Hanging Around

The Swan men: two super cute guys!

Mall Excursion

So we did it. We finally went out with the babies. Although we’ve made monthly trips to the doctor and have been to a few family functions, we hadn’t taken the twins out with us anywhere. Even though flu season isn’t completely over, we’ve been a little stir crazy and thought we could manage at the Mall.

It was a quick trip to Northpark. We learned maneuvering with a double stroller is a little more challenging than it looks. There are so many people wandering around and most don’t pay attention, so you have to be extra careful not to run into anyone with your giant stroller full of babies. And I’m sure we seem slow and in the way to some.

There were two tween girls boppin’ around the mall in Heely’s, the shoes with wheels in the heels that allow you to skate around. I guess these young ladies thought we were moving too slow, so they zipped around us on their skate shoes and cut in front of us to get into Abercrombie. To which I chided them with an exasperated, “Girrrls” and one sheepishly replied, “sorry” but she might as well said, ‘sorry, grouchy, old lady, mom lady.’

Carl got a smoothie, I got some face lotion from Origins, and the twins got lots of attention from complete strangers. We made it in and out with no major incidents so maybe we can try a few more excursions now.

The Talker

Connor and Chloe had a doctor's appointment yesterday, so they had a bit of an interruption of their normal schedule and they both had shots. They did really well at the appointment, but that afternoon when they got back home, Connor never took a good enough nap.

That evening he was exhausted, but still would never sleep until it was time for his final bottle and bedtime at 9p. Because of this, he fell into a deep, but restless sleep. I heard loud noises from him at 1:45a and 2:45a, when I went to check on him, he was asleep, but chatting away. Connor talks in his sleep.

I talk in my sleep. My Mom says when I was a kid she could have entire conversations with me while I was asleep. Something like. "Angela, you have to let me play with the barbie townhouse too." You know, the pressing issues of the day.

Now, I'm not sure that I talked in my sleep at 6 months old, I'll have to check with Mom. For Connor, maybe this was just because he was so worn out from the day. I'm pretty worn out today too, so hopefully this isn't a new habit.

Crazy Dreams

We’re really lucky; we don’t lose much sleep from the babies waking up at night. Both Connor and Chloe sleep through the night after their last bottle at 9 and 9:30. They’ll sleep at least until 6:15a if not later and even then they’ll play quietly in their beds for another half hour to hour. This past weekend they both slept past 8a both mornings. We recognize how lucky we are.

However, sometimes I still don’t sleep well.

Carl and I trade off having the baby monitor on our respective night tables every other night. The babies rarely cry during the night, but every now and then we have to settle one of them down, put a pacifier in, or reswaddle in the middle of the night. Some of the nights I’m on baby monitor duty I think I hear baby noises when there aren’t any at all.

Or some nights I’ll just have dreams about the babies. Dreams like I have to take them to the office, carry them around all day, and sit in meetings with a baby in my lap. It feels like a stress dream and I guess the point is you carry concern for your baby with you all the time no matter what you’re doing.

It’s so crazy. I have great set up with wonderful help during the day and two babies who sleep through the night and yet I still find things to worry about and lose sleep over.

Twins but Unique

At six months they have unique skills they are each developing.

Chloe

Chloe really likes rolling over. If you put her on her back in a few seconds she’ll be on her stomach and sometimes she keeps on going. I feel like she’ll be crawling any day now. If you put her in anything stationary she arches her back and makes little grunting noises to let you know she wants out so she can roll around.

A few weeks ago I talked about the bedding set, the bumper pads and comforter, we put in the attic because if the twins rolled into them as newborns they could suffocate since they wouldn’t know how to roll out. Well now, the amazing rolling Chloe needs her bumper pads after all. A few times now we’ve found her in crib rolled over with her foot caught in the bars. She won’t cry, she just gives up rolling and sucks on her thumb until someone comes and releases her. I think the bumper pads will keep her from getting caught and she can keep on rolling.

Connor

Although Connor can roll over too, he isn’t as focused on it as Chloe. Instead his big thing is talking. Well, he can’t exactly “talk” yet, but boy is he trying. He’s making all sorts of noises, trying to form words. He chats with the stuffed animals, he has lengthy discussions with his mobile, he talks to the puppies if one of them comes and sits by him and he definitely has a few things to say to Carl and I. He chatters away, modulating his tone and pitch, although frequently he just gets louder and louder as if he’s frustrated he can’t make any specific words or that no one can understand him. I expect him to speak as soon as he possibly can and I assume it will be a monologue and not just Mama or Dada.

Both

However, there is one adorable thing they do together. Sometimes when we’re holding them near one another or they’re seated across from each other they laugh and interact together. Connor looks at Chloe and it’s like he says, “Oh yea, I forgot there’s another baby. You’re fun, let’s play together.” Whenever Connor sees Chloe, he starts laughing and trying to talk to her and she laughs and squawks back. Even though you’re not their gushing mom, you have to admit it’s ridiculously cute!

Party Babies

Last weekend my Aunt Wendy was in town from Phoenix with her husband Mario. They had a beautiful wedding last May, but this was the first chance for Mario to meet some of the family. On Sunday afternoon my Aunt Karen hosted a party for everyone to come and see Wendy and Mario.

Chloe and Connor came with us and they had a blast. They were passed around to all different family members and enjoyed every second of the attention. Here’s a picture of me with the hostess, Karen, the guest of honor, Wendy, and the party babies.

Right when we walked in the door, Connor recognized Leslie from when she spent the afternoon with them on Banana Day. He was so excited to see Leslie and enjoyed being held and watching everyone interact, he loved to be in the middle of the action.

Chloe was getting sleepy and needed to take a nap, but didn’t want to leave the party. She wouldn’t settle down when I tried to lay her down to rest so she just ended up napping with Carolyn.

It was a beautiful afternoon, wonderful to see the family and it made me feel so good that everyone seemed to really enjoy holding the babies. Connor and Chloe had a great time and wore themselves out a little. This week we’ll have to get back into the regular routine, no more parties for these babies for a while.

Spring Fever

Recently we’ve had some really beautiful weather that makes me want to get outside, soak up the sun, and enjoy the approaching spring before it gets so hot I’ll melt from stepping outside.

When the babies were in the special care nursery, before we could bring them home, the doctors really scared us about keeping them healthy. They told us we were on quarantine until flu season was over. When I asked how long that would be, straight-faced the doctor said, “Spring.”

Now it is spring and I’m dying to go out and take the babies. Carl and I have been out as a couple with either Maria or my Mom babysitting, but we haven’t done anything as a whole family.

We have cousins who had a baby just two months after the twins were born. They don’t live in Dallas so we keep up with them to via facebook, which is fun because they’re going through very similar baby things at the same time. Recently they took a trip with their baby to visit family. They posted all sorts of cute pictures of the baby at a parade and the whole family at Commander’s Palace. The baby was adorable and really well behaved to boot.

So now I’m just getting jealous. Our cousins are jet setting around with their new baby, going to parades and fancy dinners. OK, jet setting may be a bit of an exaggeration, but we haven’t gone anywhere with the twins. It’s been so lovely out I want sit on a patio with my family and sip margaritas but we’re afraid to pack up two babies, get them out, and then one has a melt down and we have to pack it all up and head home.

Maybe I’m over thinking the whole thing and we’ll be fine even if one baby cries a little. On the other hand, maybe it’s better for Carl and I to go out on our own and just enjoy each other’s company without having to focus on a baby or two babies at once. All I know is, now it’s spring and I want to enjoy it, I guess we’ll just have to sip margaritas on our own patio for a while. 

World Banana Day 2

This weekend we participated in World Banana Day 2. It’s a philanthropic pub-crawl where everyone dresses up in banana costumes to raise money and awareness for the North Texas Food Bank. If you’re interested you can learn more about World Banana Day and make a donation through the website.

Carl participated last year while I was out of town for business (and pregnant, so I wouldn’t have enjoyed it much) but this year I got to join in. When I ordered our banana costumes I noticed they had baby banana costumes too, so I order some for Chloe and Connor as well. We wouldn’t take the babies on the pub-crawl, but I thought it’d be fun to get a few family shots before we headed out.

 

Some folks have mentioned to me having trouble figuring out which one is Chloe or Connor in pictures when I dress them alike, so I came up with the idea of sewing a pink hair bow on Chole’s banana and a black bow tie on Connor’s. I thought this might work nicely on our adult costumes too.

I've included a few shots my Mom’s cousin Leslie took of us Saturday. Not only did Leslie come and help my Mom babysit while Carl and I were running around like crazy bananas, she got a couple of cute shots of the banana family. Thanks Leslie!

Connor got a little sick of wearing a banana suit and having his picture taken, but the shot of him crying makes me chuckle a little.