Trick-or Treat

Yesterday afternoon we got to go trick-or-treating at my mom's office. They open it up every year for their employees children and grandchildren. I'm certain this is much better trick-or-treating than we'll get tomorrow night if we go out. Good candy, not too hot, not too cold. Jack was a robot. He was supposed to be a rooster but when I tried it on him he said he didn't like it and didn't want to wear it. I was going to force the issue but we found a robot costume on clearance while we were out shopping. Jack really likes robots and he said it was cute and that he wanted to wear it. So whatever. He made a cute robot. Schaeffer and Logan didn't get a say in what they wore. Schaeffer was a kangaroo, but his costume more looked like a nondescript animal with a shirt on. Logan was a giraffe. They slept through trick-or-treating which was fine with me. Cousin George was also with us. He was an ear of corn, not a pea in the pod as most people thought. He made an adorable ear of corn and I'm sure he made Iowa proud.

Jack talking to a pumpkin scarecrow. He loved all the decorations that had motion sensors to make them talk or move. This pumpkin talked and we could hardly pry him away.

Logan did pretty good in the candy department!

Here are all the kids. George, Logan, Jack, and Schaeffer.

The Next Cake Boss

Since moving in with my parents I've taken in a lot of cake decorating shows. All in preparation for making a cake for my sister's baby shower this past Sunday. I have made cakes before, for Jack's birthdays, but never using fondant. I figured if I watched the shows I could learn enough to try it for myself. Obviously the professionals have a lot of advantages over me but I think I did a respectable job for my first time. I learned a few lessons along the way. Like make sure your fondant isn't too dry. My base layer had some horrible cracking which Megan tried her best to patch for me. I also learned that I'm better at the detail work than the major stuff. Here is the final product. I think it turned out pretty cute and was tasty too!

Monday Pictures-Week 14

Here we are at week 14. We've had a busy week. Schaeffer rolled over from his back to his stomach for the first time. Seems like he'll be better at that way and Logan will be better rolling from his tummy to his back. They started batting at toys more and even grabbing toys occasionally. When they would get a hold of something it almost always makes it to their mouth. They've also been really cute when they are laying on the floor together. Seeming more interested in one another, holding hands sort of, sucking on each others hands, arms or legs. We had a party this weekend for cousin George and Schaeffer and Logan got to meet some great Aunts and play with their wild and crazy cousins. Well actually, I think the wild and crazy comes from Jack and the cousins just join in. They're pretty used to Jack. This week he tried to play with Logan by stacking rings on his face. He also enjoys tickling their faces and piling all of their toys on top of them. I just know Jack will be thrilled when they can play with him more. That being said, I foresee a lot of injuries in our future. Happy week 14 boys! Here's to hoping week 15 isn't as rough as I anticipate it to be.

Schaeffer after rolling himself over.

Logan getting ready to roll over.

Look how cute they are!

Babywise?

When Jack was a baby I often felt like I had no idea what I was doing, especially regarding sleep. This lead me to read books in an effort to "educate" myself. Reading these books, in turn, made me crazy. They always left me feeling as though I had already screwed up and the damage was done. So after a lot of distress I did away with all the books and went back to figuring things out on my own. Looking back I can see that Jack turned out fine, turns out I hadn't ruined him. Though I wouldn't say we went about his sleeping in the best way. Now here I am again, feeling like I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm exhausted and really need my babies to sleep longer and night and nap better during the day. Although, I've been quite stubborn about reading books, I decided to read Babywise, based on the advice I'd gotten from others. It surprised me. Turns out I was already doing a lot of what it said and turns out it wasn't the super strict "schedule" I'd thought it was endorsing. It still made me feel like a failure, but perhaps that's not so much the book's fault as it is  my own lack of confidence. I think I got some useful information out of it, but I'm still left with a lot of questions. For instance, Babywise says put your baby down for a nap while they are awake. They might cry, but they'll learn to self sooth. My question is, how long might they cry. Seems like everything I read says "oh they might cry for 15 minutes, maybe a little longer". Ha! My kids can cry for 30-45 minutes, probably longer if I'd let them. They scream and carry on with no sign of winding down and falling asleep. So then if you really go for it and let them cry but they cry until they're supposed to eat again then what? And what about those babies that don't take long naps. When I read that they should nap for 1.5 -2 hours I laugh. Jack napped for 30 minutes. I don't recall all the details, but I know I tried to make that longer and it was hard and took a lot more time to teach him than 3-5 days or even 2 weeks. So if I have one baby who naps for 30 minutes and one baby who naps for 1.5 hours.....what do you do? How do you get that first baby to sleep longer? I've decided their needs to be a Babywise hotline...or some sort of hotline to call when situations arise and you don't know what you should do. It's so hard to balance what the books say your baby should be doing and what the books say you should be doing, with what your baby actually does and with what actually works for your family. Cause I do not have textbook babies.

Monday Pictures-Week 13

3 months old! Tomorrow Schaeffer and Logan will be 3 months old. It's hard to believe that so much time has  passed already. It has gone so quickly, especially compared to how slow things seemed to go in the months prior to their births. They are doing really well and though we won't go back to the doctor for another month, I can tell that they are growing so much. They have finally stretched out their eating and we are much closer to every three hours as opposed to every two. That is a wonderful thing. It has been so fun to see these guys start to develop their personalities. And from what we can tell so far, they are quite a bit different from one another. Pictures from this week turned out great. I captured what is pretty much a typical smile from both of them. While both are very smiley, their smiles are pretty different.

Schaeffer

Logan

Logan & Schaeffer

Fun With Sunglasses

I have funny kids.

A Day In The Life

So perhaps you are tired of hearing about my shopping adventures, but I'm going to share another with you. I just find these seemingly mundane things to be so entertaining when you throw three kids into the mix. Today we made a trip to the grocery store. We were in dire need of milk and some ingredients so we could eat dinner this week. I fed the babies then promptly loaded everyone in the car so that we could be home before they needed to eat again. I had 2 hours. Seems like plenty, but I got home with only about 15 minutes to spare. It takes a long time to load and unload three kids and it's not real fast to push a double stroller and pull a cart with a toddler in it. I also get slowed up because I'm still very unfamiliar with the grocery store here and I end up circling a few aisles several times to find the one item I'm missing. The twins screamed for the majority of the trip and that brought us even more attention than normal. And while the babies screamed, Jack peppered me with questions about if he could eat the apples we picked out and what was this sausage roll and could he sit in the back of the cart instead of the front, and could he have some chips...and so on. One lady laughed at us. She had about three kids running around her and said she was just laughing because she'd been in my shoes. One woman offered to carry a baby around the store while I finished my shopping. Her qualifications...she's a grandma. A few people whispered as I walked by about there being twins and how I have my hands full. All the children stared at us and tried to get peeks of the babies. A woman offered to switch places in line with us even though all of her food was already unloaded. My checker outer made her bagger push my cart out and unload my groceries. That was nice except she put all the groceries right where my stroller needed to go while I was loading up children. Still nice though. Another woman stopped and told me not to worry, I'd survive. She was a mother of teen twins. Of course the babies fell asleep right as I was checking out. Great timing boys. And this is why it takes me forever to do anything.

Monday Pictures-Week 12

Sporting the camo jammies today. Paul wanted me to lay them in the grass to see how well they blend in :) 

Schaeffer


Logan


Logan & Schaeffer

What's Your Guess?

I have one of the best sister-in-laws ever. She has been so generous to us with extra baby items we've needed for the twins. The other day she brought over several tubs full of clothes for me to pick through since I was a little low on fall clothing for the babies. One of the tubs was/is packed completely full of size 1 diapers. So take your guess, how long do you think it will take us to go through this bin? I'm starting in on it today.

Monday Pictures-Week 11

Schaeffer


Logan


Schaeffer and Logan

Head Injury

I think it's fair to say that while I love my eldest son dearly, he is also cause for great frustration in my life these days. He has done a wonderful job adjusting to life as one of three children as opposed to being the only child. And he has also adjusted well to our recent move and current living situation. However, there is really only so much a 2 year old can understand and he has definitely been testing his limits with me lately. He can't understand why he shouldn't roar at or tickle or touch the face of a sleeping baby. When I'm nursing he is often hanging off my arm or whining for more milk or help, frustrated that I can't help him that instant. When I'm trying to rock a baby to sleep he thinks it fun to hit me or whine some more about one thing or another. Sadly, I have lost my temper more than once with him in these situations. We are working on adjusting both his behavior and mine, but I just try to keep reminding myself that he's only 2 and these are difficult adjustments to make. Thankfully, Jack has many other moments throughout our days that make me smile and laugh hysterically. It's pictures like this one that I think I'll treasure. They remind me that while Jack can be frustrating, he is infinitely more cute, sweet and hilarious. In this picture he is sporting Amanda's cow slippers (adult size) and a head bandage he felt necessary after bumping his head on a chair. Paul helped with the head bandage and after it was in place he came running in to the kitchen laughing with a big grin on his face to show me his injury. He so knows how cute and funny he can be.