busy busy

Life has been busy as usual...

Swimming lessons has started, so now the kids have that as well as dance, karate, and gymnastics. Soccer and T-Ball/baseball start soon too! Kinzie is so excited to be old enough for those this year!

Me and Grammy took the kids to the Children's Museum 2 weeks ago. We went with Kristie and her kids. We had a blast! I was so excited to take them to the museum because it has been a while. I usually take them twice a year or so, but we hadn't been there since last spring!

Kinzie was in heaven in the "our world" exhibit; particularly the grocery store.



Kinzie got creative with the face painting. Such a little artist. She was so sad when we had to wash it off.





Malichi LOVES the water station at the museum. Always the exhibit he looks forward to. He made some pretty big bubbles!



Malichi making his own paper.



Just a cute shot of Kinz.....



And the babies did surprisingly well considering this was an all day outing!



This past weekend we FINALLY had some beautiful weather and we were able to take the babies out to experience the fresh air!!! Yay! We took a walk up to the park and spend most of the afternoon outside! I think the babies enjoyed it!





And the big kids got some much needed fresh air and time to burn off some of that built up energy!





It was such a lovely day!

I've got the "new" nursery all painted, and completely finished too. I will post pictures of that soon.

Me and Malichi have been sick, he is better now, I still have a cold. Kinzie is sick now too:( But I am hoping we can all get healthy and I am hoping to see some of that nice spring weather again soon so we can get back outside!

Oh yeah...and the babes turned 4 months old today. Can you believe it?! Shots tomorrow :( I'll be doing a 4 month post soon! :)

What's wrong with this picture?

They sure do impersonate each other well don't they.....personalities and all!?? (one's chubby cheeks just might give it away too easily though...) Finley was NOT happy about this. At all. Scout couldn't have cared less.

connect.

I think the babies discovered each other today! I think they've always sensed each other, they are usually calmer when they are next to each other. Which of course, makes sense, they were squished together for 9 months in my belly feeling eachothers' every move!!! They never really look at each other though, or react to the other, except for when one cries, the other starts in too sometimes.

But today they were in their crib for their morning nap, and they were totally watching each other. They were cooing and smiling at each other, and Scout kept trying to grab Finley's hand. It was so adorable. I got the tail end of it (until Scout started screaming) on tape, but by the time I got the camera they weren't "talking" to each other as much. Still precious though......



They are going to be best friends!

And about 10 minutes later, here they are napping together. (which unfortunately only lasted about 20 minutes....)

everything in two's......

tandem crying, tandem feeding, tandem pooping!!!

that's what it's like at our house.

the plan was to get some cleaning done while the babies napped, and both big kids were at school.

why do even I bother with a plan...?

it never works. :o)

But check out the peacefulness now. Finally. I know, I know... I shouldn't have them napping in their swings...but sometimes it just works.

(sorry for the crappy camera and crappy videographer...but aren't they so sweet when they are sleeping!?)

just sharing some photos today....

hanging out in mom and dad's bed after some good milk....


at some point in the middle of the night Kinzie had a bad dream and came to sleep on the floor in our room. This is how I found her in the morning. Not too comfy I'm sure..being right on the hardwood floor!!!


"crunchy baby" had to be included in on the picture or Kinzie wouldn't smile.


aaron broke out the old guitar and has started learning to play again! :)

Ya don't say?!

Peek-a-boo...

The babies are learning all about Lego Star Wars.....


Malichi earned his reward of playing lego star wars this week....and boy did he enjoy it.

3 months.

The babies were 3 months yesterday. 3 months. already.



Here they are with their new little "softies" and slippers from grammy:








They seem like they are getting so big, but I guess for their age they aren't. They are still in size 1 diapers. Scout is still quite a bit bigger than her brother though.

Scout has been drooling like crazy! Could she already be teething???

Fin is sooo smiley and he laughs now too!

Scout coos a lot and makes lots of fun noises. She loves to "talk" to us.

Both babies have started rubbing their eyes when they get tired! It is so cute! Scout sometimes rubs her nose when she gets tired just like her big sis did when she was littler. It's adorable!

Finley has been sleeping better. He sleeps from about midnight to 5 am straight. Then goes back to sleep until about 7 or 7:30.

Scout still doesn't sleep that well. Usually we can't get them to sleep until 11 or 12 at night. And then she is usually up at 2, 4, sometimes 5, and 7 am to eat. She is much better now about going right back to sleep though.

I am pretty sure they have their days and nights mixed up. They could probalby sleep all morning and early afternoon if I let them!

Scout is still little miss bossy bossy. She is much more demanding than her brother. He is pretty easy going for the most part!

Fin still has his blocked tear duct, so his eye is goopey a lot of the time.

Scout is filling out so much. She's got a cute little double chin going on, and she's getting rolls on her arms and legs.

I am still having to supplement them sometimes at night with formula. I have started taking Fenugreek, so I am hoping that helps my milk supply. I have heard it works wonders!!!

There is still no real set schedule with them yet either. No predictable sleeping or eating times. Although they do have a predictable crabby time, which is at night.

Both of them are soo funny when they are hungry. If someone else is holding them and they start crying because they want to eat, I'll take them in my arms and they'll still cry, but as soon as I unsnap my nursing bra, they immediately stop crying! I swear, when they hear that snapping sound, they know it's time to eat!!

Both of my babies belch and toot like adults! It's hilarious! How can such loud noises come out of these little bodies!?

They both love to look at lights and bright colors. They'll just stare contently at the walls behind us if we are holding them so they can look over our shoulders.

I think both babies are going to be thumb suckers. They both take their nuks, but they try sooo hard to get their thumbs in their mouths. Usually they end up trying to shove their whole fist in their mouths instead.

maybe tomorrow I'll post more of their 3 months photos I took, if I get around to it!

Guess who lost a tooth........

It's been ready to come out for a while. It's so cute to see him with a tooth missing!!! His 2 bottom teeth are gone too, but those had to be pulled by the dentist, because his permanent teeth had grown in behind them, so we never got to see him toothless!



so cute! :)

They are getting so big....

all four of em!

Look at them. They are all getting so big! We pulled out the Bumbo chairs for the first time today for the babies. I think they really liked them! I can't believe how much they actually fill out those chairs!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!

Happy half Birthday!

Monday was Kinzie's half birthday! She's a big 4 1/2 year old now! I can't beieve how big she is, and how fast the time has gone! I am so proud of this smart little girl of ours! Tuesday they celebrated her half birthday at school since she has a summer birthday. Me and the babies went into the classroom to celebrate with her!



She says the funniest things! I need to start writing more of them down because I don't have a good memory, but here a some of them that I can remember.

-The other day she was wearing a dress that had a second layer underneath it, and she pull up the top layer and says "OH GOD, OH MY LORD...there is ANOTHER skirt under here!" And she said it loud and slow, and sooo seriously! It was so funny!

-Kinzie was telling Grammy that one of her friends always makes her go to the bathroom with her, and she says "I don't know what her problem is?" And Grammy replied "well, you always make me go to the bathroom with you!", and she says "Well that's only when I have a big ginormous poop"!!

-One day when Scout was screaming, she put her hands over her ears and says "too loud. turn her DOWN!"

-I want to get new chapstick. I ate all my hello kitty ones. Can I have 2 scoops of yours Mommy?

Kinzie is such a little word police. Especially if you say stupid or hate. She'll catch you immediately and say "don't say stupid" or "don't say hate". Even when you don't think she is listening, she'll chime in all non-chalantly and just tell you as she continues whatever she was doing. And if you don't say sorry, then she'll jump on you about it until you acknowledge that you said it.

Kinzie is so into making crafts and cards right now. She sits in the craft room almost daily making little cards for people; mostly for her friend Kennedie. She cuts up little pieces of papers and glues them on paper or cards, and then she'll find any other little treasures she can use such as candy wrappers, tags from clothing......anything! She'll write a big mix of letters on it and then wants to know what it says. She loves to put her little handmade presents or cards into little gift bags or envelopes too. It's so adorable!

She is quite the little hoarder too. She has a little "play area" in her room, as she calls it, which is just the small corner between her toy bins, and then she also has a little play area downstairs. Both places have become her place to stash her treasures. Things anyone else would consider trash, are soooo important to her! Everything from tic tac containers, to clothing tags, to candy wrappers! She keeps EVERYTHING! And if you try to move or throw anything away she notices and gets very upset about it!!!! We did go through her little corner in her room together and "let go" of some things... It was a little emotional for her, but it was getting piled way too high. Among the stash I did find a peanut butter sandwich in a plastic ziplock bag!!! EWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

Kinzie is always wanting to put on a talents show........but then she has no talent to show! She'll gather everyone up and say it's time for her big talent show! She'll even make little cards and has me write "will you please come to my talent show" on them, and she'll invite everyone! But then once she has everyone gathered and waiting, she'll get all shy and just stand there!!! I'm not sure she really gets the concept. It's so adorable.

She loves doing hi's and lo's at the dinner table every night! She always makes sure we don't forget to do them! And she is now finally starting to get the concept of hi's and lo's. For the longest time she'd mix them up.

Here are some recent photos of little miss Kinzerella:

2 months

The babies were 2 months on Sunday! I can't believe how the time has gone by so quickly. It makes me sad. I didn't realize I would have such a hard time with the twins growing up! I think because I know these are my last babies, I am having a harder time this time. I want them to stay babies longer!

We had a Dr. appt. on Monday, and the babies had to get their shots. :( They were little troopers though. Finley had such a sad cry as his cries usually are, and we expected Scout to have her pissed off loud as hell scream, but much to our surprise, it wasn't so bad!

Everything is looking good for both babies. Finley is now weighing 8 lbs. 12 oz. and Scout is an even 10 lbs. They seem like they are getting so big, even though I know some babies are BORN at these weights, and my babies are 2 months old.

Nights are still rough a lot of the time. I am so exhausted. They are up about every 2 hours to eat, sometimes 3. So by the time I feed, change, and get one back to sleep, then feed, change and get the other back to sleep, and then fall asleep myself, it is almost time to get up and do it again!!! I could feed them at the same time, but I don't know how well that would go with me half asleep to begin with! Last night they did AMAZINLY well though actually! They slept from 11:30 pm until 4:30 am. Then they were up at 7:30 am again to eat. Please, please babies, continue to do THAT! :)

Both babies have started to smile..FINALLY!!! We were a little worried actually. Our other 2 were smiling a lot at this age, but these two, not so much. Did we not have happy babies? :( But seriously, Monday night, (after the doctor appt. were we talked about our concern of them not smiling) they both started doing it! The big gummy grin when we'd talk to them. I love it! The other night Grammy and I were talking to Fin and he just started smiling and making all these cute faces, so we started laughing, and then his face just lit up and he smiled even bigger. Every time we lauged he would grin ear to ear! So cute! I got a little giggle out of him the other day too!

The babies are sleeping in their crib together now, and have been for about a week. No more carseat sleeping! Yay! Sometimes I can even put them in there crib not quite asleep yet, and they will fall asleep on their own, but much of the time we still have to rock them to sleep, especially Scout!

They love their swings. Any time I need to get something done, that's where they hang out. They are just now starting to like their tummy time. Usually when we put them on their tummy they just like to lay their head down and go to sleep! But now they will look around a lot more. They don't really like their butterfly mat on the floor yet. I don't think they like being flat on their backs. Even at night we have to put them in the little sleep positioners to go to sleep.

Their cries are much easier to tell apart now too. Up until they were about a month, we'd hear one of them cry from the bassinet and we'd guess which it was because the cries sounded very similar. Alot of the time we'd guess wrong. But now, we can definitly tell them apart. Finley still has a newborn sounding cry, and he puts his little pout out and sounds so sad, But Scout has more of a mad, I'm pissed cry, as I've mentioned before!

I've got some new photos to share!





















And of course I can't forget my favorite little 4 year old! Miss Kinzie has now decided she DOES like the camera! For so long she would NOT let me take a picture of her. But now that I am taking pictures of the babies, she will let me again! Yay!





Kinzie has been doing much better the past couple of weeks. We've gone out for mommy and Kinzie time a few times, and I've been able to spend more time playing with her, now that the babies are a little older. She just started Dance and Gymnastics, so that is good for her. She loves going to them! Tonight she is going to an ECFE event, Daddy and Me bowling. They get to go bowling and eat pizza, just the 2 of them. She is so excited.

We are trying to find something fun for Me and Malichi to do together, and Aaron and Malichi to do together too so he isn't feeling left out! He does pretty well though, being that he is in school all day. He comes home and has missed the babies, and wants to hold them. Well, either that or he wants to play lego star wars!!!!!

Well, I'm off to feed, and change some babies now!

typical.

The twins are 8 weeks today. Scout is weighing in at 9 lb. 8 oz. and Fin is 8 lb. 10 oz.

Finding Balance...

I am finding it hard to balance my life right now. There isn't enough time in the day. I have so many things I want to do, and there are so many things I've let go of because I just can't do it all. There's bills to be paid, tons of paperwork to to through, the house needs a good cleaning, thank yous to be sent and phone calls to be made. I want to keep up on the baby books, the first year calendar, taking lots of photos, and keeping up on organizing them, scrapping photos of my babies and kiddos, and journaling and blogging. And even more importantly spending precious time with Kinzie and Malichi and really focusing on them whenever the twins are napping. And I also need a little time for me, which is mostly used for sleeping.

It's really hard.

And on such little sleep, it's even harder. Last night I was only able to sleep from 2 am until 5 am. Not enough sleep to function on when it's night after night like that! They did sleep a 5 hour stretch at the same time a few nights ago, and that was wonderful.

Most of my time is spent nursing. I finish feeding S & F, and go start to do one of the many things on my to do list, and before I know it one of the babies is ready to eat again(usually Scout...she is the bottomless pit...a little milk hog she is).

I am trying to focus on the stuff that is really important right now...spending time with the older kids, and spending time with each baby when the other is napping, or playing with them together when they are both awake and NOT eating. And in any time I might have left...scrapbooking, photographing and documenting our lives right now.

The cleaning can wait, the organizing can wait, the paperwork can wait, the phone calls can wait...people understand. The bills can't though....so I better not put those off! If you know me at all, you know that's totally not me. I like to be organized and on top of things and have a clean house.

If it was humanly possible to get all of the things done I want to, I would. But it's not. So I need to let go a little.

Thank goodness Grammy will be back again tomorrow to help for the week. She's a lifesaver!

Both babies are now napping so I am going to try to catch a little nap as well!