we all want what's not ours

can you guess what's wrong with these pictures?

i suppose it's not terribly obvious, but reagan is sucking on austin's pacifier.

the twins are always pulling each other's binkies out. i guess that comes with being a twin, right? they're so much more interested in the other's binky. they'll reach for their sibling's binky over their own and fight me when i try to switch them back. not sure why. maybe it's because we all seem to want what's not ours. the grass is greener on the other side, apparently.

reagan mastered the art of putting a binky in her mouth faster than austin, so i have a few pictures with her happily sucking away on his pacifier. i caught him the other day with his pacifier in his mouth when i didn't give it to him, so now i'm just waiting for him to do it with reagan's. i'll be sure to document it and share it with you. :)

work it!

i actually remember doing this.

i would get all dressed up in my work out best (headband, slippers, and all) and shake my booty with jane fonda. i remember getting frustrated because i couldn't keep up with the people on the video. lol.

i should re-create this shot with reagan when she's older.

- - - - -

i think i remember doing this. maybe it's because i've seen the picture enough that i've created the memory, but all the same. my tennis skills began way back when i was a munchkin. they resurfaced in high school and part of college, but (as you can imagine) i don't have much time for tennis these days.

i just realized that my dad was trying to make me a lefty. a right-handed tennis player places their right hand at the bottom (or end) of the racket. my left hand's at the bottom. plus, when i relearned tennis as a teenager, i only used two hands for my backhand, which would be on my other side. i rarely used two hands for my forehand. sneaky, dad. sneaky.

but my form looks really good for being 2 or so. racket back and down, eyes on the ball, my feet in a good stance. go 2-year-old-me!

gotta work with what you've got

tonight i find myself at my sister-in-law's house for craft night. seeing as i'm not too crafty, i'm going to do my blog post instead.

problem is, i have tyler's computer, so i'm at the mercy of his pictures. eh, i shouldn't say that. he's got a good selection of pictures. in fact, he has some that i don't have, so yay!

i'd forgotten about this until i saw it looking through his pictures. i was really wanting to use the computer and i was holding reagan, so this is what i came up with.

it works, right? she must have been comfortable enough because she's sleeping. i know say this all the time, but gosh they were little.

and how 'bout a picture of austin, too. i loved this little jacket on him. too bad he's far too big for it now!

 

i'm tired

big surprise, right? i think the definition of mom is tired. and i'm such a big baby. my parents laughed with me when i complained i hadn't had a nap of my own in over a week. some of us just need more sleep than others, ya know?

because i'm tired, my judgement is impaired and i'm going to share something with you i shouldn't. now, don't get worried, it's not anything private or anything. i just want it for myself, and sharing it with you decreases my chances (small as they are already).

savvy textbooks is sponsoring "the great provo-orem treasure hunt." no joke.

they've hidden $5000 somewhere in provo/orem, along with many other prizes. go to provotreasurehunt.com for more details. that's all i'm saying. at least i was kind enough to tell you about it.

if you do happen to win and you found out about the treasure hunt from me, can i pretty please have $100 for my contribution to your winning? thank you in advance. :) karen, if i win, i'll share some of it with you since you told me about it.

and because no one likes a blog post without a picture...

my two little treasures that are worth (and cost) far more than $5000.

:)

baby snuggies

ok, so they're not really snuggies, but close enough.

i bought each twin two of these back before they were born, thinking "this would be great for the kids to sleep in!" not so much then. these sleeper bags were HUGE on them when they came home from the hospital, and then it started to warm up. luckily they still fit in them now. in fact, they fit perfectly! and they're perfect for the cooler weather we've been having.

(if i could only get my kids to hold still for a few seconds!)

oops! (it looks like she's trying to save her binky. lol.)

speaking of, i think i'm ready for this cooler weather. i'm ready for the holidays! i absolutely love october through new year's. it's such a fun time! and i really, really love christmas. i may or may not have bought some christmas presents today. :)

the things our kids will never know

tyler and i were talking the other day about things our kids will never know. it's weird to think that they'll never know some of the things that were common in my life. or at least i knew about. i guess that's how it goes. i'm sure there are plenty of things my parents grew up with that i have no idea what they are.

things our kids will never know
(sorry the pictures are so big. i'm too lazy to fix them.)

 

 

and so many more...

all wrapped up + halloween

reagan had a hay day with my graduation cord.

and austin was pretty happy after his bath one day.

my two peas-in-a-pod wrapped up in cuteness!

- - - - -

okay people, i have the potential to do some GREAT costumes for halloween. i figure i've got 2-4 years of control over the twins' halloween costumes before they start to have an opinion. maybe more, maybe less. in any case, this is where i need your help!

suggestions of super cute, coordinating halloween costumes are greatly appreciated. i have a few ideas floating around in my head, but many minds are greater than one. so, please, share your ideas!

why we stopped using boppies

i know many of you are familiar with traditional boppies (the c-shaped pillows used for breastfeeding, etc.), but have you seen the "filled-in" boppies?

c-shaped

filled-in

i never used the c-shaped type, but boy did we love our filled-in ones. we started using them all the way back in february, when the twins came home. (see how teeny tiny they were?) we used them a LOT. the kids spent most of their time in these handy dandy pillows.

but time went on and the twins got bigger, older, and smarter. and they started moving. i'd come into the room to find them like this. or i'd look away and then back and they'd be like this.

 
(it's hard to tell, but austin is laying sideways in his.)

so sadly, the boppy pillows had to go away. i think i finally stopped using them in july. i probably should have stopped using them much sooner, but oh well. RIP boppy pillows. until our next baby...

night-night

raise your hand if you had a night-night! i sure did!! you should ask my mom all about it. it started out as a blanket...and ended up as a long piece of stringy, dirty material with huge knots in it. i LOVED my night-night. come to think of it, i don't know what happened to it. mom...?

austin and reagan don't really have night-nights yet, but i pretend they do. i sometimes give them these smaller animal/blankets when they're going to sleep. it's the only "toy" they're allowed to have in their crib. and they can only have it for naps - they don't get it at night.

(lately reagan cries when i give it to her - she knows that she's supposed to go to sleep when she sees it and doesn't want to. that girl is too smart, i tell you.)

you can see how (un)attached they are to these. reagan probably doesn't even know it's there; at least austin is kind of holding it. i think they're still too young to get the idea. but maybe one day they will have their very own night-nights!

i don't know about you, but i feel like all the kids being born these days are getting jipped on night-nights. my night-night was a full-sized blanket (at least it started out that way). i understand the thought behind the smaller ones, but still. it's just not the same. a night-night should be a full blanket. ya?

TGIF

are you glad it's friday? we're glad it's friday!

we hope you have a good weekend, too!!

:)

we have a non-eater (and some non-sleepers)

kids will always be a mystery to me. i wish they could talk so they could explain what's going on in those little heads of theirs. why, oh why, do they do the things they do?

non-eater

reagan used to be a terrible milk/formula eater. now she out-eats austin. go figure, right?

the kids have been on solids for over 2 months now and they were doing pretty well. until i started introducing meats. turkey, to be exact. austin eventually warmed up to the idea of meats, but reagan has lost all faith in me. she won't eat hardly anything. probably because she thinks there's turkey in it.

THIS

is what dinnertime is like now.

see those pursed lips? that completely-and-utterly-uninterested-in-solids face?

and she doesn't give in, either. i'll give her a break and try again later, all to no avail. so, you moms out there, what did i do so terribly wrong and how can i fix it? lol.

non-sleepers

so...apparently babies go through what's called "sleep regression" between 8 and 10 months. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaawesome. what that means for me is that i have two eight-month old babies that won't take naps (and who wake up in the middle of the night). well, that's not totally true. they'll sometimes nap. but i have no way of knowing when or where that will happen.

example #1: i spent an hour trying to get the kids to go down for their afternoon nap yesterday. they cried. i sang, i rocked, i read, i swaddled tightly so they couldn't move. i gave in and put them in bed with me (which i'm now trying NOT to do - such a contradiction, i know). the final score? babies: 2, mom: 0. they slept for half an hour. i lost half of my money on that investment. sixty minutes of trying for thirty minutes of quiet? not my idea of a fun afternoon.

example #2: i spent a good part of this morning trying to get them to sleep. reagan dozed for a cat nap, but austin wouldn't go to sleep. i gave up and put the kids in the living room with some toys while i got ready for work. when i walked back in the living room to check on them, austin was out cold. i called his name, i touched him, i rolled him. he hardly moved. the only way i could tell he was alive was his breathing. talk about having a heart attack (sids really freaks me out).

reagan was talking away, playing with her pot. (yes, i gave my kids pots to play with this morning. and yes, i went and bought them new toys after work today.) updated score: babies: 3, mom: 0.

i found austin's binky like this. he loves sucking on his clothes. i'm guessing he dropped his binky, it got lost in his clothes, and he turned to his shirt for comfort.

and that's what my days (and nights) consist of now. non-eaters and non-sleepers. being a mom is hard. golly.

but smiles like this

make it all worth it.

i'm FREE

TMI alert! all you male readers may want to skip this one. lol.

- - - - - -

remember how i told y'all about my constant companion?

*drum roll please*

i'm ALL done pumping! i'm FREE of the pump! wahoo!!!

now, while i am excited to be done pumping, i do have mixed feelings about it. i'm thrilled to be free of the pump, but i'm feeling sad/guilty that my kiddos won't be getting breastmilk anymore. i think that overall it's for the best. i'm happier so tyler's happier and the kids are happier. happier's better, right? right.

and if i do pump/breastfeed with my next one(s), i plan to do it for only six months.

i did have frozen breast milk that the kids (thankfully) decided was okay to eat, but that's almost all gone, too. it will be finished by friday, at the latest. sad day. those 65 eight ounce bags went fast. but at least all of the hard work i put into pumping and freezing it paid off.

why, you ask, am i so sad about being done pumping/my kids not having breast milk? i've thought a lot about it, and this is what i came up with:

i have no problem with formula. i really don't. i do personally think that breast milk exclusively for the first six months is important (because that's what the studies tell us these days). and that's why i've decided on six months for the rest of the kids i may (or may not) have. but the twins were premature, and that's what makes all the difference in my mind. because of their prematurity, they're at slightly higher risks for pretty much everything, and i think my mind thought that more breast milk would help reduce those higher risks. whether that's true or not, i don't know. breast milk was apparently "the" secret potion in my mind.

but all good things must come to an end.

and with all good endings come new beginnings.

now that i'm not pumping/breastfeeding anymore, i've decided it's time to hit weight loss hard core. (and jaclyn, if you're reading this, i just may come to you if i get fed up with it.) i've chosen myfitnesspal as my new constant companion, and i already hate it. but that's to be expected. it's hard to change your eating and exercising habits.

 

because of my lofty weight loss goals, i'm limited to 1200 calories a day. it sucks. but i do get to eat more if i exercise. as i type this, i'm realizing how ridiculous this sounds. 1200 sounds so little. any of you fitness gurus out there have any advice? *sighs*

so there you have it. an end and a beginning. wish me luck!

(if any of you are new to myfitnesspal, i highly recommended the app. i think it's easier to track your food with it.)

the sprinkler

austin has a signature dance move - he just doesn't know it yet. i like to call it "lord of the dance," but tyler insists it's "the sprinkler." you be the judge. :)

photo shoot 3