For Grammy and Gramps ...

We know that you live 1,000 miles away and are so thankful that technology has allowed those miles to seem like a much smaller distance.  Maybe it's true that only parents and grandparents find things like babies clapping their hands to be just so darn cute!  We are trying to capture the every-day-cuteness that is two babies :) ... and transport it to Arizona!

"Mama, can't we go play outside in our tutus?"

Amelia laughing!

I've been trying forever to get a video of Amelia laughing ... I guess all I had to do was go to work and let Scott try :)  Ignore the fact that it's in the wrong direction and that she's wearing Luke's bib and enjoy the sweet sound of a baby's laugh!

Time ...

This weekend we had our first family pictures taken.  It was the chaos you would expect from two young but mobile babies.  Luke tried to dive off everything the poor photographer put him in/on (the wagon, the step, etc) -- he was EVERYWHERE.  I believe her words were, "Wow!  He sure is a curious one, huh?"  Which I'm pretty sure was code for, "Wow, get your kid under control!"  Love it! Amelia, who has recently developed pretty significant stranger anxiety was in tears and Scott and I were trying to catch Luke, soothe Amelia and not look completely frazzled in the photos ... haha!  We'll see about that!  Well, at least they'll capture this wonderful but hectic phase of life in an accurate way!  The day was strangely emotional for me. As I was packing the babes up it struck me that they looked more like toddlers than like babies and that tugged on my heart in so many ways.  Their blue jeans, sweaters and tennis shoes made them look old.  How can that be?  They're my babies!  And that's the harsh reality of time.  It keeps going.  Or maybe it's merciful of time to continue.  Depends on who you ask and at what phase of life they're in. (Just a year ago I prayed a daily prayer of thanks that God had sustained us through one more day of pregnancy).  But for young parents it goes by entirely too quickly.  I can't believe I'm planning their first birthday party.  And yet I am so excited to celebrate the end of the infancy and begin the toddler years because it means that they're healthy and growing and becoming the man and woman that they will someday be.  I've realized that it's not possible to spend as much time with your kids as you want ... even if you're a stay at home parent, the moments are too sweet and pass too quickly.  No matter how hard I try to hold on to every giggle and snuggle ... it's gone just like that.  And so I try to hold them as gifts with an open hand.  Enjoying my children to the fullest but knowing that they will always be growing and changing and not holding too tightly to them at any phase.  Letting go and allowing them to be the people that they were made to be.  I'll let you know when I figure out how to do that :)

All dressed up!  (Don't worry, I did do something with Amelia's hair!)

Oh sweet Jane Bear ... I love you more that I could ever put into words.

I had to!  We found Amelia's at a second-hand sale and Great-Grandma Ruth send up Lukey's.  They're all dressed up here for a pre-Thanksgiving party that my parents have every year.

Luke, "Seriously ... More pictures, Mom?"

I love you my sweet babies!

Rainy Days ...

It's official, the rainy season has begun.  As someone who was born and raised in Oregon, the rain doesn't usually bother me.  Winter is cozy ... it means fires and coffee and snuggling up with a good book.  But with two babies, winter also means that we all go a bit stir-crazy!  Today the babes and I took a trip to Target just to get out of the house :) (Okay, and I've been admiring some of their cute sweaters!) We've also been having some fun play dates which the babies love and I get to chat with some pretty wonderful mamas.
Two people asked me today if it's gotten easier which has made me think a lot about the last 10 months.  The answer to that question is yes and no.  I lean more towards yes and Scott leans more towards no, maybe it depends on the day!  To me it feels easier because I get more sleep.  I am a much more patient and more present parent when I'm not so tired!   I also feel like I'm able to do a lot more without feeling overwhelmed. In the beginning I felt overwhelmed often.  As a brand new parent with two newborns there were many times that I felt like it was all that I could do to care for them.  Now I feel like it's not a big deal to run errands with them, visit friends and work part-time.  However, when you have two babies that are crawling everywhere and pulling themselves up on things (which leads to lots of falling, of course), you have to be entirely focused on taking care of them.  So maybe the answer is that it's not easier or harder, it's just different.  Either way, it's wonderful.  I am so blessed by these two little ones.  I love seeing signs of them in every room of our home ... their toothbrushes in the bathroom, their coats hanging by the door, their sippy cups in the kitchen ... And yes, even their sticky Cheerios all over the floor! ... I am so thankful.

Beautiful baby girl in her holiday outfit :)

"Groceries?!  Thanks Mama!"

Seeing a theme?  They LOVE grocery bags!

Amelia and Afton (I think ... they're identical so I'm not 100% sure :) )

Twins!!

"Mama, can I get up now?"

The joys of parenting ...

Since most people reading this are nurses and/or parents I decided to go ahead and post the third picture.  It was quite a moment for poor Scott and Amelia!  Both the babies love to be carried on Scott's shoulders ... but apparently not right after eating!  Amelia lost most of her meal ALL OVER Scott!  He and I were laughing so hard we could hardly control ourselves ... meanwhile poor Amelia was not so happy.  Poor baby.  We quickly cleaned her up after getting a few pictures.  We also had Jack and Maddy over to play yesterday.  So fun and so busy to have four babies in one room!  I love the picture where it looks like Luke and Maddy are holding hands and Jack is keeping tabs on his sister and playing the part of chaperone.

Maddy and Amelia

Look out Luke ... Jack is watching!!

Ooops!  ... I guess Scott has truly been initiated to parenthood now.

Happy girl again after her second bath for the evening :)

"Talking" babies ...

10 months old?!

Today Luke and Amelia are ten months old!  They are more active, mobile, fun and exhausting by the moment.  They both have decided that they love crawling and being able to get to things across the room (like poor poor Molly, who has decided to take refuge in the basement when the babies are awake).  Luke has decided he's had enough of diaper changes ... we have to completely pin him down on the floor (the changing table is too much of a safety risk anymore) to change him.  Thankfully, Amelia hasn't caught on quite yet to his new antics.  I feel like Luke's personality has really emerged in the last few weeks.  Of the two, he used to be the more mellow one but now he is constantly on the go ... he is quick to laugh and loves to engage visitors which makes Amelia seem almost shy in comparison ... an interesting shift.  They interact with one another more and more all the time which makes my heart happy.  I'm excited to watch their relationship develop.  What a great thing to have a built-in playmate!
Luke has four teeth now (two top and two bottom) and Amelia has eight (4 top and 4 bottom) with new ones on the way for both of them.  The babies have slept through the night a small hand-full of times (I'm glad I didn't know six months ago that it would have taken this long ...).  Because I'm a terrible sleeper (I was pre-babies and now it's worse because I feel like I spend much of the night awake and waiting for them to cry) I sleep in the basement on the nights before I work and Scott gets up with the babies.  I very much look forward to those nights where I can get a full 8-hours of sleep.  Amazing!  The sleep situation is such a tricky thing.  I've discovered over the last year that parents have very strong opinions and thoughts about the "right way" to get babies to sleep.  I have friends and family members that co-sleep with their babies and have loved that experience.  I also know people who feel very strongly that it's best to let babies cry-it-out and learn to comfort themselves.  I agree with Dr. Sears who said that the best way for a family to sleep the is the way that everyone gets the best night of sleep.  I think co-sleeping can be done safely and can be a great bonding experience (The No Cry Sleep Solution is a great book that outlines safe guidelines for co-sleeping) but it wasn't the right choice for us.  I also didn't feel comfortable when they were tiny to have them far away from us in the nursery (which isn't actually very far away but it felt like it).  For the first six months, Scott and I took turns sleeping on the couch with the babies right next to use in their bassinets.  The person who was up with the babies could usually get a few hours of sleep but it was very broken up.  If Scott was working the next day, I was up with the babies for the night but if he was off, one of us would sleep from 8pm-2am and the other from 2am-8am.  It was the way that I stayed sane!  If I knew that a few times a week I could get a six-hour block of sleep, I knew I could make it!  Once they hit the six month mark, we transitioned them to their cribs, which actually went much more smoothly than I thought it would.  The single most helpful thing we tried in order to get them to sleep longer was white noise.  We downloaded "Rain in the country" from itunes and have it playing continuously in their room for naps and nighttime.  It almost doubled their nap time and significantly decreased their nighttime wakings.  We decided we were okay with a gentle cry-it-out method.  We let them fuss and wimper (they rarely truly cry unless they need something) for 5 minutes and then go in a rub their backs and comfort them.  Thankfully, it usually it only takes about 5 minutes for them to fall asleep.  Right now the average night looks like us putting them to bed around 730pm, we dream feed Amelia at about 10pm (pick her up and feed her without her ever really waking up.  It's a great technique but doesn't work well for Luke because then he doesn't fall back asleep easily), they sleep until 3-4am at which point one of them wakes up so I feed them both.  Then they sleep until about 7am.  So really there is only one nighttime feeding which is very do-able.  I know at this point we could train them not to eat at all at night but the problem with that is that they're usually awake by 5am then and not as likely to go back to sleep.  I would rather feed them at 4am and then get two more hours of sleep!  Anyway -- sorry for the rambling about sleep but I've gotten some great ideas from other  blogs so I thought I'd share what has worked well for us.  Every baby and every situation is so different and having twins definitely has taught us that.  There are things that work so well for one of the babies that don't work at all for the other.  I look forward to the day where we consistently put them to bed and go to get them in the morning :)  I know it'll happen ... eventually!
Next month we're taking our first family vacation and the first plane flight for Luke and Amelia.  We're heading to Tucson to visit Scott's family and some of our friends from when we lived down there.  We're very much looking forward to the family time, sunshine and time away from work and normal life.

The only way to change Luke's diaper these days ...

Or you end up with this .... a lopsided diaper and a baby on the move!

"Grammy?  It's me Amelia!  I'm super excited to fly down to see you!!"

Advent Conspiracy

Every year I am inspired by Advent Conspiracy ...

Happy First Halloween!!

Despite being under the weather, (I'm getting the feeling that it's going to be a long winter of building those immune systems!) Luke and Amelia had a great first Halloween.  The day before we stopped by a cute neighborhood party.  On Halloween we visited a few neighbors and then headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house to hand out candy.  Scott's mom found me a costume to match Amelia's so of course I had to dress up too :)  Last Halloween I was discharged from the hospital after having the cerclage placed.  I remember hoping so much and praying so hard that next Halloween we'd be dressing up two sweet babies -- feeling very thankful today.