A Sunday Walk on the Beach

Okay it was more of a dig on the beach.  Dace played with his trucks while I walked back and forth with the babies (their first time at the beach today!) and tried to keep up with Zade.  The wind was chilly but the sun was so nice and warm.  

4 months- 1/3 of the way! woohoo!

Here they are!  Four months old today!

Ding! Round Two

Both twins are teething.
Both twins are cranky.
Both twins are trying to swallow their fists whole.
Both twins are only doing catnaps, about 20 minutes long.
Both twins are no longer sleeping through the night.
Both twins are wanting to be held almost constantly.
Both twins are eating more than usual- Mr. Chunk had 18 ounces in less than 4 hours last night.
Both twins are a drool factory- even further increasing the never ending supply of dirty laundry.
Both twins are still cute...for the most part.  ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday

Hi, Remember me?  I'm the mama.  I need to be in more photos with my kids.  So since I was having a rockin' hair day today, I asked D to take a pic of me and little miss before church.

Someone loves his tummy time!

 All ready for church!

The twins were punks today.  I'm not going to lie.  they catnapped all day today and better sleep for at least 12 hours tonight to redeem themselves.  Dallin plopped them up here after their 20 minute long, should have been at least 2 hours afternoon nap.  We were trying to tidy the house and cook supper for the missionaries while 3 of 4 kids had crying meltdowns.  Ah, lovely Sabbath.

Out takes

I've committed to doing a new blog banner every month this year.  It's one of my goals and I like doing it.  It's a creative outlet for me which is something I need to fulfill that Me time.  Plus it also gives me an excuse to take at least one picture of each child every month.

I finished Feb's banner this morning after taking pics over the last few days.  There is a reason why photographers say never work with babies or animals.  Take 100 photos and get 1 good one.  Especially if the babies know you need a good one.

Here are some funny out takes for your enjoyment:

The Slow return of Sanity

Yesterday afternoon was spent mostly like this:

I love that both babies need their mouths wiped...oh well.  anyway, Here's the scoop on what's going on.  On Thursday, I changed Dace's pants FIVE TIMES because he was peeing in them all day long.  It's silly.  He has been on this weird lazy kick lately and not using the potty is just one way.  So we had enough and cut him off of all tv and computer games for Friday.  Of course he was ticked at first but he got over it.  And you know what?

Friday was one of the best days the boys have had in a long time.  There was hardly any fighting, crying or whining and they just played all day.  Most of the morning was spent outside with Jenna and doing puzzles.  Then in the pm they did playdough and more playing outside and reading books and having snacks.  They were content and pleasant and so were the twins.  I snapped these photos because I found myself looking at this table of kids and thinking, Ahhh.  Okay, this is good.  this is better.  I can handle this.  I'm raising 4 babies under 4.  And at the moment I'm enjoying it.  This is good!  Improvement!

So we are no longer allowing tv in the morning.  When the boys get up and play instead of sit down and zone out, it sets a better mood and energy for the rest of the day.  Dace can now watch a show during Zade's naptime (as long as he stays dry during the day) and then maybe a little show or movie before bed, depending on the evening.

In other news, the twins are really getting their neck strength up.  Here's some proof:

I only put Nev in the bumbo for a few seconds at a time, just to see where she is at for sitting on her own.  She really likes sitting up like that.  I think she can tell she's being a big girl when she does it.  Ammon still can't handle the bumbo.  His head is so heavy.  I think the seat may be a weird angle for him because if he sits on my lap he can hold it up straight just fine.  And on the floor too.  He was having a grand ole time on the floor this morning.  He stayed propped up in that position smiling and laughing and talking to someone for almost 10 minutes before he got tired.  He probably has an imaginary friend.  He gets that from me.  I had several as a child, my family stills talks about a certain two, Sookie and Dokka.  But that story is for confessions on another day....

Anyway, at this rate they are only a few weeks away from being able to sit up on their own enough to start trying solid foods.  Very exciting! Yup, sanity is slowly making its return to our home and to our lives.  and Exhale.

Dr Check Up

The twins will be four months old in 11 days.  crazy, huh?  we took them in this morning for their check up.  It's a bit unreal that we went from this:

To this:

They are both doing so great.  The doc is totally happy with their progress.  Here are their stats:

Nevea

Weight: 12lbs (25th percentile)  Percentiles are for full term babies so these guys are doing great.  There is nothing 'preemie' about them remaining.
Length: 23 inches (25-50th percentile)
Head: 15.5 (25th percentile)

Ammon (being a little more dramatic because he only likes to be naked if it means going in the tub...)

Weight: 15.6 lbs (75th percentile! )

Length: 23.5 inches (25th)

Head: 17

Both are strong on their tummies, really building up that neck strength and both are sleeping through the night, 10-12 hours.  We separated them into their own cribs last Wednesday and I think that made the difference to get Ammon to sleep through.  

Overall, an impressive report.  

Saturday morning

This is how Nevea wakes up every morning:

She is just the happiest little thing!  She LOVES to smile and loves to coo and is already chatting up a storm.  Ammon is smiling and chatting alot too.  It's going to be fun when they start having conversations with each other.

There was an impromptu photo shoot this morning minutes before I got up.  It went a little something like this:

Talk about little miss racicot!  I look at her and see my entire family tree!  Then she has 3 dean brothers.  people love commenting on the different resemblences of these kids.  

Z to A

If you've followed this blog for a while, you know that I like to compare baby photos of my boys because they sure are made from the same cloth.  Anyway, here is Zade, followed by Ammon.  

Okay, after looking at these after loading them
I have realized that Zade definitely was my chunkiest baby.  His picture was taken around 2 months old- look at all that face fat!  and Ammon's was taken this week, about 3.5 months old.  crazy!  

I'm so glad that chicken has captured audiences in the blue chair for so many years.  She'll be retired soon.  

What I'm Up To

I am drinking this:

Isn't that a gorgeous green?!  And it is actually very, very tasty.

Here's the scoop- Friday I watched a documentary on Netflix called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead."  It's about this austrailian guy who goes on a 60 day juice diet to cleanse and detox both his body and his life.  It was really interesting, inspirational and informative.

The next day, I woke up with the worst skin flare up that I have had in a really long time.  Dallin told me to start weaning Nev since my skin always clears up once I stop nursing.  Whether it's hormonal or lack of nutrients for me since it all goes into my milk and my body suffers, we're not sure.  Probably a bit of both plus stress.  Anyway, so I gave her a formula bottle for lunch which she took just fine.  charlotte fed her, not me.  All day I kept thinking about the docu I had watched the day before.  I don't believe in coincedences and I knew there was a reason I saw it the day before.

 So I asked around and borrowed a juicer and started that night drinking this juice.  It includes kale, celery, cucumber, green apples, lemon and ginger.  It is so refreshing and you feel better instantly after drinking it.  I am not doing a cleanse or a diet because I am still nursing but I need more nutrients in my life so I am drinking this juice once a day and am on a no-sugar cleanse for 10 days.  It's been 3 days and I can already see and feel a difference.  I am hoping that this is what my body needs so that I can keep nursing and just keep juicing at the same time.  Either way, I am addicted to juicing.  I've made orange juice with carrot and grapefruit juice in the mornings.  So good, so simple and easy and quick and SO good for you.

Anyone having health problems or just need a motivational speech to make some changes, watch this documentary.  You should be able to rent it anywhere.  It's a quick and interesting show.

And the funniest part of all of this- you know my oldest son who won't eat anything?  Guess who loves my grinch juice-

Yup.  He tried a sip at lunch which turned into a guzzle which turned into his own cup.  If a 3 year old can love this juice, you can too!  Now go watch the show and happy juicing!

Outside

It has been such great weather the last few days after our winter cold snap at the beginning of the week.  Dace loves picking up nice leaves and Zade loves hearing the airplanes and searching to see them overhead.

A win for the girls team!

Guess who was the first to sleep all through the night?

This girl!

Thursday night I called my mom venting that I was about to go insane because there was still nothing consistent about the twins bedtimes.  I mean, when you are done for the day at 5pm and are on auto-pilot til everyone is in bed, when bedtime takes 3.5 hours to get everyone down, you feel like you just might snap.  So after a good chat, I decided to tweak her day naps, not letting her sleep past 2 or 3 hours.  And that's what i did friday.  She was up all morning then had a long nap right after lunch, catnapped a couple times til beftime, was out for the night at 730 and slept til 730am.  NO FEEDINGS!!  Then she did the same thing last night.  woop woop!!!  Ammon is sleeping about 10 hours or more.  Friday night he slept til 430 then last night til 630.  We are completely happy with that as well.  But now that I know to monitor their day naps I can get all the kids to be in bed and asleep by 8pm.  Hallelujah!  That down time in the evening is so important so that I can have some time to breathe, actually see my husband and unwind before I have to go to bed.  Here's to it sticking......

The not so little Little Brother

Remember how we named our son Ammon and not Goliath?

Well, I think he might be confused.  Here is our 3month old baby boy- ALL 15 lbs OF HIM!!!

The twins go in for their check up in 2 weeks.  it will be interesting to see where he is at then and where he fits on percentiles.  He's definitely a happy chunk and so fun and squishy to snuggle too!