Since Miranda is such a brute we thought we would see if she enjoyed the exersaucer. She was, unfortunately, a bit too short for it. I always knew my intermediate accounting text book would come in handy for something.
Parker on the other hand, demanded to get in it, despite being just a tad too big.
My new favorite place to go is Starbucks in San Leandro. Sure there are Starbucks everywhere and some much closer, but you see...this one has a Drive Thru. That doesn't seem like a big deal for someone who isn't working and not generally in a rush. But it is HUGE considering taking both gals into a Starbucks is a major event that generally ends in hysterics and/or coffee spilling.
So I drive the 10 minutes to Starbucks where I am now a regular. Yesterday, the gals were crying when I pulled up. Today, they were sleeping. And the employee helping me remembered. Next thing I know they will be remembering my order: Venti, Decaf, Low Fat Peppermint Mocha. (which by the way is most of my 1000 extra calories I get for breast feeding.)
Parker is on day four at the new preschool, which is Spanish language school. Last night during dinner, he first said he wanted to drink some milk and then he decided he'd rather have some agua. We're obviously going to have to learn Spanish, and fast.
This was on Sunday morning at about 6:15 when the gals were sleeping and Parker and I were chatting in the living room. He sang his way through all of twinkle twinkle little star, every word, in perfect rhythm and pretty good tune, and I was very impressed. I grabbed the camera and tried to get him to do it again, but who wants to sing songs when there's a camera around to play with?
Miranda did it again! She slept 9 hours last night. From 7 to 4 and then awake at 7. Elizabeth wasn't too far behind with a wakeup at 2 and 6. Very impressive for 2 months and one week old! And....Parker didn't wake up at all until 5:30am that is. But I'm not complaining. Not at all.
I spend a lot of time at Target. Not sure why, but it seems I always need something. Wipes. Cat food. Laundry detergent. Something.
Today I went to get a stroller. A Sit n Stand. Where the baby rides in the carseat in front and a toddler can stand or sit behind them. This seems to be the only way, with the third child in the bjorn, that I will ever get anywhere with all three of them.
But Target didn't have on the shelves. I got some other items and checked out. When I was asked "Did I find everything ok?" I said, "No, I was looking for the Sit N Stand, but didn't see it. Are there any in the back?" The nice check out lady told me possibly, but that the folks at the customer service window could help me.
Although Miranda was starting to act up, I went to the line. There were two people there helping one person. When she was free I walked up and said very clearly, "I am looking for a Sit N Stand stroller, but I didn't see one on the shelves. The check out clerk told me to ask you if you had any in the back." The woman looked at me as if I was speaking Italian (and she was not Italian.) "What?" she said. I wasn't sure what part she didn't understand, so I repeated the whole thing. Then she "what is the part number?" I said I didn't know. She said she needed this to look it up. I asked how I could find out the part number if it wasn't on the shelf. She repeated that she needed it. And I asked again how was I suppose to get it. She then said some other guy could go look on the shelf to find the number. I reminded her there were none on the shelf, but she didn't seem to care. He had trouble finding it so she asked me what the brand of the carseat was. I reminded her it was a stroller and not a carseat. "Ah yes," she said. Then she asked if she could help the next person while this guy looked for the number. "Sure. Whatever." She seemed to be the only person in Target that didn't notice I had two babies with me and one wasn't so happy. (Every other person stopped to oooh and ahhh, but she didn't even notice.)
What seemed like hours later, she told me, "He can't find any on the shelf so we can't find the number."
I was in some sort of alternate reality, it seemed. Just when Miranda was about to throw a major fit, the other lady turns around and says, "Oh, did you want the Sit N Stand? We sold out last week and aren't carrying it anymore."
So I loaded the kids back in the car, learned my lesson and called the next Target before going there. They didn't have it either. No one seems to have it. But I can order it on line and pay for shipping. Great. Lucky me.
Michael and I usually post about cute, charming, funny, exciting things on chezlong. Today, we have nothing of the sort to post. It has been a fairly miserable day. Nothing extraordinary, but miserable none the less.
It started out last night. Miranda, god bless her, slept 9 hours...straight. Sounds great, huh? Except, I had no idea she was capable of this, so when Elizabeth woke up at 12:30 (after 6 hours), I couldn't go back to sleep in anticipation of Miranda waking up. When I finally gave up waiting, Parker woke up screaming. Multiple times. He wanted Mommy, then Daddy, then milk, then no milk, then water, then no water. He did this about every 45 minutes until 4am, when I was finally able to go to sleep for about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, Dad got up then to feed Miranda who finally woke up and then Elizabeth who woke up just after her. He knew Parker would be waking up shortly, so he just stayed awake at that point. So in case you aren't doing the math, I got about 3 hours of sleep (plus a couple hours in the morning after Parker woke up) and Michael got only slightly more at 6 hours.
Then today, Parker continued his mood by whining and crying almost non stop. I took him and Elizabeth to Tumble and Tea at 8:30 in the hopes of letting Dad get some sleep. He cried almost the whole time and poor Dad got no sleep either at home as Miranda wasn't having a nap. So I returned in tears to a sleepy Daddy. Luckily my tears won out and I got a nap. But Parker woke up from his nap after 30 minutes. I took him into bed with me and we both slept for another hour and a half. Thank god. Dad, unfortunately, didn't get any sleep as Elizabeth, who hadn't taken a nap yet today, wouldn't go to sleep.
After everyone woke up, we all hung out for a bit and then I tried to let Michael nap again by taking Parker to Barnes and Noble where there is a train table and lots of books. But, once again, he cried and whined almost the whole time. This combined with the traffic and the rain and the long line at the starbucks which I didn't stand in, made the trip most unpleasant.
When I returned, the look on Michael's face was just pitiful. Apparently, Elizabeth still wouldn't sleep so he didn't get his nap either. Miranda slept well and woke up on cue for food.
Dad finally got his short nap from 5 to 6 while I hung out with the kids.
And then the bedtime routine and witching hour started.
All in all...Yuck.
This is the cake that Rachel mentioned a few posts back that I make for her every year for her birthday. It's a flourless cake made with just eggs, chocolate, vanilla, cream, and sugar. It is quite delicious.
You separate the yolks from the whites, and you basically mix the yolks, the sugar, and the chocolate into a thick batter, and then you whip the egg whites into a froth and fold them in. The result is a very airy batter that you cook on a cookie-sheet lined with buttered wax-paper. When it's cooled, you line it with whipped cream and roll it up.
The sheet of cake is extremely delicate, and can be very tricky to roll in one piece. My technique is to roll the waxpaper backward onto a rolling pin while tapping the cake-side with a spatula. You probably have to see it.
If you're very lucky, the worst you get is this:
On the way home from the steam trains today, we took the long aka 'wrong' way home. We went through Berkeley which is always a total nightmare. Not sure what we were thinking with that one, but I digress.
The gals started hollering just about the time we got stuck in some nasty frontage road traffic. Parker said, "Babies crying. Babies sad." And boy was he right.
So this evening he was recounting the day's activities to me (you know, "slide, swing, bridge, doggies, pushing stroller, choochoo train") and we got to that part. He said again, "Babies crying. Babies sad." I asked if he knew why they were sad. (Which he did not.) So I told him they were hungry. I asked if he knew what they ate and he said, "Toast and pancakes." I agreed but had to draw the line when he added waffles too.
On Thanksgiving, we should give thanks. So here I go...
I'm thankful that Michael got me the most excellent fake fur blanket for my birthday, which is today. I'm also thankful that I got a nap on said blanket today.
I'm thankful he made me my giant hoho cake. My dad or my husband has baked this cake for me every year for my birthday since I was 13.
I'm thankful Parker can sit in his room and read quietly by himself. It makes life so much easier when trying to soothe two fussy babies during the witching hour.
I'm thankful that Miranda is freakishly strong. At two months, she can sit in the bumbo chair for a good long time.
I'm thankful Michael is such a wonderful father who loves his son and girls so much.
I'm thankful Parker likes his bath so much and doesn't mind sharing the water with his little sister Miranda.
And although I don't have pictures of the following, I'm still thankful for:
Today was day 2 without the nanny. It's hard to say exactly how it went since we were a bit thrown off by going to get shots for the girls (they reacted badly and were crying for most of the afternoon.)
But I think it went well, even with all that. Parker has been nothing but delightful, I've been able to breastfeed both of them, we got out for an adventure again while daddy stayed with the screaming girls, and everything just seems much more mellow. In fact, the doctor today said, "Well, you certainly seem calm considering everything."
So, I'll end my series here and hope that all the days that follow are as good as these two have been.
Kathleen and Kay brought very nice shoes for all of the kids, very carefully selected. If you don't know, Robeez are the must-have shoes for the 4' and under set. They're very nice shoes. Kathleen and Kay also brought a jar of their famous pickles, which are about the best pickles ever. I think their artisinal pickle business is going to be huge. They were nice enough to leave a second jar, since we'd made such quick work of the first one.
Also, as a bonus, because we can never seem to get enough of these, here's another picture of Parker having a book read to him.
Well...the impossible was possible. I took a nap today. Got Miranda to sleep and then ran upstairs to snooze since the window is short. Unfortunately, Parker woke up screaming, as he does sometimes from naps, about 30 minutes later. I went to get him, gathered him up and took him into bed with me to calm down. Luckily, he went back to sleep for...an hour. That means I got a nap for an hour and a half before he woke up again. Fantastic. We stayed in bed for another 15 minutes or so and then got the call from the gals that they were hungry. Parker stayed upstairs watching baby crack and I fed the gals.
Then we all hung out the living room and Parker's room until 4:45 when Daddy came home. (Yay daddy for coming home early.) I ran to the store to get some fruit and milk and the girls were ready to eat again when I got back. Dad gave Parker a bath. We all had dinner, in shifts, of course. Then we got everyone into bed (a process that takes about 45 minutes.)
So, at 7:42, the kitchen is clean, the kids are asleep, our bellies are full (or as full as they can be on Nutrisystems) and I'm about to go lie down.
It was a long day, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. All the kids seemed to know to be good today...for mommy's sake.
God bless them.
Well..it's 12:44 and I'm still alive.
Girls woke up, ate and then we packed up to go. Went to the park with all three. Both gals wanted to eat, again, while we were there, so it was good I brought a bottle too. (It would just be too obscene to breast feed both of them in public.)
Then Parker had some lunch and headed home.
Read Parker a few books, sang him a few songs and then he was down for a nap.
Elizabeth is asleep and Miranda is kicking up a storm in her bouncy chair while I grab some left overs. Yum.
If Miranda would go to sleep, I might be able to take a nap!
Day one without the nanny (she left Parker in the bath alone so that was it for her) and all is well.
Parker is playing in his room with his slinky and some blocks. The girls are snoozing. I've showered, cleaned up the kitchen, started the dishwasher, put some laundry in the washer and folded some others, checked email, and dressed Parker.
If the whole day goes like this, I'll be fine.
But that, in reality, is very unlikely.
Kathleen and Kay are down from Washington to visit with the Long family, mostly the junior members. The kids have all enjoyed having them here, and Rachel and I have enjoyed it as well. Tonight was the first time in memory that I've eaten an entire dinner in one sitting. Parker was pretty wary of them when they showed up yesterday, but he's taken to them today, particularly Kay.
It's pretty much impossible to come visit us without getting to read Parker about 27 books. Or probably one book 27 times.
And he's always on the look out for someone willing to play the clip-help game.
The girls love this open football hold. Aunt Kathleen shows excellent technique.
Kathleen changed Elizabeth's gigantic poop explosion today, apparently. Here they are in happier times.
Parker, Amity, Mac and I went to the local corporate Pump it Up on Thursday. Pump it up is basically a giant warehouse filled with jumpy things. You know...the things that are at fairs and parties where kids can jump around inside a giant air-filled contraption. Needless to say Parker had a blast. He was a bit young to do the obstacle course and had some trouble navigating the ladder to the big slide at first. But he sure did love the ball one. He's been talking about it for days.
"5 balls with Mac?" is a common phrase now. I'm not sure if he is remembering or wants to go back. Or both.
Don't let that title fool you...we aren't sending our gals away to boot camp (at least not yet). Baby Boot Camp is an exercise class where moms (and dads) can work out with their kids. I took the class when Parker was a baby and I just started up again with the girls. The format is simple: some running/walking with the stroller in a nice outdoor setting sprinkled with some light strengthening work with bands. It's a good work out and quite hard for someone as out of shape as I am. And even harder pushing a double stroller like the double snap n go. I'm the only twin mom in the class and everyone seems very impressed that I am there.
Today someone said, "Wow, I'm impressed."
I said, "Why, because I'm not crying?"
"No," she said, "because you have two and are here at two months."
I smiled politely and kept on huffing and puffing as I watched the pack of mommies move far ahead of me.
Our digital camera has the ability to record video, but it can only record three minutes at a time. Since Parker was born I've been recording three minute samples of his life, a series I very cleverly call Three Minutes of Parker. Now that the girls are here, they've started starring in their own. I figure if nothing else, the kids will get a real kick out of seeing these when they're older, possibly even the really boring ones. Here are the two most recent episodes.
Three minutes of Elizabeth and Miranda - in which the gals sit in their bouncy chairs and coo adorably.
Three minutes of Parker - in which Parker plays with his trains until he is disturbed by a cat that is completely out of scale and in the way. Some half-hearted whining ensues.
A friend gave us the most excellent gift for the girls today. Two handmade hats. And they weren't pink. Apparently they stretch so they can wear them for while. Here are the girls modeling their new look. Thanks Rebecca!
During our recent visit to LA, Grandma Judy worked her wonders and found a super book for 25 cents at the library. (Her find before this was a pop up Wheels on the Bus that took center stage for weeks.)
This time's treasure was The Old Lady Who Swalled a Fly. For some reason, this song had not made it into our repetoire so we were pleased to see it. At first Parker didn't like the book. Not sure why, since it is a very good looking book with great pictures but he said, "No Fly," in response to reading it.
Now, all he asks for is "More Fly." He doesn't have the exact order of the animals (fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, cow, horse) quite down yet, but he is getting there. Sometimes the bird tries to catch the cat(which just doesn't make any sense, now does it?) but usually he gets it right. He loves "How absurd! She swallowed a bird!"
And if you get distracted while reading it, which happens when you have two 8-week olds in the house, he stares at you and says the animal that you got stuck on like a question. Kinda like this: "Dog!?!?"
And when you get to the end and you say, "There was an old lady who swallowed a horse..." he turns to look at you with this sly grin on his face. "She DIED OF COURSE!" which always makes him giggle.
Today, I went through this whole routine roughly 57 times.
Thanks Grandma Judy.
Besides the fact that Miranda and Elizabeth share the same birthday, they have very little else in common. Here is just a sampling of their differences...
Elizabeth could sleep the day away if given the chance. She is happy just laying around.
Miranda sleeps much less and prefers company.
Elizabeth loves to eat. When she latches on, she won't let go until the breast is drained (or until she falls asleep) or until the bottle is empty.
Miranda is a snacker. She likes to have a little here, a little there. She pulls off the bottle and breast frequently.
Elizabeth isn't fond of the bouncy chair. Don't get me wrong, she'll sit there (she isn't one to complain), but she doesn't seem to interested.
Miranda loves the bouncy chair. She can sit there for a long time (20 whole minutes) at a time before getting cranky. She coos and giggles watching the lights.
Elizabeth doesn't mind getting changed.
Miranda screams bloody murder each time.
Elizabeth is fond of her carseat. She is happy as a clam in it.
Miranda can't stand her car seat. And lets you know at every opportunity.
Elizabeth can't roll over.
And as the previous post states, Miranda can.
Miranda is not quite eight weeks old, so we were quite surprised yesterday when she rolled over from her stomach to her back. We were so certain that this was a fluke that we immediately rolled her back to her stomach and got the video camera. Fluke? You be the judge.
I had a dream last night that someone came to the shelter (well, it wasn't actually the shelter, but it kinda was too) to surrender a tiny rabbit. It was this big guy holding this tiny rabbit. He, the guy, was dressed very formally. When I asked why he wanted to give up his rabbit he said, "It grunts too much during the night and I can't sleep with all the noise." I said to him, "Well, so do my twins, but you don't see me trying to surrender them."
Freaky.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the cats are doing well with the babies.
Zeke like the babies and baby zones (crib, changing table, etc) but doesn't like to hang out with them so there is little risk of him being there at the same time of them.
Noe likes the babies so much she wants to sit on top of them most of the time. But she is too old or lazy to get up in their crib.
Today, while I was watching Oprah and feeding them both, the cats were in their positions. Noe on the bed next to me and Zeke in the crib.
The girls, like Parker when he was their age, get restless and unhappy for a while at the end of each day, from roughly 6:30pm to 7:30pm or so. They just get cranky and hard to console and sometime ravenously hungry. They need a lot of attention during this time, particularly if you're hoping for a soft landing into sleep.
We've tried a variety of approaches, but our latest is working pretty well. We basically feed them until they pass out in a stupor. It has the added benefit of getting them full enough to sleep for 6 and 7 hours, if the last couple of nights aren't a concidence.
Here are the girls tonight, just as the witching hour was coming on. It hit Miranda first, as you can see, but Elizabeth laid it on pretty thick shortly after this. An hour later they were each five ounces heavier and zonked out but good.
Don't you wish you could eat a big meal and fall asleep on someone's lap every now and again???
Last night we put Parker to bed about 7:30 and then went to get the gals settled in. The witching hour had ended, but they were still fidgety and needed some rocking/bouncing. They both fell asleep about 15-20 minutes later. Michael and I cleaned up the house (something we do each night now because otherwise it gets way out of hand too fast), checked our email and then figured out who/what we were going to vote for. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 10:30. I figured the gals would be waking up within the hour so I pumped, did some more straightening up, matched up some socks and then waited for them to get up. But they didn't. I kept thinking they would wake up any moment so I didn't want to fall asleep only to be woken up minutes later. So I put on Letterman and watched Will Ferrel say some pretty funny stuff. It was now 12:30 and the girls were still sleeping. So I said, "screw it" and went to sleep.
The next thing I knew someone was crying. It sounded like Elizabeth so I headed down stairs and was thrilled when I saw it was 3am. Holy Moly! She slept for 7 hours and Miranda was still sleeping. I fed Elizabeth, pumped and then Miranda woke up at 3:40. I put them both down and they fell asleep again quickly.
They next woke up around 6:30 and dad, who had gotten up with Parker at 5:45, fed them. I woke up at 7:15 after 7 hours of sound, albeit interuppted, sleep.
Life is good.
We just got back from a trip to LA. I went down on Tuesday with the gals and Parker and Michael joined us on Friday. It was a great trip. We met our new niece Julia, hung out with Amy, watched Parker play with Oliver, saw Peter do some math, ate a giant pancake, did the grand parent thing on both sides, nursed endlessly and then drove home today. Here are some highlights from our trip in no particular order.
Parker, Peter and Oliver jumping off the couch
Peter looking silly!
The kids playing piano
Oliver and Parker in the bath
The Marcus Family
Aunt Lori and babies
Amy at the piano with Julia and Parker
Ginny and Elizabeth
All the kids!
Oliver and his ladies
Amy and little Julia
Grandma Judy and Miranda...or is it?
The gals
Elizabeth and Julia on Halloween
Oliver enjoying the playmat
Just Julia
