10 months old and spring has sprung.. hallelujah!

FINALLY the weather is nice. Really nice. And to enjoy it better we have a new, "fancy", lightweight stroller. And we all love it. Since, the weather has turned nice we go to the park and playground once and even sometimes twice a day. It is so much fun! (It gets tricky with the 2 of them. Sometimes one of them has to wait in the stroller. What happens when they are both walking??!).
Gabi LOVES the swings. She squeals with joy. Alexi likes it but he prefers to be free and not enclosed and strapped into anything. His favorite thing at the playground right now is to just stand in the jungle gym and hold onto the bars. He moves around a little and is so engrossed by the other, older kids. He is really interested in them. They both love watching and interacting with the other children. We are having a ball!

In other news, Gabi has really made great strides in standing. She has gained better balance this past week and is much more cautious. (I don't have to be so afraid that she is going to let go and just fall). She is also trying to move a little bit. Also, she claps her little hands like a pro and has started putting different sounds together as if making a "baby sentence".
Alexi has had a big week too! He is now holding his bottle totally alone. He even knows to tilt the end in order to get all the milk out. (How do they know?!) He started waving goodbye yesterday! And, after getting some practice on the jungle gym today, he climbed 3 steps to the landing tonight.

Oh, they also took their first bath together a few days ago. It was really just for kicks. Gabi was so excited, it was written all over her face. Alexi was definitely less excited. He seemed a tad annoyed that someone was encroaching on his personal space. That was also written all over his face :-).

Having some fun, 9 1/2 months

Daddy decided to dust off the ole guitar and play a little for the kids. They loved it!

We're 9 months old!

This has been a really big month for us! So many new things happened that Mommy can barely keep track.

Daddy left in the beginning of February for 3 weeks on a medical expedition and missed out on a lot. We sent him plenty of photos while he was gone. And he promised never to leave us for that long again.

At about 8 1/2 months, Alexi started pulling up on just about everything and standing and has started to cruise. He is incredibly coordinated and has great balance. He pretty much never loses his balance. (Hope I didn't just jinx him) He takes great pleasure in his new skills. And he works soooo hard at everything. He is still the happiest baby I have met (I am just a tad biased). He laughs, smiles and "talks" all day. And he can be quite a cuddler too. He likes to snuggle with Mommy particularly after a nap. And Mommy just meeeeeeelllts and wonders how the heck am I EVER going to let him go to kindergarten?? :-)

Gabi started to crawl 3 weeks ago right around the same time she got her first 2 teeth!! And since then she started eating solids like she's been doing it her whole life :-) We had quite a problem with her before. She even eats from a spoon now. Her only demand (well, as far as food is concerned at least) is for the food to be CHUNKY and grown-up food. As far as she is concerned, baby food is for babies.. you can leave her out of it altogether.
She is more selective than her brother with who she is friendly with. If she knows and likes you, she will shower you with attention, kisses and smiles. Otherwise, she keeps her distance for the most part. And Daddy says he prefers her this way; she doesn't need to be too friendly with strangers. Boy, are those two something else.. It is amazing how they connect in a special way. I will attach some pictures as proof.

Both Gabi and Alexi started clapping and imitating certain sounds.
Now that both babies are crawling they really enjoy playing together. Gabi is still learning the ropes from Alexi and taking his lead. And I truly think he enjoys her company. Now that she can finally keep up with him.

OK, so for the pictures...

(I am having a hard time writing captions by pictures, so I will have to write it here and refer to the picture(s)).

2 pix - where Gabi is pulled up onto the couch that Alex is laying on. Alex was sick one day and Gabi kept crawling over and checking on him!! It was sooooo cute!

Gabi close-up grin pic: Can you see my 2 teeth??!!

3 pix - Gabi holding a framed picture of Alex: Gabi missing Daddy. She literally kissed his picture while he was away.

We turned 8 months old!!!

Boy, is time flying...

So much has changed with us.

Alexi started to crawl 2 weeks ago. (He started trying slowly over 2 months ago). He is all over the place and is starting to pull himself up onto things on his own. He is extremely strong and loving his independence. He can also sit totally on his own. He loves to stand and is slowly starting to take little steps while holding onto something. He is still an excellent eater.

Gabi is just starting to make the first attempts at crawling, but she is making great strides. She is still more interested in analyzing people and their actions. She can be very intense. She is still not a great eater. She refuses to eat from a spoon, so we experiment with a lot of things. She prefers tiny bits of food as opposed to anything pureed. She is rather finicky and keeps us on our toes... she's a petite little girl and that's OK by us. ;-)

Both Gabi and Alexi are experimenting with different sounds and squealing. They are both starting to drink from a sippy cup and try some finger foods. They both LOVE munching on bread, bagels and teething biscuits.