Malichi Andrew.

Mr. Malichi. The next birthday we celebrate will be his eighth. 8! My baby is going to be 8! Where has the time gone?



As of now he's lost 5 teeth!! He just recently lost his top 2 and he looks so stinkin' cute with those 2 missing!!!! He had a little lisp at first too!



He is such a wonderful big brother! Everyday after school he is eager to get home to hold and play with the babies. He misses them when he is at school all day!

Malichi is so observant, and inquisitive. He is always listening to us, whether we think he is or not, and he is always asking why. He is curious about lots of things!

I love the things he comes up with to say:

About the twins: "They don't know much about life yet, They are just new learners."

And when Tiffany asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up he said " A parent".
She says, "Do you want to have a job outside the house too".
And he says, "No I want the stay home like my mom does and take care of my kids".

The other day he asks me, "Mom, what was your last name before you married dad?" and I replied "Dotson". He responds with "Well, shouldn't I be a Dotson then since you had me BEFORE you got married"?
I was so surprised by this question! But we have never hid the fact that we had him before we got married. He is IN our wedding pictures after all!

It seems the way home from school is when he really likes to talk to me. One day he was asking me a bunch of questions about alcohol. Can kids be in bars? What about restaurant bars? Does everything they sell at a bar have alcohol in it? What happens to you when you drink alcohol?

I try to be honest with him, without telling him more than is ready to hear.

Yesterday he says to me "My friend at school told me he saw a Daddy in the car with a baby in the backseat, and the Daddy was smoking, AND the windows were all rolled UP!" I said "oh?" and he says "yeah it's true. My friend saw it. I wish that the Dad wouldn't have done that. Is that baby going to die"?

He thinks about these things. He still gets very anxious about certain things. It breaks my heart that he has had to deal with anxiety at such a young age. We have him in a group at school once a week and that has seemed to help him quite a bit. We are working on teaching him how to identify his feelings, and how to handle situations.

He is still working hard at Karate and has earned another stripe. Soccer is just finishing up for the year and baseball starts soon. I think he is excited to do baseball this year instead of T-ball!

He is still our dawdler and I think he always will be! He somehow always seems to find something interesting to stop and look at our touch or climb on!!! He is quite easily distracted and can be so forgetful too! We constantly have to remind him to bring his lunch home, or his coat, or his homework. I don't know how many pairs of mittens we lost this winter at school!

Things Malichi loves:

Having his new room WAY upstairs!

Crossword puzzles, word finds, and his rubix cube.

Pencil buddies. Apparently these are the new CRAZE in school!

Playing quitar hero.

Wall ball.

Doing magic shows for us.

Reading. Especially his Star Wars, Shel Silverstein poem books and Magic Treehouse books. He's got some MAD reading skills!!! :) He is in an accelerated reading group in school and is reading at a 3rd grade level!

He loves math too, and it's another one of his strong points.

I am so proud of Malichi. He is such a good kid.

adjusting.

I feel like things are finally starting to get a little more "normal" around here(who cares about "normal" anyway right...)! We are getting more and more adjusted to life with twins, and life as a family of 6. Grammy has been an amazing help with all of this. Thanks Grammy!

The babies are getting older, and the weather is getting warmer. Which means I can take them places more and it's not such a hassle with all the bundling. Although now that they are getting heavier, it is getting way hard to carry them in their carseats at the same time. I better be buff soon from these babies! :P

One of the things I have found to be hard with twins is the logistics of getting them both where I need them to be when I am alone. When I am nursing them both, and then try to lift them both up to burp them, or get them off my lap so I can get up. Or like when they are both awake in the morning and wanting to be picked up, sometimes I can't pick just one of them to pick up so I'll try to pick them both up and sometimes they bonk heads. Sorry babies :( Or when I go to target and I forget the double stroller that the carseats snap into so I have to put each baby in their own cart and push 2 carts....and try to corral 2 other kids while doing the shopping as quickly as possible (ok that has only happened once but it sucked). Or when they are both needing some cuddle time and I can't fully give it to both when I try to rock them both.

Things like this get kinda tricky!

They are at the age that they are big enough that they are heavy and hard to carry 2 of them, but not old enough yet where they can grab on and kind of "help" when I am carrying them.

I read in one of my twin books "be prepared to be instant celebrities anytime you go somewhere" Oh my, is that ever true. I didn't realize twins was such an attention getter. Anytime we go somewhere I have to be prepared to stop and talk to people.

For some reason, with all this Nadya Suleman stuff in the news I get this one all the time.

"Oh, you have twins! Well aren't you glad it wasn't eight"?

um. ok.

and apparently Scout being all cutesy and usually in dresses or pink doesn't give away the fact that she's a girl.
People say all the time. "oh you have twins! Two boys huh?" Um. no.
Not sure why I get that one so often! Did you not see the headband? Or the pink dress? Or the pink blanket? Or the pink shoes? I just have to laugh.

this one floors me.
"Twins! A boy and a girl!?"
"yep" I say.
And then they follow with this... It never fails... "Are they identical"?
I politely say "no" and leave it at that.
But I am thinking "I sure as hell hope not or we might have some issues..."

And apparently 4 kids is like way too many to have!!! I didn't realize this.
If I am out with the 2 babies, people will often ask if they are my only 2. I say "no, I have 2 others at home", and then they drop their jaw, "Oh you have two MORE. Wow your a busy mom"!
I've even been asked if I do daycare! One time me and Kristie were at culver's together and we got asked if we were having a birthday party!!!! Nope just us and our 7 kids between the 2 of us!!!!!

Lots of people stop to ask about them, and it really is sweet, and if I am not in a hurry it doesn't bother me a bit.

Lots of people offer their help as well. I have been so surprised by the generousity of total strangers!
There have been many times I have been out in public with the four kids alone, and both babies will be crying, and I am sure I am looking frazzled, and someone will come up and ask "is there anything I can do to help you?" Most of the time there isn't anything because it's just that the babies need to eat or sleep, but I always appreciate that generosity.

One time I was in target, and the babies were both hungry at the same time. and I mean screaming hungry. So I had to try to nurse them both in the dressing room, with no pillow, or anything to put them on. They were screaming and I was having a hard time getting them to latch on. And a woman knocks on the door and says, "ma'am are you the one I saw in the store with twins? Is there anything I can do to help you"?
Obviously there wasn't much she could do, but so sweet to offer her help.

The one thing that really does surprise me is when people will come and put a nuk in my babies mouth! There have been many times that both are fussing, and I am tending to one, and someone will come over and stick the nuk in the other ones mouth. Not saying a word to me! Very nice gesture, (or maybe they can't stand to hear a baby cry?)....but you'd think they'd ask first!?

The babies are finally starting to sleep through the night. a little bit. Most of the time they do it on opposite nights so I don't get to enjoy it. But there have now been a few nights that I only have to get up maybe 2 to 3 times(compared to the hourly or ever other hour I have been doing for the past 5 1/2 months!)

Oh and not to mention the 11:00 to 12:00 bedtime they insisted on for so long! But they are finally getting to bed much earlier. Usually around 9 or 9:30 but sometimes even as early as 8! I am loving this!

I never imagined how hard nights would be with twins. Kinzie didn't sleep through the night until after a year, and she ate A LOT in the middle of the night, but still it was nothing like this. I don't know what it is. I know it's 2x the baby, but it's really taken a toll on me. Getting like a total of 3-4 hours a night just doesn't work for me!

They get up at opposite times and I am way to groggy to wake one when the other wakes up to try to get them on the same schedule. As hard as I try, I am just so tired and the thought of WAKING a baby in the middle of the night seems ridiculous at the time. So I feed one, fall asleep nursing, wake up an hour or so later to the other one crying, feed that one, fall asleep nursing, wake up an hour later to the first one again....and so on and so forth. Up until almost 5 months though, it wouldn't be where they would go back to sleep right away after eating either, I would have to rock them or walk around with them and try to get them back to sleep. So by the time I got one back to sleep the other was almost ready to eat.

I swear though, I think they lay in their cribs conspiring against me, and I think it goes something like this:
Scout: "Hey Fin, I am going to cry so she'll feed me and then afterwards I'll make Mommy rock me and walk around with me for a while and then finally I'll go to sleep. THEN let's give her like 20 minutes to fall back asleep....and then YOU wake up and cry! And then we'll reverse the roles! Won't that be a FUN GAME!!!!?

I think about all of these things, and I get overhwhelmed at times. I get stressed over the fact that I can't keep my house clean like I used to, or keep up on the finances like I used to (in our 7 1/2 years of marriage I have never overdrafted our account or had a late bill, which I have now done twice!)and forget about keeping up on the laundry! I think the hormones have made me a little depressed, and the lack of sleep makes me crazy at times.

But then I think about how amazing this experience has been. Absolutely amazing. I never realized how hard it would be, but I never realized how AWESOME it would be either. I think about how rewarding this has been, and all those other things seem so small in comparison.

Words cannot even describe the joy of having 2 little smiling faces looking up at you from their cribs in the morning. 2 little tiny people giggling as you play "I'm gonna get you". 2 little personalities forming. 2 babies holding hands, cooing and smiling at each other. It melts me.

I can't imagine life without both of them. I can't imagine what it would have been like with just one now. Obviously I know what it's like since I've had 2 singletons. But I just can't imagine only one of them being here.

I count my blessings with all four of my babes being happy, healthy, growing children. I have to stop and think of this when I am overwhelmed and stressed.

5 months.

The babies were 5 months old a week ago today. They are growing way too fast for me.



Finley rolled over last week for the first time. From his tummy to his back. It was so fun to watch. He was having some tummy time and all the sudden he just flipped over, like he'd been doing it all his life, no problem! I put him back on his tummy and he did it again!

Scout isn't rolling over yet. But she will, in her own time. She gets halfway from her back to her tummy, but that darn tummy, so hard to get over!!! :P

Scout has been so content lately. Just way more laid back. The other night she slept from midnight until probably like 7:45 am. I had checked on her at 7:30 and she was still sleeping. I was in shock. I went back in at 8 and there she was laying wide eyed looking around and smiling. I couldn't believe she wasn't screaming to eat!!! Especially when there used to be times she would have eaten an hour before, but the way she'd scream to eat, you'd think I hadn't fed her in days! That night was the longest stretch of sleep by far for her. Most nights I am still up every 2 hours or so.

Finley has been the more fussy one still. I think he is going through a little growth spurt (and I think he is teething too). He's been eating way more than Scout lately, and when they do get a formula bottle at night, he eats way more of it than she does. Maybe he's sick of us calling him the peanut.

Neither of the babies are consistently sleeping through the night. They'll each do it once in a while, but they never seem to coordinate it on the same nights!!!

They have developed all these cute little personality traits of their own.

Scout has this new little trick of pursing her lips and making a kissing noise, and Fin does this cute thing where he smacks his lips together and them blows raspberries. He'll entertain himself with that for a while.

Scout has this fake little cough that she does too, and she shrugs her shoulders when she "talks".

Oh and I love this one, Scout puts her hand on the back of her head when she nurses. It is so cute. She'll have her fingers all spread out and have her hand flat to the back of her head. She does it a lot when she sleeps too. I don't know what it is about it, but I love it.

Finley has this cute, but pathetic little cry he does when he's hungry and I have him in my lap and he knows the food is coming but he just can't wait any longer. He gets all frantic and flails his arms all around and has this whimper. I have got to get it on tape, it's so funny.

Scout, on the other hand, as soon as I take her, she opens her mouth wide getting ready. Hey if there is food anywhere near her mouth, I guess she figures she better be ready for it!!! So I'll be trying to undo the nursing bra and she's got her mouth all wide and she's desperately trying to pull herself close enough to latch on....through my shirt half the time if I've not got the boob out quick enough!!!!

Fin has really started sucking his thumb. Scout does too, but not as much as Fin. Sometimes she sucks her 2 fingers. But Finley is always trying to get that thumb in his mouth. He does a good job, he just doesn't know what to do with the rest of the fingers and pokes himself in the eyes a lot!!

Both of them are so easy to get to smile. Finley is a little giggler and Scout always has her mouth wide open with a big smile on her face. Finley loves to play "I'm gonna getcha", he giggles in anticipation even before you "get him". Scout loves to be talked to and she'll squeal and coo back at you.

Both of the babies have really started grabbing for their toys and playing with them. They are much better at entertaining themselves for a little while. I bought these new exersaucers for them that they are really liking. They love hanging out on the butterfly mat and grabbing at the toys on there too.

Both of them are trying to sit up. They don't like to be cradled anymore unless they are tired. They want to be sitting up seeing whats going on, so whenever we lay them back they try their hardest to pull themselves up. And when we sit them on the floor, they can sit for a few seconds, and they definitly try to balance themselves! They are loving their bumbo chairs. Sometimes if I am sitting at the table working on something I'll put them in the bumbo chairs in the middle of the table so they are right at my level and they'll just hang out at watch me!

We've started giving them cereal again. They are much more interested in it now. We tried at 4 months, and they did ok, but it didn't really help them start sleeping through the night better, which the pediatrician said it wouldn't anyway. So we decided to wait a while and try again. All they really need until 6 month is breast milk, and I am in no hurry for them to grow up. So we waited, but now that they are 5 months I thought we'd start again and do cereal about 1x/day.

Finley and Scout are such different little babies. We could tell from day one how different they are. It's so strange, because it's like having Malichi all over again, and Kinzie all over again but at the same time. Finley is so much like Malichi was and Scout is so much like Kinzie was. From the way they look, their personalities, to the way they eat, and they way they cry. It's so strange!





We still call them Frantic Finley and Screaming Scout. Finley is definitly still frantic, but Scout doesn't scream quite so much anymore (although when she does, it is still the piercing 'I AM PISSED' scream she's always had). Some of their other nicknames; the angry monkey and the gentle lion. Scoutsy boo and Finley foo. Mr. Finley. Finners. Ms. bossy boss. Stinkerbell.







I can't believe the next monthly post I do for them will be 6 months!! Half a year already?! It's gone by much to fast.

relief.

Over 125,000 files on my hard drive were recovered. Only 71 were unrecoverable. here we are almost $1000.00 later...but I have my files.

ahh. I am happy.

off to back up my videos.

4 Months.

The babies turned 4 months old last week! They are growing and changing. Fin is still the peanut. He is 12 lb. 7 oz. Scout is 14 lbs. It is amazing to me that they are so different in size! They are both healthy and thriving and that makes me a happy mama.

my precious little sugar.


my sweet boy.


This age is so much fun!

Finley is so ticklish. His feet, his tummy, under his chin...he giggles. I love it. Silly boy.

I love how easy it is to get Fin to smile. Sometimes I'll look over at him and he is watching me and smiling for no apparent reason.

Scout loves to hear herself squeal. She has become very loud over the past few days. She does this cute little shoulder shrug when she "talks" to us.

They are interacting with each other more and more. Fin looks at his sister so adoringly with a little grin on his face, and then she'll just look at him like "yeah whatever".

Scout has been a lot less....... angry. No more angry little monkey. The tables have turned actually. Finley has been the fussy one lately, and Scout has been pretty content. Don't get me wrong...she still has her fits, just not as often. A few nights ago she even pulled a Finley and slept until 4:30 am! I was shocked. But Fin however, did not. He was up a lot to eat. He no longer does his midnight to 5 am thing. I can't wait for the day I can get more than an hour or two of sleep at a time! They do still have their fussy time at night after dinner, but I think it is starting to get better. They are going to bed about 10 now, instead of like midnight!

Fin has been eating more than his sister too! I think he is trying to catch up to his "little" sister!

There have been lots of firsts. First time in the exersaucers, first cereal, first trip to the park. They loved being outside! I loved being able to take them outside!!!! They weren't so sure about this whole cereal thing though. It didn't help them sleep through the night either, and our pediatrician said most likely it wouldn't make a difference. So, I am going to hold of on giving them cereal for a bit longer. All they really need until 6 months is breast milk, plus I am in no hurry for them to grow up!!!



I love baby rolls.


Fin has this new face he loves to make.

lost.

.....all of my home videos since the babies were born. They are gone.

I am devastated.

I dropped my EHD on the floor, and it no longer works.

I do not have my home videos backed up anywhere else. Other things not backed up that are on there: Steph and Adams wedding invites I have been working on. A bunch of designing tools and resources. Some scrapping stuff that I have bought. Tiffany and Eric's wedding video. Some designs I have been working on. About 20 new layouts I have made. The more I think about it, the more I am realizing is not backed up yet.

If you know me, you know I am A N A L about having back ups. I back everything up once a month to cd/dvd. I keep a copy at my mom's in case of a fire or something here. I keep everything on my EHD. I keep a copy in a "grab and go" box in my front room in case of a fire. I keep full size files of photos on my flickr.

I however, did not know about carbonite.com. I will be doing this from now on as well.

So anyway, with the craziness of life these days since the twins were born, I have not managed to get everything backed up yet and now I am so mad at myself. I DO have all of my photos since they were born and I am soooooo thankful for that.

We are looking into a Data Recovery place. It will cost between $500 and $950. Not too cheap, but I will be heartbroken if I do not have hospital videos of my twins.

I am lost without my EHD. My whole life is on there.

I am just praying they can recover the data.

So go now, and BACK UP ALL YOUR STUFF!

a happy room for happy babies.....

Photos of the babies nursery as promised! :)

So we had the nursery all painted, and pretty much put together, and then I decided to move them to the smaller bedroom and our bedroom into their nursery which is the bigger room. SO...we had to RE-paint. Grammy and I got it all painted last week finally! We did Scout's wall pink, Finley's wall green, and the other 2 walls brown. We painted the dresser and changing table to match as well! It's so cute and bright and cheery in their now! I love it!

(the color in these pictures doesn't do it justice though.... the colors are much nicer in real life)









I got ambitious and made some canvas paintings for the wall. I can't take too much credit though... I love the Carter's elephant and giraffe that is on some of the babie's clothes, so I copied those and freehanded some myself! I don't know what it is about their elephant..but I think it is so flippin' cute!







the nursing corner. i painted the picture on the wall.



Meet Elvis (the lion) and Mac (the monkey). These are stuffed animals I bought for the babies a few months ago. I saw them in the window of a cute little shop in town, and just had to have them for the babies. Finley reminds me of a little lion with that wild reddish hair he was born with, and I've always said Scout is my little monkey with that dark hair that sticks straight up and those big eyes!

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.