The 14th week

One of their sweetest pictures together yet....Dylan (L), Owen (R)


So cute in his Wolves jersey...he is a crazy guy pushing that tractor around!


I'm out of the Honeymoon stage...I've hit some sort of 3-month-point-of-utter-exhaustion stage...and I don't like it. So this is how I see it...you're pregnant, with twins or singleton, it doesn't matter...you're all pumped up for meeting your kid(s) and then they are born and you're like "Wooo, let's do this!"...bring on the thrice-nightly feedings...the poop, the spit-up, the constant laundry, the empty checking account...and it's totally worth it...always, even at this point, where I'm starting to wonder, "How am I even functioning?!!" I'm like, just....tired. All the time. A lot tired. I find myself forgetting common words (after Ethan was born, I once forgot the word "tablecloth"), severely lacking in conversation skills, and second-guessing myself at work (ever heard the phrase "The baby is eating my brain" from a pregnant woman?...I'm not sure it ever regenerates). Coffee does help...some. The other day I declared on my Facebook status that I love coffee so much I want to marry it...I do...but I'm already married and I don't live in Utah. Today I tried to drink coffee in the afternoon too and hoo boy, that was a bad idea. I'm not quite right...hours later. Anyways, no sob story here...the smiles, coos, giggles, and laughs from all the kids are worth it without a doubt...I'm so in love with them...but it's just really sinking in lately that this is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hard!!

That being said...

What is the deal with hair going whack after pregnancy?! I used to have stick-straight hair. Straight hair that I used to complain about, that I now realize I should have been thankful to have. After Ethan was born I got this funky wave in the back of my head, but only at the top. My hairstylist convinced me to buy this fancy brush...a Marilyn, New Yorker, Midtown....$50 on a brush!! Hmm...not sure Andy knows about that...sorry, Honey. It was supposed to smooth everything out as I brushed it out while drying. It was the first and only time Kari led me wrong. Now, after I've had two more kids, I have waves everywhere in my hair. The most annoying is right around my natural part...my hair is flat at the part, and then kinks up before going straight again. And the part that's straight is only straight because I flat-iron it every morning after drying. Typically, I'm either throwing my hair in a ponytail/lazy bun while wet, or flat-ironing it after drying...I'm pretty sure if I let it air dry I wouldn't clear a doorway.

Ethan is totally excited about Andy's 30th birthday (March 25th...remember to give him shit about being an old man and all)...he is going to help me bake a cake...it should be interesting because a. he's 2, and b. I haven't successfully baked anything except for banana bread, the easiest baked good ever.

I put Ethie to work tonight while making dinner. He can work the salad-spinner...awesome. While he was pressing the button, he was talking about how mommy would teach him to cook in his own kitchen...I'm raising someone's future AWESOME husband.

I've been trying to convince Ethan that he should switch rooms with Dylan and Owen. First, I thought about moving Ethan downstairs to the guest bedroom and splitting the twins out into the bedrooms upstairs, but I think I'm more uncomfortable with that idea than he is. So, I decided maybe we could just work out a little switcharoo upstairs. D & O are in the smaller of the 3 rooms upstairs...and the idea of trying to fit another crib, let alone two big boy beds, in there someday is perplexing. I tried to coax him with the option of painting his room any color he wants, putting up a cool Lightning McQueen decal on the wall, or even buying the $200 Lightning McQueen bed that Andy saw at Costco (unfortch, Ethan saw this bed too!)...but no dice. A few days ago I was trying to convince him again...asking him what color he would pick if he could paint his wall any color. Turns out he's got some angsty teenager in him already...he wants to paint his walls black. Black...with brown and blue. Beautiful. Does it make him spoiled if I actually do this?

Ethan got up really early the other day and when I told him it was too early he said "I got up too early in the wake-time!"...I forgive him for waking up at ungodly hours of the morning when he is so funny and perceptive.

Speaking of wake-time...Dylan and Owen are waking less at night...and now that I wrote that, they'll get up 3 times tonight! You might recall that my last post on Saturday mentioned the possibility of some sleep around here...I jinxed myself that night, so I should know better tonight, but what the hell...Thursday night, Friday night, Sunday night and last night, Dylan and Owen only woke up once during the night. They went to bed around 7pm, woke up to eat around 3am, and got up for the day around 6am. That is not a bad night, people!! It's not quite a pattern yet...but it gives me hope. I know, I also just mentioned my state of total exhaustion, but whether they wake up once or twice or even three times, I still wake up whether I'm doing the feeding or not (for the record, I tried breast-feeding while they were in the NICU, but sometimes I am relieved that it didn't work out...mostly sad, but having the benefit of trading -off feedings with Andy is a definite pro)...it's a mom-thing I guess...and the day/evening is non-stop...so I'm still collapsing at the end of the day either way. But...these longer stretches of sleep are so encouraging...some day they will sleep through the night. And after I get over the panic of them not waking up in the middle of the night, I will sleep well too.

I think D & O are going to be thumb-suckers. Sometimes I have to fight their hands away from their mouths to get the bottle in...really...they love their hands, and they can fit the whole thing in there...amazing. Owen has even been able to separate the thumb from the rest of the digits. You know how babies clench into fists and you have to pry their little fingers apart to wash in there?!...I think they are realizing there are 5, not 1!!! Very exciting.

I am trying hard to remember when Ethan started teething...because the drool...oh, the drool. I heard once that some babies are born with teeth...so I suppose 3 months wouldn't be too early.

Dylan has joined the fate of his brother, Owen. He was shaved this past weekend. See below. Enough said. It was necessary.

The trusting child...looking hairy from the front.

Not so hairy from the top.

And to close, the cutest thing ever...Andy was taking Dylan up to bed after Owen was already up there and Ethan told me, "Daddy is taking Dylan upstairs so he can sleep in the crib with his friend, Owen"...and then I died.