NINE

Rosemary and Evelyn just went to their 9 month appointment with darling Dr.B yesterday. I'm going to be sad when they stop going in so often because I have a secret crush on this man. Well, not that secret. Lots of people know- including Ben. Honestly I'm sure Dr. B probably knows too but he must get that from every gal that comes in there. But to get back on topic....9 months! The last three months have zoomed by and so much has changed. Actually a lot has stayed the same too. Both these little beauties still love going out and about, eating, playing with daddy, watching and petting their pooch, reading, dancing, and singing, and are pretty happy most of the time. Rose and Eve are very busy baby girls. They are much more aware than they were even a month ago and cry when you walk out of the room or put them down for a nap and they can still see you. They are down to two naps a day and are enthusiastically starting on table food. Both girls hold their bottles which is wonderful but are becoming less and less interested. They still take between 20-24 ounces a day. Bedtime is around 7:30 and they wake up anywhere between 5:30 and 7am. They love being together and it is so fun watching them crawl on top of each other, laugh at each other, steal toys from each other, and to really start playing and interacting as sisters. They are both so darling and perfect but seeming more different everyday. Here is a little update on their progress.

Rosemary Nell

Weight: 19 lbs; 50 percentile
Height: 28 and 1/4 inches; 75 percentile
Head: 17 and 3/4 inches; 80 percentile



New nicknames added: Mooney/Moonface, Rodeo Rosie
Rosie can go wherever she pleases. She is an excellent scooter, is learning to climb, and is starting to pull up in her crib.
She is fearless. She always heads straight for the edge of the bed or couch and wants to investigate every cord, outlet, or shelf.
Her face and head are perfectly round and shine like the moon.
Musical girl. Loves to bang her toys on the hardwood floor or against each other.
Went through a short stage where she didn't like the bath so much. Loves it again and likes to swim like a fish on her tummy making waves and chasing toys.
Rosie is an extremely passionate eater. She waits with her mouth WIDE open inbetween bites and screams if you are not fast enough or dad isn't dancing in the background. (dinner and a show)
Loves all food but has shown a slight hesitation toward corn.
Grabs her food in big fistfuls and ends up dropping a lot in her lap.
Crawls all over her crib before falling asleep on her tummy.
Favorite toys are rings, stack-able cups, and anything you can both suck on and bang to make noise.
Loves to climb and balance with her hands on her sisters chest, stomach, or face which results in laughter and then screaming.
4 teeth: Cut tooth number two just before 7 months and cut both top teeth a week or so ago.
Still loves her binky and loves to hold it sideways in her mouth while babbling gaa gaa gaa or yaa yaa yaa.
Makes it very difficult to change her diaper because she immediately tries to flip when laying on her back.(rodeo rose)
Lately Rose has been waking up in the middle of the night and screaming. I think she has figured out this is a good way to get an early bottle and spend the rest of the night in bed with mom and dad. She's the sweetest cuddler.

Evelyn Irene

Weight: 18lbs 12oz; 45th percentile
Height: 28inches; 60th percentile
Head: 18 1/4 inches; 95th percentile





New Nicknames added: Cabbage, Canary
Evie is crawling a real crawl but doesn't seem nearly as motivated as Rosie to cross great distances. She always gets distracted by something new to explore.
Still loves to roll.
Stops in an adorable position balancing on her side and poses.
Sings in high pitch swooping sounds like a bird.
Loves to eat too but is a little more patient.
Does not seem to like banana.
Picks up her food very delicately with her thumb and pointer finger.
When she cries she often makes a mmmmuuuum sound and it sometimes sounds like mom.
Says ba-ba and da-da but not with meaning.
Favorite toys include cell phones, her glow worm, and her softy which she loves to bury her face into.
Still has no teeth, but the sweetest, soggiest, little mouth.
Evie is working on giving kisses.
Loves to take baths and prefers to be sitting up so she can get a view of all her toys and dump water out of a cup.
Sleeps on her back but turns to crawl when she wakes up and bounces up and down on all fours.
Takes much more comfort from her binky than she did as an infant. Loves to suck on the strap until it is soaking wet. Also does this to fabric toys and the strap of my diaper bag.
Evie's eyes and cheeks seem to get bigger and bigger and has a face fit for a cabbage patch doll.


These girls are such sweethearts and make everyday a joy and an adventure. I couldn't be a luckier mom.

New Beginning

It's been an exciting week. We attended our new ward on Sunday and it seems wonderful and extremely friendly, some new furniture arrived early this morning to help us fill these empty rooms, and Evie figured out how to crawl! Rosie is still scooting every where and seems determined to ignore every toy in the house and go straight for every outlet or cord, the fireplace, the stairs, or anything she can destroy. Evie had a couple weeks to think about it but has decided to keep up with her sister and is enjoying her mobility with a more true crawl(albeit a little clumsy). She is still more content just hanging out and not so bent on making me crazy. This new phase is much harder for me! Don't get me wrong, I love that they have learned something new but all our routines have totally changed and I find myself much more tired at the end of the day.

Every twin mom that I'm friends with or meet out and about has said- "Don't worry, it gets easier". Hearing that has made me feel pretty good because so far I haven't thought taking care of twins was very hard at all. And it's going to get easier?...well, then wahoo! My girls have always been great sleepers, great eaters, and not overly fussy and so being their mom has been pretty delightful. I've been lucky. We have some bad days here and there but most of the time we spend lovely, lazy days at home playing or going out and seeing friends, meeting up for moms group, going to the park, running errands, etc. I love being a stay at home mom and am so grateful I am able to do so. All of a sudden however I am realizing how relatively easy and content my babies were as infants and that this statement probably won't ring true for me. They weigh about a thousand pounds in their car seats and I am having muscle spasms in my back from carrying them everywhere, they seem to be sleeping less and less and eating more and more, screaming in restaurants, demand a cheerio every other second, and are constantly trying to clobber one another or grab a fistful of their sisters hair. Right about now I'm feeling like it is going to get a whole lot harder before it gets any easier...but also more exciting and fun--- I just have a lot to learn. So let it begin. (and my apologies for thinking I had this mommy thing down).

Lent

I have never had much control when it comes to food. I am always starting a new "diet" or eating plan which usually border on ridiculous or impossible. I lay in bed and convince myself that TOMORROW I will suddenly be able to go all day eating nothing but vegetables. It's funny how doable and even easy these wild ideas seem the night before and that I continue this pattern again and again and AGAIN. With a little baby weight still clinging to me for dear life, it has been on my mind even more. After talking to one of my friends who is participating in lent for religious reasons I decided this was perfect opportunity for another go. I am LDS and therefore have never observed lent and am not claiming to follow any official lent rules or guidelines. This is my own version of a little self denial and preparation for Easter. I started March 15. For 40 days I am not eating any junk food and I am vowing to read my scriptures every single day. No cheating, no passes, no missed days. I reserve the right to decide what is and what is not junk food. For instance my low calorie chocolate animal crackers are NOT junk food. The banana bread I made yesterday for a neighbor (and ate about half of the second loaf) is not junk food. Ok...it really is. I went nuts on the banana bread with the excuse that it is "bread" (loaded with sugar, butter and even chocolate chips) but I am recommitting today to start anew and hoping that this post will solidify my commitment. No more banana bread.

One of my dearest friends and roommates from college would frequently stop at the vending machines around campus and load her backpack up with pretzels, a few candy bars, and a bag of cookies. This absolutely blew me away. She would spread the treats out over a long period of time eating a bite here, a handful there, and be set. I could never ever do that because the backpack would be empty by the end of the day and I would be sick. My problem is that I have a very hard time saying no to ice cream or anything chocolate and that bothers me. I feel the need to eat all the junk food in the house TODAY so that it can't sabotage me tomorrow. My lack of will power and my self destructive relationship with food makes me feel weak. I need to learn some self control. I am happy to say that (except for the banana bread that I was not currently accepting as junk food), I have ice cream in two forms in the freezer, left over mini candy bars I brought to my relief society lesson, licorice in the cupboard, and a husband who LOVES going out for milkshakes and have not yet faltered. I haven't missed a night of scripture study either.

This is really just proving to myself that I can do it. That I can resist what's in the cupboard or the cookies being passed around at a friends house. I don't need to eat ice cream to have a great weekend or to reward myself or to celebrate. I love having a sweet topper after a good meal and always will. If I live the rest of my life at this pudgy weight-- that's ok. I just want to be healthy, conscious, and in control. I like the idea of practicing self denial along with a boost in spirituality. My scripture reading habits are all over the board but I know I'm happier, less stressed, more at peace, and a better wife, mother, and person when I'm making it a priority. Eight days and counting...taking away the sweets and adding something sweeter.


We FINALLY got our apartment all cleaned out and turned in the keys. Hooray! Had to say goodbye to our headboard and the darling cherry blossom decals I had behind the girls' cribs. :(

Great Visit

We had a lovely visit from the Meakin Grandparents. We had lots of fun and I love seeing Ben and the girls interacting with them. We went on walks, had a picnic in the park, watched a couple movies, went to the Denver aquarium, played Canasta, and went mini golfing. Ben's parents are always so helpful. They shop, make meals, bake cookies, watch the girls, hang towel racks, and are so kind and complimentary that I always feel a little more self assured after their visits. I know so much I love about Ben comes from how he was raised and who he tries to emulate. I am grateful I married a man from such a fabulous family.

Moving Day

The night we closed on our house we picked up take-out and had a picnic on our empty living room floor. We had lots of help moving the big stuff but I still have about a million bins to unpack and organize. It still feels weird to have so much more space and different rooms for different things. It's wonderful having a yard for Clover, a play room for the girls, and pulling into a garage instead of fighting for parking at the apartment. My dear in-laws came into town and had their own place to sleep! Feeling pretty lucky. But I will say that trying to vacuum this place almost killed me. Little parts of me will miss our cozy apartment but heaven knows I could use a few more trips up and down the stairs.

Forward Motion

One night last week Rosemary suddenly figured out how to scoot forward rather than her usual turning in circles or inching backwards. It has since been perfected and she can't be stopped. Evie still prefers to roll. :)

Must Blog

The thought of blogging has been nagging at me for the past week. I have always been a big journal keeper but since starting this little blog I have completely given that up. Journaling/blogging has always been a mixed source of happiness and anxiety in my life. I love recording what we are up to because I want to preserve the memories but sometimes it weighs on me. It is almost like if I don't write it down, it never happened. So even though I really don't have anything that exciting to blog about-- I must blog. Just for my own sake. I am also recognizing a pattern that a majority of my posts are about our trips to SLC because we are always doing something that isn't in our regular routine and I normally take more pictures. But we DO do plenty of things here and I need to be better at recording our day to day life.
So what have we have been up to? think , think, think. Last week I got in a minor car accident which was the 8th alteration (yes, 8) that I have been in since I got my license. I really am a terrible driver. I hate driving. If I was a very rich lady I would have a driver before I would have a cook or a maid or a nanny. I would love to just sit in the back and be taken wherever I need to go. I have a terrible sense of direction which I undoubtedly inherited from my mother and I get really nervous if anyone else is in the car or following me. I have been in two somewhat serious accidents (one of which was in high school and I was NOT driving and the other I was by myself and slammed into the median on the freeway and then flew off the other side of the road...but that one was really my dads fault because he never explicitly taught me that you can't drive 75 miles an hour on a donut :)) The other six were all in parking lots, involved parked cars, or were fender benders going under 10 miles an hour and only 5 of these 6 were decidedly my fault. Even when nobody gets hurt and the damage is relatively little (but always SO expensive) it is a terrible rotten feeling to get into an accident. I always have the worst pit in my stomach for several days and repeatedly rewind that 30 seconds again and again wishing I could redo it. The same Friday said accident occurred, Ben had a bug or food poisoning (from one of my delicious dinners) and was violently ill. Good weekend.

We STILL have not officially closed on our condo in SLC. It has been one complication after another and I'm just trying to go with the flow. I'm starting to pack up boxes this week because we close on our house here on Friday and are supposed to start moving the next day. SO crazy. I feel like I just finished unpacking and now we are starting over. I've been doing some research online and going to stores to get some decorating ideas. The one thing I was positive about wanting to change about the new house was the sky blue living room and kitchen. But now after hearing Ben complain about how much work it will be to paint the really high ceilings...I'm trying to adjust my thinking. It is certainly not a color I would have picked but I think leaving it might push us in a new fun direction. We shall see.
The girls are doing excellent. They just turned 8 months old and are ALMOST crawling. They are scooting, pivoting, turning, rolling, planking...but don't quite have the coordination down yet. Their new favorite game is sitting next to each other and insistently trying to grab the binky out of each others mouths. This results in looks of bewilderment and then dramatic crying but it sure is cute. Recently we have been exploring in Denver,went to their first birthday party, and last night Rosie and Evie went swimming for the first time! They loved it. They are definitely water babies. It was quite the ordeal getting them suited up and de-suited in a crowded locker room but they looked so adorable it was worth it.

65 degrees today! Anxiety driven blogging over. On our way out to the park!