More Uncle J

As I mentioned yesterday, my brother, Jason, visited this weekend for the first time in many months. We had a very nice time cooking and baking - Jason loves to cook and is good at it. Plus, I've been minorly obsessed with cake decorating since I've been pouring over a cake decorating book in preparation for Kate and Maya's big birthday bash next weekend. So, we made a fancy chocolate/raspberry cake in honor of our Uncle Maury's birthday which we helped to celebrate today. The cake came out quite tasty and didn't look so bad either so I'm feeling good about my chances of the girls' birthday cake turning out okay, too.

The girls opened their first birthday gifts today because Jason, Uncle Maury and Aunt Bonnie won't be around for their birthday next week. Kate and Maya were very intrigued by the wrapping paper, loved the cards and were very happy to have cool, new toys to play with.

Jason took over my camera this weekend and when I downloaded the photos this evening, I found he took some different and interesting pictures. There are a few strange ones - like this closeup of the cake...


But, he also took some great and artistic shots of the girls like these.

The girls playing on their push bus toy (thanks, Laurel - that's their favorite toy!)

Kate and Maya opening presents.

Maya and I looking in opposite directions. I don't know why, but I love this picture!

Kate examining her birthday card

Oh, and can you tell the girls are feeling much better than last week? Thank goodness!

Uncle Jason

My brother, Jason, is visiting this weekend and Kate and Maya are in love with their uncle. It's funny because they haven't seen him since May, but they seemed to remember him. Or maybe it's because he reminds them of me or my dad. In any case, there was no stranger anxiety or shyness, they just toddled right up to him and asked him to play (well, in their own 1 year old way).

Here's a picture of Uncle Jason reading to the two girls. He started out reading to Maya, but of course, Kate had to get in on the action, too.

One year ago today?

This time last year I was already at the hospital on strict bedrest because of preeclampsia. The whole birth and post-partum experience was quite traumatic and depressing, but the hospital stay up until the delivery wasn't all that bad. In fact, I could take a few days of lying around in bed, watching TV and having people bring me food every few hours - and then taking away the dirty dishes without me having to do anything except roll them out of the way of my bed.

But then again, thinking about it again brings back memories of being woken up every day for two weeks at five am to have inept technicians take my blood in the semi-darkness with seemingly blunt needles. And memories of having to pee in a giant bucket for 24 hours at a time (at least three times). And having an amniocentisis to measure the development of the girls' lungs. And the worry of the results of my liver enzyme tests (I think that's what it was) moving close to the danger zone. And constant sharp pain in my right side which I was sure was the beginning of HELLP syndrome, but was probably just Kate kicking me in the ribs. And steriod shots, and watching my blood pressure spike to scary levels, and the constant fetal monitoring during which I couldn't move or the monitors would loose contact and the nurse would have to come back and readjust. And, don't even get me started on after the girls were born - the bedrest was a cake walk compared to that. But, besides all that - the hospital stay wasn't so bad. Really, I got a lot of napping in and watched a lot of baseball and Oprah.

Paying the Price

I think I'm paying the price for the "grateful" post I wrote recently. I wrote how happy I was that both girls were sleeping from 8 PM to 7 AM in the morning and literally the same night Maya came down with a cold and has been sleeping very poorly - waking up throughout the night and crying and wanting to be held. Kate now has the cold and both girls have had diarrhea for over 10 days. We've gone through a Costco size box of diapers in seven days - that's 200 diapers in a week or about 28 diapers a day. On occasion, I have changed five diapers in a row - literally. I'd change one baby and the other one poos and then change that one and the other one poos, etc. I'm so sick of changing diapers on squirmy, strong babies who do not want to lie on their backs for even a few seconds. Oh, yeah, both babies are getting in a few new molars, too.

So, I'm thinking that playgroups and music classes with so many snot nosed toddlers crawling and walking around may not be worth the hassles of dealing with two sick babies at the same time.

When people ask me if having twins is really difficult, I usually say no that it's not that bad. And, usually this is true. However, having twins with diarrhea and colds is actually THAT bad.

Despite all the snot, poo and general lack of sleep, the girls are actually making progress on the walking front. It's kind of hysterical to see both girls toddling around the living room like little baby Frankensteins. They still prefer crawling as their main source of locomotion, but are spending more and more time walking around.

Maya loves to dance

She started doing this silly shoulder dance in music class yesterday and continued it today when the music on one of her toys started playing...

Maya dancing

Grateful

A loyal reader has been asking when I'm going to post again, so here you go mom...

I've been feeling so overwhelmingly grateful for my life and family these days. There is so much to be thankful for - here are a few of the top ones...

-My two beautiful, smart and funny little girls
-My handsome, smart and funny husband
-Living in such a family-oriented community where there are lots of stay-at-home moms and dads to hang out with.
-My friend, Nicole, who has been passing on all her many, many adorable outfits to us. Just when the baby's closet is looking a little bare, Cole shows up with boxes full of the right sized clothing, toys and gear. Really - I've only had to buy a few things since the girls were born - mostly because of Nicole.
-My mom and dad who live close by and who let us invade their house when we're sick of cooking and cleaning and taking care of babies.
-My aunt, uncle and cousins who also live close by and who give me a warm, fuzzy feeling of an extended family - something I didn't have growing up on the opposite coast as the rest of my family.
-The Family Resource Center who has hosted a bunch of fun classes for babies and other little ones. We've met so many nice people through these classes and have so much fun at them. We just started a music class that is a blast - 50+ moms, dads and little kids dancing, crawling and running around while a talented guitar player plays and sings. So much fun!
-The girls' sleep habits these days - 8 PM to 7 AM plus two long naps. I love that extra hour of sleep in the morning, love that they can make it until 8 PM to go to sleep so we can actually participate in a few evening activities, and love the naps so I can get stuff done.

Toddlerhood on the horizon

Today was a very busy day as Saturdays around here always seem to be! Kate and Maya attended their friend's first birthday party which was loads of fun. The girls had a blast playing with all the new toys and exploring new environs. And, in very exciting news, Kate took her first "real" steps. She has taken little tiny steps before, but today actually took three big steps in what could almost be called walking.

I guess my girls really are reaching the end of babyhood and fast approaching toddlerhood. I know I probably should be, but I am not scared of the toddler stage (well at least not yet). I was worried about how it would be when Kate and Maya started crawling, how I would feed them solid foods three times a day (plus snacks), how I would deal with them outgrowing their Snap N Go stroller (and the portable infant carseats), etc. - but as each milestone comes and goes, I realize that it ends up not being as scary as I expected. I may change my mind when I have two little ones running in opposite directions - I'll keep you posted.

This week I discovered an amazing resource in our little town - a toy lending library. What a great idea, huh? I borrowed a really cool tumbling set which Kate and Maya have been loving. Here's a rather long video of them crawling and tumbling all around (I expect that only grandmas may watch the whole thing, but I'm too lazy to cut it down to size). Note around 2:30 Maya starts playing one of her favorite games - peekaboo.

Tumbling