9 to 5

Since I'm not working (outside the home, that is!), 9 to 5 has taken on an entirely new meaning and signifigance. Annie slept from 9pm to 5am last night. Suffice to say, I'm thinking just a little clearer today than I have in months! Why, oh why did our first kid have to be the one who slept through the night at 3 weeks??!!

Happy 5 Months, Tessa and Annie!

It's officially been 5 months, and I can honestly say that these pictures were taken on their 5 month birthday. It just took a couple weeks to blog about it. And, we actually got 2 smiles ...

Annie (left) and Tessa (right)
and some sideways looks after a spit-up incident required a wardrobe change:

Tessa (left) and Annie (right)

These 5 months have proved to be the most stressful of our marriage, and exhausting in every way imaginable. But, it's all worth it to see Tessa and Annie developing their own little personalities, and to see how beautifully Megan and Bridget have adjusted to becoming big sisters. Admittedly, we're in survival mode around here most of the time, living for naps and bedtime, but there are great moments in between:

• Every time Bridget rushes in to kiss a baby and exclaims, every time like it's the first time, "She likes me! She likes me!"
• Megan reminding us repeatedly that there's room for one more car seat in the van. We can always go pick up another baby in the hospital, according to Megan. I guess life's not too rough for her right now if another baby seems like a good idea.
• Megan and Bridget getting along so well, and constantly giving me the space and breaks I need during the day when they play quietly together for long stretches of time. Long enough for me to actually get things done around the house or nurse a couple of babies. More often than not, Megan can be found leading Bridget from one activity to another. Bridget will tell me they're just "tending" to be princesses or "tending" they're on a train.
• Sweet hugs and kisses all day long from all four girls.

Defnitely a crazy five months, but so amazing!

Twenty little toes

I want to hold your hand

Without fail, when the babies are together on the playmat, they wiggle around and find each other, and each other's hands.

Oh, and here are the little faces that belong to those hands.

Tessa (above) and Annie (below)

Oswald and Dora and Little Bear, oh my!

On day 4 of rearranging our house (of sick toddlers and newborns who don't like to sleep) I wonder if there is such a thing as too much Noggin for our kids' little noggins. Nah.

Table for six

We officially have four little diners at our table now. Notice Annie is sitting across from Megan and Tessa is sitting across from Bridget. We're well-trained.

The babies had their first taste of solid food just shy of five months, and it was a success! Here's Annie with her first bite:
and Megan feeding her more.

Tessa works on her finger appetizer while she waits her turn:

and then she lets Bridget play Mommy, too.

I thought two kids were a lot to cook/feed/clean up after. Like a lot of other things, my perspective has changed on that point. Sometimes I think we need a dog to eat everything that drops on the floor, but then I remind myself that I would just be trading one mess inside for another mess outside.

Musical Rooms

This game is best described as a grown-up and even more cruel version of musical chairs, where someone (or in this case, something) is left without a room. The sad losers in our house are our living room couches that are making room for our newer sectional that used to be in our family room that is now our bedroom because the big girls will be in our room and the babies are moving into the nursery. (I won't make a habit of run-on sentences on this blog, don't worry!)The winners are Tessa and Annie!

So this is love

I guess love makes the seemingly unfathomable come true.

Recently, I've witnessed both Megan and Bridget offering the clothes off their back (literally!) to help their little sisters. Our girls, who ordinarily flip into freak out mode when their coveted dresses get even a teensy bit wet, now regularly wipe spit up from their babies' faces with the aprons of their dresses.

We're very lucky to have two little girls who so lovingly take care of their sisters. Let's hope this sisterly love lasts through the high school years.

They are...

Identical!

Maybe identical twins do run in the family after all :) We were pretty shocked to get the news from the DNA lab that the twins are indeed identical, or monozygotic, if you want to be all Fancy Nancy about it (if you don't know who this is, you don't have any little girls wanting to read "Fancy Fancy" all. of. the. time).

What was that I said about not blogging in Tahoe? Nonsense! I am on the slowest connection ever on an unsecure network on Matt's laptop, but I knew this was too important to wait a week to blog about :)

Now, I'm off to teach the twins everything I can about tricking their teachers, parents and boyfriends!