Healthy competition

When we found out we were having a boy and a girl, I breathed a little sigh of relief. I thought that with one of each, there would be much less competition and comparison (than if we had two girls or two boys--who's cuter, who's taller, who goes on more dates, blah, blah). I never thought that A and I would be actually be creating competition for these babies. For example, a pretend conversation between the babies that we made up last week:

N: I can roll over from front to back.
A2: So what--have you seen my chin rolls? I've got at least a pound on you, sister.
N: Whatever. I'm just watching my girlish figure.
A2: And have you seen me eat? I finish a whole bottle in the time it takes you to eat two ounces!
N: Please. I've already got everyone charmed with my flirtatious smiles.
A2: Have you heard me laugh? I've got belly laughs that would outcharm your smiles any day...

Thankfully, A2 rolled over today, a whole week and a half after his sister. Phew. We were starting to worry he'd be woefully behind her in development. :) :) :)

Poor kids--they've got crazies for parents.

Eight is Great!

Happy eighth birthday to S! I can't believe my little girl is eight years old! It really doesn't seem that long ago that she was a chubby little baby, entertaining people in church with her silly faces. And now we get to enjoy her all over again with N, the perfect reincarnation of her big sister, flirty smiles and all.

S is such a sweet and happy girl. She loves to learn, and her teacher couldn't praise her enough when we had a parent/teacher conference a few weeks ago. She's learning to write letters in class right now and yesterday, she got a lot of birthday letters from classmates that said things like, "You are so nice." "You're my best, best friend." "You have such a great laugh." (She does, by the way.) I'm so thankful that S is such a good friend to others. She's such a good example for her brothers and sister. But I'm most proud of her decision to be baptized. The big day is next Saturday and we couldn't be more excited. Happy birthday, sweetie! We love you!

Harvest

Fall is my favorite time of year. Not necessarily Halloween, because I'm a scaredy-cat at heart, but I love pumpkins, the changing leaf colors, cooler temps, and of course, the food! On Monday, we went to Cornbelly's. It wasn't too cold, so that was good. The next day, we picked a few pumpkins from Grandma's pumpkin patch to display on our porch. I had a great idea to pose the twins in the middle of a circle of pumpkins, but it was super windy that day and I wasn't about to torture them for a picture. So, I tried to do it indoors. Unfortunately, little babies who can't sit up by themselves tend to lean a lot, and leaning makes the pumpkins themselves fall down. Oh, well. They're still cute pictures.

Lullaby

Last night, as A and I were feeding the babies for the last time before turning in, Conan O'Brien mentioned (on his show, of course, he wasn't actually in our living room) that since probably a lot of his viewers were parents with newborns, he wanted to sing those babies to sleep. Recognizing a perfect photo opportunity, we put the babies on a pillow right in front of the TV, and let Conan sing them to sleep.


A2 screamed his head off, and N found the whole thing just plain disturbing.

Sorry, Conan.

Complaints

I'm tired of headaches. This is my second migraine in a week's time. I'm tired of blind spots, wanting to throw up because of the pain, and the after effects that seem to linger for a few days.

I'm tired of messes. A took the boys camping in the desert for a few days. I was so happy to have them come home yesterday, but not happy about the mess they brought with them. S and I quickly realized over the weekend that it's really the two boys (T and H) who make the big toy messes around here. She rarely even plays in the toy room anymore.

I'm tired of loud children. It is much, much quieter without T and H around. Within just a few hours of them returning yesterday, they both had been sent to their room for swordplay that barely avoided breaking the TV. I love them both dearly, but they are very loud and very crazy 99.9% of the time.

I'm tired of general disobedience, rudeness, and selective deafness. "H, let's do your homework. "No, I don't want to do homework." "T, please get in your carseat and put on your seatbelt." (He was still scrambling into his seatbelt as I was backing out of the garage.) "S, get your coat on and your teeth brushed. The carpool will be here soon." (5 minutes later--same request. Carpool honks and still no coat on.)

If you're planning on writing a comment/calling me and reminding me that there are much bigger problems in the world and I shouldn't let the small stuff get to me, please don't. I know these things, and I usually do a pretty good job of telling myself that my life is good and I shouldn't complain. But--remember the migraine? I'm in a bad mood and I'd like to stay there for a while.

Update: T and I just danced in the kitchen for a bit, and I may feel slightly better.

Remembering

A post yesterday from another friend expecting twins (seriously, there's something in the water!) has got me all nostalgic. I keep thinking about when we found out, the shock when the ultrasound tech showed me those two tiny sacs, and all of the emotions and worry that came after.

When we found out we were expecting twins, a good friend (whose precious twin girls weren't even two months old yet) told me right away how great it was to have twins. I remember thinking, "She's only been doing this for a while and already she thinks it's great. Maybe this won't be so bad after all!"

And now, my little ones are just over two months. Sure, the first month (at least) was a complete and total blur. You couldn't pay me enough money to relive it. Seriously. And just once, I'd like to feed these babies and be able to really relax, without having to take the bottle out of N's mouth every five swallows so she doesn't gulp, watch her like a hawk to make sure she doesn't puke, and give her a 30 minute break in the middle to cut down on puking episodes.

But really, these little people are so, so sweet. They sleep pretty darn well at night. They sleep (for the most part) pretty darn well during the day. They smile, coo, and even laugh. They're fun to dress up in matching outfits. And surprisingly, going out and about with our whole family is pretty amusing as well. Twins make for quite the spectacle on their own, but who knew I would love watching people's faces as they count up my kids and realize that yes, they're all ours! It's pretty hilarious, that's for sure.

I'm reminded of a comment left by another friend and twin mom when I posted the birth story: "Isn't it wonderful to look at these two little ones and think about how they wanted to come together?"

Yep, pretty wonderful.

Photo Shoots

Lest you think we've forgotten that we have three children besides the twins, here are a few pics of the older kids.

Also, a funny comment from the T-man. A was restoring a painting of Abraham Lincoln in PhotoShop for work and T said, "Who's that?" When A told him who it was, T said, "Oh yeah. He went to my school when he was a little boy." Oh, the mind of a three year old, to think that he knows everybody, even the people who died 150 years ago.

Of course, I've saved the best for last. As my husband was madly trying to get them to smile at the same time, he calls this photo, "A2 thinks Dad's jokes are hilarious. N? Not so much."
Don't worry, N. Sometimes I don't think his jokes are all that funny either.

Baby steps

After reading a post by my fabulous friend Melinda (who I look up to in all aspects of life, but particularly for her ability to glean wisdom and humor out of just about every experience), I started thinking about balance--specifically, about balancing my emotions. I can be a fairly relaxed person sometimes, but throw my children into the mix and I can get fairly unhinged. If T were to say, pee in his underwear and his shorts and all over the bathroom floor and maybe a little of the carpet, too (thankfully, he rarely does this anymore), I am not exactly calm about the situation. I don't necessarily yell and scream about things, but it's more ranting in my head about extra laundry and pee on floors and why can't he try a little harder to get to the toilet faster.

I've noticed this happening with the babies as of late. A2 is back to not taking great naps (he goes in cycles and it drives me nuts). It's not a huge deal in terms of work stuff. I learned to type one-handed and read documents while bouncing a baby on my hip a long time ago. It's more about the chain reaction it causes, or the one I worry that it will cause. If A2 takes a crappy nap, then he'll get overtired; he'll start crying and probably wake up his sister, who will also get overtired. I find myself hissing at the older kids if they so much as speak above a whisper when both babies actually happen to be sleeping. And then I worry that bad naps will mean bad night sleeping; on and on and on.

>>Insert huge deep breath here.<<

Basically, I really need to work on not letting tiny things become huge things in my head. I'm great at calming down other people and helping them realize that mole hills don't need to turn into mountains, but I'm not so super at making myself realize that. Small problems don't need to turn into huge catastrophes. When my children leave toothpaste all over their bathroom (which they do every morning and night--does toothpaste really need to go on the hand towel?), it's not the end of the world. If they want to make a mess, fine; they just have to do better at cleaning things up. When N pukes all over me yet again, it's nothing a change of clothes won't fix, right?

My husband keeps saying that if we're going to handle having five kids, we've got to become more laid-back and let more of the small stuff go. Giving up control of every minute detail??!! How can this be a good thing??!!

I have found lately that giving the older kids more jobs helps with my peace of mind. If they're going to get a bounty of crumbs on the kitchen floor at every meal, then they should vacuum them up. In the words of Leo Marvin (and Bob, for that matter), baby steps. It's all about baby steps.