Skeletons

So a Halloween post is forthcoming, but as I was uploading my pictures from earlier today I asked myself, "How do you take outdoor pictures of babies that can't quite sit up yet? 

 First you prop them up and hope that in a close up you wont be seen. Unfortunately your photographer doesn't read your mind (or think that through apparently) and puts you in the shot.

 Then you realize that either way your hair is blocking a face. This pose is not working.

 Your husband suggests letting them sit independently-which they can't quite manage yet. You have to be quick on the shutter because...

 once he moves his hands...

 they fall down.

So we ended up with the reliable laying down shots. Of course to get good smiles we have to stand above them while gesturing and smiling wildly.

 Oh well. They are adorable little skeletons:)
Rapunzel pics to come.

Happy Half-Birthday!

I have always been into celebrating half birthdays.  Some years I even managed to convince my family that it was necessary and got them to buy me gifts:) Any excuse to celebrate right?! Yesterday we held a little party birthday party for Ruby (turned one in Sept.), Becca (birthday on the 14th), Lucy (1/2 birthday on 23rd) and Babies (1/2 birthday on 24th).  I just snuck those 1/2 birthdays in:) My generous parents gave us the Lion King on DVD to celebrate. I have been singing The Circle of Life nonstop ever since.  Anyway,  the point of this post is that my babies are SIX MONTHS OLD.  As usual I am in shock.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I adore these babies beyond reason.  I am fortunate enough to just stare and smile at them most of the day.  A lot of people tell me life will get easier after this first year, and I hope that is true because who doesn't want an easier life, but I think life with twins is pretty awesome right now.  The girls have a regular sleeping and eating schedule and play and smile the rest of the time-I'm not sure how that could be improved upon! Here are some details that only my future self will appreciate:

Schedule: The girls go to sleep at about 8 PM after an evening feeding. They usually sleep straight until 7 AM.  They rarely wake up and need their binkie back like they used to. Occasionally one baby will wake up around 5AM and look awake, so I'll wake up her sister and feed both of them a bit. At seven they usually wake up happy and just talk in the cribs until Danny or I get them up. If they had a snack at 5 then they play until I really wake up. If they didn't, then I get up and feed them immediately. They usually play after that for another hour and then take a nap around nine. I put one in her crib and one on my bed to sleep because I find they wake each other up more often during naps, they don't seem to sleep as deeply. I still swaddle them for naps too. They associate it with sleep so it helps them fall asleep more quickly. At night they go in a sleep blanket and do just fine though.

They wake up between one and two hours later, eat again then play. This is when we usually do our outing for the day/take Lucy to preschool.  The girls are great on errands, I really like taking them out and about (except maybe to Costco. My stroller is too small for their goods. I had a traumatizing experience there recently. I don't think I'll go back until the girls can sit up together in the cart.) Then we go home for an afternoon nap. So far these girls nap a lot longer than Lucy (who would take two one hour naps-seriously one hour to the minute-it was weird.) Their afternoon nap is usually an hour and a half to three hours. Awesome huh.  They eat, play and then are ready for an evening feeding (where I breastfeed them then supplement to get them completely full). This last feeding is fun because Danny helps me supplement. We usually catch up with a show on the DVR, it is just fun to get the babes ready for bed together. At bedtime we get the girls in their blankets then each of us hold a baby and sing them I'm a Child of God. It is their serious eye-contact time:) If Daddy isn't there then I sing to each one separately. It is a small amount of one on one time, but they love it. Each girl will just beam at you as you sing to her. I love it too:)

Tricks: Both babies are expert rollers. Lydia especially likes to push herself up while on her tummy-she is starting to poise herself for forward motion (heaven forbid). I have fed them rice cereal maybe twice, and neither of them are very interested-although they'd love to get their little hands on our food. They are getting better at sitting up and when laying propped up they try hard to pull themselves up, but neither can sit by themselves quite yet. Both girls like to jump in the jumperoo or door jumper-although Joycie is a bit more enthusiastic about it. They both have very strong legs-when I sit down I tend to hold them upright, standing on my lap. They are just starting to really notice and smile at each other-which is fun.

Now for stats:
Joyce: 14 lbs 4 oz, 26.6 ''

I was surprised by how low both my girls weights were. They are on track for their growth-but they are only in the 25% range for weight. Skinny girls. They are on the tall side too, which makes them look extra skinny. Anyway, Joyce is an angel. She still likes to scratch her face and head while eating-and has discovered that she can scratch her sister too. I think she looks a lot like me as a baby-I love her smile.

Lydia: 13 lbs 11 oz, 26.8"

 Has a LONG tongue and she likes to stick it out. It is pretty cute. She licks everything-while pushing herself up on her play mat she will stick her tongue out and hope it comes in contact with one of the hanging toys. Pretty funny. She also has started shaking her head back and forth (like in a "no" gesture). I swear she does it to be funny. It is very cute.

Pumpkin Patch

Last week we went to the Clayton Pumpkin patch with Grandma and Grandpa L and our cousins.  Poor Elizabeth didn't have any shoes so she rode in the Bob and we held the babies because our snap n go wouldn't have made the rough terrain. It was a little wild, but we had a great time riding the train, eating incredibly good kettle corn and checking out the pumpkins.

 Here we are waiting for the train. Not the best picture, but proof that I was there.

First train ride!

 Lucy and Camille are 11 months apart and have so much fun together.  We are so happy that our cousins moved close by!

 Here they are running to go through the hay maze together again. I thought Lucy would be scared-but not going through with Camille:)

We had so much fun. I hope we get to go with Ruby and take some cute cousin pictures:)

The Plague

We are sick...again.  I swear, we have gotten more colds this summer than any winter.  Danny had a terrible cold for about two weeks and just as he was getting over it Lucy got the flu. She has had a fever for three days and has thrown up twice.  Joyce and Lydia have both had lots of eye-gunk for awhile so I knew they had something going on, but in the last couple days they have had horrible coughs. Last night Joyce started a fever and then threw up. Lucky thing Mom is the healthy one right? The bummer is that Becca and Ruby are in town and we are home sick instead of playing with them. Our goal is to get better tomorrow so Lucy can go back to school and start playing with Ruby.  Lucy's school Halloween party is Thursday and she has to be better because I would never hear the end of it. She has been looking forward to this party for two months. Anyway, just an update to tell you we're alive...barely.

Lucy lay on me for hours on Friday with a high fever.  Poor baby:(

Feeling a little better today

Home again home again

One of the few pics I have of me and both babes:)

All the kids are finally in bed, my dishwasher and my washing machine are going and the Amazing Race is playing in the background. Whew. Danny is on the way home from the airport. He has been in Utah for three days and while I wish he was coming home rejuvenated and relaxed, but he is coming home tried and sick instead.  Poor guy. Poor me too-I've been sleeping in the same room with all of my girls for the last two nights-so none of us have slept very well.  It was worth it though because we spent two wonderful days in Yosemite this weekend with Katy and my parents. They had a fun trip planned and when they heard Danny would be gone they changed plans a bit and invited me along. Isn't that kind? We had a terrific time. We drove up Saturday morning and through Yosemite and across Tioga pass (my parents favorite Sierra crossing. Isn't it cute they have a favorite mountain crossing? They love exploring together:) There was a ton of snow up there after our wet week.  We stopped at Lake Tanaya. Mom and Dad go up there every year to kayak and I've been hearing about its beauty for ages--it did not disappoint.

We tromped through the snow and took turns kayaking and watching babies. Lucy and Katy made a little snow man and there were several small snow ball fights (I was off limits because I had the camera-good excuse huh?) I also caught a couple cute pics of my babies in their winter gear:)

playing "blast off" with grandma (grandpa taught her the game though -I knew you'd want credit for it dad)

Afterwards we drove down the pass to Mono lake and went to Whoa Nellie Deli, another tradition I've heard about, and then to a cute ice cream stop.  We stayed the night at the Yosemite Lodge. The night was interesting. The babies shared a travel crib which meant I had to constantly move them around so they wouldn't kick or suck on each other.  I also jumped up every time they cried so that they wouldn't wake anyone up. They must cry and sooth themselves a lot more often then I hear at home because I was up at least once an hour. Usually it just meant putting in a binkie and they'd be back asleep but  Joyce let out some piercing screams in one instance and had a hard time falling back to sleep. I shouldn't have worried about it because everyone woke up anyway:)

In the morning my saintly mother let Lucy climb in bed with her for awhile and then got the babies up when they started making noise while I slept a bit. I woke up to Lucy taking and narrating a video on mom's iphone.  I think she took about 200 pictures and at least 30 minutes of video in that hotel room.  After a leisurly morning Dad and Kate biked up to Muir Lake while Mom and I strolled the babies and Lucy up to Yosemite Falls. We had a fun little nature walk. After a walk into Yosemite Village we set off for home again.

at Yosemite Falls

Lydia was so smily and cute that e got a lot of attention on our walk. Weird to smile at strangers that are smiling at you...but are really just cooing at the baby on you.

Our car set-up. Katy usually ended up by the baby that was having a harder time...not sure how that happened!

It was such a nice getaway.  Lucy and I were still excited to get home and see Daddy though:)

First Bites

When Lucy was four months I got very excited to start feeding her solids.  I have hardly thought about it with these babies.  It mostly sounds like a lot of work. However, the girls have shown a lot of interest in our food lately. While I don't really plan on feeding them solids regularly quite yet, I decided to do a test run with some brown rice cereal and see how they liked it.

 Joyce has been very curious about our food and she was excited to try some. Her tongue thrust is still in full force however and she hardly got any cereal in her mouth, although she certainly tried.

 Lydia was anxious to get started...

...but was less interested once she got a tiny taste. She didn't hesitate to spit the rest out.

I was curious so I dared Katy to try a little cereal (curious, but not enough to try it myself!).  She was willing until I told her I mixed it with some formula. I told her to be happy I didn't mix it with breast milk! Never one to turn down a dare she took the tiniest of tastes and promptly gagged.