Sleepless

Andrew lost his first and second teeth recently.

Anastasia smiles all the time now.

Don't you love the little tush shots?

All the kids were here this weekend. We hung out and took care of babies. After all the excitement on Saturday the babies did not sleep all night. With church being at 12:30 I had no opportunuty for a nap. It is 7:30 and I am goin to bed.

Well, I thought I was going to bed. I took a little nap from 10:30-11:45, but here it is midnight, and I am finally posting my blog.

Spring!

It is spring in Texas. We had a cold day, then a rainy day or two and now there are green sprigs of grass popping through the neighbor's yard--not mine because my yard stinks and I haven't done anything with it. I did plant some bulbs last year--narcissus, to be exact--and they have buds on them!

We had a really mild winter this year. The past two years have been a little rougher. This year, I never had to scrape frost off my windows. However, I think my heating bill was higher because I was more generous on my thermostat, what with babies and guests in the house.

Speaking of babies, they are wonderful. I noticed today that they are getting a little more "fullness" in their necks. They are just starting to be more responsive. They smile more and spend more time looking around and wondering about the world. The have incredibly strong necks and like to do crunches when they are propped up against a pillow. When Amelia is leaning on my chest she lifts up her head and looks around with her wonderful cross-eyed stare and puckered lips.

To follow up on the last post, I used the Lansinoh sample that I got at the hospital and feed the girls a bottle 2-3 times a day, which has cut down immensely on my soreness.

OUCH!!

We decided this weekend to start supplementing the babies' feeding with formula. They can go about 2 hours, sometimes 3 between feedings. but they are becoming increasingly fussy in the afternoon and evening because, we concluded, they are not getting enough to eat. Besides that, I am in pain. The girls have good, strong suction and tight little jaws. Yeah, Jaws, with a capital. I pride myself on my toughness, but it is getting worse. When the latch on, I hold my breath, grit my teeth and want to cry. I guess that just shows how silly stupid I am. Many others would have quit by now. Instead, I continue flogging myself for some holy cause. When I do my one-handed blogging while I am feeding, it takes my mind off it a little, but feeding time is over. But that is a problem too, because once they are on, they don't want to let go. Ouch!@

Smile

Here are some pictures of the babies. Devanie captured Amelia smiling in her sleep.

Visitors

We had a wonderful time with the cousins here. They spent a lot of time on Hailey and Sierra's DS's. Other than that, they were out on the trampoline or coming up with games in the back yard. They went to the Duck Pond Park a few times, ans the last Saturday they were here we all went to the city park. I left the twins home with Mike, though. Devanie and I socialized and terrorized on the "train" while the kid buried their heads in the sand, or parts of themselves anyway. Because, you see, we don't get snow in Texas. The weather has been fabulous for the most part, though it has occasionally been cloudy, and/or chilly.

Sunday morning Devanie packed up her van--which was significantly less packed than it was when she arrived, and yet, the house seemed empty when she was gone. I wish we didn't live so far from family. It is so good to be with them.

What Was That?!

Monday was the babies' month-day. At 4 weeks they are both one pound heavier and their length has leveled out so they are both 20 1/2 inches. They have small heads according to the growth curve. They are becoming more alert and responsive. They show some interest in toys now when I put them in front of of them.

Sometimes when they are startled, they throw their head back and go cross-eyed, like "What was that?!" as Aunt Devanie so aptly demonstrates.

Pinewood Derby

Devanie reminded me (via her blog) that I have not mentioned anything about Mikey's first pinewood derby. The father-son project, due to time constraints and son availability became a mother-aunt-cousin project. Sierra, Devanie, and I ended up finishing the car, based on Mike's design. We did not have time to weight it properly, but he had a good looking car and was able to participate. The finnished product was gold with a white racing stripe. Oh yeah, Isaac did the paint job. It was a really great family activity, eh?

Like Devanie said in her blog, Mikey won his first race only. She knows better than I do, though, because there was a mother-daughter YW activity going on at the same time. I was with Lexi. Emylie couldn't come because of how far away she is and being a weekday.

Blessings

Anastasia and Amelia were blessed on Sunday--sort of. Mike took the one I had out of my arms and said "Is this Anastasia? I hadn't looked, but he is good at telling them apart, so I just glanced and confirmed. He blessed her that she would have a strong testimony and be filled with compassion for others. Then his mom beckoned him to her side of the front-row pew to inform him that he had named the wrong baby. "This is Anastasia," She said handing him the unblessed twin.

"Not anymore" Mike retorted. The congregation had no idea what was happening as Mike moved with a sense of hesitation and confusion and consulted with the bishop. Then he Began the next blessing with the next baby the exact same way as the first, name and all. This child was blessed to be strong in the church and serve throughout her life. After the congregation's hesitant "Amen," Mike retrieved the first baby, to be blessed--Baby B, Amelia--and renamed her with the right name. He did not repeat the blessing, as per (I assume) the bishop's instruction.

Both sets of grandparents were there, except Grandpa Skembo was stuck flying a plane to China. We were also blessed to have Aunt Devanie and her 4 kids present. The grandparets left on Tuesday. Only Devanie remains. Monday we all went shopping at Dillard's Clearance Center, which I have developed quite an affection for. The main thing I like them for is shoes. I am just the right size. They don't have a whole lot of size 6, but they have a bunch of 5 1/2 and lower. My mom scored on the size 4, which you really can't find anywhere else.


Mom bought my shoes (2 pair), Mikes mom bought him 3 shirts and a tie, Devanie bought me a shirt to go with the 2 skirts I bought for myself. Dad bought us lunch at the food court. Mom shoplifted for Devanie. She was anxious to leave, so she took Zack in the stroller that Devanie had been using as a shopping cart. Nobody said a thing about when she went out, and nobody said anything when Devanie strolled back in with it.

Tomorrow Devanie and I are hosting an open house for Cookie Lee. I am exploiting my children as a lure for people to come. I invited them to cuddle my babies.

Pictures compliments of Devanie's Camera

One-handed Blogging

If I am only feeding one baby, I can sit at the desk and use one hand to type. It takes a lot longer,but it is making use of time that I would not otherwise have. My babies are 3 weeks old today. It seems an eternity ago that they were born, but it was only two lifetimes ago. They are growing to the point that they are filling out their newborn outfits. I made a Dr. appointment for them next week so I will have weights and measures.

Devanie is here. We had fun a couple of days ago trying on Cookie Lee Jewelry. Accessorizing is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do... Mike is excited about me being a consultant, given Devanie's success.

I know most of you are aware that Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the LDS church died this week. I absolutely adored that old man., but it was funny when I heard the news, there was no sadness whatsoever. I was more surprised than anything. He seemed to be doing so well at the last conference. There were other general authorities that seemed much worse off than the prophet. I still would not be surprised, though if there was one other vacancy to fill at the April Conference. He has been an amazing leader, but it is clearly time for a new chapter in church history. It will be interesting to see what happens with the next leader (presuably Thomas S. Monson.)

The last paragraph was so long because Anastasia is now sleeping on my chest and I can use both hands, making me less stingy with my words. It is about time for the kids to get home from school.