Cindy Lou ain't got nothin'

Back in early March I was getting the boys ready to go have lunch with Nathan at work, a sort of meet 'n greet for the boys and his co-workers. Well our little G man decided he couldn't wait to have lunch with Daddy. He needed to be fed, pronto (of course). Well his brother still needed to be dressed and we were working in a pretty tight time frame to get to Nathan's work on time etc etc. Exasperated, I propped him up on our bed and put another pillow on top of him to hold his bottle, hoping that it would work long enough for me to get everything else ready to go. It worked beautifully!

Plus, the experience came with the added bonus of these pictures.



Remind you of anyone?

Yeah Cindy Lou Who ain't got nothin' on my kid.

Possibly the cutest thing yet...

A couple weeks ago the boys started noticing each other. It is possibly the most adorable thing EVER. They will look at each other and smile and occasionally talk a little bit too. I haven't been able to get a really good picture/video of it yet. But these less than stellar pictures crack me up.

{A watching happy G}

{looking at each other}

{A watching sad G}

Latest in baby fashion {part 2}

Nathan's response to my laughter:

"What? They match!
They both have stripes and they're both blue.
They match!"

bwahahahaha!

Wii fit: is it for real?

So I've decided I'd like to get my rear in gear, quite literally, and start working out again. However, I find myself operating within some pretty tight constraints and I'm not thrilled about the idea of leaving the boys in a gym daycare. So I have a question to pose to those of you who own a wii, or more specifically a wii fit:

Can you actually use the wii to get a good work out?

I figure it's about the same price as a gym membership, but it would actually work better for me right now, assuming of course you can get a decent work out using it. Part of me feels like it might just be a marketing scam to get people to buy a wii so please if you've had any experience to the contrary let me know. There is nothing I like better than being wrong. Well at least in this instance.

I'm open to other ideas as well. What is your favorite at home workout?

The Sicky Mcsickersons...

This is what our new last name should be. Our household currently boasts 4 infected ears (all the boys), most likely 2 cases of RSV (which means breathing treatments for Gav. lovely.), and a whole lot of congestion and nose blowing (or nose aspirating if you are in the under 6 month crowd. Which is  usually accompanied by a whole lot of complaining {READ: screaming}).

We've had three visits to the pediatrician this week.

But I can't complain too much because my poor sick babies are generally their cheerful selves; despite their infected ears, raspy lungs, and runny noses.Which is more than I can say for their mother who is also battling a cold. See my kids are already teaching me things.

But we are trying to keep up our spirits here and hoping this cold passes sooner rather than later.
(After 4.5 weeks I think we've earned it)

While organizing pictures of the boys I came across some classics I'd forgotten about. One night, many moons ago, I set Andrew down at the end of our bed and he promptly fell asleep. Despite being unconscious he let us know just how he felt about being laid so close to Daddy's feet.

Ok so maybe we're stretching it a bit, but it sure was funny.

It's a good thing.

So Gavin just woke up 30 minutes into his nap and I put him in his swing in hopes that he will go back to sleep.

Have I mentioned the boys are horrible nap...oh hang on there's Andrew. Be right back.

Ok, Andrew, also awake, is now happily swinging in his room. 


Where was I? 


Oh yeah, the boys are HORRIBLE nappers. 


We go through the same routine every nap time. Mainly, they wake up early and I put them in their swings and sometimes they go back to sleep and sometimes they just swing in the dark babbling happily to themselves until it's time to eat again and sometimes they cry which usually means they are hungry and wanting to eat earlier than normal.

This frustrates me. I mean its not like I'm trying to do anything important while they nap, like you know extract their next meal from my body.
(breastmilk doesn't grow on trees, babies!)

But it is hard to stay frustrated. Andrew never looks at me more adoringly than when he wakes up early from a nap and thinks I've come to release him. You'd think he'd learn that he's just going into his swing. But the eternal optimist he turns on the charm like nobody's business. I never knew eyes could communicate so much. This is what his eyes said today:

"Oh Mommy look how cute I am. You know how I got this cute? You mommy! These are your cute genes shining through. So um what do you say we just call this whole nap thing off. Just between you and me. I won't tell Daddy. Promise!"

But don't worry his charm is no match for me. I have nerves of STEEL. And you would have to have nerves of steel to resist the charms of that kid.

All the cuteness is just a trap anyways. I have tried just letting them get up. Bad idea! They are CRANKY as all get out. So instead I just let them have some quiet time in their swings (unless of course they are crying and then I feed them. I'm not a completely heartless mother) and hope (and pray sometimes) that they go back to sleep.

But who could stay frustrated at these sweet little faces:

 

Thank goodness God made babies so cute...and Dove chocolate.

Ah the only sound I hear coming from the nursery is silence.

Sounds like I won this round.

I want

I want to buy these.

Well, more specifically I want to buy the one that says 'one of a kind'... 

...except I want to buy two of them...

...and then dress my identical twins in them...

...and then take them out in public...

Funny or just lame?

The latest in baby fashion

 I handed off little A to Nathan to get him dressed one morning. 

This is what he came back wearing:

The picture doesn't really do it justice. Here's a close up for a better look.

Yes folks that is a striped long sleeved shirt paired with plaid shorts.

I laughed for like 5 minutes.

Crazy Weekend Part 1: The tears

We had quite the weekend here in the Miles household. It started off with some tears and ended with a trip to the duck pond and had a whole lot of action sandwiched in between. First, the tears.

Every six months or so the Mothers of Twins club that I belong to holds a consignment sale stocked by its members. Members of the club get to shop the night before when the selection is, obviously, better. I'd been looking forward to this for several  months. I made my list of items we were looking for and checked it twice. I was ready! The only thing we needed to do was stop by the ATM on our way there. I found an ATM near the church where the sale was being held (30 minutes from our house) and we headed out. We got to the bank and Nathan headed off to the ATM with my debit card and pin #

Well he headed of with what I thought my pin # was.

Turns out if you enter your pin wrong you get 3 strikes and then your out. And we were out. Locked out. Bank closed, no access to our funds, no checkbook (I didn't think the sale would take checks), 30 minutes from home. 5 minutes from the church with the sale where precious shopping time was ticking away. The pre-sale was only open for a limited number of hours and we didn't have time to run home and get a checkbook (assuming they would take it of course). We tried everything including calling the bank (which was useless. "We can mail you a new pin." argh!) and trying to see if we could get cash back at Walmart. After the Walmart bit didn't work I knew it was over and I just burst into tears.

I sat in the car and sobbed.

Turns out I had my heart set on going to this sale. Plus, it had sort of been a hard baby day where nothing seemed to go right. I needed this to go as planned, but it wasn't. Not even close.

My sweet husband tried to reassure me.

I was inconsolable.
(thank you hormones!)

We drove past the sale on our way home and Nathan suggested we stop and see if they would let us bring a check in the next day. Defeated, I said he could go ask if he wanted, but I was sure they wouldn't even take checks. Mostly I didn't want to show my pathetic little red rimmed eyes in public.

And this is where I am so grateful for my husband. He marched himself into that church, explained our situation, and the club president quickly assured him that bringing a check in the next day would be no problem and we were more than welcome to shop the sale.

Did I mention how much I love my husband?

So a-saling we went.

The best part...we didn't end up having to drive back the next day because the woman in charge of the sale had a mini credit card reader and an app that let her charge our credit card using her phone. What?! How awesome is that?

All the tears and fuss were worth it as we watched little A go to town in his new exersaucer.

{This magic moment brought to you by: Divine Intervention and a persistent husband. Never leave home without them.}

He LOVES this thing. And it has been heart warming to watch him have such a great time.

The fun of this weekend doesn't end there, but this post is long enough already. 

To be continued.....

Twin tips

When getting the babies up from their nap to eat do not pick up the fussiest one first. This will be hard since it is your motherly impulse to comfort your saddest baby first. However, he will be far more insulted than his less fussy brother when you put him down to go back for baby #2.

Blessings and babies all around

About a month ago we had the proverbial blessing weekend. Serendipitously some family was able to make it which was nice. We decided to keep the whole affair very low key and simple, opting to bless the babies before church instead of during.

{Looking studly in their matching duds}

{Andrew eying Gavin suspiciously. They make the best faces!}

{With Nathan's siblings outside our apartment}

One of the best parts was watching their 6 month old cousin interact with them.

It started off all cute and sweet:

{Awwww! She's trying to hold hands!}

And quickly turned ugly:

{Trying to gouge G's eye out}

Foiled by her watchful parents she quickly changed tactics:

{Going for A's eyes instead}

I keed I keed. She's an absolutely darling 6 month old who was just doing what any awesome 6 month old would do. She found the boys all kinds of interesting (especially their eye balls).

{Isn't she darling! Loves those fingers!!}

The boys did pretty well with all the new faces, but I'm sad to say they are fairly hesitant of strangers already. I guess we need to get out more. But they warmed up pretty quickly.

{Little A with Aunt Jaclyn. He looks so tiny here.}

{Boys with Uncle Austin}

{Just being their cute selves}

Overall it was a nice weekend. Looking back at these pictures it is hard to believe how much the boys have changed since then. They are both a ton bigger, plus they look at each other now and smile and talk a little. So darling!! I'll have to post some more recent pictures soon.

Bad idea, Good idea

Bad idea: Taking a whole bag of Mint Milanos into the bedroom with me while I pump and peruse my blog list. (Uhhh, where did those six cookies go. I swear I only had 2!)

Good idea: Take only two cookies with me and leave the rest in the pantry closet. (This is the game plan.)

Better idea: Don't buy 4 bags of Milanos. Even if they are BOGO. (But really how can one resist 1/2 off Milano cookies?)

I made dinner last night...

...and it was pretty much a disaster from start to finish. One thing you should know is I haven't cooked for about 5 months give or take. I think this was my third attempt at making dinner since the twins were born. Shepherd's pie was on the menu Here's how it went down:

First, I remembered to get the frozen hamburger out the night before to thaw (I started out strong!). I put it in the fridge on a plate, still wrapped in the aluminum foil (do you see my first mistake?). I was feeling very proud of myself. Fast forward 24 hrs.

I started by peeling and cutting the potatoes. As I was doing so I kept thinking "I should really probably do at least one more potato" but the 'get-er-done' part of brain quickly shoved that thought aside (foreshadowing my second mistake...).

With the potatoes happily bubbling on the stove I pulled the hamburger out of the fridge only to find it was still frozen solid. Turns out you have to remove the aluminum foil in order for it to thaw in the fridge. Genius!

So I commenced thawing out the hamburger in warm water. The babies were starting to get fussy (naptime!) so I checked on the potatoes quick before I put the twins down. They were fork tender (the potatoes, not the twins) so I quickly drained off the water and then scooped up the babies and put them down. All the while thinking "hmmm. Those potatoes cooked pretty fast." (that's number three, folks!).

So I finished putting the babies to bed and started making the mashed potatoes (thank you kitchenaid!). Only to find that the potatoes were NOT done and consequently were not mashing AT ALL. However, I had already add the spices, cream, and butter. Lovely! So into the microwave they went.

I moved back to the hamburger which was ready to be cooked. Usually I cook it with a little onions. What? No onions! Oh yeah I haven't cooked in 4 months, why would we have onions on hand (that's #4 people!). Oh well. I just decided to keep plugging along. Cooked the hamburger, put it in the casserole dish and forgot to put the usually tomato soup/sauce in with it (that's #5!). Piled on a bunch of green beans and topped with the lumpy mashed potatoes (they never did mash well). Well "pile" isn't really the right word more like "spread a thin layer" like green-beans-showing-through thin. Yeah guess that extra potato wasn't as optional as I thought.

Popped the dish in the oven despite all its flaws. Checked the time. I had just enough time to pump before the twins woke...WAHHHH!...up. Just kidding. They were awake a half hour early and wanting...no needing to be fed pronto. (sigh)

And how do I feel about this disastrous dinner? In a word...

AWESOME!

Remember the part about how I haven't cooked in months and months. Yeah well that time as given me perspective and I have redefined what I consider success.

Last nights lumpy, bland, 5-big-mistakes dinner was most definitely a success!

Score one for me. I'm back!

please hold, we are experiencing technical difficulties

I apologize for all the picture issues in the last few posts. Blogger and I are currently in a fight--Blogger is winning. Argh!

All should be fixed for now, but please let me know if you can't see anything.

For those of you who might wonder...

I really love this post by one of my friends. Especially the part about the blog turning into a photo gallery of her baby (she has a really cute baby though so I don't think anyone minds). This really resonated with me as I've, admittedly, been feeling a bit self conscious about this blog and what it has become: an all things twins forum (which I'm in the process of coming to terms with). And well there is a similar phenomenon occurring in my day to day life, which has also turned into an all things twins extravaganza (I'm also coming to terms with this). But as I look over this blog I realize that the little bit of me amidst all the baby stuff is missing. So I'm going to work on eeking out a little space for me on this blog (hopefully in my day to day life as well).

So for those of you who might wonder what happened to me over the last 4+ months (I include myself on this list!), I'm still here, a little different, but still me.

But don't expect to hear any less about these two

After all this blog promises to be about the latest and greatest in my life and this two darlings are most definitely the latest AND greatest.

Reading with Daddy

These turn my heart into a little puddle.

{Little G with Daddy

circa. February 19, 2011}

{Little G loves "The Monster at the End of the Book"}

ain't we sweet

{little G swaddled before bed}

{Little A snuggling with Bernard (the dog)}