Our BabySitter Is a PICKY Eater

Today I got a lesson on just how PICKY of an eater our babysitter can be. I would have thought that I had things figured out...how hard can food temperature be? And we aren't talking the kind of difference between blazin' hot and freezing cold...maybe a mere few degrees, I would find separated approval and refusal. Don't get me wrong...I love our babysitter and don't know what we would do without her. But in my book, I figured that if issues would arise it would be for something like sticking to bedtime, rules of the household, or along those lines; but degrees Fahrenheit??? Come-on!!! I guess sometimes you gotta let be what is and take the good with the bad. As I am sure many parents can attest to, when you find that miracle babysitter you'd do most anything to keep them around and happy....and ours, well, is a one in a million. We've only known her for 6 months, but she's every part of our family.
...Okay, for those thinking we've actually hired a babysitter...well, we haven't :-) That was just a comical but true lead-in to marking a big day for Taryn....SHE's our babySITTER!! Two days ago, she put on her best sitting skills and showed off for the camera (as you'll see below). So just prior to the 6-month-old mark, she's sitting like a pro. Yet another step in her "growing up". Oh, and there is much truth to the whole PICKY-eater-temperature thing.
So I finish up her bath, and after some lotion, a new diaper and her nightie topped of with her sleepsack, we headed over to the lounger to join E-Man and Mommy. And after a few suckles on the bottle, she's kicking it out, swatting it with her hand, and rolls hot-hornet on me. Holy Moly, I think...what's wrong SweetPea??? Okay, reset and try again....two suckles, bottle kickout, and hot-hornet part II. Wow, she must be hurting....teething maybe? Zoe is quick on the draw and provides some soothing that quiets silences the hornet temporarily. Next touch of the bottle to the lips...hot hornet the third. But Zoe still works. So off I go to get some Orajel and teething tablets. After administering what I hope is the solution, I try again with the bottle...successfully generating a swarm of hornets at this point! Well, guess teeth are not the culprit. So I sprinkled some milk on my leg and it felt lukewarm-ish. Kinda out of options at this point but knowing she's hungry, I take a stab at the temperature thing and head into the kitchen and fire up the bottle warmer. After 3 minutes on the timer, I do a heat check and then try again. And wouldn't you know it...she begins to down the entire 7 oz. What a picky babysitter!! Oh my SweetPea...love you so much...and you definitely have RED hair :-) But hey...she's the most pretty babysitter ever!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!!?

Hut one...Hut two....It's Sunday and Evan and Taryn are hanging with dad :-) while mom is at work :-(. And as the 1PM EST hour approaches, out come the jerseys and hats as we get ready to watch some football. We've dubbed Taryn as the Rams fan to support her mommie...and E-Man is a Titans fan along with his daddie. And what better way to mark the occassion than to hand the twangels a mini-football and grab a snapshot or two. As kickoff approached, it looked as if Evan would hold onto the football with no problem. But early into the action, his hunger made an appearance as he took to munching on the pigskin (hurry home mommie, need some milk!!) Taryn looked to get her passing offense going in showing early signs of holding the ball in passing form, but then took to just posing for camera (future chearleeder?) It was fun to see them play around...can't wait to get them their own little jerseys when they are running around the house...who knows, maybe some backyard two on two football is in the future! Go RAMS and Go TITANS!

A Day at Family Day

Each year we've seen the base's Family Day come and go...and never really made much effort to attend because it is centered around those with kids...and well, up to this point, it was just the two of us. So when this year's event rolled around, we packed up the twangels, loaded their green machine, and headed out to the base. It was a muggy day, but the bunches of clouds helped keep the temperatures in the reasonable range. The two hours we spent out there went by fast, but provided time to mingle with some friends, grab a burger and hot dog, check out "dad's office" (went on the jet...Evan even got a picture sitting in 'dad's seat'), do a stroll-by of the mini car show, and grab some cotton candy (since Evan and Taryn were too young for it, we obliged)...boy was that a throwback to many years ago as a kid cruising around with a tower of spun sugar that was almost as tall as we were!!!
Evan and Taryn love being out and about, and love cruising around in their green machine. And after a full day's time soaking up all the sights and sounds, you can see in the last picture that they were "out." :-)

It's Tough Being a Twin

Some days I truly feel sorry for the babies as they are always having to wait their turn. Sometimes it is no big deal but other days it breaks my heart. Today is one of those days. I fed the babies their carrots and was getting them ready for their nap. I took Evan back to the nursery to nurse him before putting him down and had left Taryn on the floor in the living room w/ her paci (they don't go far so for right now they are OK to be left for a few minuets but I know those days are numbered...trying to figure out how I am going to handle this when they go mobile...anyway that is another story...so back to this story). It was really quiet so I thought I should go and check on her and the poor baby was asleep on the floor waiting her turn :-(.....but so cute :-).....

"GRADUATION" DAY

(cue music).....Duh, du-da-duh dahhhh dahhhh...duh, dun da dah duhhhhh.....

TARYN---GRACE---TUTTLE (huge applause)

10 minutes later.....

EVAN--REECE---TUTTLE (huge applause)


Mommy, WOW....we're in size 2's now!
The setting was perfect for today's graduation ceremony...a massive wetter from Sweet Pea and a monster pooper from E-Man to send the last two size one diapers into the Diaper Geenie never to be seen again. After some 600 size 1's along the way, the twangels have officially graduated into size 2's....and couldn't be happier about the expanded room for confort and containment. Gone is baby elmo and his clan...now it's Winnie the Pooh in the new size 2's. Yet just another symbol of how Evan and Taryn are growing up! Especially with twins, we've done our part keeping the Pamper's company in business :-) We celebrate every day with our two little miracles...and today's little milestone was yet another in their journies to grow up big as faithful followers of God. Here's to size 2's...and the countdown until threes!

We Have a Sitter and a Rolly Polly

....and no I am not calling my babies fat LOL.

E-man has been working on his sitting for a while now and at 5 months and 3 days old on his daddy's birthday he managed to sit unassisted for several minuets. Unfortunately the timing wasn't right and we were unable to capture his new feat on film but lucky for us he repeated his new trick today. He is still too young to get himself in a sitting position on his own and he does still have balance issues but he is getting much better and is able to string more and more minuets of independent sitting together at a time. Evan would like to ask you to excuse the pink blanket but he spit up on his so it was in the wash and Mom and Dad put out sissy's blanket for him to use...he really doesn't like pink but he gets used to it considering the fact that he has a twin sister...there tends to be a lot of pink around the house.

Taryn isn't far behind...I would give it a few more weeks though before I would expect to see her sitting solo for several minuets at a time but while we are the subject of our little Sweet Pea...she has become a rolling maniac. They both have been rolling for a while Evan started at 3 months and Taryn followed a few weeks later rolling belly to back and then right around 4 months Evan was rolling back to belly but he really doesn't like to be on his belly so you wont catch him doing it much. Taryn just yesterday (must be something special about daddy's birthday) just started rolling all over the place back to belly, belly to back, then back to belly again. She is doing it in her crib as well and much to my dismay has chosen to sleep on her belly....scares me to death. We go in and roll her back over but no sooner do we leave the room and she is back on her belly. So what will be, will be, I will just be saying lots of extra prayers for her.

It is so fun to see them grow and change literally right before our eyes. Chad was just beaming yesterday saying how much Taryn was blossoming....and he is right. It is fun to see her go from this little baby who would just sit back and take in the world around her to this little baby who is physically exploring her little world rolling from one place to the next and really being interested in the objects around her.

At our last dr. appointment our dr. was telling us how rough boys are and how they will just bang everything and it is so funny to us because that is exactly what happens. Evan is all boy banging the heck out of everything and Taryn is such a girl and docile with everything...she definitely has a more gentle approach/touch. Just don't make her mad or as her daddy lovingly says..."she will go hot hornet on you" LOL. She is a true red head...such a sweet heart and we love her so much.

and Evan is our sweet little boy who is so fun to watch grow...he loves to be held and to be w/ his mom and dad. Sometimes I still feel like I am in a dream....I cant believe that we have been blessed w/ two beautiful children, that they are actually ours...what a blessed gift they are.

I don't have a picture of all Taryn's rolling around but I couldn't leave her out so here she is sitting in her big girl chair getting ready to eat some lunch. We added plums to their list of foods today and it got rave reviews from both Evan and Taryn. So we are doing good so far only 1 food in the dislike column but I will be trying avocados again....they haven't seen the last of them LOL.

A Treasured Visit from PA

Adding to our memorable moments was the awesome visit by Uncle Spark, Aunt Gina, and Cousin Sam. The three of them came to see us last weekend and we had a blast of a time. It had been over a year since we had last seen Spark and Gina, and was our first chance to see Sam in person since he was born. What a handsome little gem of a boy...and growing up so fast! We thanked him for testing out many of Evan and Taryn's toys to ensure proper function and structural reliability :-) And oh how fun it was to see Evan, Taryn and Sam together....from the exersaucers to the toys and the pool, they seemed to do so well together and acted as if they'd known each other from day 1. All three were cute as can be...and it gave us a little foreshadowing of what is to come in the months ahead. Sam was so grown up with his sippy cup and real-food meals...Evan and Taryn were definitely inspired. Our Friday-Monday time together still seamed to go by too fast, but we were able to mix in great times and a couple of small outings to make the absolute best of the shared minutes. Spark and Gina are amazing friends and it is a blessing to spend time with them....we only wish we lived closer. And well, we are already counting the days until we visit them next summer in PA.
During the visit, cameras were snapping as we bookmarked the great time we got to share together. Among the many, here are a few of the pics:

Cinco de TWINZ

My oh My how time can fly! Today marks the twangels' 5-month birthday...yet another monthly milestone in their little journeys. Reflecting back on the last 150 days, it's just amazing with all that has happened and all that they have experienced and how much they have grown. We can remember holding them both in our arms, just hours old...and oh so tiny...we could have fit Nash and Teebo in there as well. Today, the two of them fill up our arms quite completely, leaving only enough room to snuggle them close and hug them tight. So many memories formed already....and countless more to come. And what better way to capture some more moments than with photos! So, off we went to portrait innovations for another round of flashbulbs. Evan was a real trooper, and Taryn cooperated when she felt like it and revolted when she disapproved of the pose or lighting :-) Overall, they did great.

As their 4th month of life comes to a close I feel like we should recap some of their big first as they had an exciting month that kept us very busy including:

1st time on an Air Plane

1st trip to mema's and papa's

1st meetings of Uncle Troy and Aunt Nanci and many other aunts, uncles, cousins and friends

1st time playing in an exersaucer

1st laugh from both of them...Taryn's is more of a squeal but it is beautiful either way :-)

1st time trying to take a bath in the big kid bath tub (that didn't go over so well so we will try again in a month or two LOL)

1st outing w/ just mommy to the grocery store and Michael's (and they were perfect angels)

1st bite of solids which have turned into several bits and now they are old pros. So far they have had oatmeal, avocado, applesauce, and sweet potatoes...unfortunately they don't seem too fond of avocado's so we moved on to sweet potatoes today and they loved them we will have to revisit avocados at a later time hopefully we will get a better response :-). It is fun to see how quickly they change and grow. Our first day of solids did not go so well especially for Taryn she was kind like why are you sticking the sticky stuff (oatmeal) in my mouth and she would spit it right back out...but by day 4 she not only opened her mouth for more she finished her entire bowl and most of it ended up in her belly instead of on her bib :-).

I am beginning my new adventure in making baby food. Of course I haven't really been able to make much yet, pureeing sweet potatoes doesn't really count for much, but I am looking forward to it as they get to add more and more to their diets.

In other big news now that they are 5 months old...mom has them on a schedule and what is even better is Evan is napping consistently well now. You have no idea how excited that makes me. I can count on him for at least an hour but often he will nap 1.5-2 hours for me....YIPPEE!!!!

So our day looks something like this:

730-800 wake/feed

930 nap #1

11 wake/feed

12 solids (fruit or veggie)

100 nurse then nap #2

230 wake/feed

330 feed (yes they eat all time LOL)

400 nap #3

5 wake/solids (oatmeal)

630 bath/feed

700 bed

It is a long day some days but when the nap well and will play well independently it makes for a good day. The hard days are the days when they are clingy...when they both get like that at the same time...I will lay them on the floor in front of me and tell them over and over again "there are 2 babies and 1 mommy" and nuzzle them and I can usually get them to laugh or smile....I don't know why they think that is funny LOL :-) maybe because they know I am outnumbered.

Month 4 was wonderful and now we look forward to a wonderful month 5 w/ a whole new set of first for our little twins. I was reflecting earlier today on how little they once were and how big they are now. I cant believe the vast difference in their size and development....I know it is nothing cosmic and nothing millions of babies before them haven't done but it is still amazing when you see it happen right before your eyes. Every twin mom will tell you that it gets easier at the 6 month mark and I have held on to that especially in the early weeks and now I cant believe we are approaching the half way mark to their first year of life and although I look forward to all that is coming I do get a little sad when I realize they will never be that small again...I can only imagine how I am going to feel in a year or five years.