Alex and Olivia are getting so big!!!

The other day I was starting to realize how big Alex and Olivia are getting - - especially Alex. We were looking at pictures from when they were born and it is so hard to believe that they were ever as small as they once were.

I specifically noticed how big Alex had gotten when a couple of weeks ago we put him in the swing which he had not been in at last during the last couple of months. He was really tired from day care and was too worked up to go to sleep so we put him in the swing to calm him down. That is when I realized how much he has grown.

Check out the pictures for the comparison.....it is not the same swing (which would have been the perfect comparison) but you will get the point.

Here is Alex a few days shy of a month old (look at all that dark hair!!!).....

And here he is just a few days shy of 5 months old - - look how big he is!!!

Olivia is getting big too, but she is still our little peanut. And as I always tell Ben, if one of our children were to be a peanut, I would rather it be her than Alex. Even when they were only a half a pound apart in weight, she still seemed so much lighter - - - picking her up is like picking up a feather!!!

Here are some recent pictures that we took of Alex and Olivia on their bellies. Olivia loves being on her belly, Alex is more open to the idea, but is still not a huge fan. Olivia can last a long time on her belly while 5 minutes is enough for Alex.

We've got another roller!

Yep, that is right, Alex rolled over yesterday from his back to his belly for the first time!!! But nobody saw it! After day care, Alex was on the floor playing on his back. Ben left the room and when he came back Alex was on his belly! Ben rolled him back over to try to get him to do it again but no luck! This is exactly the same thing that happened when Olivia rolled over for the first time - - she did it while Ben had left the room and when he tried to get her to do it again, she would not do it. So far today, he has yet to do it again but gets really close.

For the past several weeks, he had been getting really close and we kept saying "he is going to do it any day now", but it never was happening. His shoulder was always the culprit in preventing his ability to finish the roll.

Here are some pictures from last weekend as Alex was attempting to roll over.....

The Exersaucer

Alex and Olivia have been going to day care full time for about the last week and a half. At day care, they have a couple of exersaucers for the kids to play in and Alex seemed to really enjoy it. So we decided to finally go out and purchase one - - we had been planning on it but just wanted to wait until their head control got really good.

We went out last Saturday and purchased one only to get home, unpack it and find that it had been used and returned - - there was dog hair on it and no instructions. So after the kids went to bed I went back to return it and get a new one and spent the rest of the night putting it together.

So far the kids love playing in it. We have also found out that the most comfortable position for them to poop in is standing up. The first day they both christened the exersuacer by pooping in it. We washed the seat cover close to three times in the first 24 hours we had the exersaucer since Olivia has been having a tough time keeping her poop in her diaper lately!

Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying the exersaucer...

Payback is a........

Alex got sick of getting beat up and picked on by Olivia (previously labeled as the dominant twin) so he decided to take matters into his own hands.....He decided he needed to pay back Olivia when she got in his way.

This is the only time that he has been found beating up Olivia, but I am sure it will continue in the future, especially as they get older and he realizes what Olivia is doing to him.

Month in Review

This past month has been a pretty busy month especially with our trip to Michigan, the kids starting day care, and Ben getting ready to go back to work. But Alex and Olivia have been keeping us busy and are growing so much every day. It is hard to believe they will be five months old this Thursday. I suppose when you are so busy the time seems to fly by so quickly.

Here are a few highlights from the last month:

We decided to bring out the highchairs in preparation for feeding the kids baby food. Although we won't start feeding them baby food until they are 6 months old, we thought it would be a good idea for them to get use to their highchairs. So every night when we eat dinner the kids sit at the table with us in their highchairs. Olivia does not seem to mind the high chair, while Alex does not like it at all. I am sure once he learns that he will get food while sitting in the chair (he loves to eat) he will like it much better. But for right now, he typically does not last more than 5 or 10 minutes in his high chair without a meltdown.

Alex and Olivia have discovered that they have feet. They love to play with them every day and Olivia is even starting to figure out how to get them in her mouth. The picture below is not the best, but here is Alex hanging out in his crib one morning fascinating himself with his feet.

As mentioned in a prior post, Olivia now sleeps on her belly most nights. And she even scoots around her crib while sleeping. We decided to take the bumpers out of her crib in fear that she would push her face up against the bumper and would not be able to breathe. However with removing the bumpers comes consequences.....she flings her pacifier out of the crib (I once found it underneath the middle of the crib), and she gets her limbs stuck in between the crib rails (check out her feet below).

Olivia has also developed the habit where she likes to sleep with her butt up in the air. Ben and I are constantly discussing how it just does not seem like a comfortable position.

Finally, the kids have started taking a liking to Dudley. When Ben plays fetch with Dudley, the kids watch Dudley and laugh at the whole process. And as of late, Olivia has started to reach out for Dudley and try to pet him. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures or videos of this yet, but stay tuned!

The Dominant Twin

A little while ago, Ben read an article about twins and the article talked about how in a set of twins there is typically one that is dominant over the other. Over the last couple of weeks we
have been slowly learning that it appears to be true with the Jarboe set of twins. Olivia seems to
be emerging at the dominant twin (it might just be because she is moving more than Alex but
she is definitely the dominant twin right now). Check out the evidence.

Olivia telling Alex to get out of the way by kicking him in the face:

Olivia discovering that she can pull Alex's hair.....

And finally, Olivia putting the choke hold on Alex.....

If this is what Olivia is doing at about 5 months of age, I can only imagine what it will be like when they get older. I think we might have our hands full...which shouldn't be a surprise to me as I did similar things to my brother when I was a kid (and I was 3 years younger!).

Technical Difficulties

I apologize to all of you who have been eagerly awaiting new posts on Alex and Olivia. I have a lot of ideas for posts because so many things have been happening. However, every time I sit down to do a post we have internet issues and I cannot load pictures for some reason.

So please stay tuned, hopefully we will get things working soon!