This week: 31 August 2016

Blake took her first steps today!!! She's been standing on her own for 10-20 seconds for a few days, cruising on furniture, and using anything she can push as a walker. Today I was changing Jacqueline and Husband told me to look at her, I did a was mid-eye roll and about to tease him that I've been watching her stand all day (which is what he wanted to me look at), when we both saw her take her first two steps! She was so obviously proud of herself. She repeated her new trick a few times, but never did more than two steps. Which is fine by me - my chaotic world is about to go to the next level.

Husband's family was all in town last week (didn't get a post in, oops!). It was such a blast seeing Wade play with his cousins.

Jumping on beds and furniture through out the house:

Running whenever possible (they somehow all synced up and new what running game they were playing): 

And play with the iPad (they all somehow knew when someone had found an iPad and all gravitated towards it):

And playing with Nana (and Papa, but I apparently didn't get any good pictured of that!):

And playing hide and seek. Four and two year olds are hilarious to play with. You can hide in plain sight and they won't find you. When they hid, it was always in the same spot each time or all together.  Wade would get too excited and never wait for you to find him - often he'd be out of his hiding spot before you entered the room.

We went to the zoo and Wade now asks if we're going to see the animals anytime I buckle him in his car seat. An airplane flew over while there and that might have been the highlight. That, and the zebras. He talked about the zebra's for days afterward - when he saw them his eyes lit up and he said, "I want to say 'Hi Zebra' now," so we did, we went over and he said "Hi" to the zebras.

It was a fun visit, but I'm still in recovery mode. Wade slept in our room - I am so tired (he slept fine, I didn't). 

The girls turned one last Friday. We did nothing special on that day, except I was super sappy, nostalgic and emotional. They're one. We made it a whole year and I kept thinking about the first time I met them and what a special year this has been. We did a HUGE celebration for the the Sunday before (Wade posted a bit about it here) and I totally teared up when we sang them happy birthday - I was surrounded by so many people who had helped and supported us, I felt so loved. The girls got baby dolls and Wade loves them: 

He carries a "set" around and calls them Jacqueline and Blake.

He's been saying a lot recently. My favorites from the last week:

"Calm down, Mommy." Followed by Husband almost shooting cereal our his nose.

"Mommy, be quiet, please." I wasn't actually talking, for the record.

"Haha, I so cute."

He's also been waking up around 6 am and going straight to play with his toys. The first day he did this we told him that it was still night and he needed to go back to bed - he replied, "No, I play with toys." So I went back to bed and he kept playing, not disturbing us. This has now become routine - it's like he stirs a little and remembers that he has important business with his toys and he can't fall back asleep.

Both girls have been chatting up a storm. It's like they think they're talking to you. But Jacqueline especially has been mimicking the noises that I make. When I nurse them (I nursed twins for a year, never once supplemented - I feel pretty awesome about that) she finishes first and lays her head back to make clicking noises with me or blow raspberries with her tongue. She also has started shrieking to let people know of her frustration - it's not a cry, it's a little "I'm annoyed" shriek.

Husband bought a new car. I jokingly roll my eyes at his comments of it being a "necessity." Y'know, especially when we were trying not to spend money in August so we could pay for new windows. But, I'd be lying if I said it weren't fun to drive. It's another BMW, his third one now. It's fast, like, maybe the fastest car I've ever driven. I went to fill it with gas last night (a mixture of two gasolines, yes, Husband made me use TWO pumps. Another teasing eye roll) and opened her up a little on the way home - so fun. And I guess I can never tease Husband too much about his cars, we did start dating the same month he got his first BMW...coincidence, I think not. Okay, I know not.

Oh, when Husband's family was here we all went to the lake. These babies LOVE the water. Jacqueline went full on crawling in, no sense of caution. They also both really loved trying to eat pebbles and sand. We had 5 kids, 5 adults and we were outnumbered.

This is my current normal:

Both girls always climbing on me - crying when I move (not leave the room, just move - cause I might leave...). Wade thinks it's funny to get in on it too and he'll try crawling on me with them and pulling at my shirt. It's exhausting and overwhelming. I love them so much that even with my exhaustion I find myself awake at night worrying about them. The last two months have been harder than when they were newborns (okay, that might be because I had a solid month of help, or because I really can't remember). And last week was the hardest week of the hardest month. If I lived near my mom I would have packed my brood in the car and just showed up on her door step. But I don't live near her. I've lost my balance, again. Sheesh, I'm a broken record on this whole balance thing. I find it, it's wonderful, and then I immediately lose it again. This time I lost it bad. I felt nearly consumed. Then a slew of wonderful people, not knowing how much I needed to feel remembered and valued, popped into my days and I felt rejuvenated and loved. This is still the hardest it's ever been. I'm still exhausted and feel like I have nothing left to give at the end of the day. But, I also feel balance returning and have been able to enjoy the days - even if my house is seriously an explosion.