Eleven months

They're 11 months and just a couple weeks from their first birthday! April has been a crazy month (as you can see from Norah's expressions), with ear infections, allergic reactions and asthma , but Henry and Norah are still growing and learning new tricks all the time. Here's what they're doing now:

Henry:

• Weighs 22 pounds and is probably 30 inches tall
• Wears some 9-month clothes but is mainly in 12-month clothes now
• Loves to make noises by drumming his fingers over his lips
• Babbles a lot and still says "baba" and "mama" (though he doesn't know what they mean)
• Can spend hours lying under his walker and gets mad if Norah comes into his fortress (or is sitting in it and kicks him while he's underneath)
• Eats everything in sight but loves yogurt puffs, squash, applesauce and sweet potatoes
• Loves to be pulled up to standing from his changing table and tossed in the air
• Pulls himself up to standing at his walker and is starting to stand at his baby gate and slowly slide around the room
• Still has four teeth but is working on pushing another one through
• Is super happy most of the time and makes himself giggle, especially when he's lying on the floor or playing with a book in his car seat
• Has begun crawling on all fours instead of just scooting and is getting really fast
• Unfortunately has really bad eczema on his legs, tummy and arms, but steroid cream is slowly helping it to go away
• Is allergic to Tylenol, as we found out last week, but should be fine with infant ibuprofen
• Loves to clap and kick his legs
• Fights bedtime and naptime but has been great at sleeping through the night the past week (and we're hoping it continues)

Norah:

• Weighs 19 pounds and is 28 inches long
• Wears 9-month clothes and a few 6-9 month pairs of pants
• Has learned how to climb up stairs at Grandma's house and church and climbs pretty far before getting tired of it
• Still has no teeth, but we see one popping up every few weeks and then going back down, which is frustrating
• Loves to pull herself up to standing against the couch and shut or play with my laptop and spends forever clanging toys against her baby gate
• Has been really cranky this month because of a double ear infection, antibiotics that weren't working and an allergic reaction to cefdinir, but seems a bit happier now that she's on a different medicine
• Loves peek-a-boo, especially when I bend down by the changing table and surprise her or Andrew pops out from behind a door
• Refuses to eat solid food (most likely because it's so hard to swallow) but will take a few bites of sweet potato or applesauce
• Is getting really good at grabbing yogurt puffs and putting them in her mouth
• Cracks up when she watches Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Netflix while I'm in the shower and loves the bright colors, as does Henry
• Is finally growing more hair, and it's getting longer in the back
• Has begun clapping when she's happy
• Loves snuggling up to her dad and me lately and falling asleep
• Crawls on her hands and knees now instead of scooting
• Is close to walking and tries standing on her own for a couple seconds before grabbing something to hold onto

I love seeing how much Henry and Norah grow each month and can't believe how well they're doing for being born so early. Unfortunately, Norah most likely has to have tubes in her ears because of all the ear infections, but we're hoping it will help her feel much better and start to eat solid food again.

These babies have my whole heart! Their smiles and giggles more than make up for sleepless nights and days spent changing diapers and cleaning spit-up from the carpet. I love seeing their personalities shining through and knowing they'll continue to change and grow and become their own people.