Emma slept in our room from the minute she came home until she was 8 months old. She refused her bottle at 9 months and started solely on a sippie cup. She did not want to drink anymore milk, so I was literally making scrambled eggs with formula and throwing a little on top when they were ready. I had to do some crazy things to get more formula and fat in her-oatmeal with four scoops of formula and a whole lot of butter anyone?? She did love her baby food though, she started eating cereal and baby food from six months to a little after her first birthday. She has the exact same eating habits as me-if she's doing something else or busy playing, she is not thinking about food. Most days I have to drag her away from what she is doing to get her to eat lunch and dinner. She could really care less about food and eating-she has more important things on her mind! She's also a great snuggler and loves sleeping in our room (and let's be honest, we love having her in our room even though she needs to get out more!)
I know you are supposed to document EVERYTHING with your first baby, but I honestly can't remember when she started walking. I know she wasn't walking at her first birthday, so I'm assuming it was sometime around 14 months. She also loved to follow me around everywhere-if I left her sight, she came looking for me. And she loved (and still does!) me to hold her and carry her. She wouldn't just jump in other people's arms-she had to warm up to you for a bit first.
I know Luke is a boy, and they say boys are everywhere, and they mean everywhere! He is all over the place and so fast!! Luke began his adventure in this world slightly, ok let's be real-VERY, different than Emma. He knew early on that he needed to come join this party and no one was going to tell him otherwise. When he finally came home from the hospital, we started out having him in our room. He was the loudest sleeper EVER. He grunted and snorted and sounded like an old man pig. We moved him into the den in the pack and play and left our bedroom door open to hear him. Soon after he started sleeping in his own room and has been there ever since. He does not like having people in the room he's sleeping in. He has to be put to bed alone and as soon as he notices there is someone in the room with him-he is up and ready to go. Don't know if we'll be having slumber parties with him or not!
The second thing that stood out the most as a huge difference was having to set an alarm to wake up every three hours, in the middle of the night, to feed him. Normally, babies wake up on their own to eat, but with preemies you don't get that "luxury". That lasted until he was about 4 months old. Now-this boy is an eating machine! I honestly think he just loves eating-not so much food, but the actual act of eating. Anytime we go out to dinner, he literally eats from the moment we sit down until we leave the restaurant. And he will eat anything you put in front of him. He still LOVES his bottle and had zero interest in a sippie cup-another vast difference between the two! He will drink anything besides milk out of a regular cup with a straw. Try giving him a sippie cup with a straw and he wants no part of it! So frustrating sometimes, but it will happen! We also didn't give him very much baby food, mainly because we didn't want another Emma situation with the bottle. He stayed solely on his bottle until about 9 months-we gave him food to make sure he knew how to use a spoon-and then we started on "people food".
Another difference between them, is that he pays close attention to all of his surroundings. Emma is very observant and remembers a lot of stuff, but she didn't study people and things the way he does. It's almost like he doesn't want to fail in what he's trying to do-get a toy that got away, climbing up and down stairs....
We think this is how he's going to handle walking. He is a master at standing up on his own for about 10-15 seconds and just hanging out. He just started bouncing up and down while standing too-he's quite proud of it. Our thought is he is not going to take one or two steps for a while, but he's going to start walking and never stop! So, if he needs to take his time to figure it out, no complaints on this end!!
One wonderful thing they both have in common is their love for babies. Emma has always been obsessed with babies and every time she sees one, she asks me if she can touch them. Luke sees babies now and starts hollering to get close to them. I wouldn't change that trait for anything in the world. The "saddest" difference, to me, is the difference in the way they "need" me. As I said, Emma is my little shadow, she follows me everywhere. She always has to know where I am and if she can't see me, she comes to find me. She climbs up in my lap all the time and snuggles on the couch with me. Luke, on the other hand, doesn't have time for that. He's too busy running around and discovering new things. He will sit with Matt for a good while and just hang out, but not at all with me. I guess Matt would say now you know how I feel-I don't like it! So, those rare times he does cry out for me or comes to snuggle, for literally 3 seconds, I jump all over it. He also knows no stranger, he will go to anyone you try to hand him off too. If you want to feel loved, just hold him for a minute and he will be your best friend.
Although they may be very similar and different, at the same time, there is nothing about either of them I would change (except for maybe more snuggles from Luke!). They have both changed our lives and we are looking forward to all that's in store for us!
