Baby update and Other Kid randomness

Ok, I keep hearing that once I exit "twins as babies" land I will not remember any of it.  So here are some stats to help me...

Otter began rolling over within days of her 5 month birthday, Owl was the week after her. They both started batting at toys at around that same time.

Otter pop.

 

At their 6 month checkup we discovered that they've barely grown since their 4 month checkup.  Otter had gained 1/2 pound and 1 inch, and Owl gained just a couple of ounces and 1/2 inch.  So now I'm pumping a little, taking fenugreek, drinking herbal tea, drinking more water, and trying to be more generally healthy (it's appalling how my habits have digressed since the babies were born!).  I supplement with formula a little, and I feed them more often.  I notice the extra feedings most during the night-- they were sleeping through the night except for one (sometimes two) feeding... now when they wake up I don't just give them a chupa (pacifier) and let them go back to sleep, but instead I feed them.  It seems that they wake up a lot more now.  : (  For now I'm ok with it, since it'll help get my milk supply up as well as help the babies get some extra milk in...but I hope that it won't be too permanent.

 

Though the babies are quite skinny and small, they are very strong and generally happy.  They are strong enough that Otter threw herself out of her carseat (not buckled) at the dr's office when we were busy paying attention to giving Monkey her shot.  Those baby seats are rather bucket-like and reclined, so it took some good muscle for her to do it.

 

They love to stand and play in the exersaucer, and they have started to like the bumbo seats well enough.  They like tummy time a lot more now that they can roll over and hold themselves up better.  They are just starting to try out getting on hands and knees.  We're trying to give them lots of opportunities to practice sitting up to build their core strength and balance.  I think they'll be sitting and close to crawling by a month from now.

Otter is a prolific smiler, and likes to talk the most of the two of them.  She gets really loud...probably to be louder than her siblings.  Otter also screams sometimes when she cries.  Owl, on the other hand, has an harsh throaty thing that she does.  Thankfully the throaty thing and the screaming are both extremes...not their regular cries.

Mr. Fox doesn't like this picture of Otter, but I love it. 
I don't usually see resemblances between the twins and Chick, but in this picture I totally do. 
The heavy lids and occasional indent under the cheekbones are just like Chick.

 

Chick thinks we should rename Otter "Sadie" because she has so much to SAY.  She's called  her Sadie all day today.

The kids are helpful by degrees. 
Chick can reliably pick the babies up, walk around with them, and has changed diapers (though not often).  She is comfortable and big enough that she can soothe a crying baby, and I think they trust her.  She's matured a LOT since they were born, and though she will always be strong-willed, she has taken the initiative to help without being asked and is responsible and able to be reasoned with.  One of her favorite pasttimes lately is writing notes and lists.  She'll write a list of who has been good and who hasn't (ie, who she is upset with and not), or write a note telling her teacher something. 

About a month ago we noticed that she had two new teeth growing in behind her baby teeth on the bottom.  After asking on Facebook it sounded like it wasn't completely uncommon and the best thing to do would be to *encourage* the baby teeth to get out.  Chick doesn't like pain of any kind, though, so she didn't wiggle the tooth much.  It wasn't until a couple of days ago that the tooth finally came out.  The one next to it is now quite wiggly without the stability of its neighbor...the tooth fairy might need to come make another stop soon.

You can still see her tears in this picture.  I don't think the pain of the tooth coming out was as bad as the sight of blood...but she was fine after it stopped bleeding and I reminded her about the tooth fairy coming.  The tooth fairy brought her "Seven."  seven coins.  Monetary value didn't mean as much as monetary quantity...I'll just enjoy that now while it lasts!!  But the value was 48c... put into the piggy bank, and Chick is making plans to squander all of her piggy bank money at the store soon.

Monkey can pick the babies up and hold them.  Sometimes she walks with them, but that is discouraged.  She doesn't hold them for long before she is done, and she can't get them to stop crying so she only likes to help when they are happy.  She sees Chick getting attention for helpfulness (with babies and also with housework) and she wants that too, so she's learning to do things, and she likes getting to be a "big girl" too.  She's inbetween, though...sometimes she follows Chick's example, and sometimes she reverts down to Moose's level.  She's still very creative.  Here's a picture of her holding some toilet paper.  She'd gone to the bathroom and then came out with this toilet paper saying, "this looks like a truck."  Sure does...I would never have noticed.



Moose.  Oh dear Moose.  What a two-year old he is.  He loves loves loves his babies.  I commented to Fox last night that I wish I could hear Owl and Otter's blood pressure readings continuously...specifically when they see Moose come into the room and come over the pay attention to them!  He just doesn't know how to be gentle enough with such little people.  But he does as well as any toddler.  He can hold them when supervised, and gets in trouble if he's not supervised.  He wants to help, though, so if a baby is crying he'll give her a chupa or bring her to me...which of course is not safe or approved.

Having twins wouldn't be too much of a challenge if it weren't for Moose in the mix. 

Yet, he is so so so SO sweet.  I hate to think of my family without him.  He's going to be such a blessing to me personally, when all of the girls are teenagers!  He almost never refuses a hug, or denies a kiss, and he calms right down if you offer to scratch his back or cuddle with him.  And it's super fun now that he's expressing bigger thoughts with his bigger vocabulary.  Most of the time I don't know what to do with him, but I wouldn't want to do without him.

Today as we were leaving for church the older girls noticed (for the first time, really?!) that there was a "pirate ship" on our front door.  Monkey thought we should paint it brown.  I said no.  Chick thought we should paint the house, and I agreed and said that I've wanted to paint the house since we moved in.  Then I thought (somewhat bitterly) that we've lived here for five years this month and still haven't painted the house...but then I realized that we've had four kids in those five years.  So I guess we've kept busy enough.

Fox and I are tired and happy with our quiver full.  The house will get painted eventually. : )