Attitude

Awhile back I was reading through a fellow mother of multiples blog (as I often do) and she was writing about how much attitude counts toward your kids. I was thinking this morning how its so true, as with anything in life. If you go into something thinking you cant, you probably wont, & if you wake up thinking how bad your day is going to be, it most likely will be. I've realized there are 2 different ways I can choose to look at caring for my two babies every day. I can think "Geeze, I have to take care of two babies all day. Most people only have one to care for." OR, I can go into it thinking, "I'm so lucky. I only have two babies to take care of. Lots of moms have triplets, quads, or even quintuplets. And TONS of moms have several children of all different ages to take care of. Plenty of those children have disabilities or impairments that may require even extra care and/or attention. I am so fortunate to have two very happy, healthy children to take care of every day. They ADD joy to my day, every day, and I am so blessed to be able to stay home with my kids instead of having to drop them off at day care and go to work. I know lots of moms dont have the option to stay home & wish so badly that they could. Some days I find myself needing to remind myself of this & how blessed I am. My husband works hard all (and I mean, all) day, 6 days a week, so that we are all provided for. Who could ask for more?

Identical....Pssssh!

Everyone tells us the twins look so much alike and ask how we tell them apart. This amuses me since I think they look so clearly different. In addition to their physical differences, they are very, very, very different personality-wise.

Clay has been a snuggler since he was a month or two old. He's my little "lover boy." He was the first to start hugging and cuddling with me, and I noticed it right off the bat. I couldnt believe how sweet it was. He has continued to maintain this even now. He loves to be hugged and loved on. He is so happy when he is being held, and it has been very easy to bond with him.

On the other hand, Colt has been a little more difficult for me to bond with. He has very rarely in his 10 months, been one to cuddle with momma. He much prefers to laugh and be the funny man. He has bonded with Chris so well because Chris is also humorous in nature. These two have so much fun together, while Clay and I like to snuggle. Colt pushes me away if I try to do this too much with him. Its so hard not to though!

Just when I was starting to get a little concerned about my bond with Colt, I realized what I was doing wrong and why he wasnt bonding with me like Clay was. The problem was that I was trying to show my love for them in same way-the way that comes natural to me- which is to love on him and give lots of hugs and kisses. He was not responding well to this. After some soul searching, I realized I needed to show my love for him in the way that HE understands and communicates love, which is laughter. When I began to show him love by being silly, tickling, and making him laugh, etc, he responded to me SO much more.

My mom and I have discussed many times about how two parents can raise all their children the same, yet they grow up to be so different. In my case I've realized that even though my sons are identical twins, they are two separate human beings and that not every thing I do with one will work with the other.

Its going to be a long -and GREAT- journey, & I'm learning...

Love,
Ashley

Being a stay-at-home-mom

Otherwise known as a "SAHM". Before I became a so-called SAHM, I remember thinking that women who get to stay home with their kids all day and not have a job (bahahahahaha) while their husbands work must have the LIFE. Boy was I WRONG, wrong, wrong.

Staying at home ALL day by myself with the kids is difficult. Of course its fun. Its rewarding. But its hard. You can only play so much with the same toys (and we have A LOT). You can only amuse the kids so many times with the same faces and same jokes and same tricks. The weather in Texas is so hot during this time of the year that we cant even go on a walk or to the store.

We are very fortunate though. For the first 8 months after they were born, we had Chris's mom coming all the time to help, so they had another face to see during the day besides me. And we've always had my mom on the weekends. During the first 6 months or so it was all about having the extra help. (and boy did we need it!) I was soooo thankful. Now its more about Chris and I being able to get out of the house, and for the twins to have some other interaction besides us. When you have multiple babies, its much harder to get out of the house for a simple errand. I'm not yet comfortable with loading the boys in and out of the car by myself, especially in this heat.

Taking care of two babies all day is, to put it quite frankly, an ass whooping. I try all the time to think about the moms out there who have triplets, quads, or even quints, and I try to remind myself that they have gotten through it, and I will get through it too. I love reading blogs of other M.O.M.'s out there to see the different tricks of the trade and how they juggle their lives.

The amount of work that moms do every single day is amazing. Its amazing that I even have the strength to drink this glass of wine right now- HA! I may fall over.

And if I do, I will get back up, and do it all over again tomorrow....

"To be a mother is a woman's greatest vocation in life. She is a partner with God. No being has a position of such power and influence. She holds in her hands the destiny of nations, for to her comes the responsibility and opportunity of molding the nation's citizens." 

Super late 9 month post

I'm really late on getting my 9 month post up :( The boys are almost TEN months old now, but better late than never, right?

The boys are still growing so fast. Its amazing, even to me and I see them everyday. They are crawling EVERYwhere. They're pulling up and standing on everything. Colt can even stand unassisted for almost a full 10 seconds. Chris and I stared at him in disbelief when he did this the other night. Instead of playing inside their Baby Einstein activity center, they prefer to just use it to pull-up and stand & play with everything on the outside of it. They love riding around the house in their walkers (Thanks Nana & Papa!). I'm glad we decided to get hardwood floors when we built the house back before we were even pregnant. That was a lucky choice. Without them, the walkers would almost be pointless. The flip-side to that is, we are cautious when they are crawling all around the house for fear that they will fall and bust their little noggins. Here are some recent pictures:

Football season has started back up for Chris, & Nana (his mom) has been in Santa Fe, NM visiting her family so its been mostly up to me to make sure the boys are well taken care of. Taking care of two little ones day-in and day-out is exhausting and challenging. The bummer right now is the Texas heat, which keeps us from being able to go out on walks (or really anywhere for that matter). Its wayyyy too hot to get the boys out of the house right now :( I cant wait for the Fall weather to get here so we can go out again and play upstairs in the game/play room.

So much more to say, but I'll write again in my 10 month post. Until then...

-Ashley

8 months and counting!

The twins are 8 months old & I'm officially getting excited about their 1st birthday. I've started compiling some ideas on Pinterest for their party. I know lots of people are thinking, 'Just enjoy them now!', but I DO enjoy them now. Its just that they get more and more fun with each passing day! They are constantly discovering new and exciting things & that makes it more fun for me as well. Our latest accomplishment is......


CRAWLING!!!!!!!!!

Colt is officially on the move! He began rocking on his knees 2.5 weeks ago & has now moved on =) I can quickly see that I am about to have my hands even more full than they already are. But its a good thing! Clay hasnt started crawling yet, but I'm sure he will pick it up soon enough. He's being easy on me and letting me get used to one baby crawling at a time... ;)

Both boys are now sleeping 11-12 hours a night typically, which is amazing. Chris and I are able to put them down in the evenings and enjoy some alone time before we hit the sheets. When we do crawl into bed, it still feels like we just worked a gruling 12 hr shift, but thats because we did. Its all worth it though. Our boys are truly amazing. They bring us so much happiness & they are so dang cute. I swear they get cuter every day.

According to our pediatrician, they should be leaning towards 2 naps a day, so we've weaned them down from 5, to 4, and now my goal is always 3. Sometimes we make it, and sometimes they still get a 4th "power" nap to make it until bedtime. They stay awake about 2 hours at a time. Anything past that makes them prettttty cranky.


Here are some of their 8 month pictures:

 

                 

                     

I love you, brother        <3 <3










Thanks for reading!

Almost crawling!

I cant believe my once teenie-tiny little boys are almost taking off wherever they want to! Well, to some extent :) We will definitely be buying one more long safety gate to connect to our current one that will tie off the living room & keep them [somewhat] contained. Colt seems like he will start crawling earlier than Clay, but Clay is talking almost non-stop these days. Colt is the quiet one in this regard. Its funny how they are starting to do different things at different times.

Here is Colt trying to crawl:

[precious <3]

I forgot to include in my previous post that we found out on May 29th that they are, in fact, identical! Also known as "Super Twins." Would my husband have it any other way?! They are super, indeed. I'm so glad to finally know for sure so I dont have to feel like an uninformed idiot everytime someone at the store asks me if they're identical or not.

Sailing into 7 months

       I seriously cant believe it. The old saying "They grow so fast" is most definitely true. You dont realize how fast life goes by until you have an infant (or two!). Their growth in a 7 month time-span is truly miraculous.

Accomplishments of the boys at 7 months of age include:

• Sitting up with very little assistance
• Sitting in their bumbo chairs without assistance
• Playing by themselves in their big boy walkers
• Growing TEETH! (Clay has 1 on the bottom front, Colt has TWO on the bottom front)
• Eating all fruit and veggie solids without any problem
• Consuming 7 ounces of formula at each feeding
• Maintaining a steady schedule of 9-10 hours of sleep throughout the night (BEST part EVER of infants getting older)
• Big boy laughs. Seriously, Chris can get them to laugh like 3 year olds =)
• For the most part, keeping their food down without having huge spit ups all throughout the day

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but those are the biggies that come to mind.

       We braved the restaurant scene for the first time as a family this past weekend. We decided to meet up with Josh & Danielle and their little cutie, Ford, for lunch. I was expecting a little craziness but was not prepared for what ensued. Lets just say I dont think we're quite ready to dine out yet! The boys are teething and wanted to play with everything in site. It was a multi-tasking debacle of trying to eat, carry on conversation, and keep the boys from attacking everything in the restaurant. 

       Ah well, live and learn. We'll try again in a few months.....

Who's ready for 7 month pictures?! (For those of you who have yet to join facebook!)