Thursday, May 31, 2012

So, before the twins were born, I decided that I would chronicle the crazy and awesome journey of my life with the twins...you know, with the day-to-day minutiae that make everyone roll their eyes and think, "TMI".  Well, be thankful that I failed miserably!!!   Life is always crazy and sometimes awesome, but the awesome moments give me a glimpse of sanity and help me realize that I will survive the next couple of years.  As you can tell, my resolve to blog faded a millisecond after J & W arrived.  William and Jacob will be four months old this time next week!  I can't believe that!  They are rolling over, laughing, cooing up a storm, reaching for things (and grabbing them successfully) and sort of sleeping through the night (praise God!).  Life is fun again.  And, to top it off, Caleb is seriously in love with his little brothers, and we get to enjoy watching him shower them with slobbery kisses and clobber them with hugs.  My favorite things about my three boys right now:
  • Caleb shares his bedtime snack (a guilty pleasure instituted by Daddy) with his brothers--if I don't actually put it in the baby's mouth, Caleb gets upset.
  • Caleb hugs a crying baby to help comfort him or gets my attention if one of them is upset
  • Caleb likes to show me his and the babies' bellies, ears, mouths, noses and toes (it's like watching the Three Stooges--lots of eye jabs and face grabs)
  • Caleb will randomly hug and kiss the babies.  If he's sitting in his high-chair, and one of them is within his line of sight, he will reach for them until you bring the baby to him, then he will hold and hug said baby until it screams--picture Elmira from Tiny Toons.
  • The babies are smiling and laughing at Caleb; I think he has realized that he can make them smile and laugh--the next few months should be a ton of fun
  • Sometimes, when Caleb wants some extra attention, he will reach for the baby (like he wants a hug), then try to push him out of the way so I will pick him up.  We have a little talk when this happens, but it's nice to know he still wants his mommy!
  • Caleb is walking up a storm, and, when we go for family walks, he will push the stroller.  Mind you, he is a foot and a half shorter than the stroller, but it's really cute (we help him keep the stroller on the road).
  • Caleb will help, in his own little way, by bringing bottles or pacifiers (wanted or unwanted) and shoving them in the babies' mouths--cute!
As you can see, a lot of my favorite things revolve around Caleb's interactions with the babies...prior to thier birth, I was so stressed about how he would react to having the twins around and not having mommy and daddy all to his own self, but he has done remarkably well.  Having said all of this, Caleb can't wait to leave the house and go to pre-school most mornings:). 

Caleb is starting to use LOTS of new words.  Still no two word phrases, but his vocabulary is exploding.  He went from the standard ma-ma and da-da to those, plus, milk, "all-done", papa, car, cup, juice, please, yes, no, tasty (my favorite), moon, nanny, owl, pool, cookie, baby brother, book, bath, Jesus, eye, nose, bumble bee, cheese, potty and fish.  The first one he has used consistently is squirrel--go figure!  I think it's because he sits in the dining room at breakfast and dinner and stares at the tree and squirrels in the front lawn--he loves watching them.  He is walking pretty well, now, which most of you know is a huge praise!  He also starts swimming lessons next week (yay!), and I'm hoping that will help build leg and ab and back strength.  He LOVES the pool and playing at his water table.

Another fun Caleb fact--he has started to disrobe at school.  He's been doing it for a while at home (fortunately, without any majorly nasty messes).  We try to get him to keep his clothes on, but we frequently find him walking around without any pants (sometimes minus the diaper).

As for the babies, they started laughing the Sunday before Mothers' Day...I was changing William's diaper, and he let out this cute little laugh.  Why is it that my boys always have their first laugh during a diaper change?  That was a rhetorical question, if you were wondering :)  They are sleeping ok, but only on their tummies (they roll over well, so I'm not too concerned at this point)...they are now refusing to sleep swaddled; this presents a problem, because they still can't really control their arms very well...so when they roll over in the middle of the night, they get mad and wake up...very frustrating.  Fortunately, this usually happens around 5 am, so it's not the end of the world.

As for Travis and I, we have auditory hallucinations of babies crying :)  Caleb was quiet as a mouse until 12 months, and has gotten progressively more verbal.  The twins came out swinging and are finally starting to settle down (unless it's 5-8 pm).  We realized they just want to interact with the rest of us at dinner, instead of napping.  If we hold them in our laps, sitting up and facing the rest of the table, they are content and will coo and join in on the conversation--very social, these little ones are!  I think we may try reclining the high chair seats, and letting them sit in those while we eat.  Hopefully, it works, and we can enjoy mealtime with Caleb.  Soon, we will have to start purees and solids for the little ones, so dinner-time will become a little crazier (if it wasn't crazy enough, already).

Well, this took 24 hours to post.  I started this time yesterday.  I finished it last night, but my internet service was spotty, at best, and wouldn't cooperate.  So, I am now going to post this and try to move on with life--need to plan menus, budgets, read, file, pay bills, clean kitchen, do laundry, tackle bible study and PRAY...