This week Jim went to L.A. for work for two nights, but didn't make it in time for the Scout training thing, so I only had the babies by myself for three nights. The third night was because Jim was working to prep for his work trip. Trust me, I was plenty bitter about that one, especially since I thought he was going to be gone for another two nights this week, making it 5 nights of doing bathtime/bedtime by myself. We made it, though. And I only did 3 nights by myself.

The big event this week was keeping our garden alive through the snow storms. One morning the snow level dropped to our house, but the other night, it was just really cold. The garden lived!! The strawberries have some leaves that are brown on the edge, but that's about it.

I was told by the nurse that comes to check the babies that they should be sleeping through the night. After more discussion, I've decided (again) that I need to not worry about the "normal" baby, whoever that may be, because I feel like I'm not being a good enough mommy if my kids are not doing that. Plus, I've discovered that most kids don't fit into the "normal" baby pattern that the health care workers keep giving me. As soon as I stopped worrying about it, the babies slept 8 hours in a row. So very lovely!

Whitney continues to be cute talking up a storm and playing with toys. It is so fun for me to dangle a toy in front of her and watch her concentrate and figure out how to work her hands and arms to get the toy in her mouth. Too bad she is camera shy. She always stops being cute as soon as we get the camera out. She was being very irreverent in Sunday School today, talking VERY LOUDLY. I guess she had a lot of comments, but the teacher wasn't calling on her. I got a few smiles, but then I got a look, so I took her out to join her brother that was screaming during Sunday School. I guess he is like Dad in that he doesn't like Sunday School much.

Tucker is discovering his tongue or his hand. Can't decide which, but most of his pics and positions this week was with his hand in his mouth. I only posted two.

I did well with work. I was worried I wouldn't be able to concentrate or remember how to be a therapist, but either the patient load was easy, or I remember much better than I thought. I'm much less worried about starting back more consistently in July.

We went to the park this week to enjoy the sun. It wasn't exactly warm, but I've decided since it is the end of May we should be good to enjoy great weather. One picture is of Tucker and Whitney in the stroller at the park by our old house. The other baby is the daughter of the lady that watched them when I was at work this week. The daughter took good care of Whitney, giving her a blanket and everything when Whitney was sad. There is a video of Tucker laughing. That was when we were at the park near our current house with some friends. The other picture is of the saved garden under tarps. There are other pictures of them just being plain cute. The first one is Whitney lounging with Daddy (instead of taking a nap) on Sunday afternoon while he talks with her Grandpa Anderson.

I'll be out in California in one week. Can't wait!

Doggies- 1, Whitney/Tucker- 0

It happened. The first show down of dogs vs kids in equipment. I found a chewed up bottle. I must have left it on the floor in Jim's office one night. Part of it was on the floor in the house and other part outside in the lawn. So far the babies haven't touched the dog toys, chew flips, food or water. Watch out dogs when they start moving. I thought the dogs weren't interested in formula, but apparently they are. Rocky is more interested in baby spit up. He'll lap that right up, just like he will occasionally eat poop. Rocky is so gross!!

Whitney is getting much better at grabbing at toys and playing with them. It is so fun to watch her spot a toy, figure out how to get her hand to touch it and pull it toward her mouth. Tucker is somewhat interested, but not really. He's more interested in people. Whitney bites her lips. It is kind of weird to see your kid mimic a habit you have. Whitney has also learned to to rotate on her back 90 degrees. Getting closer to moving on her own. She helped me sew this week, too. I had her in the front pack when I started sewing their crib sheets. It didn't last too long. She was more interested in watching me iron than sew, but either way, she was quiet for a while so I could get started on that.

Tucker does something I call baby penguin. When he is on his stomach, unless I put his arms in front of him, he lifts just his head and leaves his arms at his side. It is so cute!! Tucker went to Young Men's for the first time this week. The 16 and 17 year olds came over to our house. For their high adventure scouting activity this summer, they are going to build a house for a family whose mom died. To practice, they are building our shed as much as they get done before they leave in two weeks. Jim strapped Tucker to his back while he was out helping with the young men. Tucker didn't like the saw. He cried every time it turned on, but other than that, he was pretty happy.

There was a water main break up a few streets from us this week. There were a bunch of city workers out there with trucks, mud, etc, all looking down a hole while one guy workedf. I now know where they learn this. In Scouts. That's what it looked like to me when the Scouts were building the shed. One Scout was working while the rest "supervised". Cracks me up.

This week will be an interesting week. I will be covering a four hour shift for a co-worker, meaning I will be leaving the babies the longest I have left them so far. I have a friend watching them. Jim will be gone a night this week for work and then again on the weekend to get some leadership training for the Scout trip down the Colorado River in two weeks. I have a friend coming to visit during this time, so it will make it more fun, but still crazy.

I spent the week trying to figure out naps and scheduling. It went much better. I listened to my mom, not the doctor.

There is a picture of Whitney and Tucker in their bumbo chairs, Whitney in the bounce swing, Whitney and Tucker during tummy time, Tucker smiling in Mommy's arms after eating, me with both of them attached to me dusting the house (that was dumb. It gave me a headache the rest of the day), Whitney smiling at Daddy, Tucker in the bath, Whitney "going to sleep" with Daddy (she looks REAL tired, doesn't she) and Whitney in the backpack smiling at Daddy. We've been trying to capture Whitney's awesome smile, but she always focuses so intently to figure out the camera, that the smile disappears.

The video should be of Whitney in the bounce swing. Enjoy!

MD visit 4 months

This week was another busy week. I was getting frustrated on Friday because I felt like I wasn't getting anything done but taking care of the babies feeding, naps, bottles and bathtime. That was probably true on Friday, but this blog is to help me realize I get a lot of other stuff done, too.

Monday was AMAZING. My house was clean all at once. I have no idea why, but Tucker took a 5 hour nap from 9-2 pm. Whitney slept for 3.5 hours of that. Crazy! They never sleep that much. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. It helped me the rest of the week. We didn't go for our morning walk because it was raining. It rained until Thursday afternoon.

Tuesday we went to the doctor. They got their shots again. So sad!! They were a lot more alert about it. Whitney hated it the most. She cried her take pity on me cry the longest. Tucker was mad, but he usually is, so he settled down the fastest. The doctor asked how much Tucker was eating. He weighs 16 pounds 8 ounces and Whitney weighs 13 pounds 3 ounces. Whitney is 24 inches long and Tucker is 24 and 1/4 inch long. She said that he is eating too much. She thinks rice cereal will help with his satiation. More on this later. She also said Whitney is doing well in that I can put her down for her nap in her crib, she will cry for 5 minutes, then go to sleep. Tucker screams a long time. She said I need to work on getting him to console himself and go to sleep himself. More on this later, too.

Next, we went to visit my supervisor, who looked at Whitney's head some more. We have more exercises to help her neck. I think it is helping already. She hates getting her neck stretched more than before, though.

They are doing well with their milestones. Tucker is finally catching on to what Whitney has been doing for a couple of weeks. Hitting at dangling objects and eating her hands. Whitney really likes to pull the burp clothes and her bib to eat. They are starting to grasp and pull Mommy's hair and the top of her shirt, too. Whitney can scoot herself in a circle for about 90 degrees. She pulls her knees underneath more than Tucker does.

Wednesday I finally decided they need some toys. I haven't bought toys for them, thinking I didn't want to spend money on something they will grow out of in a month. Boy was that silly. I got all their toys second hand and stuff they will use for a month or so. Why I didn't do this before is beyond me. Making dinner is WAY better. I bought that toy gym thing that dangles the toys above their heads instead of me having to do it for them. They played 45 minutes under that thing together while we ate and made dinner. I also got a bounce swing thing that hangs in the doorway. Awesome! Tucker loves to stand and Whitney loves to bounce. And I don't have to hold them to do that, either. I also found some hard bound books that they love for the bright colors and a baby backpack. Very exciting. Got to love KSL and Kid to Kid. I hooked up all the other toys that they already had to these things and things are a lot more fun. Jim thinks the TV held their attention enough with the lights and colors that change. No comment.

The babies are talking and playing with each other more. They have been practicing sitting more independently and like to practice it facing each other. I wish I had video of them cooing and laughing at each other! It is so cute.

Thursday was baby four month pictures photo op day. I had this great idea that I would give Tucker a hair cut. Dumb idea. I am so sad about his mohawk being gone. Whitney cried the whole time I was cutting his hair. I should have listened to her. I used a number 6 and a number 4 on the clippers. I hope I left enough for Anne to fix his hair, but it sure doesn't look like 3/4 inch on his head.

Friday Tucker got his first lawnmowing lesson. I mowed the lawn with Tucker in the backpack while Jim played with a fussy Whitney until bathtime.

Saturday the sprinkers finally got fixed and ready for the garden while I weeded and tried to get the babies to take naps in their cribs. Tucker tried rice cereal. At first he didn't know it was food and screamed with his mouth full of food because he was hungry. Once he figured out it was food (and his Mommy thinned it enough for him to figure it out), he cried because I couldn't shovel it in fast enough for his taste. Not like a bottle. We'll try again later.

Naps. Lots of people have lots of suggestions, all of which work for one baby. I spent the week figuring out how much sleep they each need and when and have decided that this is how the nap schedule will work. His and hers. After listening to lots of moms, I've decided the one consistent comment is that each baby has needed something different and the schedule has been slightly different as far as length and exactly what time they fall asleep each day. I have the same thing with my babies, just at the same time. I'll give this crying in the crib thing 3 more days (7 days total). If they don't learn to sleep through each other crying at different times, I'm going back to my way of doing things and bag the doctor's (and everyone else's suggestions). So you all can comment as much as you like, but I probably won't listen. However, Tucker is down from 30 minutes of crying and fussing at night to 5 minutes, like Whitney, so it has helped some, but I haven't figured out how to get them to sleep at the same time or any sort of exact clock schedule yet. I don't think that will ever come for any length of time longer than about a month.

I finally got my birthday present from Jim yesterday. He cleaned out the garage. Apparently he put my present in the garage somewhere. In a really safe place that I would never look. Nor would he.

There are pictures of Whitney and Tucker at four months, one of them holding hands, Tucker in his bounce chair, high chair and backpack, and before pics of the haircut plus the amount of hair I cut. I didn't put after pics because I was so sad at the time, but you can see in his other pictures that his mohawk is gone. The one of them holding hands is cute. I was telling them that they were going to the doctor the next day to get shots and Tucker reached over and grabbed Whitney's hand. By accident I'm sure, but the timing was perfect.

mother's day and birthday

I have it on good authority that grandparents aren't so interested in their kids as they are in their grandkids:) A lot of what I will put on here is related to me, so anyone that isn't interested in that, I'll put the baby news first.

Tucker and Whitney are starting to acknowledge each other. Before when I would face them toward each other, they would look anywhere but at each other. Jim used to say "They saw each other in the womb so they must be bored of looking at each other. ANYTHING is more interesting. Oh yeah. It was dark in there, huh". Now they look at each other and, on occasion, talk and smile at each other. I haven't got a video of that because my hands are usually full then.

Sunday is their favorite day. They don't sleep most of the day because they are so excited. Church is exciting because they get one on one attention from us and lots of other people that say the babies are the cutest babies they've seen. That's because they are not big enough to run around and yell yet. Just yell. Tucker especially loves Relief Society. He really smiles. One time he screamed all during Sunday school, so Jim took him out in the hall. Finally Jim had to go to Young Men's so I brought Tucker into Relief Society. That was a hit. Tucker smiled and cooed the rest of the time. He knows women will pay attention to him if he's cute. Learning young. Sunday afternoon is also pleasant because we can still spend one on one time with them since it's Sunday and we are not trying to get things done. They love it!

Yesterday I woke up to two cards, one addressed to Mom from Tucker and one addressed to Mommy from Whitney. Whitney's had a sticker in it that I wore to church. If anyone thought it was cheesy that I was wearing a sticker from babies that don't go shopping, they didn't say anything and I didn't care. It was my first mother's day. I've been looking forward to it for a long time. And the talks in church about great mothers didn't make me feel guilty because I wasn't doing it right. Mostly because I didn't hear much with all the playing with Whitney and Tucker to keep them from being grumpy. It was also very cute. I put a tie on Tucker for church. I looked over and saw Jim and Tucker in their ties, both with yellow background. So heartwarming!

Tucker and I went grocery shopping together this week for the first time. Both babies were kind of grumpy from not sleeping well that day, so Jim took one instead of both like he normally does when I go grocery shopping. It worked well. I put Tucker in the front pack. He was very amused with all the stuff to look at. And he charmed some more grandmas in the store too, while he was at it. The next time I went shopping, I had to get a mattress for Whitney's crib that we set up this week. Whitney liked shopping with Mommy too, but I left her in the car seat because it was cold that day. She slept. Apparently mattress shopping is not as exciting as grocery shopping.

I finally have both cribs set up in their room and decided on how to decorate the nursery. Now that they will be four months on Wednesday. I got gingham purple and medium green to make crib sheets. I'm going to look for stencils at roberts to paint frogs, lily pads and purple dragonflies as a border at the top of the wall. It will match, look good with the yellow paint already on the wall, but they will have a boy and a girl bed, not gender neutral.

I joined Jim in the thirty-something catagory on Friday. Jim made me a delicious seafood dinner, bought me strawberry plants, and we watched a movie continuously, start to finish, together. Jim also took care of the babies all night as a birthday and mother's day gift so I could sleep for 8 hours in a row. It was heaven!!

The garden is finished. We worked together as a family on Saturday to finish the planting. We have all the fixings for pico de gallo and stir fry for the summer. I can't wait!! I also have the best view from my garden of the mountains and the lake. Sammy and Rocky supervised us from the top of the stairs. Rocky was lying in the sun with his head hanging over the top step watching us and Sammy had his usually sheep herding pose as we worked.

Wednesday the babies and I went to Thanksgiving point to look at the tulips. They had a tulip festival there last week, but since it was snowing last week, this week the tulips were perfect. My walking buddy (note: it is not a running buddy at this time due to a double stroller being plenty of a work out going uphill) brought me there as she has a family pass and can get me in for half price. And then she ended up paying for me as a birthday present. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was as big as Disneyland, but all tulip beds. The babies were awake the whole time looking at all the bright tulips waving in the wind. We were there for an hour and a half during nap time!! I thought they would sleep in the stroller like they do when we go walking, but no. Especially not Tucker. He wanted to be held, or he would cry. Next time I'll bring my front pack. You'll note that there is not a single picture with a tulip in it on this blog. Lame! I brought my camera and the babies were cute, but I left the camera card in the computer. Very disappointing.

There are two pictures of Tucker with Daddy. One is relaxing with Daddy on Sunday afternoon. The other one is helping daddy fix the printer. I guess sitting on something to make it work helps more than hitting or kicking the device.

There are two pictures of Whitney. She is wearing these really cute shoes that a friend of mine made and she has a onsie on underneath that my old neighbor embroidered the saying "my mommy is a physical therapist".

There are two pictures of Whitney with her knit cap on. She was being so cute helping me finish weeding the flower beds while playing in her car seat.

There is a picture of Whitney in her pj's in bed, waiting mother's day morning to get dressed for church. There is a picture of Tucker in his Bumbo chair watching mommy get ready for church. (Tucker is the baby alarm for eating as well as starting the day at 7 am. Whitney starts her day around 8 am). The last picture is of all of us watching Jim make mother's day dinner. Tucker is hamming it up like he does in Relief society.

Watch for their four month pictures (four months on Wednesday) next week. Also, they go to the doctor to get their four month shots on Tuesday. So sad! We'll see how much they've grown!

video

This is the third time I've tried to do this and hopefully it works. There should be a video of Whitney and Tucker talking. I couldn't point the camera directly at them otherwise they would stare at the camera and not talk. Apparently the white and black contrast on the camera is more exciting than talking. This is also the third time I've written this blog. I have no idea where the other two drafts got saved to.

The week went something like this. Tucker flipped over on Monday by himself, but it was still a surprise. He looked at me like "Mom! Tummy time is over already?!" He hasn't done it since. Whitney continues to talk lots. She wakes up happy and smiling. I love it! She bats at the hanging toys in her swing.

Sammy ate all the dog treats. He got away with it because I thought the rustling was the bird in the dryer vent. He would take one and go outside each time, so I thought he was afraid of the bird.

Our family has a theme song. The chorus is something like this:"... and maybe it's true that I can't live without you. And maybe it's true, two is better than one..." It totally applies to the twins and Jim's philosophy.

Enjoy the video!