The Everyday

There is much to catch up on and I will, promise. For now let's take a look at our typical day.

Exhibit A above:
Two adorable nakey babies playing, semi-nude because I do so much dang laundry as it is between mealtimes, drool and the occasional spit-ups.
The ever present laundry, waiting, always waiting.
The running shoes also waiting. I had good intentions yesterday, we managed to squeak in a quick mile at the track once Phil got home since our once predictable schedule has been MIA lately.
Imagine to your left dishes waiting their turn and various mail/clutter on the center island. I try, I really do.



The front room currently houses a craft table burgeoning with loads of felt and a sundry of sewing supplies waiting to be crafted into two, yes, TWO!, separate quiet books. Because I am crazy. Hopefully they will be done before the kids' second birthday. I kid. Maybe. I have almost 4 pages done for Max's book.



One delightfully delicious boy who grows chubbier by the day. I love it.



One chatty little girl full of spunk and fire. She's our pip, as in pipsqueak in reference to her size, just barely 12 pounds now.





Please note the rubberband wrists, double chin, luscious thighs and roly poly arms with dimpled elbows.



Further evidence of messiness and our new dress code for meals. She puts her thumb in her mouth after almost every bite. Love her.

Neglected

Oh this poor journal. I want to write, I do. I think of it often and mentally start compiling my thoughts and the days (weeks) events and then naptime abruptly ends or the dishes, laundry, email, bills, exercise, etc. anything/everything else calls my name and another day goes unrecorded.

I was remarking to my friend Rebecca yesterday on our walk that I used to blog effortlessly,words flowed and this was before I had children to write about. She said I need to write for me, no one else. She is right and I know that and this blog has already turned into an ode to Max & Kate, as it should, they are our life right now and that alone is deserving of its own record.

I am going to try to do better, try to record the everyday, the monotony routine and albeit mundane season of motherhood that I am in right now. I say that with happiness though, I like routine, I like the mundane and seemingly endless loop of life that we are in right now. I am fine staying home day in and day out with my littles, catering to naps and nursing, forgoing errands and outings. I am soaking in the little triumphs and failures of each day and ever reminding myself that this time passes too quickly so I need to live it up, enjoy it!

So I will. And I will record it.

Six Months

Indulge me...

Dear Max & Kate,

Where does time go? It seems just yesterday that we were waiting to bring you home. You were impossibly small and fragile.




You came home at 4 pounds 5 ounces Max,



and Kate 3 pounds 14 ounces. What were they thinking sending you home so small? But you were strong and we haven't looked back.



I won't lie, it's been hard. We had a lot to learn and we are still learning. We were tired. I still am.



Max, you used to have hair.



Now you have chubs. Glorious chubs, big baby blues and the sweetest disposition. You are delightful, joyful and calm. You love to eat, you love to cuddle and melt my heart each and every time you lay your head on my shoulder or bury your face in my neck when you are tired. I never tire of your softness and love on you incessantly.





Kate your headbands fit now. You have grown into your big eyes and have a delicious double chin and squishy inner thighs. I love your dimples, your beautiful eyes, your happy squeals and chatter. I love how you light up when we come near to pick you up and you know just what to do to make sure you get what you need!



You are beautiful; full of spunk and life. And yes, attitude.


But most of all you are LOVED.

We are proud to be your parents, blessed to have you in our family.






Happy 6 months! We've come a long way!

Tummy Time

These were taken end of February and we have been working on tummy time. Well someone is not a fan! Max is great and ends up rolling over. Kate on the other hand...



She starts out well and then after a few minutes (if that!) screams like we are torturing her and ends up just giving up, laying her pretty head down and sucking her thumb.



As of today she is doing better, but still doesn't last longer than a 5 minutes at a time or think it is very fun. I am constantly distracting her with noisy toys and talking to her. Bless her little heart.

Sleep Update: Um, yeah. Definitely an isolated incident the whole sleeping from 7pm til 6am. The past few nights have been back to square one. Up at 10pm, 2am, and then wake up at 6am. Little stinkers. I went to them at the 2am feed and they were both on their backs and grinned so big at me, like "Hi Mom! Let's play! So good to see you!". I nursed them, burped, reswaddled and layed them down. Went to bed myself and as I am drifting off I hear little voices. Max talking as he is again on his back playing with his hands. I flip him over and he hollers at me. I ended up needing to rock him and then finally getting into bed an hour after the whole shebang started. Bless them!

And naps have been ghastly. 30-45 minute naps are the new norm. So stinky! Which means I get nothing done and have to entertain them since they don't want independent play time, just cuddle with mom time. Which is okay. This will pass. I think they are growing, so I feed them of course, and the rolling over bit is really cramping our (my) style.

I am proud that I am not freaking out like I would have in my earlier mommy days. I remind myself that this will pass, I need to enjoy the moment and them. They are still happy, good babies. And housework is over rated, right? Right. (But not when I need to prep the house for international company staying with us this weekend!)

Milestones

We have had a big week around here! Yep, we have some big kids now and they have had a taste of glorious food.

First I had to research this vast new territory of solids. Then we had to get all the gear; chairs, baby spoons and some little bowls just right for small servings. Finally we were ready for the big time. Don't they look so big? We placed Max in his chair first and he just sat there all tall and lifted his hands when I placed the tray on the chair. I gushed over him and lamented to Phil that they need to stop growing!



First food: Bananas!

Hmm, strange new texture.





She likes it!


And she knows just what to do with her spoon. Not really, everything goes to the mouth.


Another day of "nanas" and they love them. They now lean towards the spoon and open wide and are quite adept at working it in their mouths. And making a mess of course.


His chubs kill me.


The second and maybe more important milestone of the week:

Sleeping from 7pm to 6am last night! What?! I know! If only I could sleep as well as they did. I sleep with one ear open it seems and now I naturally wake and sleep really light between 1 and 3am, just waiting for them.

I tell ya, I was never so happy to see them this morning! My chest was rock hard and painful. I am not holding my breath for a repeat performance tonight but hopefully this trend continues. Our naps were stinky today though, not sure if it is related but I will do some troubleshooting and hope to have things ironed out by the end of the week. They would sleep for 30 minutes and then wake up and then be crabby pants less than an hour later. Stinkers.

They have learned how to roll over now and Max is always in a different spot. He pops his head right up when I lay him down and can stay perched up just looking around for 15-20 minutes. He inevitably rolls over and I have to go back in, turn him over and convince him to sleep. Today I had to rock him and within 5 minutes each time he would fall fast asleep. We think he now knows that is it more fun to stay up and play and he just fights it.

Kate is happy to lay down. She pops in her thumb which she now much prefers to the pacifier. Dang. I love it because she can soothe herself but then I hate it since it is going to be one mean habit to break. Oh well. Can't win 'em all and I will deal with it when the time comes.



I just love them.

Trying to get the perfect picture: A Photo Essay

For Valentines I wanted to get a cute shot of Max & Kate to send to my mom. Photographing two 5 month olds can prove problematic. They don't always look at the same time, they aren't impressed with my antics and there's a lot of slouching going on. Here is Max & Kate's take:

"Aw man, here she goes again. We just did a bunch of shots on the leather chair."


K: "Well, at least we get to be outside now, so here's a smile for ya mom!"


"A change of position but we're still not impressed."


K: "Just deadpan it Max, maybe she will give up."


K: "What! Still more?!"
M: "I have better things to do."


"Maybe if we both say something she'll get the hint."


K:"Ugh. That didn't work either."
M: "Seriously, look at her go, all that wasted energy on goofy faces, it's rather disturbing actually."


K: "Max, I am putting a stop to this! I will not take no for an answer!"


361 frames later, turns out the best shot was one of the first ones we took, best light, best skin tones, best everything. Go figure. Get used to it kids.

For the Record

February 17th, 2010
Jammies and nurse at 6:30pm.
Bottle of freezer milk at 9:30pm.
Not a peep until 2:30AM!!
Diapers and nurse until 3AM.
Wake at 6:15AM, diapers, nurse and play.
7:20AM first morning nap and out by 7:25AM.
Two happy babies and one very happy momma!

The night before this blessed event I was up every 2.5 hours to feed them and I was trashed. Seriously kids? You cannot possibly be that hungry! And I don't necessarily think they were. They would nurse actively for a few minutes and then get slower and slower as they dozed and suckled occasionally. I would try to pull away and they would then start up again. I suspect comfort nursing and that morning I told Phil I think it was time for a bit of crying it out to at least extend the feeds or even drop one.

This was a long time coming. I kept hoping and praying and adhering to a routine in hopes that they would sleep longer on their own. Every other baby seemed to be doing that and here I was feeding every 3 hours 24-7. I kept telling myself they were too little, if they were up to feed then they must need it, right? They may be 5 months old but really they are 3 months old... And on and on I would rationalize with myself and Phil when he would tell me to let them cry. I didn't think I would get to that point, it seems so sad. But enough sleep deprivation will get you there!

Happy to report that there was not one bit of crying last night. I am not naive enough to think this is the end of long nights or the beginning of bliss from here on out. But I am hoping this is the beginning of a trend and slowly easing our way to longer stretches of sleep at night for all of us.

Now they slept peacefully last night and I on the other hand was awake at 1am, 1:06am, 1:13am and so forth just waiting for them to get up since I am so used to it. Also my chest was waiting for them to get up too! Kate had one single shriek/scream at 2am and I was so happy! By the time I made it down the hall she had found her thumb and was back to sleep. Dang. I was actually disappointed and had to make myself walk away from the crib and get back in bed so I wouldn't pick them up for a dream feed. I even toyed with the idea of pumping since I am so paranoid about my supply. But I didn't and not a half hour later Max was fussing and I was happy with them sleeping from 7pm to 2:30am. Their dream feed bottle I am still counting as sleep since they were sleeping really and we were just about to turn in so it was good timing.

Max is now a member of the thumb club. He finds it and calms right down. We have ditched the boppys for about 2 weeks now. They sleep on their tummies, we don't rock to drowsy anymore, just swaddle, kisses and down to bed. They really don't protest, minor fussing as they get settled but they are asleep in under 5 minutes. Heaven! They were getting too big for me to rock together and it was taking longer for them to settle. I never thought the day would come when I could just put my kids in bed awake and walk away.



Max is the more mobile one, scooting his little self all around. I place them pretty far apart and they usually end up like this, bunched up together. I don't necessarily think it is a twin thing, just that Kate is his road block. Cute nonetheless.