Get Us Out of Here!

I carried the boys into the "moon room" like a pack mule this morning: one in the Snugli, one on my hip, and the diaper bag on my back. I set them down to play by the mirror because they (ahem, Nathan) like to kiss themselves, so my plan was to let them admire themselves while I checked us in, hung up jackets, etc. Know what the fellas did?

Matthew made a break for the "sibling care" room adjoining on one wall, where his classmates' older siblings play with fun and exciting big kid toys while we are in our (apparently, boring) baby class. While I retrieved him, Nathan made a break for three year-olds' room!

Through the other open door and around the back side of a curtain, I find Nathan, sitting on the floor, looking up at a dozen or so three-year olds, who are starting at him as if he were an alien! The 3 year olds' teacher discovers him the same time I do, and is ecstatic! "I love Thursdays! I love babies!" She asks to hold him, and I let her, because guess what's happening in the "moon room?"

Yep, Matthew's making a break for the "sibling care" room again! "Would you like to meet his twin brother?" Teacher's eyes sparkled, little kids smiled and giggled. I again retrieved Matthew to show him off to the "big" kids. After much oogling and hugging, the three of us returned to the "moon room" for our baby class and I closed the doors on those other teachers.

That's not all - Nathan likes to crawl right over to the entrance, pull himself up, and bang on the glass!  (It's actually quite hilarious, but it's never done at a picture-appropriate time, otherwise you'd see it here.)

Think they're trying to tell me something?

Dear Daddy,

M:We are having the BEST DAY EVER!
N: Remember when we told you about the double poopsplosion? We pulled it off this morning!
M: Without a hitch!
N: Unless you count my diaper leaking as a hitch, but it made mom's face SO MUCH FUNNIER!
M: It was so funny that I forgot to give mom a hard time and accidentally finished my bottle!
N: Yeah, then I pooped again while we had breakfast!
M: That wasn't part of the plan, but she thinks it was! And guess what? If I make the "more" sign, she gives me more mango! Every time!
N: Not me. If I just stuff my face till my cheeks puff out and laugh, she gives me more, so I quit signing.
M: After morning nap, we took a long walk to downtown
N: We saw a tractor, a model T, a schoolbus, and lawnmowers
M: The bank lady wanted to give us a sucker, but mom said no
N: She wanted to give us a sticker, but mom said no
M: Mom said we'd eat stickers!
N: Well, it's true, bro
M: Oh, yeah. Then, we had THE BEST LUNCH EVER!
N: She made us your favorite: grilled cheese with sharp cheddar and garlic powder on whole wheat.
M: And that "more" thing worked again!
N: After lunch, we helped "organize" our toys into bins. I thought it best to be inside the bin for sorting.
M: Then, you'll never believe it, Dad!
N: THE LAWN GUYS CAME!!!
M: Wow, they are just the coolest!















N: Mom's making us take another nap, but that's okay because I'm just exhausted.
M: Yeah, she really wears us out.
N: She says A is coming over tonight.
M: I hope she helps with our bath because I really wanna get her all wet!
N: Great idea, Matthew! You come up with the best plans!
M & N: Love you, Daddy! See you soon!

In Case You Think My Life is Glamorous...

Here are some things I caught myself saying this morning (all between 7am-9am):

lifting Matthew out of his crib: "Good morning sunshine!...How long have you been sitting in this mess?"
lifting Nathan out of his crib: "Oh, Nathan!  Oh...."
immediately removing Nathan's soiled pajamas: "Wow, Nathan, this is a record poo!  Let's get you cleaned up."
Matthew completely finishing his bottle: "Good job, Matthew!  Way to go!"
both boys making the "more" sign at breakfast: "More? More?  Good job!  Here's more mango."  (Repeat about 10-15 more times)
lifting Nathan out of his high chair: "Do you have more poops?  Really?"
opening Nathan's diaper: "No! No!  Don't touch!"
closing the dirty diaper and placing Matthew in the exersaucer: "We don't touch brother's diaper."
reading books: "We don't chew library books, just our own,"
crawling up the stairs: "Don't kick your brother in the face,
placing both boys in Matthew's crib with new toys: "Play nice while Mommy changes the sheets,"
switching boys to Nathan's crib: "Where's the green bink?"
pulling Matthew's crib away from the wall and crawling behind it to retrieve bink: "Please stop throwing your binks back there, guys,"
putting away yesterday's laundry, changing sheets, rinsing pj's, starting new batch of laundry for soiled pj's and sheets: "Good job, fellas.  Thank you for playing nicely!"
pulling the shade and turning on the sound machine: "Time for night-night.  I love you!"
rinsing poo out of the tub and turning on the shower: "Lord, help me through this day."

Happy Eleven Months!

Our babies turned 11 months old yesterday!  We can hardly believe it!  What a fun weekend we had doing "big boy" stuff to celebrate.  In a nutshell:

Nathan thinks tooth-brushing is just HILARIOUS!!

Matthew takes it very seriously (he might become a dentist: we've found him "drilling" his teeth with the Little Tykes battery-operated drill!)

Can you believe that?  How many people live here?

The boys took their last ride in their baby "bucket" seats up to the NICU reunion in St. Paul.

Here's an oldie: riding at about a month old! (Nathan's in the green hat, of course)

Children's St. Paul NICU's hallways are lined with quilts depicting their NICU survivors.  Matthew and Nathan have a patch on this year's quilt!  It's in Column 1, Row 6: you should recognize their birth announcement photo, trimmed in mint green.

Here's our family picture taken at the reunion...aren't we cute?  It almost looks like we're outside!

The boys loved playing with the parachute

and watching the big kids in the bounce house.  Nathan really wanted to join them!

Maybe next year we will join the March of Dimes Walk for Babies that they did before the reunion...it looked like everyone had a lot of fun walking!

Roar!  We also played with cousin E's old dragon costume!

We seriously have the cutest kids!  It's been the best 11 months of our lives!

Only the Good Stuff

It's been *quite* the week, as is evidenced by my craptastic blog entries!  But, no one likes a Negative Nellie, so I'll recap this week with ONLY the good stuff:

• As I write, the boys are napping, I'm squeaky clean (as in showered!  Hallelujah!) and sipping a freshly brewed cuppa Caribou.  Ahhh....heaven.
• A dear friend who bailed me out on Tuesday night helps me out when Steve is traveling got some AWESOME NEWS this week about her family's adoption proceedings.  I can't tell you details, but it's FANTASTIC and my boys will have a playmate soon, when this little miracle happens!  Praise God!
• The boys have another new little playmate fresh from Seattle - Miss G and her mom not only visited us, but they made us dinner to boot!  Thanks a ton!
• Both Matthew and Nathan have learned to say "mom-mom," and have been chattering all week!  We took a walk yesterday and I heard one say, "mom-mom-mom-mom," to which the other replied, "mom-mom-mom-mom!"  They shook it up a bit at breakfast and Matthew was saying "mom-mom-mom," to which Nathan replied "bob-bob-bob-bob" (his Grandpa K, whom the cousins call Pa-pa, but we'll get there)!
• They are also climbing the stairs!  Oi!  We *may* just have to put up another gate (which I will despise since I climb the stairs 100 times a day- literally!).  Their little trick is to make a break for the stairs while I'm busy changing his brother's (likely poopy) diaper, get up one or two, then occasionally tumble down.  Okay, it's only happened twice, but they both scared the daylights out of me!  These guys are tough, though, and just shake the bumps off and keep going.  
• I've been teaching the boys a few simple signs (like "more," "drink," and "please,"), and they're actually getting it!  No kidding, both the fellas can sign "more," when they want more food!  Okay, not every time, and yeah, it's not perfect formation, but it's happening!  When they sign to me, it's like getting the best teaching evaluation EVER!
• We had a successful bath last night, as evidenced by an 89% sitting rate!  It's been a struggle...if they're out of the tub, they want in, if they're in the tub, they want out!  And we can't skip bath nights anymore because they (ahem, Matthew) give themselves hair treatments - avacado, oatmeal, banana, yogurt, you name it.  I'm thinking that's why his hair is so soft and shiny!

 And...drumroll please.....

Matthew cut tooth number 5 this morning!!!!

That explains part of this week's awesome crabbiness, at least!  I'm fairly certain Nathan is cutting a big tooth (sleeplessness, snot, and a low-grade temp yesterday), but he won't cooperate to let me see and I haven't worked up the guts to stick my finger past his 8 little daggers. 

They have also been particularly helpful this week.  Notice who is in the photos?  His brother likes to play with toys, which, unfortunately for him, make far less interesting photos, but a much happier mama.

Three pans, ah-ah-ah!

Four pans, ah-ah-ah-ah!

He did it, not me.

And because I can't let Matthew hog all the photos today, here's one you haven't seen:

It's Nathan and Daddy sharing his first piece of naan at LaZeez (in Midland - you HAVE to go!).

I've got the most handsome fellas! 

What else would you like to know?  Send me some questions via formspring!

When are you moving to Texas?

Even though it's anonymous, I know this one is from my sister! She LOVES living in Texas SO MUCH that she wants everyone to move down there! She's already convinced her childhood friend to move into her spare room and now she's working on us.

Since I LOVE armadillo road kill, ADORE biting red ants, and positively WORSHIP scorching 100+ degree summers, I think we'll move down...NEXT WEEK!

Okay, okay. We're not moving. But we WILL come visit you soon!

Ask me anything

All Aboard the Crazy Train!

I have the best kids in the world, who have been sleeping through the night for 6 months now.  So when they have an "off" night and actually WAKE UP before 6:30 am, I'm at a total loss as to what in the world to do.  I'm all like, "What's your problem?  Go back to sleep."  

I was just drifting off to sleep at 11:30 last night - late for me - when Nathan started crying. 

"All Aboard!"  

Chugga-Chugga-Chugga-Chugga-CHOO-CHOO!

We all slept from 3am to 7am.  Then we pulled out again!

Chugga-Chugga-Chugga-Chugga-CHOO-CHOO!

Nathan, Matthew and I rode the Crazy Train for about 19 hours today.

I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that we finally pulled into to Dreamland Station at 6:30 pm.

Your conductors.  Wanna ride?

MOM's Convention

A great big THANK YOU goes out to my wonderful hubby and his mom for making it possible for me to go to the annual Minnesota Mothers of Multiples Convention this weekend!  It's been, literally, YEARS since I've done something like go away to a hotel with girlfriends...in fact, I wonder if I've EVER done that?

Anyhow, there were about 30 women from my local club, MVMOM, amongst 250+ multiples moms from the state of MN and a couple of guest MOMs from out of state.  In fact, one of OUR members brought her sister in from TEXAS who also has twins (whaddyathinkofthat, Pat?  If you have twins I will personally fly you up here to attend the convention with me!)! 

So there were 250 women walking around the HILTON (which kinda cracks me up) in PAJAMAS!  The theme was "Pajama Party," so it was totally appropriate to walk around in PJ's all weekend.  However, no one TOLD me that you're supposed to bring a SECOND pair of pj's for Saturday.  Yep, there I was at breakfast wearing (gasp!) last night's pj's...know what the others did?  Got up, SHOWERED, and DRESSED IN NEW PJ's!  Are you kidding me?   How horrific...I had to wear yesterday's pj's all day. 

Things that "happen at convention, stay at convention," so I can't tell everything.  But let's just say that much fun was had by all and next year, I'll be staying TWO nights.  The theme? 

"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"

Oh, yeah...the 80's! 

I hope my mother-in-law will be up for 48 hours with her then-23-month-old grandsons! (Heehee, I'll be READY for another weekend by then, I'm sure!)

Daddy (and Grandma) Time!

After a little more than 10 months with the boys, Mom finally had the opportunity to get away for a couple of days and attend her MVMOM's Conference. It was the chance for some time with no babes, friends and to pamper herself. Of course that meant...daddy time! Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Grandma A. has flown out for the weekend. We had a great day today; going to a new restaurant in Uptown and a walk around Lake Harriet. After our walk, we took advantage of the wonderful weather, spread a blanket out and let the boys have fun. They were great!

I really don't know why we bothered to bring the blanket, as you can see, the boys decided they wanted to make like free range chickens and set off to explore. I don't know if they have ever seen that kind of green space in front of them and they took advantage.

This was also a big day for them because they had shown a real aversion to grass to begin with. Watching their reaction as they both touched it for the first time a few weeks ago was priceless. We don't have that fear anymore!

Finally, back in September, I went to Rio De Janeiro and bought the guys Brasil shirts. I purchased them large on purpose and thought it would be ages before the day would come where we would be big enough to wear them. Well, today we were big enough and we rocked them all over Uptown.

I give Kim all the credit and recognition in the world. She is not only a Mom, but a maestro, directing our little symphony and keeping it in perfect time and harmony. Kim often does this all by herself while I am off somewhere in the world. She not only deserves a night away, she deserves an award!

I love my wife!

Matthew and Nathan loved to hike in the grass. As you can see, Matthew really doesn't like sun dried organic leaves and Nathan is preparing to move from quad-ped to bi-ped!

We're so happy Grandma A is here to play! Here we are the Japanese Peace Garden and the trees are blooming

Here is Daddy in Rio De Janeiro, Brasil with Mt. Sugarloaf as the backdrop.

Would you want twins again?

Wow! Way to start with a loaded question! Okay, I have to answer this one delicately, since I have NO IDEA if is was asked by a fellow multiples mom with multiple multiples! (I met a fellow club member with twins AND triplets last night!)

Would I WANT twins again? No. I figure that's like asking someone if they WANT to go through boot camp again.

HOWEVER, IF the Good Lord determines that's what's coming IF we EVER decide to get pregnant again, then so be it.

Here are a few more: 

"Where in Michigan are you guys from?"

Steve and I were both born and raised in the Tri-Cities area (Midland/Bay City/Saginaw). We visit often because our families still live there, but live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota now.

"What's your favorite thing about having twins???"

Awe! I was hoping someone would ask! There are just so many things I love about having two babies at once! I'd have to say, listening to them jabber to each other through the monitor after a nap, then going in to get them, when they are both bouncing up and down in their cribs, grinning and giggling from ear to ear when I open the door is just priceless!

I love that there are always enough babies to pass around at a family function - no one feels gypped!

I love the humor in it: they can even poop at the same time. We call it double doody!

I love that they are "talking" to each other, and playing together (ok, kind of) now that they're 10 months old. They play "open the cupboard and take everything out," "climb up the stairs while mom's changing brother's diaper," and today's new game, "pull tissues out of the box she thought we couldn't reach."

I love that they will always have a best friend.

"Hi! I found your blog on Multiples and More. I have 5 month old twin daughters. How did you establish a nap schedule/routine?"

A fellow MOM recommended the book "The Baby Sleep Solution" by Suzy Giordano. In it, she describes how to get your babies to sleep through the night by 12 weeks (but it took us about 16), and how to establish a healthy sleep/play/eat routine. I highly recommend it!

Ask Me (Almost) Anything

Here's your chance to ask me anything - well, almost.  I refuse to answer any questions about my weight!

One my blog friends (can I call you that?) has this super-cool blog. She added a feature called formspring recently and is having so much fun answering her reader's questions that I thought I'd give a try!  I wish I could say that it was all my idea, but I have to give credit where it's due.  (Check out her site if you want to see some beautiful photos of cute twins and a big sis!)

So this is how I *think* it works: you type in your question in the box on the right of the screen, choose to anonymous or not, (but I hope those people I know and love, especially those readers who read, read, read, but don't comment, will tell me who they are!) and send away.   Then, somehow, I read the question (that's where I'm a little foggy - Mrs. B., does it go to my email, or do I have to check my formspring account?  Because that's not likely to happen.) and *if* I want to answer it, I can!  Neat, huh?

Just don't ask me how much I weigh. Ever.

Convertible Coupe Cuties

This Convertible Coupe was another of the treasures I bought at the MVMOMs sale on Saturday.  Both the boys love it!  They can only scootch backward inch by inch right now before they slide right through to the ground but I know it won't be long and they'll be racing up and down the drive!

Here Nathan poses for the perfect shot, but Matthew won't look up.  He's too busy checking his rear-view mirrors before he backs up some more!

I'm going to have to find another one soon (there was only one to be had, or believe me, I would have bought another!) because I know they won't be sharing and taking turns this nicely for long!

Farm Babies!

We FINALLY got to go to the Minnesota Zoo's annual Farm Babies Exhibit!

I searched the web for the MN Zoo's Farm Babies commercial and couldn't find it, so only locals will understand how ADORABLE the ad is!  We've been watching the same ad for 6 years and every year, the little sheep bleats, "Come on, ma-a-a-a-a-n!" at the end, and every year we say we're going to go, but we DON'T because we'll feel all dumb and stuff for not taking some kids with us.

NOW we have an excuse a REASON to go!  Whoopee!

Oh, my gosh!  Okay, maybe I had a little more fun than I should have, but this was so incredibly cute!  LOOK!

Matthew and I got up close and personal with a friendly cow.  She posed very patiently for photo after photo!

Nathan wore his overalls for this special occasion!

Playing with the other kids!  (Get it, kids?)

 Matthew was enchanted by the goat and kept reaching up to touch him.  Since he could only reach its mouth, we decided to try to touch a different, resting goat.

This was a very patient nice goat that we let both the boys pet.  And ya know what's neat about this barn?  There's a "goat resting area" where they can go back into the barn themselves so they're not touched.  (If I were a goat, that's where I'd be!) 

The piglets were the cutest  farm babies of all, but it was too difficult to get a photo, so we decided to have someone take our picture on the HUGE plastic (fiberglass? IDK) sow with her piglets outside the barn.  I envisioned a different photo, one where you see the whole pig/piglet thing, and just the four of us, not the random little girl, but it's still pretty cute.  Thanks, nice lady, for trying!


If you haven't been to see them, go soon, because they're only there till April 30th! 

Treasure Shopping

Today was the biannual MVMOM's Used Clothing and Equipment Sale!
I got to go last year when I was huge and preggers.  This is what the nursery looked like after the sale:

Then, I missed the fall sale.  Bummer.  And TODAY, oh, TODAY!
I woke up early, took a shower, got dressed AND put makeup on - all before the munchkins woke up.  I don't remember the last time I did that and I'm not exaggerating.  THEN, after babas and some hugs, I bought myself a Caribou coffee on the way - what an indulgence, right?  When can I ever GET OUT OF THE CAR and GO INTO A STORE BY MYSELF?

Then, I got a number at the sale (201, to be exact).  That means 200 other people got to go shopping before me!  And I stood around for an hour, high on the espresso in my Northern Light Latte, chatting it up with other multiples' moms waiting for the 9:00 am starting bell.

Ding! Ding!  Have you ever seen 200 shopping moms on a mission?  It's like shopping the day after Thanksgiving!  Wow!

What a blast I had chatting with some friends, browsing the stuff, and scoring the most incredible deals!  I didn't REALLY think I'd be able to find the 1-piece SPF size 18 months swimsuits I was looking for, but I did!  I found matching sunglasses, crocs, and swimming hats, too!

ISN'T HE DARLING?  

Matthew didn't try his on yet, since he was already in the tub.

He wouldn't put down the Croc and actually took a nap with it!  

I love this sale!

Hoppy Easter!

I know it's Thursday and I'm finally getting the Easter pics up, but you wouldn't believe how long it took us to get home from our Easter visit to MI.  Try TWO DAYS!  Yep, our Monday morning flight was oversold, then the flights out of DTW were looking really bad, and we did NOT want to get stuck in DTW spending cash on a night in a hotel there!  THEN, the Tuesday morning flight was looking pretty awful, so we loaded the boys up and drove to the west side of MI to spend the night in Aunt L's apartment and leave out of Grand Rapids!  (Thank you!)  Oh, the crazy life of non-revvers!

(To the passengers of flight DL7323: 26A+B: Thank you for being nice and smiling at the babies, then going to sleep - it was a wise decision.  25C,D+E: Thank you for turning around and smiling when the babies kicked your seat backs and ignoring them the rest of the time.  We tried our best.  25A: THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME A DIRTY LOOK OVER YOUR SEAT WHEN MY BABY WAS FUSSING, THEN RUDELY WAKING HIM UP UPON LANDING WITH YOUR "WHICH ONE WAS THE NOISY ONE?" LOUD COMMENT.  SERIOUSLY, IF YOU HATED US THAT MUCH, YOU WOULD HAVE NOTICED THEY'D FALLEN ASLEEP!!)

Okay, now that I have that off my chest, onto the cute and fuzzy Easter pics:

Our "official" Easter picture: we all changed clothes immediately afterward!  We're not really dresser-uppers-at least, the boys and I aren't.  Daddy always looks suave!

The Easter Bunny left the boys baskets at Grandma A's...

and Grandma K's!  Thank you, Easter Bunny, for all the fun baby treats!

Nathan and his favorite frog toy...he sucks on its feet constantly, even in his sleep!

Here's our best shot from the butterfly house.  A split second later, Nathan was grabbing for it.  Daddy had to move fast to keep him from crushing it!

The Aulds have an old family piano in their living room.  Auntie L and Uncle A lifted the cover so the boys could play.  It was their favorite toy!

We spent our layover day celebrating Grandma and Grandpa K's birthdays.  Here we are giving them flowers at one of our favorite fast food places, Yaya's.  I think it should be called Yumyum's!

A couple cutie pie egg hunt shots and one butterfly house, which I took right before we caught the green one.  I figured we had to have ONE picture of a butterfly!