Better

Thank goodness today was a better day and we all were much happier. The girls woke up at 5:30 giggling at each other, so I knew we were off to a good start.

We had a very mellow day - the girls spent a lot of time just crawling around the living room and pulling up on things (their current favorite activity). We also went to the local Fire Station and had carseat genius (and fire chief), Pete, install our new convertible carseats. I was all set to go out and buy a mini-van because I couldn't figure out how to get the seats installed in my tiny Subaru Forester. But, Pete got it worked out - so I guess I could say that I saved $30,000 today.

Oh, and Maya actually stood without holding onto something for about 10 seconds today - and Kate started to crawl properly on her hands and knees instead of the flailing type of crawling she was doing before.

I was worried before the girls started crawling that they'd end up crawling in opposite directions and I'd have to clone myself to keep up with them. Luckily they always seem to want to stay together (so far) and end up just following each other around. (Don't get me wrong - a clone would still be useful to do the dishes and vacuum, but so far, I'm surviving with just one of me).

Have some cute pictures:

Maya and Kate making the rounds of the house...


Kate pulling up on the chair


Kate looking just like her grandpa


Maya loves to clap...


Maya coming to get me...

Babies - 2, Mommy - 0

It's been a rough day for some reason. Josh left this morning to go on a business trip, so I've been flying solo all day and evening. This shouldn't be so hard as I do solo twin duty all the time, but the girls were so whiny and difficult today. I think they didn't get enough napping in, so were exhausted, but don't have enough sense to know that they would feel better if they just took a little nap.

They are climbing, crawling and pulling up on everything. This is all fine and dandy most of the time as our house is pretty well baby-proofed at this point, but when they are tired they seem to become a little more clumsy than normal, so every minute or so this afternoon a baby would tumble off of whatever they were climbing on and wail like the end of the world. I tried moving them into different rooms and taking away the things they were pulling up on - but to no avail - they always find something to climb on. The poor babies are covered in scratches from falling so much and it's too hot to put them in protective clothing.

Another fun new thing is that the girls have discovered that it's fun to stand up in the cribs and laugh at each other (see above photo). This is actually really cute and funny - except when the babies are tired, I'm tired and it's time for them to go to sleep. I put them down this evening at their normal bedtime and they spent 30 minutes squawking and laughing at each other until Maya had had enough and started crying. I finally had to remove Kate from the nursery so Maya could fall asleep (only took her a minute or so) and then rock Kate to sleep because she was so riled up. Now, it sounds like a nice peaceful thing to do - rocking a baby to sleep, right? Well, not Kate - she twists and turns, scratches, grabs my nose, arches her back, screams, etc. Finally after 15 minutes of such shenanigans she finally fell asleep and I managed to transfer her to the crib.

Thank goodness both babies are finally asleep. Hopefully they'll be nice and refreshed in the morning - and take a nice long nap tomorrow.

Way Back When-esday

Kate and Maya age 8 days old still in the NICU. This isn't necessarily a great memory (although they were pretty cute), but it reminds me of how far they (and I) have come since they were born. Right now the girls are standing facing each other in their cribs and giggling hysterically - how they've changed in 9.5 months!

Visit Twinfatuation for more "Way Back When-esday fun...

Hiking

It's the end of another day and another week. The girls are so much fun right now - they can play independently nearby while I do something other than entertain them, are interested in me reading books to them, love to crawl (or try to crawl) into my lap, and actually kind of play with each other.

They are babbling like crazy and I swear Maya already can say several words - baba (for bottle), dada, mama, and an attempt at block. It's hard to tell exactly if these are actually words or just coincidences, but I'm leaning towards actually words. Yesterday, I was feeding Kate a bottle and Maya sadly said "baaa baaaa" while trying to crawl onto me. I think Kate is also saying mama and dada - though usually mama only comes out when she's really upset.

A friend and I took the girls for a short hike in the backpacks today. The girls did great and were pretty happy for most of the time. I'm lucky to have friends who are willing and able to carry one of my not very small babies on their backs. Here's a picture of me holding Maya and Kate peering out from the backpack.

Play Date

Kate and Maya had a friend over today to play. It was pretty fun watching the three girls interact and kind of play together. Kate tried to play the "game" she plays with Maya with Talia - namely steal whatever the other baby has back and forth. Talia obviously isn't used to twin tactics and didn't realize that she was supposed to steal the toy back once Kate takes it so Kate was a little confused.

There were some really cute moments when all three babies were standing up with their little baby behinds in the air, but I missed it with the camera, so this is the best I could do.


And, baby chaos...

Babies on a Plane

We were the family that you don't want to sit near on a plane on our trip home from Nova Scotia on Thursday - I didn't even want to sit near us. We made it home in one piece which was really the only goal, but it wasn't pretty. And, really I can't blame the girls for being fussy since the day began at 4:30 am and wasn't over until 22 hours later. They refused to nap on any of the flights and spent most of the time in the air alternating between screaming at the top of their lungs and squirming like crazed monkeys. (Actually, I take that back - Kate did fall asleep at the beginning of the Toronto-Denver flight, but was woken up 10 minutes into her nap by the flight attendant inquiring loudly of our seatmates if they'd like a beverage. I felt like telling them that they're welcome to shout if they want, but they're going to have to deal with the consequences of an awake and cranky Kate if they do.) Anyway, Kate took the art of squirming to new heights and spent a large portion of the flight trying to launch herself off my lap in any direction. Needless to say, we were both bruised and battered by the end of the day and the girls had reached the end of their rope.

Adjusting to a 4 hour time difference has been a challenge as well. It wasn't that difficult on the way to Nova Scotia because it was +4 hours, so instead of waking up at 2 AM thinking it was time to get up like they've been doing since we got home, they'd wake up when it got light out even though it was the middle of the night California time.

Despite the miseries of flying long distances with infants, we had a lovely vacation and are sad that it's come to an end. It was so nice to spend time with Josh's family - and to have Josh all to ourselves without having to share him with work! It was also really good for us to realize all the things we can do with two babies - like going out to dinner, driving long distances, staying in hotel rooms, wandering around a city all day, etc. Of course, doing all these things with babies takes more planning and time (or in the case of eating in a restaurant - speed eating), but it's still fun.

Here are a few new pics:

Josh, Maya and Grammy on a walk in Nova Scotia


Kate asleep in the backpack on a walk


Having a picnic in the Toronto airport

We only have a few more days of our vacation. It's almost unbelievable how much the girls have grown and changed since we arrived a month ago. I think this is my favorite age yet for the girls - they are very happy most of the time, can entertain themselves, and seem to be soaking up everything in their environment.

Maya is crawling at full-speed ahead and I need to watch her constantly because she seems drawn to the most dangerous object in the room - power cords and outlets are her favorite. And, of course, she's always trying to "help out" when I'm trying to change a poopy diaper on Kate. Kate is still working on crawling - she hasn't figured out how to get her arms involved yet, so mostly moves forward by getting into a downward dog position and then inch worming forward. I think she is days away from full-on crawling, though.


And, more pictures!

Grandpa Paul holding Kate


Great Grandma holding Maya


Josh, the girls and I


And, here's Maya in just about to have a nice sand snack.