Tunnel

I used to go see a band called Tunnel. Now we build them in the play room for babies to crawl through....

Oh and here is a jolly jumper video!

An Epiphany

I wrote this blog post a few months back about how I was doing exactly what everyone said I would do: I was starting to forget the early days. I just figured out whats happening. Its not forgetting. Its just remembering the early days while imposing the personalities of the people you have now met on the little creatures that you were holding back then. It makes the memory sweeter. But different. Because you aren't remembering properly - at the time, you are caring for this little creature who has never smiled at you, who just cries, eats, sleeps and poops. But now you have this little baby, full of personality and awesomeness.

When I try to remember Josie or Alex teeny tiny sleeping in my arms, its hard not to blend it with the personality of this person who you now know and have met!

Anyway, some sleep deprived deep thoughts for a Sunday morning. Also, note: no sleep deprivation because of the girls, this is all self imposed! I can not, for the life of me, figure out why I am not sleeping well (or at all, some nights) in the new house.

33 Weeks!

Alex has learned to wave "bye bye" and is hitting pieces of wood toys together to make a clacking noise. she is also putting her arms in the air when she wants a pick up. But the thing that really made me squeal with joy - she learned to clap!! Wow little girl, way to master those skills!

I am in a bunch of these - no energy to crop or re-do them - see below

Josie is army crawling everywhere and is pulling herself up to standing on everything. This girl wants to go places! When I leave the room - she slowly follows me down the wood hallway. She now climbs on everyone wanting to be picked up and held, we think, or she just wants to climb on people, too.

I had a miserable night of sleep. I am hoping to take a nice nap at some point today. James is going out with friends this afternoon, so I am praying for a nice long afternoon nap between 2 - 5 so I can maybe close my eyes as well. We shall see. Otherwise, it is lots of coffee for me.

Alex is extremely distracted lately - she went for the paper, the dinosaur, the texture of the chair. 

She wants to investigate everything and FORGET giving me a big smile...

A little update on us: well, it seems that we are selling everything: someone is coming by today to buy/pick up all of the laminate flooring we replaced with hardwood, several people are coming by to buy/pick up baby items we are no longer using (I ended up spending a whole $5 to use two bumbos for 3.5 months! Those things are $60 each!! Thanks twin club!). And, most importantly, we have renters moving into the condo today. What a relief that is!

You have NO IDEA how stupid I was being to get this reaction from the girls...

What the heck are you doing, mom?

(rattling a rattle, making WHOOP noises and waving my head around)

And...its over.

Twins vs. Singleton

I hate the word singleton, I feel like it is a condescending word made up by parents of multiples to make parents of non twins feel bad. I am sure that isn't the case at all, but singleton just sounds demeaning, maybe because it sounds so much like simpleton. It just seems elitist. That said, that is basically what its called to have one baby so I will use it here.

I ran across this blog today, and it is wonderful http://www.dadsguidetotwins.com/difference-between-parenting-twins-and-just-one-child/ Its good for me to check out blogs like this every once in a while so that I remind myself that what we are doing and have done is hard, and to not feel overwhelmed because we are doing it. Does that make sense? I will try to explain better: sometimes I feel like I can't do it, or I wasn't cut out to do this. Well reminding myself that this is actually difficult and other people agree that it is difficult, is a great way for me to feel like I am not only able to do it, but I am freaking ROCKING it.

Second, it reminds me that its ok to be sad once in a while that I have to divide my attention between the girls. Sorry Josie, that's awesome that you are climbing that chair, but I have to watch Alex now because it looks like she is about to start crawling. I get very jealous of singleton parents for the attention they get to focus on their new baby.

Third, yes, yes and yes - I don't know how involved James would have been with a singleton. We will never know (or who knows, maybe?). Maybe I would have been selfish with a singleton baby and wanted to do it all, or be controlling? I tend to take over a lot of the household stuff (cleaning and laundry etc) so who knows, maybe I would have taken over the baby stuff too. But because we had twins, we each got to parent, like, 100% of the time. Especially when they were newborns. Its easier now for one of us to do the baby thing while the other does chores or runs errands or has some "me" time, but in the beginning it was almost like James and I had each had a baby - and when one of the babies was sleeping, one of us could attend to some maintenance (laundry, food etc.), but usually it was us, each with a baby in our arms and eating with one hand, and preparing for the next round of feed/change/play.

Just last night - I had Josie in the tub while James held Alex. I took Alex from James while James watched Josie, and I got Alex ready for the bath. When Alex was ready for the bath, James took Josie out of the tub, got PJs on her and made bottles while I bathed Alex, then put PJs on her, then we convened and fed them bottles and put them to bed. Teamwork!

Finally, blogs like this are a great warning for the future. I have no doubt that the girls will be little trouble makers, ahem, like their mom was, and that they will be partners in crime. I also need to remember to enjoy individual memories with each kid. Its so easy to make sure everyone is getting a fair share. But that doesn't help build individuality. I'm sure this will make more sense in the future when they have more external likes and dislikes, but for now I do appreciate having alone time with each girl when the other is napping. (Josie is an afternoon napper and Lexie likes to take her naps in the morning).

I have a blog about newborn babies I am working on, and have been for two weeks now. Very reflective month I guess!

My Morning Was Not Bad!

Well ok, there were some poopy diapers involved, and some spit ups, but also these little silly girls!!

Up to No Good!

 

 

A rare moment where they are both looking at the camera -
I am waving their pacifiers next to my head lol

 

And the next two were from last night:

Snapshots from the Week (plus a few days)