what could be more fun than a laughing baby?

TWO laughing babies. Duh.

We can't quite match the level of the famous laughing quadruplets, but I think our version of multiple baby laughter is pretty cute.

In other areas of babydom, the kiddos have been cleared by the pediatrician to begin solid food. Mostly because they are four months old now, and not really for any other good reason. I had planned to wait until they were closer to six months old to start them on solids, but somehow having it mentioned by the doctor spurred some wave of food giddiness in me. I went from the doctor's office straight to Target, and came away with rice cereal, baby food of several different types, two dozen tiny spoons and a bunch of plastic bowls. (Our pediatrician may possibly receive kickbacks from Gerber for her crafty advertising.)

The resulting First Food experience started out sort of mediocre and disintegrated from there...

playing catch-up with pictures

Alright, it's finally picture time. The babies turn four months old in two days, so I went through and organized pictures tonight. And realized that, not only have I been much more delinquent in actually taking pictures, but I haven't posted nearly as many, either. This is the first month we've both been back to work, and Scott went back to work with a vengeance. Like yesterday, when he left for work at 4:30 a.m. and got home sometime after midnight. So lately I've been playing the single mom game quite a bit, and pictures fall a bit lower on the priority list than a lot of other things. BUT, now I am catching up. I have some videos to put up, too, but those take awhile to upload so I'll probably tackle them in the next couple of days.

Sorry about this one being sideways. I tried once to fix it and then didn't care enough to try again. Anyway, here the kiddos just pooped out while playing--an extremely rare occurrence.

My attempt at a self-portrait holding two babies. (Have I mentioned that Scott has been working a lot?) It also stands as proof that my reasoning skills ain't what they used to be. Otherwise, why would I think two babies would smile at a camera that can't smile back? And why would I memorialize myself with half my face showing and my hair in a towel?

And here is new baby hair, as well as I can photograph it, anyway. They both have blondish fuzz slowly taking over as their old hair falls out. For Noah, who never had much hair to begin with, this looks like three lonely longer hairs wisping softly over his new fuzz. Don't bother looking for those three hairs, though--they are apparently camera shy.

And here's Lily. I think she has enough fuzz to qualify as "fluff", but just barely. Just like when they were born, hers is longer, darker, and more dense than Noah's so far. I think they will both be some shade of blond though.

Daddy and bebes:

Will you SCRAM?! This is MY moment!

Okay, these next couple will require a little imagination on your part. I caught the babies smiling at each other for the first time that I had noticed. However, it is very difficult to hold and/or maneuver two babies so that they can see each other, and simultaneously take a picture of both of their faces at once. (Have I mentioned that Scott has been working a lot lately?) So here is Lily and a bit of Noah's head:

...and this is what he is doing:

Noah amazed me about a week ago by holding up his bottle by himself! He's only done it a couple of times and it only lasts for a few seconds, but it's a true testament to the fact that the kiddos are finally figuring out the use of their hands.

The nightly before-bed feeding... Also a rare daddy sighting. Usually these creatures are only out late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.

We've not quite figured out books yet, but we're trying...

Is he not just adorable?

Lily is trying to roll over in BOTH directions before Noah even masters one way--I caught her halfway onto her stomach, from her back! Poor Noah. At least he has his looks.

real babies!

It appears that our kiddos have finally gotten the memo on what babies are supposed to do, and they are complying accordingly. Cooing, laughing, reaching for things, and of course attempting to shove everything into their mouths. It's such an odd thing to never quite be sure what your children are capable of doing, because they're changing so fast. First I realized that, contrary to what I'd been telling EVERYONE, Lily's not that fussy after all. When did that change? We're still not sure. And as soon as I tell people they're not reaching for things yet.... they start. It's like trying to make friends with people as you stand in the middle of the street and they drive past you in cars. But not quite as frustrating. And the cars are really cute. :)

In other news, I am shedding. I debated on whether the whole postpartum hair loss thing was even worth mention on the world wide web, but mine has reached levels I never anticipated. I mean, seriously. I had read about losing hair after pregnancy, but I'm glad my doctor told me to expect to feel like a chemotherapy patient, because otherwise I'd be super worried at this point. The scariest amounts come out in the shower and directly afterward when I comb my hair. (I actually contemplated posting a picture of one shower's worth of hair, but decided that would definitely cross the "too much information" line I am so delicately treading.) So lately I've been going two or three days between hair-washings, to try and not go bald. The only problem is, it appears that without getting a bunch of hair out at once, I get to the point where I am just dripping hair. Literally. Like a leaky faucet (or possibly a waterfall), I can stand stock still and hairs just drift off of me.

And sadly, as much as I adore exaggerating for effect... I'm not. So if, in a few weeks, you see some squishy-bellied girl with large bald patches and think she looks familiar, just say hi.

And now for visual entertainment. It's Noah's turn this time. As he has not yet mastered the skill of rolling over, he had to find another venue to express himself. And as it turns out, he is a phenomenal laugher. He laughs at smiles, movement, tickles, funny noises--you name it. (See? Real babies!) There is one video on facebook--this one is different. Enjoy!

one year ago this week...

... I defended my dissertation. And I got pregnant with twins.

Kind of a big week.

a note of general appreciation

I was reading on a message board today--it's composed of a bunch of women who were due with babies in June. So now it's a bunch of mothers of babies around the same age as mine. Anyway, there was this thread where people were posting all the unwanted advice they'd gotten from people about how to raise babies. And I was stunned! People sure think some strange things. And I just wanted to thank the general public, since I've been relatively untouched by such odd tips. This may possibly be because I rarely leave the house. Or it could be the twin factor--people are generally struck by some sort of Idiot Hammer when they see two small babies at once. They tend toward saying things like, "Oh! Are they twins?" (duh) or "Oh, two boys?" (grr). Either way, I've escaped most of these comments. Here are some of the more incredible ones:

"when i was giving my toddler a sippy cup of milk (i think she was 2) someone told me to add an onuce of water to it or else she'd get 'milk worms'. i think she meant pin worms but i didn't ask.. i just ignored her."

"I couldn't believe this lady told me this but she said that I need to pull my baby out of the bath tub by her neck, not under her arms because I'll compress her rib cage. (Yes, this woman has children, and they are all alive and she was very serious)."

"i got told whenever my son wakes up for my husband and i to each take an arm and a leg and turn him counterclockwise so he will start sleeping at night instead of during the day."

"When I was a kid. I remember hearing that if a baby ever gets scared/shocked in order to reverse the shock you're supposed to spank them."

"I was once told by a family member not to breastfeed over a year because 'she'll know the breast is sexual and it will confuse her, causing homosexuality.' "

"I was told to turn my son's pjs inside out and hang a hard boiled egg in the doorframe to help him sleep at night."

"I had cut out dairy from my diet becuase my baby was having allergies. Great grandma said you're at least drinking milk, right? I replied, no, milk is dairy. She said but you need to drink milk to produce more milk for baby."

So, again--thanks to all you lovely people for NOT telling me any of these things.

Oh--and if anybody actually thinks these things are true... we may need to have a little chat.

you know you're too gung-ho about multitasking when...

...you settle yourself on the couch next to the breastpump to harvest a bit of milk. Pumping is boring, so you have brought something to do. But you look down, and between the computer, camera memory card, TV remote, two books, and a magazine you have brought with you to occupy your time for 15 minutes, you can't even get to the milk-makers. Multitasking is great, but apparently you can have too much of a good thing...

In other news, Lily is rolling over like a maniac. Okay, not really, but she rolls over a couple times a day now. I decided to document this milestone in video. It took three tries.

Attempt number one: Lily is all excited for her big starring "roll", and gets very angry when her little body just doesn't cooperate with her bid for stardom.

Attempt number two: Lily is too keyed up and nervous from her last failed attempt at rolling over. Her poor little tummy just can't handle it.

Attempt number three: After a good nap, it's time for another try...

Noah, so far, has not kept up with his sister's new skill. He HATES being on his tummy and uses tummy time to put up a raucous protest, rather than trying to get onto his back. But he is managing to get from his back onto his side, so that's not too bad. [For those un-obsessed with baby milestones, here's a factoid: Babies used to roll over front-to-back first, then back-to-front. Back-to-front is harder. But now that babies are mandated to sleep on their backs, a lot of babies now roll back-to-front before they learn front-to-back. This pushes the milestone back from about 4 months to more like 5-6. In other words, Noah is fine. Just picky.]

The babies are getting more and more fun every day. They give us little laughs all the time now, and they are starting to like things that normal people think are fun, such as being "tossed" (an inch) into the air, funny noises, and having their feet tickled. Lily also LOVES watching TV. We are apparently terrible parents. Today I came home from work to very hungry babies, and the only way Scott could keep Lily calm was to hold her where she could see the TV. Turn it off, she would scream--turn it back on, and she was happy. *sigh*