All Things Haley: Growth #24

The babies had their first experience in a sink tub since their first 24 hours of life. I fuzzily remember that first bath, the only thing filling in the pieces being a video taken by Daddy as we watched the nurse take our tiny little newborns and document their footprints, strip them down, and rinse them in the hospital sink. She used a tiny little combe on their fuzzy heads to scrape away all of the remaining residue from their birth. She sprayed over their heads with the little faucet and held each of them in one hand the whole time.

Today Grace sat confidently in the sink at Nana and Papa's house, splashing in the pool of water around her and reaching for the faucet to play in the waterfall beside her. She played with the wash cloth and looked at the many cameras that were all around her snapping crucial moments of her first time sitting in a bathtub all on her own...even if it was just a sink.

Caleb didn't exactly sit up on his own, but he enjoyed it just the same. After a minor slip and the subsequent freak out, he enjoyed his rare moment of allowed binky-time and actually started splashing around with Papa by the end of the bath. After going back and watching that video from what seems like ages ago and mere minutes all at once, it's truly amazing to ponder the amount of growth that's happened for our little people in 8 short months. They're no longer helpless. No longer completely reliant for all things- they can hold themselves up and reach for their own toys. They can roll over and move from one toy to the next, and they can show us different expressions to communicate what they need, want, or feel. They can splash around and understand the feel of water and what that means. They are taking baths now instead of just lying in a small puddle, waiting to be sponged off.

It won't be long before they're running around the house naked escaping our toweled grips as we try to wrangle the other little one at the same time...

Or is that just my vision of what's in store with rambunctious twin toddlers?

For now, I'm basking in this amazing age. I love 8 months. They are so fun to be around, so full of curiousity and wonder. They're happy and playful and absolutely in love with Mommy and Daddy. They are so close to that next step toward indepence but still so tiny and new. They need us in a beautiful way right now, in a cuddling and comforting way, and that won't last forever.

It's been a great weekend. We've had a lot of fun and plenty of play time. We've had a few stressful moments but no epic meltdowns. There were some new skills learned, new adventures trekked, and a lot of Daddy missing to go right along with it all. I had a great time showing them off at breakfast and church today, their first time at my church with my old church family. These are some loved and lucky little babies...and they deserve every ounce of it. They're absolutely awesome.