Caught in the Crib

For the last three nights (including tonight), Vivienne has woken up crying because her leg is stuck in between the slats of the crib.  She is usually just scared because she's stuck, but it also might hurt a little bit.  Her chunky big thighs really get wedged in there.  We always get her up and I nurse her and then put her back to bed.  A friend is going to mail us their breathable bumper.  I'm hoping that it prevents her from doing this so frequently.  My poor little girlie.  =(

Who Has Cute Babies?

I DO!!

Twin Mommy Get Together

We had a reunion for our multiples birthing class in early March.  Today, four of the mommies (and our eight babies) got together at a nearby park.  It was so fun to see them all again and to see how much their beautiful babies have grown.  One of the babies is walking very well - at only 10 months old!  Many of the others are crawling.  It was just so much fun to watch.

Today was Miles and Vivienne's first time sitting in sand.  Miles immediately grabbed a handful and put it in his mouth, which completely grossed me out.  I can't stand the feeling of sand between my teeth.

"What IS this stuff??"

"I'm not sure.  But I think I should put it in my mouth."

"Oh, wait.  Maybe that was a bad idea."

For much of the time, the babies sat on a blanket while the mommies chatted about feeding babies, traveling with twins, and swapped ideas.  The babies stayed busy by stealing toys, snacks, and water bottles.  I'm pretty sure that a graham cracker was split across four of the babies.  =)

This is one group of CUTE twins (minus one)!

Raiden is such a sweetie.

Look at those eyes.

Will has gorgeous big blue eyes.

Fiona is adorable as always.

Vivienne enjoyed playing with friends.

Claire sweetly shared her toys with Vivienne.

Molly is an impressive little walker already (and look at all that hair)!

It's a sea of double strollers!!

National Geographic: North Carolina Edition

This morning, it was a regular episode of National Geographic:  North Carolina Edition during our run.  We saw geese, ducks, lizards, snakes eating frogs... WHAT?  Yes, as I was taking the babies past the last pond, I saw a water snake.  I stopped to watch it swim along for a minute or so, and I realized that there was yet another water snake that had caught a bullfrog by one of its back legs, right on the shore.  What the heck?  I sat for a while to see what was going to happen (whether the frog was going to escape), but it wasn't looking good.  So we trotted on home.

I tried to figure out what kind of snake it was, but I didn't want to get too close.  I've seen too many copperheads around here lately, and a friend of a friend was bitten by one recently and spent the night in the hospital.  No more close-up snake pictures for me. 

Gross, but kind of cool.  Ah, the circle of life.  I can hear Elton John now.  I wish Miles was old enough to see it.  =)

We're Being Invaded By Aliens!!

Ok, we're not being invaded by aliens, but we are being invaded by cicadas.  Every 13 years, the cicadas emerge from their eggs in the ground and start buzzing around here like crazy.  That means the last time they were out in force like this was 1998.  I was 19 years old. 

If you've never seen one, they look like this:

Don't you love the creepy orange eyes?

Pretty little things, aren't they?  They're probably about an inch and a half long - pretty big bugs!  As I'm running (usually 4 miles every day with the babies), the stroller crunches over some of these guys.  It's impossible not to hit at least a few of them every day.  Yuck.

The males are making this creepy buzzing and humming sound because they're mating.  Around here, it honestly sounds like War of the Worlds or something.  It's a constant reverberating sound that you can hear every time you step outside.  Apparently, people around here keep calling 911 because they think that it is some kind of siren.

I remember, as a child, collecting the shells that the cicadas would leave behind as they moult.  Now, they gross me out a little bit, but I guess I can deal with it if our kids want to collect these things someday.

Cicada Shell.  Yum.

Cookie Monster

Today was a pretty relaxing day.  Jason got up early to go to a 1-mile open water swim in North Raleigh.  The babies and I got up slowly and ate breakfast together.  After their nap, I took them for a 4-mile run in the BOB.  When Jason got home, we got cleaned up and went to the late service at church.  By then, the babies were pooped, so we brought them home and put them down for their second nap.  When Miles woke up, he got a special treat - a cookie (Grandma had bought these for the babies on one of her trips).  Here is my cookie monster:

"I'm pretty darn cute for a monster - don't you think?"

"'C' is for cookie.  It's good enough for me!"

After Vivienne woke up, we played around a bit in the family room - reading books, practicing standing, trying to encourage Miles to crawl (to no avail).

Then we went for a walk to the park across the street.  Both babies enjoyed the swings, but Vivienne really loved it this time. 

We walked home, fed the babies dinner, gave them baths and put them to bed.  Then Jason and I worked in the yard.  I planted my gardenias and goldflame spireas.  Jason mowed the old section of lawn on the left side of the house.

It was a good weekend.  The weekends are never long enough.

Congratulations, Dave!!

Last night, we went to a party to celebrate our friend, Dave's, completion of his MBA.  It was fun to hang out with everyone from our Life Group, eat some awesome food and play with the kids.  I ate way, way, way too much food yesterday, but it sure was fun.  =)

Congratulations on your MBA, Dave!  We're so proud of you!

Gus poses before taking a slide.

Hannah was looking ridiculously cute, as always.

Vivienne lied down in Emerson's lap.

My two handsome guys

"Give me a hug, Emerson!"

Cynthia keeps Judson company.  Look at those puppy dog eyes!

Vivienne loves Miss Leigh.

First Pool Party

This afternoon, all four of us went to a baby pool party at a friend's house.  It was with our friends from our playgroup, so it was fun to finally meet some of the daddies.  There were about 10 babies there with most of their parents.  The hosts grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and the babies played in the floor and hopped in the baby pool.  Miles loved playing in the pool.  Vivienne was ok with it for about 3 minutes, and then she fell backward into the water, started crying, and wanted nothing more to do with the pool.  It was a fun afternoon with friends.

Vivienne likes playing with Aya.

"I'm glad I'm not the only girl here!"

"I really want to figure out this crawling thing like the rest of these guys."

Isn't she just the most darling baby?

Our handsome host, Jackson.

Pool time

Vivienne is not so sure about this.

Greg loves the water.

Vivienne is recovering from her little spill.

Miles could have played in the pool all day.

This pretty much sums up how she felt about the pool.

Crazy Hat

I put Miles in this hat this morning just messing around.  He's so crazy.  =)

Laundry Cat

Last week, Vivienne helped me with the laundry.  Today, Chloe "helped" me by keeping it warm.  =)

New Car Seats

After much research and thought, I finally settled on some convertible car seats for Miles and Vivienne.  We got them the First Years True Fit.  I ordered them from Amazon for about $125 each (free shipping).  They came yesterday, and Jason installed them last night (while I was picking up a new dresser for the babies with my friend, Elise - thank you so much for letting me use your truck!!).  Today, Miles and Vivienne got to try them out.

 
We went to the Farmer's Market with Pam.  It was a fun day.  The babies seemed fine with the seats on the way over.  After the market, we went to Locopops (my first time, very tasty!) and then headed home.  On the way home, Vivienne started screaming her head off.  She cried harder than I have ever heard her cry in the car.  She literally cried so hard that she gave herself hives!  I didn't even know you could do that!?!  After we got home, I nursed her and put her down for a nap.  I think it was a combination of her being very tired and her not being used to the new seat. 

I'm hoping that they are comfortable in these seats for our upcoming trip to Cleveland, but I'm nervous about it.  The older they get, the less excited they are to be sitting in their car seats.  We'll have to see how they handle 9+ hours in the car. 

Tonight, I went to a Mom's Night Out with some other mommies from our playgroup.  We got pedicures and manicures.  They had wine and hors d'oeuvres.  It was a fun night to get pampered and chat with other mommies.

Night Terror =(

Last night, we think Miles had a night terror.  Miles woke up about an hour and a half after he gone to bed.  He was screaming - much more loudly than a usual midnight cry.  Jason got him out of bed and immediately realized that something wasn't right.  Miles wasn't really responding to us, and it looked like he wasn't really seeing us.  I tried to nurse him, but he just thrashed around wanting to get away from me.  Miles hardly ever refuses to nurse, especially when he's upset.  It was unclear to me whether he was really terrified or whether he was in pain.  We laid him on the bed and checked everything we could think of... his clothes, his diaper.  Nothing seemed to be actually hurting him.  I started thinking that if he continued to cry at this level for another 10 minutes, I was going to take him to the emergency room.  It was not a normal cry.  He wouldn't make eye contact with us, and his body was very tight and rigid.  The entire thing was very bizarre and disturbing for us.  Jason said afterward that he was almost wondering whether Miles could be having a seizure.  There seemed to be nothing we could do to make him respond to us.  After a few minutes, I was able to finally calm him down and nurse him back to sleep.  He slept through the rest of the night and woke up around 6 this morning.

Of course, we went online immediately to try to figure out what was going on.  It looks like he was probably having a night terror.  He was probably not even awake for the first few minutes when we were holding him and he was crying, almost like a sleepwalking nightmare - that's why he wasn't responding to us.  They say that you should not try to wake up a child who is having a night terror.  How in the world could we just let him lie there and scream out in horror, though?  =(

Last night, we had gone to Life Group, so the babies had gotten to bed much later than usual.  They usually go down around 6:30, but last night they went down around 8:30.  We're not sure whether this had anything to do with it or not, but we've been reading that getting out of routine and being sleep deprived may contribute to the likelihood of a night terror.  I'm really hoping that this is not a regular occurrence.  I felt so helpless as a parent - not being able to do anything to soothe his fears.

Happy 10 Months!

Happy 10 months, Vivienne and Miles!  The babies are 10 months old today.  I can't believe we're starting to creep up on a year.  They are growing and changing so much, and it's just a blast to watch them turn into little people.

Miles is such a sweet little guy.  He has so much energy and personality.  He is always in motion.  Most of my pictures have some part of his body as a blur - usually an arm or a leg.  He is just on the verge of crawling.  He wants to crawl so badly, but he still hasn't quite figured it out.  Miles no longer has trouble with solid foods.  He eats like a champion and seems to like just about anything you give him.  He has striking blue eyes.  Whenever we go out, people always comment on how blue his eyes are (which is surprising, because neither Jason nor I have blue eyes, and our parents all have brown eyes). 

Vivienne is the most beautiful, cuddly baby.  She has a gentle, easy-going spirit and loves to be held.  She doesn't seem too interested in crawling yet, and is content to sit in one place and yank the toys out of her brother's hands.  =)  The babies are starting to cry when their sibling steals their toy (though sometimes they don't seem to mind all that much).  Vivienne has the prettiest blond hair and steely blue eyes.  She has the face of a little cherub. 

I love to hear the babies babbling away in their car seats as we go about our errands.  They are making so many different types of sounds now.  There is never a quiet moment here, unless they are napping (like they are now).

They are eating lots of solid foods, and nursing less often.  It makes me sad that they don't need me as much, but they still breastfeed 4-5 times a day. 

Miles and Vivienne are sleeping completely through the night on most nights.  They go to sleep around 6:30 or 7 and they wake up at 6:30 sharp.  It's great to have a full 12 hours of babies sleeping.  I remember thinking that that would never happen.

I am so blessed to have these two gorgeous, sweet babies in my life.  It's hard to remember what life was like before they stepped into my world.  And I'm just so glad that they did.

Happy 10 months, Miles and Vivienne!!