The Twins at Four Months

Anders at four months: 16 lbs. and 26 1/4 inches

Hadley at four months: 15 lbs., 8 oz. and 25 1/4 inches

 Hadley has started to get frowny/whiny when we walk away from her and out of her eyeline. She is definitely a baby who feeds off of attention--when anyone makes eye contact, she lights up like that person's the best thing that ever happened to her. As you can imagine, it makes us all want to lock eyes with her as much as possible.

 Anders needs to figure out what you're doing for half a second before he engages in a smiling match; then he gets pretty grinny. He's always startled easily, but now he must feel safe enough to find it funny instead of scary, so we can lean in and say "Boo!" to make his body jump--and then he laughs.

The twins take turns in the Bjorn, the Exersaucer and the Jumperoo these days, but they remain in the Table for Two for basically all their bottles and they're swaddled and in their Rock 'n' Plays for naps and nighttime.

 They've begun to hold hands on purpose throughout the day, and it seems like instinct--they look befuddled when they are grasping each other, but they still seem to get some comfort from it even if they don't know why.

 Since these pictures were taken (on Monday 3/24 to be exact), the twins suddenly went down to two naps a day. I wasn't expecting it yet, but they just took a slightly late morning nap and then a slightly long afternoon nap, and there was no time for a third before they went to bed for the night! Their current schedule is:

7:30-wake up
9:30-11:30 nap
1:30-3:30 nap
7:15-go to sleep

This is so much better because it allows me to feed them at 11:30 and pack everyone up in relative good spirits to pick up whichever boy(s) needs getting. I also did a couple of dropoffs with everyone in the morning--it's less fun because there's SO much that needs to get done simultaneously between waking up and getting out the door, but it's still possible! A whole new world!

We are...not inconspicuous. 

Belatedly: Bridget is Two!

We woke Bridget up with the traditional (in our house) birthday balloons--although I think we're going to have to stop getting one per year of life since we now have FIVE kids and next year that means SIXTEEN balloons? No thanks! She barely woke up while we sang Happy Birthday to her in bed, but the sight of her muffin with a candle in it was all it took.

Our family party was small, since Dave couldn't make it home for dinner and we figured we'd be celebrating more energetically that weekend with her friends (which ended up getting postponed).

Auntie Kerry came over and gave her a beautiful dress and some snuggle time to Anders:

Sisters!

Big girl bed! 

Bridge has the patience for only a few pages of any of these stories,
but her brothers LOVE the Jake stories and the Sofia ones...
and I sheepishly admit that I get excited to read the princess ones, too.

Ballerina sheets!

A cozy coupe! (She looooves ride-on toys)

The engineers get to work

Beautiful girl

This picture sums up Bridget's personality perfectly.

We had to push back the "friend party" one week because the birthday girl had a rogue throw-up incident the Thursday night prior and we didn't want to risk spreading it. (A runny nose? Fine. Vomit? Better safe than sorry.)

B. got a dog theme for the second year in a row (Ceci laughed at me for my compulsion to make everything themed) so I ordered these adorable mom (or dad!) dogs holding puppies in their mouths, and then I ordered dog bone cookie cutters and made sugar cookies and tied them around the dogs' necks like very strange Ziploc bag collars. I was going to take it a step further and tie in something about "doggie bags" but...even I have a line past which I just don't have time for this, even when it's related to the theme!

Bridget with James

Bridget with Paige

Bridget with Charlotte

With Jude in an Anywhere chair built for two

We had a great time that entire week (and a half). I think the twins will be lucky if we throw them a party before they are five, but maybe that's just the post-birthday-season fatigue talking. I'll probably be all revved up for a new bunch of themes by the time November rolls around!

Literally

"Mom, how funny is this? The San Jose Sharks shark is eating a hockey stick!"

"Well, that's silly! How are they going to play hockey if the shark eats all the hockey sticks? Shouldn't they be eating something else?"

"No. Mom. THEY aren't sharks. They're PEOPLE. The shark is a SYMBOL."

A Day in the Life

This is a typical weekday for us with roughly: 1x5.5yo, 1x4yo, 1x2yo and 2x4mo kids.

6:30 a.m. I wake up to a combination of sun through our big, as-yet-unshaded bedroom windows and some mild baby squawking. I scrub up, get dressed and head downstairs to boil water for oatmeal and coffee.

7 a.m. Dave brings the twins downstairs and begins to feed them their 8-oz bottles. 

7:15: The boys shuffle sleepily out of their bedroom on the first floor; one of us goes up to let Bridget out of her cage/room.

Everyone eats breakfast (oatmeal, yogurt, bananas, milk, vitamins for the older kids).

7:45: The boys wash up and get dressed. A grownup gets Bridget dressed and wrangles her hair into pigtails. The bigger kids play while the babies get burped, changed, or put in bouncy seats or the table for two and people-watch. Dave leaves sometime in here unless he's driving someone to school.  

8:30: Whoever has preschool gets stuff in order and goes.

9: The twins go upstairs for their nap (still swaddled, still in Rock 'n' Plays). If I'm alone with Bridget, we do some cleanup together and she demands all kinds of activities--this week those activities include going on her little potty and wearing pull-ups. It's much easier if there's a big brother around to play with her.

10: The twins wake up and come downstairs for their 7-oz bottles. I usually strap Bridget into her booster and give her a snack or some art supplies, but she needs constant conversation to keep her happy. Like Will and unlike Finn, she's not big on independent play, and TV still doesn't keep her attention much.  

11:30-lunchtime! 

12 noon- Babies go down for nap #2, Bridget and I do some laundry/dishes and eagerly await the return of the boys. While the three amigos reunite, I quickly try to snap pictures of the boys' schoolwork for their annual photo books and wipe down their lunch boxes.

2p- Bridget goes down for her nap, the boys play in the basement or do art projects in the dining room.

2:30-Twins are up and eat their 8-oz bottles, followed by some tummy time (these days they promptly roll onto their backs and screech) and some playful loving from Will and especially Finn.

4-Bridget's up and it's the roughest part of the day for sure; she's still tired and gets clingy, but dinner needs to get made and the babies need to take their final catnap at 4:30. The boys' patience with each other is wearing thin and they're hungry. We just try to battle through this hour without too much angst.

5-Will, Finn and Bridge are eating dinner while the babies nap. If I can seize the opportunity to shuttle some dirty stuff up to the laundry room, great.

5:30-I'll put on the TV or some music, or the kids play in the living room or the boys' former bedroom down the hall. The babies wake up ("last feeding of the day!" I cheer mentally when they start their last 8 ounces). I send the big boys to get into

PJs and brush teeth around 6:15, although most of the time Dave or I re-brush them later. 

6:30-Dave gets home and jumps right into a) feeding the twins, b) getting Bridget ready, c) brushing/flossing kids' teeth or d) all of the above. It honestly depends on which one I'm most sick of doing that night. He's awesome like that. 

7-Bridget goes to sleep, followed by the twins around 7:15 and the boys around 7:30. Dave and I make/eat grownup dinner, deal with email, debrief on our days while we make formula and fill the dishwasher. I've been going to bed super early these days and listening to podcasts or reading before lights out. 

I'm looking forward to a couple months from now when working out and hanging out with my husband are more regular parts of the post-bedtime routine, and when I'll actually be leaving the house in nice weather multiple times a day!