Is this what life is like with twins?

Eddie has taken to pointing at our eyes by poking us in the eye, pointing to our noses (sometimes sticking his finger up our noses), and our mouths, but trying to stick his fingers in our mouth--hopefully not in that order. Yet, when we tell him to point to his own facial features, no dice. Maybe he's smart enough not to poke himself in the eye.

We were in Atlanta late last week, visiting Eddie's new cousin, Patrick. Patrick is less than 2 weeks younger than Eddie. Because he is not legally their's, I can't post pictures of him.

Below are a couple highlights of the trip:

Get home to Aunt Lore' and Patrick's house and the first thing the kids do is fight so hard over every toy that even Eddie uncharacteristically bursts into crocidille tears. There could be a coralation between them each only napping 30 minutes that day and their temperment.

We then tried to put them down for naps--in the same room. They each typically need to fuss/cry a bit to get to sleep. Well, after nearly 20 or 30 minutes of the three adults sitting in the family room, picking out our respective children's cries over the monitor, Den and I decided that Eddie was likely keeping Patrick awake. As soon as we got Eddie, Patrick fell asleep.

I'm honestly not sure how we got both of them down for bed each night. What I do know is that the first night, Eddie woke Patrick in the middle of the night and on the second night, Patrick returned the favor, waking Eddie. Seriously, how do people with twins get their kids to sleep and to stay asleep?

We all went to the new acquarium in Atlanta. I was surprised at how engaged Eddie was this time (especially given that a mere 1 or 2 months ago, he wasn't as into the acquarium we visited (granted it was during naptime). I had to laugh when the list of prohibited items included fishing poles. So I'm guessing there aren't any fish cleaning stations nearby.

Kudos to my brother in law for getting the above picture in between swarms of people walking by. And I don't think he fell off the curb behind him, either.

There was this wide open part where as Den kept commenting, the acoustics sucked, but the lighted panels behind us kept changing color. We found an out of the way place and let Eddie run wild for a while. He really enjoyed throwing his car and then chasing after it. Then throwing it and chasing it. You get the picture.
Check this beast out. Hard to say how big it really was because of the glass, but the sign said this variety of crab (can't remember--maybe Asian) gets a large as a car!! Just what kind of car are they talking about? There were several of them in here. It was actually kind of freaky, but I couldn't stop looking. This guy just sat there, while the rest of them hung out in the back of the tank.
These are Beluga whales. Apparently it's a big deal that they can bend their necks. They were so graceful and I'm surprised my photos turned out. Enjoyed watching them.
This is Eddie pre-meltdown on the first day.

Friday in the Rain

Eddie and I went with his friends Jacob and Henry and their mom to this great park she discovered in a neighboring jurisdiction. It really seems to be cool/geared to when it rains. I didn't get the shot where Eddie was actually sitting in the catchment for the water, but suffice to say, he became one with the water.

Z is for zoo

Eddie and Lizzie at the zoo. He grabbed her hand. Then he grabbed her sweater. Shortly after this was taken, he pulled her hair and made her cry. Eddie, that's not the way to a girl's heart.

The neighborhood playgroup wanted to go to the zoo. I was a little bit skeptical of a bunch of 13-19 month olds at the zoo. Really thought it would be lost on them. Their parents kept talking about playing on this pizza. I couldn't quite figure out what they were talking about until we walked up to this giant foam pizza under a tent. Kids were climbing all over the topping, crawling through tunnels of olives, jumping from giant tomatos, and throwing giant pepperonis the size of the lens on a traffic signal and mushrooms of porportionally large size. This was the highlight of the visit--and Eddie slept through half of it.

They have these huge wires connecting the ape areas and allowing them to 'roam' as they chose (see first picture). They cross the midway and theoretically the apes could jump down right onto the midway, but of course not really, because they are up too high. So while we were there, we got to see the apes go across on these giant wires, connected by towers, which was actually pretty cool to see. The picture above shows what Eddie was focusing on while all this was captivating the rest of the zoo patrons.

Garden, Day 1

Dennis wanted me to post a picture of the garden. Really you should be seeing a picture of us at some nice bed and breakfast an hour out of town. However, I and I alone decided I didn't have the energy or desire to leave town, so we planted our garden instead. I have to say, it's pretty satisfying.

My parents watched Eddie basically the entire weekend, while Den and I did exciting things like order new fluting for the front door, ordered bath hardware, and stood in line for 35 minutes at Mount Vernon because they were having a garden plant sale. Last time we went (2 years ago) we got 1/2 our garden plants here, and they were of great quality and price. So, we thought standing in about the longest line I've ever seen at Mount Vernon when I could have another 3 weeks to come back at any time I liked, but there we stood, with the tourists, loaded down with their cameras and bottles of water.

It was a huge disappointment. We wound up visting 3 different stores to get 10 tomato plants, 8 green pepper, watermelon, acorn squash, cilantro, lettuce, green beans, eggplant, basil, and chives. Sure would be great if the lettuce and tomato were ready at the same time--unfortuantely, our summer heat kills the lettuce just about when the tomatos start producing fruit.

Eddie had a good time with g'ma and g'pa Ohio--they took him to his first art museum--the Phillips Gallery--and he slept through the whole thing. The picture was taken the day after we planted everything.

Happy Easter

G'ma and G'pa Ohio came out en route to FLA, so we had a photographer to take a photo of the 3 of us.

When It's Supposed to Rain, but doesn't...

Ed has taken to sitting on his knees when he drinks out of his sippy cup. I don't really understand it, but it has caused him to actually topple over backwards a handful of times when he gets too much arch in his back. You'd think he would learn. Maybe he gets a rush from it?

Here he is drinking with his buddy, Lizzie. She came over with her parents today and was a welcome sight at 6pm. When I'm by myself, it's that period from about 4-7, that feels like it lasts 23 of the 24 hours in a day. I'm tired, Eddie is tired, we don't feel like going anywhere.

This is when neighbors with kids become your saviors, giving you someone to communicate with and your child someone else to play with besides you.


This self-portrait turned out pretty well. Eddie looks like a line-backer getting ready for the play. That is, he is getting ready to lunge for the camera. I really don't want him to be a football player (too rough). I'd rather he play baseball I know--he can get popped in the head by a 90mph fast ball instead.
I can fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans! They really do fit, too. Not in the if-I-just-suck-it-in-a-little-more and don't eat today way, but really and truly. I still have plenty of pants that still don't fit, but yipee!

If Only...

It was only a matter of time before I'd start thinking of ways to make a parent's life easier.

First, wouldn't it be great if they made a diaper with the diaper cream built in? With some kind of release that you could put the diaper on and then the pressure of baby's butt would cause the cream to come out? Or maybe just pre-applied would be easier.

My other idea stems from Den's many work trips (can you tell he left again today?). Why not provide a company benefit that pays for travel for your spouse/family to accompany you on 'x' number of trips/year. Course this also stems from my definite cabin fever. I think if pressed, I'd rather keep our good health care coverage.

I'm about to explode from lack of travel. Course this is compounded by watching Den go away, week after week. A friend actually replied to Den's out of office auto-reply email, saying it would be easier for him to have an "in office" auto reply. Maybe I could take a couple of the trips for him--I'm so technically savy I know how to turn on a computer AND type a blog. But unfortunately am too lazy to run a spell check.

At the same time, in some sick twisted way, I look ahead to his travel schedule, telling him it's kind of cool that he'll be gone most of May, June, and thanks to a vacation, July. I mean it's a good thing to be wanted that much. I think I just like knowing what's ahead, rather than last fall when he would call me from the road to book the next week's trip. This way it's actually easier to make plans. He doesn't usually cram 2 separate trips in one week, so once a trip is on the books, it usually stays there. And, there are all the benefits that he acrues while he is away through frequent flyer and the like.

This weekend, Dennis and I hope to leave Eddie for the first time ever with my parents for a WHOLE NIGHT!!! I'm so excited, I could stay in Motel 8 and I wouldn't care, but the idea that I will get to sleep in until my body tells me it's time to wake up--no telling when I'll wake up (maybe I'll sleep in til 7 or even 8am). And I pity the person who disturbs my sleep that night. Maybe I should leave Den at home after all so I can have the whole bed to myself. If he snores or moves around too much, I'm making him sleep in the car. I'm not kidding.

Is It Time to Clean Yet?

When your child hands you 2 dust bunnies (the dust that accumulates when you have hardwood floors, for all you carpet-only types), it might be time to clean. True, Eddie can pick something up the size of a seseme seed, but when you can see that he is clearly handing you a dust bunny (I won't describe the exact size, lest Den get embarassed by that information being made public), it's a definite sign.

I broke out the dustmop to attack the situation and Eddie, I'm sure much to Den's delight, decided to clean under the TV cabinet when I set the mop aside after a couple swipes. Don't want to take on too much too soon. How soon is too soon to give your child cleaning responsbilities? He already likes to put his toys away. I'm enjoying this while I can, because once he finds out what a slob I am, he'll probably go that way--or join his dad is wanting a clean house. Which side do I prefer?

I know of a cousin of Eddie's who used to dump the dirt out of a flowerpot, just so he could get the vaccum out to clean. Needless to say, this cousin no longer has this compulsion to clean.

TooHaSpoBrush

The red Chuck Taylors Eddie got for his birthday are working as advertised--those classic basketball shoes are making him jump. He sure seems to like wearing them!
Check out Den's "new" glasses. He's really branching out. The optician warned us the lens would be super thick at the edge of the frame, which is was, but they didn't predict the lens popping out and the frames stretching out such that they could not stay on his face. They are kind of a greenish brownish. Now he's ordered his self-described boring glasses that will accomodate progressives. I think they'll look good, just not as hip as he was going for.

Progressives, you ask? They are for old blind people. Den needs glasses that combine 3 different fields of view without the line in a bifocal. His initial experience, prior to the lens popping out was quite positive.
The drawer above Eddie's play drawer in the kitchen is full of oven mitts, so when he's not dumping legos everywhere, he's taken to playing with the oven mitts, occassionally trying them out.

I've been so proud of Eddie's knowledge of what to do with his hairbrush. This was until he climbed into my shower and procceeded to use the old toothbrush I use to get the grime off the shower walls as a hairbrush. Okay, sorry, that's what Den uses to clean the shower. Anyway, Eddie thinks it's a hairbrush. I can see how the bristles on a toothbrush could be confused with the bristles on the tiny hairbrush I have for him.

But a spoon? He found a plastic blue spoon in my office. Don't ask, he seemed to like playing with it one time, so I left it up there. I've learned that I will allow Eddie to make toys out of a lot of different things in the name of distraction and entertainment. There he sat, running the spoon over his hair like a hairbrush.

Why I Love Daylight Savings TIme

10. Stays light longer at night
9. Means warmer weather
8. All the flowers and trees in bloom--even if it launches Den and me into allergy hell.
7. I love watching Den go all over the house, trying to set every clock to the exact same time when we "spring forward" (or within seconds). Especially fun with the clock that won't keep time after about 5 minutes that he keeps saying he's going to fix.
6. Eddie sleeps in.
5. More time outside.
4. Means I can put away the electic blanket, space heater, and hopefully the humidifer that all represent winter.
3. I can't think of this many reasons, I keep getting stuck on Eddie sleeping in until 7 (that's after getting up in the middle of the night).
2. Eddie seems to be able to sleep later.
1. It feels like there are more hours in the day, even if there aren't.

Speed posting

In continuing my 'flashback' series, this is a picture of Eddie when he was about 7 weeks old. It's taken just about a year ago (give or take a week or 2). I love the coloring. The reason it's chopped at the waist is that we were airing his diaper-rashed bottom out in the spring air.

Back then, Den worried about Eddie 'watering' the porch. So he'd only get 30 min. or so of air time. Recently, his antibiotics gave him a rash and we had him out back almost all day. Sure went through a lot of towels since he's so mobile. Don't worry, we're getting a new porch--one I'm guess won't be watered by Eddie.


This top picture is just after Eddie managed to jam himself in between our china cabinet and the wall. A distance of about 6 inches wide. I honestly wondered if he would get stuck in there. I think he sensed this too, as he didn't stay in there long and didn't squeeze his whole body in--he left a foot out.
Den, this is what we were doing while on the phone with you--eating goldfish.


Had a good dinner tonight with some friends of the Jones family from Wisc. They were out here for a week long trip and had almost 2 hours to kill in Alexandria.

Flashback

This first picture is from tonight. Eddie was a tough customer for pictures. When he's older and can talk, I'm sure he'll tell me to stop taking pictures. Until then, I'll scar him forever into hating cameras.

I've already scared him into hating computers--or at least the one I get sucked into every now and then.

Because I haven't gotten around to posting about Eddie's life before he was six months old, I thought his dad would enjoy seeing a couple of his favorites whilst on his trip in Huntsville, AL. This picture was taken when Eddie was just 2 weeks old. It's one of our favorites.
This picture was taken when Eddie was about 5 or 6 weeks old by his dad. I had gone out--for a couple hours and Den likes to joke this is Eddie's reaction to their behavior while I was gone--drinking beer and eating potato chips in their underwear.

Enjoy. If there is a brownish/blackish ring from where the water boiled while you make pasta, does this mean you've burned the pasta? I'll not mention names, but someone doesn't think she put in enough water while hurridly boiling some pasta--thinking it would cook faster for hungry Eddie. One dinner down, 2 more to go.

A weekend of sunshine

Twas a beautiful weekend. Here are some photos we snapped.

I won't be a stage mom!

Option 1, full context cropped
Option 2, close-up

Option 3, full context view

People are always telling us how cute Eddie is. We actually had a bartender in CA tell us he was "Gerber Baby Cute." Could give his parents a big head. However, we figure it's because all babies are cute, it's just something you say about someone's baby, much like telling someone they have a nice home. I keep thinking ahead to those awkward teen years when he won't be so cute...

Nonetheless, I have decided to enter Eddie in a photo contest, just to see what happens. The rules say the photos will be reviewed by a: panel of judges selected at the sole discretion of Babytalk and Good Morning America, based equally on the personality and charm of photo subjects as conveyed by their photo. With that in mind, I'm trying to decide between these three photos. I can crop Den out of most of the photo in option 3 and you get option 1 as a result. Which picture would you enter based on the criteria?

You can either post anoymously, or email Den or me.