The brothers: 6 months

Those brothers are a half a year old. It is really, really hard to believe they have been here a whole 6 months. Truly.

They are generally happy little guys. Though they are both working on some teeth which has their temperament and sleep a bit sporadic. Good days are pretty good, they usually only get up once to eat. Bad days are, well bad. JT and I tag team on those days and we survive. It is only sleep after all.

They are doing all sort of fun things to mark their 6 month birthday. They both roll from their belly to their back, they can sit up on their own for 30 seconds or more, they have tried bananas - they were indifferent.

An aside - differences between first child and subsequent - we were/are not in a rush to get those boys eating solids like we were with baby number one. We know how much more work food is. Also, we have zero pictures of their first food experience. Though I do have some of Soren eating a breastmilk popsicle. Sorry dudes.

One of our favorite things to watch is them interacting with each other. When they see each other they get really excited. Arms and legs waving all over the place, big smiles. They also reach for each other, hold hand, pet heads, all of that cute stuff. And, of course they steal things from one another, punch each other in the face, and kick one another. I'm sure that will continue for the long haul.

They are getting big. Big enough to ride in the jogging stroller comfortably. Big enough to read books. They actually seem to love books and reach out to touch all of the pictures. Big enough to put their pacis in their mouth by themselves. Big enough to hold their own bottles. Big enough to play in their jumper and exersaucer.

They are for sure not serious babies. Not at all. The smiles come so easy for these little dudes. Especially for Audrey, she gets smiles from them with barely a look in their direction. They love their big sister and she loves them. "Oh, brother. I just want to touch you. Oh, brother I just want to kiss you." She loves them, lots and lots. She especially loves when it is time for them to nap or go to bed because she gets to watch a show. She is always saying "brother are tired they need to take a nap. I watch a show?" Smart lady, you are.

In other exciting news: the brothers eyes seem to have gone from gray to blue! Audrey's eyes had already turned brown by now. The brothers' have lightened up to blue. For some reason I find that to be very exciting, I suppose because neither of us have blue eyes. I told JT they are just trying to live up to their name to the best of their ability with blonde hair and blue eyes. Sweet little Scandinavian babies.

Girls will be girls

Yesterday I had my first heart walking outside my body experience. What am I talking about? It was the first time other kids were not so nice to Audrey, she was distraught, and there was nothing I could do to help her (to be clear I don't think I should have done anything this is life). My heart. Oh my heart.

This was the most minor of minor incidents so I cannot imagine how I am going to feel when she is a tween and actual mean things are happening.

We were at the park and there was a sandbox with toys. Honestly, I wasn't paying that much attention, just letting A play. And I did not know who the toys in the sandbox belonged to. I thought they might be the parks as that is sometimes the case. A loves the sandbox. It is her absolute favorite. So she went in picked up a shovel and started digging. The little girl who the toys belonged to quickly gathered up all of the toys, left the sandbox, and went a little ways away to tell her friends "that girl keeps trying to take my toys" in a not very nice way. Meanwhile A was super sad and confused. "Mama, where did the toys go? I want to dig?" Of course I said, "I am really sorry buddy, but those aren't our toys, so we can't use them unless the owner offers. I'm sorry I didn't know there was a sandbox next time we will bring toys. Let's dig with our hands." And I got in that sandbox with a baby strapped to my body to dig with her, because my heart was breaking for her. She just didn't understand.

Then. THEN. The other girl brought her toys back and started playing. Before A even tried to use a toy the girl said to her friend "that girl keeps trying to take my toys and dig in my hole!" This was the point at which I could not bear it anymore. I said, "she just wants to play with them, she won't take them."

The other girl thought about that a bit and finally offered that A could play with a toy, a tiny frog shovel but it did not matter to A. She just wanted something, anything to play with. A friend of the toy girl then offered A a big scoop and all was right in the world. Thank goodness. But good grief was it hard to watch this whole process unfold. Not even because the girl didn't want to share her toys. That is fine they are hers she doesn't have to share them. But because of how caddy she was about the whole thing. All she had to do was say TO A these are my toys and I am using them right now. OK that is fine they are your toys, I would have explained that to A and she would have understood. Just say it TO HER for the love of all things.

Moms of girls, can we agree to try, TRY to teach our girls that it is far better to have discussions such as this WITH the person. The talking behind backs, to friends, all of the caddy is so not needed. I know it is what girls do, I was/am one too. But please, PLEASE can we at least try to head this one off. Let's all agree to lead by example here.

For the love of my heart that is walking around outside my body, help me out. Let's not accept that "girls with be girls" let's try to help our girls develop into kind, considerate people who know how to communicate with one another in effective ways. It will serve all of us well.

Thank you for your cooperation.

If we only had one baby...

This post was supposed to got like this: list a bunch of times when I think if we only had one baby life would be easier because x,y, or z would be done. And then list a bunch of reasons why having twins more than makes up for the if we only had one baby.

Here is the deal. We have had a couple of weeks that have been hard. Travel, growth spurts, teeth. Hard stuff. The brothers are not big enough to do a lot of the very endearing twins things, and quite frankly I can't think of very many reasons why two babies are better than one right now.

Of course I love always having a baby available to love. And I love it when they hold hands. That is the absolute sweetest. It is also great when they get so excited to see each. Priceless. I would not trade them for one baby, not today, not ever.

I know the intense brotherly love will only grow over time, and I will one day have a huge list of reasons why twins are the bomb dot com.

But.

Today is not that day.

Today life with twins is hard.

When one baby sleeps the other wakes.

When one baby is content to play the other needs to be held.

When one baby is happy the other is sad.

When my head hits the pillow for bed one baby is hungry.

When I need to work before the kids get up one baby is up at 5:30.

And so it goes on.

Right now, on this day life with twins is hard. I love them to the moon and back. I would not trade them for the world. But real talk, having two babies is really F-ing hard. For reals.

Someday soon I will write the two babies are greater than one post. But not today. Today two babies are really F-ing hard. Because that is real life my friends.

So cute though.