First Trip to the Beach!

I wanted to take the babies to the ocean this summer and since I could go into labor any day, we figured we'd better make it soon! Sean took a vacation day and we packed up the kiddos. It was about a 2 and a half hour drive which was fine despite 30 minutes of screaming when Gracie couldn't get comfy to fall asleep. That's when I started thinking "Why on earth did I think this would be fun?" But for the most part they just "read" books in the car.

We got to the ocean and I was shocked they took to the sand so easily! Tate was walking and crawling all over and Gracie was happy digging and eventually EATING. Seriously, we couldn't keep it out of her mouth once she started. I would have bet on the opposite since Tate is our licker/ eat things off the ground guy and Gracie is usually afraid to try new things. But she took to burying herself right away and then shoving fistfuls into her mouth/face. We had to laugh; she did.




We ate lunch on a blanket and I was caught off guard by how grown up they seemed eating sandwiches on their own and by this perfect little family memory being created. The kind of thing we dreamed about when we thought we couldn't have kids. It was a God moment for me.

Finally, we hit a local ice cream shop where Gracie showed her independence in wanting to hold and eat the ice cream by herself. Ice cream is Sean's favorite food/past time so he couldn't have been prouder.



My other favorite moment came later when we went back to the beach. It had gotten kind of cold so we huddled in blankets and read books. The babies LOVE their Eric Carle books and usually Sean or I read them alone, but it was so precious to read them together and enjoy the laughter from silly animal sounds and cuddles. I tried to take pictures, but we were too close!
Oh, my little family of four.
It was a great day and now I feel more ready for this new baby to come and take our house by storm once again!

Rambling

I haven't posted in a few days, it seems we always overbook our weekends.
Friday's big news was that we found our camera! Yay! I have felt like such a loser mom missing all these precious moments!
I also got to go out with some girlfriends for "baby shower" friday night! I still have so much boy stuff so the girls decided I needed more pampering than pampers. We went out to dinner at one of my favorite places and then to a salon for manicures and pedicures! I had a great time and it was juts the break I needed. I felt bad that I was a bit low energy though. I had been home with the babies all day and I was WIPED. Sean got home just in time for me to leave. It was a great night though and I appreciated my friends seeing my real need over baby shower protocol!

Saturday we made an important decision! We paid OFF our car! We had some savings earmarked for moving, but since nobody is buying our house, we can't. So with my being laid off we decided paying off our car was the next best thing as it frees us of one big payment a month! We have always had one car and drove around my car from high school until it's last breath a couple of years ago. We felt great about paying off the new car and that we can do SOMETHING to better our situation in these uncertain times. After that I drove an hour to my mom's for my *real* baby shower with family. It was so nice to have the whole afternoon to myself. I was with family and ate too much and talked about baby names, but I got home just in time to kiss the babies nigh night. It was great to have the "day off" and feel some of that independence come back. Having time for me Friday night AND Saturday reminded me about all we give up as moms. It happens so slowly, you can almost miss it. Nothing like social situations remind me that I have been submerged in a different world from others. It's a great place to live, but I find myself missing, well, MYSELF! We have a baby coming any week now (I am 1 cm dialated and 50% effaced actually) and I need to have self pep talk before going under for another few months during that all consuming newborn time. I have a lot of new goals and interests I want to pursue , but also a lot of me I want to keep in touch with. I am lucky my husband sees the importance in this too! Otherwise, we will wake up one day with grown kids and I will be just a shell of the woman he married! But I digress...

In Twinnie news Gracie is on the go! She is a fast and furious roller, but now can push her car across the room and is making forward progress with her "inchworm" crawling! She got from the living room to their bedroom last night! It was so sweet to see Tater follow HER for once! Tate is still trying my patience with ignoring "no" and getting into everything, but his walking is getting better everyday! He takes 7-10 steps at a time and watching him drive cars around the house (complete with sound effects) is too cute. I just want to enjoy our last times together as a family of four!

How Many Licks Does it Take...

to catch an infectious disease?

Seriously.

Tate has this habit of licking everything lately. and I mean everything. I am chalking it up to exploring the world, but seriously people, this is getting gross. Toys and windows are a given, but shoes? and not just any part- if he can get his hand on a shoe he flips it over and licks all over the BOTTOM of the shoe! Blech! Makes me cringe to see my nasty 9 year old flip flips that have been to many public restrooms in his mouth. Not to mention Sean's work shoes that hang out in downtown seattle buses! So we hide the shoes. He has recently started licking all furniture too. As if to say "Are you sure you REALLY cleaned this mom?" Doors, tables, handles on cabinets, walls, and this morning he licked each screw on their high chairs. Not as gross-just weird. I love this crazy boy, but at a friend's house he recently when along licking each of her kitchen cabinet handles. I was was like "doesn't your little guy (3 weeks older) do that too?" *blank stare* "oh, yeah....um, Tate hardly ever does it either!"

I'm just waiting for swine flu, sars, mad cow, or whatever is going to catch up to him soon so I can accept my Mother of the Year award.

Thanksgiving Thursday!

I am thankful again this week for my husband! Specifically how he saved me from the mommy blues yesterday! I emailed him at work and told him that my back was killing me, Tate had been hitting me and his sister in the face all day, and I was exhausted. I wanted to curl in a ball and cry. So what did my DH do? Say "sorry sister" and move on? Nope! He came home bearing gifts of bath salts, a new magazine and a bath pillow! He told me to take a break in the tub and not to come out regardless of what (read: screaming, crying, door banging) I hear. We are doing "The Love Dare" as a part of our Bible Study group this month and I really appreciated his seeing my need and meeting it. Such a good reason for Thanksgiving Thursday!

Way Back When-esday

When: July 2008
Age: 3 months
What: Sharing a crib!

I didn't separate the twins until they were 8 months old and moments like this were exactly why! I loved, LOVED walking in to find them cuddling or nearly holding hands like this. I remember this day was a hot one at grandma's and I thought they looked all sweaty. Last night, Tate was up until 9PM (almost 3 hours after bedtime) chatting and whining from his crib, while Gracie was passed out cold with a blankie on her face and her belly hanging out. They look like such big kids in their cribs now! Gone are the days of finding them in almost the exact same positions I left them in for bed time. :) Play along with "Way Back When-nesday" at Twinfatuation!

Sad News

I heard via a multiples board I frequent that a family has lost one of their 18 month old twins- Matteo. He had a fever, but was really a healthy little guy. My gut aches for this mother and father who found their baby lifeless one morning. How many times have I imagined a similar scenario as a paranoid new mom? Checking for breath in the middle of the night during those new days. You never dream that such a nightmare could be your reality as they grow. I also got to meet a newborn of our friends' yesterday afternoon. Such a different place of joy welcoming a new life! My heart is heavy today as God reminds me that 5 hours old or 18 months old, our children-our lives are precious and cannot be taken for granted. I mourn for this family today and selfishly thank God for mine. I will be squeezing them extra tight today-not complaining about whining, crankiness, diaper blowouts or any of those other silly things we groan about. Not when I know of a mother who would trade ANYTHING to have them back. God Bless little Matteo and his family. Help us all to remember how blessed we truly are.

Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend. We left town and headed down to Puyallup to spend the weekend with out families (who live 5 min from each other). Friday Sean had to work, but since my mom and sister did not I went down ahead of him with the twinnies. We spent a nice day at grandma's playing and exploring her big house. It was nice to have extra hands. The babes have especially taken to my niece who is 10 ( and I swear was JUST a baby herself), they love to sit and play with her which is a nice break for me! After Daddy joined us we had dinner and bed time, then my mom and I were able to go see a movie! If I ever get a break, going to a movie or out to dinner are at the top of my list!

Saturday was a FULL day. We went to breakfast with grandma and grandpa and auntie. They did great at the restaraunt surprisingly. Afterwards they took almost a 3 hour nap! JOY! I read my book with coffee on my the patio. It was bliss. After nap we went back to Sean's parents and had lunch and play time. Tate was not so happy in the heat (nearly 90 degrees), even in the shade with wetting his hair he got pretty cranky. So we played inside most of the day. We had afternoon nap and then dinner and BBQ with their neighborhood. We let the babies stay up about an hour after their usual bedtime, but we were all getting tired and cranky. After bed time Sean and I treated ourselves to some ice cream and passed out at 9:30PM! I even slept through the fire works booming all around the neighborhood. Thankfully, so did the babies.

Sunday we laid low in the morning and came back up to Seattle in the afternoon. I think we were all happy to be home. The twins refused their afternoon nap which resulted in some fussiness ( read:crying, screaming, whining and general misery). This resulted in a slightly early bed time and a tough time falling asleep for overtired eyes.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures because we lost our camera charger! Daddy is back at work and the twins are "napping" now. I am hoping for a nice loooong one like they took this weekend. I am 36 weeks pregnant now and just plain tired most of the day. I am hanging on for the delivery and then Sean will be home on 12 weeks of paid paternity leave! I like having some alone time with the babies during the week like this, but physically it's just getting hard.