waahhhaaa!!!

Elyse and Tamsin are awesome!! I love them so much. Right now they are each on their own play mat drifting off to sleep, Tamsin is laughing in her sleep and Elyse is happily kicking away.

But poor TamTam. Have I mentioned she has night terrors? Most nights- some nights several times a night- she screams in her sleep. Over the monitor you can hear her kicking and thrashing around. I listen helpless, I can't wake her or it makes it worse. In the morning she wakes at the bottom of her crib, she has wriggled her way down, or with a leg poking out between the bars. Dan said one night when he went in to check on her while she was screaming one of her legs was sticking out of her crib. It makes me sad to think what she could have been dreaming about.

They are starting to be more chatty too. In the morning, Elyse usually wakes first, it's talk talk talk talk talk, coo coo coo coo coo, ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh. We let them talk for about 15 minutes before we go get them. It is by far the best way to start a day.

like weeds and the holidays

The girls are growing like weeds!! They will be 4 months old on 11/28, so that is next week, and they are out of their 6 month pjs!!! Elyse's hair started growing sooner than Tamsin's and over the last 3 days or so Tam Tam's hair started coming in too.

Typically I hate the holidays, and even this year I am really anxious about them with all the added pressure to cart the kids everywhere. But this year I feel different, I am looking forward to Christmas excitement and decorating for the girls. I am happy, I want to have Christmas with the girls, I am not dreading it quite as much. I have my friend Heather to thank for a lot of this, her enthusiasm for Christmas- and even Disney world- are rubbing off on me and helping me change. It is a change I am happy about.

I am excited for Thanksgiving...

I am but I am more excited to listen to Alice's Restaurant for the first time with Elyse and Tamsin. Dan and I are excited to start that new tradition of singing along with the girls.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

sleep and napping

For the past week and a half the girls have been sleeping through the night. I really think this is it!! I am so thankful that they are doing this. I think some of it has to do with being consistent, no matter where we are we give them their last bottle around 7 or 7:30 and then it is off to bed. 

They wake between 5 and 6. This has to be my favorite part of the day because they wake kicking, smiling and talking! I keep telling myself to record it one morning because it is soooo cute!!!

Unfortunately -for me and getting thing accomplished during the day- they don't nap for hours at a time. They cat nap all day long which is why they get cranky if we spend the entire day out of the house. The only extra sleep they will take is after their first bottle of the day, they will sleep for another hour, which is when I am typing this. 

Being consistent and putting myself and what I want to do second is hard. It has been an adjustment and I have to say to myself "Nicole, you have to leave now because the girls have to go home and go to bed." or "Nicole, you can't spend the whole day out, you have to go home because you know staying out all day doing errands throws the girls off and makes them cranky." 

a visit to Suffolk

The ladies and I went to Suffolk today to say goodbye to everyone. It was a bittersweet day, I am so sad to be leaving friends I love, a job I love in a place I love. I know I made the right decision but it feels like a death. The girls were a big hit so that made things easier for me. 

2006-2012!

roast beef hands, chatty cathys and sandy

On the developmental front Tamsin and Elyse are getting real personalities! We thought Tamsin would be my twin and more my speed and Elyse would be Dan's twin. Well we had it backwards; both are happy babies but Tam Tam takes a few seconds longer to warm up, Pie Pie is alert and ready to smile at all times.

They are also eating their hands; I always say "Do they taste like roast beef?" and they are talking up a storm!

For their first Halloween they are Tootsie Rolls, Elyse is in the pink, Tamsin is in the polka dots.

We hunkered down at Nona and Pa's during Sandy. Check us out, Elyse is in the white  walker/halloween pjs and Tamsin is in the orange walker/pink pjs.

the 5 option multiple choice quiz

elyse woke fussing at 3 this morning, i got up and went in to see her.

what should i do to stop this?
a. change her bum
b. feed her
c. rock her
d. put her on vibrate in the swing
e. leave her in her bed and soothe her there

i opted for a then e then c and finally d.

d was the correct answer

been up since 4:50

I think that the ladies have turned the corner and are sleeping through the night! 

This morning I heard them stirring and I got up for them at 4:50am, I went in turned on the soft light and stared at them for a few minutes. They were not awake just making sleeping noises, perhaps they were dreaming. 

And now I sit awake waiting for my girls. I am so excited to see them, it is like Christmas morning for me, in fact every morning is Christmas morning for me now. 

r.i.p. my brain

im going back through the blog and reading a lot of spelling and wrong word mistakes. it is embarrassing!

and now for something completely different

well it is official i am not returning to work outside the home; i am now a work-at-home mom. i have talked to other moms who remind me that being at home is work, tough work and to start thinking about myself as not returning to work outside the home. does that make sense?

and boy is it a lot of work!

it is slightly scary going down to one paycheck but God is blessing us and reminding us how he has provided for us and will continue to do so in the future. here are a few examples of God's amazing timing and provision:

in march when we found out it was twins i met donna on the train. she has 4 year old twin boys and when i met her she was cleaning out all of their baby stuff. she gave us great advice and a ton of baby stuff.

over the summer our friends with girls gave us their hand me downs. i spent this weekend putting away and organizing all of it; tamsin and elyse will not need any clothes until they are 18 months!!

over the summer Dan was promoted.

and finally on the day i told my boss i was not coming back to work Dan was promoted again!

Luke 12:27-31:
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."

have you heard the news?

diaper shortage possible after Japanese explosion. 
im so glad i am doing cloth diapers!!!

the girls' first deangelo party and how i have scarred my poor children

we had an action packed weekend starting with the traditional friday night sleepover. when we picked them up we went straight to mendon to visit with jess (my college roommate) and her daughter tessa (who was born on 7/7). then we hit the carter's store at the wrentham outlets. i hate the outlets but we got pie and tam some very necessary long sleeved shirts and pants. after shopping dan dropped me and the ladies back at my parents to get ready for nanna's birthday party that night. 

saturday night the girls had their first deangelo party!!!! pizza and fried dough for nanna. they enjoyed everyone and everyone enjoyed them. it was a late night but a good one. 

sunday morning i went to the alzheimers walk with dad. dan, mum, tam and pie met us at nanna's after and they enjoyed their second deangelo party and their first party/feast at nanna's. she made filet mignon, pork, lamb, chicken, hot dogs, string beans, zucchini, broccoli, and salad. dan and i were pooped so we left early to go home and sleep but the girls stayed there with my parents. 

tuesday the girls had their hips checked at south shore hospital. good news is that they are fine both sets of hips are in their sockets and look good! thank God! bad news is i feel awful! i knew choosing uncommon names may lead to problems- specifically tamsin being called tammy, but i never foresaw the following: tasmin and elsie. im dyslexic so i know what its like to mix up letters.  every time the nurses called us it was for tasmin and elsie. my poor girls are going to be called tasmin and elsie by people who dont know them!

oh yeah we also started our cloth diapers today!!

getting to know you

we held tam tam and pie pie facing each other one night to see if they interacted at all. they didnt do anything earth shattering but it was cute! top gear is on in the background, its kinda like brittian's version of click and clack.

a day of firsts

well elyse and tamsin had their second friday night sleepover an nona and pa's, so that means mum and papa had their second full night of sleep. at my parents i lived it up with some wine and cac for dinner (chocolate almond chip ice cream) and when we left their house we went to peaceful meadows for more ice cream. dan's car has satellite radio and every once in a while sirius will give you free radio, so we rocked out to the 90s stations- 90s pop and 90s alt rock. as we were driving around i was thinking "man i am so cool, look at me jamming out to house of pain. i am a cool mum"- which instantly disqualifies me as cool.

we decided to go apple picking after picking up the girls. at my parents i changed them in to their first pair of pants, shoes and socks. (thats 4 firsts there)

apple picking was great and i am more than a little crazy as you can see from the photos below. 

thanks to the woman who took this photo for us!

this is our parents of the year photo

mum had tamsin and took this crazy photo

tamsin managed to get only one shoe off

elyse kicked her shoes and socks off 

i love baby toots

our girls are wicked gassy; we're talking you can't tell if it was me dan the dogs or the girls gassy.

success!!!

success story 1:
we made it to church. can i tell you how much we love our church?! i have never been part of a church that loves. truly loves! we are so thankful for the body at south shore baptist, so many people have ministered to us, prayed for us and encouraged us (in ways we probably dont even know about). we left the girls in the nursery and sat in the sanctuary. it felt so good and refreshing to be at church!

success story 2:
elyse and tamsin had their first bath yesterday, unfortunately we didnt get or try to take any photos. maneuvering slippery babies was tough and to try to take photos while doing that would have been perilous! elyse did really well, no crying, i think she enjoyed it, she was very relaxed. so relaxed she peed in the tub. no biggie. tamsin cried a little, no pee.

success story 3:
today i left the house by myself!!! what what! yep took the girls to babies r'us to do a return and then to derby street to try to find myself a new pair of sneakers. my feet are a mess after having the girls, they have gone up one full size! i didnt get a pair but i did get my one chicken taco with black, brown, corn and tomato salsa, sour cream, cheese and lettuce for lunch.

First outing with mum and papa

Dan and I took Tam tam and Pie pie out for the first time yesterday (They've been out with me and their nonaninu last week). We took them to Derby Street and enjoyed Chipotle, returns at Kohls, ice cream at Cold Stone (thanks for the gift card Uncle Johnny!), and Barnes and Noble. We are experiencing the joys of parenting twins- the best and worst part are the stares and comments. We love the comments from other twins or parents of twins; everyone is so encouraging- "You can do it! It's so hard, I'll be honest but you can do it." I hate the gawking and "Are they twins?" "Oh you have your hands full." "Double trouble." We are not freaks people! If you want to comment tell us our kids are beautiful, wish us luck and move along!

peaceful love

everyone talks about this overwhelming love when you first hold and meet your babies. dan and i talked about this experience and compared notes. we both agree that we have and had something more complex, we didnt have this explosion of love, we received this peaceful calm love, like a cool breeze. i think because we loved and prayed for the girls so much before they arrived that once we held and had them we had this peace that our family was whole.

elusive sleep

up until 4 nights ago the girls had been sleeping fairly ok during the night; just getting up to feed or be changed, but then they started to become very fussy, nothing really calms them down. for the most part it is just lysee pie squawking, neither rocking nor pacifier work to permanently quiet her down. we end up just staying awake holding her which left us extremely fatigued. thankfully nonaninu stayed over last night; we both fed, burped, and changed the girls/elyse but she stayed awake with them/elyse while they fussed. its amazing how much more sleep i got even though i was up 4 times for feedings and changings.

i just remind myself that God has entrusted me with these little lives and it is my privilege and honor to raise them.

The First Few Weeks. Elyse (twin A) is in the yellow and Tamsin (twin B) is in the purple.

                        At the Hospital

Check out time!

All set to go home and meet Jack and Lina!

First day at home! Visits from grandparents and great grandparents!

Two little monkeys

 Quiet time with Mum and Papa