Friday night leftovers 12-18

• Let's see, I'm at the same point in terms of "Christmas shopping still to be done" as I was last week. Nice. This will either involve trying to hurry up and online shop to meet shipping deadlines or dragging the girls out this weekend, which unless it melts includes the "inch" of snow or so falling on the ground. Not a huge amount at all unless they screwed up the forecast (cause that never happens)


• Snow has lost it's appeal for me to an extent. It does not get work cancelled, it causes people to drive like maniacs, and well, I just don't like cold weather. Yes, it looks pretty for the holidays. That's about it. Although sledding still has it's perks.


• Had an eye exam today and due to this and that I'm probably going to get glaucoma down the road - fun -a new thing to google when I'm bored. At least all the eye talk has hubby thinking about getting his eye looked at again (hubby had a serious eye injury a while back (aka lost a lens), looking at new options available to fix his vision)


• Audrey has a stellar sense for food. Smells it a mile away. She was across the room while I tried to give a fussy Allie a yogurt-melt thing and in like a milli-second, Audrey barrel-rolls herself over with the "yeah, my turn or I get mad" look on her face.
  

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Aw so pretty.................. I guess.

Friday Night leftovers.....

• The mouse project just continues to drag on. Hubby in removing the insulation downstairs came upon a mouse graveyard. (And a dead snake) Not quite sure when if ever I go downstairs again :p He swears the new insulation will prevent any more critters coming inside. He better be right.
• Besides three presents for the girls, I have done no Christmas shopping whatsoever. It's not just two weeks away right? The tree is up at least but considering hubby just takes it downstairs every year (doesn't even take it apart) and it's prelit, that's not saying much.
• As usual, I'm complaining already about the cold weather. 35mph plus winds with zero degree temps as on this past Wednesday is not my idea of fun. And no snow at least to make it all look pretty. Just cold without a purpose.
• Audrey's new goal in life is to steal whatever toy Allie has. Even when Allie lets go and it's a half hour later, Audrey will still seek it out just to get a hold of it. She is not amused if we try to stop her either.
• Hubby has commented that the girls both will say "da-da." However, for argument's sake, I don't count that as their first word until they directly say it to him instead of currently saying "da-da" while looking at the wall, the cat, etc................... I sum it up as rambling. Audrey did say "Hi" plain as day but when we tried getting her to say it again she looked at us like we were crazy so not sure what you call "the first word."
  

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Pictures (and more pictures)

Pretty much a picture post - still congested / sick and frustrated with stuff so I'll be nice and just throw a bunch of pics out there.

I think I'll pass on getting pics done during December again -hello crabby kid central. The place was running late mostly due to unhappy kids. I'd say uncooperative but in all fairness I have no idea if the kids in question just were done with picture taking and the parents and/or photographer was still trying to get a good shot. Whatever. The girls were getting a bit tired by the time we got in. First shot of the day and Audrey (left) is just thrilled.

However, ever the little photogenic camera-ready subjects, they did well overall. Audrey perked up after a little encouragment in the form of a stuffed bear - we'll take it.

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Now on to the "a day in the life of" segment. (Some are cell phone "less than stellar quality" pics)

First off, wake up to some kitty love.

Checking out the latest internet news

Future karaoke superstar

A slight problem..........

Or just take your sister's.

Reading a good book (Like they look ready for bed)

And a now daily occurrence - a play by play of toy stealing.

Friday Night Leftovers 12-4

• The mouse (or maybe more than one?) is back - at least hubby has figured out how they are getting in and will fix that problem, but just not fun waking up around 4 am to hear the little skitter of rodent feet running along the basement ceiling below you. Useless cat has still caught zero mice. Unless you count her fake fur ones.
• We have tentatively scheduled to get the girls' pics taken on Sunday for Christmas cards. Figuring most years we'll just do that ourselves but for once we'll do a pro pic. Hubby and I might be in them but if I'm still sick and looking like it, we'll just leave it as the girls.
• The girls are apparently very much routine babies. Tonight they would just not settle down after bedtime and finally hubby went in to find that the light was still on (The dimmer in their room is set to low for their bedtime bottles but normally we turn it off when we leave.) So he turned the extremely faint light off and silence. Well either they're routine or just like their mom, who prefers a pitch black room when trying to sleep.
• Toyota recently recalled a lot of cars due to the accelerators getting stuck in floor mats - at the time, hubby had mentioned how there's certain things you could do in such a scenario. Ok, fine, whatever. Well tonight, during rush hour traffic, hubby puts his foot the gas pedal and it does just that -stuck on the floor mat. Um, not good. Ever so calmly, he throws the car in neutral and pulls out the mat. Way too much fun for a drive home if you ask me. But glad he's on top of all that.
• Audrey is very fond of giving kisses. She considers it a game I guess - even to inanimate objects. I apparently (in her mind) wasn't within reach tonight when I said "Audrey- kisses" so she just put her mouth up to the dog-toy on her exersaucer and kissed it instead. Of course on the flip side, Allie does the "hug" bit.
• I'm now on the local grocery pharmacy's "list" for pseudoephedrine. Apparently that's how it works now if you want the good stuff. Whatever - fine, take my license number, I don't care. Just give me the darn actual Sudafed. That other stuff just doesn't cut it. If I'm not to look like Ruldolph for pictures on Sunday, I need to get rid of this cold.

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Turkey day pics and more

So finally got a few pics from Thanksgiving (of course I forgot my camera so relying on others)

But first a few random tidbits:

Audrey has become very fussy and easy to upset this past weekend. She doesn't seem sick so we're wondering if finally we're at the teething stage, at least for her. Has no interest in naps either. So we shall see.

A (rare) happy Audrey earlier today

New carseats are enroute - sad to say we're pretty much at that time to say goodbye to their swings, bouncy seats, and infant carriers. So guess all that stuff gets to sit in the basement until the next resale.

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Moving to the pics. The girls were quite the social butterflies for Thanksgiving for both hubby's and my family's dinners. (And also a complete mess) At my parents, we gave them their mesh teethers and a few samples from dinner - they enjoyed it all and even staying up a tad bit late to play around with all the guests.

Audrey during dinner

Allie...........

Allie later on in her pjs with Lori

Audrey hanging out on the couch with Uncle Chris

Friday Night Leftovers

• Unless it's the same one, we have had two mice in the house this week. Um, no thanks! Hubby (who let me remind you is a hunter) felt remorse or who knows but let the first one out live. I bet it came right back and is now running amok in our basement. Told him he has to catch it and very, very soon.
• The girls had a great Thanksgiving, pretty much due to lots of people, new foods, and new toys. By the end of it they were completely a mess, hyper, and probably more awake than anyone else. Photos to come later.
• With new tires and maintenance on the truck, two sets of carseats for the girls, and that's just the start, yeah this month was a bust for my budget. (Believe me though, mouse traps can still be worked into it.)
• We probably need another cat. Not only will this entertain our current cat, but it would help to actually have a cat that pursues mice. (This is of course unlike said current cat who let the mouse run right by her 'cause obviously hubby's laptop earphones were far more entertaining and easier to get to.)
• With my budget in ruins, have put off shopping. Well that and just not having the time or patience to deal with crowds and such. It is a very weird sensation coming up on the holidays as last year I was banned to the couch for the whole time.
• Audrey is going through a stranger / separation anxiety phase. (Hmm just like the one her sister went through a month or two ago - have to love getting to do everthing twice right?) Luckily Allie is being very self-entertaining and happy when Audrey gets upset (which again, a few months ago, was just in reverse)

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8 months!

So at seemingly breakneck speed we're through another month and the girls are just three shy of the big first birthday.

I thought back when that adjusting to couch-arrest for the latter part of the pregnany was a pretty tough adjustment. It's not as easy as it sounds to literally sit on the couch. (Much better than total bedrest or a hospital stay though in all fairness.) I think now the adjustment from that to having two babies to take care of takes the cake. We honestly didn't know what to expect. But considering we have yet to have an illness, the girls are growing well, and unless tired aren't too fussy, I'd say we're doing pretty well. (Although that "only fussy when tired" due to their love for short naps is fairly common.)

They were of that "we're tired and crabby" variety tonight the minute we got home. However, at least once we put them to bed, we didn't hear a peep. Lately Audrey has been having a hard time with going to bed and yells for a decent duration so a nice break to have tonight be "protest" free. It may be a coincidence but normally hubby feeds Allie her last bottle and I have Audrey and tonight we switched, so maybe that's the key for a quieter bedtime. We'll see.

No fun stats for now, although by eyesight I'd say Audrey has Allie by at least a pound still and might be a little longer / taller. No teeth for either (from what I've heard I was late too) and bit by bit they're becoming more mobile. We're way behind on baby-proofing, although hubby did get the carpet box deal done to put over the hearth.

Of course now picture time. The first set is a very common occurrence now: the ever so fun "toy stealing" game. For an example - Audrey dropped this pink mirror, there was a mad dash for it, and Allie came out victorious. (Cell phone pics so not the best quality)

Their new best friend still.

Too busy to pose.

How to ensure you're getting a bath later.

Such a grin. Why? Because Audrey decided to let herself out of her bumbo seat.

Somewhat of a fashion sense

Friday Night Leftovers 11-20

• Guess I have to catch up on my blogging as my last post was about this time last week.
• Still not sure what to think with the upcoming holidays (but then again by this time next week I'll have a much better clue..........stay tuned hahaha............)
• The girls are becoming interested in the cat at an exponential rate. And hubby wants to get another one in the somewhat near future?
• I'm still on the fence as to whether elaborate musical holiday decorations are cheesy or a lot of fun. Hubby wants to add to his outdoor "lights up" reindeer collection. Hmmm.......not sure on that one.
• Haven't slept more than 2-3 hours the past two nights. That's just annoying. Especially when the girls, the cat, the hubby - everyone seems to not have that problem but me.
• It must be that time of year as people have started to ask what I might want for Christmas. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that "babies who take longer naps" just didn't make it onto the sale flyer for Target, just a hunch. Fine, new flat iron for the hair it is.

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Friday Night Leftovers 11-13

So I'll play, why not?

• One of our girls, who both can roll in either direction, decided tonight an hour after bedtime to roll to her stomach and completely flip out, i.e. scream bloody murder (rather than the crazy idea of just rolling back over) So had to "intervene" and turn her.
• Grocery shopping is almost to a dire stage. Cereal for dinner once again. That's of course because we're out of frozen pizzas.
• I feel badly for the cat as now there are two crawling, screeching infants after her most anytime she's around. However I don't feel that badly for her as this is also a good way to make crabby babies turn into happy babies - just present the cat.
• We're ruining our budget this month with getting the truck fixed and a couple sets of convertible car seats. However I think I can cut our tv plan as once again, two hundred channels and there's nothing on. Stuck once again watching Criminal Minds reruns.
• Hubby and I finally sat down to get some frustrations off our minds and get plans down for babyproofing, the holidays with both our families in the area, and getting the house a bit more in order. Now just have to actually follow through with all this..............

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This and that..........

Ok if there are a lot of misspellings in this, somehow in reformatting my laptop, the keyboard is not working very well. Got to love electronics somtimes (Seems to be more in IE versus Mozilla, so we'll see.)

A bit cranky so far for the week, and yes it's only Monday. Tired and a lot going on. Really wishing on that not in the plans vacation or winning the lottery. Oh well............ Besides not going grocery shopping this weekend (bad idea....we have a very sad looking fridge and pantry right now) we did manage to get a few things accomplished - a huge amount of baby food made and the wood frame for the hearth is done so we're at least starting to baby-proof the house. That's including the fact that both hubby and I felt very under the weather Sunday - not sure if our dinner Saturday night had a bug/ spoiled (was a new recipe so who knows) or what but Sunday was pretty "just get through it."

Despite the time constraint, I'm glad so far the babyfood making is happening. We made the squash-apple combo and the fresh version tastes about 100x better than the jarred one. Not sure if the girls care but we'll still try.

Again maybe when we have money to burn we'll test to see if they're identical. (Although if you see the one pic below, pretty amusing.) Very much a non-issue besides curiosity unless a medical reason comes around. It's become very apparent that Audrey is the mobile one while Allie is the vocal one. Allie is constantly chatting and while she has rolled both ways I guess just to show us she can, is very happy in one spot. Audrey, while not so vocal, is rolling or moving around the minute you put her down. Not crawling yet but with a series of planned out rolls and spins, she can get to wherever she wants. As in, if Allie has a toy of interest, Audrey will find a way to roll over and get it. She also managed once so far to slide herself out of the bumbo. Guess she was done with bumbo time.

A few random pics.

Here's the curious pic. They were just sitting in the little bumbo seats so I got the camera out - and they both decided to "strike a pose." Not sure where the "see the camera, tilt your head" notion came from but oh well.



Audrey planning out her next move


Allie checking out the camera

Halloween and the weekend

So we're still working on their naps and bedtime. Timing the naps is key to less yelling but bedtime overall is pretty calm. Hopefully that all continues to get better, I get a few projects for work completed, and can start to "relax" a little. Maybe I should go get an appointment at the sleep clinic - you'd think as tired as I am most days sleeping should be easy.

The girls had a sleepover with the grandparents (my parents) for Halloween. In anticipation of the time change we had kept the girls up for a half hour or so the past couple of nights so by Saturday night they were set to go to bed around 8, and our guess was they'd do their typical "sleep 12 hours" and wake up at 7. Besides Allie making a fuss for some unknown reason around 10pm they followed the little plan.

Meal time is becoming a small challenge. The girls have decided they'd much rather eat what we're eating so we either have to have something they can eat on our plates or have a mesh-feeder treat / something enticing for them. Allie the other night was not going to be had - she wanted hubby's burger and that was it. As hubby usually tries the babyfood we give the girls (he's big on the concept that it should taste edible) and this weekend's was pretty bad, we ended up getting a blender (go figure we own countless kitchen gadgets, machines, you name it but no blender) and will better attempt babyfood making.

A few pics from their first Halloween

They are looking very alike. I'm actually at times having to really look at who's who.

(and of course the "twin pumpkins" hubby did Friday night. Nothing artistic but his goal was to make them look alike.)

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Odds and ends

Quite a weekend (not so much but certainly wasn't boring.)
For the commentators on Ramblings in my WWYD situation, I posted the outcome.

So we started the sleep training as per our nurse from the sleep clinic. Friday evening was not fun. Spent the whole time wondering WTH are we doing / this isn't good / my poor girls. We're not doing a cry-it-out completely but it's certainly based around once they are put in their cribs and it's bedtime, they're not getting picked up. After a night or so, you do the same with naps.

Well, tonight the girls put themselves to sleep after 9 minutes of slight crying and fussing. They did all three naps in their cribs after about the same. Not too bad - sleep lady may have something here if within four days we're at minimal fussing for any nap or bedtime. Beats trying to calm Allie down for an hour or so which was our prior routine.

Then again Audrey has to be the center of the stage at times too. Saturday, while playing on her back, stopped breathing. Long enough for hubby to sit her upright and start patting her on the back and for me to have started dialing 911. She finally started to cough and I stopped. Most likely a reflux episode or such but definitely monitoring her the past few days. We did end up calling 911 (the ambulance bay is a mile away - benefit of a small town) and they checked out her lungs / temp just to make sure nothing seemed off. So (so far) while scary seems to be an isolated incident. She is going to start on some antacid meds since she has been spitting up a lot lately, being a bit finicky with her food, and of course with this past weekend's scare.

Also a couple other new developments:
Allie finds the cat insanely entertaining. Will go out of her way / throw her arms out / get excited whenever Gracie walks by. Gracie isn't too sure of this.

Audrey will go out of her way to roll over in whatever direction to steal a toy from Allie. Happened this morning and Allie wasn't very happy. Again, must buy two of every toy we have I guess

And to end a few pics..............

Allie eyeing the cat

Allie attempting to enjoy some pizza crust


Audrey apparently wishing for a better toy.

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