June 05, 2008

Feeding two

I imagine that spoon-feeding two is quite different than feeding one. Except--and I hope that this doesn't gross anyone out (they share everything anyways)--at this point it's still one spoon and one bowl. And a sore arm from feeding double the bites!

I hope that they're already learning patience. They're pretty cool about waiting for their turn most of the time. Whoever is waiting for their bite waves all of their limbs and coos in anticipation. The coos become exponentially more intense if you give the other one two or more bites. Somewhat like a turtledove morphing into a raven.

Dinner is frequently interrupted by conversations. These kinds of interactions more than make up for any extra work that we have with two babies instead of one.

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May 30, 2008

First time swimming

Ian: Yo, peeps! The tag is "Ian" not "Gilligan." And stop singing that ^&*^%#$^&* tune.

Ian: Dude, I'm freezing already! And I can't get that stooopid song out of my head.

Elanor: I saw what they did to you, Lil'-E. I know my time is coming...

Ian: I'm cool if I got a pretty girl's attention.

Elanor: I'm chill' if I got everyone's attention!

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May 20, 2008

Happy half birthday!

We don't know whether to put on our party hats...

...or our birthday suits!

More from mommy and daddy once they recover a bit from their Pittsburgh spree!

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May 06, 2008

First icky twin comment

So, I was in the waiting room with the twins today waiting for Tim to get done with a check-up. Elanor was sleeping, and Ian was quietly playing with his toys.

There was an old man a few seats down from us, snoring away. All of us in there were (respectfully) trying not to giggle. A nurse came in to call someone back and started laughing so hard that she forgot who she was calling back.

Old man wakes up, looks at our kids and says in a horrified voice, "Good G**! Twins!" In the tone of voice someone would use in talking about a natural disaster. And he topped it off with everyone's favorite bit of sugary, southern insincerity, "Bless your heart."

When I told Tim, he suggested a few three, four and seven letter words I could have used to respond.

I just told the man what great babies they were. And talked rather loudly to someone else about how wonderful it was to have twins.

Grrr. Don't diss my babies.

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April 29, 2008

Reading with daddy

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5 months!

We're about a week late on this one! But the kids are now five months (one week and one day).

A lot has happened over this month....

*The twins are getting more mobile now and as a result we are having to be more mobile too! The days of leaving them on a couch or bed are gone. They aren't quite crawling yet but they manage to twist and turn their bodies in such a way that changing them and getting them to sleep in their swings is more difficult.
*Ian can roll over. And over. And over. He rolled all the way across the living room and turned on the DVD player the other day. He looked so surprised when the sound and picture came in.
*Elanor can roll over--about 3/4ths of the way. She can't quite get one chubby little thigh over.
*Elanor sat up for the first time by herself a few days ago. It took a few seconds before she plopped back down again.
*They both really play with toys now, turning them, manipulating them, stealing them from each other...
*Their senses of humor are developing incredibly. They've understood physical humor for awhile (tickling, etc.). But now they understand the role of timing in humor. We can say things over and over, changing the rhythm, stopping in the middle, etc., and they'll both die laughing.
*Feeding them solids (rice cereal at the moment) is going really well.
*They're still sleeping through the night most nights. Every once in awhile someone will think 1 AM is play time, but that's pretty rare.
*We've started reading to them, and they're fascinated by books. They especially like one that has a fluffy kitty to pat. They'll both reach up and stroke the fur.
*They're both so joyful these days. A lot of time they'll wake up beaming when we go to get them up in the morning. And they love seeing daddy when he gets home from work.

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April 22, 2008

The letter "v"

Alli has been doing a really cool series of alphabet photos--go check them out!

In honor of that, here's the letter "v"

"V" is for Very funny look on Elanor's face!

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We give "real" food

We answered our children's pleas and gave them solids last week.

Ian liked the new toy on his high chair better than he liked food.

Note to selves: Don't introduce Ian to a new skill set when he's already overtired.

Elanor was totally getting into the feeding experience. She was very curious about what was going on, and would even open her mouth as the spoon got close.

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rasslin'

I heard an angry cry from Elanor and rushed into the living room to find this.

It's WWF baby style! Ian the Enforcer is hulking up with his no holds barred approach. Will Elanor the Baby Faced Diva pull a two-and-a-half count or is she busted open? Is this flat back bump the end of her wrestling career, or will she come back with a flair flip? Stay tuned next time...

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April 15, 2008

We want real food!

Ian: What do you think it will take to convince them that we're ready for solid food?
Elanor: Well, I did see that they got us some nifty portable booster seats thanks to the advice from mommy's twinstuff friends. And mom did spend a day making baby food!

Ian: Maybe if I eat this box of crackers they'll realize we're ready.

Elanor: Maybe if I eat my finger...

Ian: Maybe if I eat my foot...

Elanor: Maybe if I eat you. Mmmm....man flesh!

Ian: Don't eat me! If they don't get a move on, I'll make some food for us myself. Look at this lovely casserole. Now where can I find some saffron...

Elanor: I hope mom and dad take the hint! C'mon, we're pleading with you!

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We match!

We got ourselves and the babies dressed on Sunday without even realizing we were all coordinated.

Mom and Ian in the blues and greens...

...while Dad and Elanor cover the purples.

And we actually managed to get a family picture. Whenever we're actually with people who could take a picture, it seems like our babies always have been passed away from us! Or else someone or another is crying or crabby!

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April 09, 2008

Visitors from way up North

Yesterday Uncle Chas, Chas Jr, and Melissa came for a visit.

And they came bearing gifts! Aunt Ellyn made us this needlepoint wonder...

...which is absolutely beautiful and looks great over the piano next to the one Kim made us for our wedding.

Chuck and Melissa bought the twins some cute coordinating onesies that have a little pocket on the front so they can safely store their pacifiers. We talked about their very cool wedding plans. Uncle Charlie, Chuck and Tim swapped stories on the strangeness of the south. Melissa talked about the Civil War reenactments where the person who draws the short straw has to fight on the Union side.

Best line on the south of the night--commenting on the Stone Mountain carving, Chuck says, "Why did they carve three traitors into stone?!?" That wouldn't quite fly in the land where they still call it the War of Northern Aggression. (ominous banjo music heard in the background)

We got to talk to Aunt Ellyn AND Amy on Chuck's cell phone. Amy caught us up on all the latest Amy news that is happening in the world of Amy (her new job, her new boss, skating, basketball, the cool dudes on American Idol, etc.)

Melissa also told us that family members are reading our blog. Hi Lynn and Mike! Hi Amy and Aunt Ellyn!!! We wish that we could keep up with everyone as well as we'd like, but we're so glad that you're reading what's happening in our little family. We miss you all!!!!

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April 05, 2008

We stand

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April 02, 2008

Overalls: Not Just for Rednecks Anymore

or "How I Convinced Tim that Overalls Are Cool"

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Grabbing grandpa's beard

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March 30, 2008

Let's bee friends

Tim: The twins and I are really into these little fuzzy bee-like toys that Grandma gave them (…and me!) When you squeeze them, they laugh! ha ha ha !!! The twins and I love to test Joanna’s patience (she thinks they are somewhere on the scale between amusing and annoying). The three of us have fuzzy-bee-laughing-fests and are thoroughly immersed in jocularity while Joanna rolls her eyes.

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March 28, 2008

Love

I love their hands in this picture!

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March 25, 2008

More quilty goodness

The quilt is so beautiful, and the kids are so cute on it, I couldn't resist!

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March 24, 2008

Grace's visit & Easter

Tim: This weekend our dear friend Grace came down for a visit. The kids loved her. She regaled them with a lot of Irish folk songs and also some French songs. We should have had her record herself singing so when they get fussy we could pull out the "Grace tape" and play it for them. On Friday night, Joanna made ratatouille and we watched the movie of the same name while we ate it (we're geeky like that).

On Saturday we had a little picnic in a little park on campus and dined alfresco on Publix subs. It must have been the first time we had the twins out in the breeze and the sun. They were loving it. They were laying there waving their arms in the breeze and humming like they were at Woodstock.

Joanna: The kids adored their Auntie Grace. She gave Ian one of the most special presents he’s ever been given—an elven quilt! It’s incredibly beautiful, with leaf patterns, and stars, and beautiful batik fabrics. He loved it right away.

Tim: Then on Sunday after church we drove to Joanna's aunt and uncles for Easter with the family. The highlight of the day for us was when one of the uncles fed Ian some cake. He had the strangest look on his face, but he seemed to like it, as he continued gobbling whatever was put in his mouth. Someone asked me if we've started to feed the twins solid food and after this uncle's stunt I said, "yes, but only cake." He also tried to feed Elanor an Easter egg but, alas, her mouth was a bit too small to take it all in.

Ian liked his first Easter egg, too.

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Four Months

Joanna: So, last Thursday the kids celebrated their four month anniversary. They celebrated by getting together with two of the other kids in the baby line-up (three of my dear friends had babies within a month of me). The four kids had a blast, and the three moms (and their families) had even more fun.

I’ll let Tim catch everyone up on their recent milestones.

Tim: The twins have started figuring out how to use their hands. Ian will sit there for an hour and pop his pacifier in and out of his mouth (and against various parts of his face when he misses), utterly fascinated by the activity. It's his new hobby. He also sings a little song while he does it (the lyrics of which are "hooo" and "aaa.") Both twins have begun to realize what their lower appendages are for. They can stand on their legs for a while if we hold them up. Elanor is a little more steady on her feet than Ian.

We also stand them up in front of the couch and they can keep their balance for about 10 second before the cumulative effect of their wobbling takes over and they fall into our arms. That's our new hobby.

Joanna: Just to fill in the gaps….these past couple weeks, they’ve both learned how to play. They grab objects—toys, pacifiers, our hands—examine them, put them in their mouth, and talk to them.

They both talk a lot these days. Ian uses the darker vowels more (oooo, uhhh, ahhhh), and a number of consonants. He also strings together sounds quite conversationally. Sometimes he’ll lay in his crib talking to himself Elanor leans more towards the brighter vowels, especially aaaaa and ehhh sounds, cackling, and lots of g’s and k’s. It’s really fun to talk with them these days, they’re both so interactive. Elanor has a wide range of facial expressions, especially when she wants your attention. She’ll start by looking straight at you with her big blue eyes, raising her eyebrows at you a few times, saying “aaakaaa” then giving her big, wrinkled-nose grin. She also does funky baby crunches, lifting her head and shoulders to get whatever she’s reaching for.

Ian is really empathetic. I heard Elanor crying the other day, and went to check on her. Ian was hugging her head and patting it, like he was telling her not to be sad.

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March 11, 2008

Yesterday

There are many days not like this (they don't usually end up on the blog, haha)...where babies skip naps and get off schedule and mom gets off kilter, etc. (babies have definitely made me sense my own helplessness, and absolute dependency on God for help). It also helped that Tim was home sick from work with wretched seasonal allergies. But I sort of felt like super-mom yesterday...

*I updated my CV and helped Tim with his
*I wrote an application and e-mail for us to coauthor some articles for a music encyclopedia (very excited about this!!)
*I made tangible progress on my dissertation
*I made a curry dinner
*And I still had time to rock and snuggle Our Little Things

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Tummy time pays off

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Holding hands

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Elanor eats Ian

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The unfortunate propensities of gentian violet

PS I've become more adept at using it since then...

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March 04, 2008

Grandma and Grandpa time

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Sleeping through the night...

We don't want to get excited too early, but the kiddos have decided to start sleeping through the night.

Not quite sure how this happened, we haven't been pushing for it (they're only 3.5 months old), but we've been letting them determine their own night time feeding (we feed them both at the same time--so whoever wakes up first calls the shots). They've slowly moved their 3-4 AM feeding to a 6-7 AM feeding, sleeping for nearly 8 hours at a stretch. And most times, they'll wake up happy, smiling and babbling at us. Occasionally we have to pop a pacifier in, or pat them and let them know we love them, or pick them up and rock them back to sleep, or they'll get hungry earlier than usual, but even those moments are becoming more rare. I don't know if this is just a phase, I know they're still young and we'll probably have some issues later on, but for now we're really thankful. Especially with two.

The only book we really read on sleep training was one of the Baby Whisperer books. It's a non-CIO (cry it out) method that encourages parents to (1) listen to their baby's (or in our cases babies') unique temperaments in order to (2) guide them to establish good sleep habits rather than having to painfully break poor habits later on. We haven't followed the book religiously, but we've found some patterns that seem to help with their sleeping. Like giving them lots of exercise in the early evening, and cluster feeding before bedtime. Swaddling, especially with our SwaddleMe outfits (one of the best things we've been given as parents!) and pacifiers also help. Swings for nap-times, and lots of snuggles at bedtime are a usual part of the routine.

Neither one of us are comfortable with CIO methods, especially extreme ones. Not to wander too far into controversial territory, but I've seen advice that makes me really uncomfortable, like, let your baby cry for four hours straight without intervening. Now, if one of my babies is just fussing for a couple minutes in the process of going to sleep, I don't have a problem with letting them work through the process for a couple of minutes, and intervening if the fussing turns into real crying. I've read of parents who let their kid cry for ten minutes one night, five the next, and by the third night the kid is sleeping well. That seems fine! But for four hours????

I don't think CIO would work well for our babies in any case. Once they start crying, I mean really crying, not just fussing a little, it tends to escalate. I had a bad experience once that I don't want to repeat. We give our babies tummy time, even though they used to fuss about it. From everything I've read and been told, it compensates for putting kids on their backs to sleep, and helps them to develop necessary muscles. So we felt it was important to do it, even if they didn't like it. Now they enjoy it: they're turning over already (stomach to back), holding their heads up at nearly a 90 degree angle, and looking around. Anyways, early on I let Ian stay on his stomach for too long, and while I was doing a chore, he cried himself to sleep. I picked him up, and he woke up and just wailed in my arms like I never heard him do before. I still feel sick thinking about it. And I don't think the sleep that he had was a healthy kind of sleep, obviously he wasn't calm and relaxed when he woke up from it.

Anyways, I don't want to be judgmental towards other parents' methods, not the point of my post at all. I mean, I'm a three-month rookie at this whole parenting thing. I'm just super glad that at least for now, we don't have to deal with the sleep issues that can exhaust parents and children, and lead to difficult discussions and decisions on the parents' parts.

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February 28, 2008

We play together

It amazes me how much they've started noticing each other, locking eyes and really interacting.

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Lean on Me

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February 25, 2008

Lament for an outgrown onesie

Forbear with us a moment while we get melodramatic. Alas and alack. Elanor has just about grown out of our favorite onesie. It's the hippy-trippy mushroom and flowers onesie. Don't get us wrong; we're overjoyed that the kid is healthy and growing but the fact that kids grow is bittersweet. We want our kids to grow and develop and continually learn new things but all the while in the back of our minds we realize that we're equipping them to be independent from us. This made me thing of Kahlil Gibran's book The Prophet. There is a section called "On Children" which uses some of the arrow and quiver imagery in Psalm 127.

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Joanna: On a related note, they're also outgrowing their snuggle time in one swing. Thankfully, someone gave us another swing just in time, but still, it's so hard to resist the temptation to take dozens of photos of them together before this time is gone forever.

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February 22, 2008

Waking up is a process

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Daddy's beard is fuzzy...

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February 20, 2008

Ian & Elanor Celebrate

Ian: Why do they have us dressed up in our adorably coordinating duds?
Elanor: I think it's for our third month anniversary.

Ian: I'll toast to that [with non-alcoholic milk]!
Elanor: And I'll second the motion!!

Later on...

Elanor: Woohoo!!

Elanor: Yeah, baby!!
Ian: Are you sure there wasn't anything in that "milk" they gave you?

Ian: Put that arm down. This is embarassing both of us.

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3 months!

Wow, can’t believe these little guys have been on the outside for a quarter of a year. It seems so long and so short at the same time. Long—because our lives have changed so much that the former life seems like an eternity ago. Short—because it’s hard to believe that the days have piled upon days so quickly.

A few landmarks:

*Last week, Ian started turning over on purpose, tummy to back. He starts by pushing his arms and head up, pushing one arm a little higher than the other, rhythmically bobbing his head to one side, and whoops, he’s over again!

*Elanor has a funny, loud, laughy sound that she makes when she’s happy. She also has a head bob that she does when she’s really happy.

*Ian is a morning boy (like his daddy). He tries to wake up really early. Not because he’s hungry. No, because he wants smile and talk time with mommy (or daddy on the weekends). He’s talking all the time now, with a bunch of different sounds, and he’s started stringing those sounds together.

*They’re noticing each other in new ways. They’ve started locking eyes a lot and talking to each other. Sometimes they’ll reach out and hold hands, or pat the other’s head, or chew on the other’s arm that happens to be flung out in front of their face.

*They both stand up really well if you’re holding them for balance. Ian has a quirky little face that he only makes when he’s standing up.

*They both love the Jumperoo their great uncle gave them. They hold their heads up really well, and dance around excitedly.

*They occasionally deliberately grab things other than their pacifiers, which has been happening for awhile. Unfortunately, they tried out this new skill on the same rattle.

Ian won.

*They both love it when we sing to them. Right now a favorite is “Turkey in the Straw.” I’ve been making up endless verses to it to keep them entertained. There are changing diaper verses, naptime verses, and verses for each one of them. Here’s one of the Elanor ones:

I have a little daughter and her name is Elanor
She likes to laugh and play a lot and wiggle on the floor,
And when we give her bottles, she always hollers, “More!”
I have a little daughter and her name is Elanor.
Little, little baby, little, little girl (2x)
I have a little daughter and her name is Elanor
She likes to laugh and play a lot and wiggle on the floor!

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February 13, 2008

Happy bday from twins & daddy

So....I got my first birthday present from the twins. They picked it out. Really. Look how exhausted they are from shopping.

Their daddy has been busy. He planned out a whole week of birthday surprises. More importantly, he kept these surprises secret, which is quite unusual for him. He's usually too transparent for subterfuge.

On Saturday, my childhood best friend and my cousin Melissa made a surprise appearance. Jennifer brought me candy in quantities of 30 each (I had forgotten how fun pixie sticks were!), and Melissa brought me a purse full of fun Bath & Bodyworks stuff, as well as anti-aging cremes (haha). Elanor stole the purse.

On Monday, another pile of friends came to visit! Ruth made me a chocolate and apricot birthday cake--we share the same middle name and the same birthday.

Elanor found a new friend in Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was part of the baby countdown last fall. Unfortunately, Elanor said something that Kaitlyn didn't like, and Kaitlyn burst into tears. However, it appears as though they patched it up in the end. I hope they have as much laughter over the years as I've had with her mother and all her wonderful aunts and uncles.

Apparently there are more surprises on the way, so I'll just have to wait...

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February 11, 2008

Poll: Who does Ian resemble?

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Poll: Who does Elanor look like?

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Accessorizing

Uh-oh, she's starting early!

And she knows exactly which finger her daddy is wrapped around...

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Our favorite tax deductions

Tim: Taxes DONE! Joanna did them all. Not only that, she found some deductions which we could have done as credits on our last three tax returns. So we churned out three 1040X forms and are expecting even more $$$ from Uncle Sam. These refunds will allow Joanna to spend (hopefully) another year at home with kids without having to work.

Joanna was in the ZONE. The research skills she acquired doing her dissertation paid off in more ways than one! The twins helped us as well, as you can see by the photograph. Definitely, our two favorite tax deductions.

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February 06, 2008

Mirror, mirror on the couch

Joanna: The babies are at a really fun stage. They're smiling, and cooing like they're trying to have talk-time with us. They've just discovered themselves in the mirror, too. It's hilarious--Elanor tries to talk with herself, and after awhile, she starts to whine to herself in the mirror, like she's telling that girl all her worries. Many times, she'll reach out to touch the girl in the mirror, knock it over, and start to cry like she lost her best friend.

Actually, this afternoon the two of them seemed to be working on their first fight. I gave Elanor the mirror during the morning play time, and gave it to Ian for the afternoon play time. Elanor whined most of the way through the play time, until I arranged the mirror so they both could see it. Then I wrapped her up for nap time, letting Ian have the mirror to himself. As soon as I picked him up, he screamed his mad scream, one that he reserves for special occasions. They both were fussy until finally I tied the mirror to the swing so they both could look at it. They stared into it quietly until they finally drifted off.

Tim: We took the twins to their doctor a couple days ago for their first round of shots. They were all jolly and gay until the time came for the nasty needles. They were crabby and sleepy during the afternoon but by evening they were back to being themselves. They both have become a lot more responsive in the past week. Ian will smile, laugh and coo back us when we talk to him. Elanor isn't quite as loquacious as him but she smiles and crinkles up her nose, which is really cute.

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A Few of Our Favorite Things

...or at least two of them!

I've been longing for these onesies since the Things were in utero. A friend of mine with twins just gave us a couple of bags of clothes, including some adorable twinsie stuff!

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February 03, 2008

Sunday best

We realized this morning that our kids are better dressers than we are...

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Der doppelgänger

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Homies

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Mama's boy

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Elanor does laundry

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January 28, 2008

Meditations on a baptism

Joanna: Well, it's been over a week since the twins were baptized, and we're still pondering the vows that we took. The night before, I had trouble sleeping, thinking about the weighty responsibility symbolized by the water and the vows. Sometimes it's hard enough just to care for the physical needs of the kids, and to imagine our growing roles as spiritual trainers and examples is rather overwhelming.

Tim: The twins were baptized at Redeemer OPC church by Pastor Champness. How appropriate: he baptized Joanna almost 30 years ago. Elder Rich (Joanna's dad) was standing by us and was beaming as he watched his grandkids receive the sign and seal of the covenant of God’s grace. We pray that the Lord will equip us to raise these kids to love and obey their Lord Jesus Christ, that they will praise Him for his gift of salvation, and that they, as our brother and sister – not as our son and daughter, will ultimately see Him face to face on that great day of his returning.

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January 24, 2008

What Aunt Kim Made Us

She went home today. We miss her already!!

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Super-Ian--caption time!

Any suggestions??

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"I'll play mommy and you'll be the baby"

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January 21, 2008

Snow & family

Tim: My dad and sister flew down on Saturday to meet the kids for the first time. Ironically, Pittsburgh had no snow but Atlanta did! [Joanna: this doesn't look like Atlanta to me!]

Joanna: It's kind of fun to have lived in the north for a few years. Now I too can make fun of the panic that even a rumor of snow throws Georgians into. It was hilarious, too, looking at people's yards as we drove to church. Some kids had built a nearly 6 foot snow man. It must have taken several front yards worth of snow to make it. I pictured these determined little southerners who were intent on packing in a childhood's worth of snow play into one afternoon.

Tim: Their flight was delayed a little but they made it down here okay. Kim is so cute with the babies. My dad is also, but he is having trouble telling them apart. We are really going to enjoy the next few days watching them with the twins. We just hope my dad doesn’t get too mischievous with them!*

*There are a whole host of stories of dad's antics--from the times he would take off the coffee table legs to make a slide out of it for little Kim and Tim, to his antics as he babysat Tim's niece Jessica.

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January 18, 2008

We revert to 8 year olds...

...at the 4 AM feeding.

At 4 AM, melodramatic pronunciations of "Fart-Girl has spoken!" are hilarious.*

At 4 AM, serious etymological discussions of the best word for combination efforts on the babies' parts ensue. "Is it a bart or a furt? Barp or a furp? Burt or a farp?"

Elanor farped. Ian burted.

It must be because so much of our lives revolve around the workings of the human body these days.

*I hope the nickname doesn't haunt her later in life...

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January 17, 2008

Arm in Arm

When I set the kids down on the couch, I frequently come back to find this.

Sooooo cute! And I think it's more about love than the prevention of potential pacifier pilfering.

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January 15, 2008

Last week in retrospective

Last week was a big week for us and the babies. Ian and Elanor made some huge leaps developmentally, and we had some fun visitors over the week. Pictures and stories below...

Continue reading "Last week in retrospective"

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January 13, 2008

Y'all thought you were going to watch the NFL playoffs?

Other captions, anyone?

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January 09, 2008

The Swing and The Swaddlers

The Swing

Tim: We've written a lot about the twins but we haven't yet written about their favorite thing - their "rainforest" swing. Aunt Martha gave us some money for this and we owe her a debt of gratitude because it is now one of OUR favorite things! We swaddle them up, place them side by side in the swing and (with their pacifiers securely anchored), they drift away into tropical torpor. It is a rainforest swing because there's a toucan, monkey, frog etc. on the fabric and it plays, get this, "rainforest music." Now, we are not professional ethnomusicologists, nor have we visited an actual rainforest, nor have we heard any authentic field recordings of "rainforest music" (if any exist), but we confess that when the music starts, we see visions merry macaws, scurrying salamanders and ambling armadillos and are tempted to curl up beside the twins to drift away into rainforest rapture. [Joanna: Yeah, and I'd love to hear the story of how Stephen Foster's Beautiful Dreamer became "authentic" rainforest music...]

The Swaddlers

Tim: Another one of our favorite things is the swaddlers the twins sleep in. They are called "Swaddle Me." When they are sound asleep in them, they look like little mummies. We like to think of them as little presents that we wrap each night, then get to open up at feeding time and then in the morning. "Look what I got - a twin! It's just what I wanted!" Then we get to watch them stretch, yawn, make funny faces and sounds. It's the best kind of gift-giving - they're free, there's one for each of us, they don't need batteries and they're fun to play with!

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January 03, 2008

T's for 2: The Finished Product

So, here's the result of my earlier venture into onesies. (cute socks thanks to grandma!)

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Learning to Share

or "A Pacifier Built for Two"

Strong debate encurred before a compromise was found...

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December 30, 2007

Good Food, Good Beer, Good Kids

Tim: It’s been great having Christmas week off. Sleeping in late, having lots of wife and baby time, watching Frank Capra movies, etc… On Thursday we had an unquenchable taste for fish and chips so we spent almost an hour looking for a place in Athens that had it. We are still adjusting to small town America where everything is not at our finger tips. In Pittsburgh we would have had our choice of a dozen or so establishments that would have fixed us up with our desired Pisces, potatoes and potations. We finally found it at The Globe in downtown Athens. This place may be our substitute for the Sharp Edge in Pittsburgh. An old world pub kind of place with great food and over 80 European beers to choose from. Anyways, the fish and chips were excellent – we felt like Frankie in Angela’s Ashes – if they were wrapped in a newspaper, we would have even licked the grease off the editorial page. We washed it down with a Belhaven and a Highland Oatmeal Stout. The twins snoozed away in the booth seats while we our consumed our vittles.

Tim and Jo: Yesterday we decided to take a trip to Helen for a dose of Georgia-style Bavaria. It’s as close as we’ll get to München in at least the next several years. As soon as we got there, we needed to feed the kids. We provided many passersby with free entertainment as we sat on a bench with bottles and babies in hand. The cats were out of their bags, so to speak.

For lunch we went to Altstädter Weinstube & Biergarten so Tim could get his own bottle. We had an olive and gherkin appetizer and for the main dish, three kinds of wurst –weinwurst, smoked bratwurst and rindswurst.

It came with a gigantic pretzel that was more bread than pretzel and we drank an Aecht Schlenkerla Urbock Rauchbier (smoked beer) which Joanna said was like drinking a stout by the fireside, except the fireside was in the beer! The kids dozed away on a nearby chair. Looks like a nearby gnome wants to wet his whistle...

We strolled through Helen going into shops we hadn’t been in before (like the live tarantula exhibit and the leather store--Das Ist Leather--a mishmash of faux-Bavarian, redneck and biking cultures) and stopped for some apple strudel and funnel cake. There was a big tree decorated for Christmas and a Santa or two leading horse drawn carriages through the streets.

We stopped at Nora Mills and got some stone-ground buckwheat pancake mix, pickled okra and berry preserves. The kids were getting a little restless being in the slings all day long to so we left for home. When we got there they were really cranky! They must have realized we were having all this fun and leaving them out!

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Magic Bags

Tim: Someone gave us a sling for the babies, and we bought ourselves another one. We've been able to do all kinds of things with the babies because of them. We recently went to our local coffeehouse carrying Ian and Elanor in baby slings. With our kids inconspicuously ensconced, we slurped our coffee and hot chocolate, and heard not a peep from them. They seemed to enjoy their first coffeehouse experience. Actually we accomplished this baby hiding feat for the first time a couple weeks ago when we had dinner at a little pizza joint. Our ruse was well executed and no one looked suspiciously at us until a couple from a nearby table tip-toed over and asked us if we had babies in our slings. The jig being up, we confessed and gave them a peek.

Joanna: These slings are our magic bags. For one, they almost completely disguise the fact that we have twins, which keeps strangers out of their faces when they're so little (and yes, we're finding that having twins attracts a lot of attention). It just looks like we're carrying a large handbag, or our dog, as Aunt 'Stina realized. The other thing is that when they're fussy--especially little Ian--dropping them in the bag and walking around for awhile calms them down when almost nothing else will. It blocks out light and sound, and they love the motion of walking. It's the kids' sensory-deprivatory-pseudo-womb-therapy. (It is also good therapy for us – no screaming kids in public…yet!)

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December 28, 2007

Stockings Make Great Swaddlers, Too

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Babies' First Christmas

Here's our best present this year--they came a little early, but we couldn't have been given anything better!!

Joanna: To keep things from getting crazy (and because Tim has a really hard time waiting!), we celebrated Christmas early with just the four of us. We have a miniature tree on our fireplace, just the right size in our cozy little apartment.

We like looking at our tree, but we love looking at our babies looking at the tree! They will sit watching the lights flash for a half hour or more!

Tim: This twins’ first Christmas Day was a lot of fun. Most of the family gathered at Sam and Tracy’s place at 10 am (sharp!) for a scrumptious brunch. Much of the family got to hold the twins for the first time (except for their cousin Mark who’s an old pro with them.)

Sweet Sarah loves her babies, too!

Here's one of the few times we actually got to hold the twins on Christmas!

Ian and Elanor received many nice gifts. Their great-grandma gave them twin snow angels with their names engraved on it.

Another highlight was a pair of big fat piggy banks, one pink and one blue--they're almost as big as our little piggies!! So now we can throw our loose change in them and in twenty years we may have enough money to buy a few books for their first semester of college.

The kids were zonked out in the car ride home, but when we got in the house it was a marathon scream-fest. Overstimulation for both the twins and for their exasperated parents!

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December 22, 2007

Our first month as parents

What we've learned so far...

• It’s only been four weeks, but we can’t imagine them not being a part of our lives at this point
• Parenting is a mixture of tears and laughter—hopefully with the latter prevailing on most days
• It’s also just about the hardest work I’ve (we’ve) ever done—it wins out over the dissertation process, though I don’t know if quite beats the “pregnant with twins” process. Yet.
• Raising twins is a community process-we would be insane at this point if it weren't for all the help and support we've had from friends and family.
• We laugh ourselves sick at their antics, and realize that they’re going to hate us for it later! Especially if we keep this up when they're teenagers...
• The law of supply and demand applies to sleep—the less you get, the more you would give just about anything to get enough!
• As much as they love each other, if you put the twins too close when they’re hungry, they will eat each other
• Washing bottles and clothes is reminiscent of the “Myth of Sisyphus”
• One month old babies have a ton of personality. They both make hilarious and distinctive faces, especially when they’re waking up. I think it helps that we have babies we can contrast with each other. Ian is a little high-needs, he tends to be fussier and more demanding, and get overstimulated pretty easily. Elanor tends to have a calmer disposition. However, every once in awhile, they decide to exchange personalities a-la-Freaky-Friday just to keep us on our toes.
• Being home alone with twins is like being a triage nurse. You have to constantly evaluate whose needs are greater at any given moment, and try to give the comfort you can to the one who has to wait, while at the same time trying not to feel guilty if one of them is crying at a point when you can’t do a darn thing about it.
• Cuddling two sleepy babies is one of the most precious things we’ve been given in this life so far
• Three important pieces of equipment: swaddlers (we wouldn’t even get the sleep that we’re getting without them!), baby bags (more on that in another post!), and pacifiers.
• We've gained a greater appreciation and thankfulness for God's sovereignty over our lives because we are constantly being plagued by thoughts like: Are we burping them enough? Are they gaining enough weight? What if they get really sick, injured, etc... Will we be good examples to them? How are we going to (pick one, pick them all!) afford diapers for the next two or three years, find the best education for them, put them through college, etc...? From the smallest things to the largest things, we are realizing to a deeper degree how utterly helpless we are without the Lord's providence, and how utterly thankful we are for it.

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