How Much Are Those Girlies in the Window?

Matt captured this scene on his phone when he left for work a few days ago.  

He definitely has some adoring fans.  If they don't get kisses before he leaves for work, or if, God forbid, he leaves before they wake up, hysterics ensue!!  "Daddy left without giving me a kiss!!!" A less desirable, but acceptable substitute in a pinch?  Megan urgently runs to grab a family picture from our dining room, and they pass it around, showering Matt with kisses.

The drama when he leaves for the day and the anticipation for his return almost make me want to go to work. Almost :)

Halloween (Photo) Checklist

We made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch farm in Half Moon Bay, and came back with the necessary photos -- you know, the ones we take so we can actually remember the day. There is no guarantee I would remember anything from this day otherwise!!  I think we captured everything we needed to:

Girls poking their heads through a wooden pumpkin?  Check. 

Attempt to get all four girls smiling in front of cute stagecoach?  Check.

Twin love shot?  Check.

Mommy in a picture with the girls? Check.

Cutest picture of Megan and Bridget together in recent memory?  Check!

Get a kid to try to pick up a pumpkin? Annie took the bait.  Check.

Daddy with his girls on the train?  Check.

Daddy with two more little girls? Check.

And, a few days later:

Megan carving her pumpkin? Check.

Bridget with her pumpkin?  Check.

Final result?  All of our little pumpkin heads are happy, even the ones on the front porch!

Ghosts of Halloweens Past

With Halloween 2010 quickly approaching, I'm feeling nostalgic - sniff sniff. 

In an effort to document Megan's first Halloween that predates this blog, and to remember the years since, I present a little walk down memory lane, spooky Stecher style!

Once upon a time, way back in 2006, we had just one kid.  For Megan's first Halloween, she made a cute little chicken!  And, we found out that day that we were pregnant with #2 (otherwise known as Bridget!).

Speaking of Bridget, come 2007, we had two kids -- and things were a little busier. 

Bridget's peacock costume was the best!  Big sister Megan was a puppy.

2008 Version A

The puppy costume made a second appearance, and Megan was the most adorable little Snow White. 

2008 Version B

(Our puppy moonlighted as Ariel)

And, 2009 was the twins' first Halloween/The Wizard of Oz cast party!

Stay tuned for Halloween 2010!

More of Tessa and Annie at 18 Months

The babies had their 18-month checkup today, and it was actually a pretty relaxing experience.  I think it may be their first appointment yet where they didn't have a small fan club of older sisters along for the trip.  Megan and Bridget both had school today, thankfully, so I didn't have to worry about them weighing each other and causing other mayhem while the babies were being checked out.  And, of course, I still had my double stroller by the time we left, which is always a plus! 

Here are the girls waiting to be weighed -- all 4 of them -- left to right: Dora (in Tessa's hand), Tessa, Annie, and "Naked Baby" as she is known in our house, in Annie's arms. As you can see above, they now weigh exactly the same!! Weird!

 And, more recent pictures with clothes on and big girl hair-dos!  Where did our babies go??

Annie (left) and Tessa

Annie

Tessa

Queen Bridget

There is a definite hierarchy in our household.  Megan will always be the oldest.  And, try as she might to be grouped with Megan, Bridget will always be kid number 2, and, essentially, our middle child.  This does not sit well with her most of the time!  She bristles when their age difference is mentioned, and takes offense when Megan orders anything "oldest to youngest," so insulted is she to be second in line.  In an attempt to narrow the gap, she pushes Megan's buttons constantly by suggesting that she's also four and a half years old.  As close as this little set of "big girls" are, and as agreeable as Megan is most of the time, age is a point that Megan absolutely won't concede.  This usually ends with someone crying and insisting that she is four and a half and Bridget is only 3!!

So, anytime Bridget can be the (one and only) big kid, she relishes the opportunity.  And, when I say she relishes it, I mean she truly acts like she is the queen over her little minions Tessa and Annie.  Her chance at this lordship comes three times a week while Megan is in preschool.  These are the three days that Bridget does not go to school, and she plans out these three hour blocks like she's putting together a travel itinerary.  "First, we'll go home and play!  I'll get to play with the big dollhouse, but the pieces are too small for Tessa and Annie, so I get to play in my room, and the babies can't come in!  After that, we'll put it away, and they can come in and we'll play doctor.  I will be the doctor!" Or, "Okay, after Megan gets out of the car, let's go to that store with the red balls (Target!) and you can get me some cake at that coffee store.  But, Mommy, can you carry me in the carrier?"  (I guess the biggest kids can still be carried.)

Today, our game plan included a dance party back at our house, with Bridget leading the party.  She got to turn the pages in the book that corresponds with the music CD.  This is a privilege that she usually needs to negotiate with Megan for, and usually doesn't win.  Obviously, she was pretty excited!

And, to round out her perfect morning, we even vacuumed. Her idea, not mine ;)

While she worked and danced, Queen Bridget's loyal subjects stayed out of her way.  Tessa hit the books,



with her little friend Dora, who is never very far away, and most often in her pocket.  She even sleeps with Dora clutched tightly in her fist.  This all started about two weeks ago.  Boy, we thought we were lucky to have bypassed pacifiers all together with these babies, but Dora is throwing a wrench in our plans of never having to worry about losing or finding tiny sleep aids.  Oh, man!!  ;)

Queen Bridget also allowed Annie to play with the Little People cars. So far, Annie is proving to be very imaginative.  She loves to zoom cars around, and make the sounds that go with it (this is very boyish, and very foreign to me!), but also loves to stand little dolls up next to each other and have them dance together.  I don't remember Megan or Bridget doing that at 18 months, but, then again, I also barely remember what I wore today. Anyway, here she is, zooming with her cars.

Bridget's reign ended at exactly 11:45am this morning when Megan jumped back in the van after school.  When Teacher Rita peered in the van after delivering Megan (yes, have I mentioned this service that makes my life about a zillion times easier??), she looked in at the four of us and casually said, "Wow, you guys look like you haven't even moved since drop-off this morning!" Little does Rita know, a lot happened for Bridget while Megan was at school!! :)

The Great Outdoors

What's an Eagle Scout to do with four little girls?  Teach them to camp! 

Matt has been talking about camping out in the backyard with the girls for years! I think he was more excited than they were as they pitched the tent and set up our firepit to roast marshmallows tonight:

After a few marshmallows, a couple bathroom trips, two Dora stories, songs and scratchies, these three are fast asleep!

Super Hero Preview

With Halloween around the corner, we have some very excited little girls!  They couldn't wait until the big day to debut their outfits, and have been saving everyone and everything in our house since they ripped open their new costumes.

Bridget, aka

Super Girl!!

and Megan, aka

Wonder Woman!!

What are Tessa and Annie going as? 

Super Twins,

of course!

Tessa and Annie - 18 Months

At 18 months, Tessa and Annie are proving to be very different little people.  A lot of people have asked (since day one!) how they are different.  At the beginning, we were too sleep deprived and distracted to notice huge differences, or remember them, but at this point, the differences are clear, and their personalities so unique!

Tessa, although she was our baby A, is definitely not the leader in this duo.  So much for "birth order" in twins.  She is cautious and shy around strangers, especially the type of stranger who accosts them in their double stroller to exclaim, "Ooh, twins!!!"  She looks to Annie before she tries almost anything.  If Annie take a bite, Tessa dives in.  If Annie goes down a slide, Tessa will follow, and usually cautiously -- feet first on her tummy.  Shy as she may be in some situations, once she's comfortable in her surroundings, she is crazy!  She is our biggest clown, and is just so jolly sometimes.  She loves to make her sisters laugh!  And, she is so cuddly and sweet.  I hope I always remember how much she loves to be held.  She lays her head down on top of your shoulder and tucks her arms underneath her body, and just nestles in.  It's such a joy to hold her like this! 

Annie, on the other hand, is 18 months going on 15 years old.  She's already developing a little attitude when she doesn't get what she wants.  She furrows her brow and narrows her eyes like she is really mad.  We have to remind her to smile, and then she puts her index fingers on her cheeks and gives us a sugary sweet smile. 

She and Bridget are definitely cut from the same cloth! (At 18 months, Bridget was showing some similar 'tude.)  Annie loves to say "No!" to almost every request, and then quickly follows with a "Me!" if she reconsiders and really does want to do something. Both babies are curious, but Annie is a little more adventurous.  She is going to be trouble in high school and college.  I'm very scared!

Tessa's on the right in all of these pictures:

 

As physical as they are with each other (see above!), they still love giving each other kisses and hugs!

When Tessa and Annie were exactly 18 months old, I figured it was as good a day as any to start weaning them.  Yep, 18 months nursing twins.  Unless I climb Mt. Everest later in my life, I'm pretty sure this will be one of my biggest accomplishments!  And, if I do make it to the top of that mountain, I'll scream, "I nursed twins for 18 months!!"  Since I was never sure I'd be able to nurse them at all, I'm ecstatic to have lasted that long. It's something I already miss.  The time spent nursing them was an amazing bonding experience.  Amid the craziness of four under four, I always had my nursing sessions to take a breather, relax and just admire them (or play on my phone!).  

But, all good things must come to an end.  One 18-month old nurser can be difficult customer, nevermind two.  When they wanted to nurse, they were persistent, grabby and cranky.  This was a problem out in public, where I wasn't as comfortable nursing.  At the most inopportune times, they would pull my Hooter Hider (nursing cover) out of the diaper bag, start to giggle, and wave it like a flag at me.  And everyone else around us.    That Hooter Hider announced to the world, 'Hey, look at us!  We're huge babies who are still nursing!!" I didn't think they were too old, but the whole scene was beginning to straddle the socially acceptable fence.  So, for the past few months, I almost always nursed them in their room, on our super comfy chair and a half, especially since they usually just nursed before sleep and when they woke up.  The chair was positioned right in between their cribs, which made it easy to stand up with a baby in each arm, and deposit each of their sleeping bodies into their respective cribs.  (This transfer was getting to be more of an arm workout as they grew!)  So, when we decided to start weaning, we also decided to remove the scene of the crime, er, chair, to the living room. Without the big chair, their room is so spacious, and my next project will be painting a little activity table for them to put under the window. 

The "before" picture:

Since the weaning, the babies have been inhaling milk, even their baby dolls' ;)

and growing more independent every day! 

Their new morning and after-nap routine is the same as the big girls' --- they all sit together on the couch and watch a cartoon while they wake up.  They all seem so much closer in age when they're all doing the same thing together, or all enjoying the same activity.  I love it!

Our latest attempt at a little photo shoot: