Cloth, Crafting, and Carrots

The winds are blowing in a new direction...ish. Our babies are sleeping a bit better, we're down to one wake-up a night and a nice, early bedtime (with a nice, early morning to follow). We're getting the occasional warm day, usually followed by a blizzard, but still allowing us enough sunshine to raise our moods! Recently during one particularly nice day I decided to try sunning my cloth diapers. They haven't been too stained yet but I wanted to take the opportunity to get them out in the fresh air for a good couple of hours. I have yet to rig up a real clothesline, and am slightly stumped as to how to accomplish this without attracting Samson's attention too much, but here is my makeshift diaper-sunning contraption:

It was about this time that my neighbor stuck her head out the window and shouted: "Look at you, Green Mama!" Sure, call me Green, but it'd be more accurate to call me Cheap. :)
Another "hobby" I've taken up, or rather, gone back to, is crafting. It's been a life-long passion of mine and I'm so happy to have the time to devote to the occasional project. Recently I got all nostalgic and decided to remake a childhood favorite: The BooBoo Bunny. They are easy, made from a washcloth, ribbon, googly eyes, and a few pom poms. I've gifted one to every baby born in the last five months (that's 9, by the way) and a few other choice kiddos. AND sold two to friends who want to give them as their own baby shower gifts. The finished product:
I actually had a ton of super fun colors, brights and neons, but those are the ones I gifted first so these are the leftover more realistic bunny colors.
Sometimes I start projects just because I can't believe how simple they would be to make and how much they sell for if you buy one at a boutique. I usually like to put my own spin on them as well, so here are my "burpies," burp cloths crossed with taggies:
I've found so many fun snuggle flannels lately, and most of the stores have them 50% off or more. I listed them on my Etsy shop and included some previews of other fabrics:

Purple Gingham:Circles:
Tribal:
Fancy Hearts:

And last but not least, having a daughter only makes my obsession with making hair pretties all the more fun. Here is a little "nest" I made and named after my oldest niece Raegan. It just looked like her and I think it's best to list items on Etsy with real names rather than just a description:

This flower is appropriately named "Evelyn" as I made it for her to wear in her Grandma's wedding this weekend:

Last but not least I've continued on with the baby-food-making saga that started this summer with two bushel barrels of peaches (shared with the neighbors). This week I made carrots, sweet potatos, and bought some pears to get started with those. It's so easy and cheap and I'm loving my Cuisinart stick blender! I'll try to take some pictures later and post those but usually I'm scrambling to fit the baby-food-making in between naps so I'm not as leisurely in my picture-taking.

In other news, we've been braving lots of cold weather around here and Evelyn begged to be let out in the snow in her snowsuit:

Happy Friday!!

Love Day

Sometimes I wish Andy and I were a bit more gung-ho about Valentines Day. We might go out for dinner later this week, and I think he sent me flowers one year, but that's about as good as it gets for us. I could probably make a bigger deal of it but then I'd wind up with a double standard- I want him to think of something romantic but I'm not all that creative when it comes to this particular holiday either so...spending the day with the two cutest Valentines I've ever seen was good enough for me. One day when they are older I'll put together candy and cards for all my loves, but since Daddy is away at work today we did a little photo shoot with some felt hearts and cute diapers to "celebrate." :)

Mommy's Valentine

Mommy's Other Valentine

We LOVE our cloth diapers. Happy to be back in them after 2 weeks off...

Sending love to all our friends and family!

And as promised, Eli lovin' his carrots!

Things That Are Cute

A blog post about things I find cute...
1) Say what you will about pacifiers but there is nothing cuter than a baby suck suck sucking on a binky. The wide eyes staring at you while their little mouths make the paci bob in and out in rapid succession...it's just cute. So is a little girl that loves her binky so much she holds it between two fingers through a feeding, diaper change, and half a bath. AND spends an inordinate amount of time concentrating on how to get it back in her mouth when it's fallen out during tummy time or in the carseat only to end up simply licking it since she can't always get it turned around and back in her mouth properly.
2) I think Elijah ate a whole carrot yesterday. It was pureed into a mashy goodness of course and packaged in a 39 cent jar from meijer, but he LOVED that carrot. No airplane spooning needed here, he simply opened his mouth wide every time the spoon came near his mouth and wolfed it down. To finish things off he sucked the remainder off his bib, fingers, and mommy's fingers. I should have offered him the ends of my hair come to think of it since carrot ended up there too.... (pictures later)
3) Morning playtime. It starts when the kids wake up and start talking to themselves in their crib, continues when I put both kids in one crib to hang out while we change clothes/diapers etc. and is culminated with Evelyn in the jumper and Elijah in the exersaucer facing each other and grinning/talking/squealing until it's time for breakfast.
4) Elijah sleeping. I know every mom probably thinks the same thing about their child, but this kid looks seriously angelic when he sleeps. Don't get me wrong, Evie is adorable when she's tuckered out, but Eli looks like he might have just drifted down off a cloud and landed wherever he's sleeping...
5) Kids falling asleep during activities such as a doorway jumper. Evelyn- almost mid jump yesterday -nodded off right in the seat. Then she woke up momentarily and jumped like there was no tomorrow...then nodded off again...

That's all for now, maybe next time I'll write about matching outfits, giant flowers on hats, and bare baby feet....

Kissin' My Sister and Eatin' Big Eats

"Hi Sister." "Hi Brother."

"I think you need a kiss."

"Hm...this is kinda weird."

"HELP! He's eating my face!"

"Look, I can do it too." Eli: "Oh man.."

"Seriously, do you know what we've just done!?"
"I'm so embarrased."

"But your cheek tastes kinda good."
"Who knew we had so much flavor!"
"Eli, do you think we'll regret this when we're older. This isn't one of those photos mom will pull out when when we bring dates home, is it?"

Evelyn: "Mom, you won't do that right? Especially because I have a big booger in my nose."

Elijah: "I'm pretty sure she would..."

In Other News:
We tried Oatmeal Cereal today...

Evie's first tastes

Elijah's first tastes.

Andy decided pouring might be faster, Eli seemed game.

"Gimme that bowl, I can do it myself."

"Yum."

"You got anymore of that stuff?!"

Four Months

Remember this picture?

I do, vaguely...it was a rough time, full of adjustments, crazy mama hormones, at least 24 dirty diapers a day, trying to make nursing work under the demand of 12 feedings (or more!) a day, and lots of crying, especially by me. Oh and the fleas...lets not forget the fleas...uhg.
I was thinking today about how four months can seem so long and yet so short at the same time. For instance if I'd owned a car for four months I'd still say it was new. Same with a house. And you're still definitely newlyweds after four months of marriage. But at the same time four months with your babies can seem like a lifetime. (I suppose it IS their lifetime but that's just nitpicking). Maybe it's because we spend 24-hours a day together but it seems like those days when we brought them home and they needed to be constantly swaddled, were easily carried around two at a time, needed paci-pushing every 15 minutes all night, and ate every 2 hours around the clock was waaaaay longer than four months ago. I also know (because people tell me so) that in a year I won't even remember the first four months. I'm sure it's true, I can already see it happening, but my oh my is time just funny that way. When you in it, time drags, when you're looking back, you find yourself wondering how in the world it flew by so fast.
Anyways, since I'm not the mom who took pictures each week or month of her babies' lives and made the cute album displaying their changes day by day (I'll play the multiples card here) I decided today was a good time to take a look back.
Because my camera got fixed so I actually have pictures to compare.
Because my kids are now going to bed at 7:30pm and I actually have time to myself at night.

Because Andy is flying and I don't have anyone else to talk to!
Here are some thoughts the day after my babies officially turned four months:

Elijah Timothy:
Eli is my "touchy baby." When he's happy he is very happy, shrieking with delight and squirming all over the place. When he's angry he is very angry, he works himself into a sweat and gulps for air between ear-piercing screams. He has his own unique "Elijah" look, he is such a little man. I love him in overalls, his hair is tinged red. His eyes are just slightly darker than his sister's. He's long and thin, with long fingers and toes. He's his father's child. He can be easily distracted but also incredibly focused on the tiniest thing. He loves to talk. Though we knew it was purely coincidence, during the Christmas Eve Service he said "Hi" clear as a bell. All we could do was look at him and say "Hi" back. He doesn't appear to need as much sleep as I'd like, and gets very angry when we try to put him to sleep when he's not ready. For a long time he had to be swaddled only to decided at about 2 months that he hated being restricted even though his jerking limbs woke him up constantly. He became a tummy-sleeper. He's my snuggler and when he does finally collapse into sleep he's out like a light. Sometimes he sleeps with his eyes a little open. Eating has always been hard for him, nursing never quite worked, and even finding the correct balance of formula thickness to bottle flow was important. He can be picky, but once we find what works he is one happy camper! Eating habits do not affect his desire to try to put everything in his mouth, especially blankets. He ends up in bed with me more often than his sister.

Evelyn Hope:

Evelyn is physically exactly what I always pictured a child of mine would look like: blonde, barely-there hair, chunky, blue eyes, big smiles. She has her daddy's exact head shape, a collection of stork bites on the back of her neck, and one on her bum. She is my easy-sleeper and binky-baby. Put her in her crib, on her tummy, with a paci in her mouth, and she will try to sleep. Hold her too long when she wants to sleep and she gets annoyed. She enjoyed sleeping on her side from the start, even swaddled, and moved on to tummy sleeping when she stopped liking the swaddle. She was my easy nurser, good eater, generally easy-going baby. She has a huge, face-splitting smile for anyone and everyone. In her bed she scooches her little self right up to the top of the crib until her head is pressed into the headboard. She loves "Chunky Train," and has her daddy wrapped around her finger. Between cousins and friends she has more clothes than I do and looks adorable in all of them. She loves the jumper, even though only her toes touch the floor. Daddy likes to cuddle with her and if she ever ends up in our bed at night it is usually because Daddy didn't want to put her down. She has a way of glancing at people, then registering that she knows them, and turning her full, undying interest on them. It's comical to watch.

Milestones (mostly for my benefit later). At four months both babies can:

Babble, using some consonants. Lift their heads and about half their bodies off the floor while on their tummies, laugh out loud, smile responsively. They sleep from about 7:30pm-3:30/4am, and then until 7 or 8am. They hate their carseats. They hold hands and suck on each other's fingers. When they see each other they smile and talk. They love bathtime and watching TV. They love watching ceiling fans. They have both rolled over one way, and are getting better about waking happy in their cribs and entertaining themselves for longer periods of time. They are wonderful :)

Thank Yous and Nakey Pics

What would I do without my friends (and family!) that are willing to come over and hang out with me and the E's when Andy is gone? Some of the regulars are my mom, cousin Julie, friend Cassie, and Anna (my MomsBloom Volunteer who now says she'll come on her own time if I need her). I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has and continues to help us navigate the world of twins! The babies love all of them so it's good times all around!

It seems we are moving towards a 7/7:30pm bedtime, which is fine by me although it means Thing 1 and Thing 2 are often up around 7am. It's not that 7am is all that early, it's just that I enjoyed being able to get up at 7 and have an hour or so if I needed it to get myself ready in the morning. However, lately they've been waking up happy and playing in their cribs or nicely in a bouncy for awhile before demanding food so I guess that works too :)

Tonight after bathtime they were especially happy so we snapped a few changing table "nakey" pics:

Elijah and his tiny buns.
Evelyn, a little more modest in a diaper. (Disposable because of the medication they are taking...boo!)

Eli loving his towel.

Laughing baby! It's always good to end with a smile :)

Photoshoot

"Hi Mom!"

"I Love You"
"You love me too, right?"
"Are you sure? I know I've been a lot of work lately."

"I look good in camo."
"Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal..."
"Just wait till I'm a teenager."
"HI MOM!"
"I see you have that camera thing out again."
"Good thing it's all fixed now because I've got some extra chins I wanna show off."

"This here's my favorite, I call it 'Big Double.'"
"Hee hee, good, huh?!"
"By the way, there isn't like, a huge flower eating my head, is there?"