Thanksgiving and 6 months

We hosted our very first family Thanksgiving here at the house over the last weekend.  In my opinion it went quite well, even if I did hear the phrase "that's just not how my mom's turned out" several times (Its OK, honey, sentimentality between a son and mother is endearing).  I wasn't very stressed because I was very well prepared.  It was a bit easier because we didn't have our meal until Saturday, so I had help from the hubby for a couple of days before his family arrived.  I was able to plan a few things in advance, get the house the cleanest its ever been, and set my table.  I was so busy the day of however that I only had time to take some very poor pictures of my table and none of the food or people.  The whole event can sometimes be very anti-climactic, much like my photos.  You cook all day, sometimes for days at a time, and then you shove it all down in a matter of minutes.  This year John and I let everyone else eat while we each fed a baby, and then we got to our own plates.  Oh well, I am thankful for the babies and that's really what the season is about anyway.  We were grateful to see John's family in good health (with the exception of some coughs and sniffles) and to spend some much needed time with them.  Though short, the visit was pleasant and we are excited to see them again at Christmas.  Here is a very yellow lit shot of my white and grey table using my own dishes, my Great Grandmother's art deco china and my Grandmother's crystal.  Finally a reason to get this fun stuff out!

We are thankful for milk and bananas.  Oh and our fingers.

The Friday before we had the big meal Samuel and William turned 6 months old.  I can't even begin to believe that they are 6 months already.  Only the fact that they both are getting huge, sitting on their own, one is rolling and the other one has just started (as of today) scooting backwards reminds me of how much time has passed.  People say it is the first 6 months that is hard with twins.  I would say this is true.  Things are getting easier, but are by no means easy, especially with a needy two year old.  Now the boys are up to two meals a day on solid foods which makes meal times rather hard - and I once thought nursing was bad.  But the fun things and the milestones can now outweigh the hard stuff.

Happy Samuel

Happy William

They are so very happy (again - when they sleep well) and the best part of my day is going in to get them after a good nap and to get that big old gummy grin from both of them.  I didn't get this stuff much with Lillian, only on the weekends, and I forget that sometimes.  I have to check myself on a daily basis to take mental pictures of the good things because this will be the last time I get to see this stuff from my kids.  At least that is the plan.  John and I have had some bittersweet conversations lately.  This is just the time when babies get so stinking cute and fun that they make you kind of want more.  But then we have to remind ourselves of the plan, and that one more means we won't retire until we are 85 AND we could end up with 5 (incidence of twins increases if you've had them once).  Although it is sad this is the last first smile, last first giggle, last first crawl, last first walk we may get, we are so darn in love with all three kiddos that I think we are completely fulfilled and so incredibly lucky that we would rather just move on and enjoy every beautiful moment of growing up these kids are going to give us.

It took me 3 days to write this...

The weeks are flying.  It is almost Thanksgiving - the twins will be 6 months old!  This blog is supposed to keep people updated on our life, but I can't even keep up on our life.  I get about 30 minutes to myself on any given day, and sometimes writing is just not what needs to get done.  I have my time with John after the kids go to bed, but frankly, I'd rather spend that time with him.  Not simply because he is my husband, but because it is about the only adult interaction I get.

So since so many weeks have flown by, and I have so much to write about, I thought I would just make a general list of what is going on with the family since the end of October.

What is going on with Samuel and William:

Does it get any cuter than a sitting baby?

William is a rolling pin. Skinny, cylindrical, and all over the place with his little (or shall we say big - for his size) bobble head.  He rolls all over his crib and eventually ends up sleeping on his belly.  Will is also sitting pretty well unassisted for a minute or so at a time, but eventually topples onto that noggin.  He has suddenly become the more vocal of the two, screaming in glee when he wakes up.  It is so loud that yesterday I had to take him downstairs so as to avoid waking the other babies.  And we discovered two days ago, my littlest baby cut his two front teeth.  I've always been such a fan of the gummy Muppet grin.  Lillian had hers until 8 months, I thought for sure the boys would follow.  But here we are at 5 1/2 months with our first two teeth.

Sam is only rolling half-way.  He can go from belly to back, but the back to belly thing hasn't started yet.  Though I did catch him arching around twice yesterday, so he'll likely start soon.  When he rolls from belly to back, he gets very mad because he can't get his arms out of the way and ends up in this funny downward facing dog position with his butt in the air and then heaves himself over butt first.  Sam is also sitting extremely well, but I don't have a good photo of him yet.  We keep taking guesses as to who might crawl first and every day a new development causes the tides to shift.  Mainly, I just hope they don't crawl as early as Lilli did - two months from now.  I need more time!

They like to hold hands when they can catch each other.

Both boys are happy as can be - when they sleep enough.  They both laugh and smile a lot.  They've even started to notice their sister and at times think she is hilarious.  They still sleep great at night, though daylight savings recently took a chip out of that.  (I won't get started, but I would rather wake in the dark and have an extra hour of daylight at dinner time.  Who wouldn't?  The whole idea is illogical.)  Napping is another story.  These guys like to nap 30-45 minutes at a time.  Just in the last week they started to get a good hour and a half morning nap.  But the second nap has yet to follow.  Every once in a while they will go longer than 45 minutes, but it is usually only one of them.  So I get to spend some one on one time with the baby that gets up early.  I just have to be patient and believe that someday they will sleep when their sister does, and I can get something done.

Sometimes it is like feeding a drooling octopus.

The boys started on solids about a month ago.  A little cereal once a day.  Now we are through all of the plain veggies and I can't wait to start fruit!  They love their green beans though and I should probably just keep doing veggies for a while.  Needless to say, lunchtime is a bit crazy now and most of the time I have to eat after all the kids go down to nap, which most days, doesn't leave me much time before they wake up again.





What's going on with Lillian:

Does this kid look like trouble?

We now know what TWO means.  Every update I get from Baby Center is my two-year old child to a T.  She is as normal as she can be.  Smart as a whip, defiant, challenging.  She whines, she throws tantrums, she is mommy's little helper, she follows directions when she wants to and ignores them when she doesn't.  We've tried potty training a couple of times.  She clearly isn't ready.  In fact, I almost think we may have ruined it for ourselves by pushing a little too hard too soon.  She will be two and a half on Christmas day and we are not any closer to using the toilet than we were last Christmas day.

Now that we are stuck inside during the cold weather, I find that she is getting a little better at being able to play on her own for 10 or 15 minutes before she might need some attention from me.  It's rare, but it's starting to happen.  The other thing that cold weather brings in this house is more television.  I hate this and really don't want it on around the babies so much, but at the same time, she doesn't play well on her own yet and I have two babies I have to feed and diaper and entertain in addition to doing these things for her.  I think it likely won't ruin her as long as we get into some sort of preschool program next year.

What's going on with Monica and John:

Lillian's homemade Crayola costume.

Halloween was chaos this year.  Fun, but at the same time, a total pain in the ass.  We went to the annual neighborhood bbq and bouncy house thing up the street around 5.  Then we ran home just in time to meet the first trick-or-treaters.  At which time the headache I'd been nursing for a couple of hours became almost blinding.  John took off with Lilli to go trick or treating with the neighbor girls, while I attempted to change Hanz and Franz for bed and get them fed without passing out.  I nursed and put they boys down.  I threw a small bucket of candy outside on the steps and it was demolished by the time the boys went down.  John came home, and I took Lilli out for a few more houses (I was feeling better by this time).  She did pretty well for herself, but now I remember my parents' dismay every year at the end of October.  I understand why they would have rather ignored the day altogether.  I hate having that much candy around for her to eat.  She loves it.  That apple didn't fall far.

John thought of Hanz and Franz.  I think it is hilarious.

John and I made it out again just about a week and a half ago while my mom was visiting.  We went to El Patron, our favorite Mexican place.  We like to think we helped this restaurant survive because we discovered it when they first opened and frequented for happy hour when we were first together.  Best margarita's in town.  And as of two Saturday's ago - still the best Mexican food in town in my humble opinion.  Needless to say, I had me a couple of those margaritas.  Which I then topped off with a whiskey drink at the Tavern in PV when meeting my brother and sister-in-law for some much needed social interaction without kids.  It was nice to actually talk to them (or slur to them) without being tugged on by a child.

We got family photos taken during the colors this fall.  We think they turned out really well, considering...  Lillian is a ham, but the boys don't have a clue what's going on yet.  So we'll have to wait until they are 9 or 10 months and get them photographed again.  We had a friend of the family do the photos, J Robert Schraeder Photography.  I'd put some up, but I don't have permission and I also wouldn't want to spoil our Christmas card...

Long ago I wrote a blog about me and was supposed to follow up, if not just to hold myself accountable.  Just in time for the Holidays, my post-pregnancy body is just getting worse.  For a while there I felt pretty good.  I'm down to about 4 pounds less than my pre-pregnancy weight, and my clothes fit only ok.  Great right?  Well, I have no muscle tone left and haven't obviously worked out in what seems like a lifetime.  I have no color, my hair is still falling out in sheets, I have a terrible skin rash that I get when nursing, and my belly is, shall we say, NEVER going to be the same.  Oh well, I got two healthy babies out of it right?  My point here is, I'm starting to feel just a little bit run over by a truck.  The fatigue of having infants is just replaced by the lack of time or energy to do anything for myself.  And as much as I love nursing, I don't think it's helping me.  Great for the babies, but depleting my body of what vitamins and calcium I might actually have left.  It won't be too much longer before I wean them.  And after the Holidays I must stop eating sugar.  I think I've probably said that before...

John and I are hosting our very first Thanksgiving this year for his family.  Instead of trying to travel with all the kids, we are having everyone here.  I am very much looking forward to it and can't wait to set my first fancy table.  But I am a little apprehensive about my first turkey and getting everything hot at the same time.  I guess if it's terrible, we always have alcohol!

So I think that's mainly everything of late.  I'm sure a lot will happen in the next month or two and I will try my best to keep up with it all.  Happy Holidays everyone!