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