I Miss Naps (part two)

For the last hour I have been upstairs five times.  Yes.  Five times. 

First Time: Mary Catherine was beside Henry's bed.
Second Time: Henry was at the end of MC's bed chucking books at her.
Third Time: I cannot remember, but I think MC was up.
Fourth Time: They were both up playing.
Fifth Time: Mary Catherine was in Henry's bed and he was up playing. 

Seriously.  What happened to my favorite part of the day?  As I write this, I hear someone walking above my head.  Here we go for number SIX.  ugh.

and then we had number SEVEN... good grief.

I Miss Naps...

So gone are the days of putting the twins in their cribs for nap and walking away for a few hours of peace and quiet.  They used to nap almost three hours.  THREE HOURS! 

Now, due to their recent Houdini escapades, they are in big beds.  You know what is wrong with beds?  There are no bars!  Seriously, what is the problem with making a lid and bars on a twin bed? 

So, now I have the *joy* of spending most of nap time disciplining the escapees until they fall asleep.  Now, when Henry wakes up before Mary Catherine he gets out of bed and wakes her up.  Not pretty. 

Yesterday was the first time that I went in (when I heard them) after naps and they were both in the own beds reading books.  Yay!  I thought...

Then last night, I had a meeting for CC in my living room and we put the twins to bed.  Their bedroom is over the living room and I could hear them running all around for at least an hour.  I didn't go up because I was in the middle of the meeting and at least they weren't crying for me.  Not surprising, they have already figured out how to be quiet when they are disobedient.  When the meeting ended at 9 pm I went upstairs expecting to find them both passed out on the floor or quietly ripping books, but they had made it back to their own beds and were sound asleep. 

Sweetness.

Talking, Talking and More Talking...

Considering this blog is really the twins 'baby book', I want to take a minute to write that the twins are talking like crazy. 

A flood of language has happened in the last two weeks, and my head is sometimes spinning because of all of the jibber jabber around here; especially considering that out of five children I only got one quiet one, and that's Kinsey.  The rest talk and talk and talk...

Henry has been putting together three words at a time this week.  Most of the time it still sounds choppy, but he's working it out.  Mary Catherine can pretty much say whatever she wants however she wants, but with her little tiny fairy voice it is sometimes difficult to decipher.  Usually she will figure out another way to say it, whereas Henry flips his lid if we cannot understand what he is trying to convey.

It could be my perception, (based on comments) but sometimes I think that people expect less of my children because we have five children, so they must get the short end of the stick, ya-da, ya-da...  Honestly, I think when you have a large family you really get a chance to see that your child is going to be whomever the Lord has set out for your child to be because you cannot possibly orchestrate every detail of his/her life. 

Children in large families are 'forced' to take some time to figure out what they are going to do because Mommy isn't available for entertainment very often.  Now, we as the parents need to put up boundaries for that freedom, like limiting the media influences. 

However, I cannot take the 'credit' for all that my children are able to do because it is their God-given ability. Good, responsible parenting is key in a child's life, but if he walks with Christ, the Lord will get him where he's supposed to be in the end.

Mother Hen

If Henry survives growing up in our house with all these women, it will be a miracle.  He will either be a fantastic husband or a lifelong bachelor. 

As if the older girls don't mother him enough, then he has Mary Catherine hen-pecking his every move. 

She informs him when he is finished eating, "Mommy, Bubba done!" To which Henry responds on que, "All done!"  Let's hope that eventually he learns to form his own opinion as to when he's finished eating, or playing with a certain toy, or what he wants to watch when it's movie time. 

All kidding aside he does stand up for himself sometimes when it comes to toys, but Mary Catherine does spend much of her time informing me all about her Bubba in a mothering way that cracks us up for such a little girl.

Where Do You Eat Breakfast?

While I was sitting on couch looking for a recipe, I glanced up to find this...

I wish you could have heard them carrying on their little conversation.  Precious times ahead watching these two grow into the best of friends...


*yes, they are eating snacks from my wedding goody bag for breakfast... i'm tired and it's easy. don't judge.*

Singing

The Twins love to sing now and it's so cute to watch them.  I have attempted to video them, but it's not great.  It's the kind of video only grandparents would love.

I realize there is a big pile of laundry in my chair in my bedroom. 
Don't judge me. :)

The Twins Are TWO!

Can you believe it?

Mary Catherine and Henry are two years old!  How can that be?  It feels like I was just struggling through nursing two uncooperative twinkies while severely sleep deprived... I'm sure some of you remember, especially those of you who helped me bottle feed one twin while the other twin 'practiced' nursing for those three months... Weighing them before and after every feed for three months...Thankfully, they both nursed full time after those initial months of training.

Jason grimaced the other night when I mentioned those three months of middle of the night feedings.  It's still a little too fresh for him to look back on fondly.  With our other three he never lost a wink of sleep so having to bottle feed a twin every night for three months was not something he loved, but he never complained.  I can still picture Mary Catherine with her teeny tiny hands wrapped around his hand as he fed her.

Sweetness

Little did we know then what a stinker-doodle she would turn into two years later.  I'm not sure that DIVA is a strong enough word for Mary Catherine.  Can we blame her?  The way her siblings dote on her it's as if she has her own entourage.  They adore her and have always treated her like a princess.  Mary Catherine is the perfect mix of her older siblings, she has Jackson's eyes, Kinsey's hair, and Kerrigan's fiery personality. 

Mary Catherine (aka Sissy) splits her time between taking care of Henry's needs and screeching at him for one thing or another.  I am sure that poor boy doesn't know if he's coming or going with her. 

Henry, Hank-the-Tank, Bubba... what a sweet, sweet boy.  Henry can often be found playing alone, reading books, wandering the house, and chasing Mary Catherine.  Not surprisingly, Henry knows exactly how to irritate Mary Catherine; isn't that some unwritten code that all brothers have memorized?

When Henry was a baby he suffered from acid reflux, so of course, he puked often.     Since most people do not enjoy being thrown up on, I ended up being the one that held him the most as Mary Catherine was passed around to everyone else.  He wasn't the cutest baby there ever was either, very skinny and scrawny, like a plucked chicken. I'm his mother, so I can say that. Thank goodness he's a cutie now. I didn't mind having him to myself, because as everyone knows, there is something sweet about mama's boy that cannot be explained. 

Henry and Mary Catherine-two weeks old

Henry and Mary Catherine-almost 2 years old

Now, they are two years old, full of personality, 

talking non-stop, running around, and bringing us never ending joy.