Nine Month Old Twins!!

The babies turned nine months old on Tuesday, and I still can’t believe it.  I mean, they’ve been on the outside longer than they were on the inside.  They’re growing so fast!!

I took them outside in the morning for some pictures, then shot some more inside later in the day.  I got a few cute ones!!  It’s so nice to be able to photograph them sitting up on their own.  Such cuties!

I’ll post some tidbits about their nine month old selves after (among?) the pictures.  I love being able to look back on these updates.

I love this one of Michael looking up at me.  Thomas was busy tasting grass.

But he looked up at me later.  I brought a step stool out to the front yard for this.

A magical one of them both looking at me! Michael isn’t super sturdy in his core yet. :)

I saw a shot like this on Facebook somewhere, and I just had to recreate it.  There was only one baby in that one though.  :)

It was hard to keep both the babies and the stuffed animals upright.  I was glad for my (out of frame) helpers. 

I think this one of Thomas looking back is so sweet.

The monkey made it into a shot.  (I guess that would make this three monkeys.)

Thomas is crawling!

Michael is not! Though, he was the first to get up on all fours.  He’s just still there though.  Gotta be honest – I’m pretty glad they’re easing me into having two mobile babies.  Oy!

Tuesday night I happened to be headed out to a friend’s baby shower, hence the hair straightened, make-up on, not in PJs momma shot here.

Time sure does fly, am I right? (In the above, Thomas is on the left; below he’s on the right.)

Allllllllll right… Here’s everything can think of about these babes, off the top of my head.

• Thomas is bigger than Michael, and we’ll find out by how much tomorrow at their appointment.
• Thomas is crawling.  He can go everywhere.
• I am constantly fishing things out of Thomas’ mouth.  He picks up every tiny thing from the floor.  The worst thing I’ve fished out so far is a dead June bug.  Ew.
• They both can laugh and laugh and laugh.  Their laughs sound very different, as do their cries.  The big three are still better than Matt and me at telling who is who by their noises.  :)
• Thomas is wearing 12 month clothes, though he can squeeze into some 6-9 month and even a few 3-6 month, depending on the brand and style.
• Michael comfortably wears 6-9 months, though can also still wear some 3-6 month and doesn’t swim too much in the 12 month clothes.
• They are more and more content to scoot/roll/crawl around and play with toys on the floor.
• They can be happily playing but see me and need to hold me RIGHT NOW.
• Thomas still loves his solid food, though actually not as much in the last week or so.
• Michael has gotten to be a great eater in the last week or so.
• They both prefer to feed themselves.  They especially love getting to pick up little pieces of things (versus taking bites off of a larger piece) and shove them in.
• We have a typical pattern to our day, which is thus: Wake in the early morning (usually between 3:30-5:30), nurse, go back to sleep.  Sometime one or both have trouble going back to sleep and basically, that sucks.  Wake in the morning (usually between 6:30-7:30), nurse, play, eat breakfast food, play, nurse again, play, nap (often around 10). This has the potential to be their best nap, but it could also just be an hour. Wake, nurse, play, eat lunch food, play, nurse again, play, nap (often 2 or 3 but occasionally later, especially if we’re out and they manage not to fall asleep on the way home). Wake, nurse, play, eat dinner food, play, nurse again, get ready for bed, and go to bed around 7:00.  It’s been about two weeks of this kind of schedule, and I kinda like it.  Anytime I’ve written “play,” it could actually mean be held by mommy, sit with a big sister, have the diaper changed, cry for awhile, but it could really be play as well.  :)
• Thomas has always been impossible to get to sleep away from his bed, but Michael’s getting pretty bad as well.  It’s okay though because they’re to the point that they can be distracted and still kept kind of happyish while they wait to sleep at home or in the car.
• I get the feeling they each think the other is kind of annoying.
• Joanna truly can make them happy, just like a parent.  It’s adorable.
• Thomas is very sad when he hears loud noises like the vacuum or grain mill. That’s a problem because I need to vacuum all of the things so he won’t eat them.
• Okay… I’m continuing this almost 24 hours later.  The power went out last night for a bit (craaaaazy storm!) so I couldn’t post, and I’m just now getting back to it.  We’ve since been to the pediatrician for the babies 9 month well-check.
• Michael is 14lbs 9.5oz and 26 inches long.  His head circumference is 17.99 inches.  He is suuuuuper scrawny.  In fact, he’s only bigger than Joanna was at this age, and we all know she was very uber super scrawny.
• Thomas is 17lbs 11oz and 26.5 inches long.  His head circumference is also 17.99 inches.
• I would like to think I am the poster-child for YOUR MILK IS FINE! even if you have a scrawny baby.  Clearly, it’s the baby’s fault.  :)
• Michael has been referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist (of which there are none in the surrounding about 25 miles – boo) since his left eye is still goopy.  Since it’s Friday afternoon, I feel perfectly good about putting that off until next week.
• According to their doc, these are some developmental things they should work on: waving, clapping, crawling, and pulling up.
• Dr. Harper noticed with his flashlight that Thomas’ top gums are mighty swollen, so I bet we can expect some top teeth soon.  That may also explain his decreased desire for solid food lately.
• They are both just the delights of our hearts, and we love them soooooo much!!

Swimming at Aunt Mindy’s!

Last weekend Aunt Mindy and Uncle Steve invited us over for swimming and dinner.  We had a blast!

I loaded the car full of baby gadgets, including the go-pods.  This is Michael.

This is Joanna, the fish.

Natalie looooved this!

Thomas was grouchy and did not want to chill in his go-pod.  I wasn’t intending for the boys and me to swim, but it was sooooo hot, and the water looked sooooo inviting.  So we got suited up!

I would have bet money the babies weren’t going to like the pool.

I would have lost.

They loved it!

Thomas was sturdy enough for the baby float, and Michael enjoyed laying on my chest as I laid on the floaty.  It was sooooooo nice.  Steve had just installed a shade over most of the pool, and it was heavenly.

You can see James in his favorite get-up for the afternoon.  He loved swimming “all by himself.”

After we got our fill of swimming, we got dried off and changed, and Uncle Steve grilled burgers and dogs.  Yum!!

We sat outside and enjoyed dinner and company.  It was lovely!  The kiddos enjoyed playing around the pool, being watched like hawks of course.  I’m glad I didn’t have to fish any of them out.

Adorable, yes?

The babies did really well, even though we stayed past their bedtime.  And then they had a great night of sleep – wahoo for swimming!!

Mostly some TWO cuteness!

The other day I was home alone with the boys and they were GROSS after eating lunch, so I decided to do a double sink bath.  I filled up the sinks while they were still sitting in their highchairs, then I grabbed one in each arm and plopped them in.

Isn’t that adorable?!

In hindsight I might have had diapers and another towel close-by, but we managed! I pulled one out, drained the water in both sinks, wrapped the one I had in a towel in my arms then somehow grabbed the other one and put him in the towel in my arms as well.  And also, clearly, I had a finger or two left over for a selfie.  :)

Both of these onesies were passed all the way down from Joanna.  I bought the on on Thomas in Galveston, and my mom bought the one Michael’s wearing up in New England somewhere.  It says “Don’t bother me. I’m crabby,” which was rather a Joanna-ish kind of thing.  All my children have worn these!

And this doesn’t actually have to do with the twins, but I’m sticking it here anyway.  Joanna grabbed my Musikgarten binder so she could be the teacher.  She doesn’t actually read music yet, but she has all of it memorized.  :)  Fun!

(Oh, and you can see Natalie’s brace!)

Arm Updated

I haven’t gotten around to doing a post about Natalie’s arm since she broke it, but I know I’ll want to have all this information on the blog.  So I’m going to try and do a quick update!

On Thursday June 26th, after she broke it on Monday the 23rd, we went to Fondren Orthopedics to have her arm looked at and casted.

Here she is just in the splint from the ER.

The x-rays from Fondren.

The doc said it looked good, that the little jutting out part was fine.  It would form a little bone ball (my words, not his) around it as it healed anyway.

She chose a purple cast.

Looking back, I can see it was still pretty swollen that day.

She was a pretty fabulous patient, I’d say.

All done!

And the next day or so:

We went back two weeks later, on July 10th to check on it.

We didn’t realize it, but the cast had gotten quite loose as the swelling on her arm went down.  The doc pulled the cast right off!

Looks pretty good!

She was pretty excited to have her whole cast to get to take home.  :)

Another x-ray.  (Looks about the same to me, but I didn’t go to medical school.) :)

It was chilly.

The doc suggested a water-proof brace for the remaining three weeks, and we said “sure!” It’s been nice for her to be able to go swimming and take regular baths/showers.  I seem to have neglected to take a picture of the brace, but I’m sure it’ll show up on the blog sometime.  She’s had it for two weeks already. We go back in another week to check it again (and hopefully be all done!)  She truly has been a trooper though.

I’ll leave you with James checking out the newest piece of dress-up at the Pence house:

Day in the Life in July

Despite being sure I had the calendar on my iPod set up to remind me as soon as I woke up on the 8th about it being Day in the Life… it didn’t happen.  That is, of course, because I did NOT have it set up correctly.  The problem has since been rectified.  That said, the first picture is from noon. 

Before then…

1am: I woke up with a cough.  I think my fan was hitting me in the face and drying out my throat.  I went to the bathroom and right back to sleep, facing the other way.

4am: Woke up, Matt brought me the babies to nurse, and I browsed Facebook on my iPod.  I was in and out of sleep until

7:15, when James needed help in the bathroom.  We snuggled a few minutes in my bed before the babies needed me.

7:30: I nursed the babies on the couch.  Then I made myself a plate of leftover Chinese food for breakfast.  I sat on the floor and ate it with the babes.

We went into the nursery and sorted through the bigger baby clothes for some summer 12 month sized things.  Then I got the babies changed into their matching race car duds.  James was a little sad he didn’t have one to wear. :)

8:50: I put the babies down for a  nap.  Poor Michael fussed and did not want to give it up.  He did though.

Then I made myself a bagel and James some yogurt for our second breakfast.

I sat on the couch and read a little Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone (Anybody else reread all of these from time to time?)  I crashed at some point while James played on the floor.

9:50: Lisa texted me that she would bring my girls home at 10:30. (I bet you were wondering why I hadn’t mentioned them!)

10:15: Michael woke up and we hung out.

10:30: The girls came home – yaaaaaaayyyyy!!

10:35: I had to wake up Thomas since Michael was grouchy and ready for some milk.  I nursed them.

11:00: I decided to pack everyone in the car to grab burgers for the bigs and a Dr. Pepper for me.  I was SO TIRED.

When we got home the babies played in their exersaucers while the kids ate.  I’m also positive I made them apples or something healthy to go with their burgers.

At 11:50 we were playing in the nursery and folding diapers when I realized it was the 8th! (That’s when I took the way above picture of Thomas)

12:10: I laid the babies down for a nap.  At 12:30 Michael finally stopped fussing.  At 12:40 Thomas started fussing.  I went in and tried to settle him.  He eventually went back to sleep.

12:20: Joanna and I caught up on some school reading on the couch.

Natalie and James played dolls and trains on the floor.

At 1:00 I fixed myself another little plate of leftover Chinese food for lunch.

1:10: Michael was up so I sent Joanna in to talk to him while I finished eating.

1:40: Both babies were up and I nursed them.

2:10: I fixed myself some yogurt and granola while the babies played. (In addition to being super tired, I was also ravenously hungry that day.  Well, it’s been most of the week now.)

2:30: Diaper time!

Often I lay one baby in a crib while I change the other one, then swap ‘em.

Thomas was happy in the crib so I left him there.  Then I curled up with a boppy pillow.  Sooooo tired, remember?

We all played in the nursery for quite a while.  James got the biggest kick out of coming over and laying on top of me.

I’m guessing Michael was getting grouchy at this point which is why I’m holding him. (But I also wasn’t taking the best notes at this point, so I’m not sure.)

I think I put the babies down for a nap about 3:30.  Around then Matt came home to change clothes and brush his teeth for an appointment about his implant tooth.

I remember being pretty crashed out on the couch when he left at 4 for his appointment.

At 4:45 I made the big kids each a s’more.

Big hit.  Really big hit.

At 4:50 the babies were up and I nursed them.

Matt came home at 5:30ish.  I did a little computer work, adjusting our budget and online payments and whatnot.  I just had an urge to get all that done, and it felt great!

The babies must have been playing on the floor while I did that.

At 6:00 I made a kids a quick snacky dinner of popcorn and smoothies.

Another big hit.  The smoothies were full of frozen fruit, full-fat Greek yogurt, raw milk, and spinach.  Good stuff!

I nursed the babies at 6:15 and Matt got them ready for bed and down about 6:50.

I’ll tell you what true love is, folks.  It’s letting your wife eat the rest of the leftover Chinese food for dinner.  He’s a keeper.

At some point the man even made himself some eggs and toast for his own dinner.  I can’t remember whether it was before or after the big kids went to bed at 7:30.  They went to sleep pretty easily.  The girls were very tired from staying up way too late at the sleepover.  :)

Matt and I watched television for awhile.  We likely also ate ice cream or something.

At 10:30 I was headed to bed.  A good day!