Hunter & Jackson: Month 7 & 8 Update

Time is once again flying by and the babies are officially EIGHT months old.  Both Hunter and Jackson are now easily crawling, pulling up on the couch and feeling closer than ever to walking.  The twins have gone from being these tiny 5 pound, fragile babies to BIG boys who are both nearly 22 pounds and ready to take on the world.

The past two months have been filled with babies laughter, crazy milestones and falling more in love with these two cuties every day.

Here they are at 7 months...

And here they are at 8 months...

I don't mean to sound biased, but I think they just keep getting cuter and cuter.  I also have no idea how I'm going to fit them on this photo prop much longer!

We've had so much fun as a family over the past two months.   The babies had their first weekend alone with their grandma, Bobby while the Hubs and I went to the Bahamas for a long weekend.  They did great and had a lot of fun when their cousins came to visit from Colombia while we were gone.  Grandma even bought us our own kiddie pool.

The next week the babies hosted my friend Rebecca's baby for the long Memorial Day weekend.  We were pregnant together, so it was so fun to have the babies all hang out.

The next few weekends we laid low and got more use out of that baby pool.

Both Hunter and Jackson loved it!

They both seem to like being outside and we are fully embracing summer.

At 29 weeks the boys started Kindermusik.

They grew so much over the class and I'm thinking about signing them up for the fall session.

At 30 weeks we took a family trip to Charlotte to see my Brother and his wife Erica.

The boys got to help announce that they are going to have another cousin in December.

We've been experimenting with lots of foods.  The babies pallets have taken off in the past two months and I've honestly lost track of all the foods they have tried.  Whole milk yogurt is by far their favorite.  Hunter seems to be a bit pickier and threw a tantrum over eating purred peas.  He's also refused to eat black beans!

Jackson, on the other hand, seems to enjoy all foods and is the better eater.  He's better at getting pieces of food into his mouth too.  We are trying to transition to just bites of food and phase out purees.  I think Jackson is ready, but Hunter seems to need a little more time.

At 31 weeks Hunter surprised us all by pulling up on the couch.  I would be shocked if he wasn't an early walker.  A few weeks later Jackson starting pulling up on us when we were laying on the floor and then pulled up on the couch right at the end of his 7th month.

We also brought out the BOB!

And the walker... which they are just barely starting to get the hang of.

At 34 weeks we traveled again to Hilton Head.  The babies LOVED the pool this time.

They also got to play in the sand for the first time are officially beach babies.

These past few months have gone by so fast and they have changed SO much.

Here's how they are doing on a more individual basis...

Hunter & Jackson: Month 7 & 8 Update

Jackson

We don't go back to the doctor to get an official weight for the babies until 9 months, but our scale says Jackson is just shy of 22 pounds.  He is really long/tall and because of that has a slightly more slender appearance than his brother.  He moved from 6 months to 9-month clothing over the past two months.

He has mastered the army crawl and actually moves faster than his brother with it sometimes.

Jackson is one of those babies who can light the world up when he is happy.  He laughs (cackles actually!) at everything, including Hunter and Makena.  He loves to watch Hunter, is very observant and really seems to care about him. We didn't think he was going to try to pull up on the couch and hit his milestones early but he watched his brother and made it happen for himself.

His sweet face melts my heart.

Jackson can also be very challenging sometimes and has a terrible scream when he's upset.  We do our best to keep him happy!

Jackson loves to eat anything I've given him and was sleeping great up until we went to Hilton Head.  Since then he's been waking up early but hopefully, that will reset in the next few weeks.

I love him more than words can say and I'm so happy he's mine!

 

Hunter

Hunter is such a joy too.  He's also a big baby weighing in just a few ounces more than Jackson and just shy of 22 pounds.  He's a little shorter than Jackson so he looks heavier. He's also solidly into 9-month clothing and I'm hoping we can make it through summer with what we have!

Hunter continues to be a determined, overachieving baby!  He started standing early and while we haven't encouraged walking... I'm pretty sure he's on his way to figuring it out soon.  He is EVERYWHERE and gets into everything.  He's figured out how to get out of everything we've used to block him in the living room.  It's kind of funny when he breaks through and he's super proud.

Hunter is struggling a bit more with food and doesn't seem to like a lot of what we give him.  I'm hoping that if I keep giving it to him that will change.

Hunter has been sleeping well (knock on wood!) and we hope that continues!

He could not be more handsome and I fall in love with him more each day!

Schedule

Our schedule is about the same as the last update.  We've added a second solids feeding to the routine in the morning.

• 7 AM - acid reflux medicine & bottle feeding
• 8:30 AM -  solids feeding
• 9-10ish AM - nap
• 11 AM - bottle feeding
• 1-3ish PM - nap
• 3 PM - bottle feeding
• 4 PM - solids feeding
• 6:30 PM - bottle feeding and acid reflux medicine
• 7 PM - bedtime

Likes

• Pool
• Octopus Pool Floats
• Beach
• Beach Toys

• Whole Milk Yogurt
• Peaches
• V-tech Walker
• Stacky Cups
• Kindermusik
• Knocking towers of blocks or toys over
• Binkie (Hunter still LOVES his although we only give it to him at naps and bedtime.)

Dislikes

• Being Hot

 

• Car Seats
• Black Beans (Hunter hated them and Jackson loved them!)
• Baths (Jackson went through a phase where he screamed his head off during baths, luckily that passed!)

Firsts

• Pulling up on the couch- Hunter at 31 weeks and Jackson at 34
• Jackson crawling - 30 weeks
• First teeth - Jackson has two on the bottom and one of the top.  Hunter has one on the bottom.
• First time playing on the beach - 34 weeks

6 & 7 Month Favorites

• Lotus Travel Cribs
• V-Tech Walker
• Jumper
• Stacking Cups
• First Blocks  <--- they love these and they don't make obnoxious noises!
• BOB Stroller
• Octopus Pool Floats

 

Things I Want to Remember

The babies have grown so much and changed SO much in two months.  I want to remember the joy on Hunter's face when he pulled up on the couch for the first time.  I also want to remember how funny Jackson was when he ate black beans for the first time.  He LOVED them.

I want to remember how exciting it was to take them onto the sand at the beach for the first time and how they looked with their feet in the water.

Most of all I want to remember how they started really interacting with each other.  They make each other laugh and I can't tell you how much joy that brings me.

Most of all I want to remember how magical it feels to be their Mom.  It's constant, very challenging work but at the end of the day, these special boys are all mine!

 

Have you missed any Hunter and Jackson news?  Catch up here…

• Welcome Hunter John and Jackson Thomas
• The Twins Birth Story
• Hunter and Jackson’s First Week at Home
• Hunter & Jackson’s Newborn Photo Shoot
• The Twins First Christmas
• Hunter & Jackson: 1-2 Month Update
• Hunter & Jackson: 3-4 Month Update
• Hunter & Jackson: 5-6 Month Update

 

If you missed any of the pregnancy journey you can catch up here…

• Our Greatest Adventure
• Twin Gender Reveal Party
• The First Trimester
• Twin Pregnancy Weeks 14-18
• Twin Pregnancy Weeks 19-22
• Twin Pregnancy Weeks 23-27
• Twin Pregnancy Weeks 28-31
• Twin Pregnancy Weeks 32-34
• Twin Pregnancy Weeks 35+
• Second Trimester Pregnancy Essentials
• Pittsburgh Family Baby Shower
• Aviation Themed Baby Shower in Asheville
• Luau Couples Baby Shower