December

Well, the twins are already 5 months old...where does the time go!? Of course they have only been home for 3 1/2 months but we finally have a fairly predictable schedule. The boys recently started sleeping through the night but they still wake once a night from time to time. I am still utterly exhausted despite having my Mom here to help me 3 days a week (such a godsend) while hubby is at work but she put in her last shift a few days ago as she has to go back to work full time in January so I am officially on my own *sniff sniff* and am going to miss her a great deal. I couldn't have gotten through the first 5 months without her and needless to say, I have some anxiety as to how I will get through the next 5 years on my own because all my friends with twins say it get's harder when they get mobile and again when they start biting, hitting and waking each other up etc!

All I know is that my 28 month old is a HANDFUL and if these boys are anything like she is, I'M IN BIG TROUBLE!!!!! That being said, I found my first grey hair yesterday and I directly attribute that to Miss Thang.....aka. "Brooklyn". She has been most challenging these days as she is at that age where she is very much testing boundaries and trying to rule the roost. She is going to daycare 3 days a week and I CHERISH those days because I get to actually s-i-t down and I also get to c-u-d-d-l-e my sweet boys! Yes, I did say "sit"...I get to sit down to eat my lunch instead of standing to eat (all my meals are eaten standing since the boys came home) and I get to hold my precious baby boys when she's at daycare and she indeed LOVES going! I am very happy with how she has transitioned to a new daycare and she is enjoying it immensely! We all need that break and she thrives on the socialization and activities she does there with her caregivers and friends!

I am blown away with the work load of three kids in diapers though....the laundry, bottles and dishes never stop......it's crazy! We have to empty our diaper genie every day but Im hoping to potty train Brooklyn VERY soon! I just havnt had 3 consecutive days in a row to devote specifically to potty training her and I dont think I will be able to do it until the new year. She is definitely ready but I need to have Chris or my Mom here to take care of the baby's while I commit to it (although I am breastfeeding one baby (I alternate baby's) so I will have to stop to feed a baby every 2 1/2-3 hours because the potty training book advises you to follow your child around like a hawk for 3 days to pick up on their potty cues and to catch them in the act ie. having an accident in order to rush them to the potty etc). The boys are still a pound apart.....Ryder is my "Big Boy" and weighed in at 14 lbs today and Cruz is my little guy and he weighs 13 lbs. They are about 1/2" different in length as well. Its easy to tell them apart but if they were the same weight, I imagine it would be much more difficult as they do look very similar but Mama always knows! lol. Ryder has a much bigger head compared to Cruz right now though so I can tell them apart a mile away, ha ha.

The twins have really started to mellow out and I am enjoying them immensely. They are such sweethearts and I am madly in love with them. There's nothing like 4 hazel eyes gazing up at me....and those smiles.....they make me forget how much work they are! lol. I still feel like I won the lottery with these kids and am greatful for my two little babes that were just 3 lbs of fight when they were born. My pediatrician was amazed at how quickly they have caught up and said they are in the 95% isle for height and 75% for weight for "corrected age". "Corrected Age" is the age they "should" be, had they carried to term. The reason they say "corrected age" is because you cant expect a premature baby to meet their milestones based on their actual age but rather based on their "corrected age". Once the boys catch up completely (they say usually between 18 months-2 years old) is when you can STOP saying "corrected age" (I cant wait for that...as it tends to be confusing for some and I have difficulty keeping track of two "ages" with how tired I am all the time.

Its amazing how much attention twins can draw when you're out Christmas shopping (and just for the record, I only went out twice locally and happened to have the twins with me) so I get tons of questions and everyone feels the need to tell me about their cousin's twins or their friend's friend who also has twins and I find the easiest way to avoid the conversation is to avoid eye contact! ha ha. I don't mind sometimes because I know people are just being friendly and are drooling over my gorgeous babes so Im okay with that but normally I have to rush every where I go or else I will run into their feeding times while Im running errands and that's when it get's tricky so I try to push my 6 foot long stroller of baby's with my head down so I can "getter done" so-to-speak and get them home to feed again. I really dont get out much though as you can imagine and I still havn't taken all three kids somewhere on my own.

Ryder's birth mark on his eye lid has almost disappeared completely (yay!) so we are very happy with his progress on his medication and the specialist at Children's is as well. He will probably be on the medication until he turns one to ensure it doesn't grow back. His other hemangioma's are still there but have flattened out and faded in color quite a bit. Ryder has emerged as the BIG FLIRT as he often will stop eating because he's so busy smiling at me or Oma and trying to get our attention. He makes me laugh because he's always smiling and more recently started giggling! Cruz is slightly more serious but he too has started to giggle and I love every minute of it.

Brooklyn is very excited about Santa these days and often will break out into "ho-ho-ho!". She's met Santa twice already and seems to like him! We often take her for walks around our neighborhood to see all the Christmas lights and she really enjoys that. She is still a little bit confused by all our neighbor's lawn "blow-ups" as our neighbor across the street have a blow-up Christmas penguin and a blow-up Santa and reindeer on their roof and for the last 5 days or so she wakes up every morning, looks out the kitchen window, points at the collapsed penguin across the street and with great concern says, "broke!", "Mama broke!?" I had to explain that the blow-ups go "up" and "down" so now every morning she points out the window and says, "down!....Mama down!" and I say "yes, Brooklyn they are down during the day and blow UP at night"....she finally get's it and is no longer worried about the poor penguin, ha ha.

We also made a gingerbread house with Oma this year and although Brooklyn mostly ate the candy instead of sticking it on the gingerbread house, we still managed to decorate a house together. Unfortunately it didn't last a week before her and I demolished it though! Brooklyn was obsessed with that thing because it was sitting within arm's reach on the kitchen counter and she would constantly ask to pick off of it so we had a little bit each day but by day 3 or 4 we were eating the walls and the roof at which time it completely collapsed and eventually went to the gingerbread graveyard (ie. into the trash) but it was mostly crumbs by that time, ha ha.

Brooklyn is also very excited that her Nana is making her, her very own stocking this year. We explained that everyone get's their own stocking but that hers isn't on the mantle just yet because Nana is bringing it with her next week and made one "special" just for her! She is very excited and will often point to the stocking's hanging from the fireplace and say, "Daddy own, Mummy own, M-Y own!".....she cant wait to get her stocking! Nana made Daddy's stocking over 30 years ago...then made Mummy one about 4 years ago (mine is a pink high heel and very chic, ha ha) and now she's made a special one just for Brooklyn.......and hopefully next year she will have time to make two more for the boys too. I can't wait to see it and I will be sure to post pics once she get's her special stocking.