Another set of twins?

No, not another set of actual twins around here (thank goodness!) but when T got his hair cut recently, we realized that we have two boys who look a ton alike. With T's usual mop of hair, we hadn't noticed it as much. Now, I call them by the wrong names even more than I did before. :)

Oh no you didn't!

Yesterday, after taking H to school, I brought the twins inside and deposited them (in their carseats) on the kitchen floor. I told T to finish his juice from lunch while I brought the empty garbage can back inside the garage and got the mail from the mailbox. I was gone for about two minutes total. When I came back inside, T was sitting in a corner of the living room by the piano, as if he was hiding. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "My pants are wet." I asked him if he had peed or just spilled juice on them. He said he had spilled. When he stood up, I saw that it was a tiny spot of juice. "No big deal," I said.

While N was still in her carseat, I tried to get her to drink the last of her bottle (a common occurrence around here). I noticed there was a small stain on her blanket. Then I realized I was standing in a puddle (luckily, I didn't have socks on--I hate that). I quickly surmised that my darling three year-old boy must have drunk his juice standing next to his sister and then spilled (most likely while leaning into her seat to "talk to her"). There was juice on two blankets, all over her clothes, the floor, on the carseat fabric, on the carseat itself, and leaked through the cracks in the carseat onto the floor.

Now, if it had just been water, it wouldn't have bugged me. I would have still had to change N's clothes, but water dries. Water does not stain. Water is not sticky. But he wasn't drinking water. He was drinking juice (a rare occurrence around here). So, after sending T to timeout, I stripped N down to her diaper, and then stripped the carseat fabric off the base, all the while lecturing T that his poor choice (not sitting down at the table) meant more work for me.

Perhaps I'm the only one, but taking off the carseat fabric, washing it, and putting it back on is one of the truly annoying tasks in my book. Usually it's a puking incident, so I can't get the fabric off quickly enough. Fast forward to later when it's clean, and I'm suddenly staring at a seat that I have no idea how to put back together. I'll pull out the not-so-handy manual and spend forever staring, pulling, and maneuvering, until it seems to be right. There are seats that I don't think have ever been the same after a puking episode.

Luckily for me, I have a matching set of carseats--given to me by my wonderful family before the twins were born. Incidentally, have I ever mentioned my love for these seats? I've never had cute carseats before, and I love how pretty they are.


Anyway, when it was time to put N's seat back together, I just used A2's seat for a much handier guide. :)

Because I said so

When I was growing up, I hated it when my mom didn't have a reason for saying no. Or, as it seemed to me at the time, a silly reason. I remember promising myself (I think I even wrote it down in my journal) that I would always explain my reasons for saying no to my kids. If I wasn't going to let them play with their friends or watch a movie or whatever, I would have a good reason for doing so.

Umm, yeah--not so much.

When asked the question, "why?" I often find myself saying, "Because I said so!" It really is a pretty terrible reason and doesn't do anything to explain to your kid why they can't have a friend over or another cookie. But what I realize now (and failed to realize as a child) is that after telling your child fifteen different times why he or she isn't allowed to do whatever it is, and you're still met with resistance, whining, and quite possibly screaming, the only answer you're left with is, "Because I said so." Other times, my reasons sound lame in my own head ("I'm tired and I don't feel like watching you and your friends right now") and so I just go back to the old standby. Basically what we're saying as moms is, "That's the way it's going to be and there's nothing you can do about it and I'm the mom and you're not and I make the rules, so there." It just sounds nicer to say, "Because I said so."

Sorry that I didn't get that sooner, Mom. I do now.

Props to the mom

On Monday, I took the babies in for their six-month checkup. N is still a petite person, and A2 is an inch taller and almost two pounds heavier. No surprises there. But there was a surprise--a pleasant one, actually.

I had been gearing myself up for the "flu vaccine talk." Disclaimer: I am not against vaccines in general. I understand and support their use overall. However, I am not in favor of the way they jam them into our babies at such a rapid rate, all before they're two years old. I just don't think it's the best thing for their immune systems to be bombarded with so many different things, even if they are just vaccines. For the most part, we've done our kids' vaccines on schedule, with just a few later than normal. Our pediatrician has finally learned not to bug me about it. He started out years ago making awesome comments like, "Well you know, if you wait a few months to vaccinate, it's like you're driving your baby around without a carseat the whole time." Nice guilt trip, doc. But, I think the nurses must have put a note in our file (I'd love to see what that note said) because they don't push it as much anymore.

At the four-month appointment, the nurse (I think she was a student nurse practitioner) brought up the flu vaccine. The babies were too young at the time, but she was encouraging me to have the older three vaccinated. I told her our kids have strong immune systems and if they were to get the flu, I thought they'd be ok. She said that was fine. The doctor also brought up the subject later, but I pretty much nodded my head and ignored him.

So, I was a little stressed going into Monday's appointment because at six months, the babies were both eligible for the vaccine. I knew what I wanted to do, but when confronted with the medical establishment, it can be hard to stick with my plan. And also, I hate confrontations with a passion. They make me extremely nervous. But when it comes to my kids, I do have a little more gumption.

Anyway, we saw the nurse practitioner on Monday (a real one, not a student). We've seen her before and she's great. She mentioned the flu shot, but after I went through a bit of my rehearsed speech, she said, "I can respect that. No problem."

Wow. It was so nice to feel like my decision as a mom was not just tolerated, but respected. I know my kids and their bodies. I know their bodies are strong, and not because we're magically healthy all the time, but because we actually give them supplements to help their immune systems be strong. We've used antibiotics ONCE for my kids. Not once for each kid--ONCE total. I'm confident that if my kids do get the flu, they may get sick for a few days, but they will be ok.

I'm not saying anything about anyone who chooses to get the flu vaccine, because I do think it can do a lot of good. I think it's a trickier one since they have to guess the year before about which strain will be the most dominant the next year, but for high-risk groups, it can provide a lot of protection for a potentially nasty virus.

I think as moms it can be easy (or at least easy for me) to feel cowed or bullied by doctors or teachers or people in authority. Of course, they have extra schooling and expertise and it's important to defer to their knowledge in a lot of cases. But sometimes, a mom just knows best--like when I literally had to convince our pediatrician that N had reflux. He was sure it was a formula allergy because she didn't puke at every feeding and wasn't screaming all the time, like a classic case of reflux. But I had done my homework and I knew in my heart what was wrong. When I finally talked him into the Prevacid, she was a ton better a few days later.

Anyway, it was just nice to feel vindicated in the good decisions I make for my family.

Getaway

Some people wouldn't call it a "getaway" if they took two of their kids with them. But when those kids are sweet, smiley babies who eat, roll around, and play, it's really no trouble at all. A and I went out of town for the weekend, and A's mom kindly watched the three older kids. While he biked during the day, the babies and I enjoyed quiet time together. It was kind of rainy and A was worried that I would get stir crazy inside all day with the babies. I assured him that I relish days spent without little people whining and bugging me for things. I read books, watched movies, and napped while they napped. It was heaven. Oh, and A had fun biking with friends. :)


Now that they're six months old, the babies would like to showcase a few tricks for everyone.

N can sit up now.


And who could resist that cute of a pose?

Not to be outdone, A2 has some fancy moves of his own.

Gearing up to crawl (they'll both be taking off any day now--aah!)


Baby acrobatics (note the awesome drool)

Claustrophobia

I don't really have this disease, but sometimes I do have tendencies toward it--especially in the middle of sacrament meeting. I've dealt with it on some level since I've had kids, but it's gotten infinitely worse since the twins were born. It always feels like all three of the older kids are climbing all over me, sitting as close to me as they possibly can, and trying kiss or touch whichever baby I happen to be holding at the time. Coupled with the fact that we're squished onto a small bench, and I'm wearing a skirt that keeps creeping higher up my leg and nylons that get snagged about five minutes into the meeting... and I usually can't wait to drop them all off at Primary so I can actually breathe.

I plan so meticulously (some--my husband--would say too meticulously) to make sure we get there early so we can sit on the soft benches. But can anyone tell me how to plan it so that I don't feel like running out of the room, screaming?