Time flies when you're having fun

Seems like I rarely have time to post here these days, and time to post in the evenings, when I could include photos, is even more rare.  (When I leave the office, I sometimes joke that I'm "off to my other full-time job."  Except it's more of a true statement than a joke because taking care of our boys *is* a full-time job. . . just one I share with MM and with our nanny.)

A few quick updates on what's going on in our world:

• AJ and MJ will be 7 months old on Sunday!  It's hard to believe we are more than halfway through their first year already.  So many twin moms have told us "it gets easier" after the first year; we shall see.  Although the past several months have had their challenges, it really hasn't been that bad in the main.
• The boys are at a really fun age.  They notice everything--they are particularly fascinated by our dog and by our iPhones--and they grab for anything within reach, including toys, food, the dog's fur, remote controls, etc.  Everything they grab goes in their mouths.
• MJ has been rocking back and forth on his hands and knees for a few weeks, which I am told is a step toward starting to crawl.  He rolls around everywhere, and his latest obsession is trying to tear apart, and chew, the foam tiles which make up their play area.  He gets upset if you move him away from the edges or take the tiles out of his little hands.  He can sit for a short while without support but usually opts to quickly slide to the ground so he can roll away from you.
• AJ can roll just as well as MJ but prefers to stay put most of the time, except when he rolls over to change to a more comfortable position or to get a toy that's just out of reach.  He can sit without support longer than MJ--maybe because he is about 2 lbs lighter?--and has shown less interest than MJ in moving himself any distance.  (I joke that his attitude is "Why should I learn to crawl?  If I want to go somewhere, I'll just cry until Mama picks me up and carries me there.")
• They have been eating solids for over a month.  They've had three kinds of cereal, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, avocado, banana, pears and apples.  So far, MJ has appeared to enjoy everything he's tried except carrots.  AJ is more finicky: he hated every kind of cereal (they've tried rice, oatmeal and barley) and will not eat it unless it's subtly mixed (in small quantity) with fruit.  He also was not a particular fan of carrots or peas either.  He loves sweet potatoes, pears and apples and is OK with avocado and banana.
• A little over a week ago, I had to (tearfully) breakdown and buy them some commercial baby food.  (Given the other demands on my time this month, there was just no other way to keep starting them on a new food every 4-5 days, as I simply did not have the time needed to devote to preparing the next foods they were starting.)  I haven't given up entirely on homemade baby food--I still want to make their food as much as I can, when I can find the time--but I've been really happy with the Plum Organics line of baby food.  So convenient, and the boys seem to like the taste.  They've also tried Earth's Best (which they did not seem to like quite as much) and will be trying Ella's Kitchen shortly.
• I've switched over to using cloth diapers about 80% of the time.  (MM refuses to cloth diaper on the Mondays he's with the boys or any time he's in charge of them on weekends, or it would be 100% of the time.)  Our nanny helps with the washing, etc., on the four days she's with us, and I take care of the diapers the other days.  It's working out well.  We are using mainly bumgenius and a few fuzzibunz diapers, and they are so cute!
• Lots of people ask us if having twins is "twice the work," and I read a great comment from another twin mom about this recently.  It's more like one-and-a-half times the work.  I agree with this because the hands-on care is twice the work--each baby has the same needs as any other baby--but the baby-related activities, like shopping, meal prep, laundry and the like, don't take that much more time for two than they do for one.  So that's my take.
• Life in general is very, very busy. Work is busy, the boys keep us hopping, and in the small amount of time not devoted to either work or parenting, I try to keep up with chores, shopping, friends, family and our dog. Whew!
• We are enjoying the boys tremendously and feel fortunate every day to have them. They are both really happy babies who generally sleep well and are pretty easy to take care of. (I often say that the only hard thing about them is that there's two of them. If we had either of them alone, we'd be talking all the day about what a good baby he is.)