When daddy leaves his credit card out...

Happy Mother's Day!!

This is what happens when daddy leaves his credit card out... The babies buy their mommy flowers for mother's day!!! Sneaky peanut and sneaky moose!!! Mommy was so happy!!!

Patience... Virtue... Hmmm...

I've always heard that patience is a virtue. I Googled it and found this http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/4/messages/1250.html from "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996): "Patience is a virtue. The ability to wait for something without excessive frustration is a valuable character trait. and it goes on ...

So I was feeding the boys last night, exactly the same way as I always do. They have learned so many things... so many things! They are geniuses I tell you!!!
- They know to lift their arms up when I put the trays on. Brilliant!
- They know when I sit down it is chow time and they start pounding their hands on the trays. - Thanks daddy!

Why is it that they don't know patience? I thought that being a twin you would have to learn to be patient right? Well apparently not at just shy of 7 months old...
I give the peanut a mouth full, he spits some out, I scoop it up and shovel it back in. In this few seconds the moose is having a fit. Now it's his turn. And the peanut has a fit. They know that the are next - I'm sure that they do. I feed one, then the other. Peanut, Moose, Peanut, Moose... over and over again. I am sure that just like they know to lift their arms so I can put the tray on, they know that they get the next spoon full. But can they wait? Noooooooooo...

Patience is a virtue. The ability to wait for something without excessive frustration is a valuable character trait. When will then develop this "valuable character trait" and stop screaming at the mommy? Who knows? Not me... I sure have not learned it yet!!!

The hardest thing...

Anybody that says having twins is as easy as having one baby is insane. But I will say that it isn't as hard as having one. I think the hardest thing is having to let one cry while I tend to the other. While I know that it isn't hurting him, it always hurts mommy to hear her baby crying.

Here are some things that I have figured out over the last 6 1/2 months.

1) Always have them awake and asleep together. While you may think it is will be easier for you to spend "quality" time with one if they nap separate it will be better for you peace of mind if they nap together. This will turn into you time to nap, get things done, catch up on writing thank you notes, whatever you need to do. Now it will take you some time to get to this point, once you get them on a nap schedule. I think it was a couple of months before we were there. Now when one of the cranky twins wakes up in the morning I wake the other one up. That way when one is ready for a nap they other is too. It doesn't always work, but 98% of the time they keep the same schedule all day.

2) Introducing solid foods. When you introduce solids you are supposed to wait 3 days to a week between new foods for allergies. I find it best to always feed them the same new food at the same time. Unless you are the kind of person who is going to write everything down, I am not. This way if there is a reaction you don't have to try to remember who had peas and who had green beans. If they both had green beans on Thursday - no problem! I feel them both the same thing at the same time. Lucky for me they have the same taste!

3) Feeding. I didn't breast feed. It didn't work out for us - no big deal. In order to bottle feed two babies at the same time I had to prop somebody's bottle up. I alternate who got held and who's bottle got propped up. Sometimes they both got their bottles propped up so I could get somethings done. They didn't seem to care, but I felt better and got to spend a few minutes with each one of them.

I'm sure there is more... but that is all I can think of for now. Don't pet the sweaty stuff and don't sweat the peaty stuff. It's not a big deal. They survive and so do the moms.

He bit me!!!

Out this afternoon with the boy shopping for his birthday and some school stuff. The peanut grabs my pinky finger and puts it in his mouth. Just like he has done a million other times... only today it hurts when he chomps down. I pull my finger out of his mouth and he grins. Little devil grin... I look in his mouth only to find two teeth on the bottom. What? Where did those come from? I know they were not there on Saturday. And I am pretty sure they were not there yesterday. Man that peanut is growing fast. Ok Moose... your turn!!! Just don't bite the mommy... bite the daddy instead!

Pics from 3/30 - 6 months old...

What a peanut... such a good cookie!

The moose thinks so too.

Sup? Wanna kiss me?

Two different babies...

I love how my boys are very much the same... yet oh so different.
The peanut is the older boy by 9 minutes. While the doctor pulled him out, I don't think he needed to so much. He was coming on his own. All 5lbs 14ozs of him. My little peanut.
The moose on the other hand. The doctor had to go in with, what Bill Cosby called the salad tongs, and pull him out. I'm pretty sure the doctor also had both of his feet on my legs to brace him self since the moose had firmly planted himself inside and had no intentions on leaving. All 6lbs 7ozs of him came out with a fight. Thank the Lord above for a great anesthesiologist.
Both boys were healthy. The moose, being a bit more stubborn, didn't want to breath through his nose, so off he went to the nursery for some TLC for an hour or so. But he was fine. No real worries. They are fraternal, the moose has a good 5lbs on his brother. While they look alike, they do not look the same. Although I have had people argue that point with me.

How are they the same?
They both think that diaper changes, and stinky pants are the funniest thing.
Stinky feet... cracks them up. Not sure what is funnier, me and daddy smelling them or making them smell them.
Tickles to the belly. Laughs every time.
Tell them that they are piggy babies. too funny.
They are both happy boys.
They both eat the same amount. Like the same foods. Love their doggie.

How are they different?
Well aside from the obvious. They don't look the same.
The peanut has become a tumbleweed. He is rolling he was around town. And boy is it fun, and funny. Just ask him how he got on his belly when mommy put him on his back and he will crack up. The moose, he can get on to his side, but I don't think he is going much further anytime soon. He has way to much ballast, and little interest.
The moose has decided today that holding his own bottle, at least for a few minutes is great. I love it. Such a big boy. Now if he could figure out how to move his hands and bottle with his head when he is being so nosey. The peanut not as interested in holding it himself. He rather play with mommy or daddy's hands or anything else he can get a hold of. I think if he wanted to hold the bottle he could, he just isn't interested.
The moose is a much better sleeper. He doesn't need to get up and eat. He can sleep 8/9/10 hours just fine. The peanut, he still wants to eat every 4 or 5 hours at the most. I can occasionally get him to go 6 or 7 but not often. And he really is waking up hungry, not just piggy.
The peanut will cry himself to sleep in a few minutes. He will fuss, cry, and go to sleep just like that. You would think that he was a narcoleptic. The moose, no way, he will scream until someone gives him his paci. He will not sooth himself at all. He will cry and scream for an hour if you let him. He just can't do it. Believe me I've tried to let him. And somehow the peanut sleeps through it.

I could go on and on... but I think you get the idea. My twinies are different boys, although they share so much that is the same. I can't wait to see how their similarities and differences continue to develop as they get older.

Water babies

Tonight was our first water babies class. Now I am not a swimmer, which is funny because I was pretty much a water baby. I had swimming lessons from as far back as I can remember. I hate swimming now, I am afraid of deep water, if it comes up to my chest I'm not having it. But, I want the boys to like water. The boy likes water, he has had his share of swimming lessons and did really well. Plus I wanted something that me and the father could do with them together. Water babies is perfect!
The nice thing about the class was that it is held at a school for students with severe impairments or disabilities. So the pool was really warm and has a padded bottom, made easy on my knees since I was pretty much kneeling for a lot of the time. It was just easier to hold the peanut that way.
We sang some songs, we had some activities. It was nice. The moose pretty much liked it. But he is a shy baby, doesn't like strangers at all. So when the instructor tried to make an example using him she held him for a minute and he had a terrible melt down. After he calmed down he splished and splashed away. The peanut had a field day for the most part. Swallowed a little water and didn't like it, but he got over it. Then they got tired and it was over.
Next week I need to try to adjust their nap time so they are less tired for class.

Splish Splash

They boys love bath time... as long as it's with daddy. They have to be in the tub with daddy, no more easy peasy sink baths with mommy, no way, nu uh, not having it. The peanut got his first last night, we were totally off schedule and he was more awake. For the first time he was super splashy. Started with little splishing, moved on to big splashing. I was sitting on the floor next to the tub with the moose on the bouncy - aka my left leg bouncing and saying bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. Silly mommy. The peanut splashes ans splashes, can't figure out why his face is getting wet, gets mad, splashes some more. Daddy washes and hands off. SWITCH!
I strip the moose, put the peanut in the towel, and the moose off.
Now bathing him is like trying to hold onto a greased pig. He splashes with his hands and feet at the same time. So his baths are much wetter and shorter. Love the boy but he is gonna cause an accident. Wash up the parts, hand him off. Lotion, dry, feed, bed. Whew!
Mommy no longer needs to shower because so much water has been splashed on her! LOL

Sleep o glorious sleep...

In February I got the brilliant idea that we, and I use the term loosely, would start sleeping more and eating less during the overnight hours. I mean really now... At 4+ months old they really didn't need to eat every 2 - 3 hours all night, but I really did need to sleep. I fought the good fight, they would cry, I would get up and give them their oopies (pacis), they would cry, I would get up and give them their oopies... We did this for maybe a week or so. I gave up trying to move their bedtime to later, they want to go to bed early - why should I have a problem with this? I really don't. Our solution... We get them up at 10 or 11 and give them a bottle before we go to bed. The last supper I like to call it. So after fighting the good fight, and winning, I lived a 1 1/2 months with getting up at 2:20 / 3am for a bottle. Well now they will be 6 months old at the end of the month and I am done with waking up in the middle of the night. And we fight again...
CIO night one - After almost 1 1/2 hours between the two of them - I win!
CIO night two - The moose sleeps thru the night! The peanut is sick with a cold so he wakes up after almost 6 hours of sleep and because I want him to eat as much as possible I feed him - nice mommy!
CIO night three - that is tonight so we'll see!!!