Dancin' Baby

Ian's dance moves crack me up.

He just can't help but start boppin' that booty when he hears some music.

Life As We Know It: {Almost} One Year

We have survived eleven months of having twins. Almost a year. I think that is something to celebrate! It has been a lot of fun, a lot of crazy, a lot of learning, and a lot of growing.

I've been wishing I would have written "Life As We Know It" posts for quite awhile for prior months {and maybe I still will go back and pull whatever I remember from the dungeons of my cob-web filled mind, and mix it with Jesse's impeccable memory and conjure up "Life As We Knew It" posts} but I'm at least going to write about our life right now.

These hooligans still wake up once a night on a typical night {usually between 3am and 5am} and appear to be STARVING. It's like we don't feed these children. They have slept through the entire night but it's not consistent {Except of course this week when they have slept through almost every night this week!}, and if it's ever one baby sleeping through, it's Ian. Those fat stores do him some favors! :)

They wake up somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30am and after I pop my head through the doorway and giggle with them, I pull them out and change their diapers. This is no small task when the baby being changed is trying to roll away and the other baby is either trying to grab his brother's belly button, crawl all over me, crawl through my legs, or pull out as many wipes as possible. Sometimes they get clothes at this point, but most days it remains pajamas.
{I}

Next up is playing for a few minutes while this mama tries to officially wake up and then it's time for breakfast. I often pull out the griddle for pancakes or a pan for eggs, and Briggs is instantly at my legs begging to be held. He is always my kitchen buddy and sits on my hip with one hand on my shoulder and the other hand holding a plastic spoon. We create pancakes while Ian pulls all the letters off the fridge and giggles to himself. We summon Daddy and we all eat breakfast.

After tummies are full, play time beckons and time is spent pushing random things like diaper boxes, cake pans, and books around the floor, opening and closing doors, dancing, and playing with toys. I can't help but join in and high chair trays and dishes will be attended to later.

Once play time turns into eye rubbing somewhere around 10am, I may top them off with a bottle and it's time for a nap for babies, and some quiet time for mama. It's first filled with a shower and getting ready and secondly with cleaning, dishes, blogging, slipping a few kisses in to their daddy, and/or anything else that can or needs to be done. They usually sleep around an hour and a half to two hours.

I pull each of them out of their beds, Briggs likes to pull the cord to turn on the light, and off they go to play. The ball popper is a favorite pass time right now. Briggs mans the button and Ian eats the balls. It appears to be a fair exchange, and they both love dancing to the music. They also love knocking all the books off the shelf and reading them, go through the container drawers, sorting the mail, unrolling the toilet paper, playing in the cupboards, pushing on the lid of the trash can, pushing their walkers around, and pulling out more wet wipes.

Next up is lunch. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have become a favorite, along with vienna sausages, grilled cheese, quesadillas, apple sauce, and fruit bars. These boys also drink a whole lot of water. After lunch, it's more playing. 

When the weather is nice, we go for a walk. My favorite part is watching four little feet bouncing as I push our double wide stroller. The boys love it and have to sit forward so they are sure to see everything. My second favorite part is when the teenage boy walking down the street talking on his cell phone stops to tell me how cute my children are.

Their second nap comes around three and this mama picks up where I left off on the to-do list. Or sometimes when that three o'clock wall hits, I catch a quick nap too. This is usually when I try to get something ready for dinner as well. When I hear little squeaks from their room a couple hours later, all three of us are excited to be reunited. 

The playing commences with reading stories, spending time in the kitchen, playing the piano, and sometimes spoiling the kiddos with an episode of Sesame Street or Super Why. The boys tend to play really well together and I try to get dinner finished and we beg Daddy to be done with work and come eat and play.

We're getting better at having dinner together as a family, and the boys do a good job of eating about anything we eat. They especially like lasagna and chicken enchiladas, which is a good thing because those seem to be our staples right now. Then it's bath time and quality time as our little family of four. We get down on the floor, snuggle, tickle, roll around, laugh, dance, throw the boys, and soak in every moment together. We top off the boys with a bottle, read scriptures, pray, and lay them down in their cribs. Lots of kisses are given, Ian especially likes them between the bars, and we walk out wishing them a good night. We're grateful they go to bed so easily.

Then comes the massive clean up of the front room, dining room table, and kitchen so we can start clean and fresh in the morning. Two of my favorite parts of the clean up are putting the letters back on the fridge and the books on the shelves because I just know how much the boys love knocking them down in the morning. If we're feeling ambitious we'll make it to the gym and if not, Jesse and I retreat to our room to watch a couple of episodes of "Call the Midwife" or "Arrow." 

My life may be monotonous and thankless, but I love it nonetheless! 

My little boys hold my heart and I'm going to soak it up while they still hold my hand and kiss my cheeks.

{B}

{I} 

Note to Self.

On the next go around, don't ever stop breastfeeding, ever.

You may have thought it was a good idea to stop this time because your body was understandably tired and your babies weren't as interested, but you should have sucked it up and pushed on.

Meet our newest friend, Sami

Yes, a nebulizer system. 

The plague just will not leave our house. 

After a month of diarrhea, lingering mild coughs, eye infections, more occasional diarrhea, cold like symptoms, more eye infections, severe diaper rash, and now awful barking coughs and faucets for noses, the littles have been diagnosed with croup and double ear infections.

And this all started about a week or so after I stopped nursing.

You better believe I'm not giving up so easily next time. Maybe I'll be one of those moms who nurses until they're 5. {Ok I probably won't go THAT far.}

I am very frustrated with how sick everyone has been. I knew kids got sick, but I still was not prepared for how long and awful sicknesses could be. It's probably good no one told me though, because I may have hesitated a bit more before having them.

And for the record. Buying this one nebulizer is about the ONLY time we have gotten a 2 for 1 deal with twins. 

Seriously, whoever says that most definitely does not have twins.  

TWO sick visit payments

TWO sets of prescriptions

TWO noses to wipe all day

TWO sets of hacking coughs

TWO sad looking faces

TWO little boys who don't feel good.

It makes this mama sad.

Fortunately they do pretty good at staying happy even when they feel crummy.

{B} 

{B} 

{Ian was scrunched up cheesing it and I must have taken the picture at the end of the scrunch. Cracked me up.}

{I} 

Briggs sounds like he's crying, but he's really laughing so hard he can barely stand it.

I almost cried.

When I found this itty bitty preemie diaper behind the boys' dresser today.

When did their little bums get so big? 

C is for Cookie

I gave the boys warm chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven and oh boy was that a hit.

Especially for Briggs

{B}

{B} 

{B} 

{B} 

{Ian was a little more cautious.}

{I}

{I}

Mozart

Ever since Ian discovered he can be up high while he plays the piano and refuses to just stand and play, I've tried to get creative to help him not get frustrated.

I'm sure this is how Mozart started out.

Cute Single Sock...