There’s a bit going on today, but I’ll get to the day and current events in a minute. The seven-month mark isn’t usually one that’s talked about all that much, but I feel bad that I skipped the six-month birthday update and there’s plenty of development going on now in the lives of my little boys.

The first thing I want to mention is that the boys are finally growing some hair back. I noticed it a month or so ago, that their little bald strips were starting to fill out. Fawkes has one really long hair on that goes down almost to his eyebrows. I want to cut it, but I like noticing it sometimes.

Both boys are trying really hard to start crawling. We noticed it with Fawkes first, that he’d get up on all fours and start rocking back and forth, though they mostly end up pushing themselves backwards at this point. Soon though, soon…

They doing a pretty good job of holding their bottles when they feel like it. Tristen got them some sippy cups with handles that they used once the other day. We decided to let them use them now and then, but they’re not ready to do that full-time just yet.

We started them on semi-solid foods a little while ago. Started easy with mashed-up baby food and moved on to mixing stuff with baby oatmeal. They get some fruit pouches now and then, too. They sucked the food out of them pretty well the first time we gave them to the boys, but I tend to spoon-feed it to them during their second lunch.

Their Nonny got them these strainer sucker things you can put fruit into and they’ve loved everything that’s been put into those so far, like oranges and blueberries.

Their schedules change slightly from day to day, but they generally wake up between 6 and 7, stay up for an hour and a half to two hours, sleep for the same, repeat. The biggest news though is that they’re sleeping through the night! Well, half the time anyway. Literally, it’s just about every other day. One night they’ll sleep from 7-6 or 7, the next night they’ll both wake up around 3 and want some formula. Phoenix seems to generally need less sleep. Fawkes sometimes fusses until I move him to our room for naps.

They boys are starting to understand things better, I think. Sometimes when they cry I’ll tap the mouth with a finger so they end up making a “Ba-ba-ba-ba” noise, which entertains them more often than not. Now though, if I start tapping their mouths, particularly with Phoenix, they’ll start making a sound, so they’ve learned to play this game.

They also love having a blanket put over them then having it pulled away quickly. Tristen can really get them laughing with that. 

Both boys are more ticklish now, too. Aside from their necks, I’ve been able to tickle their armpits, stomachs, and feet. (Those sweaty, sweaty feet.)

In Milly news, she’s enjoying fourth grade. She had a sleepover with Sophie Friday night. I picked her up Saturday and we went to Laura and Craig’s to do a maternity shoot for Torrie. That turned out pretty well, I think, but for some reason the color versions didn’t save and I can’t undo all the black and white work, so I need to redo a bunch of the color ones.

Back to Milly, though. She said she wasn’t feeling great and spent the end of Saturday and most of Sunday in her room listening to her iPad and reading. I couldn’t complain too much about that, but I feel like, as both her mom and stepmom said, she might be turning into a teenager who wants to just sit in their room. Does my little girl really have to go ahead and grow up already? I could write it off as her not feeling well, but she spent the last few days of the end of the summer doing the same thing, which I thought might just be an end-of-summer malaise. I guess it’s just a full-on phase.

That’s a nice segue into news of the day. I took Milly to school this morning. Tristen and I were a little worried about how the boys would do, but the best they acted all morning was from the time they woke up through their late morning feeding.

Milly did a great job of getting everything ready. Tristen was ready to get up to help feed the boys, but last night was one of them where they woke up. Phoenix woke up at 3:14, or I woke up and heard a faint noise from him anyway. I gave him his paci and he went back to sleep, but he was up again half an hour later. I changed his diaper and rocked him, but he woke up again not long after. Tristen woke up that time and took a turn, but both boys were awake so we gave them three or four ounces of formula. It was after 4:00 by then, so I’m sure that carried over into how good they were this morning.

That reminds be, I’ve been awake since 3:14. I might have dozed off for a bit cuddling up with Tristen (she said she felt me twitch a few times, which is usually a good indicator that I’m near sleep, if not already there), but it wasn’t much. I’m surprised how awake I currently am.

Anyway, Milly talked about things other than Minecraft on the way to school and the boys made nary a peep during that and our run to Costco to fill up on gas. They stayed quiet all the way home and were very happy to just play with stuff on their mat on the floor for a good stretch of time.

Things changed during the 11:00 feeding though. I don’t know if it was because I used the last of the breast milk, which they haven’t had in two months, or if it was because I put a faster flow nipple on the bottles, but they were not very pleased with anything. Phoenix in particular started crying, even when I put the bottle back in his mouth. 

They were fine afterwards and they enjoyed eating banana pudding (really just banana baby food, but it looked like banana pudding) an hour later. The following nap time was arduous, though. Fawkes wanted to sleep in our room, so I let him, but then Magic, our cat, who had been napping in our bed too, woke him up. It took me a while, but I finally got Fawkes to go back to sleep for a little while. Then he woke up again and I brought him out, but then he was fussy and acted tired again, so back down he went again. He cried for a while, but I let him cry it out and he eventually fell back asleep. But then he woke up again a while later, and it was near time to feed them both again, so he got to hang out for a little while before I went to get Phoenix up.

It wasn’t the hardest day, and we did have a good bit of fun laughing and playing, but it was a little draining.

Tristen got home and took care of the boys, giving me some time to really focus on work. We fed them I showered them, we put them to bed, then I went to pick up Milly from Amanda’s. School’s out for the rest of the week and most businesses are closed from Wednesday on. Milly will be going back with Amanda, possibly tomorrow, though things are a little up in the air pending more accurate information.

Why so many closings, you may ask (if you’re reading this in the future, since most people reading this at the time it’s being written will know), and information about what? Hurricane Florence is the answer. Back to that in a sec.

Milly and I stopped by Costco, not to get bread and water, which I figured was all out anyway, but to get some cat food an baby formula (just to go ahead and have some extra in case we need it). Before we even got past the TVs we were accosted by a very energetic and talkative lady who wanted to pick my brain about the best way to keep water out of her first-floor downtown apartment, besides using sandbags or stuffing towels under her door. I didn’t really have any other ideas and tried to keep walking and told her we had things to get, but she kept talking to us. I’m pretty sure she was on something.

Milly wanted to snuggle, so we watched a little bit of American Ninja Warrior just because it was on. Tristen cleaned bottles and went ahead on to bed. I tucked Milly in, but then she got up complaining of nausea and dizziness. I gave her something for her stomach and some pretzels then tucked her in again.

I went to talk to Tristen for a minute after putting Milly down and we both got FaceTime calls from our niece, Addy. I texted Andra and asked if Addy was trying to call because she was worried about us. “100% yes” was her answer. We chatted for a bit.

So, Hurricane Flo. It’s the big news today. It’s a Category 4 right now and I read something a bit ago about how some of the gusts have it nearly pushing Category 5, though I don’t think that’s sustained. Projections had it coming in right around Wilmington. The last Category 4 hurricane to hit near the North Carolina was Hazel in 1954. That one was so bad they retired her jersey.

I did see a projection that puts Florence’s landfall closer to Emerald Isle, which sucks for them, of course, but would be great for us here in the Port City. Well, not great, but better than a direct hit.

Everybody is urging us to get out of town. The difficulty of it for is is that the Triangle, which would be our first option, is expected to get a ton of rain, too, which might make it difficult for us to get back. Gastonia and Charlotte are options for us, too, but that’s about a four-hour drive with babies, probably more with evacuation and return traffic. They make more sense, especially if Flo keeps tracking east, but there’s no knowing whether we’d be able to get back home or if roads or highways might be flooded.

Tristen’s whole family is going to be staying. I mean, Torrie’s 38 weeks pregnant and there’s a generator at Laura and Craig’s, which is where everybody would go. I told Tristen though that if it stays a Category 4 and comes anywhere near us, we’re leaving.

She has to work tomorrow anyway, so we’ll see what projections are like throughout the day and decide from there. But literally everyone who has expressed an opinion to me is urging me to get my family out of town. One might think there is some wisdom to that