Food for the Children

Everyone,

They boys are seeming to eat solid food with a little more gusto than they have been in the past. Pirate is a really good eater. He opens his mouth, eats whatever I give him, and is generally happy. The only thing he doesn't do is pick up his cheerios or whatever finger food I have for him on his tray. He tries for a few times, misses his mouth every time, and then just stops trying all together.

Professor is on the other end of the spectrum. He loves his finger food. He generally grabs whole handfuls of the stuff and shoves it in his mouth as fast as he can get it. He eats every single Cheerio on his tray every single time. But he has decided spoon feeding is for babies. He will only agree to it if it's something he really likes. Otherwise he swats the spoon, flinging food everywhere. I really can't stand that. I think I end up saying no to him more often than I would like during meals. This could be why he has learned to shake his head 'no' and does it with gusto in his high chair.

Foods they have been eating lately:

Sweet potatoes, baked and then cut up
Avocados
Small pieces of meat
Apples
Pears
Cheerios
Gerber Puffs
Bananas
Pumpkin
Bread
Cheese
Yogurt
White Potatoes
Peas
Carrots
Beans
Noodles
Mac and Cheese
Waffles
Pancakes

Their favorites are sweet potatoes and avocados and beans. I know every time I give them these, they will eat really really well. They tolerate things like pumpkin and white potatoes. But I have a bunch of frozen baby food so they'll eventually have to go through it. I have found that putting chunks into the purees I have will get them to eat more, as they are ready to chew their food and not just gum it down.

They are eating 3 meals a day. Mostly for breakfast I give them bananas covered in oatmeal or whatever they had the night before and didn't finish. Lunch is often bread with mac and cheese and peas and carrots. I know, they probably shouldn't have mac and cheese yet but it's so easy and they love it. I try to make lunch all finger foods so Pirate can get some practice and then I can also eat.

Dinner is whatever is closest in the freezer. I almost always put either barley or oatmeal in it, along with frozen veggie chunks or canned fruit pieces. They sometimes have what we are having too. Pirate is especially good at begging off my plate and loves to eat off of my fork.

They are still nursing 7-8 times a day. We've also been giving them sips of water from a sippy cup and they love that. I don't remember this with Butterfly, but I feel like I am feeding them all day long. If I'm not nursing them, I'm getting them in and out of their high chair and cleaning them up. Or I am making them (and Butterfly) something to eat. It's exhausting!

Safire

Port Discovery!

Everyone,

Who has a free Thursday afternoon in March? Want to go to Port Discovery with us? It's half price on Thursdays. We had so much fun today with Karen and baby Evie! Well, I think Butterfly had more fun at the children's museum than we did. She pumped gas, climbed a huge rope ladder, rode on a wooden horse, roped cattle, dressed up, played soccer, and wandered through a crooked house.

There was so much else to see that we didn't! There was a huge climbing thing in the middle of the museum that I couldn't take her in because of the boys. And the water room closed as we got up there. And they had a special room for tots under 4 with it's only little climbing thing and balls, etc. but that room was closed when we passed it. I would love to go back and spend more time.

Karen and Evie came from Kansas to visit her best friend from college. Karen and I "met" online about 5 years ago. I think it's 5 years anyway. We were both trying to get pregnant, along with Deanna, Jill, Amy, and a lot of other girls that I still keep in touch with. Karen and I talked a lot through out the day. At least, after I got our extra car seat in the car (after taking it out 3 times to get it to work! Curses! We spent probably 45 minutes in the loading zone at the airport trying to get that car seat to work).

We took over 2 tables at the fast food place to have lunch, and then off to Port Discovery! And Baltimore! Where I always get lost! Today was no exception. Except this time I didn't get lost going into Baltimore, I got lost going out. And then we got lost going to the mall to meet up with Deanna. Juice was helpful enough to google map us back on track and we decided to eat at the pizza place.

Wow, we are brave women to go to a sit down restaurant with 4 infants and a 3 year old. My boys were ravenous and ate twice as much food as they normally do. They cried between mouthfuls so I didn't get a chance to look at the menu until we were about ready to order. Luckily, Butterfly was willing to color and was a complete angel today. I wish she was like this every day. But I suppose bad days make me realize how good she can be.

I was also really impressed with Karen and Evie! They had been up since 4am their time to take their flight and were both still happy and willing to be dragged around by us. And Deanna's little boy is a doll! I had fun meeting him too.

Come back soon Karen!

Safire

Treading Water

Everyone,

I think I go in cycles of being all okay with everything, and then I can't seem to get ANYTHING done. I feel like my days are so full but I also feel like I never do anything. Like today. I didn't get a shower until 5pm.

But looking back at the day I don't have anything to show for my time. It's not like I was busy baking or scrapbooking or anything. I did take a nap this morning while the boys were napping and Butterfly was watching her show. I don't think I've napped in months. I could use another one.

I did exersise with my friend this afternoon while the boys took their second nap and Butterfly had quiet time in her room. And when the kids are all up, I spend time playing with them and feeding them (a huge chore lately, another post for another time) and cleaning them.

Needless to say I did NOT get all the birthday stuff ironed out and will have to work on it some more in a few days. I also did NOT get any laundry done, or even planned for my good friend Karen's visit tomorrow. Planned as in printed out directions and packed the diaper bag. I have some time in the morning that I will be able to do that but still. I wanted at least a list of things to gather up in the morning done tonight. (Yes, I am one of those people who makes lists of things I should do.)

I think we're going to have a great time tomorrow. I am either very brave or very foolish but Karen is coming to spend the day with me in Baltimore and then we'll meet up with another good friend Deanna in Annapolis later. This is the first time I am taking all 3 kids out doing something touristy by myself. Karen will be there so she can help me keep an eye on Butterfly but she also has a baby of her own so we shall see how it goes. We may end up spending a lot of time in the car because everyone will be contained there.

Wish me luck!

Safire

Busy Day, and Yet...

Everyone,

I've had a really busy day and yet nothing seemed to get done. At least, nothing really on my to do list. Well, okay I did actually get one thing done but that was all. I heard of a pretty cool diaper deal at the bulls eye store so I thought I'd head on over there and get diapers (always needed) and get my $10 gift card bonus. I did that this morning as soon as the boys were up from their first nap.

It took us at least 45 minutes to get out the door. I have no idea why. But from the time I harassed Butterfly into leaving and the time I actually drove out of my parking lot, it was 45 minutes. No wonder she dawdles when we leave. Or perhaps the dawdling is why it takes us 45 minutes to get out. Either way, we got out.

I used the stroller in the store today because I was by myself. I think I'm out of practice. By the time I got everyone out of their car seats and into the stroller, I was ready to put them back into the car and go home. But no! I was on a mission.

The mission failed, though. They did not have size 3s, only 5s and 6s. Arg! I did get a few craft stuff I need for my church thing tomorrow and we left with a stop off at the pizza place for lunch. Yuck, something was really wrong with the dough or something but it tasted awful. I took it back and got my money back. Both the boys were rubbing their eyes while I was loading them into the car so we went back home. I was planning on trying to go to another store and see if they had the right size.

Turns out going home was the best idea. The boys napped for almost 2 and a half hours and Butterfly for almost 2 hours. Our old neighbor came by to get her puppy, and stayed and chatted with me. Then Juice showed up (unexpectedly) from his trade show downtown. He came to have lunch and go back to work. Then our other neighbor came over and we all sat and chatted for almost an hour. It was fun and a really great adult conversation break to my week!

By the time everyone left, the kids all woke up and I spent the rest of the evening trying to make dinner and getting Professor out of minor scrapes. Like, getting stuck underneath the chairs and his hand stuck out of the doggy door.

Before I knew it, dinner was on the table and eaten, boys were in bed and the kitchen cleaned up. I left Juice with the kids and went to another store to get eggs and the diapers. Success! But now it's really late and I am beat. And I feel like I've spent my entire day looking for these diapers.

Goal for tomorrow? Look at 4 birthdays that are coming up in my family (out of 9 in the past and next few weeks) and get them all planned/bought (mostly) so I will quit worrying about them. I swear, my brain has turned off lately!

Safire

Being Mobile is Fraught with Peril

Everyone,

Pirate is learning that being mobile is not free from bumps and bruises. He is not very coordinated with his new found mobility. Today alone there have been a few significant falls. I'm going to highlight the funny, and the not so funny.

The Funny: He has a tendency to try and pull up on things by planting one hand on either side of the object and leaning forward. He is not going up as expected and falls forward faster, thereby face planting into whatever he was trying to pull up on. The trash can, Juice's leg, the couch (still not quite sure how he does this but it is hil.ar.ious.). He gets really frustrated because it happens over and over again. And I am a bad mother for laughing till I cry over it sometimes. Hey, we got to have some entertainment in our lives. Mine just happens to be him.

The Not So Funny: Every morning I shut off the stairs and let the boys explore our upstairs. Most of the time they are either spreading the books in Butterfly's room across the hall or they are in my room spreading the toys they have up there. Today, Pirate thought it would be fun to explore the bathroom. Normally I'm okay with that because mostly they just pull up on the bathtub and drum on it and talk to the toys in the bottom. Today, I heard a major thump and then the unmistakable sound of the bath toys moving. I sprinted into the bathroom to find Pirate in the tub happy as a clam. He more than likely fell in head first. This has scared me silly because the toilet is as tall as the tub and it's not inconceivable for him to go head first into the water! I have now instigated the rule that all bathrooms must be shut at all times.

He is pulling up on things but not putting all his weight on his right leg. He is normal crawling again and when he falls back into his cast crawl, he stops, puts himself on all fours, and continues. He is not as fast as Professor (yet) and likes to sit on his knees and look around.

Safire

Sunday Pictures, take 6

Everyone,

I looked out the window and what did I see?

Safire

Freebie!

Everyone,

It's been a day of freebies for us. I had heard about our favorite ice cream place giving away free cones if you wear your pajamas on Thursday when I went out with a friend there. Free ice cream! Who could pass that up?

So, our day started off with free ice cream in a waffle cone for me, Juice and Butterfly. Butterfly got the pink one (strawberry) and it was as big as her head. Seriously! She ate the whole thing too. Juice got blueberry cobbler (not vanilla! I know!) and I got raspberry truffle. Each cone would have cost around $3.50 for each. So, $10.50 saved!

Next on our list was a free burger from Arby's with this coupon. Arby's is kind of far from us. I had a coupon for something else free near Arby's so we thought we'd go there too. (And yes, we are all still in our pajamas.) 2 free burgers at Arby's, along with 2 drinks, 2 potato wedge things, and a kid's meal, later, $14.00 saved! $15.00 spent.

Off to a local computer store where I had a coupon for a free SD memory card. I needed another one for my camera because I often run out of space. Juice decided to use my "give to a friend" half of the coupon and get one for the Wii. Each one cost $7.00. So $14.00 saved!

So let's sum up:
Total merchandise: $53 or so
Total spent: $15
Total saved: $38 dollars!

It was a good shopping day.

Safire

Favorite Photo Friday

Everyone,

My favorite picture of the week. And I've got a few really great ones. My flash is finally working (with new batteries) and I've had a lot of photo opportunities this week. Also this week: yogurt. I made yogurt in my crock pot with this recipe. It is great and tastes awful because there is no sugar or anything sweet in it. But, with a little honey or syrup and some fruit, I love it!

It calls for a half gallon of milk, but now I have a half gallon of yogurt and really...we don't eat that much. So now I'm trying to think of things to use yogurt in. Any ideas?

Butterfly had an idea of something to use the yogurt with. Face painting!
Safire

A New Family Member!

Everyone,

Remember how I said that the x-ray techs kicked me out of the x-ray room because of a risk of pregnancy? Remember how I scoffed?

Yeah, that's still totally true.

Our good friend and old neighbor has a new puppy! She is so sweet. She is black with a tiny bit of white on her mouth that makes her look like milk is dribbling down her chin. She is a cocker spaniel and completely adorable.

She is staying with me during the day for the next little while. So she's going to be joining the family in the day. Her name is Willow. So cute! I love the puppy breath, the soft fur, the soft feet, the growling bark, the yipping in fear, the need to be next to another living thing...ah...I love puppies. And babies. And I've got both! Times 2! My blog is going to be so sticky sweet for the next little while that you will all get cavities. Sorry. I do happen to know a good dentist who happens to be my brother in law.


She already knows how to get out of the house through the dog door (she can't get out yet, she can't open the flap but she knows where to get out). She slept at my feet for a good hour and a half while I scrap booked with Lolli. She is seriously unnerving Soot though. Our puppy, while a very good puppy, is not all that social with other dogs. I hope having another puppy around will help Soot as well as Willow.

Also, I got a new member of my camera family. A flash! I was having fun with it yesterday, but today I can't seem to get it working. Stupid batteries. (At least that's what the manual says it is. I'm off to buy more batteries as we speak.)

Safire

Finally, A Doctor Visit

Everyone,

Early early this morning, we had our final visit with Doc B. We actually made it on time, despite rush hour traffic. As we were lead into the exam room, we kind of brought the whole office with us in a wake. They were so happy to see us. I was happy to be there because it officially ended the cast.

We put the boys down on the floor to play and immediately Pirate got himself up onto all fours and started rocking. "Awww...." says the whole office. They were all crowded around the door when Doc B came up.

"Hey, I can't afford to have you all standing around here!" He smiled. The whole office laughed and dispersed. He came up, took one look at Pirate up on his hands and knees and said, "Well, he's healed." I picked Pirate up and Doc B felt his leg for about .5 seconds and said, "Let's get an x-ray!"

At that point, about 3 x-ray techs come into the room (because the door was open and it seemed like they were waiting their turn outside). They oohed and aahed with Doc B and when the x-ray room was free, they took him in. (They also kicked me out of the room and told me to go get Juice. Something about a risk of pregnancy for me...yeah right!)

On the x-ray you can still kind of see the break. It's very faint. And Doc B said all the edges look defined. It will be gone in a week or so but he doesn't need anything else. We asked about the physical therapy and he said no. Babies bounce back so quickly and he's already starting to use the leg properly. In a week or so it should be as if he never had a cast.

One thing he did mention is that when a baby breaks a long bone like this one, sometimes the blood flow is interrupted. Rarely, one leg will grow longer or be shorter than the other one because of this. It's rare, but we need to keep an eye out for it.

We were sad, in a bitter sweet way, to leave Doc B. He was really great.

Today he has been moving his leg more and more. He even took a few crawling steps around dinner time! He also pulled himself up on his feet once. He's going to come through this with flying colors.

Safire

Feeding the Boys

Everyone,

Doc B was not in his office today so we have an appointment with him first thing tomorrow morning. Hopefully.

(Lots and lots of nursing talk going on here. Look away if you don't want to think about this!)

I've had several people ask me how I'm doing nursing the boys. I loved loved loved nursing Butterfly. She was a dream to feed. Always latched on (when we finally figured it out probably 2 weeks after she was born) and was content to just sit there and nurse. I think that's probably why she was so enormous. I would fall asleep nursing her and so would she. I hated giving up nursing and would have continued if we hadn't wanted to have another baby sooner rather than later.

With the boys, it was easy at the beginning. I had the lactation consultant visit me in my hospital room to refresh my memory, but we were doing great. The boys ate, pooped, and grew. I fed them separately until I came back from my trip to Utah. I think they were about 5 and a half months old. But I had help through out that whole half of the first year. Someone was always willing and wanted to hold a baby while I was feeding the other one. (Flower and Bee...I miss you!! Anyone want to come back to Maryland with me after my trip to Utah this summer? Please?)

Once we got back it was a whole different ball game. I had fed them together a handful of times for their first few months. I have a twin nursing pillow that I used all the time. But I felt like I had to have another hand just to adjust the pillow over and over again, let alone hold onto the boys! Once Professor learned to roll over, there was no keeping him on that pillow and I figured I had to do something else.

So I pulled out my book from the La Leche League about twins, Mothering Multiples. They have a section on nursing positions with two. So I tried a few out and found one that works for me and the boys. I call it our V position since that's what it looks like. When Pirate had his cast, it took me a few days of practice to get them to nurse together.

It's been pretty comfortable up until about 2 weeks ago. Now that the boys are more active, they poke, kick, hit, pull, and squirm while nursing. Professor is my instigator. He can not sit still for a very long time and nursing is trying his patience and mine. If he had his way, he'd be able to do flips and nurse at the same time. I think I went through this phase with Butterfly but it was more manageable. I just can't deal with him and hold Pirate too.

Last night Professor was making such a ruckus that Pirate got frustrated and bit me hard. There was no blood but there may as well be. I still feel it over 24 hours later. The book talks a bit about fighting twins and nursing. Their biggest thing is to stop nursing and say no fighting and go back to it. But if I do this, Professor does not go back to eating and Pirate screws up his face like I've killed his dog and wails. Right now I'm trying all I can do to get Professor to eat and grow and stop being in the 3% on the growth charts.

When I am out in public, I will not nurse them together. It's just too much of a hassle and really really immodest. Although all my nursing buddies at church (pretty much the only place I nurse in public and even then, it's in a nice room set aside for nursing moms) wouldn't care if I did it, I don't know if Professor could keep his mind on the task at hand. Besides, I nurse them at the end of the meeting and that's when the other ward that we overlap with is in there and I don't know those ladies. I'm still thinking this one over.

My good friend Lala is in the process of weaning her newly 1 year old daughter. She is sad and calls me every day crying about the loss of her baby. I keep telling her that you don't have to wean if you don't want to! If she is that upset about it, then let her nurse longer! I nursed Butterfly until she was 15 months old, and I will like to nurse these boys at least to that, if not beyond. We are in no rush to have another baby (obviously) so no mommy led weaning for me. If they wean themselves after a year, I won't force it. 2 years old is my limit although I think at that point they would only be nursing at bed/nap times anyway.

So, in a nut shell, I nurse the boys together about 95% of the time. Professor is a snack and run kind of kid. He is done well before Pirate is. I will put Professor down and watch as he destroys the room and I finish up with Pirate. They fight some. We are planning on nursing past the year mark.

Any other questions?

Safire

What Would You Do?

Everyone,

Juice and I watched the snow start to fall late last night. We woke up to a veritable blizzard. Well, what one would call a blizzard here in Maryland. The snow was powder...fine and dry and a skiers dream. Utah snow. I had forgotten when you shoveled it wouldn't go where you tossed it. It just blew wherever it wanted to.

I woke up to Butterfly yelling out her window, "Wave at me Daddy! Wave at me!" I figured Juice was taking out the garbage and sighed because the boys were up only an hour ago and I was tired. "I want to shovel! Don't shovel all of it without me!" Oh, right. I jump up, throw clothes on her, get her outside and then go deal with my boys who are screaming because they know I'm up and not getting them. After I got them up and dressed, Butterfly and Juice came back inside with bright red cheeks.

"I want hot chocolate for breakfast!" Everything Butterfly says has an exclamation point after it. Even when she whispers. I arrange for Butterfly to go play with AJ at Lolli's house during our doctor visit, and put the boys down for their naps.

Juice decides to work from home today, and mentions we should probably call the doctor and see if his office is running late.

I do. It's closed.

I get it. It's for the safety of everyone involved. But I'm annoyed. People of Maryland, you have not seen snow until you've seen it drift 7 feet high and your car can't drive through it because it's taller than your headlights. I'm just saying...

So what would you do on a snow day the day after you take off your cast for a broken leg?




We went sledding.

The boys were cranky. It was their nap time. But I was determined to have pictures of them in the snow like I have pictures of Butterfly in the snow.

Didn't quite work out the way I wanted to because Pirate is so tired he is crying and all Professor wanted to do was eat the snow. He was not happy with the snow after he stuck his face in it. We spent about 15 minutes outside and then I came back in with them. Juice and Butterfly got to stay out for over an hour playing and I have to admit, I'm a little jealous. We rarely get snow here and I love to make the most of it when we do. But today, I couldn't. Next year we'll hopefully be able to stay out longer.

I get to call the office at 8am tomorrow and reset up Pirate's appointment. I hope it's soon. I'd really like to know if his leg is healed or not.

Safire

PS- I've had a lot of questions why we took the cast off ourselves. The doctor told me specifically 2 times to take it off the night before. Even after I questioned him about it, he said he wanted to spare Pirate the saw and to see what kind of muscle deterioration he has. We did not just get tired of it and take it off. We were told to. But I won't do it next time. It was too much of a hassle. So if anyone is googling my blog for spica casts in infants, don't take it off yourself! The saw would last 10 minutes! This lasted 2 hours. Although he had a great time in the tub while it was going on.

PPS- Happy Birthday Bro!

No More Cast!

Everyone,

I am so excited!  Pirate is cast free!  We waited until after church and after his nap to do it.  We brought out our baby bath tub and put the infant back rest up and let him sit.  He discovered splashing again about half way through and was driving Juice crazy because he kept splashing Juice. 

It took us close to 2 hours to take it off.  Next time, if there is a next time but hopefully NOT, we are going to have the doctor cut it off with a saw.  It was not fun to get off.  We had scissors and two other kids to try and wrestle with while taking it off.  Hence, two whole hours.  He was a prune by the time we got him out of his cast.  Yay! 

He is very light.  I got to bathe him right after (in clean water, of course!) and he wimpers every time you move his right leg.  It is very limp.  He makes no effort to move it on his own unless his other leg is moving a lot.  He holds it in the cast position when he's not using it.  He espcially hates to have his knee bent.  Poor little man!  I intend to talk to the doctor tomorrow and get some sort of physical therapy for him, either in the office or something I can do with him at home.

A lot of people said that when they had casts, they were surprised to see how skinny their leg was compaired to their other one.  I was waiting to see if that would be true with Pirate.  But really, it wasn't.  His right ankle is skinnier than his left but everything else looks about the same.  (His right leg is the one he broke.)  Maybe because he was in a full body cast, everything got skinny together.  His little bottom is very boney. 

He sat in his high chair for dinner!  Yay!  He curls into me while he's eating like he used to.  I missed that.  Now I'm just waiting to see if his happy kicking comes back in both legs.  I hope so.  I loved seeing both his legs going when he was happy. 

Doctor's tomorrow!

Safire

Saturday is a Special Day

Everyone,

Since Juice had yesterday off, I had a pretty nice day.  We got all of our errands done yesterday and so we basically had the whole day free today. 

Butterfly and I went to her very first primary activity.  I had to go early and help with the 8-11 year old girls who were setting up.  The other twin mom in my ward was there so we chatted about twins and the boys and the disaster I had the other day.  Her twins are 14 now and I love talking with another mom who has been there.  Espically with twins. 

Butterfly was very good for the most part at the party.  She made some new friends (which she can't remember the names of them so I have to) and she payed attention to her teacher well.  I got some cute pictures of her class together (which I don't think her teacher was very happy to do but oh well).  It was a good morning.

Both the boys are getting colds so when we got home, they were pretty cranky.  We all had lunch (in which Professor managed to flip the spoon every time I tried to give him something but ate great from Daddy...sigh) and naps for everyone.  I ran to the store to get something I forgot yesterday and went to explore the used book store near by.  I've never been there.  It was confusing.  But I managed to come home with the book I wanted (after asking the employee to find it because I couldn't) and 4 other books.  I have a major soft spot for books.  I almost bought a book that mentions my grandmother (Dad's mom) but didn't.  Maybe I should go back and get it.

Anyway, I came home with books to read and tried to get the boys to play with their toys so I could read!  But no dice.  They wanted to nurse but then they were distracted by my book or something their brother did or whatever. 

Juice and I made dinner together.  All 3 kids joined us in the kitchen and cried.  Professor probably the loudest.  He did not have his second nap and was cross and cranky!  We were able to feed them little bits of ham to keep them entertained to at least get the meat loaf in the oven.

Bath night tonight.  Butterfly was so anxious to get in the bath that I just plunked Professor in there too.  They had such a good time together splashing!  Juice brought Pirate in to watch and you could tell he wanted to get in too.  Tomorrow buddy! 

Wow, I just realized that he has not had a bath in over a month.  Ew. 

Everyone sing, "Tomorrow!  You're only a day away!"

Safire

Favorite Photo of the week

Everyone,

Doing the taxes took all my concentration. Here's a cute photo of the week. Enjoy!Looking for more great photos? Head on over to my friend Lolli's blog.

Safire

Tired tired tired

Everyone,

Today was a nice low key day. We went to Lala's house for NayNay's 1st birthday. It's amazing to me that a whole year has gone by for her! Soon it will be the boys' first birthday. I just can't believe it.

I had a longer post in mind but I haven't been able to think about it coherently so I'll have to try tomorrow morning. Juice has the day off so I might be able to sit down with our taxes and do them. And maybe grocery shop. That would be nice.

Someone is calling, "Mamamama!" upstairs (I think it's Pirate, no wait, it's both!) so I better go feed the masses.

Safire

What a Day

Everyone,

It's been one of those days again. I really should not be surprised when stuff like today happens, but I always am.

We did not have a terribly busy morning. It's wash day so I don't really plan much so I can stay home and run through the 8 loads we do a week. I never ever make it through all the loads in a day but I do try. Butterfly napped this afternoon. The boys have been super clingy and super poopie lately. I guess eating a ton of pancakes yesterday (okay, they split one between them) and avocados this morning is a sure fire way to get things moving. I think I changed 5 poopy diapers between them today. And, the cast has now been befouled. Good thing it's coming off in 4 (!!!) days because our house is starting to have...a smell. It's like a freshly cleaned outhouse smell. And when you open that diaper...hooo doggie. That's a not so freshly cleaned outhouse smell. 4 days...I can last 4 days. Right?!

Anyway, I don't know what got into me but I decided at the worst possible moment of the day to make bread. Lunch time is not a great time to try and warm water and honey and yeast together. I had Pirate clumping after every step I took, and Professor hugging my leg and alternately bawling or biting me. I must admit the hugging part was pretty cute. Butterfly thought it was so cute she would do it on my other leg. And all mommy wanted was for butter to melt! Why won't this stupid butter melt?

Bread got made with Butterfly's help. I even let her make her own mini loaves. She was in charge of sprinkling the flour as I needed while I was kneading (haha...it's late and I'm getting punchy). I thought she would tire of it but she didn't. She even kneaded her own little loaves and they turned out great. I made 2 loaves this time. One for me and one for a fellow twin mom in my Moms of Multiples group who was having a rough day. She lives pretty close to me in a historic house and has 3 older kids. I've met her once before but she called our local leader who called me and that's how I made dinner for them. Including the bread. I hope she liked it.

About 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave for my bi-monthly church meeting, the house exploded. Or imploded. The boys were screaming, we discovered that Butterfly had peed in her sleep at nap time and her sheets and panties were soaked but not her pants. I still can't figure that one out. Dinner was not done so I was running out the door with no food. Juice was beyond tired and hungry and a little snappy. I left in a big hurry happy to be out of the house for at least a little bit.

So now I'm home and it's the first time I've had to sit down for longer than 10 minutes all day. It's 10:15 pm. I still have to switch out some more laundry (I think this will be my last load, and it's all of Butterfly's wet bedding) and feed the boys and go to bed myself. Whew. I'm tired just typing that.

Safire

Crawling in a Cast

Everyone,

I think I figured out how to publish movies. So here you go. This is Pirate crawling in the cast.

Okay, so it's just me trying to get him to crawl. Try this one.


And yes, I realize that I use their real names in the videos. Because unlike most of you, I can't call them by their internet names without having to stop and think about it first. And I don't have time to stop and think some days!

At the very end you heard Butterfly's question for EVERYTHING. WHY??? It's okay most of the time, but after about 200 whys in a day, I'm pooped.

Happy Birthday Dad! My Dad has been generous enough to have his birthday on National Pancake Day and decided to celebrate with free pancakes from IHOP! Yes, it's true people. You can get free pancakes at IHOP today. Think of my dad while you eat them.

Safire

Disaster!

Everyone,

My morning was so productive. I was able to do my Monday mopping and a load of dishes. I even got a shower! Sweet!

The boys didn't really take their second nap. Instead they sat around and chatted to each other for an hour. Butterfly didn't nap either, although she had quiet time in her room. I was noticing that it was really windy outside. Since today is our trash/recycling day, I thought about our recycling bin out in the wind. But that's as far as it went and baby stuff happened.

When I got everyone downstairs, I glanced outside and saw our recycling bin sailing down the street. Oh no! I had to go get it! So I threw on shoes and planned to just rush out the door, grab it, and rush back in. Well Butterfly wanted to come. And she needed shoes. And a coat. She took two steps outside and started to cry. It was COLD today.

I had to catch the bin though so I left her crying on the front step and the boys inside. Bin gathered. We ran back inside.

In the 2 minutes I was gone, the boys made a huge disaster. They discovered the dog's water bowl. It was full when I forgot about it. It was not full when I saw it again.

What was full was Pirate's clothes, his CAST and Professor's knees. I swooped up Pirate to take off his sopping wet clothes upstairs near the hair dryer. As I'm pulling off his clothes, his cast is starting to peel up in strips. AHH! Luckily I watched the doctor do his cast twice. I started smoothing it down so that the edges were sticking to the part that wasn't wet. It was working!

It was then I noticed that his diaper was wet on the outside and was holding water next to the cast. So I rip that off him and grabbed the hair dryer. I plopped him on my lap, set the dryer to the cool setting, and tried to dry off/fix the cast. He was not happy with me, or with the hair dryer.

He voiced his displeasure not only by crying but by pooping all over my lap. At least he missed his cast. I put him on the floor and try to clean him up one handed because I'm still drying his cast. Butterfly comes in. She is telling me something about Professor and his Mother. Oh yeah. That's me. I finally had to switch off the hair dryer to hear what she is saying. "Professor is trying to get to his Mooothaaar!"

I leave Pirate screaming on the bathroom floor (because I left!) and went downstairs to investigate what Professor is doing. (All still with poop all over my lap because I haven't gotten to me yet.) I didn't have to go very far down the stairs to discover Professor about 4 steps up and climbing. So I grab him. He proceeds to bite my shoulder (his reminder to me that I am food and therefore must fill his belly), burp, and spit up all down my shirt. Great. Poop on pants. Spit up on shirt.

Butterfly starts coughing like she is going to throw up (she has a sensitive gag reflex apparently. I do not. Apparently.) and Pirate is dragging himself naked (except for the cast) down the hall to me. By now I feel that it's in my best interest to change my clothes so I herd everyone into my room.

My shirt starts to feel wet. I thought at first my milk had let down but no, Professor is soaked more than I thought from the dog bowl. I decide to put clothes on him and change his diaper. He's all set but unhappy that I am not feeding him. I decide to dress Pirate while I'm at the changing table. Professor is hanging off of me screaming. Butterfly is jumping up and down yelling, "Look at me! Look at me!" Pirate is screaming on the changing table. I look and feel like a frazzled mess.

But his cast is okay! Yay for hair dryers!

New clothes for me and we are all clean. Whew. Not the way I wanted to spend an hour of my afternoon but at least it wasn't too terrible. Oh, I put the dog's mat outside to dry and Juice brought it in with icicles hanging off one side. At least it was no longer dripping water.

Only 6 more days till the cast comes off!

Safire

Sunday Pictures, take 5

Everyone,

A few pictures from the funeral yesterday.

Don't you just love Butterfly's coat?!  It's so cute.

Safire

Tired

Everyone,

A long day of driving for us. We enjoyed Russ's funeral. I was trying to upload pictures but it just won't let me do it. I am beat so this will be short.

Russ is loved by many many people. We were late (because we got lost, stupid google maps) and I was shocked to see the entire chapel filled with people. They even opened the overflow and people were standing in the back. Wow. If only I could be as loved at my funeral.

I didn't know Uncle Russ was in the Peace Corps and went to Ethiopia. I didn't know he rode his bike to work for years, biking over 200,000 miles. I didn't know he worked for the Department of Transportation and helped with the Metro here in the DC area. All really cool stuff.

Juice had the best time talking to his Uncles and Aunt and cousins. Butterfly was able to play with some of the kids, although she was pretty tired/cross from having to be quiet for so long. The boys were amazing, as always. We got a lot of comments from him and everyone thinks Pirate looks just like Juice.

The only thing we missed was Grandma and Grandpa.

Safire

Date Night

Everyone,

Every Friday night, Juice and I try to have a date. Lately it has been movies in our living room but we are at least trying to spend time with each other.

I stayed up way too late with my book clubbers. It was fun! We laughed a lot! We discussed the book some. I actually enjoyed this month's book which was Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir. She was 20 years in prison. Very interesting.

Okay, I fell asleep writing this so I'm off to bed. Hope Juice enjoyed his viewing of Ghostbusters tonight. I only saw the first 10 minutes or so.

Yawn.

Safire

10 Months Old

Everyone,

It's hard to imagine that the boys are 10 months old! (I have to admit, my Mom was the one who reminded me they were 10 months old yesterday. I hadn't even thought about it.) They are changing so much every day. They are looking like little boys more and more, and not little babies. They are trying hard to give up their morning nap which I am not liking. It's too early for them to go to one nap! They really love to be together and playing with whatever the other one is playing with. Most of the time, Professor has a toy and is singing to it. He only sings when he's really interested in something. That catches Pirate's attention and he drags himself over to Professor. He tries to take the toy from Professor. After passing it back and forth for a few times, Pirate ends up with the toy and rolls away really fast for one in a cast. Professor is heart broken. He cries so loud and looks up at me all dejected. "He took my toy!" Pirate is happy playing with it. If I take it from Pirate and give it back to Professor, Pirate will just do the same thing within minutes. So mostly I either pick up Professor and take him to do some of my stuff with me, or I'll take the toy away completely. Doesn't really matter, they just do it again in a few minutes.

I love seeing their interaction though. It is so fun to have 2 babies at the same time! They really stick together and love playing together. Pirate doesn't let his cast slow him down and he chases Professor around the house to be his partner in crime. Yesterday they discovered my pots and pans. I opened the cupboard to get one out, and Pirate saw me do it. He clumped over to the cupboard, opened it and started softly talking. Professor barreled in from the other room, climbed over Pirate (who never minds) and began pulling the pans from the cupboard. I gave them wooden spoons and they started making a racket. Butterfly joined in and made them mac and cheese and fed them. I love seeing them explore their world and find new things to play with.

Pirate is my sweet little boy. He is so easy going. Few things make him cry. Mostly only if he's hungry, hurt, or I put him down. He has started to babble constantly, although it is very soft sometimes. He and I have long conversations of "ah ba!" "ah ba?" "ba ba!" "oh bo" "huh?" It's very cute and we often end up in giggles. Which brings Butterfly over to see what we are laughing about. Boy does he love Butterfly. Those two have a bond that I don't see with Professor and Butterfly. It's like Pirate is our corner stone and we are all drawn to him. Because we all are. He has the best smile and great big front teeth that make it even better. He is ticklish. Having the cast on has made his belly even more ticklish. If you stick your fingers in there to rub (as I often do...don't ask me why) he laughs.

This morning, I tried to weigh and measure him. Tried being the important word here. He did not like being weighed and Professor kept trying to pull himself up on the scale. I finally got a final weight though: 21 lbs 9 oz. Now the question is how much of that is cast and how much of that is Pirate? I suppose we'll know next month. As for measuring, forget it. He kept rolling over to try and get the measuring tape so I didn't get anything solid. Somewhere between 28 and 29 inches. His upper body strength is amazing. He can crawl almost as fast as Professor in his cast. His spine is supple. It bends as I've never seen a spine bend before. He can almost reach to the top of our couch while on his belly. He tries so hard to pull himself up on things and I see him getting frustrated with the cast. He still has his happy kick with one leg so I'm hopeful that will come back when the other leg is free. He is a champion nurser and will nurse all day long if I let him. He likes to eat solid foods, but is not really into it. Still. He does love bread. And he loves the spoon. But the food...eh. I have noticed that he does not really pick up the finger food we give him. He prefers to either pound it with his open hand, or try and eat it off the tray with his mouth. Something to keep an eye on. He is breaking his cast (again) and this time, I'm not caring. It comes off in 10 days.

Professor is Mr. Mischief. He is into EVERYTHING. If he sees it, he wants it. He crawls as fast as he can. Sometimes he puts his head down and just barrels his way over to me. He is my buddy. I can't cook without his little hands slapping on the floor to get to me. He loves to watch things bubble and simmer. Luckily I perfected the one armed cooking with Butterfly. If I can't pick him up, he will hang on my legs and cry, "Mamamama!" It's cute but makes him really underfoot. There were about 3 days this month where he went on a nursing strike. It was SO frustrating to have him latch on only to unlatch a second later and cry. He loves his binkie so much that I ended up taking it away from him completely (even at bedtime) and the strike stopped. He's back to nursing (although half hearted) and I've given his binkie back to him at naps and bedtime and in the car. As uninterested as he is in nursing, he is very interested in food. He loves to feed himself. When I give him Cheerios, he grabs whole handfuls of them and starts shoving them in as fast as he can making "mmmmm" sounds the whole time. He doesn't like runny baby food anymore. He wants to chew! So I have to thicken up their dinner. I still get really frustrated with them and eating, but more so with Professor since he has discovered he can get the spoon close to his mouth and then hit it at the last second to send the food flying. Great fun, let me tell you.

He sat very happily in my scale this morning (sat up! No laying down for this big boy!) and he weighs 17 lbs, 7 oz. That's about a pound up from last month at the doctor's office. Their scale and mine are a bit different, though. Still, I'm happy to see that he is gaining some weight. I got an approximate measurement of 28 inches. Pirate tried to pull the measuring tape out from under Professor just as I was getting his heel stretched out to the number. He has the cutest shy little smile and dimples on the sides of his mouth. His eyes are startling blue and that's what everyone comments on all the time. He has the sunniest personality and is extra cute while getting into trouble. He is cruising big time on everything, and wants to walk around while holding your hands. He has been sitting up on his knees really well so I imagine he will be standing alone soon. Anything Butterfly has he should have. He really runs her around. He chirps if he's interested in something "huh" and has a very deep throaty giggle. He still sings to his toys and is very loud. Butterfly gets him going and the two of them together hurt my ears. He loves to clap (so adorable) and bang things together. He also likes to use Pirate's cast as an obstacle course and climbs over him several times a day. He climbs through my kitchen chairs, over my legs, through my legs, and on top of any box he can find. Yesterday I found him on my coffee table. He had pulled Butterfly's kitchen over, climbed on top of it, and then up onto the coffee table. He's going to be one exciting toddler, isn't he?

Only a few short months away from being 1! Any ideas about a birthday party for them?

Safire

My Schedule

Everyone,

I do a lot of thinking while I nurse the boys. Unlike Butterfly, I am not able to nurse them and watch movies or read books. (Not that I have a hand free to hold the book, but that's another post.) Just like Butterfly, they smile at me if I look at them and no milk is swallowed. So I spend a lot of time staring off into space and thinking.

One of the things I think about is my home schedule. Namely my cleaning schedule. I think I have our day to day schedule all worked out. But now, I need to add in some regular cleaning to the list. I figure if I do 15-20 minutes a day I may actually keep up on things and not take away from being with the kids too much. They will play by themselves for that long if they are entertained with something. Like today. With my pots and pans.

So, here goes:

Monday- Mop day (includes all floors vacuumed and the kitchen/dining room area swept and mopped)
Tuesday- Toilets (includes the sinks and bath tubs too)
Wednesday- Wash day (laundry! Baths and hair)
Thursday- Their day (meaning I clean bedrooms, toys, and dust)
Friday- 5 a day/finish up day (menu planning for the week or two, taking stock of what I have in the pantry, and finished up anything I didn't do through out the week- like folding laundry)
Saturday- shop/show day (this is the day we typically do our grocery shopping or touring around the city...showing the kids the world)
Sunday- rest

I figure if I stick to this, I should have a fairly clean house. If I stick to it.

Since it's Wednesday, how have I done? It's almost 3:30pm and I'm just now starting on my laundry...the only chore I've done this week so far. Looks like this Friday may be busy!

Safire

Can't Talk

Everyone,

Too busy playing Sim Animals. Wow it's addicting!

I finished an entire book in about 2 days today.

Both boys have been getting into mischief, as always. Pirate's cast is really starting to smell.

I talked to my Dad for over an hour today about plans to visit in the summer. Looks like we are "go" for launch sometime in June.

We had yet another day at home.

And will probably have another tomorrow.

Butterfly spent all day in her pjs and loved it.

She also spent all day playing tea party.

Juice has now taken over the Sim Animals and is busy building a kingdom. Guess I'll go watch.

Safire

Death

Everyone,

Death has been on my mind the past couple of days. I was going to say I don't know why but really I do know why. Juice's Uncle Russ has been dying. I say has been because he died today. I've been following his cousin Jen's blog about his last days. I thankful that she posted these last touching moments with her father. It has made us feel closer to them.

The first time I met Uncle Russ and Aunt Polly (that I remember), we were newly moved to Virginia. I think we had been there a month and we went to see them. They have the most amazing cabin in the woods. I think it was the first time I realized that there still were open spaces in the east. I had thought it was all city city city. Because where we lived, it was. Still, their cabin was amazing. They gave us dinner, we chatted, I learned a little bit more about their family and enjoyed ourselves. Aunt Polly gave us pineapple juice from huge cans and I loved it so much we have a ton of them in our house today.

When we moved here, I don't think we realized that Juice has a lot of family that lives out here too. But we've been to their houses for Thanksgiving, missionary farewells, and they have been to our place for baby blessings and birthdays. Butterfly loves having cousins to run around with. I am still learning every one's names and faces. I have loved getting Christmas cards from them and seeing them through out the year. It's nice to have family close by. I miss my own.

Thinking about Uncle Russ' last days have made me pensive thinking about death. Juice does not fear death. Nor is bothered by it at all. It's a quirk of his. I don't fear my own death. I guess I don't fear death. I'm sad for the people left behind. Because while the departed is just that, departed, the people behind are, well, left. Left without a father, a brother, a grandpa, an uncle. I do believe that we will see these people again. Death is not the end of our life, just another phase. Another door we walk through.

This picture of Russ I believe my dad took at the boys' blessing in June. I was always so touched they would drive up to see us for these little life celebrations. And on Saturday, we hope to be able to join their family in his own celebration of his life.

Safire

Sunday Pictures, take 4 Cast Edition

Everyone,

These are the pictures the office manager took at the doctor's office when they had to fix Pirate's cast.
That's Juice's head you see, along with a nurse and Doc B. And of course, poor little Pirate. Only 14 more days till the cast comes off!

Safire

PS- For more information on the cast, go here.

Valentine's Day

Everyone,

Today was any other day. We don't do much to celebrate Valentine's day at home. We were able to go to a few parties yesterday to celebrate it so that was fun.

Juice helped someone move this morning. I'm glad he was able to help someone out but I had one rough morning. Last night our ward had an international dinner and so they were up a lot later than they normally are. So they napped horribly. Butterfly was whiny and cross and petulant. By the time lunch rolled around I was ready to pull my eyes out. Arg. Everything was "why why why" and "no no no".

I think the frustration stemmed a lot from the fact that I was trying to clean the house for some visitors to come over and play rock band. It's fun to have people use our house for their date nights. We enjoy the company and the fact that we don't have to have a babysitter! But the house had looked like a bomb went off inside and it needed to be cleaned. So I spent most of my morning organizing papers and trying to straighten up what I could. But it wasn't until Juice came home that we were able to divide and conquer with the kids and cleaning.

The boys went down early tonight. I hope they sleep well with all the rocking out we're going to be doing. I think they will. They are pretty tired little kids.

It's bath time for Butterfly so I'm off to get wet.

Safire

A Night at the Movies!

Everyone,

The last movie I saw in the theater was Wall-E. Flower was with us. We took everyone. The boys were so small. They slept through the whole thing, one with Flower and one with me. Butterfly laughed, ate popcorn and had a great time. I realize that we will probably not be able to go see the next Pixar movie in the theater unless one of us stays with the boys or we get a babysitter. I don't think it's smart to take year old twins to the movies.

So when one of my favorite local blogs, A Parent in Silver Spring, ran a contest to get 4 free movie tickets to "Confessions of a Shopaholic" premiere, I jumped at the chance. And I won! Lolli, Lala, and Kirk (sorry...all I can think of at the moment, she's been my visiting teacher for almost 4 years now!) and I were ready to go enjoy a girly movie!

Lolli, Kirk and I were able to ride down together. We tried to get there in time for the pre-show fun but missed most of it. Kirk said that they had a contest for the most fashionable gal there, and they all got gift bags with green scarves and 100 dollar gift certificates. They were also having raffles. Lolli and I were getting snacks during this time. Lala couldn't ride with us so she drove herself and would be a little late.

As we were going into the theater, a bunch of official dressed guys told us we had to turn our cell phones off, not just to silent. They are trying to protect pirating. I didn't turn mine off because I was expecting Lala's call that she was here. We looked over our gift bags (foot cream and a nail buffer) and chatted.

I took a picture of Kirk and Lolli in the theater. Immediately, the security guy came over and said, "You need to turn that off. NOW!" Wow, he was mean. We giggled over it a bit but I had no idea that security was going to be so tight for a movie that was coming out the next day.

Movie starts with no previews. How wonderful. I hate sitting through all the previews. But Lala wasn't there yet! I'd say about 15 minutes in, my phone buzzes. So I hopped up to go ask her where she was in the lobby. But there she was! I could tell she had been crying. It was a rough trip for her. She went the wrong way and just wanted to go home. But I'm so glad she didn't! We went right back into the theater and had an enjoyable movie.

The audience was great. Everyone gasped, laughed, and sighed in the appropriate places. They even clapped at the end. When the movie stopped, the whole theater erupted into girly chatter. I thought that fact alone was about as good as the movie.

And yes, I did enjoy the movie. A lot! I would love to own it. It's PG (which I've found is rare these days) and cute. I really want to read the books that the movie is based off of. If you're looking for a great chick flick, I do highly recommend it.

After the movie, we made an impromptu stop at Denny's for some dinner. I had not eaten before I left and everyone was hungry. So off we go! We had breakfast, except for Lolli who had desert and onion rings, and gabbed some more. I don't think we got home before 11:30pm.

What a great girls night out!

Safire

Mother's Helper, Day 2

Everyone,

It's that time of week again. Time for KitKat to come over. Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day with highs in the 70's. It seriously felt like spring. I had all the windows open until about 7pm at night (6pm for the boys room when they went to sleep) and we basked in the fresh air. Too bad it was really muddy out or we would have gone to spend time on our grass.

I do think it's odd that it's 70 in February.

Anyway, I was upstairs doing a diaper change and I hear Butterfly screaming downstairs, "It's KitKat! It's KitKat!" She was so excited to have her "special friend, only my friend, not yours Moothar" come and play. The boys napped weirdly yesterday due to the doctor visit (see post again, pictures!) so as soon as she got here, I put them down.

Butterfly is going to a few Valentine's parties tomorrow so I needed some Valentines for all of her little friends. So I gave them tape, markers, scissors, and paper and a list of who to make them out to. They spent a good 45 minutes cutting and coloring and drawing. KitKat made some really cute sayings and Butterfly colored several for herself. Oh, and one for me and Juice and one for KitKat. So cute.

I was very good this week and talked to my mom for an hour while KitKat played with Butterfly. My mom and I normally talk on Thursday nights but I have a girls night out tonight and next week is book club. So we decided on during the day.

Of course, a ton of people called me while I was talking, the boys woke up and tried to eat the phone on numerous occasions, my nephew Cappy bit my mom a few times, but we talked. We made some definitive plans for their trip here in April and talked about the White House Easter Egg roll. You local gals, interested in going with us? We had a blast 2 years ago.

I felt like my time was well used, and KitKat's too. I think I may like having a helper!

Safire

Smelly Cast

Everyone,

Every time I change Pirate's diaper or get a whiff of his cast (which is really starting to smell) I think of that Friends Episode when Phoebe sings about a smelly cat.



It's been a few days since I've been singing it under my breath and it's stuck in my head.

Diapering has been a challenge. Originally we were cutting up incontinence pads to enhance the absorption of the diapers across the front and back. 2 days ago, I found a disintegrated pad in his diaper. Gross! Also gross, the fact that it disintegrated up the front of his cast. I had to dig out little wet balls of fluffy beady things. Not cool. I took the hair dryer to it. It didn't really help.

So, cutting up the pads and breaking their water lock seal is bad. Check.

There is also quite a bit of plastic wrap involved. At first I was more worried about a really messy poop in the diaper and staining all over. But now, I'm more worried about the pee and how it soaks into everything. We shove plastic wrap around all the leg openings and up the front quite a ways. To change his diaper now it takes about 10 minutes of carefully tucking, prodding, drying, and taping.

And yet, with all of that, he managed to pee on me yesterday.

We had to go back and see the ortho Doc B today because he has wiggled so much his cast is breaking. Both legs have cracked and the broken one moved. It's not supposed to move! So back to Doc B's. He put about 4 rolls of plaster around him again and reinforced it with another roll.

It's a really good thing Pirate is so mellow.

We monopolized the staff again and they took some more pictures. I asked them to send them to me so I'll post them when I can. They even loaned us about 10 colored pens for people to sign the cast with. Doc B is still insistent that I take it off the night before so I will. I asked him what would happen if the leg was still broken and he had to have another cast and he said, "That won't happen. They heal fast." Okay...March 1st! Good bye smelly cast!

Safire

Oh Spoon, Thou Art...

Everyone,

Professor is SO funny with his little quirk. He sings to his toys. It is so stinking adorable I can barely describe it. One thing Juice and I have started doing while he does it is filling in words as he's pontificating himself. Tonight's ballad was to the dinner spoon.

Oh Spoon. Thou art my scepter of power.
Oh Spoon, oh Scepter of Power, I find your concave and convex surfaces immeasurably interesting.
Oh Scepter, thy beautiful sunny coloring brings joy to my soul.
I love thy...(slobbers on spoon and we can't understand it).
*pause for dramatic effect*
Oh Scepter, thy smooth texture brings meaning to my life.
I love to bite thy springy surface.
Oh Scepter, Oh Spoon of Light, thou art amazing.

While Professor was originally the only one who did it, I now see Pirate doing it just a little bit too. But his voice is small, and quiet when he is happy. It's almost a whisper at times. That is also so stinking cute. It also really makes me pause and pay attention to him. It seems like Professor demands my attention and Pirate politely asks. Cute cute boys.

Safire

edited to add: We took a video of it for you but I can't get it to upload anywhere. I think my video camera might actually be out of date. Huh.

Congrats!

Everyone,

Congrats to my bro who got a job. Yay!

Safire

Baby Food Woes

Everyone,

It's been awhile since I've talked about baby food and the boys. I think I used to talk about it all the time when Butterfly was little. I haven't said much about what the boys eat because, well, they just don't eat. They are all gun hoe about the food for about the first two bites, and then they don't want anything to do with what I'm feeding them.

I make my own baby food and I think it tastes pretty good. They won't eat anything but the fruit I make. Store bought food is the same. They love Cheerios and bread and crackers. You can't live off of that stuff alone. It's driving me crazy.

Tonight I gave them a bunch of tiny ham pieces, baked potato pieces, and some steamed cabbage. I don't know how much Professor got into him (because I put him in his high chair and let him have at it) but Pirate ate all of what Juice gave him. He packed it in.

Maybe are they ready to feed themselves? Maybe they are tired of squash and peas and apples? I just don't know. Meal time is very stressful for me. I make Juice do it if he is at home. Since Pirate won't fit into his high chair with the cast, meal time is a two person job.

Juice and I have talked about different ways to get the kids to actually eat more. Maybe they are ready for some sort of spice in their meals. Maybe I need to make up some recipes like the ones at wholesomebabyfood.com.

Either way, I guess baby food is going to change at our house. Any suggestions?

Safire

PS- #26 on my list about myself (which actually turned out to be #25 because I forgot #22!) is true. Just in case you want to know.

Mommy Daughter Dress Shopping

Everyone,

Butterfly has been grating on my nerves lately. She takes the babies' toys and makes them cry. She moans and complains over every little choice I give her. Then she moans and complains about the decision I made because she wouldn't make one. There have been a few other things that are driving me batty. So I figured she could probably use some one on one time.

Daddy got to do the last one on one time with her. He took her out to breakfast about a month ago. This time I thought we could use a shopping trip to a big mall near where she was born. Added perk, this mall has my favorite kids clothes store, Hanna Andersson. I bought the boys outfits last year that match the dress in the above link. The dress was out of stock last year. But not now! So we went to check her size and get the dress. They didn't have the dress at the store but I was able to order it with free shipping. Nice.

She also wanted a pink dress so we walked around a few other kid stores and looked at what they had. She finally found a very sparkly and pink dress on a clearance rack that she kept saying was her dress. We tried it on (because it had no tags) and it's too big around the middle. I wasn't going to get it but she looked up at me with such big eyes and asked, "Please Mommy. It's so pretty." #1- Where did she learn that eye thing?! #2- This is the first time in awhile she's called me Mommy. I have been Mother. Even when she's crying for me she cries for Mother. "I want Mooothaaar!" I took it to the register to find out how much it was. When the poor sales girl finally figured out what it was (remember, no tags) and I blanched at the 68 dollar price. No way. She then hit the total button, the clearance came up, and it was $15.87. Yeah, we can do that! It's probably a size too big for her but she loves it so and will live.

We then passed a soap store showing off their bath bombs (big balls that fizz) and she really wanted one of those. I didn't get one, but we did get some hand made soap that has oatmeal and smells pretty. She used it tonight for her bath and liked it a lot.

We had lunch and came home to nap. It was a great time out with just me and her!

Safire

25 or 26 Random Things

Everyone,

Every time I open my email (which is not a lot lately) I have been tagged by someone to do 25 or 26 random things about me. It's a plague running through F*ceb00k. Apparently I caught it over here on my blog.

1. I am 5 foot 11 and a half inches tall. But I tell everyone I am 6 feet tall.
2. I like playing the bass guitar on Rock Band.
3. I got rid of cable and all other tv beyond movies August of last year and haven't missed it one bit.
4. I wash my face with sunflower oil every night.
5. I get cavities every time I go to the dentist and am pregnant or trying to be.
6. I am a sucker for great pictures of my kids.
7. I try to be a good photographer but recently had my confidence shaken and have not wanted to touch my camera since.
8. I feel horribly guilty about Pirate's leg.
9. I have to fall asleep on my right side.
10. My hips ache horribly since having twins.
11. I talk to my mom once a week (at least) on the phone and my best friend every 10 days or so.
12. I love to read and am addicted to book club and my clubbers.
13. I once traveled to present and defend a paper I wrote about a Shakespeare play.
14. We got a 400 disk changer for our dvds for Christmas and I think it might be the best invention ever.
15. I try hard to be an awesome mom and watch the ladies in church to see what they do so I can be better by being like them.
16. I still know that the 16th president is Lincoln because Juice helped me study them in high school.
17. I am the eternal planner and I tend to over plan things sometimes.
18. I love getting mail.
19. I love getting packages more.
20. I trained a horse once. I still miss my Softy.
21. I love big long dresses and wish they would come back into style.
23. I have known my husband for more than half my life.
24. I have been to 41 states.
25. Being a mom is fantastic. I think I'm okay at it. "I've worked hard to become so."

BONUS Question!

True or false?

26. I am horribly competitive.

Safire

Teeth Pictures

Everyone,

We went to the dentist today. We always take over their office when we go because I schedule everyone at the same time. Our dentist is about 35 minutes away so why go down there more than we have to? This office has seen us since before Butterfly was born.

And today, they actually got x-rays of her teeth! She did so great and listened to what the dentist said. She opened her mouth at the right times, let them pick at her teeth, clean, x-ray, fluoridate, and rinse. Amazing. She was so pleased at how well she did too. She got to pick out a toy from the treasure box and a new pink princess toothbrush. She loves the dentist.

The boys were a big hit too. I got the easy job this time around. Juice went first and the boys were content and quiet in their strollers. I read all 3 of them books for about 20 minutes, and then went to get my teeth cleaned. Butterfly wanted me around for her teeth cleaning so I got to stay in the back with her and talk to her about the pink toothpaste she was using and watch the monkey brushing his teeth video.

By the time we were done, Juice had both boys on his lap. No small feat with the cast. As I walked around the corner, both boys tuned their big eyes onto me and both said, "Mamamamama!" It was very cute. I felt very loved. They were not happy with getting back in the stroller or into the car but they slept on the way home and had a nice LONG nap this afternoon.

Butterfly napped this afternoon too. So did I. I was so tired. And cold. I ended up curled in my bed with the heating pad on my feet to warm me up. Pirate started to cry about 20 minutes into my nap so I took him back to bed with me and we snuggled as best we could.

The cast...ugh, I hate it. It's heavy. It's awkward. It's starting to smell. And it's only been 5 days! I can only imagine what it's going to smell like in a month. We did decorate it and I took a few pictures. Sadly, the battery is dead in my camera so I'll have to wait till it charges to show off our art work.

Safire

Nothing Constructive to Say

Everyone,

My days at home are going to start to run together. Today was nice with a visit from Lolli and her youngest AJ. Butterfly and AJ played for about 4 hours, most of which was spent going down the slide and chasing poor Soot around the house.

Professor followed the big kids around chirping "Huh! Huh!" and eating dog food while I wasn't looking. Yes, people, dog food. I do put up the dog's food while the boys are on the floor but I have one messy dog. She loves to tote her food somewhere else and eat it. An annoying habit. Sometimes she gets distracted and doesn't eat the food she's carried in her mouth to her eating place of choice. And Professor, my vacuum cleaner extraordinaire, finds them and tries to eat them.

So not only does one baby have a broken leg, the other baby is going to die from dog food poisoning. Sigh...

Safire

A Mother's Helper

Everyone,

My friend Lolli is good enough to loan me her 12 year old KitKat for a few hours on Tuesdays. Between sickness, grandparent visiting, and other happenings, today was the first day we actually got together. Her school is literally a 5 minute walk from my house. She walks here after school, and Lolli picks her up around 4:30-ish.

I was so excited to have her come today! It was one of those days. You know, the kind of day I didn't get out of my sweat pants and didn't put on any make-up. I did exercise this morning and shower so at least I was clean. But that's basically all I did beyond the whole kid thing. I had planned for pizza for dinner but forgot to start the crust this morning and I knew we wouldn't eat until 7pm by the time I got to it.

Enter KitKat. Yay! Someone to play with Butterfly. Boy was she excited! I made the pizza crust (for tomorrow's dinner) while Butterfly and KitKat had a funeral for a toy (don't know where she got this but she built a little fence, had a processional, and buried the toy under a burp cloth in the fence...that was the burial place). Pirate doesn't go anywhere and I held Professor for part of making it because he slipped and fell while crawling and needed Mommy. (Can I just say that is the funniest thing when they slip and fall while crawling?! Especially Professor...he makes it into more than it is. And I have no idea why that makes it adorable.)

Anyway, once the pizza crust was rising, I left KitKat with all the kids downstairs and I folded and put away two loads of laundry. But then, I wasn't sure what to do. KitKat and I tried to have a few conversations but Butterfly informed her, "You are here to play with me. Play!" Miss Bossy. KitKat took it all in stride, though. She even went down our slide about 300 times with Butterfly. I can tell that Tuesdays are going to be Butterfly's favorite day.

I do wonder what to do with myself while KitKat is here though. I mean, she's here to help me. I suppose the best thing she can do is play with Butterfly. That girl has some serious play addiction. And it is nice to have her attention focused on someone else besides me. Any of you moms out there ever had a mother's helper and what did you do?

Safire

Pleased As Punch

Everyone,

The orthopedic office today was a hoot. The waiting room was full of people who had fallen and people who needed physical therapy. The receptionists exchanged looks when we walked in. As we were shown into the "cast room", I saw the doctor down the hall. His whole face lit up when he saw us.

Enter Doc B (whom I really like), and about 4 staff from his office. He was pleased as punch that we were there and that he spent his Saturday putting a cast on my poor little boy. I am less than pleased but happy he was so happy with his handiwork.

Enter about 4 other doctors and some more staff people. I swear we had about 15 people in the room, all looking at Pirate. He is eating it up too. Big smiles and pats for me.

He was not all smiles when we took him to be x-rayed again. He hated to be put down before he broke his leg. And now that I've held him for about 4 days straight, he's really bad about being put down. Good news is that everything is exactly how it should be, break wise. You can barely see it on the x-ray. But it's there.

Doc B took a few pictures for his brochure (yes, he was that pleased) and a few more doctor's and therapists came in to see the cast. We need to see him in a month to get the cast off. He actually told me to take it off the night before. All I need to do is soak him in the bathtub for a little bit and pull the cast apart. We'll take more x-rays and make sure the break has healed at the doctor's the next day. He seems very positive that it will heal. At least, that's why I'm assuming he told me to take the cast off myself. I'm a little afraid it won't be healed and we'll have to put another cast on. But to take it off at the doctor's involves a saw...

We're trying to embrace the fact that we won't be going anywhere for awhile. It's just too hard to take them both anywhere. I can't carry them both. I can't carry him for very long because he's heavy with that cast! Hopefully we can get Butterfly out with friends in the next month (hint hint) and we'll rejoin normal life in a month.

To celebrate our new found love of the inside of our house, we decorated the cast tonight. I drew a box for Butterfly and gave her a few permanent markers and let her have at it. Juice is still working on his skull and cross bones to go right over the break. I wrote "bad to the bone" on his ankle and did a little mom tattoo on it. It's cute. So if you've got a sharpie, you're welcome to sign it too.

Safire

PS- They did cut a big strip out of the back to give his bum a little more room. Now it's not being cut in half by the cast. He is much more comfortable. Wouldn't you be?

Sunday Pictures, take 3

Everyone,

These pictures speak for themselves.
As you can see, we have good moments and bad moments with this cast so far. We're back to the orthopedic doctor tomorrow so he can check on the fit and make sure things are still how they should be.

Safire