Apr
12
2010
The girlies are 7 months today. And I’m actually writing this post on their birthday instead of scheduling in advance: I was totally unprepared for this milestone! It was a kind of crazy day: either we wore the girls out yesterday, or they’re having a growth spurt, or they’re fighting off a cold; because they have only been awake for a grand total of 6 hours all day. Poor things! So please excuse their grumpy looking 7 month photos. It was the best they would allow :-p
Aeralind Grace
My sweet girl, you have spent you entire 7th month on your stomach. You learned to roll over back to tummy at the end of your sixth month and mommy has refused to roll you back every time you rolled. Therefore, you have become very strong! In fact, you are starting to be able to put your legs underneath you, although you have not managed to pick up your entire tummy for more than a few seconds. You have learned to scoot backward semi-unintentionally and sometimes when we leave the room we’ll come back and you’ll be 3-4 feet from where we left you. You can also put one of your feet against the ground and push forward to grasp the item of your desire. You rotated 90 degrees on your tummy and propelled yourself about a foot forward to steal my spoon out of my cereal bowl!
Aeralind, you are so visual it’s almost frightening! At your 6 month appointment, you rolled over onto you tummy on the examining table and then positioned yourself so that you could watch the TV through the mirror. We we go out to the library or to a store or restaurant, I call you the intimidator. You will sit there and stare at everything with a deep look of concentration on your face as you try to figure things out. You actually almost look like you’re scowling. It cracks me up!
Your favorite foods thus far are peas and very cold pears, though you are particularly fond of oatmeal too. You hate mango and do not really care for plums either. You yell at me or coo the entire time I am feeding you solids because I take too long to feed your sister a bite before coming back to you. You love to stuff your hand or thumb or bib in your mouth while I’m feeding you and that can be somewhat frustrating 😉
Yesterday, your daddy had you giggling so hard. He was bouncing you on his knees and singing you some silly song. Normally your laugh sounds like you’re wheezing but yesterday you were shrieking with glee.
Bronwyn Hope
My snuggly girl, you are thisclose to sitting unassisted. You love being upright. You are so happy to be left in your exersaucer or in your booster chair with toys on the tray. You will squeal and talk to everyone who walks by.
While your sister has spent the month rolling on her tummy (and you have spent the month pretending you didn’t know how though you do), you have spent the month mastering the manipulation of objects. You can grab anything left in front of you for mere seconds. In fact more than once, I’ve sat the food bowl on your booster tray to pull your sister’s hand out of her mouth and turned to see you grab it and stuff the whole bowl in your mouth. You’re also extremely proficient at stealing toys right out of your sister’s hands. You’re also starting to use a modified pincher grip to grab thinner items; you use your thumb and middle finger rather than your forefinger.
You don’t really have a favorite food. You’ll eat anything rather eagerly. However, you’re just a little unnerved by the taste of turkey when it’s not mixed with a veggie. You don’t nose dive for the spoon like your sister, but you politely open your mouth and ‘chew’ your food thoughtfully. At some meals you demand holding your own spoon; if you could just manage to hold it upright I could probably let you feed yourself 😉
Bronwyn, you love to the be the center of attention. When we go to the library for Bouncing Babies, you shriek with laughter and excitement whenever “Mrs. Perky Duck” greets you. It cracks you up! Just about every time someone talks to you, they are met with eager smiles. In fact, last night you sat for hours on 13 year old Jacob’s lap just flirting and smiling and rubbing his cheeks. I think you thought you’d died and gone to heaven 😉
Precious little girls, we are so blessed to call you our daughters.
Apr
10
2010This blog that started mostly as a crafting blog has evolved into a twins and dairy-free eating blog with a huge side dish of thanksgiving (not the holiday, silly, the verb). It’s slightly schizophrenic, but I don’t mind too much since the chaotic variety is a good representation of my day to day life.
But in any case on this blog it seams like I haven’t touched the crafty side of my life in months. I’d been working on a couple commissioned quilts for my college hall mate since about 3 weeks after the girls arrived. I vowed that I wouldn’t work on anything else until they were finished. A couple weeks ago I fought through the sleep deprivation and procrastination and finished them. Whew!
My next project started when I met a sweet momma named Ashley on the tile aisle of Home Depot and we bonded instantly over cloth diapers (I promise I couldn’t make this up). The girls and I were able to hang out later with her sweet daughter Claudia. Ashley was just learning to make her own cloth diapers and I thought: Surely, I could sew a diaper and the 36 diapers I currently have just aren’t enough. Here they are:
I made them with the Tighty Whity Hipster Pattern from Little Comet Tails and, though I mastered the fit on the second diaper, I learned a few very important lessons.
- It’s better to top stitch your pretty outer fabric to your inner waterproof PUL and then sew the diaper up so that only the PUL and inner layers touch directly around the legs. (Directions for putting a cute outer fabric on a PUL diaper the proper way are found here). Otherwise, as soon as your sweet girly wets the diaper it will wick straight to your outer layer. This my friends was a fun lesson to learn (sarcasm).
- For my skinny girls with somewhat chunky thighs, high rises, and itty bitty little waists, the velcro or snaps must go all the way across the diaper middle. It fit their legs but wouldn’t close small enough around the tummies.
- Most importantly: Velcro that you can buy at the store is not the same as the Aplix used on purchased cloth diapers. Nope… they are different creatures altogether. A diaper made with Velcro… well it won’t make it through the wash 😉
Oh well. I’ll order some Aplix soon and give it another try, but for now I have other crafty plans to attend to…
Apr
07
2010Humility is not a vocabulary word that is filed into my heart.
Nope, I’m not sure my heart knows the meaning of humility.
Just for example let me tell you about the saga of the stroller. I’m not exaggerating: it is truly a saga.
Episode One:
In this episode, we moved the girls up to convertible seats rendering the Double Snap and Go almost useless. Seriously, the girls were 27 inches at their 6 month appointment and I did not believe they’d stay under the 29″ limit on the SnugRides until the next time they’re measured. I did lug the Snug Rides and the DSaG to do a little shopping last Friday, but it was a pain. I had been using the wonderful double Baby Jogger that a kind stranger gave us, but it was a bear. A bear to take apart to fit in my car. A bear to lift into the trunk and squiggle it in just right. A bear to put together again while two babies complained about being in their carseats in a hot car. Basically the Baby Jogger is great for jogging… but totally unqualified to be your main twin stroller when you still drive a Corolla.
So I decided I would sell the stroller. And I sold it in three weeks to a friend who truly is a jogger and wants to space her kiddos relatively close. Wahoo!
Episode Two:
I pick out the stroller that I want. A jogger that folds, has a locking swivel front wheel, and reviews say it will fit in my trunk easily. I beg Derek to drive us to BabyDepot to try it out. I fall in love. I can collapse it with one hand. I definitely looks as if it will fit in our trunk. The girls look comfy and the seats recline so they can nap. It steers pretty well even though the tires on the store model are completely flat. I’m excited to get it.
I wait until my $50 free SwagBucks earned Amazon gift cards are received on April 1st. I upload the gift card codes into my Amazon account and call Derek, who has our only credit card with him at work, to tell him that he can order the stroller now. Four hours later when Derek returns home with the stroller unordered, he gets a severe tongue lashing: I can’t leave the house without a stroller. I’m stuck here with your kiddos doing nothing until that thing comes in. The least you could have done is order me a stroller! I deserve that!
Episode Three:
After waiting not so patiently, the stroller arrives yesterday. It’s waiting for me when I return from Breastfeeding support group after having lugged the girls upstairs at the hospital: one in a Moby Wrap and the other on my hip. There was never a more welcome sight. It’s beautiful: brown, aqua, and orange. It’s compact and it’s mine. To top it all off, between proceeds from the first stroller, SwagBucks earned Amazon cards, free shipping, and a sale, we spent about $45 dollars on the $220+ retail price. My money saving tactics worked. I earned this sweet stroller.
I open the box and rush to assemble the stroller. I’m more than slightly miffed that the tires are sent under-inflated. So I patiently wait for Derek to come home so that the tires can get filled and we can take her out for a little spin.
Episode Four:
The tires are in place, Ms. Stroller looks all spiffy, and the girls look comfy. But… it won’t fold. Seriously, the folding mechanism is not-functioning in my particular model. I press hard on the folding buttons and push down so hard on the bottom bar that my foot bruises. Nothing. Derek and I take apart the folding button area. Nothing appears wrong. We fume at each other while taking it apart. Mainly because I though he should do it my way.
My foot and his feelings are both now bruised and we go downstairs to email the company. All the while I’m muttering about how I now have this stroller that I can’t take anywhere to get repaired because unfolded it won’t fit in either of our cars. And how I just know customer service is going to treat me like a dumb idiot for not being able to fold my stroller. And how I can return it in it’s original box like their return policy states because it only fits in the box folded and … oh wait…my stroller doesn’t fold!
I lie in bed all night and dream of wrestling my perfect stroller closed. I’m frustrated when I wake at 4:19 to the sounds of hungry daughters from a dream where I had not yet folded the stroller closed. Shouldn’t just this once I have been entitled to a night of uninterrupted sleep?
DESERVED.
EARNED.
MY WAY.
ENTITLED.
Did I mention I have a problem with humility? After all, I only have a right to one thing:
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12-13
Apr
06
2010351. Oatmeal with Honey and Craisins (it’s even good cold)
352. Baby girls playing in Exersaucers
353. Things to chew on while growing teeth
354. Sunshine after rain
355. A newly stained deck
356. Quiet days at home
357. A helpful patient husband
358. Easter at the Farm
359. Nana whispering “I love you.”
360. My Camera
361. The crazy solid food journey
