Bathtime Bliss

William/Daddy Bath Fight

William has FINALLY started liking baths again.  We went through a LONG period where baths were a big, sad, production.  Grandma Garff got him some cool water toys and a kiddie pool, and it’s made all the difference. Some days, he BEGS for a bath.

Caleb has really started loving his baths, too.  He’s gone from screaming the entire time,to kicking and splashing and laughing…all in one day.  No idea what changed, but I’m sure glad it did.

And speaking of laughing, our sweet little old man baby is full of giggles. Scattered with fussiness, but lots of giggles in between. Gotta love those happy baby sounds!

Caleb Laughs

Summer Fun

Summer at the Garffs is all about swimming

 

Lazy days,

And huckleberries.

Special thanks to Aunt Georgia for Lily’s adorable swim outfit and for the huckleberries.    ;)

Hebgen 2012

April was a saint and stayed home with newborn twins while William and I got out of her hair and headed up to join the rest of the family for a week at the cabin.









The cousins had a lot of fun together.


Umm… yeah… this seating arrangement lasted about 5 minutes.



There was a brief crisis when William was stung by a bee (bees already his arch enemies long before he was ever stung by any).

You can see the injection site there on his ear. And below is a vide of the aftermath. William handled it pretty well, though Grandpa had already calmed him down by this point.

The Williams and I hiked up to visit Dutch Henry.





We had tons of fun on the new pier.

William didn’t go anywhere without “farmer hat.”


And we had tons of fun on the boats.

My Boys are Back

While I LOVED having the place to myself for a week (I secretly harbor hermit tendencies), I am glad to have my sweet boys back with me.

I think they are pretty happy about it too.  All that fun made them exhausted.

It's been a bit of an adjustment, with 3 kids, instead of just the two I had gotten used to hanging around with, but William missed us all and was glad to get back in our routine. He even gave the babies a kiss and will occasionally tolerate it when they sit near him on the couch as long as they have a chaperone.

 

We're working on that.

In other news, the twins hit 4 months and we finally retired those newborn onesies (and pants, too, lol).

 In case you were wondering, yes, those are the normal expressions we get from these guys.  Caleb tends to be wide-eyed, giggly, or very upset; and often like in this picture (taken minutes after they were changed mind you), Caleb spit up all down his front, and all over me, too. I'm getting really sick of laundry. Lily on the other hand, seems to be more content (especially now that she has learned to find and suck on her index finger), but reserves her smiles for special occasions (like Mom or Dad, usually). And both babies sleep through the night (6/630 pm to 6 am) nearly every night.  With 2 babies to care for, this feels like a well-deserved miracle (as any mother of twins will attest). It took a lot of effort to synchronize twin schedules (naps are still a problem...) but we've got nighttime down. I consider this my greatest motherhood achievement to date, especially considering they are exclusively breastfed. And some people think sleeping through the night is a feeding issue...

These cute little babies are growing like weeds on Momma's good stuff. Double chins, chubby cheeks, and thick thighs---gotta love that baby fat! William was long and skinny so this is a totally new experience for us. They are both pretty short (Caleb 23.5", Lily 23.75"). At 13 lbs 6 oz, Caleb is heavier than William at 4 months, while Little Lily weighs in at 12 lbs, 14 oz. I must say Lily has officially caught up to her age group in both size (since she's a girl, she will tend to be smaller) and ability.  Lily has learned to do mini-push ups to turn her in a circle, grab toys (and eat them), and has gotten great head control. When put on his tummy, Caleb usually just eats his hand. Hopefully he'll catch up more by 6 months, but since he has a strong neck and winning personality, the doctor isn't too worried at this point. As far as I'm concerned they can wait as long as they want to get mobile...I'm not in any rush to be running after 3 of them at once.

Life as a Single Mom

Steven and William spent the week up at Hebgen, while the twins and I decided to forgo the fun of packing up all of our baby necessities (X2), finding a dog sitter, and potentially driving home with just the twins.

 

And honestly, it did feel more like a vacation than the vacation was seeming to be.  As long as I made sure the babies were fed and rested and otherwise happy, we got to do whatever we wanted. There were obvious difficulties (i.e. church, burping two babies at once, not being able to leave the house during naptime, etc.) but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  

We had a visit from our good friend, Angie.  She went to Universal Studios back in November and picked out these onesies before Caleb and Lily were only 20 weeks gestation. They fit perfectly.

 We were also able to go to a couple of family parties.  There was the annual Traci/Abby birthday celebration (we got a great picture of Caleb in a party hat, lol. I'll try to get a copy), and also a coming home party for my older brother Dan (who has been in Texas for the military since the babies were a week old) and coincidentally, his son Matthew, who just got out of the hospital the day after Dan came home; after several heart surgeries and a nearly six-month stay, we're glad he's done for now.  He is only six weeks older than Caleb and Lily, and probably outweighs them by at least a couple pounds and several inches. The twins would have been happier to meet him, but it was WAY past their bedtime.

The Man Basket Society came over for the monthly meeting and we all shared our favorite items under $2. Mostly, there was chocolate (surprise, surprise), but we all got a notebook and a bottle of the best purified water (compliments of Kristi's store).

Saturday night, I was even able to convince my brother Arthur to stay with the babies after bedtime so I could go on my first run this week. I had to cut it short due to the report of a creepy guy up the path, but I did run into a deer in Research Park.  My cell phone doesn't quite do it justice, but I tried.

I've started getting used to it being just me and the babies.  I had WAY more free time than in years, and got to eat broccoli and mushrooms to my heart's content.  Though I've barely left the house, so it will be good to get out again; I'm looking forward to having some adult company and toddler entertainment. My two big boys should be home in an hour!

Normal

It used to be that I would wake up and feel like life was a blur, like I was living in a dream (sometimes a pleasant dream, but unfortunately often feels like a bad dream instead).  I spend most of my day feeding, changing, entertaining, or attempting to convince my 3 children to sleep.

Caleb and Lily are quickly approaching 4 months and I am finally starting to feel like this is our new normal. Mind you, I hope our new normal will soon also include us having Steve get a good-paying job and finally getting back into a place of our own, but for now, we are starting to get back into the groove of life.This mostly entails us starting to leave the house on a more regular basis, though I'm just glad to not need a nap every day.

Here's a glimpse of a normal play time:

I think William is finally starting to get used to a couple of babies around, too, because instead of pretending the babies don't exist, he'll sometimes let Caleb sit near him while we play trains.

Caleb and Lily are starting to become more fun for all of us, and I think Silly Billy finally understands that.

They are interacting more and more.  Usually it's Lily trying to get Caleb's attention, but they will also kick at each other and hold hands. 

 Steven loves to cuddle with the babies during their early morning wake up.  Mornings (especially before 8 am) are hard for him, so laying in bed helps keep everyone happy. Lily especially loves laying around with her daddy and older brothers.

 

Caleb on the other hand, prefers to sit up and/or be entertained. It's usually worth the effort for his sweet dimply grin:

  My new normal has me trying to get as many of those sweet baby smiles and giggles as possible. Happy babies and silly toddlers are the only things that keep me going until bedtime.