Mr. Man

I call this series: "A Boy and His Fist":

OM NOM NOM NOM

"Hmmm...what's over there?"

"Oh.  Have you been watching me this whole time?"

Just relaxing...like a BOSS.

And now: "Chubby Cheeks Asleep in Swing":

Seriously, when Caden is relaxed (and/or not happy), his entire face just melts into a smoosh of cheeks and lips.

"SUPER CADEN":

When this kid is in a good mood, he is the happiest kid in the world.  And when he's not, well...

This is during playtime.  You'd think I was torturing the kid.  He's all, "NO.  I refuse to have fun." *WORLD'S BIGGEST POUT*

But one place is ALWAYS fun...

The changing table.  I don't know what good vibrations the changing table possesses, but both kids LOVE being up there.  Like it's their favorite spot in the whole entire world.  They can be shrieking, screaming, crying-crying-CRYING...and then once on top of the table, it's smiles and babbles all the way.  At first my theory was that they knew they were going to eat soon (since we always change them before eating), but they will be in a good mood on the changing table for an inordinately long amount of time.  Like there is no way they could be that hungry and then completely forget about it.  This particular day I was talking to Caden on the changing table for at LEAST a half hour...

I give you..."A Boy and His Changing Table":

Whatevs.  Keep the good vibes coming.

Post (Mother's Day) Weekend

Flower in a teacup from our mom's group at church.  Easy enough to re-create: green florist's foam, into which you stick some moss, a flower, and some greens in a fabulous old teacup.  I snagged a white and gold one that matched the nursery.

The weekend was beautiful, so on Saturday we dragged a blanket outside for some playtime in the grass.

Little fingers touching grass for the first time.  And how about that chubby baby wrist?

But lest you think it was too idyllic, this is what most of our time outside was actually like:

I think we got through all of twenty minutes before giving it up as a lost cause. Well...we tried.

Then on Sunday morning I woke up to this:

Like, literally woke up to it.  Everything was all laid out and arranged like that when I got up for a feeding at 2 am.  Flowers, chocolates, and (in the bag) a book about cocktails.  The essentials to survive raising twins, apparently.

Mother's Day selfie with two cute twins.  As is typical, Brooklyn is hamming it up in the background while Caden is less sure of the proceedings.  Not pictured: my friend Sara bringing over coffee and everything to make waffles for breakfast (while Tyson was at a math conference in the morning), and then a long walk, ice cream, and church in the afternoon.  Where Brooklyn had a meltdown, because: of course.  And that's the story of how my cocktail book came in handy once we got home.

Just kidding, I didn't drink a cocktail.  

I had a beer.  C'mon, we live in Wisconsin.

Please Don't Be Jealous of My Glamorous Life

Someday, I will look back with fondness and longing for the days when my babies were just that...cuddly, adorable, absolute little angels of babies.  Then I will read this post and be reminded otherwise.

A chronology of our morning:

7:00 am:  Feed Caden.  Consider getting up for the day, since it's when I usually do. Decide HELLZ NO. If Brooklyn gets to sleep, I get to sleep.  Girls sleeping in FTW!

7:30 am:  Still awake, listening to Brooklyn moving around in her crib.  Is she going to wake up?  Is she going to stay asleep?  Oh God, should I bother trying to sleep or not? What do I do?!?

8:00 am:  Get woken up by Tyson asking, "Are you awake?"  Um...I am now.  Confused, think  for sure it is at least 9:00 am.  Nope.  But Caden is awake so he comes to cuddle with me in bed while Tyson showers.  Melt because he keeps cooing at me as I doze.

8:15 am:  Be informed by Tyson that he is leaving for campus "within the next hour".  Think about staying in bed.  Think better of it once realizing the likelihood of being able to shower after he leaves.  Get up.

8:18 am:  Take a two-minute shower.  Don't wash hair.  Get dressed, throw in some dry shampoo and put on a smidge of makeup to look human.  Call it good.  And I'm wearing a clean shirt.

8:40 am:  Brooklyn is officially awake.  Change diaper and put clean onesie on for the day.

8:55 am:  Feed Brooklyn.

9:00 am:  Say good-bye to Daddy.

9:06 am:  Get spit up on.  Clean shirt, LOL.  Change shirt.

9:10 am:  Put laundry in dryer.

9:17 am:  Pour myself an iced coffee.  Start to warm up oatmeal because Caden looks super content right now and likely won't need to eat anytime soon.

9:18 am:  Caden decides he is hungry.

9:20 am:  Change Caden's diaper, put clean onesie on for the day, and feed.  At least I got coffee.

9:30 am:  Brooklyn is hungry again.  Like OMG SO HUNGRY I HAVEN'T BEEN FED IN DAAAYYYYSSSS!!!!!11!1!!  It's been half an hour.

9:35 am:  Feed Brooklyn.

9:45 am:  Re-warm up oatmeal and EAT IT.  Success!!!

10:00 am:  Pump milk for the freezer stash.

10:15 am:  Playtime!  Rock out to 90s music because mommy can't take "The Wheels on the Bus" one more time.  Soak up all the smiles and coos they are blessing me with lately. Hold Caden almost the entire time because apparently laying on the floor for playtime today = not cool, but being held during playtime = the best thing ever.  Fair enough.

10:45 am:  Change and feed Caden.  Burp, cuddle, rock, and put him down for a nap.  

11:20 am:  Change Brooklyn's diaper and peed-through onesie.  Feed.

11:35 am:  Get spit up on.  Change shirt.

11:40 am:  Attempt to put Brooklyn down for a nap.

11:45 am:  FOOL!  Cool babies don't take naps today.  Take Brooklyn out of crib because for the LOVE OF GOD YOU BETTER NOT WAKE UP YOUR PEACEFULLY SLEEPING BROTHER.

Noon:  Holy crap it's already noon?!?  So far I've fed babies 5847 times and been spit up on. LOL at loads of (clean!) laundry sitting in baskets on the floor waiting to be put away since yesterday.

12:02 pm:  Feed Brooklyn because-surprise!-hungry again!  

12:15 pm:  Put Brooklyn down for a nap.

12:20 pm:  Warm up leftover pasta for lunch.  Watch an old episode of Mad Men while eating.  Brooklyn squirms next to me on the couch because DUH!  Cool babies STILL don't take naps today!  Also she has the hiccups.

12:34 pm:  Ok, so cool babies just don't take naps in their CRIBS today.  Brooklyn is asleep next to me on the couch.  Move her to her crib VERY carefully.  The process resembles someone handling a live bomb.

12:35 pm:  Both babies are asleep in their cribs at the same time.  I.  AM.  SUPERMOM.

12:46 pm:  Realize that at some point my shirt has been spit-up on again.  And my pants. Shrug and get on with my day.

Post Weekend

Nothin too fancy, but here's what the weekend (actually, just Sunday.  These pictures are all from Sunday) looked like 'round here...

Mostly it involved looking super cute.  Except Caden kind of looks like a ghost.  I guess the lighting was super funky for a moment or something, because here is proof that he is actually not a ghost at all:

We were getting ready for babies' very first grill-out.  Not pictured: the grill-out.  What? I'm supposed to take care of two babies, drink my beer, eat my food, socialize with my friends, AND take cute pictures all at the same time?  Maybe if I was some sort of wizard.

We also liked looking at ourselves in the mirror while we took a bath.  And yes, I am using the plural pronoun "we" here, although it is clearly only Brooklyn who is taking a bath while looking in the mirror.

Exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of Daddy taking the pictures, which we also found fascinating.  More fascinating than our own selves in the mirror, it seems.  (Speaking of the mirror, holy bejeezus does that need to be cleaned.  Someone should really get on that.)

Caden seemed to find his bath SUPER enjoyable.  I have to say, if I could sit in a gigantic, soft, comfy, me-sized flower I would probably find bath time to be this enjoyable also.

Then, like most of us, Caden proceeded to contemplate the meaning of life while soaking in the bath.

"Hmmmm..."

"Ahhh...eureka!"

So while he seems to have figured out the meaning of life, he can't talk quite yet, so we'll have to get back to you on that in the next year or so.  Maybe it's just sitting in a gigantic, soft, comfy, me-sized flower while taking a bath.

I also realized that Caden is no longer my little lump.

For reference, this was Caden a mere seven weeks ago:

...and this is Caden now:

I knew they were getting bigger and all, but holy crap does this illustrate the difference.  It appears the "frogger" days are over already.  I'm trying to get them to slow down on this whole "growing" nonsense, but it appears to not be working.

Pictures

 Babies are cute.  Especially these babies...

I think we have a redhead on our hands...

...and she has cute hands (ha!).

Not to mention the cute toes.

Caden always looks like he's about ready to take off to the skies.  Or punch somebody out.

D'aw come on, just look at that face.  I'd let him punch me out.

But I've been thinking a lot lately about the photos I've been taking, and while I capture some wonderful, beautiful things, I'm not able to capture some of the MOST wonderful, beautiful things.  You can see that these guys are super adorable, sure, but how can a camera capture:

• The absolute ridiculous curliness of Caden's eyelashes.  They almost curl back over on themselves.
• The way their cheek smooshes against my shoulder when they are all tired and cuddle-y after feeding, and the limp surrender of their bodies.  And the way their little hands clutch for purchase against my arm as they are snuggled there against me.
• The way Brooklyn smiles when I appear to pick her up from her bassinet in the morning.  Her mouth gets so big it looks like she is about to swallow me whole.
• The energy and excitement of their entire bodies as they move and move and move and squirm during playtime.  Seriously, I've tried getting it on video, and it's just not the same.
• Their absolute trust as they snuggle against me, absolutely sure that they will come to no harm.
• The little contented sigh that Brooklyn has once she is finished feeding, especially at night, and settles back down for rest.
• The intensity of Caden's eyes when he is in "Caden-mode": moving his arms and legs almost non-stop for up to two hours at a time, without making a single sound.
• The back-and-forth bobble of their heads as they try to hold them up.
• Their little tongues licking my shoulder when I put them there to burp or cuddle.

These are the things I want to remember, even if, or maybe especially because, I can't get them in a picture.  And in a way that makes them all the more precious, because so many of these things are just for my eyes.  I'M the one who gets to see their smooshed up cheeks, and to feel their fingers scratching against my arm.  Brooklyn is smiling for ME every (well, almost every) morning.  I guess these are the reasons that people idolize and love being a mom.  Because seriously, no one in their right mind would otherwise want to deal with the amount of crying, poop, spit-up, being spit-up ON, lack of sleep and, oh yeah, the whole GIVING BIRTH part.  Like I said...it's a good thing they're cute.