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.

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.

Silly Billyness: Hoover

I swear, this kid has crazy obsessions.  If William isn’t asking for a banana 4 times a day, he’s asking for me to vacuum. It got to be so much, that we finally gave in and got him a toy vacuum of his own a few months ago. He played with it constantly for several weeks, and “vacuum” (I can’t even begin to describe how he pronounces it, the sounds aren’t actually in our language, lol) was usually his first word of the morning (though, luckily now, he’s moved onto Momma or Dadda).

A belt broke on our vacuum, so until the new one came in the mail, I got out our tiny one that we keep as a spare. Liam would have none of that.  He knew that wasn’t his vacuum.

Though oddly enough, whenever we go to someone’s home, Silly Billy can ALWAYS find the vacuum.  Sometimes he’s even lucky enough for the vacuum to be out of the closet. He even remembered where the Reynolds’ keep there vacuum, even though it had been a month since he’d been there. Our trip to Grandma Karen’s house in SLC proved to be heaven---not only were there several vacuums Liam found, but also a steam cleaner and dust buster (William was obviously aware of their relation).

Seriously, we vacuum several times a day, mostly just to appease this kid, though it does have the added side benefit of picking up dirt and dog hair.

Sunday, William found an ad in the paper for our vacuum, and couldn’t believe his good luck! He carried that paper around for what seemed like hours. You can see it at his feet while he is “fixing” our vacuum hose.

Our Silly Billy has even started mimicking the vacuum sound. If you listen closely at the beginning, you can hear his “word” for his favorite toy.

Silly Billy and his vacuum obsession

We thought he’d grow out of it, but over 6 months later, the vacuum obsession is still growing stronger than ever. I suppose it could be worse---he could prefer to run around naked or bring bugs into the house like other almost-two-year-olds I’ve known.

The Blues

 

The Blues

Silly Billyness: “High Five”

Silly Billy is OBSESSED with dogs.  He sleeps with a little stuffed dog and dog blanket, carries around 2 stuffed Dalmatians all over the house, points out pictures of dogs, and barks whenever he hears or sees a dog.   William loves to show pictures of dogs (especially pictures of our dogs) to Kiki, and share his toy dogs with them. It’s really quite amusing and I love that he’s like me in that way (What I don’t like, however, is when he decides to share his food with the dogs by throwing it from his high chair).

Liam recently learned how to give “Hi Fa”s (his words, not mine), and when he saw me telling the dogs to give High Fives, couldn’t be left out. It’s often the first thing he does when he sees the dogs after he’s been sleeping or out of the house.

Enjoy the videos.

High Five

High Five, Nike

Disneyland Days and other Recent Adventures

The worst thing about Disneyland, is that we can’t be there all the time. Our Disneyland annual pass expired this week. Due to the current state of limbo in our lives, we decided not to renew. It was a very sad, difficult decision. Luckily, we were able to spend lots of time at Disneyland the last few weeks.

Last Thursday, Steven didn’t have to work until 1, so I left the boys at home and went to Disneyland all by myself. It was an extremely interesting experience. I got to bypass the lines and use the single-rider option* (only available on certain rides) and could go at my own pace.

It was loads of fun. I would highly recommend it.

This week, Liam and I took advantage of the one day it didn’t rain to spend the day at Disneyland with Rebecca, Gwen, and Audrey Bode, and Rebecca’s brother Greg. It was crowded, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Gwen and Liam have really gotten to be good friends. Liam just loves to laugh and play with her, and Gwen is always very sweet to him.

The highlight of the trip was getting to see Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends. I’d never waited in line for the characters since I didn’t think Liam would be interested.

Gwen loves all things Pooh-bear, so we decided to brave the wait. It was worth it.

There were a few rough spots during the 30 minute wait, but Tigger and Eeyore thought Liam was so cute they came over to visit and cheered him up. Liam immediately gave Tigger a hug (unfortunately, we were unable to get the camera out fast enough) and the crowd let out a huge “awwww”.

When it was finally Liam’s turn, he went right up to Pooh and gave him the biggest hug.

Again, the crowd was awe-stricken. It was that cute.

Eeyore and Tigger were no exception to the love.

But none of them got quite the reception as our good friend Winnie, so I gave in and got Liam a souvenir of his choosing to commemorate our final Disney Days.

Gwen also ended up with a souvenier Minnie, which perfectly coordinated with Liam’s Mickey (from our first time to Disneyland).But the fun didn’t stop there---Rebecca had made cute little owl hats for all the kids. Trying to get a picture with all of them in it was complicated. And we weren’t successful. At least they enjoyed it.And of course, the obligatory matchy-matchy photo since Father and Son happened to dress alike that day.Wednesday was our last day at Disneyland. Even though it had been raining all week, the weather had been good that day, and we took a chance. It started pouring as soon as we pulled of the freeway about 4 pm and didn’t stop until we left the park around 8. We had fun anyway. No lines! Liam was even able to chase the ducks.

And get caged.The best part, however, was Toon Town. I had never really taken Liam to see it, and now that he’s walking, he had a blast. I regret not doing it sooner.

After too long, William got sick of posing for pictures and just wanted to play.

The real highlight of the day was getting to meet Mickey. Liam has loved his Mickey doll since he was 3 months old and seeing the real thing was a treat for everyone.

We will miss Disneyland. Hope to go back soon!

One nice thing about not having a Disneyland pass, is that we have more time. Our life is crazy busy right now. I’m busy as a personal trainer at Bally Total Fitness so Steve and William have to help out around the house more.

They do a pretty good job. Besides, I need all the help I can get some days. :)