Today . . . Much Better

Ok, so I was thinking that yesterday's post was maybe a little too honest. Oh, well. I hope no one thinks worse of me for it. I just wanted to say that to Kate's defense she has been a wonderful sleeper today going down for both her naps like a champ. Ahh, the light at the end of the tunnel . . . What? That doesn't happen until they're 3? Or is it 18? Sigh . . . Here are some happier (mostly) pics

My sister Jeny gave James a couple bags of balls. We put them in the pack-n-play to create a ball pit for him--which he LOVES. (Great idea for anyone with kids and a pack-n-play. BTW) I left the room for a minute and when I came back James had "shared" his balls with Clara. It was really sweet.

I had to get a picture of Kate finally falling asleep yesterday after 2 hours of screaming and refusing to take her nap. See yesterday's post for more details of my delightful day.

Here's Clara with her first bites of solid foods. She LOVES solids.

And you can tell what Kate thinks of solids by the look on her face. Not such a fan.

Ok, I really got online to find a recipe for dinner, so I'll stop being ADD now and get to work. Have a great evening!

My terrible, horrible, very bad, no good day.

Well, my darling daughter Kate decided that for 3 days she was not going to sleep. This upset her very much and me even more. The few times I did get her to sleep during the day it would last about 10 minutes and she'd be up again. During the night she would not sleep unless she was latched on to me. Fine until her sister wants to eat. Two days in row both girls started screaming 20 minutes before Justin had to get up at 3:45 in the morning. He was pretty upset about that one. Finally, at one point yesterday afternoon, when both girls were screaming, I lost it. I'm not proud to admit it, but in the interest of realism, I must say I totally lost it. The exercise bike got beaten by a boppy pillow. It was an ugly crime scene. The totally innocent remote control got in the middle and lost it's innards--which was very frustrating when I wanted to use it a few minutes later and had to go scavenging under the couch to find the batteries. Alas, a much chagrined me ran away to my sister's house later on that night. She dosed me up with lots of her secret recipe fudge and today was much better. The doctor wasn't sure what was wrong with Kate--she broke out in a rash today on top of all things. We think it was a bad reaction to the solid foods we started the girls on last weekend. But, life moves on. Here's a little clip of the sweetheart jumping on her jumperoo as I type.

Some random pics of Mr. Destructo

Well, the past week has been very busy . . . First the holidays with family . . . a visit to Fort Vancouver and the airport museum . . . A trip to the coast to see the maritime museum in Astoria . . . And a round of strep throat and colds and goopy eyes (clogged tear ducts)! So, now that things are settling down and I have gotten to know our local pharmacist very well. It was awesome to see my brother William and Sister-in-law Carrie and their kids. Sorry to send them home with strep thoat. :(

I keep having little thoughts about what to blog about next--James dumping his pee in the bathtub, Kate and Clara fighting over whose hands are whose, James playing baby all day--even asking to have his nose cleaned out with the bulb syringe like his sisters. "Um, James, did you notice they're both crying after I do that?" . . . but the time passes so fast I forget by the time I sit down each night. So, here are some random pics I had on my camera. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Oh, we had 6 month check ups--both girls are 13 lbs. 9 oz. & 24" long. Doing great.

The girls are getting bigger each day so we decided it was time to get out the Jumperoo for them. HA! Doesn't look like they'll get a chance to try it out any time soon . . .

The keyboard is my birthday present from Justin. With all the free time I have . . . . I decided I want to learn to play the piano. I thought it was best to start with a small keyboard, not a big, expensive piano. (Just in case this goes the direction of my great plan to learn knitting--I got as far as one bootie. I need 4.)

Ok, so this is totally a life lesson. How many gum balls do you have to eat to figure out that you don't like them? Apparently about 7. Then again, it usually takes me about 7 bites of yucky store bought birthday cake to figure out--Nope I still don't like it. Take care everyone! Have a great week.

We're all unique

I'll try to get this post out fast before my son ceases to placated by poo-nanda. That's Kung Fu Panda to the rest of us!

So, one of the fun things about having twins is getting to see what habits and developmental stages are individualistic and which are steps all babies go through. The thing that prompted this post was Kate's unique sleeping position:

Kate sleeps bent over backwards like someone has got a string tied from the back of her head pulling her down to her bum. It's sooo cute. It looks way uncomfortable to me, but I guess she must have been this way in the womb so maybe it's familiar. I always said she was my little gymnast!

Another thing that might have caused me personal stress and anxiety if I only had one child at this point is the occasional color of Kate's BM. (That's bowel movement ;P) Every once in awhile it comes out somewhere between neon and pea green. Now, if I only had one child I might stress that I had eaten something toxic that was poisoning my child. But, since Clara has no such color variations, and since nothing else seems to be the matter with Kate, I figure I just got a weirdo-poop child.

It's fun to see the girls develop each in their own way. Clara is much more vocal and loves to talk, blow raspberries and laugh. The other day I caught her chatting it up with her fishy crib toy. (yes, the same crib toy lovingly donated by the Athay cousins, and previously mentioned in a another post for causing a certain amount of distress b/c James would play with it until 12 am. and not go to sleep. Somehow it mysteriously disappeared until just recently. Strange. I digress.) Clara loves her fishy toy and spends long moments discussing the complexities of life with the fish through zurberts and raspberries.

Kate is much more agile and strong. Just this morning I put her inside her play gym next to Clara. When I came back a little while later she was laying outside the play gym facing the opposite direction. Not bad for a 5 month old! Wait--forget I said that. Sloooow down Kate. Nobody gets to crawl until at least 10 months around here. You can start cruising around 18 months and walking around 16 years old. Just in time for your first date. That should give me time to baby proof.

Some of the sweetest moments are when the girls comfort each other. When I tandem nurse Clara will always reach over and hold Kate's hand. They both are thumb suckers and everyone once in awhile they like to reach over and give their sister's fingers a go. Or head. Depends on what is most convenient at the time.

Guess they're following my sentiments when I say "Oh, we make it up as we go along." That's really what I feel like. Some days I feel like the biggest failure when nobody will nap or eat or stop crying or stop ripping the wall paper off the walls. I'll let you guess who is guilty of most of that. Here's a hint. He knows the time out spot on every floor of this house. Well. But other days, like today, when my girls take their naps AT THE SAME TIME and James plays nicely and sings the tiny turtle song 900 times with me I feel like I might not be wrecking my children's lives too much. Either way, we can always start a therapy fund for them, right? Oops, poo-nanda has lost it's magic. Better go before Grandpa's man cave is taken down by a 2 year old. Take care!

Too precious

The other day I couldn't for the life of me get the girls to fall asleep for their afternoon nap. So I decided to give up and just let them play. A little while later I found them like this. I guess I just didn't have the touch that day. That's what sister's are for! I love my little girls sooo much.

And everyone says he looks like his dad!

Halloween and More!

Ok, so this blog is going to be long, but hey that's what you came for right?!? So, first up, James has a new hobby. One day I had James help me "bake." So, now he comes up every so often and asks if he can "help bake." Here is a picture of James baking. I think the apron is excellent bribery material for when he's about 16 and going on his first date. :)


Ok, so I been trying to figure out why my diet is not very successful, despite being a nursing mom of twins. I have 3 theories: 1) One of you has a voodoo doll of me and is using it, 2) Aliens abduct me during the night and force feed me while I sleep, 3) I reward myself with "ice cream" parties waaaay too often. Here is a picture of one such party I had with myself after a particularly difficult night alone with two screaming girls. Ah-hem--it was 11 in the morning when I attended this party. I think I'll have to go with theory #3.

Halloween Picture #1. So, James aka. Dash never made it to Halloween. He fell asleep at 6 pm on the way to the trunk o' treat and never woke up.

Halloween #2 My wonderfully creative and endlessly energized sister Jeny (who has 6 kids of her own to get ready for Halloween) made these adorable costumes for the girls. They are Sugar & Spice shakers. You can't see the shaker caps very well from this direction. And just in case you wanted to know but didn't want to ask--Yes, they are correctly labeled. :) Sorry about the sideways pic.

Justin's father Bill came up to visit this past week. We had a great time showing him around the 'Couv. That's Vancouver to all you non-vancouverites. James loved having Grandpa around to play with and bully around. We went with Grandpa to the Pearson Airport Museum. James had a great time flying the plane and helicopter. Look out down below! Captain James is making his landing.

At James' play group last week one of the gals brought a bag of candy corn and we decoratively spread it out on the cookie sheet around the healthier snacks. Well, James found the candy corn. And just like a pirate with his booty--he wasn't sharing with anyone. See him analyze his plunder. He spent a long time making every last piece of corn fit into that cup!

James is helping Justin and Grandpa fix Auntie Ashley's car window.

Ok, so if you squint really hard and use your imagination you can see James in the window of the guard tower here at Fort Vancouver.
Here is the fam at Fort Vancouver. Thanks for checking out my blog!! BTW--sorry to those of you whose blog's I check out but don't leave comments. I most often have to do my computer browsing single handed with my left hand while nursing.

For all the scrabblers out there

This was such a pertinant piece of information I felt it was my DUTY to share it with all of you lest by chance you pass through a life half lived because you missed out. Ah-hem--I proudly present from Mental Floss Magazine:

10 Words you need to know for Scrabble!

1. Aa. And I don’t mean the acronym for Alcoholics Anonymous, either. Aa is “basaltic lava having a rough surface.”
2. Qat – a flowering plant native to East Africa and the Arabian peninsula.
3. Zax – a slater or slate mason, or the tool used to cut and punch nail holes in roofing slate.
4. Cwm – a valley, especially one created by glacial movement. Be warned: this one won’t get you many points, but it is good for using up pesky, low-score consonants taking up valuable space on your rack.
5. Xu – Vietnamese money
6. Qua – as or as being, or in the character of.
7. Suq – a market, or part of a market, in an Arab city.
8. Adz – an axe-like tool.
9. Jo – sweetheart or dear
10. Qadi – a judge in the Muslim community.

I know my life has been changed. How about yours?!?

This one is for the Grandpa's

This is a clip of James first thing in the morning. It may be sorta boring for the rest of you, but I thought the grandparents would like it. James loves being able to get out of bed himself. Until this week he could also get out of his room by himself as well. Well, we made some modifications to his door handle after finding him playing in the mom's nail polish and purse at 5 am the other day!! No major damage was done, but we're not taking any chances. Now we have lovely glow in the dark door knob safety covers all over the house. Funny thing is, I got really annoying safety covers and NO ONE can stand them. I found the cover for the door handle to Grandpa Ron's office (a current hot spot as James' discovered grandpa has candy on his desk--as well as knives and bullets and other lovely things.) on the floor in pieces the other day. Guess Grandpa Ron wasn't too fond of it. ;)

Don't say I never gave you a hand!

Here is a cute clip of the girls. They love to play in this play gym and spend a lot of time talking to the animals and toys. The big accomplishment this week is Kate rolled from front to back AND from back to front! Clara already mastered front to back and it looks like she's pretty content to stay there for now.

And we've made a big move forward in mom's sanity. The girls have started taking regular naps twice a day at the same time!! I discovered that the swings are invaluable in getting the girls to go to sleep and stay asleep. So, now they take most of their naps there while James and I stay upstairs and far away while they sleep. They also are getting better at going to bed at a decent hour each night. So, momma is getting happier and life is moving along. ah-hhh

4 month check ups

Everybody say hi to the camera!
Excuse me mom, this is a PRIVATE conversation!
James is saying Hi to his sisters!

Well, since I know you're all just waiting on pins and needles to hear more about my kids--here's the girls' 4 month check up update. Clara weighed in at 11 lbs. 15 oz. and 23". That's about the 15% for both height and weight UNADJUSTED! WEE-EE we're on the charts! Age adjusted it's around the 50%. Kate is about 11 lbs. 8 oz. and 22 1/4"--about 10% unadjusted and 35% adjusted. Both their heads are about the 50% unadjusted . . . so you can guess what they are adjusted! The girls are doing great and really catching up to their age groups.

Family Home Evening

Ok, so I thought it was kinda funny that we had to teach Jame show to play with finger paints! Aren't little boys born just knowing how to get messy? At first James would just dab one finger in the paint and then immediently wipe it off on one of our shirts. By the end we were able to get him to put his whole hand in. Way to cut loose James!! j/k :) By the way the lesson was on developing our talents! Be glad I don't have a video of the opening song.

Clara & Kate chat it up!

Here is a video clip of the girls talking to each other. I missed the best of it when I went running for our camera, but you get the idea. I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship! (I'm not sure why it's tinted orange--guess I'll have to mess around with the settings on my camera when I get a chance. Until then, I guess we'll all be oompa-loompa's! sp?) The girls are getting big and learning all sorts of new things. Clara rolled over for the first time just after this video was taken--but I missed getting it on camera. :( I'm not sure if she meant to roll or if it was accidental--but hey, we're counting it! We have our 4 month check up's this week. Four months!! hOly Cow! I just got out their baby books for the first time last night--oops! I have no idea what their weight or sleeping habits were last month, or the month before that for that matter. In fact everything from the last four months is pretty much a blur. Guess I'll just have to make it up--you don't tell, I won't tell. ;) My favorite part of the baby book is where it asks what "new foods" the kid had for that month--including months 1, 2, 3, . . . Um, I'm pretty sure we shouldn't be feeding our kids any new foods during those months. Think I should tell the baby book publishers? Hee-hee. Well, guess I better get back to being a mom!

OH--quick life lesson I'll pass along--NEVER leave your car door open during a rain storm! Somehow (I'm still claiming innocence) the sliding door to our minivan got opened or left open overnight the other day. Neighborhood cats took refuge in it. YUCK! I'm allergic so you can guess how happy I was about this. I just finished steam cleaning every inch of the carpeting and seats.

That's Not How I Left You!

So the other morning I came into the bedroom after my morning workout and found Kate had turned herself around in the crib. It was too cute. She just looked up at me like, "What? What's the big deal?" :) My little girls are growing up!

Battle of the baby gear

As you can see from these photos, James is already the big brother thug and taking his sisters' toys!

James snakes his way into his sisters' play gym

Indignation of the Guilty

For Debbie

This post is dedicated to Debbie. Since she didn't believe that James actually wants to hold his sisters, here is a picture of him smiling and hugging Kate. He did this all on his own--no mommy prompts whatsoever! :) Eh-hem, James--Wake up your sister and you're in trouble little mister!

No good title for this

Well, we held on to the crib for as long as we could. When James started getting his knee stuck inbetween the rungs we knew it was time to move on to the toddler bed. OH, how I miss those days. Now James' daily "nap" is destruction time. Any good ideas for getting the boy to actually take a nap? He IS tired and falls asleep around 6:30 only to wake up at 9. Yuck. Any good advice will be greatly appreciated. Heck, we'll even take bad advice. ;) Tylenol anyone?

Labor day weekend

So, I'm a little slow, but here are a few pictures from our COLD jaunt to the cabin labor day weekend. We came home early because of the weather, but we did get some huckleberry picking in before we left. Ok, Justin and James got huckleberry picking in, I sat in the car reading Twilight (again) with the babies. :)

Cuddles

One of James' favorite new games is playing "baby". We wrap him up and give him a pacifier sp? and cuddle him like a baby. On this day he was playing baby by laying down in the girls' boppy. We decided to let him cuddle his "own" baby. It was too cute. He kept his "I'm a tough boy" poker face on, but we weren't deceived. :)

Can anyone tell me why blogspot turns my photos some of the time??!! Grrr--well you get the idea.

Carrying the girls kangaroo style!

I've been experimenting with ways to carry the girls around while I try to get stuff done. This is me with my homemade Moby wrap. The girls absolutely love it and fall right asleep. It's not so bad while they're still under 10 pounds. :) It's just a bit warm for the summer time, so I only can use it indoors.

Clark County Fair

Hum, James I'm not sure it's a wise idea to pet vampire bunnies.

James goes for a ride on a "big eyed" cow.

Doesn't look like he's going anywhere fast!

slugger

Ok, for some reason this photo comes up sideways even though it's right otherwise. But it was too cute not to up it on the blog. Looks like Clara is getting her revenge for all the times Kate kicked her in the head while they were on the inside! I don't think she actually slugged Kate . . . But who knows! :)

Blessing day!

The girls received their blessings on Sunday July 27th. Justin did a wonderful job and the girls behaved perfectly. Grandma Sarah made the gorgeous blessing gowns. It was a beautiful day.

Trip to the cabin

James looking for the perfect skipping rock on the Lewis River

Justin, Jessica, James, and one of the girls at the Cedar Flats

While Michele (Grandma Hughes) was here we got to visit my family's cabin. We hiked Cedar flats, Lava casts, Ape Caves, & the Lewis River trail. I decided I can never go hiking with any fewer than 4 people. One person to each child and one person for the back pack! The last picture is of James with his handy-dandy dust pan. He spent hours "cleaning" the cabin with this. :)