Ch-ch-Changes

So, a good friend of ours is in town for the week. A friend who hasn't been here since before babies were born. When he came over this weekend, I got a glimpse of how other people must see us. And it hit me just how much things have changed in the past five months.

A trash bag full of smelly diapers sits next to the front door waiting to be taken out. Dirty bottles lay strewn about in the sink. Cans of formula pile high on the counter. Car seats overtake the dining room table. Swings, bouncy seats, bumbos lay scattered in the living room.

We are three hours past when we originally agreed to meet.

And the first 10 minutes of our conversation was dominated by the one true priority in our lives — Grace and Claire. And their poop.



It amazes me to think how much has changed. It used to be when friends came to visit, the house was always clean (or at least cleaner). I was always showered. The dishes were always done. The piles of mail and junk mail filed appropriately. Life was organized.



These days, unorganized is an understatement. Yes, it drives me a little crazy to live in a state of messy. But despite the dirty laundry, dishes and toilets, at the end of the day, when I look at these girls, my heart swells with a kind of happiness that I never knew existed.

And that's a change I can totally live with.

Moody

Friday I was in one seriously foul mood.

The end of the work week was near, and I was exhausted, irritable, and just downright grouchy. Everything in life: work, laundry, dishes, husband, babies seemed so overwhelming. I had to go to work early that day, so I was rushing around the house trying to get everything done, worrying about things that really didn't need worrying about, and oh ya, taking care of babies.



So, I put Claire in her bedroom for some floor time and went to grab something from the other room. On my way back by her room, I noticed she was laying on her side. Which she does quite frequently. She's been about to roll over since, well, it's been a long time.

But for some reason, on this particular day, I stopped at the doorway, watched her lay there and decided to grab the camera.



Can you freaking believe that?? How amazing is it to watch your child roll over for the first time? I was crying and laughing all at the same time.

That's all it took. Watching one of my little girls take one roll toward growing up. And my seriously foul mood was gone.


Editor's note: In the interest of full disclosure, this is not the video of the first time she rolled over. That's a five-minute long video, the first four and half of which are her being THIS close to doing it.

Caption Contest #8 Winner

And the winner is ... James!



Claire: "I'm telling you, if we both just squeeze tight, eventually we will become Siamese twins. Everybody loves Siamese twins."

Grace: "Keep it down. I can't hear Lefebvre."

Pictures of the week: 22 weeks

Ready ... set ... go!!

Hey, she got a head start!

I don't think I'm gonna make it.

Victory is mine!

Tummy time is hard work.

Heartbreaker

Rejection is a tough pill to swallow. Just ask Grace. She chokes on it every day.

Every day she gazes at Claire like she is the best thing she has ever seen. Mom and Dad are still pretty neat, but we don't hold a candle to the way she looks at Claire. I don't know if it's those big hazel eyes or the cute little nose or just the fact that she is her size. But today, when I had them facing each other, after about two minutes of looking at nothing but Claire, Grace smiled her really big smile.

And Claire responded to this affection in the only way she knows how.

Caption Contest: June 2

We provide the picture. You write a caption (in the comments section below). The winner will be showered with fame and glory. Ready. Set. Go!

To the Zoo and Beyond

We took the girls to the zoo yesterday. And, miraculously, lived to tell our story.

The thought of taking two babies out in public scares the bejesus out of me. You may think I'm overreacting (and to your credit, I might be), but picture this:

Two parents sit down at a restaurant with two little car seats. Awhh, how cute! They have twins. That is sooo sweet. They open their menus, decide what they want and order their food. They are quietly chatting, but just as they sit back to relax, one starts SCREAMING. Which startles the other, causing her to SCREAM. And before you know it, there are two SCREAMING babies and several dirty looks.

In a matter of minutes, we've become those people. Those people who don't quite understand that their kids are holy terrors. Or they do, and just don't care.

I fully understand the terrorizing ability of my children, which is why we don't often take them out in public.

But yesterday, after a weekend full of crying babies and cranky parents, we took a walk on the wild side. To the zoo.

They cried a little, slept a little and smiled a lot.

And the good thing about the zoo? Instead of getting dirty looks when Grace started crying, nearly every person there looked at the two car seats, back at us, back at the car seats and completely understood.

Maybe next week we will try a sit-down restaurant. On second thought ...