What Is Your Baby Thinking?

Everyone,

Isn't that the most interesting question? A few months ago, I actually looked through my mail. I know, I'm not the best at getting let alone going through my mail. (E or otherwise.) But one day I did and I had a postcard from NIH. They were doing a study to see what babies were thinking. I did a language study at the University of Maryland with Butterfly a few times and I thought this would be fun.

We did our second session with them today. The first time, the boys sat and watched different pictures on a tv screen. They seemed to enjoy it and were good boys who didn't cry or hardly even move. Boy they are easy going.

This time, they put sensors on their wrists and on their backs and gave them different weighted objects that look the same. The sensors are to measure their arm movement. It was interesting to see their different personalities come out during the tests.

Pirate was so interested. The researcher would give him a toy and he would study it, eat it, study it some more. And when the researcher tried to take it away from him to do the next toy, he would hold on for dear life. When she did get the toy, he would watch it all the way back to the box and kick his legs in excitement when the toy was coming towards him. So intent the whole time. His eyes miss nothing.

Professor was a little more annoyed by the toy taking. He kept up a steady stream of talking while he had the toy (yes, even with the toy in his mouth) and kept up a steady stream of crying when the researcher took the toy away. He would reach out to her, his blue eyes tearing up, lower lip quivering when she took it and by the time she put it in the box he was full fledged crying. Eyes closed, face red, hand dramatically up on his head. But the instant he saw the toy in front of him he would stop, grab it, and talk. So funny. She had a hard time getting him to take the last one. He kept reaching for it and then looking up at her suspiciously. It was very cute.

They are so unique in their personalities. I find it so interesting to see them together and see how well they compliment each other but are almost opposites. It's interesting to see how Butterfly has an impact on their lives too with the whole toy taking away responses.

Anyone that has a baby 5-8 months old in the area can email me and I can put you in touch with the researcher at NIH. They pay you twenty dollars. Sweet!

Safire

PS- Almost didn't post today. I started this early this afternoon and am now finishing it close to 11pm. Juice has gone away on business and I'm working it solo here for a bit. I miss him because there was a huge cricket in the living room. As much as I tried to ignore it, it was being stupid and kept jumping into the wall making a small thudding noise that was awful so I had to take care of it myself. The horror!

Dearest Butterfly

Everyone,

Butterfly is now 3 and a half years old this month and I thought it would be fun to do a little update on her like I do with the boys each month. When they get older, it seems they don't change so fast but they do change. With alarming rapidity. So here is my update, in letter form.

Dearest Butterfly,

You are now 3 and a half years old. Wow, has it really been that long since you came into our lives small with a head full of dark hair? You have changed so much since that moment we first saw you. Lately, at bed time, you have been asking to hear this story. Of how the doctor put you on my belly and you were crying really loudly. How when I said "Hi Baby Girl." you looked right up at me and calmed right down. How the nurses said you were so quiet after that. How much you looked like me and how I noticed right away you had my hands and feet. At this point, you pipe up and say, "But I have Daddy's eyes!" The color may be Daddy's, honey, but the shape is all me. Or my family's. You are an interesting mix of me and Daddy. We each see things different in you.

One thing is for sure, you have your own mind. You demand to do things your own way. When we took you to vote for our new president this year, you played with two boys at the park before we went inside. Daddy said that you were trying to tell them what to do, and they were not amused to be swept up in your game. But they were. (Side story, you came back to me in line and said, "I played with kids! But they didn't say hello." "Really?" "Yes, they said something else. Um, la la or something like that." "Oh, hola." "Yeah, hola.") Your imagination is amazing. You think of the most interesting things at the most interesting times. You are never far away from a story or a game. You do get mad if someone doesn't play by your rules. And you can't be dissuaded from playing it your way.

You have a best friend, Vinny. He is 5 and I think you are taller than him. But you both have bright blond hair and play so well together. I think a lot of people think I have two sets of twins when he is with us because you guys are just so good together. You always greet each other with a huge hug, almost always falling over in your exuberance to see each other. You are also pretty popular at church. Your teacher says you are the ring leader, sweeping everyone into your world of play. It's going to be a good skill with two baby brothers.

You are a little perturbed that the brothers are starting to play with toys now. You always want to play with what they have. Having two of them just means you bounce back and forth between them and take their toys. We had to institute a rule that you offer them a new toy before you take the one they are playing with. It seems to work well when you remember to do it. You osculate between wanting to be a baby and insisting you are a big girl. We have put up the high chairs for the boys and you insist on eating breakfast in it every morning. Sometimes you want to switch between the chairs mid meal.

You are a good helper, even though you tell people you are not. It's nice to have you get more wipes for the container or give Professor his pacifier if I've got my hands full. You also want to help with inconvenient tasks, like sweeping the floor. Or cleaning the bathroom. Most days I let you help and sweep again when you take a nap. You love to clean the toilet with the little brush and are fairly good at it. You take your dishes to the sink after a meal (after asking "May I be excused?" So cute!) and you unload the clean silverware into the drawer. You love to help me make quiche and baby food.

I am just amazed at all the things you know. You know your numbers to 30, all the letters on sight and how they sound. You can recognize a few words. I don't think it will be long before you are reading. You have several books memorized. You know a lot of songs and enjoy singing in church. You know who each of your brother's are and rarely get it wrong. You know your city, your state, your country, your world. You know your area code. You also know how to push my buttons and drive me up the wall.

You are one amazing little girl. I look forward to seeing what you do with your life. Because whatever it is, it's going to be amazing.

Love,
Mommy

Safire

Day At Home

Everyone,

I declared today a stay at home day and I don't think I stepped foot outside the house. Butterfly did to wave hello to me out our front window when Juice came home. "I want to do what he did!" Other than that, we were inside. I did entertain the idea of going to the bank after the kids woke up from their afternoon nap and I even put clothes on Butterfly so we could do that. But she cried so hard about leaving. She asked me why we had to go and I said to get some things done. She then looked at me with her big brown eyes and tear streaked face and said, "Can't we get things done here?"

You bet! There's always something to do at home. Instead of running errands, we stayed home. I did a load of laundry, which made it into the dryer within an hour of being washed and was actually put away. You hear me right, there was no lingering longer in the basket.

I cleaned the front room in anticipation of friends coming over to play tomorrow. I even cleaned the black hole of our couch. It's where we dump everything when we come in and somehow, it never makes it out again. Well tonight it made it out.

I made baby food again today. I had three yellow squash on my counter for awhile and I wasn't sure what kind of squash they were. Well, I opened up the first one to find a mess of brown mushy goo. Ugh, that one had gone bad. The second one reveled they were spaghetti squash and I baked both of them for an hour. An hour to cool, one and a quarter into the blender with some water and I had 48 oz of baby food. Plus probably another 30 oz with the stuff I ran out of ice cube trays for that I will freeze tomorrow. I love making baby food.

I'm hoping to clean off my kitchen table and maybe clean my downstairs bathroom before bed tonight. I also talked to my BFF Mink for about 2 hours today. It's our bi-weekly phone call. She is about 4 weeks away from having baby girl #2 and I'm thrilled for her. Wish I was there though.

So yes, there is a lot to be done at home. Great idea Butterfly!

Safire

PS- Check out my friend Chef's blog for more links of our family pictures.

Sunday

Everyone,

Today was our big regional meeting with our church. It's called Stake Conference. Last year, we went and I was pregnant with the boys. We sat behind a family with twin boys and an older girl. We watched them a lot seeing how our life will be in the future. Juice and I applauded the guy for coming by himself (as his wife was not around). We enjoyed speculating last year how things would be when our kids were their kids age.

This year, they sat in front of us! They had another boy younger than their twins and at first Juice thought they were triplets. Nope, just 3 very blond boys. They turned around to talk to us and we struck a little friendship up.

At one point, the 12 year old twin boys in our ward walked passed and I wondered at the fact that there were 3 sets of twins, 6 boys in total, within 2 rows. Pretty fun!

Since we had weird church today, the boys did not nap at the right time and they were ready for bed at 5pm. First, we took a few pictures out in the leaves. This was a mistake as every picture Professor is reaching for leaves, and then Juice is pulling them out of his mouth. It happened one too many times and he broke down sobbing. Poor kid. This picture I have was the very first picture. Before he discovered those tasty forbidden leaves! And poor Pirate and his flood pants. The kid grew again and now nothing fits him. So he wears too short pants until his belly grows again to accommodate size 12 month stuff. He's going to be long and skinny that one.

I'm hoping to go to bed early today. It's going to be a busy week!

Safire

Saturday

Everyone,

A few days ago BOTH boys slept through the night. It was amazing. I'm not sure why I didn't blog about it before since it was the very first time that that had happened. They slept from 6pm-5am with a few squeaks and squirms but nothing they couldn't handle themselves. Around 11pm, I poked my head in to make sure they were both still living (yes, still do that) and they were right next to each other, facing each other, arms linked and tushes in the air. It was SO cute. I wanted to take a picture but I feared I would wake them up and then they wouldn't have this momentous occasion for the books. (I did not sleep through the night. I had to break out the pump around midnight and again around 3am for obvious reasons.)

I tell you this now to contrast it to my night last night. Juice and I had date night (Transformers and popcorn) and Professor woke up about 10pm to eat. Okay, we were just getting to the good part when Optimus Prime and MegaTron were fighting and I wrote the end of the movie. He ate quickly, and back into be for him. Juice has been sick so he took some nyquil and we went to be around 10:30pm. Midnight, Professor wakes up again. And as I'm feeding him and nearly falling out of the chair, Pirate starts to fuss and suck his thumb nosily. So I feed him after I'm done with Professor and get back into bed around 12:45pm. 1:15am, Butterfly wakes up crying because she is coughing so bad she can't sleep. I give her some cough medicine and soothe her back down. 3am, she wakes up again and wants more cough medicine. She gets a drink of water instead and some snuggle time. 3:30am, Professor wakes up for his food. 4:15am, just 15 minutes after I got back into my bed, Butterfly is up coughing again. I break out the vapor rub and hope that it helps her to sleep. She's out within a few minutes and I stagger back into bed. 6am rolls around and both Pirate and Professor are talking but happy. I feed them and fall back into bed. I believe around 8:30am all the kids woke up, but I was too groggy to notice the time. I got up close to 9am to get everyone and get the day started. So I got maybe 3 hours of sleep? I feel okay today but tomorrow I'm going to be hurting.

We drove to our old neighbor's house out in the country today and spent the afternoon with her. We love going to Ida's house! They have the biggest back yard and lots of animals to look at and play with. Juice, Ida, Butterfly and Ida's 2 dogs and our dog went out to play. I sat and fed the boys and watched tv. What a treat since we no longer have any tv. We had a yummy dinner of lasagna, salad, bread, and cake. I gave the boys crusts to maul while we ate and Professor ate 2 short pieces and cried when there was no more bread for him. They are so ready for food. (Soon, soon.)

Butterfly spent most of the evening playing with Ida's new dog gates. It has a little door in the gate for small animals to get through. Well, her dog and her foster dog are both small and can fit through that little door. So Butterfly made them go in and out all evening. They were so cute playing and the dogs were good sports. Soot would like a cat for Christmas because they have a few and she couldn't take her eyes off of them.

We left early in the evening because bedtime for kiddos is early. But it was good because I am exhausted and hopefully will get to bed shortly after this publishes.

Like now. Good night!

Safire

Yay Spontenaity!

Everyone,

If you take 2 hours, a beautiful day in Maryland, one cute family, one talented friend/photographer, and one favorite fields, you get this:
And these are just the tips of the ice burg my friends. Chef (as she has changed her names on her blog) is SO GOOD!!

I know you want to. Just stare at them for awhile. I will be joining you. ;)

Safire

Facebook=Time Warp

Everyone,

Apparently I am neglecting my in box. I have 2 accounts I frequent, and one has 75 messages I have yet to read and one has over 250. I hope nothing is important that I'm missing! Where has all of my email time gone? I have two theories. One is the boys are bigger and need more of my attention. Theory two is that Facebook is evil. I'm going with theory two.

I just showed Juice an old friend on Facebook and then we spent the next hour and a half looking for his old friends. And looking at family profiles. Will he get his own profile? Nooo...so I'm friends with his friends so he can hear what's going on with them. I do vaguely know these people since we all went to high school together. And one friend I remember holding hands with my BFF at the time in my basement. I think this is the boy that we broke our close friendship over. Hmm...I wonder if she has a Facebook account.

No! Must sleep! Need to leave Facebook alone! Any of you guys out there want to be my friend?

Safire

The Dairy

Everyone,

So awhile a go we joined my good friend Laura and her family at our dairy. We get milk from them every Friday. Typically we get 2 half gallons of skim, 4 half gallons of 2%, a half gallon of apple cider, and every other week a quart of buttermilk. Yes, we go through all of that in a week. (The buttermilk is for my waffles.) They also have some good butter, bread, yogurt, and meat. You can find out more HERE.

Anyway, every fall and spring they have a little festival. We had been once before and I remember it being small and nice. So I invited Laura along and we had so much fun! Read her account of it here. She did a lot more than we did because we were late getting out. And then we got stuck behind the truck painting lines on the highway. But we made it just in time for lunch!

Butterfly joined all the kids riding circles on the ride on toys they provided. Last time we went, she could have ridden around and around in that barn for hours and been happy. After lunch and some butter making, we headed off to the hay ride. In which I took a bunch of pictures for Laura of her family and Butterfly gave the guy next to me a heart attack by a perceived bouncing out of the tractor. She was fine, just kneeling down looking out a whole and the thing bounced and he thought she was going to go flying out. I figured he made a good point and made her put her feet on the ground which made for a less than enjoyable ride for her. But safer. We like being safe.

After the hay ride, we opted for some ice cream from their store and watched them milk some cows. By then, the boys were ready to go home. We barely touched on what they had to do but we decided now would be a good time to go. Still, it was great and will be going their next year!

We stopped by our old neighbor's house and hung out for a bit on our way home. They live near there and every time we are in their neighborhood (really, only for this) we stop and say hello. It was nice to visit with them!

Safire

PS- Looking through the pictures to post some, I realize that we have absolutely NO pictures of Professor the entire day. He was asleep strapped to Juice's chest tucked in his coat and never woke up until the end. It's hard being the 3rd kid.

Voting!

Everyone,

Juice came home early today and Butterfly met him at the door. "Daddy, today is a special day! We are getting a new leader." Hopefully whoever it is, will be a good one.

I voted today. Juice voted today. We all voted at the same time. We walked down to our polling station with the dog because we are all about combining outings these days. The line was out the door, around the building, and swirled around on the side walk. As we got to the end of the line, people just coming out of the door were saying a 2 hour wait. Outside for most of it. I was never so grateful for the car seats for the boys because they block the wind. I stayed in line with them and Juice took Butterfly and Soot to the elementary school play ground and let both of them run off some steam. Look, another errand combined and checked off!

As I got closer to the door, they came back and joined me. We put Soot in her little dog carrying case and left her in the bottom of the stroller and took her inside with us. Yes, we took the dog voting. No one said anything. I don't even think anyone noticed. They were too busy looking at the boys and all the whining she did was over shadowed by the crying of the boys.

Which was not much. Really, all the kids were wonderful. I bribed Butterfly with a doughnut and she was pretty good. She mostly played but when her attention span ran out, she watched a movie on my ipod. When we got home, I told her thanks for coming to vote with me and she said, "But I didn't do anything." I think she was a little put out that she couldn't vote too.

Only about an hour of wait for us, and then it was walking back home and off to get free doughnuts. The parking lot was horribly packed (since there was a free coffee place in the same parking lot) and we waited in yet another line for our free doughnut. The manager came out and asked us to move the line inside. He stopped everyone after me and locked the doors. We got the last 2 doughnuts in the entire store. They were the good kind too, full of custard with chocolate on it! My favorite! By the time I got there, they were giving out one free doughnut per customer, not per I voted sticker. So I had to buy Butterfly's. As we were sitting there eating our yummy doughnuts, another mom asked me if we had just been voting. I recognized her from the line. We chatted a little bit, and she asked if I was going to go get some coffee. No, thank you. She mentioned that the ice cream place in the same shopping center was giving away free hot chocolate. Oh really? Another mom piped up and said that the grocery store was also offering 10% off your purchase with your sticker. Sweet!

We walked over to the ice cream place in which I totally lied to Butterfly. I told her that the peach ice cream was pink. (The peach was on sale...that is one expensive ice cream place!) It was sort of pink. Just not the pink one she was pointing to. She had ice cream, I had free hot chocolate and we were both worn out.

Home for naps (which everyone did for at least half an hour today) at the same time! Yay! The boys woke up pleasant and we played for a bit and I did some email. Juice came home and we went right out to grocery shopping because 10% off could be good!

Well, turns out you had to have a coupon for the 10% off so no money saving here but at least we were able to get some grocery shopping done. We also had hot dogs at the store so that was good. All in all, a very productive, very busy day.

Juice even rearranged the furniture in our dining area to accommodate 2 high chairs. He swept the floor even. I love him. :)

Safire

Not a Steller Day

Everyone,

I had something planned out for today's post. I can't remember though because it's been one of those days. You know the days where they fates seem to be against you.

It all started with the boys waking up at 6:30am. Oh how I hate daylight savings and the havoc it wrecks on my boys perfectly groomed sleeping schedule. I knew it would happen, but still. 6:30am?! It reminded me of the year that Butterfly was up at 5am every day. Not a fun year. Anyway, they were tired, clingy and Butterfly woke up cranky. (Not unusual. That child is not a good sleeper.)

A short hour later, the boys were screaming and rubbing their eyes as only babies can do. You know, the whole hand over the whole face/nose/eye area? And since they still have colds and are very snotty, we have snot encrusted faces. I put them down for a nap (after wiping as best I could) and take a quick shower. (They also rub on me and well, let's just say it's not pretty.) Butterfly is happiest because she gets to watch her movie at this time.

Shower over, movie over, naps over and now it's play time. Everyone was playing so nicely I thought I would try and make apple bread. Turned out yummy but I could never get the center to come out clean so I hope it's done. Either way, it's very moist. As I was cleaning up, I dropped my hand mixer on the floor. It still works, but rattles. Hmm... And shakes just a little. One day I would love to have a kitchen aid mixer but that won't be in this house.

The boys were ready for yet another nap so I got them down and Butterfly and I played go fish and animals. We also had lunch. She was still in her pjs. No big deal since it was nap time for her. And just as I get her into bed, the boys wake up. And they wake up cross. They want to be held. I changed 5 poopy diapers. They don't want to be put down. Why am I putting them down? Noooo!!!

All the screaming is punctuated with political phone calls. I can not wait until this election is over and I won't have to hear, "This is Governor Yahoist and I'm calling to tell you about option 2." for another year. Butterfly wakes up spiting mad and the boys are yet again rubbing snot all over.

I put them down for a short nap and end up having a huge battle with Butterfly about putting clothes on. See, Juice and I had a plan for tonight. We were going to go grocery shopping right after work. I was going to go pick him up (he took the bus this morning) and then we were going to go out. I was looking forward to having some time outside of the house. But that time does not include Butterfly wearing her pjs.

So huge fight ensues. It wakes up the boys who are cross because they did not sleep. Butterfly had at least 5 time outs in there and I physically had to yank clothes on to her limp and flaying body. All dressed. The boys in their car seats. Shoes on. And I can't find my keys.

I tore the house inside out and upside down looking for my keys. The boys are screaming in their car seats because I was hoping a car ride would put them out. Butterfly is whining at me "Let's go now Mommy! Why aren't we goooing?" Finally I call Juice and tell him I can't find my keys so just come home on the bus. Butterfly reacts to this news by pitching yet another fit (I want to go OUT! I want to go get Daddy! He has to stay at work so we can go get him! Why can't we go NOW?!) I pull the boys out of their car seats, change one more poopy diaper, and feel so stressed out. I put Professor to bed because he can't handle being up one more second and Juice comes home.

He finds my keys in the bottom of my bag in about 10 minutes. Ugh. I fish all of the paper out of Pirate's mouth and take him up to bed too. By that time, I crashed. I think I took a two hour nap. Juice is not happy with me because he had to do the dishes, feed and take care of the 3 year old, and he got out the high chairs for me. He did a lot of work in 2 hours, but it's nothing I haven't done already today.

I'm back off to bed in hopes that tomorrow we will all be in better moods. And hopefully we'll make it out to vote, to the post office, and to the grocery store. Hopefully Butterfly will let us.

Safire

Halloween

Everyone,

Two days late, here are our Halloween pictures. We did not go out trick or treating on Halloween night because everyone was sick. We just stayed home and passed out candy to the four or so groups that came by. Everyone went to bed early.

Actually, I suppose these pictures are from the night before at our church's trunk or treat. We had so much fun! The whole parking lot was almost full and we were able to go around some with Butterfly's best friend Vinny. She has A TON of candy. We had some apple cider, talked, laughed and went home in about an hour. Poor Pirate was crying pretty much the whole night though. I thought maybe his teeth were finally coming in (gums are very swollen and I see the teeth, just nothing poking out) but I think he was just starting to get sick.

Still, it was enough trick or treating for Butterfly. The boys were pirates originally, but were bears for this night because it was cold out. Thanks Nana Great for these cute coats which doubled as cute costumes!

Butterfly was her white princess that she insisted on. Juice wore his man in black costume and got everyone saying Princess Bride quotes. I was going to wear my big blue dress because I figured I wouldn't be nursing there but I ran out of time and just threw on my cowboy hat. Good thing too because Pirate needed some food before we went home. What a great time!

Safire

Day 1 November 1

Everyone,

Tada! November is here! And we started off this month with a bang. A huge cold that is. Both the boys have had a temperature of 101 with medicine, and Butterfly had one of 100 before we went to the doctor. Yes, I took them to the doctor. 20 minutes and 40 dollars later, they have a cold. It was good to go because they were SO miserable. But I kind of suspected they had a cold. Either way, they are feeling better after a second night of no sleep (I am feeling worse...no sleep + cold germs = mommy's sick) but at least they are playing a little bit today and Butterfly is up to her normal antics.

So, a few things about this month. There were a bunch of activities this summer that I never posted on. There have been a few this fall that you have never seen. So a few times I week I plan on doing that. I also want to show off a little bit of my photos so that will probably be once a week. And other than that, we'll just see how it goes.

In sidebar news, (that thing to your left) please become a follower of my blog. Thanks. :) I have updated pictures. Aren't they GREAT? Butterfly is going through a no picture of me phase so I'm happy I caught one of her smiling.

The boys' pictures are from my good friend Laura. We decided to do a mini photo shoot of the boys to see if I could help combat the low light blur somehow. The day was perfect to try that. It was rainy and cold with not a lot of light. Laura got better pictures than I did with her cool flash.

I got 2 good ones. It's so fun to have twins! Sadly, no pictures of Butterfly with them like I kind of wanted. She is not willing to cooperate right now for pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to get one soon for our Christmas card. More on that another day. (Gotta spread out the posts somehow!)

Halloween pictures tomorrow. I just couldn't wait to put these up. See you tomorrow!

Safire

Get Ready...

Everyone,

November is days away. Join me, my Dad and my friend Laura writing 30 days straight. Any other takers?

Safire

PS- There are prizes involved!  And even though I will probably not win one, I like the chance to win one.  And I have the past 2 Novembers written down.  That's a big prize itself!  Last year, Butterfly read the book, we were sick with Ed and I was pregnant with the boys and not saying anything.  The year before, Butterfly was just turning 18 months old, still sleeping in the crib the boys are currently in, and just starting to talk in sentances.  It's really fun for me to go back and read all of these things and try and remember what it was like.  I can't wait to do it this year and get the boys' first November recorded.  :)

Busy Busy Busy

Everyone,

Sorry for the small amount of posts lately. We've been really busy and with the boys getting older, they are demanding more attention. At night, when I normally do post, we've been trying to de-clutter and clean our house. We've cleaned half of our room and the corner in front of pantry so far and thrown away 2 big garbage bags of junk (pack rats should never live in a small house) and made about 20 trips to the attic with stuff. Our goal is to de-junk by mid-November so that we can start inviting people over to play games. Juice is feeling social (weird, I know! I was shocked too) and this is the activity he chose. I told him that was fine as long as we cleaned the house really good. So here we are.

Every night we seem to have something going on.
Monday: FHE
Tuesday: Cleaning night
Wednesday: Game night/book club
Thursday: Church activity night
Friday: Date night
Saturday: Crash and Burn night
Sunday: Go to bed early night

This week along with all the above stuff, I think I have a mom's night out and Halloween to do.

No worries, though. November is coming. Remember November? The month I post every single day? Yeah, it starts Saturday! I have a lot of things that we've been doing out of the house to talk about. And a bunch of pictures to post. This year I'd like my Nablopomo to be a little more organized so I'm saving a few things to do.

Plus, I'm trying to get Christmas all set. I seem to have lost my little address book (Butterfly loves to look at it because it's small and 'just my size mommy!' Sadly, it's also just the size to be lost and I can't find it anywhere). So I'm trying to gather addresses and figuring out who wants cards this year and who doesn't. If you'd like a card, email me at safirecat [at] gmail [dot] com with your address.

I hear the boys crying so I better go.

Safire

6 Months Old!

Everyone,

Really? The boys are a whole half a year? Wow. I just can't believe that we are now closer to their first birthday than their actual birth day. I tried to take their 6 month old shots today but they turned out pretty bad. The light was low and they were moving. Laura, help! I did get a few choice ones. Like this. Maybe I should do pictures before bedtime. And then there is this one.Every time I pointed the camera at Pirate, he grabbed for it. So almost every shot of him has his blurred hands in front of his face. I did manage to get a few cute ones. And here's an update on their stats.


What cute boys we have! They are so happy. Easy going. I guess they have to be with 2 other kids in the house, one of whom is the exact same age (plus or minus 6 minutes). They are on a good sleeping schedule, which helps me actually get through the day. They also go to bed around 6pm, are up only once or twice, and are up for the day around 7:30am. They also have a cute puppy. They have just gotten interested in her and Pirate especially will laugh when she walks past. Of course, he laughs at pretty much anything so I don't know how good of an indicator that is. You decide. They have discovered toys this past month or so. Juice pulled all of our infant toys from the attic the other day and now our house is covered in them. Who knew that they would also be entertainment for the 3 year old as well? She thinks up these elaborate games with them. They are drowning in the pool and someone has to save them. They can't find their parents and are on a quest to search for them. They are in the jungle and need to get home. The boys so far just bat, grab, mash, maul their toys. You know, play with them like they are supposed to be played with.

Professor continues to be my little sweetheart. If someone else is holding him, he will lean in my direction. Not lunge, just lean slow and steady. If he is unhappy and sees me not holding him, he flings back his head and arms and shuts his eyes and cries red faced. This instantly stops as soon as I pick him up and he almost always wants to eat at that time. He is a comfort nurser. He is just starting to be wary of strangers. He recognizes Juice and gives him huge smiles when he comes home from work. On Friday the 17th (day before they were 6 months old), he weighed 15 lbs, 1.5 oz and was 26.5 inches long. His head was 17 inches. This puts him solidly in the 50th percentile for height and weight. He gained exactly 2 lbs which I find interesting. They got 4 shots plus a oral vaccine on Friday. Poor kids. He also has one tooth (the bottom left) all the way through and the bottom right one just barely coming up. He still does not sit up on his own, but has been on his elbows and knees a lot. I have found him on his hands and knees a handful of times. He tries to move his legs when he is up and ends up belly flopping. He rolls like a mad man and prefers to be on his belly. He is still the loud one and chats on long car rides. Or any car rides for that matter. He loves his binkie. You can tell he is smiling because of his really really cute dimples that appear around his binkie. And you can tell he's really happy when he smiles so big his binkie falls out of his mouth. He still wakes up at night to eat (Pirate does not) but I don't mind it too much. I feel like it's our little special alone time and he is just so sweet.

Pirate laughs. He laughs when you pick him up. He laughs when you change his diaper. He laughed at Juice when he shaved his goatee down to a mustache for the Ren Faire. (Juice says to be concise Pirate did a double take and then BELLY laughed when saw that Juice had shaved.) He laughs when you take him out of the car in his car seat. He has this enormous Muppet smile to go along with the laughing. He also opens his eyes really big when he sees something that interests him. His focus and concentration are amazing! He is not easily distracted when he decides he wants something.


On the 17th, he was 15 lbs, 15 oz. Up exactly 2 lbs from last check up. Guess they are getting the same amount of food, huh? His head is also 17 inches around. And he is a whopping 27 and 3/4 inches long. Which means he grew almost 3 inches from his last check. The nurse measured him three times because it's a huge jump for him. (From the 25th percentile to the 80th.) Already he is growing out of the length in the 6-9 month old clothes, but the 12 month old clothes swamp him. Sounds like he got my dad's long torso and our long legs. He is long and skinny already! He doesn't have any teeth, and he really does not sit up on his own. He prefers to be on his belly doing the superman rock. He lifts arms and legs off the ground and kicks his legs to rock forward on his belly. He can push himself up straight armed and often travels backwards this way. He hates it but can't figure out how to change it. He reaches for EVERYTHING. (See above picture.) He is fascinated by food and we will be starting them both on solids soon.

Safire

Pictures....arg!

Everyone,

I think something is wrong with blogger because it will not let me load any pictures up. So I thought, hey, I'll just make myself a little slide show of my pictures! It'll be cute!

So I did. Most of the afternoon was dedicated to making this slide show in between feeding, changing, burping, dodging spit up, playing farm, cutting apples, making dinner, throwing a ball, answering the phone, trying to look at Juice's benefits for next year, dancing with babies, feeding, napping the children, and joining facebook. (Where my slide show came to a screeching halt because facebook is too addicting already. Look me up if you want to be friends.)

Anyway, I finally got the boys down for bed and dinner eaten and cleaned up so I sat down to do the slide show. I finished it, and discovered if I wanted to publish it it would cost me over 50 dollars! Sheesh...these slide show things suck you in with a free account and then don't let you do anything with it. So now instead of 12 of my most favorite photos from this past week in PA, you get 3.

Hey, be happy with 3!
Safire

PS- Professor has a tooth! No wonder he refuses to sleep on his own, hates to be put down, and has a toned down sunny disposition.

Drive Home

Everyone,

The drive home was somewhat eventful. We didn't leave until around 12:30...maybe 1pm. We enjoyed the swimming pool for a good 45 minutes and ran around the hotel room shoving things into every nook and cranny. How is it that I got all of my stuff there in 4 bags, and had to come home with 6? Stuff explodes with kids. It's weird.

Juice took my parents to the airport and drove around through Delaware (small wonder!) and I took the short way home with all of the kids. We talked about maybe switching rolls, and I would drive my parents back to the airport but then what would he do with the kids for hours at home by himself? Especially since 2 of the kids kind of need me every few hours. And I kind of need them too. Anyway, it worked out the best and Juice came home cross and tired.

I came home by way of Gettysburg. It was a beautiful fall day. Both the boys are screaming in the back and Butterfly is complaining that she can't hear her movie. ("They too loud! Make the movie louder!") I saw the sign for Gettysburg: 6 miles and figured I could make it there and find a nice monument to park next to and feed these boys. One mile away, Butterfly starts yelling, "I need to go potty!" Perfect. We were stopping anyway, right?

I am amazed at how long she can hold it because it took me probably half an hour to find parking. Parking that was not 6 lots out in the boonies. It was far enough away from the new visitor's center that I had to pull out my stroller and strap everyone into it and walk about 7 rows of cars up. Everyone is so excited to see the twins and frankly, I've had enough of being the show. It was fun for awhile. Now stop your "aww...twins!" and just move on.

Wow, that came out harsher than I wanted. Apparently it has been bugging me. Will rant later.

As I was waiting in the ladies room for the big stall, several people came up to me and told me they would watch my kids if I had to go. No no no. I will not let strangers watch my children!! I know they were being nice but seriously, do you think anyone would take you up on your offer? In the end, an attendant showed me where the family room is. Whoever invented this with it's baby changer, potty, chair, sink, kid friendly seats is a genius. I changed both boys (both poopy), had Butterfly potty, fed the boys and never even had to leave the room. It was awesome!

I figured since I had gone to all that trouble to get everyone out of the car, I may as well walk around some. The only path I could find was leading to the bus parking lot so we toured that and got back into the car. We then drove around Gettysburg looking for "statues" as Butterfly called them. They aren't hard to find. I took a few pictures, enjoyed the fields of black eyed susans they have there and headed home.

We got here in one piece, although Fern is a little more worse for the wear. Never give your 3 year old a can of chips and expect the back seat to resemble anything like a back seat for awhile. Thankfully, FHE tonight was clean the car so she's back to being her crumb free self. Until we ride in her again.

It took me all day to go grocery shopping and plan my week out. Looks like I've got a lot going on!

Safire

PS- Tried to upload pictures...stupid internet is too slow. Will try again tomorrow.

Pennsylvania Ren Faire

Everyone,

We had a great time (as usual) at the Pennsylvania Ren Faire. This was our second year going. There were a few things that we wanted to see from last year, and a few things that we missed last year. I still don't think we saw everything again this year. We'll try again next year!

The reason why we started going to the PA Ren Faire and not the Maryland one was that it seemed cleaner. More family friendly. The biggest reason is probably so that Juice can wear his sword. They don't allow weapons at the MD Faire. Anyway, we like it. And I'm completely bushed so this will be short.

Juice played with Butterfly's hair, and mine too. We all got dressed up in our costumes. Butterfly was Arwen and got to wear my evenstar necklace. Juice was his Dread Pirate Roberts costume. The boys were little pirates too. And I had a shirt on that said, "Who are you calling a princess?" with a skull and crossbones on it. It was pirate weekend, after all.

My Dad threw some Chinese stars, which he got to do for free because he found a star in the road and took it back to the guy. We waited in a long line at the potty and went to find ourselves some lunch. After lunch, I fed the boys and my mom took Butterfly to the potty again. She was in the stall and started to cry. She did not want to go without me. Ugh. Please someone tell me the whole can't-potty-unless-you-are-there phase will go quickly. I'm so tired of it.

I had just sat down to finish my lunch when my mom called so I had to go help Butterfly and then go finish. By this time, the boys had had it. They had not had really good naps in a few days and they were not happy little boys. We walked towards the "flying chicken", otherwise known as the hippogriff swing. Juice and Butterfly took a ride. I tried to feed the boys again and listened to them cough horribly. Guess who caught colds? Me, and them, and Butterfly. I imagine Juice will probably not be far off.

My dad and Juice fought in the the fencing ring. They pad you up really well, give you a sword and some balloons connected to you and let you whack each other until the balloons are popped. My dad won. They had so much fun and came back to us all smiles.

We then had to go to the potty AGAIN, and this time Butterfly refused to go at all. So I thought I would go. Well she was mad and didn't want me ("Daaaaddyyyyy! I want Daaaaaaddyyyyy!") and opened the door to run out while I was still indisposed. I was NOT happy with her and after I got her back in, got myself put back together I marched her right out to her daddy who she immediately didn't want. Of course. ARG!

We wandered around to look at the shops but they are hard to go into with our big stroller. By this time I had Pirate strapped to me and Professor was whining in the stroller. Butterfly's head kept falling over so she sat in Pirate's seat and fell asleep. All day long we had been doing a scavenger hunt and we didn't want her to miss getting her prize that she worked for. So Juice stood in line with her asleep in the stroller. She got a skull necklace. I fed the boys again and we decided we were done.

We spent all day at the Faire and had a great time! The queen blew the kids all a kiss and Butterfly got several trinkets. We were beat by the end of the day and came back to the hotel early for bed.

We love the Ren Faire!

Safire

Oh the Chocolate!

Everyone,

Guess where we went today? HERSHEY!! Yum yum. I bought a case of 1 lb chocolate bars. Normally I'm not a huge chocolate fan but lately (okay, ever since I couldn't have it!) I've been interested in it. Chocolate world was cool. This was my second time here but Butterfly's first. She was entranced by the little ride with the singing cows. My dad was trying hard not to puke out the side for the corniness of it. She had a great time and now our little fridge is packed with chocolate. Yum!

Butterfly also "made" a little box of kisses which she loved doing. I have pictures, but they are on my camera still.

We also stopped by my mom's old house that she lived in when she was a few months old till she was about 2. We've been here before (last year actually) and so I just sat in the car and fed boys. Mom remembers nothing of the house, except maybe a vague impression of the little alley way next to the house.

We then went back to the hotel to say hello to Juice. Welcome to PA Juice! Butterfly was so excited to see her daddy that she just wanted to stay with him. Since he was not interested in our next outing, she stayed at the hotel with him. And since she was staying, I fed the boys and left them with him too. My dad decided to take a little break too so they all stayed home and my Mom and I drove to Bird-in-Hand, PA.

This is kind of a big Amish community. It was very cool! We didn't have enough time here (a phone call about 10 minutes into the town with a screaming boy in the back ground) but we did stop at a farm and bought home made root beer and saw them driving buggies up and down the main street. That part was cool because the side of the road was rutted from all of the buggies up and down the street. I want to go back and stay in the little inn that was on the main street with chairs in the front lawn so I can sit and watch them go back and forth all day. I'm not all that interested in the Amish, but their HORSES! :)

Safire

SIghtseeing!

Everyone,

My feet are sore. My kids are knocked out. My head hurts just a little bit. I must have been sightseeing today! We were off to Philly today. What an interesting city! Our first stop was the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. We had to stop and get food for us and the boys right when we got there. Butterfly dropped most of her lunch on the ground and we were asked about 3 times about the boys.

We toured Independence Hall. Which meant that my mom listened to the lecture and my dad and I and the kids wandered around and tried to keep Butterfly out of trouble. That girl has boundless energy! We took some kind of cool pictures (still no pictures at the moment...too tired) and enjoyed the square outside some.

By the time we got to the Liberty Bell, Butterfly had had enough. She was just so busy. Maybe I had had enough. I'm not sure. In any case, my dad took some pictures of us in front of the bell and we moved on to another nursing session while Butterfly and my dad ran and ran and ran.

We then decided to walk to to Penn's Landing (where Lord Penn landed, and why Pennsylvania is named what it is) and that was probably not the best choice. It was a long walk for a look at the river. We saw New Jersey. We were also stopped by one very large, very drunk women who tried to touch my boys! I don't mind people looking at them and asking questions, but touching is a no no.

We then walked the long walk back towards our car to find dinner. Dad wanted a cheese steak but did you know that most things close at 5pm downtown? No? Neither did we. So we wandered around trying to find something. And then we were looking for anything but could not find anything.

We lost our car. We couldn't remember where we parked it. We had to ask a police woman if she knew where One Independence Hall was because that's what the building said. She didn't, but suggested we look on our parking ticket for the address. Duh...we had it! She pointed us in the right direction.

One car later, we tried to look for a cheese steak place beyond the Independence Hall area. We found Broad Street, and drove down the Avenue of the Arts in Philly. Cool to see all sorts of art things while we were on the look out for a cheese steak. No such luck. Market Street maybe? Nope. Sigh...we gave up and headed back to the hotel.

We stopped off to feed the boys about 10 minutes later and eat. They screamed when we put them back in their car seats. Maybe too much time in them? We made it back to the hotel in one piece and were in bed a little earlier today than yesterday.

Juice comes up tomorrow. Yay!

Safire

Hello, I'm A State Away

Everyone,

Tell me why I had to drive through Delaware to get to Pennsylvania? And why did it cost me about 12 dollars in tolls? Either way, here we are. I don't know what I was worried about but about 3/4th of the trip I have actually driven it before. I think I was nervous because this was the first road trip I've really done by myself and the kids. I've always had someone else over the age of 12 in the car with me.

Really, I think I was most nervous about the ez pass that was new. I got it to take care of all the tolls. I noticed after I went through the first toll, I was noticeably relaxed. Needless to say, the trip went very smooth.

The boys slept the whole way to the Philly airport, and Butterfly watched the same movie 2 times. We drove through Delaware (small wonder) and through south Philly which was a little scary. I don't know why I was afraid on 1-95 but I was. I got to the airport early and fed the boys in the cell phone lot and when my parents landed, my mom took Butterfly to the bathroom and we were off. It's nice to see my parents again!

We stopped at a mall to eat dinner and buy some straps to put the bags on the roof. My van is not terribly big and after I got ALL of the baby/preschooler (is she really old enough to be a preschooler?!) junk in the car there was no room left for anything else. We barely got my parents in and they decided it wasn't worth it to hold their luggage on their laps for an hour and a half to the hotel so off to the mall for straps and food.

Now, here we are in an awesome hotel room. It has 2 separate rooms, a living room with a pull out couch, a bathroom, and kitchen. We are on the bottom floor, right in the corner so I don't even feel like we are bothering anyone with the crying.

Every one's schedule is off. The boys were ready to sleep at 6pm as always, and I don't think we got them into bed until about 10:30. Mostly because it took us awhile to get to the hotel. And then we had to unload everything, get into pjs, wrangle Butterfly who was bouncing off the walls and people, and fight with the stupid pack and play. Seriously, who thought those things up? They are great, but a pain to put up.

Now I'm off to bed. Sight seeing tomorrow!

Safire

It's late and I'm tired.

Everyone,

Tomorrow I am crazy and driving with all the kids to Pennsylvania to meet up with my parents and have a mini-vaca with them. Every year they always come out in October and do something with us. Last year we went to Chincoteague. This year, Philadelphia. We're all about being tourists here.

Anyway, Fern the Van is packed to the gills already and I only have my stroller, the potty and the pack and play for the boys. Yeah. Why do I think I can do these things?

I'm excited to see my parents again and show off the boys and how much they've grown. And boy have they changed this week! I have pictures, but I can't find my camera cord so you'll have to do with some milestones.

Pirate: He's getting teeth! Or at least, I can see the craters where the two front teeth will be. They are sometimes sharp and sometimes not so he's into peekaboo teeth like Butterfly. Yay horray. He's really not interested in sitting up but refuses to nurse if Butterfly is in the room. She is just so interesting! He laughs all the time. Laughs when you pick him up. Change his diaper, roll him over, walk by, talk to him, smile, tickle, wave, anything. He sucks his thumb and I have to say it's one of the cutest things. I love how he hooks his pointer finger over his nose when he does it. And his eyes are so bright and wondering all the time. He gets me to just stare at things sometimes and wonder what he sees.

Professor: Help me now but this boy is up and rocking on his hands and knees. Yes, you read it right. Oh he doesn't stay up for very long. But he's definitely up. He also stands on his toes and his head and makes his body into an inverted V. And he wiggles. I put him down in the living room and come back to find him in the entry way. I see baby gates in our future. And you should see the looks of loving adoration this kid gives me. It's amazing I get anything done with the amount of time he and I spend loving on each other. Oh Pirate loves me too and loves to put his head on my shoulder and suck his thumb and play with my hair, but Professor's eyes! And his sweet dimpled smile! And his deep chested chuckle! Can't get enough lately.

Butterfly is beginning to resent the fact that I can't play with her as much. I think she is feeling a little lonely. I do try and spend 20 minutes here and there playing and reading with her, but there is only so much I can do. The babies need me so much. I know she does too. And that's why I'm feeling torn these days. It's also why I'm not sleeping great because I stay up and do all the things I put off to be with her. Like laundry or computer time or showering. Or cleaning. Right now we've been running all over to get things ready for this trip and she is not a happy camper. She is also refusing to take her nap and not going to sleep until 11pm (5 nights in a row!!) so she is one cross cookie. She is sweet though and says things like, "Only girls can use this bathroom. Boys can't. We should call Nana and tell her she can come and use this bathroom because only girls can use it." So we did. She will also tell anyone who comes up to us and asks if they are twins "These are my twin brothers, Pirate and Professor. They are babies. I'm Butterfly. I'm 3 years old and I'm NOT the helper." She also said, "Hi, I'm Butterfly. I'm 3 years old and I'm wearing a dress," to our friends who invited us over to watch some tv. He was a good sport and responded, "Hi, I'm B and I'm 37 (???) and I'm wearing pants." It was funny.

I hope the hotel has free wifi so I can blog about our amazing PA adventures. This is our last trip for awhile. I'm feeling a little relieved that we may be able to put away the suitcases for a few months.

Safire

OH! If you're interested in going to another sale, the Norther Virginia Moms of Multiples is having their huge sale on Saturday. See here for information. And if you go, look for a fisher price aquarium high chair or rainforest one in good condition with the little tray toys attached for 50 dollars of less. Pick it up for me and I'll give you 50 plus a little extra for your time. We are going to need that soon.

Boys Sleeping

Everyone,

I thought I would comment right now on the fact that I put both boys to bed awake tonight and there was no crying. There was some talking to each other, but there was no huge screams. Ahh...I love it when it goes like this. Since I blogged about it, the rest of my week will be awful but I wanted to record this so all week long I can remind myself that it did go well. Once.

They are both sleeping in the same crib right now in their own room. I tried to put them back into their bassinets 2 days ago for something and they are just huge in them! Half a crib seems to be the right size right now. Juice and I are arguing over what we are going to do with the rest of the room when the other crib is needed. Do we take down the computer desk and store it in the attic for awhile? Do we leave it up? Do we move it downstairs and move the computer desk downstairs to the attic? Do we move it into our dining room and move the time out chair another place? (probably the attic). I think either way, something has got to go into the attic. My vote is to leave the desk in there and pray we won't be in this house when they start crawling out of their cribs. Juice wants to move the rocking chair that we currently have in Butterfly's room into their room and there is no room for 2 cribs, computer desk and rocking chair. I'm all about leaving the chair in Butterfly's room but it would be nice to be in their room just for a place to sit down. I wouldn't mind taking down the desk and putting it in the attic but then what do we do with the computer that's there? And the printer? It won't fit downstairs. Something to think about.

Oh, I was talking about sleep. Let's lay out their schedule, shall we?

7:30-8am: Up for day, dressed, changed and downstairs for play
8am-9:30 or 10am: Play time with Butterfly (mostly rolling on the floor right now, some peekaboo, some patty cake)
10am: Feeding and down for nap no matter what. (Professor is pushing this earlier lately...9:30)
10-12: Nap time. Most of it's nap, some of it's nursing, some is both.
12-2: play time or errands for Mommy
2-4 or 5pm: Nap #2. Again, some nursing in the middle. Butterfly "quiet time" of either playing in her room or sleeping
4-5:30pm: Play time with Butterfly and Daddy! Yay Daddy!
5:30-6:30pm: scream through dinner making bolting food a habit for the adults in this house, be bounced at the table, given toys, little sips of water and still scream/rub eyes/look at parents like we must be crazy to keep them awake this long!
6:30pm: Get ready for bed. Pjs, new diapers, bounce on the bed a little (yay Daddy!), nurse and hold hands with Brother
7pm: Down for bed no matter what. Talk, roll, scream, cry, growl, whine, suck thumbs and binkies, etc.
7:15pm: All should be quiet on the front, Butterfly bedtime
10:30-11pm: Professor wakes up for a snack
2am: Professor wakes up for a snack and sometimes I feed Pirate too because I am uncomfortable
5am: Professor wakes up for a snack (do you see a theme?), and Pirate gets one too
7am: More eating and sleeping in bed with Mommy. Daddy gone to work, Butterfly up and dressing herself to play downstairs
7:30-8am: Morning Happy!

It's not unreasonable. I get things done while they are playing or I can push nap times around if we are going out. I do make sure that they are sleeping in their own beds for that afternoon nap. Mostly because I've gotten it to be a habit for Butterfly and she needs it. Or more importantly, I need nap time to have my one break from kids during the day. It keeps me sane.

Of course I have hiccoughs. Of course I don't always do this schedule. But it's the one I try to go by in my head.

Safire

Spoils of War

Everyone,

Back from the huge consignment sale. I got some super deals. All of this stuff only cost me 100 dollars! 2 heavy duty coats for the boys, one brown, one blue. 9 pairs of pants (oops, I meant to get 10...), 12 long sleeved long pant jumper outfits. Some with feet. 3 actual outfits. 3 long sleeved onsie shirts. 3 pairs of mittens (oops, I meant to put a pair back and never did). 3 winter hats (what is with me and odd number of things?!) but these winter hats are for next year. 2 of these hats have mittens that match them. 2 pairs of 6-9 month old soft shoes (score!!).

For Butterfly I got some nice things too although I didn't think I would. Happy accident. 2 pairs of pants. 2 shirts and a pair of holiday red polar bear pjs. These pants and shirts are for the resource center where we paint and do crafty things. This way, I won't care if they get stained. (Looking closer at the shirt, one already has paint on it. Perfect for what I need. And it was only a dollar!)

I went a little crazy in the toy section this time. Normally I don't. But I went there first because there was not a huge crush of people and got some cool things. A book for Butterfly's church bag. (My little pony look and find.) A birthday present for Butterfly's BFF Vinny. (Leap pad book thing. He's turning 5 and this will help him get into reading. It was a steal at 4 dollars!) Christmas presents include a play kitchen for Butterfly (I wasn't going to do it but it was 3 dollars and it's small and we should have some room in her room for it. Hopefully!), play food and dishes for the kitchen (2 dollars). See and stack blocks for the boys (2 dollars). And a Care Bear movie for Butterfly's stocking (4 dollars).

I got almost everything on my list. I didn't get any costumes (they were eh and people were swarming them so I didn't get a great look). I didn't get a new high chair which I may regret. (There was one that matched our old one for 40 dollars with all the toys and stuff. Kicking myself about that one a little!)

At the sale, the girl racks were all nicely spaced out. And the boy racks were so jammed together I had to lean into the clothes with my butt hanging out in the main isle to get to them. I'm sure there were some great deals that I missed in the back. I think they may need to move to a bigger venue next year because this one was to the gills JAMMED with baby stuff. I love going to this sale though because I get all of their clothes for a really good price. I can then afford to buy other things a little nicer. Like shoes and Sunday clothes and more toys for Christmas. I will probably volunteer at the next sale and sell some of the infant clothes that they boys never wore or only wore once. And a few odds and ends, a few toys and the like.

Now with these buys, all the clothes our friends have given us and the clothes I've bought Butterfly on sale, I think we are set for winter. Well, except shoes for Butterfly (ordered today), tights, socks for the boys, and a few other odds and ends. We are set for fall! So bring on the cold weather!

Oh, before I forget. There were 2 of these huge sales today. One by my moms of multiples group, and one by just moms in the area. I went to both back to back and let me tell you, the multiples one is MUCH nicer. Small space aside. The clothes are in better shape, they offer more, and it's cheaper than the other one. So all you local gals, gear up for the end of March when they have it again. You better believe I will be there.

Safire

PS- Edited to add...here's a look at the sale the night before. Tons of stuff!

I'm So Totally There

Everyone,

It's that time of year again. The time where I wonder if Butterfly's shorts can get any shorter. And I realize that all she has that fits her are sandals and it's cold today! And do we have a jacket for her? Where? Does it still fit? This year I've added new thoughts to my clothes list. Mainly, all I have for these boys are summer clothes! I have no winter clothes! I have no socks that fit them! Arg!

Then I am saved. Saved because tomorrow is my moms of multiples mom's group semi annual consignment sale. (Say that 5 times fast.) I am stoked because last sale I was still pregnant and was able to buy a bunch of big stuff for the boys for about 80 dollars. That I apparently didn't blog about like I thought I did. But I did just go back and read all about the boys pregnancy. I talked about it a lot, huh?

Anyway, tomorrow morning bright and early I will be at the sale, enjoying the spoils of other people's twins. Now, if only I could find some kind of pirate thing for BOTH boys there...

Safire

So this is what life with twins and no help is like.

Everyone,

Lately I feel like I have been drowning a little. Okay, a lot. I move from project to project to kid to kid to kid to dog to project. Nothing seems to be getting done. Or I feel like I'm actually making headway to be interrupted by screaming babies (Professor you loud baby you!) or whining (both Pirate and Butterfly are excellent at this) or some sort of catastrophe. Like yesterday. Butterfly came upstairs where I was nursing babies and sheepishly told me she drew on the couch. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time but when I saw the damage, I was livid. It's about 20 long blue streaks down one of the arm rests. I thought maybe she saw she drew on the couch and stopped and came and told me. Or maybe she drew on the covers we have on the cushions and that would be no big deal because we can wash those. This, I have no idea where to even begin getting out. And every time I look at it I'm angry so it has to come out. Any ideas?

I have started to let the boys cry themselves to sleep for naps and sometimes for bed and it makes my heart sad to do this. Yes I know they will be fine. Yes I know that it will probably be better for them in the long run. But my babies! Are crying! Need to go help! I also fear that this will somehow emotionally scar them.

One thing that has been going well is Christmas shopping. Yes, people, I always start this early. And while I do find it a little sad not to shop during the holiday season and enjoy the mall, etc at Christmas time, I get things done early and can enjoy a slower paced season. (Plus my parents are coming to visit in 2 weeks (from today!) and I want to send Utah's Christmas home with them.) I am great at shopping and even better at it when I can do it from the couch and not drag my 3 year old and twins to the store. Love that.

One thing that has NOT been going well is Halloween stuff. Butterfly wants to be a white princess this year. I want to buy her something like THIS and she wants something like THIS which I refuse to buy her. I am not making her a bride this early! As for the boys, I totally want to do something pirate themed or matchy and I can't decide on it at all. I'd like to get them something pirate for the renn faire we're going to in two weeks but I can't find anything less than 20 dollars for a onesie with a pirate thing on it. I could make something, but there is just no time. Then there is the thoughts of making all three of them match. Like Little Bow Peep and 2 sheep. Or the cat and the hat and thing one and thing two. Totally thinking too much into this and I should just dress the boys in black and orange and let Butterfly be a bride. At least I got their trick or treat bags ordered...looks just like Butterfly's but with their names on the back so we have no fighting over which one belongs to which kid.

I am also trying to take one area of the house once a week and give it a deep cleaning. This week is the washer and dryer area and the microwave area. I moved everything around, and that's all that's been done. Oh, I think I threw out about 5 fabric softener balls because I hadn't used them in over 2 years. But yeah, nothing like a kitchen that is a total wreck to wreck all of your cooking plans. We've had pancakes every day this week. Yum.

In any case, I have been trying to get out. Or perhaps I've been avoiding my many projects. (Like unpacking...)We went to the park and the resource center this week so I think I have been trying. Maybe I'm trying too much? Who knows.

Safire

PS- Pirate and Professor are now sleeping in their own room for naps! And hopefully, this week I will move Pirate in there full time for sleeping. I can't wait to have my room back to myself.

5 Months Old

Everyone,

The boys turned 5 months old on Thursday. I can't believe they are getting to be so big! The pregnancy and the worry and the boredom has all pretty much faded away. The boys and Butterfly fill my life up so completely there's not much room for anything else. Juice was asking me what I wanted for my birthday the other day and I couldn't think of anything that wasn't kid related. He apparently thought of something else and it should arrive in 5-10 business days. I'll let you know when it does.

Back to the boys. Remember the cute pictures I got when they were 4 months old? No? Probably because I didn't post them until a few days ago. (Distracted Mommy, what can I say.) The link is here. And I'll pause to let you go read that. I'll go feed Pirate and we'll meet back here in say, 15. Okay? Good.

Well, it is more than 2 hours later. Thank you for waiting while I had a nap too. :) Let's get on with it, shall we?

Pirate has discovered toys! He get bored easily and cries if he's left alone. He is working on mastering the grab and pull to mouth thing that all babies do. He gets it about 80% of the time. I also see the beginnings of a pincher grasp starting up. When he rolls on his belly, he is no longer content to just look around. He is pushing himself up with straight arms or scooting himself up onto his knees (no arms involved). I get the feeling it won't be long until he's mobile! He is easy to smile, and even easier to make laugh. He holds his mouth wide open and his whole face lights up when he sees me. It's so cute. He is looking more and more like Butterfly these days. I noticed just today that his eyelashes seem to have darkened and thickened so he may have gotten Jeff's super awesome lashes. He's sorry but I'm not. I love them. :) He weighs 15 lbs, 7 oz and is 25 and a half inches long by my calculations. He is still in 3-6 month old clothes but I put a long sleeve/long pant outfit on him today that was 6-9 months and it fits perfectly. He sleeps through the night (typically from about 7:30-6am) but getting him to go to sleep is a chore. I get him all settled, all asleep in his bassinet (yes, still sleeping in my room) and about 10 minutes later, he wakes up inconsolable. Juice has been in there patting and rocking back to sleep for 30 minutes or more because I won't nurse him back down. But once he's down after he cries, he's down for good.

Professor is so easy going these days. We've been calling him the velociraptor lately because he has this cry and growl together that sounds like a very angry animal. Mostly it's when he has lost his pacifier. Every time he is on the floor he flips himself on to his belly and stays there most of the time. He can roll from his back to his front and front to back any time he wants but he's been on his belly by choice. Last night I even caught him sleeping on his belly with his bottom in the air. So cute! He can get himself up on his knees very easily. He's interested in toys but they are quickly discarded for his binkie. He loves to 'talk' and babbles to whatever he's looking at if he's in a good mood. He has the sweetest smile with a distinguished dimple and a deep slow chuckle. He's hard to get to laugh but it's very cute when it happens. He is eating a little more regularly now that we are home and I think he is gaining a few ounces. He weighs 14 lbs, 7 oz on my scale and is 26 inches long. I put him in a little footed outfit today and his feet barely fit in them. He looks a little lost in the 6-9 month old clothes unless they are long. The 3-6 month old long outfits are starting to look short. He is up at least 3 times in the night to eat. He is sleeping on his belly full time and seems to be helping some. He is easy to get to sleep but still seems to need those nightly feedings. And since he is small, I let him eat.

As twins they are starting to interact with each other. They love to lay next to each other and will hold hands or try to eat each other's hands. They discovered each other's feet before their own. (Meaning they will stare or try and grab feet when they are close but are just now starting to hold their own feet.) They do smile at each other sometimes. They sleep through each other screaming. They even sleep through Butterfly screaming so I have no idea why they wake up when I say something in a whisper in the room. I am going to move them into their own room as soon as I get all of their bedding washed. Well, Pirate anyway. I think I may keep Professor with me for awhile until he stops waking up so much at night. I am excited to move some furniture around and get every situated in their own rooms.

Safire

Utah Days NO MORE

Everyone,

We are home. And I am beat. Here is a list of the flight details in bullet form.

• 3 checked bags, each weighing 49 lbs
  
• 3 carry on bags
• 2 carry on babies
• 1 cranky/sick preschooler (yes, she threw up again before we left!)
• 1 hungry and tired mommy (my breakfast time was spent cleaning up Butterfly)
• 1 very tired daddy (we love rock band!)
• 5.5 hours on the plane
• 4 naps taken
• 1 drink spilled (by mommy)
• 16 crackers with peanut butter eaten
• 4 cookies eaten
• 1.5 movies watched
• 10 pages of my book read
• 5 people questioned the twin status
• 3 people randomly started conversations because of the boys
• 1 screaming toddler (not mine)
• 2 adults, 2 infants, one preschooler and 6 bags to get to the car
• 1 beautiful looking van
• several dollars to spring said van
• 250 lbs of stuff to get to said van from baggage claim by ourselves
• 30 miles of driving
• 1 stuffy house
• 1 table full of mail
• 1 excited puppy
• 2 tired adults
• 3 awake children

We miss our family already.

Safire