Morning People

Ada and Margot are at their brightest first thing in the morning. Looks like we have a couple of morning people right now! Good thing Mom is a morning person too :)

Proof..

.. that beautiful Aunt Linda came to visit us recently..

.. and that her equally beautiful daughter Leah came with her..

..that we had a fabulous fabulous visit with Elsie while she was here and really enjoyed getting to spend time with Linda and Leah as well..

..that Margot loves Great Grandma's kisses..

..that Ada still loves to be held upside down and on her side..

..that Margot still loves being snuggled upright..

..that crying is contagious.. 

..that Ada started it :) ..

..that we persevered through the crying and dressed up and took the girls to see Cinderella and the set that Daddy designed anyway.. we all hung out in the "cry room" so we could still see the play but make sure that we didn't distract any attention from the actors :)..

..that Ada has a beautiful little smile..

..that Margot has an equally beautiful little happy face..

..that Mom actually ordered a pizza for dinner on Saturday.. kinda hard to cook when a certain Margot won't let you put her down..

..that Ada can think deep thoughts..

..that Daddy doesn't scare her.. yet :)

... proof that our days have not been all bad and that I was just venting when I posted yesterday. We love these little guys so much and they are so sweet these days.. they don't mean to be difficult. Parenting is just difficult.. whether you have 1 baby or 12 teenagers. Thanks for the prayers.. we got much better sleep last night and are ready to face the week with a smile. 

Help

Hello everyone. Missed me? Well I can tell you I have loads of fun and cute pictures to post and fun and cute stories and events to recount but right now I am just sending this out to ask for prayer.. please ya'll.. pray for us. We are worn thin.. worn very very thin. Stephen is out walking Ada right now who has refused to stop screaming at the top of her lungs for most of the morning. Margot is sleeping in the swing but when she wakes up she will be screaming again too I am sure.. they have been cluster feeding in the AM .. as in... the early AM.. every hour or so..for the last 2 weeks.. and not napping very well during the days.. unpredictable... shower? What is that? No rest during the days ..no rest during the nights.. I am venting here but seriously.. it has been a rough time. That coupled with the fact that we are crammed in our living space and have no time to look for or apply for a new place to live just makes life that much more difficult.. life with twins is sort of kicking our tails at the moment. So all of you worriers out there.. please don't worry.. please just pray. This is normal.. we know this.. this too shall pass and all of that.. I am just trying to be as real as I have always been on this blog and right now that means asking for some serious prayer. We need patience, wisdom, and rest.. rest.. rest.. again.. no worrying.. please.. this is normal.. put that effort into prayer. I promise to try to get it together enough to show everyone the most recent bright moments and cute photos we have very very soon.. sorry to be a downer but.. I am feeling pretty down at the moment. 

Night Swimming

The girls and I look forward to Stephen coming home in the afternoon. They have usually just finished eating and are full and happy and ready to play and visit for about 30 minutes before the evening fussy time begins. 

This afternoon, Margot decided to show off for Daddy and prove just how strong she is becoming. She is lifting that noggen all on her own :)

Ada was helping me with the dishes in the kitchen and Oliver was standing watch over us all. 

Sleep training has lately felt like treading water. Working really hard to keep afloat but not seeming to make much progress for the work being expended. For the last two nights in a row, I have knelt by the crib on my knees and sang the girls to sleep, while rocking their little bellies with my hands as they work their binkies and stare up at me with heavy eyelids. I am not sure who has enjoyed this more, me or the babies. I remember my Mom singing and reading to me until I fell asleep at night. How safe I felt when I drifted off knowing that I was not alone. Aunt B used to sing to me in the dark of my room at the little white house at 311. Hearing her voice in the dark used to calm my fears about my parents being absent. I have been faithfully following this whole sleep training thing for 2 weeks now and yesterday I realized I might have been too rigid and possibly even misinterpreted something. There is still that initial bout of crying after their last feeding, and I am not letting them fall asleep in my arms, but I think comforting them while remaining next to the crib.. no matter how long it takes for them to drift off.. is more my speed this week. They slept for a longer period of time last night too. This is one of those moments when I really feel like a mother. Having those girls stop their crying to listen to my singing makes my (lately easily discouraged) heart soar.

!?!?!?!

Ok this is just too strange.. Today I saw a commercial that I was sure had to be a joke. The pretense was that some people end up married to their one night stands and the last frame of the commercial had the tag line "Life is short. Have an affair." I thought this had to be some sort of joke.. but no.. upon looking up the website I found that  the Ashley Madison Agency does indeed facilitate "married dating" and affairs. I don't know why I am shocked by this but it really got to me. It just makes me sad that someone has found a way to potentially make $$ off of broken homes and shattered lives. 

blerg

Blerg pretty much  describes the last week for me. I never got a shower before 3pm - blerg. The girls didn't nap super well - blerg. Margot wet through her diaper while laying on the bed and now I need to change the whole thing - blerg. Ada keeps biting when she is nursing- OUCH and yeah - blerg. Blah could be another word to describe my week .. as in looking for houses to rent around here leaves me feeling blah. 

The girls will be 10 weeks this Wednesday. Hard to believe. They had their 2 month check-up on Thursday and got their much dreaded shots. Thanks to the advice of Mom and Erin, I gave them Tylenol before they got their shots and I think that made a huge difference. I was crying in the car before we even got to the doctor's office, dreading the shots and what the girls reactions might be. Sure enough I balled when they actually got each shot - they cried too but I think I was crying harder. Particularly with Margot because she was asleep before the shot and woke up all happy and smiley then looked at me in horror when she felt the shot and started screaming. Terrible, just terrible. Bright side, they only cried briefly and were happy to be comforted by Mommy and Daddy after it was over and we actually left the office with quiet children. Thanks Tylenol. In case you are wondering, they each weighed 9 pounds 12 ounces. That's right, they weigh the same amount. Even the nurse was shocked, she said twins are usually pretty far apart.. at least 1/2 a pound. Not our girls :) They are super healthy of course and doing fantastically well. They slept most of the rest of that day and were feverish and pitiful the next day but after that they have been fine. Margot and Ada both broke my heart during the feverish period, looking at me with tears rolling down their cheeks and crying like sad little 4 year olds. It was  a more mature sort of crying that said "I don't feel good Mommy and that makes me sad and I am going to cry about just how sad I feel." We cried together. 

They are smiling a lot more now. No, I don't have a single picture of it yet. Our camera is full and we need to go and get the picture developed but - shockingly - just can't seem to find the time in there. Actually Stephen worked very hard to uploading them all online to send for development yesterday so we should have that accomplished soon. They both love to smile and talk to you during the post feeding diaper changes. I spend extra time with each talking to them and kissing their chubby cheeks to make them smile and coo. It's fun. Margot also gets pretty smiley when she wakes up in the morning or from a nap - if she has had some decent sleep. She seems to be a morning person. Ada needs a good cuddle when she wakes up but soon after enjoys smiling up at her mobile - she loves that thing. Artist in the making? 

I skipped Church yesterday. Yes, skipped it. Frankly I am exhausted and the thought of  doing what it takes to get us all to Church just about did me in so, I stayed in. Maybe next week. The sleep training is going well I guess. Some nights it takes 30 minutes and others its 1 hour and 30 minutes. Then they wake up around 2 and want to eat again - I feed one and as soon as she is done the other wakes and wants to eat.. this goes on until about 4:30 most nights. See why I am so tired? Sigh. Last night I started to wonder if I am crazy for doing this - but I know it is for the best and will be fantastic for them in the long run.. I am just ZONKED folks. 

We are looking for a new place to rent - we need more space. We knew this when we moved in so this comes as no surprise. We went to look at a couple of houses this weekend. The guy on Saturday stood us up - jerk. His house wasn't that great anyway, backed up to a very busy road and the big yard was mostly dirt and sand. We also did a drive by on a place downtown. This house is perfect for us. It's a little Craftsman (my absolute favorite home design) that has been fully restored with 3 bedrooms and hardwood floors, a deck in the back, porch in front ..beautiful.. unreal price. I knew that it was probably in a sketchy neighborhood and sure enough when I called the guy to see if we could go take a look he asked that we please drive by and look at the neighborhood first and we if we were still interested he would show us the house. So we drive over and sure enough, it's in a neighborhood that is being revitalized and as we drive along we see the diversity that we have been longing for. Nice looking people with nice looking homes - most of which have been remodeled and look really nice. Suddenly on the right we pass a "shopping center" with a Bail Bonds place and several other dark looking establishments - loads of people milling around in the parking lot.  Then we get to the street where our prospective home is located. Sure enough, it's on the very cusp of said waive of revitalization. There is a boarded up house next door and a vacant lot on the other side. A sign in the lot says "Garden of Hope" but there doesn't seem to have been any gardening going on for quite some time as it is completely overgrown. There is a "apartment complex" of sorts across the street that looks abandoned. So yeah, that adorable house is pretty much the only occupied looking space on the block. My heart sank. I would love to live in a diverse neighborhood, but it has to be somewhere with neighbors. If there had been homes on either side of this place with doors that I could knock on and introduce myself to the residents, I would have been thrilled.. but there were none. There probably will be sometime soon..but right now.. there were none. Stephen said he would worry about us, myself and the girls, being there without him during the day. How could there not be any neighbors!? Grr! I hate that there weren't any and I hate that I am not brave enough to insist that we give it a shot. I always wanted to be that person that could live anywhere.. but I just couldn't do it without neighbors. So sad. We drove around some other neighborhoods closer to where we live now - depressing. The architecture out there just makes me sick to my stomach. I would be depressed to live in some of these neighborhoods. Brick ranch houses from the 60s that would be perfectly wonderful except for the fact that people have tried to "modernize" them with things like white trim and wrought iron porch railing - again dazzling white. Those whose owners have embraced the style of their home look amazing.. but the rest.. blerg. I know the right next home is out there somewhere.. we just have to keep looking but the looking is pretty depressing. I am such an architecture snob. I am probably a snob in other areas as well but this particular area has always given me trouble. 

Alright, I am going to end this. I have blathered on long enough about things no one cares about and if I hurry, I might get a shower in before the girls wake up. 

Plus 2

It was very chilly when we took Daddy to work early this morning..

..so we had to bundle up in our favorite snuggly blankets from Aunt Mindy and our special Peruvian alpaca woven hats from Grandpa Larry...

..and our binkies of course. 

A very small Margot bean who decided to plant herself during play time. Meanwhile her sister was napping peacefully in the swing.. and yes I did move Margot into the crib.. but not until I had eaten my lunch ;) You never know how long such moments of peace and quiet will last and thus it is imperative that they be taken advantage of. 

Netflix arrived yesterday baring the second DVD of "John and Kate Plus Eight". Ever since we found out we were having twins, everyone under the sun has asked us if we have seen this show; to which we reply with a very lame "No..we don't have cable." Thankfully it was out on DVD and we have now watched both seasons.. are there more? What a fabulous confidence booster they are. We sit and watch them expertly managing their household with all the ups and downs that come along and we feel so relaxed.. so calm and blessed. I feel like I can take on the world after watching Kate make lunch for her 8. If she can do it.. man think of what I could do with all my energy! 

Keeping strict to the schedule has worked like a charm this week. They have napped in some way  shape or form every day. Last night it only took about 50 minutes to get them to sleep.. and they stayed asleep on their own until each woke for her respective early A.M. snack. Stephen helped out last night so we each took turns at the 3 minute marks. It's nice to share such things. It's nice to be married to someone who wants to share such things :)

Homecoming is tonight and we are planning to attend with the girls. They went to the game last Friday as well and did wonderfully so .. crossing fingers. Go Warriors!!! 

Yellow Baby

Ada and I waiting for Daddy to get home

When I was little I named my first doll "Yellow Baby" - she was yellow of course. Margot was doing a pretty good impression of Yellow Baby today. She wasn't interested in her morning nap and preferred to watch me clean up the kitchen and put away laundry from the comfort of her seat. 

Yesterday the girls turned 8 weeks old. I have been waiting for and dreading this day. Waiting for because it's just exciting to see them get older... dreading because this is the age when it is appropriate to start "sleep training" twins.. or so I have read. So I started last night. The process goes something like this. Instead of letting them fall asleep in our arms and them putting them in the crib, I put them down while they are still awake - right after their last feeding. I remind them that it is night time and thus time for sleeping, zip them into their sleep sacks kiss them goodnight and then leave the room. Inevitably they start crying at some point. I let the crying go on for 3-5 minutes then go back into the room and try to comfort them from the side of the crib without picking them up. If this doesn't work I pick them up and once they have stopped crying and are calm again, put them back down and leave the room. I think this went on for about an hour and a half last night.. so far tonight it's been about 45 minutes. I have a feeling this is going to be a long process but I am up for the challenge and I know once they learn to self comfort and put themselves to sleep our lives will be much easier in the long run and so will theirs. That said.. wshoo.. we are tired ya'll!! And it's only been 2 days!!! 

Sigh. The debate is on. I have a strong urge to mute the TV when Palin speaks because my blood pressure goes up when she starts speaking - I am so afraid of what she is going to say. It's like watching Bush give a national address, I am always so embarrassed for him when he flubs up his words. I wish Tina Fey was up there instead.