Post Weekend

Daddy is home!!!

Having my mother-in-law and own mom (among other relatives) each here for a week was, of course, soooooo helpful, (ok, and somewhat exhausting and stressful, but I sure as heck couldn't have done it without them).  But...it's not like having Tyson around.  He is now not allowed to leave the babies and me ever again.

We celebrated his return on Friday night by going out for dinner on our first date since the twins were born.  I celebrated by promptly having two Moscow Mules (which are hard to find, and were served appropriately in copper mugs) and is more liquor than I have had in a looooonnng time.  Worth it.  Also worth it: sharing a burger and the Friday fish fry.  And Tyson knew better than to argue when the waitress asked if we wanted dessert, so the key lime pie was worth it, too.  And he surprised me with a pair of silver elephant earrings that he bought from a museum in Chicago.  Smart move, hubby.

+++++

We went to church for the first time in forever this morning.  We put the twins in the nursery for the very first time (which also means that I paid attention to the sermon in the first time in forever) and they LOVED it.  When we picked them up all of the volunteers commented on how well-behaved and happy they were.  We peeked in the window before picking them up to see how they were doing and to watch them play.  While I was watching, Caden was enjoying being held by a teenage volunteer, and Brooklyn was on her tummy on the ground, having a blast just kicking her legs in her little pink dress and looking around.  A family with a few older kids was standing next to me, and I heard them saying, "Oh, she's so cute!"  "Look at her, she's so happy!"  "She's having so much fun looking at everything!" and then I realized that they were talking about my kid.  That's my girl.

+++++

Caden has been a champion sleeper/napper lately.  Last night he slept from about 7:00pm-4:00am before waking up to eat (he woke up fussy at one point, but went back to sleep pretty easily) and then got up for good at 6:45 this morning.  And he slept for a good three hours this afternoon.  WIN.

+++++

Unrelated to the weekend: a couple weeks ago we went to a playgroup with other twins from our church.  Six sets of twins (age three and under), and another mom expecting twins in the fall.  In other words: it was mass chaos.  And totally awesome.

+++++

Insert cute baby pictures here:

Leaving the House With Twins

Obviously I knew that having twins would make leaving the house into a bigger hassle than when it was just Tyson and me ("Shall we leave the house?"  "Yes."  The end.)  I just didn't know that I was going to be planning my entire day around it...

90 minutes out:  Do my own hair and makeup.

70 minutes out:  Lay out my clothes and jewelry on the bed, so everything is ready to go (because that stuff is going to be spit up, drooled, peed, and/or pooped on if I get dressed anytime before The Last Freaking Second before we walk out the door).  Sometimes I'm also nice and lay out Tyson's clothes.

60 minutes out:  Pack up diaper bag with: (1) extra set of clothes for each kid, (4-6) disposable diapers, plus diaper cream and wipes, (2) blankets, (2) bottles of thawed milk (plus the ice pack if I haven't pumped recently and it needs to be kept cold), (2) bibs, (3-4) burp cloths, (1) extra set of pacifiers, and, oh yeah, all of my stuff like wallet, keys, lip balm, etc.

40 minutes: out:  Feed Baby #1. (This is ideal.  Sometimes they decide to eat sooner than this, sometimes later.  Like when we were trying to go to church at 9:30 one weekend and they were SUPPOSED to be due to eat around 9:00, so I kept waiting until they wanted to eat so I didn't have to force feed them but they decided that they didn't really want to eat until more like 9:40.  So...yeah.  9:30 church.  Not so much.)

30 minutes out:  Pass Baby #1 off to Tyson to be burped.  Feed Baby #2.

20 minutes out:  Change Baby #1's diaper and into their Going Out Outfit.

15 minutes out:  Change Baby #2's diaper and into their Going Out Outfit, which has been carefully chosen to coordinate with Baby #1's.

10 minutes out:  Tell Tyson to change clothes and get ready and what do you MEAN you haven't even shaved or brushed your own teeth yet?!?

5 minutes out:  Change into my clothes.  Tyson packs both babies into their car seats.

2 minutes out:  Double-check that we have everything

1 minute out:  Tyson and I put our shoes on.  It's go-time!

20 seconds out:  Caden and/or Brooklyn fill their diaper spectacularly.  And/or spit up all over their outfit/carseat.

The Time We Were Supposed To Leave:  Repeat (most of) the above steps.  In reverse order.  This time, also cleaning up a good portion of a(the) baby(ies) and/or their clothes, carseats, etc., etc., etc.

Don't look at me like that.  You're lucky to see the light of day.

Same goes for you.

That's better.

Five Month Outtakes

Each month, I take several (hundred) photos to compile the monthly updates for the twins.

It looks (sounds?) something like this:

"Caaaaaa-deeeeeennnnn!  Ooooooooohhhh Caaaaaaaa-deeeennnn!!!"  *click click click clickity-click*  "Hey buddy!"  *click click click click click*  "Broooooklyyyyynnnn!  Right here!!!"  *click click click*  "Hey you guys!!!!!!!!!!!" *clicks times one million*

Then I go and edit way more than I ever need to for the few that I actually use for their little updates.

And some months, like this one, I'm left with gold like these, and decide that since I have way too much free time (*sarcasm alert!*) I might as well edit them, too, because they are HIL-AAARRR-IOUS.

These two are part of the, "What the Heck Were You Focusing On, Anyway, Mom?" series:

Next up, we have the "Invisible Things" category:

Invisible Jet Pack!

Invisible Surf Boards!

Swatting an Invisible Bug!  Gaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

"Brooklyn is the  Star of the Show" (alternatively titled "Caden Patiently Deals With Brooklyn's Madness"):

"Look...

...at...

ME!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!"

Quickly followed by "Wait, where Did Brooklyn Go?":

Also, "Hands.  Brooklyn Has Them.":

(And they are delicious.)

And then there's the "Blurry, but Not Mom's Fault This Time" genre:

(Girls got some air.)

(THIS IS US MOOOOVVIIIIIINNNNNGGG!!!!!  Good luck taking a picture, lady.)

The "Funny Faces" category:

(Caden is not impressed.)

And last, but not least, two that I like to call "Don't Mess With Brooklyn":

Five Months

p.s.  We're going to miss you over the next couple of weeks, Daddy!  Hurry home.  Luckily Mommy is bringing in reinforcements (aka "Grandmas").

The Fourth/Second Reception/Big Chip Mega Post!

So we were gone for a 1 1/2 weeks again (for the last and final time this summer!) for the Fourth/second wedding reception/my family's annual vacation to Big Chip.

(If you are a picture-hater, this post is not for you.)

While we were many different places and did a lot of different things, I did notice one theme running through all of the photos I took...

Babies... 

...asleep...

...everywhere...

...anywhere.

Oh.

And the big people, too.

(Click below for more...much, much more...)