All kinds of festive.

It would seem that we've had a lot of little celebrations at our house.

It started with Valentine's day.  I put up a few decorations, with the quasi-promise that next year there will probably be more.  Chick, who loves decorations of any kind, added a few of her own.  My favorite was this:

"Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination." -Mark Twain

Chick and Monkey had a great time making valentines for their classmates.  I was pleased to see that they were fairly self-sufficient in getting it done.  I'd do whatever parental prepping was necessary for each step, and then they'd take over from there.  We made our version of one that we found on pinterest (of course?). 

For my family I gave them each a Doctor Who card that I printed out.  They loved them : ) 

Aside from that I did fun foods.  Heart shaped pancakes with strawberry syrup for breakfast with pink smoothies (that I added too much beet to, so they tasted a bit too much like dirt....).

Lunch (and preschool snacks) were heart-shaped foods-- cheese, strawberries, apples, summer sausage, cucumber, tortillas, (bread).  It was very pretty and fun, if I say so myself.

Dinner was heart-shaped calzones. 

Dessert was heart-shaped chocolate cake with a poured-on frosting, and I used the roses that I'd made when learning to make roses for Chick's birthday cake.  With all the candy consumed that day, though, we saved the cake for the next day...the kids were already a bit too hyped up to have dessert. 

The older girls and I watched "The Princess Bride" for a valentine movie night.  It was the first time for them.  They liked it, but didn't realize that it was funny!

Next up: hooray, the babies are eating solid food!  Not a lot yet, but some.  They started out with sweet potatoes.  Since then we've added avocado, banana, oatmeal, yogurt, and applesauce.  Feeding them is a family affair sometimes : )  And, at 8 months old, they finally broke 10 pounds!!  Owl was 10#3.5oz, and Otter was 10#4.5oz.

And I took a ton of pictures of them one day, so here's a little compilation.

They haven't been sleeping so well...  Boo.  Still no teeth (I was hoping that was causing the sleep disruptions).  Also still no crawling, but they are so close...sometimes they'll take a "step" or two to crawl, but no significant distances.  Owl will dive forward, get back up, dive forward, etc. until she gets close enough to grab things.  And if she's grabbing a person, then she'll hold onto your hands and drag herself forward.  It's pretty funny.  They look so delicate, but they are surprisingly strong.

naptime for all.  No one got smothered...it looks like it, though, in the picture.

Something else pretty momentous: Foxy got rid of his red truck!!  Once upon a time we went on our first date in that truck, and said our first "I love you's" in it, and took some kissy engagement pictures in it.  It was a strong manly truck.  Sexy even.  But ten years later?  The only thing that resembled those good old days were the pictures that Fox had stuck to the dashboard.  Here's one.

I'm glad that Fox is still in my life, but the truck?  I may or may not have danced a jig as they hauled it away.

 

This is a bit out of chronological order, but here is a picture of Chick with the quilt that her Grandma J made for her!  Isn't it beautiful?  She loves it.

 

 

The older three kids do a LOT of playing dress-up, and lately have a lot of pretend weddings.  They've asked to use my wedding veil, but I was hesitant to share.  So I found one at the thrift store for $2.  I used it as leverage: keep the bedroom clean for a week and the veil is yours.  Worked like a charm, but the next day the room was a mess again.  Sooo, the new rule is that they can play with the veil ONLY if their room is clean first. 

 

(Along those lines, I've confiscated clothes that were left on the floor...poor Monkey barely has any clothes left.  She's a slow learner, I guess.  If you see her in dirty rags one of these days, you'll know why.)

 

Chick, Monkey, and I went to see a BYU Young Ambassador's performance the other week.  I knew the girls would love it, and it was nice to do something special with them, since Owl and Otter still take so much attention and care.  I often have to say, "I can't do x because the babies need to be fed (or changed, or take a nap, or are fussy and need held, etc)." And the older kids all take it in stride and still love their babies (and still love their parents).  So it was nice to give them a much deserved night out.

 

Chick brought "Zero the Hero" home from school...isn't he cute?! (I'll be writing a separate post about education stuff...it's been very much on my mind lately).

Our last celebration: Dr. Seuss's birthday! 

We started out with Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast, along with Lorax mustache straws for our o.j.

I put up some Seuss quotes on the wall, but that's all the decorating that I did for this year...next year I hope to step it up a little more.  Maybe red and white streamers or something.

At any rate, for the "appetizer" at dinnertime they had fishy crackers with a counting worksheet.

Dinner was alphabet soup, and Lorax scenes made of oranges, carrots, cucumber, bread, and cheeses.  It's not NEARLY as cute as the one on pinterest.  It didn't matter.  They saw it and were excited, and we had a lot of "Look, it's the Lorax!" type of exclamations.  Well worth the effort.

Dessert consisted of red and white jello parfaits with laminated Cat in the Hat pics on top.

Motherhood is so much more enjoyable when I get to be creative...even if the creativity is for things that don't matter in the least (though I have fond memories of my Mom decorating for holidays...so maybe it does matter after all).

And will you succeed?

Yes! Yes, you will indeed!

98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.

Thoughts from SuperMom

{I'm writing this post in response to a friend's request for advice for her friend who is also going from three kids to five.  I feel ill-qualified to give advice...I'm just figuring it out as I go along...but here are some of my thoughts that I've had lately.  It's a little rambly, but that's how my brain works these days.}

I get called "SuperMom" a lot.  It's pretty funny, really, and it's all in perspective.  I get called "SuperMom" for getting through a door unassisted while carrying two baby seats, or for being out in public with my kids, or for doing any number of things for two babies at once (really, you just get used to it!)

Anyhow, the point is, it doesn't take much for people to say it.

Some days I feel like the name fits.  Not for getting through a door, but for not yelling at my kids when they've been particularly naughty.  Or for fixing a healthy dinner. Or for remembering to keep things in perspective, or to go to bed early, or for paying attention to a particular child's behavior and thinking about the WHY instead of just the WHAT.

I'm firmly convinced that "whom God calls, He qualifies." 
I was very concerned during my pregnancy that I would NOT be able to take care of five children.  I remember being on the verge of tears a time or two while confiding that fear to friends.  But you know what?  I'm as good (or as bad) of a Mom as I was with three.  We are no later (and sometimes less late) to church now than we were with one, two, or three children.  We do have to try harder to maintain our usual standard of tardiness, but we are able to manage it (most of the time).

{I will admit that I wouldn't have as much Super Mom success under my belt if it weren't for support from family and friends.  I like to think that I'm independent and strong, but it's been humbling to see that I need help so often...but I think being able to admit that is part of my "qualification."  When the neighbor offered to take my daughter to the bus stop each morning my first answer was no...and then I had to talk myself into accepting the offer, which has been a HUGE help to me, and probably not a huge sacrifice for her.}

I try to remember that most things that I worry about don't really matter.  A clean house doesn't matter when compared to getting enough sleep to be a better mom.  A few unhealthy meals when babies are little and you are in "survival mode" won't matter.  I've thrown out quite a few "ideals": I've had to do a lot of things with the twins that I never would have dreamed of with my other children. 

But it hasn't really mattered, honestly.  Right now I'm sitting in a messy house, overdue for a shower.  My kids went to bed happy, though, and I managed to get a healthy meal on the table (freezer cooking helps, when I'm organized enough to manage it!).  I even went grocery shopping!  Today I got through with a little bit of superness intact.

Some days I am not a Super Mom.  Some days I'm so tired that I drag myself through the day, yelling at my kids, hanging out on the couch while they make messes around me.  We eat whatever I can find at 5:59 p.m. (ok, lets be honest, sometimes it's well after 6:00), and it's lacking in veggies.  Some days there is at least one child crying at any given moment in the day (but not the same child all day), and my children fight with each other.  Some days I'm so frustrated that my husband has to suggest that I take a couple of minutes to walk around the neighborhood just to catch a breath.

My goal for now is to have more good days than bad ones.  That magical 6-month mark after having the twins has made it easier.  We are slowly able to pick up where we left off, and everyone is settling into the new routines and roles.  Many days are beautiful, and at the end of the day I have only thankfulness in my prayers.  Some days, still, end with prayers that are more along the lines of, "I know.  I'm sorry.  I'll try again tomorrow."  But it's ok, because I do keep trying.

just because I don't want a picture-less post.  and because they are cute and this picture makes me laugh.

The happenings of this Week {massive}

First of all, I've been completely remiss at announcing the winner from Monkey's photoshoot giveaway!  So without further ado, the winner is... Tamara!  Congrats!  I'll be in touch with you to find out your prize preference.

Baby news: 
I took Owl and Otter in for another weight check, and they are 9#14 oz and 9#11 oz.  Which is enough of a gain to dismiss concerns.  They are, admittedly, quite small.  But they are active and generally happy. 

They are starting to sit up unassisted, but it's still hit and miss.  They get up and rock on hands and knees a LOT and sometimes they move forward...but it's mostly by accident.

a random picture of Owl

No teeth yet, but an increasing amount of drool.

The latest cute thing is their smiles.  Owl smiles in a wide closed-mouth smile that makes her cheeks chub out in little balls.  Adorable.  Equally adorable: Otter's smile that includes sticking out her tongue. {Her happiest jabbers also have a stuck-out tongue.}

Their sleeping took a turn for the worse about a month ago.  Because we found out that they hadn't been gaining much I started taking every opportunity to feed them...so at night if they woke up I'd feed them rather than give them a chupa and let them go back to sleep.   I guess it helped from the feeding side of things, but not the sleeping.  One night I was awoken every hour because they alternated.  So a few nights ago I started putting one in the crib in their room and one in the cradle in our room.  They went back to just a couple of times per night, and last night Owl slept straight from 10pm until 9am.

Moose news:
He says "did."  As in, "I did walk" "She did hit me"...every past-tense verb is has "did" added, and some present-tense ones have "do."

I posted these Moose-isms on Facebook--

• In the car today Moose and I saw a car being towed by a truck. Moose saw it and said, "oh, look at that tip toe truck!"  

• Just now Fox told Moose to go take off his sister's boots. Moose responded, "but they match my pants!" ...hmm, maybe he spends too much time with his sisters.

• (Written to my friend, Sister Jarrett)  After you left I went in to help the kids with their personal prayers. For Moose he repeats what I tell him to say...until tonight. When I said "in the name..." he said, "I'm not done yet!"

"oh, what do you want to say?"  

"I want to say 'thank you that Sister Jarrett did come here.'" 

So then he said it and finished the prayer. Super sweet : ) I guess I wasn't the only one that was grateful for the visit : ) 

Monkey news:
Poor Monkey got sick during the night.  I think she's thrown up at least 10 times since then.  We stayed home from church together.  She's taking a little nap now.

But yesterday she and Chick and Moose got to go meet Clifford and hear a Clifford story time, so that's pretty exciting.  {My aunt took them, and the babies napped, so I had a rare quiet house and free time.  "Free" is relative...I tidied the house and junk like that.}

And last weekend Monkey and Chick decorated a gingerbread house (with Fox's help).  It was tremendously exciting for them.

Chick news:
She's 6!  On her birthday she wore her hair in looped up braids with pink ribbons, like the American Girl books about Kirsten.  In fact, Kirsten is her favorite of the girls, and we read "Happy Birthday, Kirsten" this week.  In the book she gets pink hair ribbons for her birthday, as well as a quilt that her friends made for her.  And her Mama has a new baby and Kirsten helps a lot.  Lots of similarities to Chick.  She is my fabulous baby helper, and she got a package in the mail from her Grandma J which had a beautiful new quilt.

Anyhow, Chick loved all of her presents, and has played with/ used them all.  But her favorite present was her unicorn.  She named it Uniella.

Our tradition is to do a pinterest/ internet search for the cake that they want, and then it's my job to try to recreate it (or something similar).  Chick found several that she liked, but then told me that it didn't really matter what kind of cake it was.  She just wanted to help me make it, and she wanted to be my ONLY helper.  {She was a great baking assistant, but let Monkey in on the action too for frosting}.

She chose THIS cake in the end, because it reminds her of Cinderella's dress.  I was happy with her selection because I like to try new things when cooking. 

• This time I tried the tips for better cake from a mix (which equates to many more calories} found HERE. 
• And I learned to make buttercream roses, which was pretty fun and exciting. 

• I also goofed around trying to figure out some other buttercream design stuff, and Chick ended up choosing the less realistic flowers, but I liked the color better anyhow. {the pinks are frozen until v-day}
• And I got to stack 4 tiers, but to avoid having WAY too much cake I did single layers for each tier.  Which made for a squattier cake and thus looked completely different from the inspiration.
• I also made marshmallow fondant for the first time. Partway through the process I thought that it was ruined and wasn't going to work out. But pretty much one minute later it was gorgeous and done. (maybe not a literal minute...felt like a minute though).
• I've bought fondant before, but I think it was just for cutting out shapes...I'd never covered a cake with it, so that was another first.

At any rate, it was a fun learning process. Plus, thankfully, Chick was happy with the finished product (so was I, novice that I am). She even said that it was more beautiful than the original picture : ) Oh, and it tasted great too...the extra added calories really paid off ; )

Other news:
I actually made a project! Not a big one, but started and completely finished is quite an accomplishment these days.

I think that's all of my recent news. This next week is layout, and if combined with the flu it's sure to be a much less eventful one than this past week has been!!

Monkey's 4-year Photoshoot Date

This weekend was Monkey's "birthday" photoshoot date.  I'm no professional photographer, but I love doing these photoshoot dates.

 

We went up to my parents' neck of the woods so that they could watch the other kids while Monkey and I were out.

 

The night before we left I was packing up what we would need (we were also spending the night at my sister's house afterwards, since Mr. Fox was going to be working on Saturday anyway). 

I had already picked out what she was going to wear when she asked me if she could show me her clothes.

"What clothes?"

"The clothes that I'm going to wear for my pictures."

"Oh, uh, I already picked some out for you, but show me what you had in mind."

So she happily came and picked out the outfit: a fishy Maui t-shirt with pink pants.

Not at all what I would pick.  ever.

So we made a deal that she could wear both outfits. 

She started out in her t-shirt and cords.

None of the pictures taken with that outfit were especially stellar...mostly because we were just getting warmed up (figuratively...not literally, it was quite cold out). 

But here's a picture to show the outfit:

1

 

Quick wardrobe change and bathroom break at the local grocery (and second bathroom break, because she'd forgotten her CTR ring at the sink), and we got down to business.

2

 

3 (My favorite)

  

4

5

 

6



7  (This is when she said , "I don't want to take pictures anymore.  I'm cold.")

 

8  (Monkey's serious favorite)



9  (Monkey and Chick's favorite because they like goofy pictures.)

 Towards the end I had to make a deal: we'll start walking to the car, and I'll keep taking pictures as we go. Just turn around once in a while.

 

10

 

11

She was determined to have ice cream with sprinkles, despite being cold.  So we drove around the countryside for a while to warm up before tackling the ice cream.

Mint chocolate chip with rainbow sprinkles.

She shivered the whole time.

 

Love that sweet little Monkey.

 

All in all, a fun but cold date.

 

Then dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's, and over to Aunt Judy's to sleep.

I didn't get as much sleep as desired...two babies with colds and no husband.  I know there was a good three hour chunk of uninterrupted sleep in there somewhere, though.

 

The next day I got a big tote of grow-into clothes for the older girls from my sister, and went to a thrift store with my Mom and sister (and babies) to get supplies for an upcoming project.

 

************************

Ok, time for a giveaway.  Leave a comment ON THIS POST telling me which picture is your favorite (and why, if you have a reason), and I will pick a winner at random next Monday.  The contest ends on Monday the 28th at noon.

The prize is your choice of a thrifted item (chosen with you in mind) or a homemade item of some sort.  Or a combo of both (a remade thrift item).  The winner can decide which option they'd want.

New Year Musings

I'm four days away from the one year anniversary of finding out that I was having twins. 

2012 consisted of six months twin pregnancy, and six months twin babies.  Certainly a year unlike any that I've ever had or ever will have again.  Some years are rather like the next, but not 2012.  I did a LOT of sitting around on the couch, either holding the babies in my arm or in my uterus.  All in all a good year, but with it's share of frustrations, fears, and stresses.

Which leads us to 2013.  I can't really set the usual resolutions.  I don't feel like I can be "resolute" about much.  I can't say that I'm going to do anything for certain...because honestly I'm not really the one deciding things about my life.  For example: yesterday I came home from an out of town visit fresh with a determination to NOT sit on the couch all day.  I have things to do, and I'm sick of having such a messy house and unfinished projects and flabby body!  But then I had fussy sick babies that just wanted to be held.  It was all that Fox and I could do to keep all the kids happy and fed and bathed and into bed at a reasonable hour.

And so it seems to go.  However, I have hope that things will mellow out before 2013 is over.  So things that I am resolute about improving in SOME way:

• Speaking more kindly to (and about) my family
• Attending the temple with my husband
• Reading scriptures with my family (we've already been working on this, but need to continue our efforts)
• Resuming healthy habits (I've begun baby steps with this, and that's enough for now, since it's all that I CAN do for right now).
• Two things that I hope to do to encourage the healthy habits are to plant a garden this year, and to do freezer cooking, which I've begun.
• I'm considering getting a gym membership again, since that would provide a fun diversion for the children AND babysitting AND Me-time AND exercise.

At any rate, the worst case scenario is that 2013 is another year that will be like no other...with twin babies that may be the case.  So the one resolution that I can make for certain is: I resolve to keep trying to keep up with my life and to ENJOY that process.

Randomness

Our neighbor's driveway was getting some new cement poured, and the kids were watching.  Moose had just been given a tigger costume and wore it continuously for a while, and Chick had her Cinderella dress on while we ran our errands. 

So this is Christmas

This may have been one of the nicest Christmases in my opinion.  The kids slept in until 8:00, and I hadn't taken on as much homemade because of the babies...so I was in bed by 12:30 (earlier than other years).  The babies slept in even later...they got up after we'd had breakfast. 



The three older kids got up and were given permission to start opening their stockings while we got breakfast set out.  Breakfast was oranges, spiced cider, poptarts (a novelty for us), and an experimental crock pot french toast recipe that I found on Pinterest.  The french toast was the worst part of the day-- over cooked and sorta yucky.  I regretted abandoning my traditional breakfast casserole, and regretted it even more the next day (my birthday) when I didn't have leftovers for breakfast.

At any rate, no one really cared about breakfast...there were presents to open!  Too many presents, in fact.  Ok, maybe not, but the kids were so contented with everything that they could have had less and been just as happy...we had to keep them on track to finish opening them.

Mr. Fox got me a food processor, which I've wanted just forever!!  And it's as wonderful as I'd imagined.  I actually helped him get it.  I saw a FB notice from one of my thrifty/money saving sources telling about a really great deal on a food processor.  I looked it up, sure enough, about 70% marked down for Cyber Monday, good brand, good reviews on Amazon.com.  But it was late, Fox was in bed asleep already.  I went in, woke him up, told him about this amazing deal, and asked him if he wanted to get it for me.  I think he fell back asleep, and I shook his arm again, and he mumbled, "I don't know."  Well, of course I couldn't risk the deal being over the next day, so I bought it, and told him what a good husband he was afterwards. : )  (He is a really awesome husband, btw, regardless of food processors).  I have a similar story from 5 years ago when "he bought me" some cute black boots : )

Anyhow, Santa brought Moose a strider bike.



This'll be a picture to show the future dates: Buzz Lightyear jammies, superhero cape, Cinderella shoes, on a bike.

Monkey got a camera.

 

Owl and Otter got owl and otter stuffed animals from Santa, and Buntings from Fox and me.
 

Chick got a Cinderella dress and shoes. 

hem looks funny in this pic because she'd just finished twirling.

 

Santa had put a letter in under the dress, saying that Mrs. Clause had made the dress especially for Chick, but she's grown so much since last year and it might not fit right...so he was including extra fabric in case Mama had to fix it.  Which I did.  She didn't get to wear it for two days because I had to cut it open down the back and put in a zipper and button.  I'm going to pat myself on the back, though, because I think it looks rather intentional.  It's a beautiful dress...made from remnant sparkly fabrics bought long ago (for such an occasion), notions and things on hand, and a $4 thrifted formal dress.  Plus it's fully lined in white satin, so when she wears it inside out it looks like a wedding dress. 

Monkey got a photo calendar from Fox and me.  Moose got a homemade super hero cape. 

Fox's brother got us a fantastic new printer, and it's amazing.  Plus we've been without a printer for a year...so it's even more wonderful because of the stark contrast!!

Anyhow, lots of present opening, and such.  No tantrums or drama.  Sometimes my kids are the sweetest ever.  Then they spent a long time all sitting quietly at the table coloring in some new coloring books that they'd gotten.

Because Christmas sometimes feels rushed, and because getting my family out the door is often difficult and tedious, the party came to US.  My parents and my brother and his family came and had dinner with us (with all of us taking part in the food assignments, so I didn't have to stress about "hosting" much).  It was a nice informal dinner and visit.  The three older kids and my brother's two all got flashlights from my parents...and then we'd just see them as they ran from dark room to another dark room.  Lots of giggling and cousin fun : )

Oh, and a non-present: when we were getting ready to set the table I lamented using the old table that came with the house...we had a nice new one downstairs and were waiting to set it up (I think we were waiting until we'd completed the kitchen remodel that we have yet to start and have been discussing but not doing for over a year).  Anyhow, Fox agreed to set it up.  It was a Christmas miracle : )

Lastly, it doesn't matter how many babies I have, I still have to make things for Christmas.  I made song cubes-- the cubes themselves are bought, but I made the inserts.  One had 50 primary songs to use for Family Home Evening (roll the cube like a die to decide what song to sing), and the other had a set of 6 primary songs, 6 colors, and 6 generic kid songs.



I made cookies in a jar for all of the kids' sunday school teachers (and my Mom made kleenex holders for the two school teachers). 



I made a fort kit for a family exchange gift.  I had intended to make one for our family too, but I had to abandon that plan in order to not get too stressed and lose too much sleep.



And I did Christmas cards.  Some still have yet to be sent...so some of you reading may still get a card...I think I'm aiming for Presidents' Day now.....



It really was a Merry Christmas.

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. : )

Baby Bling

Ok, so when I last left off on our narrative, I was about to tell you about the ear piercing.

I put in a lot of thought and asking around before deciding on where to get the babies' ears pierced.  I heard conflicting opinions about what was best when it came to infant piercing, so I followed my Mom's advice and trusted my instincts.

Which led to needle piercing at Enemy Tattoo. 

The piercer looks a little rough, but he was really nice.  He talked a lot about his own new baby.
I was very impressed with the sanitary procedures. 
The babies didn't like being held still, so they started crying even before being poked, and of course didn't like the actual piercing...but they calmed down quickly afterwards.

(It was a little nerve-wracking there...we'd taken the whole family, thinking that it'd be a fun Family Home Evening and that Monkey would get pierced too.  She backed out,  though, and after getting there we learned that they don't allow kids and were not happy to see ours.  Oops.  After a few stressful minutes in the waiting area they let the kids go back to a little break room that had cartoons.  Much better.)

I paid quite a bit more for the tattoo parlor piercings, rather than going to someplace at the mall ($150 vs as little as $30).  In my pre-piercing decision-making my Mom gave me two pieces of advice.  The first I've mentioned: just trust what I felt was the best choice.  The second was that it seems like such a trivial thing, but it will actually last them for their whole life (hopefully), so a little more money paid now is not going to matter for such a long-term result. 

And I really appreciated the knowledge of the piercer when I talked to him on the phone.  I preferred the idea of needle rather than piercing-gun, and I wanted to be careful of the type of metal.  All reasons pointing to Enemy Tattoo (I just like saying the parlor name...sounds so sinister!!)

I began to doubt my decision, though, when in the first day or two we woke up to see Owl's earring OUT of her ear and laying on the bedsheet.  I freaked out about it, but in the end I was able to just put it back in with no problems whatsoever.  Then later in that first week Otter lost a back to one of hers, and we couldn't find it.  The earring came out a couple of times since there was no back to keep it on, and I finally had to admit defeat and go to the mall, spend $50 more for a whole new pair of earrings.  However, the earrings are better for the long run, because her original ones were actually aqua colored, and I needed emerald.

Diamonds for Baby D,

Emeralds for Baby E.

Or, for those of you who follow the blog and don't know the girls in person:

Diamonds are a land gem, like OWL is a land animal.

Emerald water, for swimming OTTER.

Since then we haven't had any problems with either pair of earrings (never did find the missing back), and both babies seem pretty well healed up.

And I do not regret a penny of the money spent.  It truly is priceless to have people come pick up a baby, look at her earrings and say, "Well hello, ____(insert correct name here)___."  It makes me very happy.

Plus, though I've never been a baby earring fan, they do look incredibly cute, and dainty, and feminine.

This is actually the best picture that I have of both babies showing their earrings.  They were in their cute matchy-match Christmas dresses.  Sometimes twins are so much fun : )