Here’s the quick version of life these days:

 – Two of my friends from college are adopting internationally.  It’s been a year-long process for both of them.  But the Murphys leave next week to fly to China to get their little boy.  And the Scotts just got final approval from the Ethiopian court for their adoption.  They will fly over to get their little boy in a few weeks.  How fabulous!!

 – The babies are up really early this morning.  I’m beginning to think that we’ll be adding breakfast into their days pretty soon.  Of course, today they’re both in their swings so that Mommy can get a shower.  But if this continues, it would seem that my early mornings won’t be my own any more.

 – On the sleep front, I don’t mean to jinx anything, but we’ve actually slept until 5:30 am for most of this week.  I decided not to get Alex at 4 or 4:30 and just see what he would do.  He cried pretty hard on Sunday night when he woke up at 3:00.  But then he slept until 5.  Then the last two nights, there have been little awakenings at 4:30 or almost 5, but he goes back to sleep until 5:30.  I could totally get used to this!

 – There’s a new Carters store in C-bus, right down from the Babies R Us.  So yesterday, I hit both stores, looking for 6-9 clothes.  We aren’t quite ready for them, but it won’t be much longer.  And I didn’t have very many for either of them.   Unfortunately, I bought way too many (great sales!), so I’ll be returning a number of things.  But it was a fun time anyway!

 – Today, I’m meeting a friend from high school (and my first roommate in college) to hang out for a bit.  As long as it doesn’t rain.  So hopefully, the rain will hold off until evening!

 – Erin is spitting up a lot these days.  Yesterday, between the 8:30 and 11:30 feedings, she spit up, I think, 3 times.  But then she was pretty much fine for the rest of the day.  Sometimes, it’s related to gas and sometimes it’s just out of the blue.  Anyone have any ideas about what might be causing it or how to stop it?  I used to just put her on her back for 20 minutes after she ate, but now that she can roll over, it doesn’t work anymore.  Oh well!

 – I actually like driving around in the summer more than during the school year.  Yes there are more crazy moms on the road, driving their kids to the next “necessary” activity.  But they are way spread out, both geographically and time-wise.  During the school year, I didn’t leave the house after 3 pm because ALL the moms were out at the same time.  Now, there are no school zones to drive through and no clumps of soccer moms.  Love that!

 – I own a Nintendo DS.  I play it while feeding babies mostly.  My favorite game right now is Clubhouse Games.  It’s a collection of board games, card games, and activity games.  I’ve been learning to play a bunch of games I’d never known how to play before: poker (5 card stud and Texas Hold Em), backgammon, rummy, a bunch of rummy-like games, and a number of weird Japanese strategy games.  It’s been really fun!  And as I’m getting a little tired of breastfeeding, I have to admit, it makes the daytime nursings go faster for me.  Yay!

 – Eric is sort of down these days.  His job is wearing on him, and they are starting a major contruction project near his workplace, so his commute is going to get EVIL very soon (and for about 120 days).  I really feel for him, and I wish I knew how to help him.  But certainly, the babies are one of his favorite things these days.  He now goes in to talk/play with them before he leaves (if they’re up), and is really enjoying them in the evenings.  He’s such a good dad!

Okay, I think that’s about all the good I can think of.  Happy Wednesday!

My dearest little babies –

Today you are six months old!  I can’t believe how big you are.  I can’t believe how much you’ve changed in these few weeks.  I can’t believe I’ve survived on the (very small) amount of sleep you’ve allowed me!

Alex, you are the cutest little guy.  You are cheery and smiley, and you laugh so easily.  You are drooling all the time, and you love to chew on fabrics (washcloths, Mommy’s shirts, your clothes, blankets, whatever!).  You can roll like a champ now, but it freaks you out when you wake up on your belly.  It’s made for some screaming crises in the middle of the night recently.  We hope you adjust quickly!  You still love your cereal, but you have this funny “that’s-not-cereal” face that you make when we put something different in your mouth.  Of course, you still swallow it, but you make it abundantly clear that you know it isn’t oatmeal! 

You’ve started to talk more and work on grasping things more.  And you love your Daddy.  Your whole face lights up when you see him!  And just between us, he thinks you’re pretty spectacular, too!  You have such a fun personality, and you’re already such a boy.  I think you’ll be very adventurous and will get frustrated when you can’t figure out how to accomplish what you’ve decided you want to do.  And from what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think you’ll ever stop moving.  Mommy’s going to be very tired from chasing after you once you get mobile (which will be very soon, I’m sure!).

Sweet Erin, you are Mommy’s pretty girl.  You are so similar to your brother and yet are totally different, too.  You love to grab things.  When you strain for objects just out of your reach, your little knees come up underneath you.  That’s the beginning of a crawl, my lady baby, and I’m excited to watch you inch (literally) toward moving on your own.  You jabber all the time!  The ladies in the nursery commented over and over how much they love listening you talk.  You like blowing raspberries, and you have successfully learned your first consonant (“da-da-da” of course!).  Daddy loves pretending that you mean him when you say that!  You are still my snuggly baby, and it makes Mommy’s day when I get a few minutes to cuddle with you, especially when you’re tired.

You did not take to solid food as well as your brother, at least until this week.  This week, Mommy tried making your oatmeal with apple juice instead of water.  And now you can’t get enough!  But you seem to like flavors more than Alex.  You love applesauce, prunes, carrots, and sweet potatoes.  It’s so fun to watch each new flavor adventure!  You are rolling over all the time now, too.  And last night, for the first time, you slept all night on your tummy.  You are such an amazing little sweetheart!

Erin and Alex, how strange it is to think back to the Monday morning you were born (at 7:52 and 7:54) and remember the scrawny, wrinkly little wonder-bundles that invaded our lives.  And you were an invasion!  You totally took over our lives.  You make Mommy and Daddy’s world so full, so exciting, and yes, so tiring, but we love that you’re here!  Because all of that is part of the bond we have.  We became a family in name when you joined us, but we’ve become a family in reality because we’ve all survived together.  You won’t even remember these first months of fighting together towards the next goal (creating a schedule, sleeping through the night, rolling over, eating cereal), but they’ve bonded us all the same.  I can’t wait to see what we can overcome together!

So, my babies, until the next milestone month (or whenever Mommy next has time to write you a letter like this), just keep on growing, trying new things, and taking up more and more of my heart.  I love you, little ones.  Daddy loves you.  Jesus loves you.  You are amazing, wonderful little people, and I can’t wait to see where we go in the next six months!

Love,
Mommy

Long hair  vs.  Newly-cut hair

How Alex used to sleep vs. How we found him yesterday (for the first time):

The new blankets my MIL made for the babies (and brought yesterday):

We picked a bunch of different fabrics for them to feel, chew on, snuggle with, etc.  They turned out exactly as I had imagined them!

And the best “new” of all:

Ps 40:3 – He has put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God…

Is. 43:19 – Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See I am doing a new thing! … I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Ezek. 11:19 – I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh…they will be my people, and I will be their God.

Rom. 6:4 – We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

2 Cor. 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Happy Thursday!

Sorry, I couldn’t think of an appropriate title for this post in the 12 seconds I usually give myself to think of one. 

Perhaps you can suggest an appropriate title for this post – one that somehow connects all the randomness of my life into a cohesive whole – in your comments (this is my gratuitous request for comments).

 – My MIL is coming to hang out for the day.  Should be fun.  She wants to help with a chore or something while she’s here.  Is it wrong to ask her just to play with the babies while I do the chores?

 – I want to see a good summer movie, preferably something funny.  Night at the Museum 2, Up, Land of the Lost all sound good.  Of course, now I just need some time to go see them (as well as a fortune to pay for them!)…

 – Last night, Alex was having major issues.  I still don’t know what was up.  He was fine if we were holding him.  And he was fine when he was upright.  But if I laid him horizontal for any reason, he screamed his “I’m-hurting-make-it-stop” scream.  And that included his bedtime nursing.  He had no interest in eating.  He would not latch.  He’d just cry louder.  Until we righted him again.  Then he’d calm down.  We wondered if it was teething, or an ear infection, or the bananas we tried for the first time last night (at 6 pm).  Finally, I gave him Tylenol and just pumped.  He eventually fell asleep.  We laid him down and went to bed ourselves.  He slept until 3:30 am, at which point he ate just fine, went back to sleep and slept until 7:30.  No more Tylenol needed.  And this morning he’s been perfectly normal.  I have no idea what it was all about, but I hope it is over now.

 – I got my hair cut yesterday.  As in, new style and everything.  I tried to take pictures of it this morning, but they didn’t look very good.  So I’ll have Eric take some tonight. 

 – Alex is now rolling over from back to belly once or twice a day.  Erin is still perfectly content on her back or rolling onto her side to reach things.  I guess we are inching ever closer to full-out movement.  Should be fun (or perhaps I should be scared!)…

 – I’ve been wearing sandals most of the week and my feet are really starting to hurt.  I don’t know how people wear those cheap plastic flip-flops all the time.  My feet would never survive!  Anyway, the problem is that I don’t have many shorts to wear this summer (and I lost another pair yesterday), and I think that socks/athletic shoes look odd with capri pants.  Either I’ll have to go back to wearing jeans or I’ll need to buy more shorts!

 – I made a meal list on Monday for the month, and I went to the grocery store yesterday (after getting my hair cut).  There were Pampers diapers on sale in the seasonal aisle.  They were half-price on Manager Special.  No idea why, but I stocked up!  Yay for cheap diapers!

 – I can’t think of anything else worth writing about.  Happy Wednesday!

So Friday was our 5th anniversary.  Eric came home from work a little early, and my parents came up in the afternoon and hung out for a bit.  Then Eric and I headed out for a date night, and my parents took care of the babies (read: my mom took care of babies and my dad held the one my mom wasn’t attending to!).  It was such a great night.  We drove over to Easton for dinner.  We spent some money on ourselves, and we walked casually around.  The rule of the night: Don’t Rush! 

Of course, by 8:30, I was pretty well spent, so we headed home.  We chatted with my parents for a bit before they headed home.  Then we watched a movie together before getting to bed.  Note to self: midnight is WAY too late for a bedtime anymore.  And that was that!

(I did mention to Eric, on Saturday morning, that we need to institute date night.  Getting out was good for me, and we need to do it more often, even twice a month.  He seemed amenable to the idea, so we’ll have to see what we can come up with.)

Saturday was a productive day at home.  I planted my impatiens, ran some errands, cleaned the kitchen and took care of babies.  Eric cleaned carpets and grilled our dinner.  And we all went to bed early!

Sunday, we just hung out at home after church.  Eric wasn’t feeling great, but he graciously went to a cookout in the evening because I wanted to go.  And I had a great time there.  Some friends from Estonia were there since they are in town, and there were lots of other people I don’t usually get to chat with around.  The host tends to throw “multi-parties” where she invites everyone she knows from various groups (ie, work, college, church, or any combination thereof), and the groups don’t always blend well.  But last night was one well-blended, so that was nice.

We had another early bedtime, which was also nice.  And now, it’s Monday. 

I don’t have a lot planned for the week, so we shall see what comes up.  But it was a great weekend, for sure!