And An (Un)Happy Hallowe'en Too!

In case it wasn't clear in my last post, the pics of the boys were shot pre-Hallowe'en with time to spare in case of bad weather – or bad moods – neither of which (fortunately) were an issue that day, even though the latter was a distinct possibility since we are still battling the nap issue over here (HINT: formal naps are mostly non-existent now).

Oh naps, how I miss thee – but this is another post for another time. I will just say that on top of the new no-nap policy the boys came down with a cold a week ago. They were mostly better by last night and given the mild fall weather I thought a stroll through the neighborhood to check out the Hallowe'en fun might be just the ticket to avoiding the recent development of the late-afternoon CrankyPants™ meltdown (when I assure you, it is much, MUCH too late for a nap). I'm sure by now you can see where this is going.

We headed out around 5PM. Not too much action, but a few other early-birds were out and at first the boys were having a good time looking at all the "Pumpkin!". Seth even managed to find a cutie to flirt with. It was going pretty well, despite my insistence that we take a picture en route.

Cute babies in costumes plus fall leaves as a backdrop? How could I resist? Once again, please try your best to excuse their enthusiasm everyone. You know, in case it's infectious.

*sigh*

We were just nearing the point where it was time to turn around and head for home which involved a detour through the park. And not just any park, but very same park that was the scene of much Hallowe'en tragedy last year.

Oh sure, maybe it was the lack of sleep or the lingering effects of a cold (or both), but at this point I'm starting to wonder if it's the park even if it is a perfectly fine place to spend time the other 364 days of the year.

Or maybe it was just the lack of sleep and the lingering cooties since the boys both fell asleep about 5 minutes after these pictures were taken.

Once again, I don't normally take time out to snap pictures of my distressed babies, but since there really wasn't anything to be done to soothe them other than head home and since home was roughly 15 minutes away, I didn't feel too bad about spending an extra 30 seconds documenting this year's "Hallowe'en Tragedy at the Park™". You know, since it's officially a tradition now. 

Bet you can't wait for next year! 

- L.

The Post In Which I Confess I'm A Bad Mommy

I confess it. I'm a bad Mommy.

*sigh*

Oh sure, the boys are doing well. Great even. Learning new skills every day (and lately at an alarming rate).

But still.

Still, there are certain milestones you don't completely forget to mention. Some are pretty big events after all.

Like taking those tentative first steps.

And yet.

And yet I just had to go digging for the post where I tacked on an "Oh, by the way Seth is walking now" note at the end.

Sadly, Nate didn't even get that much. 

This is not good. This is the stuff bad Mommies are made of. This is stinkeroo everyone. 

So let's just clear up a few very important details right now:

Seth took his first steps on April 8th, the day after the great Penaten caper. The jury is still out on whether Penaten might have played a role in this, but Penaten Power or not an event like this deserved its own post.

Nate took his first steps on Easter Sunday. For the record, that was nearly a month ago – and while I'm starting to suspect Nate is a bit of a showman and prefers to save his really big moves for special occasions (and in all fairness to busy Mommies everywhere, including me, things tend to be exponentially busier around special occasions) – still... I found time to make no less than three posts about Easter and Nate didn't even get a note tacked on at the end about said new moves.

This is beyond bad Mommy.

This is sitting rather squarely in SUPER bad Mommy territory at this point.

This is not a good place to be. Not a good place to be at all.

*sigh*

I can only hope the incredibly cute video I've just posted to our YouTube™ channel will immediately make everyone forget my transgressions. Like throwing sand in your eyes to distract you, but in a cute way.

A really cute way.

Complete with walking. And hijinks. And babies.

Oh my. 

- L.

If You Have Sandwiches, Now Would Be A Good Time To Send Them

A mommy confession: a few nights before I took pics of the guys in their workout gear, I had put Seth in just a pair of the pants and let him run around the nursery shirtless*. He looked like such a little dude cruising around that evening and after going on and on about it later to my mom I told her I'd take some pics.

Which I did – but we'll get to that in a minute.

The thing is, we all already know Seth is a skinny guy – and for that matter so is Nate. I've been meaning for some time now to post my boys' height/weight stats from their 1 year check-up and this at least seems like a relevant post, so here are the particulars:

Nate: 20.5 lbs. (9.30 kg.) | 30 in. (76 cm.)

Seth: 18.75 lbs. (8.5 kg.) | 30 in. (76 cm.)

This is the biggest disparity in weight they've ever had, but they are once again exactly the same height so Seth was clearly spending his time growing vertically even more than usual. Nate is somewhere over the 25th percentile, but that was about as specific as the pediatrician got, and by the time she was entering Seth's stats into the computer we'd already been there going on two hours and I think we were all pretty weary at that point so I forgot to ask. I have a feeling he may have dipped below the 10th percentile at this point though.

Call it a hunch.

For the record, this is what I see when I look at Seth sans shirt: 

See what I mean? Such a little dude! I think he looks ready to do a few rounds in the ring in this pic.

So I kept clicking. 

This is Skinny standing next to Slim. Hmm... looking a little bony in the shoulders there, but I think the camera/lighting is creating some extra shadows or something. Isn't the camera supposed to add weight?

Here's Nate letting it all hang out – and even at that you can see his ribs pretty clearly – but I bet you didn't even notice because you were too busy getting your eyes poked out from the bones on that poor starving child in the background. At the time, I didn't happen to have a sandwich handy, so I kept on with the clicking.

And then things got... interesting?

I never imagined what Seth might look like if he went out of his way to look as skinny as possible – and you don't have to, because here's what it looks like: 

That's Seth on tippy-toes, sucking in his tummy, trying to figure out if he can reach what his little eyes have spied on top of the cabinet**.

And just when I was about to race out to the kitchen to make an entire tray of sandwiches, he did this and I nearly dropped the camera: 

Oy. So much for my shadows and light theory.

So uhmmm... yeah. Send sandwiches. As many as you can spare. We'll be waiting.

*sigh*

- L.

* Half-nakey (AKA "fakey-nakey") is our compromise to what was formerly known as Nakey Time. I was forced to revisit our nakey policy at The Oddest Prime after an incident that was as epic as it was gross. If you're not sure what I'm getting at, the phrase, "he was molding it like potter's clay" (which were words that actually came out of my mouth after the incident) should be enough to steer you in the right direction.

** What Seth spied were some Goldfish crackers. Just to be clear, that is my starving child you've just witnessed attempting to reach for food as though his life depends on it. If only a serving of mommy-guilt was high in calories, I would have shared it with him. Instead we had crackers. Lots of crackers.

Confession Time (Brought To You By Seth)

– Oh, hi everyone. It's me, Seth. You might have forgotten about me since I ate all my carrots and fish, which got all of a passing comment if I recall correctly. Here I am about to start my big new food adventure. And yet... 

... and yet I appear troubled. As though something is on my mind.

What could that be, everyone? Well, I is glad you is asking.

– You know, it not easy getting stuck all the time with the backdrop that makes it look like I is at some kind of Home Depot® DIY on how to block off an uninsulated room. I never complain about 'dis though.

No. Instead I'd like to call your attention to that spot on the wall. The one behind me and a little to your left.

This one...

I prefer not to say how it got there, but it been there for awhile. I bet you not see it here even though it was there the whole time. I pause while your mind boggles temporarily...

Mommy wants to talk about a magic trick? Mommy makes me laugh. Mommy been fooling you the whole time with Photoshop trickery! 

– Yep, that right. Mommy has been taking the time to digitally erase that spot instead of real-life erasing that spot for quite some time now.

I can hardly believe it either, but I is pointing my finger of blame at Mommy in this picture. 

– Now in all fairness, we does keep Mommy pretty busy and it easy to forget things. I know 'dis firsthand. So in case you is being judge-ee, I will stick my tongue out at you. I know it adorable, and you probably want to poke it, but try to take 'dis seriously. Maybe just have a polite word with Mommy about cleaning 'dis spot off the wall. Again, I won't say how it got there ('dis NOT important after all). Important thing is it be gone.

Thanks for listening everyone!

– Seth

PS. 'Dis probably not the time to question how I know words and phrases like "uninsulated" and "if I recall correctly" or what a Home Depot® is, while I still saying "'dis" and "I is". Just go with it everyone. Don't make me poke my tongue out at you twice!

•   •   •   •   •

Mommy note: No more Photoshop trickeries – spot will be summarily dealt with. Oh, the shame. The shame!!!

Not to mention the horrors.

- L.

Playdate!

It finally happened – one of the couples from the prenatal classes we took last year got brave enough to invite us all over last Saturday. And by "us all" I mean all of us – babies included. Of course there was no way to predict how it would go over with 4 sets of twins. I think we all expected a few show-downs over toys*, but there was none of that. Everyone got along famously and the only crying that occurred was due to a bad-mommy move on my part**. A good time was had by all – and thanks so much to our friends at little grovers*** for having us over.

– Hard to believe, but all the babies aren't even in this photo.

– These activity tables were a big hit!

– Like, a really big hit. Note to self: look into buying some activity tables.

– Nate surveying the scene. Just in case there's something more exciting than the activity tables.

– OK. It's not all about the activity tables. I still got a chance to show Seth a new book.

– And "hang out" with Nate.

– Until they both summarily ditched me AND the activity tables for something that was clearly even more awesome. I think Nate's expression says it all.

•   •   •   •   •

*Those activity tables were a HUGE hit with all the boys. I think Nate and Seth especially spent 90% of their time hovering over them. Except for the other 10% when Nate is clearly losing his marbles over the riding toy. 

**Bad mommy move: Nate has never met a stranger to this day, but Seth is sometimes a bit more reluctant when it comes to someone that is not mommy. In my defense, I was trying to wrangle two babies plus gear and I kind of... forgot about that. Oops. And although it's nothing two minutes (or less) of cuddles and kisses didn't cure I definitely have some residual mommy guilt. Ah, live and learn. And sometimes learn again. Sorry Seth! *sigh*

***There are more pics over at little grovers, so get on over there and check them out already.

PS. I took along my point-and-shoot camera that day (instead of my fancy camera). When I went to download the pics later that night, instead of getting a ton of cute pics, I got a "memory card error" message instead. It's extra frustrating because I can preview most of the pictures I took in teeny-tiny thumbnails on the camera, but I can't download any of them. Long story short: all the photos I've posted were very generously donated by the other 3 mommies with cameras. : )

PPS. Nate and Seth are having some teething times of late in case you were wondering what the clown cheeks were all about.

8 Months Old

I had an idea for our 8 month photo shoot which for various reasons didn't materialize, but in the words of Douglas Adams:

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." 

In the end things worked out – if not better than I had intended – then certainly more interesting. It all started with the arrival of the boys' first shoes:

SHOES!!!

I was (clearly) pretty excited about this since I spent time taking pictures of said shoes while I should have been vacuuming the nursery in anticipation of our very first playdate guests. As it turned out, the boys were a little less excited than I was about their new shoes, and maybe a little too exuberant about our guests, but in the meantime...

The vacuuming: I did get to it after all.

I knew Seth didn't particularly like the vacuum. He's been known to cry on occasion if I've been at it too long (hey, so have I!), but I sincerely had no idea that said vacuum is actually the stuff his nightmares are made of. Or at least they are now. I brought it into the nursery (everything was OK), I plugged it in (still OK) and turned it on (very much not OK) while Nate and Seth played happily in Seth's crib.

Seth's body left the mattress he jumped so high. He couldn't have cried harder. Cue mommy guilt.

I can never vacuum within his earshot again. Never. Ever. Again. Seriously, it was a bad scene and just moments before our playdate guests arrived no less.

One of the mommies from our Preparing For Multiples prenatal class series kindly offered to come for a visit that day and brought her sweet girls, Victoria and Caitlin. I don't know what either of us was expecting, but clearly we are (or perhaps were) very optimistic women.

The girls were understandably upset by unfamiliar surroundings, Seth was still crying from the vacuum trauma and after a few minutes Nate decided to cry too because he felt left out.

Oh dear.

Mommies of twins really should come equipped with an extra set of arms since 2 mommies + 4 babies = a scenario that is bound to end poorly at times, especially when two of those babies are getting pretty mobile of late. And by two of those babies I mean mine, and most especially Seth.

Oh, Seth.

He got over his vacuum upsets in time to snake his way across the room at lightning speed (this is his only speed lately by the way) and greet poor Caitlin with an open palm on her sweet face as she lay there innocently contemplating the jungle gym.

Ouch. 

And cue more mommy guilt. 

So after our morning and afternoon with the new shoes, the vacuum "incident" and a 90 minute visit that took days to coordinate with many crying babies and some violence it's not really a surprise that our cute photo shoot got bumped – especially since we three had to head out ourselves after all was said and done. I got the boys bundled up in their new fleeces and shoes and everyone was looking so cute I decided to grab the camera for a few quick pics even though we really should have been on our way, and I will forever be glad I did.

Not just because they looked so cute:

... but because something a little magical happened. It's a moment I've seen before but never thought I'd get on film. Perhaps this was Nate's way of showing Seth how to properly touch someone on the face:

Of course, after a few minutes things took a turn for the interesting:

You can catch the whole show on video, including Nate's reaction to his first pair of shoes and Seth's take on "Nate flavor" over on our YouTube™ channel – although if you have a weak constitution you may want to skip Part IV. Don't say I didn't warn you.

- L.

From The Top Of Mt. Crumpit

Due to the outbreak of pink-eye cooties at our house, this was me last Wednesday:

Today I finally thought to Google™ the contagion period for pink-eye and discovered that it's only contagious for roughly 24 hours after you begin treatment – which of course means that the boys could have had their toys back as soon as I'd had a chance to clean them since that took 48 hours to complete. Today I felt very Grinch-like indeed as the toys made their long overdue and triumphant return.

It looked something like this: 

Followed by this: 

It was Christmas at our house today and as such, I leave you with this. I couldn't stop humming it all afternoon.

- L.

Mommy Guilt Strikes Again

– Hi everyone! It's me, Seth. I apologize for my food face. I's a bit messy here, but 'dis post not about that.

– It also not post about my dock-worker type brawlin' wound 'tho 'dis still quite noticeable. 

– I has pink eye, ya'll. Told you I has tricks up my sleeves. I think 'dis trick backfire tho'. Ouch.

Mommy note: Poor Seth. Earlier today, he skipped his afternoon nap and an hour later was rubbing his eyes and I thought, "well of course you're rubbing your eyes – you're tired". And then one eye started to look a little irritated and I thought, "well of course your eye looks irritated – you've been rubbing it". He was also quite fussy, but again I thought it was because he was sleepy and refusing to take a nap, so... chalk another one up for mommy guilt when his eye was suddenly puffed out, watering and red halfway through our oats and pears tonight. Oy.

- L.

Showing You All How It's NOT Done

Last weekend M. bought the boys a new toy for ages 6 months and up. It has all kinds of do-dads and fun things on it. It rattles, things spin and it is wonderfully colorful. I couldn't wait to get it out of the box and show it to Nate and Seth – although getting toys free of their boxes these days seems to require a degree in advanced engineering, so it took awhile.

At last I had it ready to go and was just in the process of showing it to the babies when Seth snatched it out of my hand and promptly clobbered himself. : (

And you know that thing babies do when they hurt themselves and they open their mouth to cry but no sound comes out? Well, he did that.

Thank goodness some cuddles and kisses saved the day and he was happy and wanting to play again in less than 3 minutes. I thought for sure he'd given himself a good shiner since you can see a bit of a bruise under his eye in this pic: 

But by morning there was no bruise, just a bit of a red mark where his eyelid got scraped.

*whew*

Or so I thought. The next evening when I went to feed them their bedtime meal, I saw this: 

At first I thought it was a shadow/trick of the light since it was not very bright outside at this point, but no... it's a shiner. I have no idea if it was from the night before since the bruise appeared to be gone by morning, and it doesn't really make sense that it would it suddenly reappear. A new bruise from something else then? I have no idea, but despite all appearances, Seth is a very active baby and it's entirely possible this was a fresher injury.

Ugh.

But wait – it gets worse, because not 2 days later, there was an equally impressive bruise under his other eye.

Oh, Seth.

I thought about taking a picture of that one as well because that would have completed the trifecta of injuries, but his shirt was terribly dirty at the time (we'd just had our peas and bananas and their new bibs can only hold back so much). In the end, I decided against it. 3 injuries in one week, 2 bruised eyes and a dirty shirt?

Too much.

I might as well call CPS myself. *sigh*

What makes this all so confounding is that for the most part, all of their toys are soft, plushy things. And Seth wasn't around any of the ones that aren't when the last 2 injuries happened. And also, they are rarely unattended and if they are it's only for a few minutes while they seem happy and are playing so their mommy can get a bathroom break or grab a quick bite. There wasn't any crying either (other than the original injury) and although the boys do get in a few kicks to the face here and there when they are playing together, no one was in a position to do that when I left the room or when I returned.

So... confusing, confounding and oh, look – there's that mommy guilt again.

Seth, please stop hurting yourself however you are managing it, my son. It makes your mommy worry and I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

- L.

Baby Report: Our 4 Month Visit To The Pediatrician

Our original appointment was bumped from last week to today, which was a good thing as it turned out since there was a lot of fussing after the babies' shots this afternoon and had the appointment gone ahead as originally scheduled I think I would have had to cancel the Kidney Day festivities.

These are some sad babies we have at our house today. : (

They also went to bed a little earlier than usual which I don't like particularly, even though they're not crying at least. I don't like it because I hate the thought that they're tired from crying so much, or worse – that the shots themselves are the cause. Vaxing is something we decided to do because we felt that the risks associated with vaccinating are less risky than not vaccinating. I'm happy with the vax schedule we have in Ontario and it doesn't seem over the top or like there is really anything unnecessary as part of the recommended vaccines in our province. Still, it's hard not to worry because no one wants their child to be the statistic. I always keep a close eye on my boys and check in with them often after they have gone to bed, but I think tonight will warrant a few extra checks. I hate worrying but I know sometimes it just can't be helped.

On a brighter note, the boys had a great checkup otherwise and are getting bigger and bigger. Here are today's stats at 4 months + 1 week old:

Nate: 13.6 lbs. or 13 lbs. 9 oz. (6.16 kg) | 25 in. (64 cm)

Seth: 12.9 lbs. or 12 lbs. 15 oz. (5.86 kg) | 24.25 in. (61.5 cm)

So basically, still growing like weeds*. Nate is now in the 25th percentile for their age group and although Seth is still in the 10th percentile the pediatrician is very happy with the progress of both boys.

And just because a post is never as awesome without pics, here are some photos I took yesterday of the boys in some new togs their Grandma Rita brought for them.







Too cute, but don't be fooled by what the camera captured since they weren't very happy about the hats as it turned out. Yep, more sad babies. In these pics though, you'd never know it at least. ; )

- L.

*Again – really, really cute weeds of course.

Life Lessons With Nate & Seth: Hurt Babies Make Mommy Cry

First: Everyone is OK.

Second: There is no guilt like mommy guilt – period.

Third: This was entirely a life lesson for me.

Here's what happened:

It was Saturday night and M. had already changed Seth. I had just taken Nate into the nursery to get him ready for bed before their nighttime feeding when I noticed a hair (very likely one of mine) loosely wrapped around one of his toes. I reached down quickly to remove it and in an instant all I was holding was a piece of the hair that snapped off – the rest was suddenly coiled around Nate's toe so tightly that it started swelling immediately. In less than two seconds that coil of hair had virtually disappeared between the puffiness on either side.

And then it started to bleed. : (

My poor baby! He was crying so hard, and I get a big, fat fail for what happened next because I was not a calm, cool mommy at all. I was a scared, shaky, quivering mess!

I scooped up Nate and yelled for M. – who fortunately was a pretty collected daddy – and he managed to fish out the hair that was cutting off the circulation to Nate's wee toe. I thought only the sight of my own blood freaked me out that badly, but apparently the sight of my baby's blood does the same thing. I'm really going to need to grow a much thicker skin before my babies start running around and the scrapes and bruises start or I'm never going to make it.

Here are some pics I took the next day. You can still see how deeply that piece of hair cut in. : (





Of course, Nate was fine almost right away and hasn't made any complaints since. I, on the other hand, am continuing to slather his wee toe in Polysporin and thinking about how I spent too long baking those ten perfect toes to lose one. I swear I thought it was going to pop right off.

Ugh. Mommy guilt is the worst.

- L.