Oot and Aboot

Yes! I am still alive!! With the nice weather and family visits, we've just been busy. I always thought I was busy before kids. Ha. What a joke.... Now I am busy!
Yeah! It's spring!! I could never live in a place without changing seasons. I adore the changing seasons. I love waking up to fresh morning air seeping in through an open window with birds chirping. Everything is just coming to life and it's easy to be giddy just because the sun is shining!!

I've been making a point to get out with the babies by myself once a week. We typically go out as a family sometime on the weekend as well. My trips with them could involve going to the mall, Kohls, Target, grocery store, post office etc. Nothing wild and crazy, but just a reason to get out. I take them on walks during the week several times as well.
My first outing with the twins was on Valentine's Day, making them 5 months. Yup, it took me 5 months to work up the courage to leave the house alone with them. Is this normal for other twin moms? I was terrified on that first outing.... Now, it's not a big deal. It may take me a minimum of 30 minutes to pack them up, get myself to look somewhat presentable and get out the door, but it's worth it.

Two funny stories about our outings. First, one day we walked to the grocery store to pick up a few items. I did the self check out thing and lifted out one car seat to put all the items in the bottom of the stroller when I finished checking out. The worker that was standing by the self check out area simply said, 'Wow' and had her mouth partly open as we went by. I'm not sure if that meant wow you are efficient or wow you are crazy to have two babies out by yourself.  Second, I went to a little boutique to pick up some blankets I had embroidered for the babies (they were a gift given to us BEFORE the babies were born and it took me 6 months to bring them in to get embroidered...). The owner is a typical southern chatty lady and we talked for about 15 minutes. One of her first comments to me was 'Your shirt isn't buttoned correctly!' I looked and sure enough I missed a button and it was crooked. I told her I was thrilled to have a clean shirt on...

We've yet to have a serious meltdown by either of the babies while we are out. *knock on wood* I think we're beyond the serious meltdown days anyway. We have these two figured out (for the most part) and know what they need most of the time.

I'm always amazed by the comments I get when I'm out alone. Everyone and their mother wants to come talk to me and look at the babies. I've been asked if twins run in my family more times than I can count. I'm most often told I am truly blessed. I just smile and feel warm inside. We are blessed. There may be difficult days. Days that are endless. Days where I want to crawl into bed. But, there are no more days longing for a family that may never exist. There are days with giggles, smiles and firsts. There are days my heart is full and happy.


A quick update on the babies-we are up to 3 meals a day and the babies love food! I'm still making most of the food. There are some fruits that aren't in season or I don't have time to wash, peel, cook and process so we do the jar thing for those. We're still cloth diapering except for overnight. Cloth diapering is a whole lot more interesting with solid foods, but completely worth it. Evan sleeps through the night form 7p-7a without waking up. Ella still wakes up 1-2 a night to get a paci but she goes right back to sleep. There are more and more nights of her not waking up at all. Both are sitting without any assistance. They both started this on the SAME DAY. Twins are weird. Evan is crawling. He's picking up speed fast. I was terrified of this day, but I LOVE it. He keeps himself entertained and he wears himself out from it. Naps are 3 times a day at 9:30, 12 and 3:30 and last anywhere form 45-1 hour. Sometimes they crash and go down for 1.5 hours. They are happy, smiley and interacting more with each other.

A few pics because everyone loves pics!