Merry Christmas!

Hope you enjoy a wonderful holiday with your families.  Merry Christmas from the Schlegels!

7 months old!

The boys celebrated their 7 month birthday on a pretty cold day for Austin.  Anderson seems to like the colder weather, but Carter isn't quite sure about it yet.

We haven't been to the doctor in a few weeks, so I am not sure of their heights/weights.  They seem to be still around the same height and probably still have about a 2 pound weight difference.  Anderson has been waking up more often for food during the middle of the night the past few days, so he may have had a little growth spurt.

There haven't been any huge changes from 6 months to 7 months, but here are a few new tricks:
-Sitting up all alone for a few minutes at a time (propping themselves up on their hands)
-Rolling from their backs to their fronts
-Eating 5oz of food 6 or 7 times a day
-Chewing on everything and getting a stronger bite
-Starting to show interest in our food
-Taking two naps a day (about an hour in the morning and 2.5 hours in the afternoon)

And here are the 7 month pictures of these two bears we found....

At first, the brown bear and the blue bear seemed surprised to see us

But they warmed up to us pretty quickly

Bedtime stories with Mom

(Important preface: Lying on the ground before bedtime is not the time to take the most flattering pictures of Megan.  Apparently I grow an extra chin and gravitational pull is not kind to me. But you're probably reading this blog because you are interested in the boys, not me. Anyways, I digress.)

The boys and I like to read before bed.  I lay on the ground and hold up the book.  This is essentially an exercise in futility.   The boys are rarely interested in actually looking at the book.  What they are interested in is touching my face, grabbing my glasses, pulling my hair, etc.  It's pretty amusing.  I do think I may be working out some muscles in my arms and shoulders, so all is not lost.  Here are a few photos Ty took one night:

Despite my best efforts, I cannot rotate these photos.  Many apologies for my lack of tech-savviness

The boys are clearly very interested in the plot of the book at this point

I usually can hold it together for awhile, but I eventually lose focus on the book and just start laughing

Carter gets a solid grip on my hair

I think Anderson may have actually been paying attention to the book during the video, but Carter is clearly more interested in Mom's hair and glasses.  Guess I'll be making better book choices in the future

Smiles

Both boys are now smiling all the time.  They love to sit with me at the table in their high chairs:

Just hanging out in my high chair

And while we are certain they are not identical, you can definitely tell they are brothers

They also enjoy when Mom plays with puppets:

Visit to Indianapolis-Part 3

On our last day in Indy, we went to try a new Cajun restaurant.  Unfortunately, it was pouring and very cold, but fortunately this meant the boys got to try out their bear suits. These pictures were also taken on a phone, so I apologize for how small they are

Anderson was the blue bear

And Carter was the brown bear

Obviously the lunch conversation was not stimulating enough for Carter

But he woke up for the end of the meal, apparently angry that we had not saved any for him

We had a great trip and the boys were sad to say goodbye to their grandparents.  But they put on a smile for Grandma:

Visit to Indianapolis-Part 2

While we were in Indy, we also spent time with my second "family," our neighbors from down the street.  Poor Nick got stuck in the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, but the boys were so excited to meet him that we had to go visit.  Nick is not into babies that cry, so I had a little chat with the boys beforehand and they did great.  Here is a pic of the boys meeting their "Uncle" Nick and Grace:

While Nick was in the hospital, the rest of the families got together at the Knox house for dinner with all the kids.  We watched Wisconsin beat Penn State and the boys were dressed in their Badger apparel for the victory.  Here is Anderson doing a little pre-game discussion with Grandpa:

 Dana, my brother's girlfriend, fed Carter for us while we ate:

Ty and Bill watched football with the boys:

We got a photo of all of the kids:

 Carter was fading fast after the game was over:

Visit to Indianapolis-Part 1

We had a great trip to Indiana and got to visit my parents, brother and many friends.  It was the first time the boys got to meet their Uncle Bill.  He and Carter had many staring contests:

Anderson enjoyed reading the paper with Grandpa.  He actually did enjoy it but the look on his face in this picture may suggest otherwise.

One of my old neighbors, Caitlin, came over to visit with her daughter Ella.  The boys were in love and are still fighting over who called dibs on her.  Here we are with all our kids:

We also spent some time with some friends of mine from high school and their spouses/kids.  Emily was very excited to meet the boys and Anderson had a great time playing with her:

 Here are all the ladies from high school and the kids:

Ty and I forgot how cold, wet and gray the winter is in the Midwest.  We only went on one walk when we were there because it rained so often. Carter was excited about going outside:

We spent most of the rest of the time indoors singing and playing with Grandma and Grandpa.  The boys love to sing, particularly "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes":

First trip on an airplane

Ty and I took the boys to Indianapolis to visit my family for Thanksgiving.  We bought transferable tickets for our flight, just in case the boys didn't seem up to it.  In the days leading up to the trip, we both definitely had some anxiety about flying with them, but our sweet boys did fantastic!  We took a very early flight from Austin to Chicago and then on to Indianapolis on Thanksgiving morning.  It was nice to avoid the Wednesday before Thanksgiving rush.  Once on the plane, we learned that Ty and I could not sit next to each other because you can only have one lap child per row, as there are only 4 oxygen masks per row.  Luckily we were able to find 2 aisle seats across from each other and some very kind people to sit next to us.

Anderson cried for about 5 minutes (or what seemed like an hour to me) on the first flight and was fine once I got up and walked him.  I also changed his diaper on the plane which is no small feat.  We had a long layover in Chicago, but the boys laid down and played/slept for most of it.  The flight from Chicago to Indy was very short and completely uneventful.  We were so happy that the flying went well, as we have a trip to Ohio planned for Christmas and were not looking forward to flying again so soon if the boys didn't do well.

Since it required all 4 of our hands to just manage the boys, we didn't get too many pictures of the flight, but we took a few in the Chicago airport with our phones (sorry for the tiny size):

Visiting Daddy at work

I took the boys to visit Ty at work on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  It was a great day to go because not many people were in the office and Ty had more free time to show them off to his co-workers.  It was also the week of the Ohio State/Michigan game, so the boys wore special outfits to support their dad.

The boys learned about life in a cubicle

And about the secrets of the elusive dry-erase board

And enjoying taunting Daddy's co-workers who went to Michigan

6 months old!

Clearly we are a little behind in our postings since the boys are now almost 7 months old. We have been keeping the boys busy with travel, hosting a Christmas party and a bad reaction to 6 month shots.  The actual shots were okay, but they got a flu shot and it made them sick for a few days.

We went to the doctor last week for their 6 month visit (3.5 months adjusted age).  The doctor was pleased with their weight gain and growth.  Carter weighs 11lbs, 6oz (3rd percentile) and is 23.1in tall (5th percentile).  Anderson is 13lbs, 6 oz (28th percentile) and 23.6 in (14th percentile).  They are holding steady at exactly 2 lbs apart; we thought Carter was gaining on Anderson, but no luck.  I also was surprised to see that Carter is still only .5 in shorter than Anderson because he seems shorter than that to me and when I told Ty this, he admitted that he cheated for Carter a little bit on the height measurement.  Anderson may be about an inch taller than Carter, but who's counting? Clearly their obsessive parents are....

The boys also continue to dominate the charts in head size.  Carter's head is 43cm (77th percentile) and Anderson's is 43.4cm (85th percentile)!  It suddenly all made sense why the little outfits that still fit their bodies so well are quite a struggle to get over their heads.

At 6 months (3.5 months adjusted) both boys are:
-Much more interested in each other (e.g., grabbing each other, smiling at each other, etc.) Therefore, the 6 month photo shoot was a bit more "interactive"
-Rolling from their back to their sides, but not all the way to their bellies
-Able to hold toys and shake them

-Putting everything in their mouths
-Drooling over everything
-No teeth yet, but clearly working on them
-Touching our faces when we hold them
-Laughing
-Sleeping from 7-7 (Anderson usually still gets up once between 2 and 5 for a feeding)
-Eating 6 times per day, 4.5oz. per feeding
-Able to sit up with a little support

Here are a few photos from the 6 month photo shoot:

Hey brother....
Anderson is usually much more interested in Carter than Carter is in Anderson

So Anderson tries to get Carter's attention by grabbing him 

Carter tries to stare him down and Anderson is fearless (and is probably thinking "I was going to grab your ear again, so just be glad it's your shirt only this time")

Carter is a lover, not a fighter and would prefer to just hold hands

Anderson's head is rounder, but they are looking closer and closer to the same size