When it rains....

Let me tell you, things have been hectic around our house this week. First, the air conditioner decided to stick at a balmy 88 degrees for two days, letting us know that something horrible was wrong....we had to spend last night at my parents house because it was literally unbearable heat. It was actually cooler outside our house than in it. Then, Shawn's truck started smoking and making hissing noises. Finally, my brakes sound like two pieces of bare metal scraping together every time I even think of tapping the brake pedal. On top of all of that, a few months ago we treated the weeds in our yard, and lo and behold, we murdered the grass. All of it. (one good thing: no need to mow!) We have been waiting for the temperatures to go down to lay down a completely new yard...in the meanwhile, we get a nice little note from the homeowners association instructing us to "please water our lawn". I had to laugh at that one, since this has literally been the rainiest summer in San Antonio in the twenty something years I have lived here. I am not sure too many people would come to the conclusion that the brown of our grass equals lack of water. The funny thing is, the only green in our yard now are the weeds!! So embarassing as it is, WE are the biggest white trash in our neighborhood; which mortifies me and amuses Shawn. (Not really, the translation of that sentence is: I have lost control of myself over the mortification of being contacted by the homeowners association, and Shawn thinks that is funny.) I almost want to put a huge poster in our yard that issues a public apology to everyone who is forced to look at our crispy brown grass. Then again, the neighborhood association probably has some rule about posters in your yard!
All of this in the days leading up to our coast trip, which is stressful enough in itself. I tried to start packing today (before the AC repairman showed up) and was dripping with sweat in about two minutes flat. The only way I could stand to wait for him was to sit really, really still on the couch with two fans pointed at me. I contemplated sitting out in my car until he got there, but didn't. So now there is a huge pile of junk on the bed in the babies' room, and nothing packed. (Did I mention we are leaving tomorrow morning???????) The magnitude of stuff necessary to travel with two five month olds is mind boggling. Two sets of clean clothes for every day, double the amount of jammies necessary, washcloths, baby bath products, a can of formula, a box of cereal, baby spoons, baby swimwear, swim diapers, sunscreen (or "sunscream" as my students used to call it! :) blankets, burp cloths, two packs of diapers, about fifteen bottles, the "Bumbo" chair (since Cale likes to sit up "by himself") pacifiers, two (count em-TWO) pack-n-plays, and the list goes on and on and on.....I am starting to think I am going to have room for a toothbrush and one clean pair of underwear. :)
All that aside, I am so excited to get away!! We are going to have lots of fun in the pool and at the beach, or at least as much fun is tolerated by five month old babies. Hopefully they will enjoy these new "firsts"...they are starting to tolerate rice cereal, which is still hilarious to feed to them. They are both making SO much noise, squealing and screaming all the time. The other day I could hear Hayden on the opposite side of TJMaxx with my mom. It was so funny!! Cale has discovered how to take his pacifier out of his mouth and throw it on the floor. I am sure this begins a long road of discovery involving "What can I throw on the floor next?" He is also trying to hold his bottle, which doesn't help much, because he isn't really helping, but won't move his hands....I have to have a veritable slap fight with him to get the bottle in his mouth, since his little hands are waving all over the place. (Note to everyone: I do not "slap" my child....this was my attempt at funny...) The babies have been doing so well at the church nursery....there is a little boy who is a little over a year old in their class that LOVES Hayden. The other day when I went in there to pick them up, he was about to crawl in her carrier with her. He had piled up toys in her lap, and was so interested in her. They said they tried to put a blanket over her carrier so she would sleep, and he kept lifting up the blanket to talk to her. It was pretty cute!
Well, the AC guy has finally left, and I can actually feel cold air circulating!! Gonna try to get everything together before we have to leave tomorrow!

Nineteen weeks old already!

Tonight we tried/failed at eating rice cereal. I had been warned by other mommies that the first time isn't all that successful, but I was pretty sure Cale (at least) would LOVE the idea of eating something that looked more like food. Clearly, I was wrong, wrong, WRONG. They did not like it at all. They were both interested at the spoon heading towards them, but looked very disappointed when the cereal actually went in their mouths. Most of it got squirted back out at me while we all laughed and took pictures. Of course, I had made an adult sized portion of it (you live and learn!) and had to wash that down the drain. I think the biggest problem was that they had already had their night time bottle and were full...we will try again tomorrow night on an empty stomach. Our one success of the evening was that they both love sitting in their new high chairs. They look so big sitting straight up!!
The whole reason we even tried cereal to begin with is because my amazing night time sleepers have decided they are going to wake up and cry four or five times a night, causing either Shawn or I to have to walk across the house just to put a pacifier back in their mouths. We decided last night that we are probably catering to some bad habits by helping them back to sleep...I am sure they need to have better "self soothing" skills at this point...but when you have two, you are scared that the crying one will wake up the sleeping one and then you'll have two crying babies so you run and get the first one back to sleep before all heck breaks loose. I think we might have to put them in different rooms for a few nights so that we can let them cry it out....it will be hard to listen to, but they are getting way too used to us coming in and replacing the pacifier!!
Today we talked to my dad online with the online camera...he installed a whole camera system on our laptop so that he can see the babies from wherever he is at in the world. It was pretty cool!! There is a little delay in the sound and audio, so you are constantly interrupting the other person unintentionally, but it is still fun. My mom and I kept swinging the babies this way and that way trying to position them in front of the camera. They both cried at Popo, and then Hayden threw up all over me while we were talking to him. Not too much cooperation from them...
The babies have been to the church nursery about four times now....they are getting better and better at it! The ladies are so sweet to them...they changed their diapers about six times today (in two and a half hours)...my mom jokes that they are getting their diaper changed more during childcare than they do at home....
Some of our very best friends the Zunkers welcomed a new addition last Friday night....Davis Moody Zunker was born at 9:46 p.m. after (literally) ONE PUSH! I told his mommy that she could be my surrogate for any other possible additions to our family since she is apparently the biggest baby having stud ever created. He was 7 pounds 10 ounces and 19 and half inches long. He is so, so precious....it is funny to see a tiny baby with hair...mine are SO bald compared to him. When Shawn and I went to see them in the hospital, I was already feeling nostalgic about having a tiny baby. I know, I am INSANE! They were on the same floor we had been on with our babies, and it brought back such fun memories. I actually loved being in the hospital, holed up in our little room with nothing to worry about except the babies. We didn't have to worry about food, or cleaning or anything else...just them! And no one expects you to even get out of bed. That is my kind of living!!
Anyway, seeing new baby Davis was so sweet...I can hardly remember when they were that light...and he was a full pound bigger than my biggest baby! After all the chaos surrounding these twins, it is funny that I can already think about adding to our family. Both my mom and Shawn look at me like I have lost my mind when I make comments about it, so for now I will keep those ideas to myself!

"If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle."

Vincent Van Gogh

Seventeen Weeks Old!!!

We just finished bathing the babies and putting them to bed! There is nothing sweeter than a sleepy baby smiling at you from behind the pacifier as you put them in their crib at night. Luckily for us, bedtime has become a relatively smooth routine. They get a bath, a bottle, a book (if they are into it) and then go down for the night. Sometimes they need to listen to their crib mobile to wind down, but more often than not, they go right to sleep. I am not kidding myself and attributing this to anything we have or haven't done...I think we just got lucky! As easy as bedtime has been, bathtime has been a bit of a challenge. First, we did the kitchen sink bath. At this point, we have abandoned that because the kitchen is under three inches of water when we are done....the babies LOVE the water and the thrashing around makes it difficult. Add to that the tiny size of the sink, and the slippery factor of the actual baby and we decided it wasn't working for us. We bought a "tub stool" that has a soft pad for your knees and elbows...you kneel on it and bathe the baby in the actual tub. This turned out not to be as comfortable as the box claims. I can manage it, but my husband (who can run sprints all day in 100 degree heat, lift weights until the cows come home, and generally enjoy any physical activity) claims it "blows out his back". This, and shopping in Hobby Lobby. But I digress.

So finally we have settled on a bath time rountine....I get in our big jacuzzi bath, and Shawn brings the babies to me one at a time. They get their bath, swim a little, get handed back to Daddy for a fresh diaper and jammies, and we're done! I am not sure how other people deal with bathing infants (much less TWO) every night, but I would be open to suggestions.

This week marked a big event for us: The babies stayed in the church nursery Tuesday morning during my Bible study. I was pretty nervous since they have only stayed with family, or Kelly and Ronny. I was so sad handing them over to the ladies in the nursery, but they were so sweet...and I KNEW it had to happen eventually. Plus, it does their mommy good to have some time with other mommies having some real conversations... When I was about to leave the nursery, one of the workers asked me if I had any special instructions...I said "No"...but in my mind I was thinking, "Yes, if you can just look at, talk to, and hold my babies the entire time and ignore all the other ones, that would be great!" Of course, they did wonderfully, and both were being held when I went to pick them up....spoiled much? Getting them in the car in the torrential rain was another story entirely...

Tonight Shawn and I took them for their first walk in their stroller with them strapped in "big kid" style. (without the infant seats...just sitting up in the actual stroller) I was worried they would start to droop after a minute or two, but they did great!!! They LOVED sitting straight up and facing forward, looking at everything around them. I told Shawn it is a little sad, because I like the fact that they look at me the whole time when they are in their infant seats....just one of those situations where they have to get bigger and I have to get over it!!

Speaking of me getting over it....it is SO hard for me to retire their tiny clothes to a storage box. Cale is in his crib right now, sleeping in jammies that are too little for him, sheerly because I can't bear to keep putting little clothes in boxes and getting out the bigger ones..it makes me so sad. Shawn doesn't understand this a bit...he said "They have to grow. Growing is a good thing." My rational mind agrees with him...my sentimental mommy mind wants them to crawl back into my stomach and stay there so that no one can ever hurt their feelings or steal their milk money. :) (Ohhhhhh.....watch out elementary school bully kid of the future....you will have one mad lady on your tail!)

My mom and dad's dog Lucy LOVES the babies...

I think I will be able to update this blog more regularly now, because my husband is in a trance in front of our TV that will last well into winter. He doesn't mind taking care of both babies for hours at a time as long as I don't ask him to change the channel....college football is in effect in our house! I love it! Shawn said I can do whatever I want when he is watching football....might be the impetus I need to go from tolerating football for 15 months a year, to LOVING it!! Saturday I actually got to go get a pedicure...it was heavenly!

The babies went to their first birthday party a couple weeks ago....I was worried they would be cranky since they wouldn't be home during nap time, but they were great! The party was for my friend Karen's little boy, and her family helped out a lot with both babies. Karen got out her old "Jumparoo" swing that attaches to the door jam....we gave both babies a turn in it and they LOVED it....Cale thought he was standing up on his own. They had such a good time we had to get them their own. My brother was messing around with it with Cale in it this morning, and we looked over to see Cale laying face down on the floor wearing the swing around his middle....no more adjusting the swing for uncle Andrew!! Last weekend Shawn's mom and grandma took us to Babies R Us to get the babies their high chairs....they have both been really generous about helping out with all the big purchases....it has been so nice! While we were there, we picked up the Jumperoo, and a huge box of diapers....of course, Shawn's grandma paid for those, too....which is SO not what we expected, but appreciate nonetheless. I have realized it is futile to argue with her when she has decided she wants to buy something for us....so I guess it is better to just enjoy and appreciate! We needed more formula, too...but I knew she'd want to pay for that, too, so I decided to go back later in the week.

This weekend we went to a wedding with my mom and brother...(dad is out of town in Korea) We left the babies with my grandparents and uncle....right when we were getting ready to leave, Hayden had a reflux related meltdown....I almost didn't go, but she calmed down a little by the time we were walking out the door....we left them my cell phone so that we could call them throughout the night, but the first time I called to check on them my grandpa accidentally turned it off so we spent all night wondering how things were going. Of course, they were fine when we got home at 12:00, but Hayden was awake....I guess if your grandma is not going to spoil you and let you stay up past your bedtime, who will?

The babies are getting really good at holding their heads and chests up on the floor, but they don't spend nearly enough time practicing since they would rather be held than do "tummy time"...the minute they make a peep, we pick them up, so they will probably never learn to crawl. Both of them can roll over on the bed, because it is so mushy, but not on the floor yet...they haven't figured out how to tuck their arm to roll over. Cale can almost sit up on his own now....it is really exciting how big they are getting....I know pretty soon I will be baby proofing our house and taking dog biscuits out of their slobbery hands...