Stand Up! Stand Up!!

We have documented Gillian's crawling skills, and Colin's previous lack of crawling skills, but NO MORE! As of yesterday, Colin is an official 4-limbed crawler! He's still pretty slow, but it's effective! Gillian's belly crawl has developed into a tri-pod approach to mobility. She uses two hands and one knee, and moves the other leg along with her. It's odd, but effective.

Look at that boy go!


Race ya!


More excitingly is that both babies are now independently pulling to stand!! Gillian started on June 1st with this skill, and Colin followed up on June 12th. Our new baby gate seems to be the preferred start point for standing, but they will both pull up on the coffee table, activity table, and the excersaucer.

When I went to Emily's shower yesterday and Michael had the kids all day to himself, he took lots of good standing pictures.

Colin's first stand!


Gillian at the coffee table. We need to get our bumpers put on!


Some serious work to be done!


We did it!


Smiley stander!

Land Shark

Many of our dedicated readers have probably already seen this video on "the face page" (as I endearingly call it), but for those who haven't we present: Gillie Bean, the Land Shark.

She's been doing this combat crawl for a couple days now, but she's giving every sign that she'll start doing a full fledged crawl very soon.

Pretty Little Girl, Pretty Active, That Is!

Gillian is a mover and groover. Unless she is sleeping, she is moving. She's been trying to figure out the whole crawling thing for a few weeks, but no true success yet. However, this weekend she figured out a sort of creeping, land-swimming motion that works pretty well. If she sees something she wants, off she goes. It's pretty efficient too. We cannot get her to practice sitting independently because that would mean she has to BE STILL! She also makes some pretty funny faces in her concentrating state; she also pants. She is a very serious girl in general, so her smiles are all the more special! What a girl.

Mother's Day Delights

I had a nice first Mother's Day yesterday. Grammy Lynn and Grandpa Frank came to stay with us Saturday night so that Daddy could "treat" Uncle D to his Bachelor Party. Consequently, I did not have to get up at 6:00 am, because Grammy volunteered, more than willingly, to get up with the babies. I only managed to stay in bed until 6:50, but it was better than 6:00!! Later, Grandma RoRo, Uncle D (who survived his bachelor party in one piece), and Aunt Mercedes joined us for lunch. Michael got a bunch of really cute pictures, so I thought I'd share. I know you mostly read our blog for the photos!

Reading a book with Grammy Lynn on Saturday night: (Honestly, Colin and Gillian LOVE books. They will sit/lay while you read them 3 or 4 books, and they are actually engaged in it. Some books they just see the cover and SMILE!)


Gillian checking out her new outfit. We took the holiday as opportunity to dress up a little:


Colin does the Snoopy Dance:


Can't you just feel the sibling love?


Practicing our crawling skills:


Yes, at the ripe age of 6 1/2 months, they are both getting up on hands and knees and rocking. Gillian takes it further and extends her legs and even does little hops. Thankfully she doesn't have the arm portion figured out yet. It won't be long until we're moving.

Colin is such a great sitter! Gillian wants nothing to do with it.


Sugar foot:


Mama and her babies:


A very nice day.