Three months already!

Yesterday marked the three month birthday of the twins! I can't believe that much time has already passed! It seems like it was yesterday that we brought them home!

Here's some insights in to the lives of little Elias and Elsie!
- Eli can roll over from his tummy to his back. Elsie thinks this is horrible, and loathes tummy time. She has no desire what-so-ever to learn this trick.
- Elsie is a morning girl. She loves to smile when she wakes up and often makes the most "talking" noises and faces during the first hour of her day. You will probably notice many of the pics of her smiling have been when she is getting her diaper changed first thing in the morning.
-Eli and Elsie both love the swing. They particularly like to stare at the over-head fish that swirl around as they are rocked.
- Eli spends many mornings in his bouncy seat on the back patio with me while I do my Bible study. He enjoys the breeze in his face, and the sounds of outside.
-Elsie spends many of her mornings looking out the storm door. She likes to watch our cat, Ethel on the other side.
- Both babies are benefiting from the 90 minute routine. They take short and long naps during the day, with 90 minute wake times in-between.
-As a result of the nap time schedule, they both go to sleep somewhere between 8-9 p.m. and wake for a 4 a.m. feeding and then sleep until 8 a.m. Sleep really isn't an issue right now, but we totally anticipate the issue to rise again in the coming weeks as the babies grow!
- Eli has learned how to suck on his own hand. This delights little Elsie to no end, because before he learned to find his own hand, he often found her hand. I can't tell you how many times I would go to the crib at the sound of Elsie's shrieking only to find Eli happily sucking on her fingers while she pouted.
- Both babies are learning to enjoy their bath. Elsie prefers to have the back of the baby tub freshly rinsed with warm water before she enters. Eli prefers to have a view of himself in the bathroom mirror.
- Both babies are breastfeed for all feedings except the last feeding of the day. This is the feeding that they want the most, and I have the least. They get a bottle of formula to accompany this feeding. Eli furrows his brow EVERY TIME he gets that first taste of formula. This cracks me up.
- We still have a fussy time every day in the evening during dinner hours. This has greatly improved, but it is at this time of day that the babies are worn out, and both (though more Elsie than Eli) only are calmed by us rocking them. This is by far the most stressful time of day, but certainly manageable. I often take this time to walk the neighborhood with the babies in the jogger stroller. They both really enjoy outside time, and this soothes them. (And it also gets me out of the house so that Scott can do the dishes! How clever I am, huh?)
-Both babies love their big sister. Nothing melts our hearts more than when one of the babies is crying and stops when Emily comes over to him or her. I can already tell that they think their big sister is amazing!
-We go for a weight check next week with Dr. Cope. I'm sure the doctor will be as impressed as we are with the babies' additional fat rolls! I'll make sure to include those weights when we get them!

Evidence

Mom: Emily, were you playing with my camera?

Emily: Nope

Mom: Are you sure?

Emily: Yep

Mom: Then what's this? (I show her the picture)

Emily: Oops... (big sigh)

Ugliness

I have posted a couple of times about the comments we've received when out with the twins. Most of the time people just don't think about how their funny questions/comments sound, and it offers us with some comic relief.

But today's comment was completely rude, and I believe clearly shows the ugliness that women show to each other.

My friend Lori and I brought the kids to Chick-fil-a for lunch. Emily and her friends were playing, Eli and Elsie were sleeping in their infant car carrier while Lori and I ate our lunch and chit-chatted. Eli's head was cocked to the side, LIKE IT ALWAYS IS.

This woman sat down beside me and motioned to Eli. She said, "If I bring him to you, will you please fix his head?" I can't even describe the look of pure judgment on her face.

I simply responded, "No thank you. He consistently pulls his head forward like that, and will put his head right back if I try to fix it. He is just fine, but thanks again!" (Ask my mom about this... Mom and I troubled over Eli's head every time we put him in his car seat until we realized he was JUST FINE and would put his head back where he wanted it no matter what we thought!)

The women (purely disgusted by my horrible abilities as a mother) then asked me, "How much did they weigh at birth? They are SOOOOO tiny! They must have been born REALLY early!"

I guess the comments when typed out in a blog don't do justice to the incredibly rude, ugly, and judgmental attitude that was worn on this woman's face and vivid in her tone.

Lori and I were completely aghast.

Please Lord, wake me up and give me a shove if I should ever be ugly to another woman.

An end to an era...

Emily came home after church yesterday and declared, "I'm not taking a nap today."

(I'll allow you a minute to visualize Scott and me snapping our heads up from what we were doing to look at each other in full panic)

Emily went on to explain that Hayden (her friend from preschool who is also in her Sunday School class) told her that four year olds don't take naps. He says that he hasn't taken a nap in awhile now.

Well shoot. Darn that Hayden!

True to miss Em's form, she stuck to it. We tried to put her down for a nap and she basically looked at us like we'd lost our ever loving minds. It was as if she figured out that other kids hadn't taken naps for a long time now, and she was mad at us for not telling her. After trying to reason with her we finally gave in. This kid just wasn't going to nap anymore.

Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.

She still takes time to "rest" in her bedroom each afternoon while she reads books or draws pictures. But she has assured me twice now that she will NOT fall asleep with her books like she used to do when she was a three year old girl. Because now she is four, and four year olds don't take naps. (Grrrrr that Hayden!)

The good news is that she slept in this morning much later than ever before. Which is good in preparation for Miss Penny's (Mindy's) visit next week!

Because I promised my mom...

Here's a look at the highlights of the week in pictures:
Yes, Eli's eyes are that big and blue. Elsie does smile most of the time with her tongue out like this, and Emily is the proudest big sister yet!

We had a great week, hope you did too!

The 90 minute baby

Emily and I went to story time at the library last week. While she was listening to the stories I stumbled on a book about getting babies to nap. I checked it out and read through a bit of it that first day. Quite honestly the book didn't impress me that much. It basically went on and on about one basic premise, but the premise was an interesting one. The author believed that babies have a 90 minute awake cycle. She thinks the best thing to do is count 90 minutes from the time the baby wakes and then try to put the baby back down from another nap. In other words, if a baby wakes in the morning at 7 a.m. then the baby will be ready for another nap at 8:30. She also says that if a baby stays awake past the 90 minutes, then the baby becomes fussy as a result of being overly tired and possibly even sleep deprived.

So I thought, "what the heck?" I talked with Scott about it and we tried it for one day. It wasn't easy at first, but after they both woke from their nap they nursed and played until the 90 minutes were up. Scott and I swaddled them both, and gave them their pacifier. They were both asleep within five minutes. I was amazed!

We continued the plan, and the babies took great naps. One day Eli even slept for over three hours! They don't always nap the same length of time, but that's okay. They are both sleeping so much better at night! After the second day on this "90 minute plan" Elsie slept for ten hours at night, and Eli for seven. I was thrilled! Of course this could just be a coincidence, or the babies could completely object to this plan tomorrow, but until then we will continue to count ahead every 90 minutes after their wake time.

This morning the babies woke, and 90 minutes later we swaddled them and put them in their cribs, though they were still awake. They both fell asleep themselves, and woke up an hour later. This gave me a chance to shower (a huge deal!), put on a load of laundry, and hang with Emily for a bit.

Yay babies! :)

P.S. Mom says that she wants more pictures. I am keeping the camera out all day, and promise to post some later today.

Happy Birthday Mom

Isn't she pretty! I've always liked this picture. Yes, she will probably want to kill me, but that's okay!

Hope you have a great day Mom! Love you!

Continuing to continue!

This morning I have spent two hours on the phone with insurance, the hospital's billing department, and the pediatrician office. What fruit do I have to show for my labor? The pediatrician bill is paid in full. The broken arm operation was paid in full. The double infant hernia operation was paid in full. As was the anesthesiologist, urologist, and orthopedist.

It amazes me that insurance companies think they can get away with not covering families who pay their monthly premiums every month. What they will do to get out of paying is unbelievable! Today just shows that persistant phone calls and keeping diligent records myself will eventually pay off!

And this is good because I needed the encouragement to keep up with the birth bills for both Elias, Elsie, and myself. Basically with that we were told that insurance wouldn't pay the hospital bills because they are "penalizing" me for not letting them know about the pregnancy during my first trimester. Even though I have documents from my doctor's office that were sent 10/15/08 (when I was only EIGHT WEEKS PREGNANT) to the insurance to verify my pregnancy with them. My insurance even responded to the faxed letter to inform my doctor's office that I was indeed covered.

So I will continue to spend hours on the phone with both my insurance company and the State Budget and Control Board. Apparently my appeal will next go before the board next Wednesday. I pray they will agree with me!

Until then, I will enjoy shredding the bills from the providers who have finally been paid in full by my insurance. :)

Monday Mayhem

Rather than my usual random Monday post, I will post today's likes and dislikes in the form of Beth Moore's "blessings and not blessings:"

Things that are a blessing:
- Yummy blueberry buckle and coffee for breakfast this morning. Emily's refers to it as "huckleberry yummy."
- I figured out that the little velcro straps on the cloth diapers are meant to overlap, therefore decreasing the amount of leakage. Wish I would have figured that out many, many loads of laundry ago.
- The playroom. We may never use it for its intended purpose (dining room) and that is okay with me. I love to watch Emily play.
- Jenny's Jack and my Eli and Elsie allowed us to have a nice phone conversation this morning. Rare these days that the Ogden and Johnson households are quiet at the same time!
- The highs are only the 80's for the next few days. Nice.
- I am officially moved out of my classroom. Sorta sad, but glad that the task is done. Thanks to Scott who literally did it all by himself.
- Emily has been reading many predictable books to herself. This in turn has lead to her recognizing most of her letters and their accompanying sounds. She amazes me.
- We are working on putting Eli and Elsie down when they are tired, but not yet asleep in hopes of them each learning how to fall asleep by themselves. Eli has this down, Elsie, well, meh. We're on a great start and will keep working.
- My cousin Leighann started her own blog. I love to see her little guy growing so big!

Things that are NOT a blessing:
- $5.99 a week for diaper wipes is too much. I'm back to making my own wipe solution with old wash clothes. Yes, I am that
cheap!
- While in the church nursery yesterday, I changed Eli's diaper. I didn't cover him up, and the cold air did its magic. He peed all over everything, including his own forehead.
- Scott has to work on his comps for much of the day today. That means we have to leave him alone. Bummer.
- Our energy bill for last month was higher than it ever has been before. All the bedrooms have walk-in closets, and if I find one more closet light turned on, I am unscrewing the bulbs!

Blueberry Picking

When Emily was just over a year old my dad introduced her to blueberries. He eats them for breakfast nearly every morning, and Emily thought they tasted great! Since then Emily asks for blueberries every time we're in the store. Often times I buy them and she eats them plain for breakfast, just like Papa. But sometimes I refuse to buy them because they can be so expensive!

So when I was told about a blueberry farm only 25 minutes from our house that had pick your own for $1/ pound, I knew we had to try it out!

With twin babies people often expect that we must spend every day cooped up in our house. I do cherish the days that are spent entirely at home, but Scott and I have never been afraid of getting out and going with a baby. Or two babies for that matter. We plan the best we can, and hope for the best! Sometimes its no big deal, other times we cut our plans short to accommodate fussy babies. I think this mind-set somewhat accounts for Emily's easily adjusting attitude. She flew back and forth across the country for four round trips by the time she turned one! And she was great EVERY time.
Well, today we packed up the double stroller, baby bjorn, sling, and off we went. We didn't know what to expect, but were pleased to see the beautiful farm with 5+ acres of nothing but ripe blueberries growing down aisles and aisles of freshly mowed green grass. We pushed the stroller down the aisles and the babies took an extended morning nap, and didn't wake up until we were finishing up!


We picked over ten pounds of berries! I plan on putting eight, 1 qt. bags in my freezer, which leaves 3, 1 at. bags for the fridge to appease my blueberry loving Emily! While we picked we shouted out all the things we wanted to make with the blueberries. But above all, she just likes to put them in a bowl and eat them!

I can't wait to make Kathy Davis' "blueberry buckle" before church. My mom and I both make this recipe often, and Emily and Scott both enjoy it very much. OH, and in case you wondered what in the world was around Scott and my waist? It is a nifty contraption that snaps on the the bucket, keeping it secure around your waist, and frees up both hands to pick berries faster.

Friday Family Movie Night

Friday Family Movie Night is something that Scott and I began with Emily quite awhile ago. When I was pregnant with the twins I would come home with take-out, set it all out on the coffee table, and we would eat in the livingroom while watching a movie of Emily's choosing while I tried not to completely fall asleep.

We still watch a movie every Friday night. I prepare a dinner suitable for coffee table dining, or we get take out (due to extremely fussy babies today, I ran out and picked up jersey subs from our favorite mom and pop deli. Yummy!)

Sometimes we also have special movie candy or something for dessert. Tonight we made homemade ice cream and ate it while it rained and thundered and stormed outside.

I think the reason why the Friday Family Movie night tradition is so special to me is because Mindy and I had something similar when we were growing up. Every Friday night we would watch the TGIF line up which always started out with Full House. (Yes, we watched all of those shows... we even had a "Full House dance" that we did while skipping around the living room.) Mom would make us little pizzas on English muffins and we would eat popcorn on the special "popcorn blanket." Mindy and I would have Becky and Susan Fidler over, and it was always a big fun deal.

Nothing special in retrospect. But very special indeed.

I hope that when Emily is old enough to invite friends over that she will want to have them over with our family. I love that she cheers when she finds out it is Friday, and that she talks all day about what movie she wants to watch. And I love to snuggle on the sofa with Emily, Scott and the babies.

Mastitis

As taken from kellymom.com:

"Mastitis may occur more frequently with shield use, twins or other multiples, or when a baby suddenly sleeps longer during the night."

Well shoot. Shield use? Check. Twins? Check. Suddenly sleeping longer at night? Check.

I didn't ever have this problem when I breastfed Emily, but this morning I am in quite a bit of pain. (Just this week Elsie normally sleeps for 5-6 hours and Elias sleeps for 7-9 hours.) I guess I need to take my temperature and call the doctor?

Anybody else have any experience with Mastitis? How can you tell the difference between a plugged duct and mastitis? The symptoms are listed as the same, except maybe mastitis is more severe?

What a bummer. As if nursing twins wasn't hard enough!

The big girl!

Emily has her big 4 year old appointment today. I swear I feel like we live at the pediatrician's office! :) In the past Scott has always taken Emily to anything that involves shots. I don't do well with shots, blood draws, or as it turns out... broken bones. Mindy is almost done with nursing school, and has worked for years as a phlebotomist, and yet I can't stand the site of blood. We couldn't be more different!

Emily knows she is getting shots tomorrow, and tells us that she doesn't think she'll cry because she is tough. I hope so. I hope Mommy is tough too! But I wanted to go so that I could talk with the doctor about a few things. Yes, I am that mom who brings in a list of questions.

Anyhow, another reason why I wanted to take her is because I really want to go to lunch after the appointment, just the two of us. Emily has been the biggest helper lately. Now that her cast is off she has stepped it up a notch with making her bed, unloading the dishes on the bottom of the dishwasher, and picking up her toys. She also is always concerned that I don't get to eat meals without almost always holding a baby. She has really matured with these babies to become even more patient, loving, and thoughtful. But I know that she still misses the days when she was the one at the center of our world, and she didn't have to share that attention with anybody.

I love this little girl. And even if it is just a doctor's appointment and lunch out, I hope our morning together will be wonderful!

UPDATE:
Four year old shots are horrible!

When it was all over I told Emily we could go where ever she wanted for lunch. She said she wanted "Sushi and ice cream." Nice. So we went to our favorite sushi spot, just the two of us, and sat at the sushi bar. The chef was great, and showed Emily everything as he made our rolls which just endeared Emily to sushi even more. Of course she had a specific ice cream in mind, so after sushi we went straight to Sonic so she could have her Orange Cream Slush. Quite a bit of indulgence for one afternoon, but if you would have seen the size of the shots, you would overindulge her too! I'm so thankful for the time we spent together, just the two of us! I love me some Emily Grace! :)

A couple cute Emily Grace quotes-
*When she was nervous about getting her finger pricked to give blood I explained that Miss Penny (Aunt Mindy) does this all the time because it his her job. Emily responded, "Well why would she do that?"
*After the shot in her arm she cried a bit and said, "Oh man. Bumber. I really was hoping not to have any tears. Oh well. I can't be tough too much of the time."
*Finally, while eating our lunch she sighed and said, "I really wish there was more 'tofude' in my miso." What four year old says that?!?!?

Phone call

Call to "Freda" an insurance:

Me: My pediatrician says that the claim wasn't paid for 5/12 5/15, 5/20, 5/22 for both Eli and Elsie. They are twins, and were both seen by the doctor on those days.

Freda: Nope, those claims for each child were paid. There is no remaining balance.

Me: Are you sure? For both babies?

Freda: Yes Maam, I'm sure. All the claims for both babies have been paid.

Me: Okay, well I guess I'll call the doctor's office and if they still say the claims weren't paid, I'll call back?

Freda: If that's what you want to do.

Next Call is to April from pediatrician's billing department. She explains in full detail each claim date for each child, and exactly what percentage insurance should have paid, and didn't.


Call back to "Freda" at insurance:
Me: I just spoke with the pediatricians office, and she told me there is ABSOLUTELY an unpaid claim for each date for each child.

Freda: You have two children?

Me: Yes, I do. Like I said, their names are Eli and Elsie

Freda: Oh, well they both have claims for each day, none were paid.

Me: But you JUST TOLD ME that the claims were all paid for those days in May for each child!?

Freda: Well, shoot. Sorry.

UGGHHHH!!! How in the world am I to have any confidence in the people handling my insurance claims when I have experiences like this morning with Freda? And how in the world is any person able to keep up with each claim for each child for each date without pulling their hair out between phone calls to providers and insurance?!

It takes a full-time job to do this, but I think insurance companies bank on people who just pay their bills without consulting the explanation of benefits pages and comparing them to the filed provider's claims. Some times the amounts are so off it is ludicrous! And there is never an explanation. I can't tell you how many HUNDREDS of dollars that we've been told we owe, only to find out the claim wasn't adjusted or filed correctly, and we shouldn't owe it at all!

The skinny of it is, just this morning our bill of $128 for the pediatrician has now been filed and will be paid in full, as it should have been. But not before literally more than an hour of phone calls. That should not be the way insurance companies handle customers.

Sunday Heart Melt

One of the things I pray a lot for is that all three of our sweeties will love each other and be good friends. So you can see why this little snippet made my heart smile!

Happy Sunday!

Emily off to college?

We got a Bed Bath and Beyond sale circular in the mail yesterday that served as quite the conversation piece with Emily Grace. Its pages celebrate that time of year when recent high school graduates spend a fortune at Bed Bath and Beyond in order to make their college dorm room spectacular. The pages were full of X-long twin bedding sets, closet organizers, and mini laptop desks.

Emily was looking through the circular as I was feeding the babies. She asked me why the girls and boys in the pictures all were getting new bed sheets and stuff. I explained that the boys and girls were going to college, where they will live in dorm rooms all by themselves with their friends and no grown-ups. I told her this is where Becky lives (Becky = the daughter of Miss Shari, who kept Emily when I worked). Emily was intrigued by the idea of the kids going away without parents. She had lots of questions. They were mostly about who made the food for the kids, and how they lived without moms or dads telling them when to go to bed.

Then she asked if she will go to college. I told her that if she loved to learn, and did a great job in school, that she will difinately go to college. Well, I guess she had a some-what warped view of the entire concept because after I told her this she got a huge smile on her face and said, "Well, I guess I better pick which bed I like the best. I think I like the pink one. I will tell Daddy when he gets home so he can buy it for me for college. I think you need to be five or som-ting (something) and I will be five really soon! College is going to be so great!"

Yes, yes Emily it will. In but thankfully not until about 14 years from now. Until then I will keep working with her on concepts of time.

Eli Smiles

Elsie Smiles

I am still trying to get better video of Eli smiling. Both at the same time would be fabulous. But until then, here is a video of our charmer who had just woke up from a nap, and had lots of facial expressions. It melts my heart every time! :)

Our Big Wednesday

Here are a little things going on at the Johnson's:

- I went to my first Mother of Twins meeting last night. There are over 100 members of this club. I had a great time and met some wonderful ladies. The meetings are monthly and offer support and friendship to moms of twins.

- Scott stayed home with all three kids yesterday. Amber dropped in for a bit to offer a hand. They bathed babies and when I got home Scott had the babies clean, fed, swaddled, and asleep. Way to go Scott!

- The Whole Language Umbrella conference begins tomorrow. I look forward to the day when I will go to such conferences with Scott again. But for right now, I am glad to stay at home. Our friends from Fresno are coming, and we can't wait to see them!

- Emily got her cast off today!!! Once Scott is finished with the conference this weekend, we are thinking about going to The Great Wolfe Lodge (Huge indoor water park) to celebrate.

- On today's schedule was grocery shopping and starting dinner by 4 p.m. After hours of feeding babies (it seemed like it was continuous!) I still hadn't been to the market, and dinner was a thought that didn't happen. Looks like we are grabbing sushi for dinner. (I'm not complaining!) Then our party of five will head off to Publix all together for some grocery gaming.

- It has been ten months since using the grocery game to shop each week. I estimate that we've saved a couple thousand dollars so far. My list is shown above, but is a picture of the list and coupons from last week.

- We didn't get to the pool today either. By the time Emily woke from her nap it was stormy. The weatherman said some areas would receive over five inches this evening! Our lawn needs it! I hat the days when it doesn't rain and we have to bust out the sprinkler.

Monday Mayhem

Another random Monday post, because random is good on a Monday!

* Babies must be growing, because they certainly couldn't eat any more if they tried. This has seriously been taxing on the Mom. I'm always feeding somebody, whether it is Eli, Elsie, or making dinner for Scott and Emily, or simply filling the dog's dish.

* I'll never forget how disappointed I was when I figured out that just because a baby slept through the night doesn't mean that they will continue to do so. Emily must have been three months old and slept "through the night" one night, much to Scott and my rejoicing, only to hit a growth spurt two days later that woke her to eat four times in a six hour period. I'm remembering this revelation now as my babies were up three times last night, which they haven't done in weeks!

* My friend Amber is going out with Emily, the babies and me to grab a bite to eat and hit Babies R Us. I wonder if she knows what she's in for?!? :)

* I've been really missing my friends and family this weekend. Sometimes being far away doesn't seem so bad, but every once in awhile I ache. I would have loved to spend the Fourth with my parents and Mindy. I just found out a friend was diagnosed with an awful disease, and I want to hug her, and I missed my friend Megan's wedding a few weeks back. These are all aches.

* There has to be more to this Sarah Palin thing, right? I keep watching the news in case they shed any more light on the Palin issue, but then they keep talking about the Gaffney serial murderer and I get all freaked out and change the channel.

* This morning I keep thinking about the little boy with the fish and bread that Jesus used to feed the multitude. God really used the combined three hours of sleep last night to give me all the energy I need for my three little ones. Surely I shouldn't feel this great after such a sleepless night!

* Scott is writing comps that he defends Aug. 15. Needs to set up his new classroom that he moved into. And has a conference this Thurs -Sun. He's very busy!

*Emily's cast comes of Wednesday. I think the we may go to Great Wolfe Lodge to celebrate. (Its a giant indoor water park north of Charlotte)

Have a great week!

Big morning at the Johnson's!

After last night's festivities, the babies didn't sleep very well. I don't know what the problem was, but Scott agree that tonight we will be going back to the nightly "bed time schedule" for all the Johnson children! Hopefully that will mean more zzzzz for us!


So we spent the lazy morning together, forgoing church, and playing with the babies. The downstairs was a mess of strewn about newspaper, coffee mugs, sippy cups, blankets, diapers, and empty cereal bowls. The laundry over-flowed upstairs, and none of the beds were made. But all five of us were in the nursery playing with the babies on the floor. I'm learning that sometimes it is important to let some of the chores go (at least for an hour or so) in order to spend time with the kiddos.

We had some amazing things happen while we played. Eli rolled over (not for the first time... he did this once a week ago, but not since) and then did it two more times. Once he even rolled over on his sister! (See picture) Elsie decided today would be the day she gave her first smile. I tried to get her to smile for a picture, but the result is what you see on the diaper changing table. (Notice the onesie with the big leak!) And Emily began talking to Elsie while they lay on the blanket together, and Elsie began to coo at her. They went back and forth for a little while, and Scott and I just beamed! How much fun!

Our Fourth of July

What a difference a year makes! Last year Scott and I were in the hospital for much of our July Fourth so that I could have a D & C after a heartbreaking miscarriage. We never would have guessed then that our family would have been so blessed in just a year's time.







Here are some highlights from our day yesterday. In an effort to create some family traditions Scott and I bought an ice cream maker to make the wonderful treat. Thank goodness our friends had a machine of their own that we could use, because the "gel canister" model we bought just simply didn't do the trick. Oh well, we had wonderful food, peach cobbler, and ice cream nevertheless.


The Hays' family put on quite a fireworks display that even Elsie enjoyed. (Eli fell asleep much too soon to enjoy the fireworks.) Emily loved playing with Kori and Austin. And the rest of us enjoyed the seats on the lawn and the break from the heat.

I hope everybody had a great holiday with family and friends

I deserve shaved legs

This morning Scott and Emily went to his school. I got both babies happy, and half-way to sleep in the bouncy seats. I decided it was time to take a shower.

Reveling in the quiet house, I stepped in the shower. Within three minutes both babies were crying, the FedEx man was ringing the door bell, and then the phone rang. Twice. All I could think was, "Maybe if I hurry I can shave my other leg!"

Thus, an insight into life with twins.

But despite those things today was a great day. I think this was mostly because I finally felt I had a leg up on the housework and chores. I'm learning that organization and end of night chores make the biggest difference in our home. Yesterday I was so thankful that Meesh came over to hold babies. I cleaned bathrooms, and all in all I did nine loads of laundry. Today I did three more loads. Having the laundry caught up is huge!

Last night after all children were in bed Scott and I walked around the house and picked up every room. I'm thankful that he understands my inability to relax in a living room full of the day's clutter remnants. After the dishes were put away, mail sorted, diapers hung out to dry, and toys put away we finally sat down together. It is as if that late-night pick up time is an investment for the day to come.

My next quest is to create some sort of calendar on the computer that I can use to organize our family's events and the weekly dinner menu. If I can just find time to create the calendar each week, I may be just one step closer to organizing this crazy family. Or as Emily has dubbed us, "The blue-eyed family." Maybe I can even include a specific day and time on the calendar set aside for leg shaving!?! :)

Two Months Old

We had our two month old wellness check today. Both babies are growing fine, though they are both very small in weight and length as compared to the charts. But this is to be expected of babies born early like they were. :)

Many people tell me that the twins look alike. I don't think they look much alike at all. When I see Elsie I am reminded of Emily when she was little. When I see Elias, I see Scott. Do you think they look alike in these pictures? Here are some of the ways they personalities are different:

Elsie:
-Nickname: The Queen Bee
-Likes to be held and talked to
-She has happy grunts when her belly is full, sad grunts when she is upset, and mad grunts when she really wants my attention
-She can sense when I am in the room, and when she hears my voice she sometimes will wake from sleep and immediately cry until I pick her up.
- Her very best sleeping is when she is laying on either Scott or my chest and we are laying in the recliner.
- Is learning to enjoy bath time
- Really likes having her hair (head) brushed with the soft-bristle baby brush
- Sleeps with her hands tucked and wrapped in the blanket as to not wake herself

Elias:
-Nickname: Mr. Chill
- Often times looks around while Elsie is crying as if to say, "what's wrong this time?" (see picture for instance)
- Loves to eat. Sometimes eats every other hour
- Absolutely hates bath time
- Has learned to grab my hair, and pulls. Hard.
- Doesn't cry too much, but when he does it is more like a loud shrieking, and is definitely not pleasant.
- Enjoys walks in the double jogging stroller
- Has persistent gas that resembles broccoli. (I think he will be proud of the stinkers when he gets a little older)
-Sleeps with his hands out, and often times above his head.

Basically you could say that in many ways Eli possesses Scott's cool charm and mellow demeanor while Elsie is high strung like her mommy! And that is okay with me, because I think Scott and I make a good team, and I'm sure these two babies will balance themselves out in just the same way!

I hope we remember to enjoy these times because they will pass so quickly! I already had to put away the premie clothes today! So sad! But I can't wait to see all the things they will learn, what Emily will teach them, and the additional variances in their personalities. We just love loving them!