charlie’s preschool

updated family shot

before laura left last week she insisted we take a family picture. at first I was not amused because I had wet hair and no makeup on, but the picture turned out cute and I realize how rare it is to get a picture of all of us.

bffs

I am losing my mind. I thought I posted these pictures and maybe I did, but I can’t find them. either way they are SO adorable so I am going to post/repost them. these pictures were taken at the beginning of august. this shows just how smiley these sweet girls can be.

claire’s huge grin.

two peas in a pod.

bill loves this picture.

trying to attack each other’s hands.

these pictures were taken just earlier this week. the bows are cute, but their hair isn’t quite long enough to really hold the bows on. soon enough.

I love this picture! claire is on the left.

this is what they are always trying to do. put their hands in their mouths!

wish claire was in focus…whoops.

last one.

and now for the reality of what they do a lot.

a record

E&C set a record last night. they both slept from 7 pm (with a little wake up at 8:30pm) until 3:45 am! I think claire drank about 10 ounces! the best part about that was that they BOTH slept the entire time. yeah girls! I am doubtful that they will continue to repeat this, but it helped me recoup a bit from the long week.

and incase you were wondering…

here is what a honey badger looks like.

pahbee….

charlie is really into saying “pahbee” (probably). it is hysterical. the best is when I ask him which sister I am holding and he will say “um…pahbee….care” (claire) or “pahbee…ehyee” (ellie).

watching him develop his own ideas is so fun. he is pretending more and more and it is actually freeing me up a bit.

I love listening to his car conversations.
“hi. vrooommm!!!”

“oh hi!”

“vroooooommmm!!!”

“siren noise”

“hi”

he does get a bit more involved than this, but often repeats this cycle. he has also been doing a lot of revving of the engines from one car to another and car hide and seek, which is really just putting one car under a pillow and saying “surprise!” when his other car finds the one he just hid. what a sweet boy!

nana and g.pops visit

last weekend my parents (nana and g. pops) came to visit. bill had a conference in rochester so he was busy all weekend. I was extremely thankful for the help. I used to be ready for visitors to leave and to get back to my little routine, but these days I find myself wishing whomever is visiting will decide to stay for a few extra days/weeks (yeah right!). anyway – to say I am grateful for the company and help is an understatement.  so thank you mom and dad for coming and helping out. we loved it!

the best part about having 3 adults around is that you are back to playing man-to-man defense. we were able to go to the pool for awhile on friday and the farmer’s market on saturday. all things I don’t do alone and even bill and I have a hard time doing with the 3 kids.

my dad and the girls had a blast. he has not seen them for 2 months and they have changed a ton. g. pops and claire hanging out.

claire soaked up the one on one attention!

finally a picture with me and my girls. check out their right hands. they both have their 2 fingers of their right hands in their mouth. this happens a lot where they have the same hand/finger combo (which changes) in their mouths. what do you think – coincidence? or identical twin thing? ellie is in the pink.

charlie was excited to have g. pops around – it just doesn’t look like it in this picture.

charlie is always asking for ear protection when things are loud. he started wearing ear protection when he was in green bay on my dad’s skid steer. so my dad brought charlie is own ear protection. we keep it in the car so when the girls start screaming he can put on his ear protection and start singing “away in a manger”.

ellie and g. pops.

an attempt at a picture with my dad and all 3. ellie is in pink.

my dad and the girls.

poor nana. this might be the only picture I have of her from the weekend. she was working like crazy keeping the kids happy, making sure I got out of the house, making food, etc. thanks so much mom!

charlie loves his train table and my mom snapped a few pictures of him playing with it. I just love this timeless toy – especially since my dad built the table!

charlie and I racing cars together.

5 month honey badgers

note: i started writing this to be a quick update and it some how became a novel. feel free to skim. 

what have the little girls been up to the last month?? mostly – fussing. actually they have been up to a lot of things, but in between doing activities they fuss because they want to do more. this would be just fine if either one had arrived solo, but it complicates things when there are 2 babies and 1 toddler who all deserve attention. even with the fussing, we love ellie and claire so much and they make us smile (and me cry sometimes) every day. claire and ellie both love personal inteaction. they just light up when they see you and squeal with delight when they are picked up. I wish I could just lay over them and “chat” with them all day. they definitely want to engage in real conversation and only like to talk when they are being listened to.

as the girls get older they are beginning to really notice each other. often times they will make eye contact and flash each other big grins. the other day, my dad was holding ellie and I was holding claire and the house was quiet (c was outside). they were just staring at each other and my dad and I were both just letting them be. it was so sweet because ellie starting talking to claire – just sweet little noises. then ellie got quiet and claire was looking like she was going to form some words when charlie busted through screen door and came running into the living room. it definitely broke up the moment, but it gave me a taste of what is to come. I can’t wait.

claire and ellie are determined to be just as motivated as charlie. they love being on the move and seeing what is going on around them. which is why this is our new setup. one of the girls in the bjorn, one on the hip or facing out. my shoulders and upper back ache by the end of the day. but it is what they want to do 85% of the time they are awake.

they still LOVE their brother. anytime they are “fussin’” charlie will say “don’t fuss baby sister!” or “mom! they are cryin’ ree (real) hard!”. then he runs over to  whoever is being fussy and they almost always gets quiet and become super interested in charlie. it warms my heart and makes my ears happy. in this picture charlie was showing them this toy. they are just enamored with him.

charlie greeting his baby sisters. every morning when I bring him upstairs he jumps off my back (he gets a piggyback ride upstairs) and runs over to them.

on the way to the farmer’s market on saturday charlie was ecstatic when claire stopped screaming and held onto his hand. my mom was in the trunk because there was not any spots left in the car so she could snap this sweet picture. when the girls are screaming in the car charlie will sometimes bust into “away in a manger” to try to calm them down. I try with all my might to not start laughing. he is the sweetest big brother.

ellie and claire are both really strong. here is ellie working on her standing. she looks so little to be standing! but she loves it.

and so does her sister. claire is in green.

from the front. bill was catching them when they started falling. claire didn’t care about holding on she just kept trying to go for the books on the bookshelf.

chewing is another favorite activity these days. the drool has picked up so teeth will probably be making an appearance in the next month or two. I wish the girls were better about actually holding on to these toys while chewing. I think they would be a bit more content. ellie is in white.

 

while they were rolling around I found claire sucking on ellie’s foot. too funny!

I cannot wait until claire and ellie can sit unassisted!!! they are actually getting pretty good at it – with support. here is claire showing off her typical fussy face while sitting.

this is honestly how claire likes to sit. at an angle! it makes us crack up laughing!

don’t forget ellie! she looks like a pro in this picture.

oh no! the fall back, with the leg up to catch herself. they have great abs.

rolling, rolling, rolling. both girls are really good at getting places. you can set them down some where and turn around and find them in an entirely different place. claire was stuck the other day and I found ellie up forearms checking her out. they move the most when they are mad. claire will dig her face into the ground and use her feet to scoot forward. ellie does more of a plank move and then flops forward. both are successful. rolling is really how they get places. 

sleep. things are great when it comes to getting the girls to bed. we start baths at 6 pm and by 7 both girls are asleep. occasionally they cry, but we quickly soothe them and let them figure it out. one of the hardest things about having twins is night time sleep. one will sleep great one night (6:30/7 pm to 3-4 am) and the other one will be up at midnight, 1 am, 3 or 4 am, etc. it is quite exhausting. claire has slept the longest at 6:30 to 4:45am! however ellie was up a ton that night. usually claire is a better sleeper, but just last night they changed it up on me. they still take a pretty long afternoon nap, but it often requires a lot of management to keep them down. we are working on getting them to take a morning nap if we are home, but currently they just cry for 45 minutes. thankfully i am getting more comfortable with letting them cry, but it doesn't always seem to help.

solids. for most of the last month they have rejected anything I have tried. on their 5 month birthday I tried this gerber oatmeal, apple and cinnamon concoction and they actually liked it. they didn’t scarf it down like charlie, but they were actually interested. I would have assumed they would each have decided to like something different or at least shown different levels of interest on the same day. but not really – they both seemed to like the oatmeal mix the same and consume equal amounts. weird. I wonder if it is an identical twin thing. either way – here is claire showing us her eating skills.

ready claire?

hmmm – not so much.

ok – not at all! she actually did take some down, but these pictures capture what most of our food experiences have been like this past month.

twins game

bill and charlie went to their first twins game a couple weeks ago. they had great seats thanks to unkie jonathan! they had a fantastic time. I so love that bill seeks out places to bring charlie to spend some quality dad and son time.

heading in. bill said target field was awesome. check out charlie’s little glove and jersey. so cute.

“you’re out!”

someday charlie will learn how to smile properly.

on a side note - charlie is really into playing baseball (beesball) at home. we will pitch him a large ball or softball sized ball and he often makes contact. he will then run the bases (a quick lap around the train table) after he hits it. for awhile he would say "strike" after making contact with the ball and would run the bases after he had a swing and a miss. one of his coaches must have corrected him. yesterday he told me "i be a ree good beesball player".  i will also add it is quite challenging to pitch him the ball while holding or protecting two little girls. we have had a couple close calls. i am sure there will be a black eye coming soon. 

charlie’s sweet hair pulling move.

drinking spicy diet coke. something mom never allows.

sweet potato pictures

ellie:

I {heart} skinny jeans!

how sweet are the butterfly wings.

claire:

the start of the fun. claire on the left.

 

ellie on the left, claire on the right.

 

claire on the left, ellie on the right.

our favorite! this is getting framed asap.

shelly took a few pictures of charlie. he had just come in from outside and I bribed him to sit for a few with a sucker. he was not amused. when he saw these pictures he said “me be ree (real) sad”. he actually wasn’t that sad – just serious.

check out those lashes!