a time before tumbling.

Sitting with a Josie photobomb

Josie "pay attention to meeeeeee" Crocket

A few days after the first bottle holding incident:
she held it herself and wasn't on my lap. Progress!

Getting too old for kisses from mom

Josie was really trying to move forward to the ball

She flashed me a big smile, glad I got it partially on camera.
This was a moment before she decided she was done
with struggling to move, and burst into whiny-cry, but
man she looks like such a big girl here.

Alex also is too old for mommy kisses.

Another cute one of Alex. Alex you little cherub.

Josie sitting for a few moments at a time.