more pics.

Rain, rain. Go away.

Ugh - this weather is so depressing! We've had small windows of "nice enough" to get outside, but the constant grey and gloominess is sure tiring! And it's going to be like this as far as the forecast can see. Yuck.

So not much has changed in the last couple of weeks - we're still working on that overnight routine, which seems to be improving ... the fussiness is still very much with us - last evening, both babes cried from about 5:30 until 8:30 (but then settled down for the night - tradeoff, I guess.) I do know that one day that'll just stop. At least, I think I remember that it did with Peyton.

Last Friday, my mom & I took the twins to the Superstore for some professional shots - they turned out FANTASTIC. I will at some point scan in the photos, but in the meantime, here's a picture of Leah before we left.
OK, I know I SWORE that I'd never dress these girls alike (when I was pregnant) but so many people have been generous enough to give the girls clothing, and a lot is matching and identical, and you know they're SO DARN CUTE when they're dressed the same....so uh, ya. I didn't keep that promise! And in their first professional shots, they're wearing the same dress. So shoot me (ha.)

Getting to the appointment was a big ordeal. The twins are spitter uppers, in a bad way - so as soon as I got the dresses on, the bibs followed suit. And both girls barfed on their first bib, of course. So pack them in the carseats (and they HATE their carseats, so screaming screaming, screaming) rush to the store, undress them...and then they were complete angels and posed so perfectly! My appointment was at noon, and by 12:17 we were back in the van. Like, undress them, pose them, shoot them, re-dress them, pick out my selection of photos, pay for them, pack the girls back in the carseats, then back home in less than 20 minutes!! The photographer was thrilled - said it was her easiest shoot with twins to date. And she would know, she did THREE SETS of twins the day earlier.

Friday night, I got a break from ALL three girlies. Kerry & Laurie arranged for us to get out to the local Barley Mow, while Heron (with Mitchie) stayed behind with Paul and the girls. Tanya joined us. It was great to be able to enjoy a couple drinks and a meal without any disruption. And to talk about something OTHER than babies! (although a lot of talk WAS indeed about them, I mean, what else do *I* have to talk about these days!!)

Mother's Day was very nice. Paul & Peyton permitted me to sleep until the blissfull hour on 9AM (yeah, I was up at 5:00 AM though!) Paul made us Belgian Waffles with chocolate chips, and we topped them with berries, whip cream and maple syrup - yum! We had my mom and sister's family over for Souvlaki - it was a nice day.

We've found a young lady who will be helping me out during the day from time to time - meet Jennifer! Here's a picture of her "hard at work!" Jenn's in her final year of highschool and although we haven't worked out the specifics yet, she'll be helping me out with all three girls a

couple of days/afternoons a week throughout the summer. She was here on Monday afternoon, and I've got to say I am pretty pleased with how great she was, both with the babies and with Missy Peyton. Ha, as a teenager, I barely liked, forget loved, babies (and kids) so it's weird for me to see someone who does.









On that note, I'll sign off for now and wish everyone a good LONG weekend.

More pictures

I love baby parts.

How sweet are they?
How lucky are we?

The TV.

I am ashamed to admit how much TV I watch. Suffice to say, I know it's too much.
The twins and I pretty much 100% live in our "great room" - the open kitchen/family room. And the TV is always on.
I realized it was too much today when I thought to myself - "I've seen far too much of Tom Cruise this week." Seriously, I've seen him on late TV, on early morning talk shows, I've seen him on all the entertainment shows - and this morning, I saw a preview for Ellen for next week saying he'd be on. I think I've seen every interview he's done.
I guess I don't always HAVE to have the tv on, but really, it's my sanity I guess these days. When I try to pick up a book, Peyton will bring me about 15 of her books to read. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE reading to her and in fact, she's been read to so much that I think she should start reading her books to me. If I turn off the TV and turn on the stereo to listen to something easy-listening (Enya, Norah Jones, Sarah) Peyton complains and asks (NEEDS) me to put on her Sharon, Lois and Bram. Again, I don't mind this, but I can only take so much of "Little Rabbit Foo Foo!" and the never ending "dance mommy! dance!!" But when the TV is on and programmed to something she has no interest in, she will play with her blocks or Little People, or somehow else occupy herself. So it's MY time, I guess.
But how is it that you can have 500 + channels, and still find nothing to watch?? Throughout the day, I am tuned into the talk shows, or news programs. My touch with the outside world, I guess. In the evening, when I would actually LIKE to watch TV, I can't because there's too much going on (and typically a baby is fussing.) And OVERNIGHT, well the early morning feeds are all right because of timeshifting - I can still get the west channels late night shows. But around 4AM? Golden Girls or Infomercials. Or.....well, I'll share a secret with you.
WHEN these little girlies start sleeping through the night, there will be an open invite to this house to everyone and anyone, and I am going to Kick Some Ass at POKER! Yup, bring lots of money, because I've watched enough champion poker games to know all the tricks and strategies. I swear, you can catch a game of poker on the game network at any time throughout the night. I'm so addicted, I'll sometimes stay up a little later than I need to, watching just one more hand (or two.) Yeah, watch out. I'm going to be great, and I need the cash - ha.
Anyway, I know I've said it before - thank GOD these girls were born in the spring, because the nice weather means we can spend a lot of time outside, away from the draw of the television.
And back on the topic of Tom Cruise - what is with this guy? Really now, are he and Kate the first to ever have a child? Not that going to a movie is an option for me right now, but if I could, you'd better believe I wouldn't be seeing his MI3. I just can't take him seriously as an actor anymore, because I can't stand his public persona. Like really, when did he turn into such a nutjob? I wont be watching that episode of Ellen next week. I could recite what he'd say about his new baby girl (and Katie) anyway - it seems so scripted at this point. Oh my, did you hear that he set up a seminar for all the women in his life (mom, sisters, daughter) about the birth and raising of a child? You know, so they could practise such things as changing diapers and what not. Ugh. (yes - too.much.tv.)

Thank goodness the weekend is here. Paul is fantastic about getting up throughout the night to lend a hand when the twins both wake up at the same time, but MAN do I feel guilt about it. Like, I know they're his children too, and they're waking up hungry and definitely need to be tended to right away, but I respect the fact that Paul's got to work Monday to Friday so I will typically try my absolute best to keep him in bed as much as possible. Usually ONE feed, the twins will be off schedule by about 30 mins, so I can do that on my own, but that's about as good as it gets. On the weekends, however I feel no guilt. :) And he's up about as much as I am. So of course, we'll pass the feeding time by watching a movie (rogers on demand ROCKS) - the company and entertainment makes the midnight and early morning feeds not-so-bad.

Well, 5-4 for the good guys with 4 minutes left. Off I go to watch more tv... But not before posting a couple of shots. :)

Pics of Peyton's Playstructure

Quick update today, as everyone is sleeping (for now.)

So pictured at left is the new play structure - and Peyton just loves it! We thought we'd have to buy a little bucket seat for the swing, but after a couple of nasty spills, she's learned to hold on properly to the "big girl" seat and I think she'll manage with what we've got. Speaking of spills, there've been a couple to-date. I mean, pretty big ones where we hold our breath and wonder what damage we'll be dealing with - but she's so TOUGH! She gets up, brushes her knees, elbow, head, whatever - then goes right back at it. OK, sometimes she needs a kiss, but kisses somehow magically fix everything that hurts. But her LEGS, oh-my-God, they're so bruised! Laurie, our neighbour called them "Toddler Legs." Good thing there's an actual term for them - non-parental types might think we're mistreating her!!

The twins are thrilled with the playstructure too. Check out their reactions...















I think Leah's actually catching flies!!

So the twins have actually entered their "fussy period." Boy, is my memory short! I thought the hard evenings wrap up at around 6 weeks, but I guess they actually PEAK at six weeks. Our past three evenings have been spent walking the hallways with one, if not both twins. Paul & I had to eat in shifts last night, which is a first in the 5 weeks (no, I am NOT complaining.) Luckily, they settle down when we're ready (read: desperate) to go to sleep - like last night was about 10:30, but still - it's not a quiet household, particularly between about 7 and 10 PM. Thankfully, we see some humour in it - the constant "wah, WAH, wah, WAH" I'm almost thinking I should record or videotape it because I'm certain it's one of those things I'll forget about (again) soon enough.
Paul had Jeff over for a beer last night, and I think it's the first time I've EVER seen Jeff drink a warm beer - as in, his hands were so tied up holding a babe that his beer had time to warm up!
So needless to say, it takes quite long to accomplish anything in our evenings. From eating, to cleaning up the kitchen, to bathing Peyton and settling her for bed, to even getting the sprinkler on our on the lawn. It's go GO go until at least 10PM. But then, what a terrific night we had. The twins, last night, had their first big stretch between feeds - 5 hours! Could this be a sign of things to come? They fed at 8:30, then woke again at about 1:15 AM. Un-freaken' believable! Of course, they were back to the three hour sched after that, but I think they both SO exhausted themselves crying last night, that when they did wake to feed, they hungrily gobbled up then immediately settled back into a deep state of sleep. I can deal with the hectic evenings if the tradeoff is a good night - for sure.

When everyone wakes this afternoon, we're planning a walk around the lake. My mom spotted the ducks this morning, so I'll bring along the camera and some bread - hopefully we'll get some good shots!