Eleven Months

My babies are eleven months old. This time last year I was 32 weeks pregnant (3 weeks before they popped out). Sorry I'm a bit late on this post. I've been busy with life. Also, Harrison dunked my phone in the kitty pool a few times so I got a new one. I'm still figuring it out. I got a windows phone because iPhones make me angry, despite their easy format. I'll probably switch back eventually. They don't touch my phone anymore, but they can play with that iPhone all they want now. 

News concerning the boys:

David and Harrison can take 3-5 steps on their own now. Recently, they have even gone from sitting to standing on their own and then proceeded to walk. 

They're obsessed with going outside (in the hot, humid weather) and playing with plants. I know, it's weird. I usually pull out the pool, try to read to them my book of choice, and try to get some color on my legs. Getting all those done is a rarity, but that's the goal.

They love to FaceTime with grandma. We do it quite frequently. 

They chase after dogs (which terrifies me), and they love when Dad is home.

Harrison has one tooth now.

We go out at least once a day and try to find something fun to do or good to eat. We've been having a lot of ice cream recently. We're making more friends. They're almost completely on whole milk now which is saving us big bucks.

We will be celebrating their first birthday on our two family vacations in July. We're very excited.

I have to say, this time last year was much more miserable than this year.

Decided to clap on his own.

"Wan' dat"

This is when we found our first NORMAL double-seated kart. Usually we find the karts with the crappy plastic seats that attach to it. Anyway they had fun. They were turned around the entire time trying to see where we were going.

 Eating cake.

 Eating PB&J.

This was memorial day. It was an awesome day in which we went to this art festival along the Susquehanna River, and then we had a big picnic with friends and family. (Photo at the top was at the picnic). They have festivals here a lot in the summertime. I need infinite summer.

Today

Today was so nice. Today was Spring. Warm and breezy.
Warmth makes me happy. I noticed not too long ago that I'm most angry when I'm cold (and don't realize that I'm cold). Once I'm warm I'm like, ya know, I don't really care. I feel goood.

Today I felt goood. We were outside a lot - which is the place I like to be. We are in the process of ordering a jogger, but I have been jogging with our train of a stroller (Baby Trend Snap n Go Double Stroller which is amazing) anyway because I'm impatient and it suffices in the meantime. Although, the boys are in the 75th percentile for height (which is a miracle for our recent genes...) and they REALLY don't want to be in those carseats or that stroller anymore. Can't wait. Anyway, they're getting better at the things they're working on every day. They can literally crawl up the stairs without me knowing and be fine almost every time. Luckily I always catch them mid-stairway. Harrison does it in like 40 seconds though. And his new favorite thing is clapping his hands; David's new favorite thing might be tackling Harrison. I'll try to get videos.

After they wake up in the morning they sit and talk back and forth in their cribs for about 30 minutes. It gives us a little more time to sleep in.

Pink pacifier that they chew on... Dave bought it. He also previously bought a couple pink lidded bottles. I'm pretty sure he doesn't look at what he purchases for them half the time. Luckily I don't care! As long as he doesn't buy anything else pink... He's a good dad. Remember how they love saying "dada"?

This is them after our quick jog. They did not want to go back inside. They look so tiny sitting in the front yard.

P.S. I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow. What should I do?

Eight Months

My boys are seeming less and less baby-like. It helps that they don't have a lot of fat (David just looks like a little kid with his skinny little abs)...

David is not quite crawling yet, but he is dragging himself fast enough to disappear within a minute. He's definitely an explorer. We always have our gate (and our guard) up now. His hair is still a mohawk but it's getting longer...

Harrison is just learning how to crawl and is still perfecting it.  He is already pushing himself into sitting position and trying to stand. So that's scary.

He's just a sweetheart younger brother and I love it.

Thanks Auntie Serenity for the cool mustache shirts! They've used them well. (This is the only picture I could get that wasn't blurry...sorry David won't show his)

They are finally on a great schedule that I hope lasts a couple more months. They take two naps a day, they sleep about 11 hours at night, and they have 4 bottles and 3 meals a day. They have caught up in weight and height and they are learning fast. I feel pretty good and actually proud of myself for having them on the same schedule - and a good one at that. 

Honestly, it's hard as a mom (just as it is in most experiences in life I think) to know what you're doing right or if you're doing ANYTHING right. 

The main thing I have to remember as a mom is to not compare myself or my kids to anyone else (or anyone else's kids). That always destroys my confidence and consistency. When I start to stress about them learning this and that it becomes forced and I can actually see my boys picking up on my stress. The flow is gone. They learn when they are ready. I am not an uptight person and sometimes I wonder if I need to be that type of person to get more things done. But it's actually the opposite! I get more things done when I relax, and if I don't, I'm not freaking out about it. I have to remind myself that I can only do well being myself. Everyone benefits from that. So that has been my main focus recently between all the goals I have and ways I want to live my life. 

Be yourself, be yourself, be yourselffff....

On another note: I am so done with all this snow and I gladly welcome all the birds and bees and rabbits and chipmunks. I just want to go outside with my kids!!! It's pretty hard to take two little boys that don't walk yet out in the snow. So thanks snow, come again... just kidding, don't.

Seven Months: Hello February

Ya know, I started this post earlier and did not realize that the boys are seven months old today! I was still telling people they were 6 and a half months old... I think I'm in denial or something.

We are greeting February with new tricks. Since just yesterday Harrison is learning how to get on his hands and knees. He doesn't go anywhere yet but he wants to so badly. David has been scooting around for a couple of weeks and is getting good at it now. Like an army crawl. Harrison is really working on his position first... He can sit up better than David, but neither of them like sitting much. I think they feel stuck. We're gonna need gates on the stairs really soon.

The funny thing is that when one does something new or tries to, they get over it and the other one learns to do it. David was babbling a lot a couple weeks ago, now Harrison is the babbler. Harrison was trying to roll over for a long time and then David suddenly did it first. Now they're rolling all over the place. Twins are fascinating. They comfort each other, hurt each other (on accident), take each others' toys, play with the same toy together, make each other laugh (they even look over and laugh in their carseats - it's the best thing ever)... it's just a lot of fun, learning, emotion, exhaustion, and love. And nothing more Christlike in my opinion.

DIY: Numbers

Every time I sing the ABCs or count on my fingers to my babies I think, I need some flashcards or something so they can see the letters and numbers! 
So this is my extremely low budget way of teaching my kids how to count. My kids are 6 months old, yes, but it doesn't hurt to show them numbers and letters! If only I did things like this more often...

 Obviously I had to keep VERY close watch while they played with the pencils.

Just to five for now...

P.S. David says ba-ba-ba all the time now. Probably in preparation to sing "Barbara Ann" with his daddy.

Six Months

Our Christmas and New Year was spent in California. They also turned six months old on the 2nd. I'm just really bad at posting on my blog when I'm having loads of fun. Go figure.

Here are some pictures and words:

  

This is David the babbler playing in their new jumper. They can't stand being on the floor anymore and David can't wait to talk and sing. 

Snapped this gem of David eating green beans for the first time. Soooo delicious. 

They actually love green beans now and pretty much everything so far.

No, we are not starting with rice cereal because it is empty carbs and the pediatrician said it's mainly just a filler. My kids don't need fillers. They sleep just fine. We started with green veggies and now they're trying meats and orange veggies. Then they'll get the yummy fruits. Although they do suck on dried apple slices that we got from the Farmer's Market in LA (I will be posting about that soon), and orange slices occasionally.

Here are two rare pictures of my Harrison smiling. He's the introvert. He smiles a lot but he hides it. He's in the process of learning how to get up onto his knees when he's on his belly.

They are getting stronger every day and are learning to sit up unassisted. It will be a blessing for all of us when that happens. Going to the store will be so much easier! And they'll be so happy they can do it.

More posts to come I promise.

Four Months: Learning

The boys are four months old today. They have grown a lot. I hardly ever pick them both up at the same time because they are getting so heavy and strong.
They are starting to be awake during the day much more than asleep now, and it's really fun, but my everyday is now much busier.

My daily To Do list usually looks like this:

>Make bottles/feed babies (on repeat)
>Pump (on repeat)
>Eat breakfast
>Spend the morning exercising them and playing with them
>Do a load of laundry
>Get dressed and brush teeth at some point...
>Take them for a walk or drive
>Read
>Try to eat lunch
>Play with them some more
>Do the dishes
>Work on my online courses
>Clean/organize something
>Exercise them some more
>Try to exercise myself!
>Try to eat dinner

The most enjoyable things on that list are reading, online courses, going for a walk, aaand playing with them is pretty fun, too. It is not as fun when they are whiny and just want me to hold them.
It's a lot to do! And that's just the basics! Just tryin' to live my life! And it's not easy to get these things done.

Harrison sitting in his chair

Happy David

Harrison being shy about smiling.

They are learning new things and I love watching them. They are grabbing things, rolling over on their backs, babbling, starting to laugh (a sound almost as beautiful as hearing my first born's cry for the first time), trying to hold their bottles when they eat, sitting up in their Bumbo chairs, and Dave and I both swear they say "mum" and "mumma" now when they cry. Just sad cries, not tired or hungry. Other people have heard it and mentioned it! Whatever, whatever, I don't care if it's on purpose or not, I like it. I've been saying the word "momma" to them constantly since they were a month old so I think they at least understand that somehow it represents me, whether they moan it or not.
Now I have started doing the word "mom" and others in sign language while I say them.

Today we listened to Mozart on the record player. It seems to be one of their favorites. These are all our records:

These are some other favorites. Okay okay, the Billy Joel one is for me, not them. The bottom right one is Animal Collective...for when I'm feeling wild. They love Andrew Bird; it's very peaceful for them. Coldplay is soothing as well.

I wish I could spend as much attention on them EACH as I do with both of them together. I have three men to show affection and love for. It's a wonderful life and I wouldn't do anything else, but some days I am worn thin. I won't pretend like my life is hard, but some days are difficult. Baby David won't breastfeed anymore and sometimes it makes me frustrated and sad. I still give him my milk in bottles, and every once in a while I try to nurse him again. It doesn't work.
As a mother, I have learned to love in a different way than ever before. When you're a mom, you can't stop. It is the definition of full time. If you're feeling sad you either fight through it and do what you have to do, or let yourself cry. Today I let myself cry. My babies are very intrigued when they see me cry. Sometimes we cry together. It's okay to cry. I want them to know that. It feels much better than not crying.
So go have a good cry! Just kidding. I mean, you can! If you feel like it. Okay that's all.