One Year Old……

I can’t believe it…my little babies are one year old!!  It seems like just yesterday Hurricane Irene was here..and the little guys were born. The first thing the nurse said to me was……”Twins!  Welcome to your year of hell!”  I was a bit shocked by that statement and it scared me a bit.  I must say it hasn’t been an easy year…but it has been far from hell!  I love these little guys so much and I can’t imagine our family without them!!  They still don’t sleep through the night..but I love and cherish every second with them.  They both have started walking. They love to pet the cats and dogs.  They’ve got top and bottom teeth.  They wave bye bye.  Grey loves to sit on anything that will support her weight.  Escher loves to dance and groove to the music. The both love free naked time.

And Tuesday, Quinn and River love them so much.  They still fight about who gets to spend time with them. They all have been such a big help with the babies.  I can’t imagine having twins without the support of the older ones.

It certainly has been a challenging year..full of changes, transitions, tears, grumpiness, laughter, lots of laughter…..and there is still so much more to come….

 

I survived the beach…..

Yes…I survived taking the babies to the beach.  I don’t like the beach…all the sun, sand and water.  But every year we go to the beach.  We don’t just go to the beach…that would be too easy…we bike to the beach, which seems crazy.  It is a tradition that my brother started, with his children, 15 years ago.  So, we continue the tradition, with him and our children.  But someone has to drive there..so I drive one way and my husband drives the other way.  It is a lot of fun…but I knew this year…it would be a lot of work.  Somehow, it all worked out and we all had a blast.  Thank goodness I insisted on bringing a baby pool because the babies loved it as much as they loved the pool and the sand.  Well, Escher did not like the sand..but Grey loved it!  She didn’t want to leave.  Also, I had a great time biking back from the beach.  It was Tuesday’s second year riding and Quinn’s first….and he did great!  He even rode back.

Babies..and stuff

The last couple of days I have been putting little blocks and cups on the window sill..to interest the babies.  Yesterday I forgot to do it..so when Escher first got into the play area…the first thing he did was…go through the bins of toys and grab out the same little blocks and cups that I had been putting on the sill. He was so excited to crawl over and start putting them on the sill.  By the time I grabbed my camera, he had already started to knock them off!  And my pictures are blurry.  But it was so cute, I had to try to capture the moment!

Grey’s latest thing is that she loves to sit on things.  She will sit on anything she can find.  It is adorable. She flips over every stool, bucket, or toy..that will hold her..and sits on them!  She hasn’t sat on Escher yet…

We have been taking walks each night, after dinner..since it is just the three of us.  The mosquitoes are horrible..poor little Grey is covered with bites.  Yesterday, as we were coming back, I noticed a neighbor across the street struggling with his recycling container.  I went over and asked him if he needed help.  He said “no..I am up in years..and just slow.”  I introduced myself and then he introduced himself.  He asked me where I lived…and I said..across the street.  Isn’t that funny.  We have lived here for about 7 years and I have never met my neighbor across the street. When we went on our walk last night, we passed 8 people..none of whom said hello or even looked our way..we “literally” passed by them on the sidewalk and they said nothing.  People are so strange.  When I was a child, everyone said hello.  If I do say hello….the people look at me as though I am a criminal..with a stroller..and twins.  Oh well.  Happy Thursday…

The Color Run….

I completely forgot to write a post about the Color Run 2012 in Philadelphia.  We had so much fun running it! It was my first 5k.  I wasn’t able to run the entire time..but I did a pretty good job..considering I hadn’t ran in over a year.  The first color station wasn’t impressive…but then we got to the next one and it was incredible!  you could barely see anything.  There were so many runners, but it didn’t feel crowded.  And the atmosphere was so much fun.  I can’t wait to do it next year, and I think I’ll bring my 5 year old along this time!  I highly recommend doing it if it is coming to your city or town.

Afterwards, we walked to Starbucks to get a bite to eat.  It was so much fun walking around the city seeing people in their colors!  People were everywhere covered in color!  We took the high speed line home and walked all the way home..which my children weren’t happy about…but I figured it was a good ending to a 5k.

The toughest part was cleaning up…..trying not to get the color everywhere in the house.  Even after washing and scrubbing…it was still a bit in our hair and on our skin.  There is also some still on the carpet, outside the bathroom!

Growing up…

I can’t believe it has been almost a year since the babies were born.  I know every parent says that…..it just sounds so cliche.  But it is so true.  It has been a quiet house this week.  Everybody is gone to Maine..except the babies and I.  Right now the babies are sleeping and it is pouring rain.  It just feels so cozy and wonderful.  It has been nice having this time alone with them.  Sometimes, being the youngest of five, I feel like they don’t always get the attention they need.  I’m sure it all works out and things even out..but it is nice having the time to give them all my attention.  Especially, right before they turn one!

Escher took a few steps last week, though he hasn’t attempted any more.  Grey has six teeth and seems to be getting more.  Escher still just has two.  I think Escher’s official first word is kitty cat.  They still don’t sleep through the night..I’m a sucker!  But they do take two naps…most days!  I just love them so much…..my last little babies are growing up…too fast!!

Blankets and Babies….

All summer long, the babies stayed on their blanket. Every day we walked to the swim club and the babies played on the blanket, while River had swim practice. Day after day the babies were awesome.  We had so much fun playing on the blanket with all the pool toys.  I’m not able, by myself, to handle both of the babies in the baby pool, so we hung out on our blanket.   They would play with the toys and sometimes crawl to the nearby chair or stroller and explore a bit.

Until one day, Grey looked beyond the blanket and realized, there was indeed a world beyond the blanket.  And, at that point, there was no looking back.  Life at the swim club has never been the same!  Thank goodness swim team only had a couple days left because it was too much running around for me.

Also, I love my double stroller (Baby Jogger City Select Double Stroller), but River is at that age where she gets tired, especially after swimming.  She wants to ride in the stroller and we tried that, but it doesn’t work well. So, I bought this lovely contraption that you stick on the back of your stroller.  I looked into so many different models, and I didn’t love the one that was for my actual stroller.  I ended up buying one that was a universal one that fit on many different stroller. (Valco Baby Hitch Hiker Ride on Board). It was supposed to be a bit higher, which would make walking behind it easier.  At first, we tried River standing and she didn’t like that too much.  Then, I came up with the sitting method, and she loves it.  It couldn’t be more perfect.  She can rest, hang out, eat, drink….heck, she could take a nap back there.  As for me, it is a lot of extra weight, especially up our big hill!  But, hey, I can always use an extra workout!