16 Inches

Let is snow, let is snow, let it.... wait. Its spring?

Well no one told the state of Minnesota. We had 16 inches of snow dumped on us overnight and over the day. Snow day. No school. On May 2. The thing is that school days are officially NUMBERED. As in, countdowns to summer have begun. Usually I am as anxious as the big girls for school to end and the lazy days of summer to begin. Now I am in a state of semi-panic.

Four Kids
At Home
All Day

I need all the school days that are left! I need to prepare for the apocalypse that is my children together for 3 months in a row.

It will be great, right?

Oh, I turned 33. Somehow this seems old. Much, much older than 32. And insanely dull. Who cares about being 33? It was beautiful outside. So lovely you couldn't even be mad about getting older. We went for a walk. That is how you party at age 33 with 4 wonderful children.

 I swear my fourth child was here. Photo evidence notwithstanding.

*********


 
Oh, Addie Lu, as everyone has taken to calling you, how you have changed. With the cheeks and the silliness. We are creeping up on 10 months of life with you, but it seems as if you have always been here somehow.

You don't crawl yet. You scoot backwards and yell loudly as you move further and further from your destination. This culminates in you lifting up your arms and legs as if you are parachuting out of an airplane. Basically the opposite of what might result in crawling.

You are dainty and clean. You pick up food off of your highchair tray with the most delicate little pincer grasp anyone has ever seen.

You sleep. God bless your little heart, you sleep. Sometimes you wake up once, eat and snuggle back in to sleep. You hardly ever cry. But if you need something you let everyone know. You occasionally go on two day streaks of yelling. "Not cuz your cross, you just like how it sounds." It always surprises us.

You often sleep with your arms behind your head and your elbows out to the side like wings. When we lay you down to sleep you assume this position and then wiggle your entire body back and forth. We call it "the sillies." You wiggle them out, close your eyes and go to sleep. 

Little boy, you are noise and motion all wrapped up with slobbery love. I am not exaggerating when I say that you need a bath after nearly every meal. You sweep your hands over your tray like a fisherman with a net and stick everything in that you can. You will eat absolutely anything put in front of you.

You never stop moving. (It is difficult to get a photo of you that is completely in focus because of this!) Even as you nurse to sleep you kick at least one foot until you fall asleep. You have mastered crawling. You began with a method we called the "6 inch worm" move. It wasn't so much army crawling as army scooting - all arms and then propelling forward with the inside of your left foot. (You love moving so much you developed a callous on your left foot.) You have moved on to cross crawling and now pull yourself up to standing.

All this eating and all this moving, but you don't sleep. Two hours after you go to bed you are awake. Wanting. Food or snuggles or both. It is exhausting and fleeting so I try to embrace it. (Some nights are easier than others.)

I have forgiven you everything, however, because today you kissed me. You leaned over, pressed your little lips against my cheek and beamed at me. Three times.

If it Looks Like Rotavirus, Talks Like Rotavirus...

Spring break 2013 will go down in Toney history as (hopefully) our worst vacation ever. We had planned to load up all SIX of us and make the trip down to Arizona. We had several motivations:

1) Visit Granny and Gramps (taking advantage of their lovely hospitality and pool!)
2) Warm up
3) Get off the rug!

You see, since the twins were born I figure I have spent nearly 90% of my waking hours on my living room rug. It is like a 4 foot by 6 foot Grand Central Station. As the weather is too crummy to leave the house and being in the basement makes us inaccessible to most of what the big girls need, that is where we inevitably settle. And I need off the rug!

It was not to be. At 2 am on the day we were supposed to fly, G shows up in our room. "My tummy hurts." Unfortunately, that was not the worst thing to come out of her mouth. She had rotavirus and was down for an entire week. After getting over our complete and utter disappointment over our planned trip being canceled (that took about 5 days), we hoped to salvage at least the weekend. No such luck. The twins both got it as well, but have been immunized so they had a much milder version.

We did manage to all be well by time to go back to work and school!

Tuesday morning brought another fun, um, twist. I bent down to put Jayce on the floor and wasn't able to stand back up. Lugging around 2 babies for 9 months in utero and then another 9 out, officially did my back in. I was flat out on my back for 24 hours and am shuffling around today not able to pick either of them up.

I really hope tomorrow brings less pain and suffering around here!

(In better news, let it be recorded for posterity that both babies slept through the night for the second time in their entire lives last night. Let's hope that part of the day can be repeated!)

3.14.13

Does anyone know how to communicate to an 8-month-old(s) that 30 minutes does not constitute a nap? Per definition you must sleep longer than it took me to get you to bed for it to qualify. And by the time I clean up, change diapers, feed, rock, cajole, snuggle, kiss, rub backs for and lay down two babies, those babies ARE NOT allowed to be "talking" to me a mere 30 minutes later.

If you have twice as many babies I feel your break periods should be twice as long.
I'm just sayin.

But, as a good mother of twins, no one is crying yet so I'm leaving them be!

 What? Another (Two) Months?

 *** This was written on 2/20/13. I kept intending to get photos in and it posted, but it didn't happen until, well, today. Nearly a month later! Where is this life going?***

I can't believe another month has come and gone. To say that this is a busy household would be a huge understatement! The last month was full of changes.

Jayce:
-sits up when supported by Boppy and is starting to catch himself when he tips
-has 2 teeth (lower central incisors)
-babbles a lot and is starting to try new sounds like "da" and "ya"
-NEVER stops moving his legs. Ever. Ever.
-rolls from front to back
-grabs anything within reach
- Eating solid foods - likes apples, sweet potatoes, pears, rice cereal, oatmeal (NOT a banana fan!)
- Was crying when before I put this blanket on his head. Afterward? He sat playing happily for another 15 minutes.







Addison:
- sits up when supported by Boppy but makes no attempt to catch herself when falling
- LOVES to jump in the Exersaucer or Johnny Jump Up
- has 1 tooth (lower central incisor)
- Observant and more reserved by nature than her brother but doesn't get left behind
-rolls from back to front and front to back
- Eating solid foods - likes apples, sweet potatoes, pears, bananas (Doesn't love rice cereal or oatmeal.)
- Is wearing the shirt we bought on our "babymoon" in Mexico. Back when we thought we were having 1 baby!



Gillian:

Gillian joined Girl Scouts this year and we are experiencing our first year of cookie sales. She is doing a great job and enjoys GS a lot. She loves her baby brother and sister and is a lot of help entertaining them now that they are older and attentive. She still gets us ALL laughing a lot.


Cara:

Got up, took a shower and emptied the dishwasher by 7:30 am yesterday. We vacillate from being extremely helpful to eye-rolling and sighing. Such an interesting age. She is loving her last year in elementary school and being the oldest in the school. She isn't around as much to be photographed!

Six. Months.

What an amazing 6 months this has been. There has been an abundance of good, a little bad and well, let's just say not all of it has been pretty.

Things I have learned:

Never underestimate the power of a shower, some lip gloss and a good nursing bra.

Never, EVER, take for granted a healthy, full night of sleep.

All mothers (and particularly those of multiples) should be handed a good under eye corrector, some dry shampoo, Bose noise cancelling headphones and coupons for free massages for a year.

If you have to care for more than one baby at a time there WILL be some crying. The sooner that you become okay with that the better. Repeat after me: They are okay. I am okay. This will pass. (I am SO, SO glad I didn't have my twins as my first babies for this reason.)

Some days you have to break up into 3 hour increments and just survive one at a time. Invite over a friend for one of them. (Particularly one that doesn't have a baby as she will surely be thrilled to hold one of yours!)

Leave your house. Yes, its a TON of work. Yes, someone will probably be unhappy for part of it. Do it anyway. Even if it all breaks down and you have to go home you will have passed one of the 3 hour increments. Score!

Scout out loud restaurants. Take your entire family out to eat. Realize you and your spouse will probably both hold a baby the entire time and order food that doesn't easily fall off a fork. I do not recommend couscous. (Fail.) Smile widely at people with 2 children that look at you as if you are crazy and mutter, "It could happen to you...."

The old "sleep when your baby sleeps" adage only applies to people with one baby (and no toddlers!). Forgive yourself if you do not manage to nap even if both of your babies overlap their sleeping. BUT if a friend asks if there is anything you need say, "Yes, I need you to come cuddle my babies while I go sleep in (insert room with bed furthest from your babies)."

And, of course, enjoy every moment that you can. And forgive yourself for the ones that you don't think are all that swell!

It's Not Fair!

It's Not Fair!

C and G were trying to talk Dad into letting them stay up past bedtime, on a school night, to watch TV. When he said no, G stomped her foot and exclaimed, "Its NOT FAIR!" Addison apparently found this hilarious. Anything that produces baby giggles around here is repeated ad naseum. C grabbed a few minutes of it on video. Needless to say, we love these noises. Its so fun to watch them develop their little personalities and figure out what tickles them literally and figuratively.

To Everything a Season

Summer has given way to fall here and winter is around the corner. One of the harder things about TWO babies has been getting outside. I used to love putting C or G in the sling or carrier and getting out for a walk. Not so simple with these two. One in front and one in back? Maybe if Addison didn't cry every time I put in her one. Maybe if they were bigger. I have a lovely stroller, but since Addison cries when strapped in her carseat until the van starts rolling it doesn't work out that well. Not to mention that having them on a close enough schedule during the day that they are both happy to last through a walk has been a challenge in and of itself.

And so the seasons have passed me by while I have been inside learning how to juggle.

J and I have also been thrust backward into an earlier season of parenthood. I have to admit it was a difficult thing to be open to.  Having (then) 6 and 9 year olds afforded us a flexibility in our life that was pretty darn nice. When the weekends rolled around we could do something as a family that kept us out of the house past 7pm if we wanted. Saturdays were relaxed, both of us tackling our respective to-do lists while C and G played and were otherwise occupied.

Now we are back to what can only be described as the Great Negotiation Phase. Tag teaming. Prioritizing. Deciding who gets to go first. Who wins. Who, ahem, holds the babies.

One silver lining is that we have an easier time getting up in the morning now that we are in our 30s.

A Million Bucks

I was looking at my FOUR children in my living room and said to C and G:

M: You know, I recently read that it costs $262,000 to raise a child until they are 18 and move out of the house. That means you are looking at over a MILLION DOLLARS right here!
C: Whoa...
G: Yeah, well, except for me, because I'm never moving out.