White Point

Last weekend we went to White Point Beach Resort for the weekend. It was lovely to get away for a few days. This was the first time we had taken the twins anywhere overnight since they had came home from the NICU. It went well and I think we will be brave enough to try it again a few times this summer. We stayed in a cabin that had views of the ocean. At night we could hear the steady rhythm of the pounding waves. Relaxing... We mostly ate at the lovely restaurant on the resort and gorged ourselves on the buffet meals. We also went for a picnic with the twins for lunch one day, which was a lot of fun. They didn't quite get the concept of staying on the blanket though, and thought Mummy and Daddy's sandwiches looked much more fun than their bite sized collection of foods. We all enjoyed seeing the bunnies at White Point. When we had been there in the winter a few years ago we had been swarmed with rabbits wanting to eat the pellets we had for them. This time, with much lush grass and clover available to them, the bunnies were less numerous and only slightly interested in munching on pellets from our hands. We took the twins in swimming for the first time. Sadly with two of us holding two of them there was no way to snap a picture of this moment. I did take some of them wrapped in their big white hotel towels as we were strolling back to our cabin. The smell of campfires, salt air and wild roses was truly wonderful. We spent many hours sitting (or playing) on the lawns enjoying the views and soaking up the atmosphere. It is truly a relaxing place to be (even with 11 month old twins).

Welcome to our house

Some houses try to hide the fact that children shelter there,
Ours boasts of it quite openly, the signs are everywhere,
For smears are on the windows, little smudges on the door,
I should apologise I guess for toys shrewn on the floor,
But I sat down with the children and we played and laughed and read,
And if the windows do not shine, their eyes will shine instead,
And when at times I'm forced to choose the one job or the other,
I want to be a housewife, but first I'll be a mother.

ode to twin mommies

Someone sent this to me, and I thought it was cute.

ode to twin mommies!

some of us are tidy,
others of us are slobs
some of us married rock stars,
a few ended up w/knobs!

some of us dress our kids alike
others wouldn't dare
some of us take a shower each day
a couple of us just don't care!

a few of us are organized
and several are really precise
some of us love twin compliments
but others of us are real shy

many of us feel kind of "done" w/sex
though it makes us feel badly
(not badly enough to do it, however,
so our mates might be feeling sadly!)

some of us work outside the home
and others are home w/the kids all day
though we all work REALLY hard
you can't argue w/that fact--no way!

some of us find time to exercise
and others just can't deal
a few of us actually go out w/friends
and others find that unreal

some of us make awesome meals
for their families every day
others open a can or a box or a carton
and feed their kids that way

a few of us venture out all the time
while others find it hard
some of us are happy to make it
w/the kids to the backyard!

we're all really different
but there's one thing for sure
WE'RE ALL AWESOME TWIN MOMMAS
(though some kids have to eat off the floor;))

Yum Yum!

11 months! Yikes!

"From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!" ~Dr. Seuss

Anna and Alex turned 11 Months a few days ago. It is crazy for me to think that in less than a month they will be a whole year old. I am happy my babies are growing up to be such interesting and unique little people and I love seeing the changes they make. I am sad that they are moving away from being babies and more and more every day are turning into toddlers.

So what new has happened this month... The big thing is that Anna is starting to walk. She lets go of the furniture more and more often when standing and started to occasionally take a step or two. There have been a few times she has managed to keep her balance long enough to go 1/2 way across the room. She still loses her balance and falls on her bum, or grabs onto something. She is very happy to spend hours walking around if she can find someone to hold hands with.

Alex has started cruising the furniture now too. For a long time he pulled himself up to standing, then would get down, crawl a few feet and pull himself back up. Now he manages to walk from one point to another, without having to get back down. As for getting down, he has gotten WAY better at that. He used to kind of just fall over and hope that he landed on his hands instead of his face. Now he squats down, reaches his hands to the ground and sits or gets into crawling position. He is learning.

As for teeth, well Anna still has just her 2 bottom teeth. Alex has been teething like crazy, and got 3 teeth breaking through in less than a week. He now has his 4 bottom front teeth, his middle top teeth are fully in and the two beside those are broken through. He also has a molar on the bottom right, and the bottom left molar feels like it will be coming in very soon. His eye teeth are there under the gum, but haven't pushed through yet. So tooth count right now is at 9 for Alex.

The kiddos are getting to be so much fun, they have personalities now. They laugh at so many things and play games with me like peek a boo. Anna has learned to clap and they both do "hands up" and will wave hello and goodbye when prompted. I have even walked in on them playing peek a boo with each other (Anna was kneeling and had the blanket up over her face, Alex was standing up watching ) while they were supposed to be sleeping. I wondered why Alex was laughing over the baby monitor. Alex loves to do "yoga" and his favorite pose is to stand on his toes with his forehead on the floor. I would love to be that flexible still! He loves biting his own feet almost as much as attempting to bite other people's feet. He will chase us around the room trying to get our feet, and if he does, boy does his bite hurt. Anna loves to climb, and will pull pillows off of things in order to use them as steps to give her a boost to reach things. She is in to everything she can find. She even uses the radiator as a step and will stand on it while clinging to the window sill. Especially if the cat is sitting there to look out the window. Anna is a little monkey.

They are eating all sorts of food, but have a few favorites. Yogurt is a big hit with both of them, as are frozen blueberries. They also love eating with their fingers and really enjoyed recent meals of chicken soup (peas, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, pasta, chicken etc in little pieces) and lasagna. Boy was THAT messy, but they loved the pasta noodles with cheese and tomato meat sauce. Alex even thought his ear and his eye might like to try some too. I had to get the camera out for that. I'll post some of their eating pictures later.

Alex and Anna got to meet some more of their relatives this month too. We took them to Stewiacke to visit their Daddy's father's side of the family. They were very well loved by their great Aunts and Uncles and cousins. We hope to get back there this summer to visit again.

Sunny Day Photo Shoot (Thanks Cathy)

Some more of the photos from this afternoon are on my Facebook as well. Hope you enjoy them.

10 month update

Anna and Alex turned 10 months yesterday. Time is flying. 2 months from now they will be 1 year old. This month has been filled with changes.

Anna is getting really good at standing now. She pulls up or pushes up on pretty much anything. She occasionally lets go for a minute and stands with "no hands". She also walks along the furniture with one hand holding on. She crawls up on hands and knees now, instead of pulling herself along on her belly. She is fast! She only has 2 teeth still, the two bottom ones. And boy are they sharp! She bit me the other day and I still have a tiny bruise. She continues to say Mama and Dada and has added cat to her repertoire. She loves our cats and gets so excited when she can touch them. She is eating well, although still doesn't like textured food. She likes mush or solids, not things in between, they make her gag. She eats a ton of puffs and Cherrios on her own now and is getting better at eating other chunks of food too like cheese or banana or chicken. Anna recently learned to clap, which is so cute. She is so proud of herself!

Alex made HUGE leaps this month and learned to stand. He pulls up to kneeling and to standing on all the furniture now. He still tends to get stuck once he is standing and yells to be rescued. He tends to spread his legs wide apart and to almost do the splits. We are working with him on learning to sit down on his bum from standing. So far he isn't really getting it. He hasn't tried walking yet, but I am sure that will come soon. As for teeth he is WAY ahead of his little sister. Tooth #6 just broke through. He also has a full head of hair whereas Anna only has a little fuzz so far. Such a cute blond little boy. He is learning to eat chunkier food really well and loves chewing on cheese pieces. He loves his puffs and Cherrios as well.

The past 2 weeks our whole family has had a horrible cold. Being sick yourself with sick twins is really hard. I had forgotten what sleepless nights felt like. Sleep deprivation is no fun and makes it much harder to recover yourself. We have gotten through it though and everyone seems to be feeling (and sleeping) better again.

I am excited as next weekend I actually get to celebrate Mother's Day as a Mom with kids that I get to snuggle. I have felt like a Mom since my first pregnancy (isn't a Mom someone who loves their child?) and last year, on bed rest, I certainly felt like a Mother but it isn't the same until you have someone to actually Mother.