Matchy-matchy

I'm kind of anti-dressing the twins in matching outfits...  But we were at our favorite consignment store a while back and these were on final markdown for less than $2/each.  So I couldn't resist!  Really just because I was imagining a really fun photo shoot :)  And while I still want to take them outside (once they're actually sitting up) and get some good pictures in their outfits, we got some fun indoor pictures:

 

 

Elizabeth likes to fling herself around whenever I try to position her...



Oh wait, so does Mary Claire...

Babies in motion!  Just try to catch us before we fall off the couch, Mom!

You're gonna peekaboo us?  Funny!

SO funny!!!  Mary Claire can't even keep her tongue in her mouth, that's how funny!

Gotta love the coy expressions...

Mom...  She's SUCKING my SHOULDER!

NO TOUCHING!  MAKE HER STOP!!!

Okay, let's try moving them...  Nope, Mary Claire would rather play with a toy.

But Elizabeth will smile and flail!!!

Or just smolder, that's cool too.

Aaaaand there's only so long I can take pictures these days before they start rolling away!  We'll try this again another day :)

WIW Pentecost Sunday

John Paul has been excited for Pentecost since Easter.  He's been talking about it nonstop, so when I saw Catholic Icing's Pentecost craft, I KNEW that was something I could handle. 

 

Pentecost crowns!

 

"My Catholic cake is made with a Wi-fi icing!!!" He said, looking at the Catholic Icing website...

 

He was a little upset that there was no Ascension song on the Pentecost page, so he made up his own:

 

"The Ascension Song" by John Paul (sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques")

Tra la la la, Tra la la la,
The Ascension, The Ascension!
Tongues of fire, tongues of fire,
Puzzle pieces. Puzzle pieces.
... 

 Can you tell what distracted him?

 

And last night the smoke alarm started going off so of COURSE Andrew had to start singing, "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!"  to which John Paul responded, "The roof is on fire!  BECAUSE IT'S ALMOST PENTECOST SUNDAY!!!"

 

Yeah, I'm raising a liturgy nerd...

 

So anyway, we had to make sure to get as much red as possible into our outfits.  John Paul suggested he wear his red sweatpants, but that idea was quickly vetoed in favor of seersucker pants and a red sweater vest.  Cecilia's dress is as close as we could come - the flowers look kind of flame-y, right?  And I have red shoes, but nothing else...

 

Picture taking was not our finest this week:

 

Ohhhhh so awkward...  But sadly, it's the best we got!

 

I was feeling gray and gloomy because the weather was disgusting...  So I dressed accordingly?

 

Skirt:  H&M

Sweater:  Express

Shoes:  Nine West

Exhaustion:  c/o Mary Claire, who decided 3-5 AM was the time to coo and blow raspberries.  And one of the lovely things about twins is that you can't tag-team this sort of thing, because Andrew had to snuggle Elizabeth in bed to keep her asleep.  Yay.

 

The kids did NOT wear those hats to Mass - I convinced John Paul he didn't want his tongue of fire getting wet and limp...  And Cecilia wanted to wear her raincoat with a hoodie, so she had to take her hat off.

 

Mass behavior?  Cecilia was pretty bad, bad enough to be sent to her room when we got home.  John Paul was pretty good, and got a lollipop from the Knights of Columbus on the way out of Mass.

 

Hopefully I'll have my act together enough to make the kids "Pentecost Sundaes" tonight after dinner.  Or maybe I'll fall asleep before we even make it that far...

 

Linking up with Fine Linen and Purple - go check out some less-dreary Mass-goers!

Quick Takes/Pinishers

--1--

 

Andrew has been gone for bedtime twice this week (for a rehearsal and a concert, I'm considering asking for 50% of what he makes as hardship pay...).  Bedtime by myself is NOT fun.  Here's how it goes:

 

- Get big kids in bathtub.  Make SURE that there's a "mystery color" (a couple of drops of food coloring in a plastic cup) ready to go so that John Paul doesn't freak out.  This actually makes him not fight bathtime at ALL, so it's worth it to me.

 

-  Get babies naked and put prefolds all over their rug to catch the inevitable pee.

 

-  Let babies play while naked, go yell at John Paul for spitting water in Cecilia's face/pouring water on Cecilia's head/telling Cecilia that he's going to push her, all of which make her sob.  Tell Cecilia to stop threatening to bite John Paul, making HIM cry.

 

-  Start a load of diapers or other laundry

 

-  Start diapering babies, who are now sobbing because MOM LEFT THEM ALONE FOR MINUTES!!!

A couple weeks ago Mary Claire got so tired of waiting for me that she just babbled for a while and then fell asleep naked...

 

-  Hear water pouring on the bathroom floor, tell big kids to drain the water (you bet I'm not washing them tonight - we'll do it tomorrow!).

 

-  Babies are crying more.  Get onesies on and swaddle them.  Put Mary Claire in the swing downstairs with lights and music to lull her to sleep (while she cries for a few minutes.  I'm sorry, Dr. Sears, sometimes I can't meet all my baby's needs when I have 3 other children to attend to...).  Pick up Elizabeth and start nursing her.

 

-  Put hooded towels on big kids and tell them to dry themselves after they take one last pee in the potty.  Hand them toothbrushes with toothpaste and let them brush & rinse themselves tonight, since there's no way I'm going to be able to do that with one hand.

 

-  Tell big kids to go get jammies on.  Balance Elizabeth on lap while still nursing to help Cecilia with her shirt. 

 

-  Read a book on the couch with the big kids while nursing.  Prayer, song, tuck in and lights out!

 

-  Continue nursing Elizabeth for another 30 minutes or so.  Put her in the crib and sit down with a sigh of relief.

 

(Then of course, Mary Claire wakes up to be nursed, John Paul and Cecilia wake up to pee, Elizabeth wakes up again...  I don't know how single moms do it!!!)

 

--2--

 

Yikes, longest #1 ever.  That could have been a post on its own...

 

Anyway, Andrew left right after the big kids went to bed tonight.  Which is normally fine, except the babies did not particularly feel like going to sleep.  So after an hour of nursing, I put Mary Claire in the swing (Elizabeth doesn't go in there swaddled, she rolls herself over...) and Elizabeth was ALL smiles!!!

 

 

Which was amazing considering how fussy she was for me all day...  But we know that babies have that special super-power to turn into the cutest, most engaging little things RIGHT when it's time for them to fall asleep!

 

--3--

 

So here I was with a swaddled baby in a great mood when I suddenly remembered a pin I had seen...

 

Draw eyebrows on a baby and then take pictures?  Yes.  Yes, yes and YES. 

 

Andrew wasn't here to stop me.  He decided to go see the new Star Trek movie in the same week that he had already been gone for two bedtimes.  So, inspired by Spock, I went to work with an eyeliner pencil.  Elizabeth was SO happy (in a non-sarcastic way - she thought this was REALLY REALLY fun!!!)!

I contemplated not washing it off and getting a hilarious reaction from Andrew when he saw her like this in the middle of the night.  But then I realized it would probably rub off on our sheets, so I cleaned her forehead.

 

And I figured, this was DEFINITELY an adventure!  An adventure in finding out if my husband thinks this is hilarious or borderline child abuse...  But really, he only has himself to blame!

 

So I'm doubling my link-up fun and linking up with Dorian's Pinisher series!

 

Let's be honest, kid's gonna be STUNNING once she actually grows some eyebrows!  And it's just not fair that her twin has eyebrows and she doesn't...  6 months is plenty of time to grow some, I don't know what her problem is :P

 

 

And how could this not be considered a success when it yields such amazing super-villain-type results as this:

 

 

--4--

 

Okay sorry, that was another really long one...

Mary Claire loves bow ties already.  Good girl.

--5--

 

I took John Paul to work with me today and he LOVED it!  He's been begging to come with me for weeks, but the schedule wouldn't work and now that we're in testing season things were thrown off enough for me to bring him in.

 

He packed his little frog backpack for me - I put two of his favorite books in and told him to pick one on his own.  His choice?  The Way of the Cross.  Of course.

 

Then he put his backpack on and waited by the door for almost an hour before we needed to go.  Kid was EXCITED!  He was SO good the whole time (except when he kept putting markers into the safe in our room...  We'll get them back eventually) and sang with my choirs and danced all around the room during warm-ups because he was so happy, and then spent a while on my laptop playing PBS Kids games (the first time he's been allowed to and he almost died he was so happy). 

 

Huge success, but not something that's going to happen often because I got VERY little done.  But hey, I made his day :)

 

--6--

Ah, Cecilia.

It seems as though the potty inspires some of our most amazing conversations:

Cecilia, in the bathroom:  Mom, COME TO ME!!!
Me:  No.
Cecilia:  Mom, COME WATCH ME POOP!
Me:  Cecilia, you don't need me to watch you poop.
Cecilia:  MOOOOOM!  HOLD ME WHILE I POOP!
Me:  *sigh*  I relented and went to the bathroom to keep her company during this difficult time.  As usual, we had a conversation about her poop.
Cecilia:  What comed out of my booty? (EVERY time.  Every single time she asks this question.  How can she possible not know the answer by now?)
Me:  Poop.  Poop is coming out of your booty.
Cecilia:  For eatin'
Me:  No, we don't eat poop.
Cecilia:  What animal eats poop?
Me:  No animals eat poop.  It would make them sick.
Cecilia:  Um.  Maybe a cow.
Me:  No, not even a cow would eat poop.
Cecilia:  Or a horse.  What do horses eat?
Me:  Hay.
Cecilia:  And pigs eat corn!  And chickens can eat corn and seeds and bugs!  And birds can eat seeds and bugs!

Yes.  Good.  Glad we had this bonding moment on the can.

 

--7--

Cecilia, screaming and almost in tears:  A BUG!!!!!!!  *runs to me*
Me:  It's okay Cecilia, it's just a big ugly bug that can't hurt you.
Cecilia:  Wike a ugwy pwincess!
Me: 
Cecilia, snuggling into me:  I snuggle Mom, it-a not hurt me...
Me:  That's right, sweet girl.
Cecilia:  Da fwy's name is Minnie Mouse!  And, da odder fwy is Mickey Mouse!  And Goofy!  And Pwuto and Donald Duck and Daisy Duck!  And...  Tootles.  And Choo-Choo...

They have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book.  Can you tell they're obsessed?

 

And there you have it!  I'm just going to go ahead and post this on Thursday night because I don't think anybody should be denied the baby eyebrows...

 

Linking up to Jen at Conversion Diary, the most scorpion-tastic blog I read!

6 months in with twins

HOW has it already been 6 months???  Here's the twin update that you all haven't been asking for!

"Hey.  Did you see she's got the camera?"
"Duh, what do you think I'm smiling for???"

 

I had the sheets from their 5.5-month appointments (our pediatrician's office is weird, that's the actual scheduled appointment) that showed all their stats.  Then I very kindly left them right within John Paul's reach and he colored all over them and deposited them someplace more useful, probably the recycling bin (at least he recycles) (and at least the doctor's office keeps those records anyway). 

But I'm pretty sure they were both on the growth charts, Elizabeth around the 3rd percentile, Mary Claire around the 10th.  But their heads are both in about the 50th percentile, because we breed for head circumference.  Who needs hats that fit when instead you can have a head so big that you outgrow your shirt collar before the length or width?

"Love.  Just love you SO much!"
"Ummm get her away from me???"

Accomplishments:

As of this morning they have both pooped on the cream-colored rug in their bedroom.  You may think we're crazy for having a cream-colored rug, but it hides the spit-up and we can spray all the rug cleaning stuff all over it and not have to worry about discoloration!

Sometimes they sleep well.  Sometimes they don't.  They're still not on any sort of nap schedule (I think we'll get there in a month or two), so nighttime sleep is wonky.  Eventually they will sleep well most of the time.  Right now we're surviving somehow (caffeine and adrenaline).

Elizabeth likes to roll over WHILE swaddled, so we can't put her in the swing because it won't buckle around a burrito, so once she's up for the first time she's in bed with us for the rest of the night, either nursing or smushed into Andrew's armpit. 

Mary Claire usually sleeps for a longer first stretch, and then nurses and sleeps in the swing or stays in bed.  The lovely thing about them sleeping long stretches is that then they wake up and eat a LOT and puke a lot of it all over the bed or themselves because they weren't ready to cram their little bellies full of ALL THE MILK.  So sweet.  Not. 

But I'm glad that we don't have to be out of bed warming up bottles, and I fall back to sleep most of the time.  And Andrew's a saint and gets them from their cribs when they wake up the first time.  EVERY night, because I told him that I can't fall back to sleep if I get out of bed to get them (because I can't, not because I'm an excuse-making jerk) and if I'm going to be nursing them for hours and hours every night I need what little sleep I can get.

 

Their hair is growing!  Finally!  Still pitiful compared to other  babies, but we take what we can get over here in BaldLand.  From what I can tell, it's the exact shade of John Paul's and Cecilia's hair - a very slightly strawberry blonde that will turn light brown with red & blonde highlights.

 

We're getting closer to real mobility - Elizabeth rolls all over the place and scoots herself backwards on her back, Mary Claire rolls a little bit but prefers to stay on her back trying to grab her feet.

 

 

They love to play in their jumperoo, and Elizabeth is a much bigger fan of all toys at this point.  She's happier to be put down to play, but Mary Claire is happier at the end of the day when she gets naked time on their rug (because her feet are easiest to reach then).

 

Still cloth diapering, still breastfeeding, no solid foods yet (still need to get another high chair, plus we'll wait until they're 6 months adjusted, so 3 weeks from now, minimum).  I was seriously tempted to let Elizabeth suck on a hunk of chicken at Costco tonight, but she settled down so I didn't hand it over...  Just kidding (not really).

 

They still only really laugh at John Paul and Cecilia, and mostly just when they're jumping.  Andrew and I have NOTHING on the big kids!

 

It's exhausting, but I can't imagine just having one of them!

 

Kiddo quotes

Cecilia, sitting on the potty:  Juice in da potty!

Me:  No Cecilia, there's no juice in the potty...

Cecilia:  What comed out of my booty?

Me, looking:  ...  Diarrhea.

Cecilia:  Oh.  It's juice!

Me:  No Cecilia, it's not juice.

Cecilia:  Juice for dwinkin'!

Me:  Yes, Juice is for drinking.  But that's not juice.

Cecilia, matter-of-factly:  It's just juicy.

 

Cecilia's current birthday wish list:

 

A pink bicycle

A pink helmet

A purple ballerina dress

A pink pony

A pink cowboy hat

A pink mug ("It-a be my OWN mug!")

A purple toothbrush

Striped pajamas (already has some)

A pillow (already has two)

Pink sandals (already has a pair)

A kitty mask

A tiara

 

Basically everything she sees, she wants.  So she tells me "Maybe I get it for my BIRFDAY!!!"  Hope she's not disappointed come January...

 

Pretty much the entire Oriental Trading Company catalog is on her wish list.

 

John Paul, after I got him up from his nap:  I'm still reading The World of Pooh.

He furiously turns the last few pages

John Paul:  It has 314 pages!

Me:  Wow, that's a long book.

John Paul:  Pictures! 

He runs to the potty, peeking out from behind the door

John Paul:  I LIKE peeing in the potty!!!

Me:  That's good...

John Paul:  I puked in my puking bowl.  When I was sick.  And my tummy was full of strawberry yogurt!

 

Yet another deep talk with John Paul.

 

 

Andrew says we don't need a swing set because the kids will get tired of it after a week.  Meanwhile, Cecilia is using his back as a slide.  Methinks he will see my reason eventually...

 

 

This picture is from the same day - it was about 80 degrees out and I suggested Cecilia change from her polka dot shirt into something cooler.  She ran down the hall yelling, "A T-SHIRT!!!  TO DWINK TEA!!!"

 

Then she came back with a pair of plaid shorts and a long-sleeved zebra-print shirt.  And would NOT be swayed into changing either pattern.  Ah, my little fashionista.