Cowboy and Ballerina

Protecting his sister already.

Potty Training has....

Started in our house. No, Macey isn't 100% ready to be potty trained, but she's certainly becoming more aware. She's sat on the potty a handful of times; no success, but she's getting more acquaited. Everyone knows that going to the bathroom alone is impossible for a mom of young kids. So, Macey follows me to the bathroom without fail. Regardless of what kind of trip it is, we have to read a book. I've also imitated making a grunting face with her. Well, it has sunk in...




I was getting the babies dressed and about to feed them. While I was dressing the babies in our room, Macey went into our bathroom. After I got the babies dressed, I went in to check on Macey (aka see what she was doing). She had climbed onto the toilet, got one of the books on the back of the toilet and that's how I found her..reading on the toilet. When she saw me she looked up and made the grunting face (which is the second picture). Priceless...

Christmas tree

Sean and I have been going to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm for at least the last 3 years to get our Christmas tree. Well, this year was no different, except for the fact that we waited until this past Sunday to get it. I guess we can use the fact that we did have twins a few months ago as our excuse. Sunday happened to be quite a cold day here. It was also very windy. Macey, Brianna and I braved the wind and cold to pick and cut down our tree. The farm has a hay ride to take you to an area of the farm to cut down a tree. We hopped on and the owner asked what size tree we wanted. I told him not a very big tree, less than 6 feet would be fine with me. He pointed us to a lot right behind us, which was at the front of the farm, so no hay ride for us. That suited me just fine. We spent all of 5 minutes picking out a tree. We ended up with a 5 foot tree. That is the smallest tree we've ever had. The other trees we've gotten have been 8+ feet and HUGE around. This tree is neither tall or fat.



This picture shows how cold it was...Macey wasn't crying, it was just that cold and windy.

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree 2008


Christmas Tree 2007 (see, 2008 really is a wimpy tree)



The ducks at the farm...Macey enjoyed looking at the animals

The goats at the farm.

This farm also has a pumpkin festival in October each year. We went last year, but didn't make it out this year due to the fact that the twins were soon to be born. I wanted Macey to get close to the animals last year even if she was only 4 months old. Sean was having none of that. He didn't want Macey to catch something (don't ask me what he thought she would catch...but then again, this is the same guy that I have to repeatedly tell him that cold weather doesn't make you sick, a virus/bacteria makes you sick...). So this year she was able to view and enjoy the animals. And that's probably because Sean stayed in the car with the babies since it was so cold and windy outside.

When did the tree get decorated you ask? Uh, today around 4pm. Me with Macey, Miles and Camryn by myself a lot=no time to get the tree decorated. Thanks to a few neighbors we have our Charlie Brown tree up and decorated.

See, she does love them

I have to say that, yes, Camryn does look a little upset in these pictures, but that is because it was time to eat..

Bedtime routine

So I've written previously how I handle 3 kids under 2 by myself for bedtime (and a really good blogger links you back to that blog, but really, do you want to read that again...). We still have that same routine, but I thought I'd share some of the moments during our bedtime routine.

Bath time with Macey is always an adventure. She loves to soap up, so much so that the bathtub gets to get soaped up as well. She also has some sort of game she plays that involves sticking half of her head under the water (just the side of her head). I'm not sure what that game does, but she plays it often. After bath time I rub her down with lotion, but not without her help. She always wants me to put some of it on her hands and she will rub her tummy down with it and often it ends up being rubbed into her face and hair.

After reading to her I rock her, but not to sleep. While I rock her I sing to her and most of the time it's some made up song about how much I love her and about bedtime. She chimes in and sings right along with me. I love it and melt every time she does it. I just want to stop singing and listen to her sing. Our own little made up night time song. Her in her made up language with a few real words thrown in and me in my made up tune with lots of love thrown in.

Our bedtime routine gets a little altered when Sean is here to help out. Sean and Macey have a different routine, however their routine involves Sean and Macey falling asleep in the rocking chair and then once she's laid down she screams, which she never does when it's just her and I. So we now say bye to Daddy and watch him walk out the front door and then go on with our routine. As we head upstairs Sean comes back in. If Macey knows Daddy is here, then she will scream and scream when I lay her down. Oh how we lie...I mean trick our kids. So far that trick has worked.

Growing Babies

We took Camryn and Miles to the pediatrician for their 2 month check up today. Camryn weighs 9 lbs and is 21 1/4 inches long. Miles weighs 9 lbs 13 oz and is 21 1/4 inches long. They both did great. Both of them almost rolled over while the doctor was examining them. Way to go! Neither of them liked the stuff they give them to drink (one of the vaccines) and they both went hysterical when they got 3 shots. We weren't surprised by Miles's crying since he gets hysterical pretty quickly, but hearing Camryn was completely heartbreaking. We had not heard that kind of crying from her...ever. Miles was asleep by the time we got into the car, but Camryn was still in shock. I looked back into the mirror in the backseat and she was just staring...no blinks, no movement, just staring into space. She did crash once we got home after eating. Miles on the other hand decided he wanted to stay awake after eating. Miles quickly crashed after giving him a bath, but Camryn is still up as I'm writing this. However, she's quietly laying in the bassinet with Miles. She'll be out shortly. This week she's been wanting to stay awake after bath time. Maybe she's trying to get some quality alone time with me. It has worked if that is her goal.

Christmas pictures

So we took some pictures of the kids in their Christmas outfits today. It's quite a production to get all the kids dressed and then try to get a decent picture of all of them. I might add that all of this was done before 8am this morning.

Camryn wasn't too sure what we were doing. Judging by the look on her face she was ready to be rescued before we even started.

"Fighting" for the best spot
See what I mean...bottom lip and all. worried.

Growing up I paid to try to get hair that looked like this

Macey smiled with prompting from Dad

What did we do today?

Here are a few of our moments.

Miles hung out with Dad.

Macey got into the toilet paper...
Took it to the kitchen to wipe up some water...

Ditched the toilet paper and went with the towel I had been using to wipe it up. Some of my OCD tendencies are wearing off onto her...

Dad hung out with Macey and Camryn (Dad was a little tired).

Miles and Camryn are growing and growing and two months old today...wow. I call Miles my little worrier. If he is crying and you come to his rescue he'll let you know how worried he got by continuing to whimper when you come near. He sticks out his bottom lip as well. Camryn is very laid back. She only cries when she's hungry, hurt, or has a dirty diaper. I can lay her down awake and she'll just doze off. It is an awesome experience to watch two babies develop together. How did we get so lucky?

Macey is being a lot more gentle with the babies. It is sweet to watch her go look for the other baby if only one of them is awake. That is the only thing she knows...don't all homes have two babies at the same time? She'll also run to our bedroom door when one of the babies starts crying and gets almost frantic wanting to get to the baby who is crying. Her vocabulary is expanding everyday. She'll repeat almost anything we say. She's an expert climber. She's more confident than I am comfortable with. She climbed up on our sofa table while I was feeding the babies (I become somewhat immobile when feeding the babies since I've got them both). I had to leap up with both babies in tow and rescue her off the table. She's been climbing our stairs since she could crawl. I took the view that she's going to need to know how to climb the stairs and be good at it since we have them in our house so I would allow her to climb the stairs (obviously with supervision). She's become so confident at going down the stairs that now when she comes downstairs she really just slides down them backwards.

My beautiful girls

Not a very good picture of Camryn, but posted anyway since Macey was being so gentle

Much better picture of Camryn...

See we do fix Macey's hair and get her dressed...

Helping out

Macey loves to help out. We laugh at her when she takes the diapers to the trash because she holds them the same way each time. Between her finger and thumb and only holding the least amount possible.

When purses go wrong

So I didn't crack up laughing when I took this video, but after I watched it I couldn't help but laugh. To set the scene a little. Macey had been playing "going shopping". This is where she puts a purse around her neck, and usually grabs some keys (in this case she had packed up Sean's cell phone), and pretends to be leaving. I play along and act like she's going shopping and ask her to buy something for me and tell her to drive safely. This video was taken after we'd been playing that game for a while.

Another side note...yes we do dress her and fix her hair..we just happen to be taking videos first thing in the morning.

Tidbits

I figured I'd post a picture showing their full body to show how big they are getting.

Smiley Macey on our outing today...

Less than 30 seconds later...

I took the kids by myself on a shopping outing today. We only went to one store and were only there for about an hour. Macey was wonderful on our adventure (despite the picture above). She had me laughing at one point. I have a triple stroller that I used in the outing today. Macey sits in the front. All of the seats are in a line, so it is a little long. Imagine trying to maneuver around those tight "rows" in clothing stores. I bumped into quite a few walls, rounders, etc. Each time Macey would say "oh" in her cute voice. It made me laugh as she pointed out Mom's bad driving each time. The back seat of the stroller is the only seat that fully reclines, so I usually start out by putting both Miles and Camryn in the back. Camryn doesn't like riding together with Miles, so I move her to the middle seat. Both Miles and Camryn weren't feeling the shopping adventure at first. Once Camryn was moved to the middle seat, she calmed down and then she was all eyes. Miles didn't ever get into the shopping spirit so I ended up picking him up. I was able to pick out a few things and then we went on our merry way.

I've gotten in a semi-routine for the evenings. I give Macey dinner around 5 or 5:30 and I'm usually feeding the babies while Macey eats, then we all head upstairs around 6. I give Macey a bath at that time and occasionally Miles and Camryn will be sleeping. If they aren't sleeping then I load them in bouncy seats in the bathroom. If Macey wants to play a little after I'm done bathing her (rarely), then I'll give the babies their bath at that time (I obviously have all their stuff ready in the bathroom before I start Macey's bath). If not, then they hang out in their bouncy seats while I get Macey dressed and then to bed. Most nights Miles will start crying as I'm rocking Macey. After rocking Macey for a little bit, I tell her I love her and that I'll see her in the morning and lay her down. She's usually in bed by 6:30 and I don't hear a peep out of her. Then it's back to the babies to bathe them and get them ready for bed. They do great taking a bath. I get them all swaddled and then I rock them (together). They are usually asleep around 7:30 or so. They've been sleeping for 5 hours at that time, so they don't wake up until after midnight. Macey sleeps until at least 7am. I'll be able to take out a few steps in the bedtime routine once the babies are old enough to take a bath with Macey.

Just to clarify the picture with Macey in the sling. NO, she doesn't get toted around in that. She was being silly and Sean stuck her in it to see what she'd do. We were cracking up at the face she made as she "lounged" in sling.

Macey's Language

Here's a short video of Macey talking in her own language. We have frequent conversations in this language. Us saying words, Macey responding in her language with tone and attitude already. Although she has become a little parrot lately. Somewhat "normal" conversations are just around the corner...she has her 1/2 birthday tomorrow.

Can you tell we got a new camera finally? It was quite a conversation I had with the young guy working at the store that I bought the camera. Things have certainly changed since I bought my last camera over 4 years ago.

Lots of pics

Macey enjoyed some time in the baby sling...

I don't know why this one loaded sideways. Miles hanging out.


Camryn hanging out

Their favorite hangout spot



Does she love him?

Macey's morning hairdo

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed spending time with family and eating great food. We spent Thanksgiving with Sean's family. Macey entertained us and Miles and Camryn slept through the turkey feast. Macey followed her Uncle Chris around, helped Aunt Sandy at the computer, and was silly with Uncle Buddy. I didn't take any pictures as our camera is on the fritz (you can tell by looking at some of the pictures I've posted that the picture quality isn't great). It's time to buy a new one, ours is over 4 years old.

Friday we left to visit my family. It was good to see everyone and get to eat again :-). Macey didn't sleep well Friday night, so I was exhausted on Saturday. She woke up around 11pm and didn't go back to sleep until after 1am. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with her, she probably just didn't sleep well because she wasn't in her bed in her room. I had just finished feeding the babies when she woke up and by the time I laid back down I had about an hour before the babies would be up again to eat. We made it back home around 8pm on Saturday. Road trips are an adventure. It obviously takes longer to get going and it also takes longer to get to the destination. I'm not looking forward to the road trip we have this weekend to Dallas.

Sean took Miles to the doctor today. He's had an issue with his eye for quite sometime. At his 2 week checkup the pediatrician gave us some antibiotics and said it was a clogged tear duct. Well, she didn't say how long it would take to heal. Today she said it could take up to 6 months. She also checked out his baby acne and cradle cap. She gave Sean some samples of prescription creams to put on him. She said it's not severe, but gave the samples because it is on his ears (I'm assuming that she's anticipating it getting worse, but I wasn't there so I'm not 100% sure). I thought it was just acne, but when his ears started getting bad I wondered if it could be an allergy. I was allergic to milk as an infant and was on soy formula, so I wanted to make sure he wasn't developing the same thing. At this point it doesn't look like it. My mom told me that I was around 2 months old when they diagnosed me. She said that when what they thought was baby acne moved down to my chest, they took me to the doctor and that's when I was diagnosed.


Miles and Camryn continue to do well. They are generally still eating every 3 hours, but a few times during the day or night they may go 4 hours and sometimes longer. Miles is my little talker. He'll coo at just about anything and anyone. I've got Macey cooing back at him. She's heard me coo back at him enough that when she hears him coo she coos back at him. Camryn's my big smiler. She's got a beautiful smile.

Here's yet another picture of them sleeping. They couldn't get any sweeter. You may be tired of seeing these pictures, but I haven't yet. Capturing these moments are part of the reward of having twins.