Small Spaces

For those wondering how we plan to house all four girls in our little house, I ask, who says kids each need their own room? And, furthermore, who says they each need their own bed?

Megan and Bridget have taken one for the team and decided to share Bridget's crib. So selfless.

Good Morning, er, Afternoon!

Good thing there's not a time stamp on my camera. There's no telling what time breakfast will actually be served around here. It usually happens after both babies go down for their morning nap. Luckily, we have two patient little girls who are happy to get their bananas and cereal once babies have been changed, fed, changed, topped off, swaddled, rocked and set in any of the three swings we have in our house. It's more like brunch most days :)

Westlake Story Time

Okay, so it's not at the library. Details.

Daddy's Girls

I know, Father's Day is a few weeks away, but at the pace I'm able to update this blog lately, I thought I'd slide this post in a little early to ensure some timeliness for Matt's big day!

Our girls are so lucky to have such a great daddy - here are a few of the things he is the best in the world at:

1) "Hot scratchies" (Mommy's hands are way too cold for good back-scratches, I've been told), singing the "Papa Song" and telling "Dorothy Adventures," all of which are sorely missed when he's not around for bedtime.

2) Spur-of-the-moment acting jobs. When necessary, Matt is a dragon (mean or nice), a prince, a baby, a daddy, a mommy, a pirate, a "bad guy," a doctor, a nurse, or a patient:

Megan has an overactive imagination, and loves to play director: "Okay, you're the baby, I'm the Mommy, Bridget's the Daddy." Imagine this over. and. over. again. Lucky for her, Matt always wanted to be in drama! We definitely have some skits and plays in our future.

3) Anything that requires his skillz as an Eagle Scout, which apparently includes camping indoors. He recently pitched a tent in out living room, just for fun, and wanted to have the girls sleep inside. That was a no-go, but roasting marshmallows in our fireplace was a hit!

(These are the types of things that happen when I leave the house for a few hours with the babies, or in the case of the marshmallow roasting, when I'm stuck nursing the babies to calm them down/get them to sleep - this can last a good 2 hours, and I never know what's going on downstairs!)

4) Never growing tired of a dip in the hot tub with our two little swimmers.

5) Filling sippy cups.

6) Filling milk bottles.

7) Jumping out of bed in the middle of the night to respond to a little voice faintly calling, "peepee's coming!" from down the hall.

8) Pacing with Annie or (usually) Tessa for as long as necessary in the middle of the night.

9) Scooping up a crying Bridget in the middle of the night, who always wants to go to "Daddy's room."

10) Knowing who's who in every cartoon or Disney movie and having the appropriate stash of both in our DVD collection or on Tivo.

And lots of other things that my baby brain can't think of right now, but I'll come back and add to this later!

Happy Father's day, Matt!

One for the baby book

It's time to dust off those baby gates - we have a roller!

(Okay, there will be no dusting. It's only been about three months since we finally felt comfortable with Bridget on the stairs. They've been an almost constant fixture in our house for almost three years now. And, they'll get their third go-round pretty soon! We're trying to get our money's worth on all of our baby equipment by having as many kids as we can.)

Tessa rolled over from her stomach to her back - twice! Or was it Annie? I'm questioning everything now :) Definitely Tessa. It's kind of crazy to see such a small baby do this. But, at six weeks, she doesn't hold the record in our family. Megan rolled over at three weeks, believe it or not. (It's OK - our pediatrician didn't believe it either, so we had Megan perform at her one month appointment. We took her on the road with that act for a few months.)

Okay, bragging over.

Sleep Issues...

I think we need a king sized bed. Matt took this picture the other morning after a particularly rough night. Megan was nice and cozy in her own bed, but everyone else ended up with us, er, me. I think Matt slept at the foot of the bed - no, I'm not kidding.

Maybe We'll Tattoo Them....

The most common question we are asked about the twins is, "Are they identical or fraternal?" (Actually, that's the second most common question - the first is, "Do you have help?" Ummm, no. But I digress.)

I always say that they're fraternal because I can tell them apart so easily. After all, I explain, Tessa has that tiny birthmark over her lip, a little more hair, and a slightly rounder face. But, I guess those aren't the biggest differences ever :) I would love it if they were identical (for obvious reasons!), but I just haven't been very convinced. Well, this picture has me thinking we might need to order that DNA test. When I uploaded this picture, I didn't know who was who for a minute.

In case you're wondering, Tessa's the one looking very bored with this entire discussion.

Deja Vu!

If I ever have questions about handling twins, I have an expert I can always turn to! When Mop and Poppa came to town two weeks ago, Mop insisted on holding both babies. What a pro - she's still got it!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

No one is more surprised than me to discover, with the addition of the twins, that I still have a little downtime during the day (two hours when everyone is napping, if I'm lucky!). But, I also have a little one-on-one time with Megan and Bridget occasionally. Bridget woke up early from her nap recently to help me get things ready for dinner (I love casseroles!), and she and I bonded a little. And, I took a couple pictures. Yes, there are many things wrong with these pictures:

a) the fact that Bridget still has a post-nap bottle

b) she still uses a pacifier

c) she's sitting on the kitchen counter - so safe!

d) and the kitchen is in DESPERATE need of HGTV or some other kind of miracle.

Good thing I'm not a celebrity. Suri Cruise has been villified in US Weekly for just one of the above offenses.