Took them to Mike & Linda's on Sat. Vennela felt right at home, was crawling all over the home, chasing their poor dog. Shruthi got into the act after a few mins, once she got used to all the new people. Don't know why, but she still has stranger anxiety.

Vennela is the instigator, always the first to get into rooms she isn't supposed to and exploring and finding things;) and of course Shruthi follows her.

This evening, spent a quality 30 mins in the hammock with both girls. They loved being outside.

They are still waking up all through the night, sometime because they get stuck in the crib and sometimes for no reason that we can think of. All the advise on the web says to let them cry it out;) I guess we have to try it and see.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Last night they slept much better, we actually got some sleep last night, hopefully it will last longer than one night.

Vennela figured out how to sit down, and that's all she did for 15 mins. She was giddy, showing off her new trick to all of us:) Both girls are feeding by themselves, sometimes, if they feel like it:)

Banana Babies

Both babies love bananas. If you feed them, they will finish a whole banana. It's good in a way, it can be our emergency food. Now they are getting really uncontrollable if they are hungry. Yesterday I was giving a bottle of milk to Vennela and I guess Shruthi was hungry, she jumped over Swapna, and grabbed the bottle from my hand;) She didn't stop screaming until Swapna got her another bottle.

Vennela is self sufficient now, we can hand her the bottle and she will drink it. I think Shruthi can do it too, but she is too lazy;) They both still don't like being in the playpen, their mini-jail.

Shruthi is our pseudo-puppy. She always pulls off one of her socks, puts it in her mouth and crawls all over the home, she won't let the sock go.

They are still not sleeping through the nights, wake up every hour;)

They are back!!!

Babies came back Wed night, two gundus, not shiny anymore:) I think Vennela recognized me right away, it took Shruthi a few mins. They did remember our home, crawled over to their toy basket right away and started playing with their toys. We were worried about how they would do on the plane, but they did fine, didn't trouble their mom and uncle much, even with only one bassinet on the second leg.

They are crawling all over the place. We have to keep all the doors closed, if not they will be there in 5 mins, pulling down things.

They were over jet lag in a couple of days, but did get cold and cough, so had a few rough nights, no sleep for all of us. Having Venu around helped a lot, share some night shifts. They still have cold, so are still not sleeping through the night;)

Now that they are mobile, we have a few accidents everyday, bumping their heads into things are crashing when crawling, or getting stuck in things. Crashing when crawling is the worst, hit their face on the floor and start crying. They figured out how to stand up, holding onto things, but haven't figured out how to sit down, so are stuck standing up.

We gave them yogurt for breakfast this morning, Shruthi liked it, Vennela didn't but she ate it anyways.

Shruthi the Destroyer

Shruthi loves rolling over to the air vents and putting her face on the vent, likes warm air blowing in her face. Yesterday, she pulled one vent cover off the wall, screws and all. Can't wait to see what she will do to stuff that's not nailed down;)

Went for their 9 month doc checkup and shots on Tue. Both babies are the same height, 28 inches, in the 90th percentile. Shruthi is 19lb 6oz and Vennela is 17lb 1oz. Vennela hasn't gained any weight in the last 3 months, surprising because she has been eating better than Shruthi for the past few weeks.

Vennela is our pseudo-animal, makes different animal noises each day. Most days she is a lion and some days she is a donkey:)

Working from home is nice, get to see the babies all through the day. Vennela does get really mad if I come upstairs and don't pick her up, she would be following me wherever I go.

Moving our India trip back three weeks really messed up with Swapna's plans for baby clothes. She didn't buy them any new clothes thinking we will be in India, in the warm weather. Babies have outgrown all their clothes, can't even really stretch their legs; we keep some of he buttons on their dresses unbuttoned so they can move around a little ;)

Trying night

Nights like last night really test our patience. Shruthi woke up screaming around midnight, she was quiet as long as someone was holding her but started screaming as soon as we put her down. As if we didn't have enough, Vennela woke up screaming too. Don't know why they are doing this. Didn't help that Shruthi woke up at 4am;) Don't know why they are waking up crying, still in their sleep.

We really are in trouble now, Vennela started rolling over, for real this time. Now both are rolling into each other, trying to pull each others hair. It's puzzling why they are so interested in hair;)

One more week to India trip. Swapna already packed babies bags, but you never know if we packed everything.

We are mobile

Both of them are moving around now, albeit in their own strange ways. Shruthi just rolls around, till something like a wall stops her or she gets stuck under the furniture. Vennela has the most unorthodox way of getting around; she moves while sitting up:) It's hard to describe how she does it, but she is going places, very slowly though.

Both babies are eating their tiny snacks on their own. Vennela is our own soprano. As soon as she wakes up in the morning, she starts singing;) There is one thing that scares Vennela, it's the pressure cooker whistle. Don't know when she will get used to it.

They really love the toy toy that Grace got them. All I have to do is put it in their lap and turn it on and they break out laughing:)