Welcome to ESPNBABY!

We're now entering hour 3 of tonight's Baby Relay!

For those just joining us, the rules are as follows:

Baby 1 startles awake screaming. What's wrong? That's for her to know, and for you to find out. Or maybe not, it's all the same to her. Could be hunger, a wet diaper, cold feet, random bear attack, who knows. The clock starts now for your first leg.

Nothing seems to be working. She's pitching an impressively acrobatic hissy fit. She's been fed, burped, changed, sleep-sack-ed, Tylenol-ed, bounced, rocked, walked, played music, offered a pacifier... finally seems seems to give in and settle a bit.

Not so you can sleep... because your head hitting the pillow is the cue for the baton handoff to start leg 2. Baby 2 starts gearing up, in his own distinctive style - no hissy fits for him: he aims for maximum disorientation by alternating heartbreaking crying with occasional momentary bursts of laughter. He gets the same run-through: fed, burped, changed, sleep-sack-ed, Tylenol-ed, bounced, rocked, walked, played music...

You'll repeat these same steps for legs 3, 4, and maybe even 5.

Finally, at long last, all is quiet. They're asleep! You've won! Right? Right?

Right. Good luck getting yourself to sleep now...

Gratitude

I'd make some snarky comment on how a Thanksgiving blog post is pretty much required these days, except that I have so much to be thankful for this year, I can't muster up any snark.

• My husband, who is an absolutely fantastic daddy to our kids - I love watching how he enjoys them and they him.
• That my kids are growing and thriving and as absolutely perfect as they can be, after all the difficulty getting them here. It was a long, hard road, in every way, and 100% worth it.
• Our amazing families, who love us and our kids so much, and who are always there to change a diaper or hold a baby or risk a sweet-potato shower feeding them.

• Our cozy house, even if it is a little chaotic right now - I think it's going to be the perfect place to raise our kids. I can't wait to get all the furniture put back in time to put up the babies' first Christmas tree.
• Our dogs, who seem to both be healthy again, and who are learning to appreciate and protect each other.

• Our babysitter, who has turned out to be such a blessing - the kids love her, and she's so great with them.
• Our church family, who shower Steven and Eleanor with so much love from the time we walk in the door to the time we leave, there can be no doubt that they're going to grow up knowing that a HUGE number of people are praying for them.
• My job, which lets me be at home so I can be here for all the milestones and little upsets and happy visits to my study.

I hope, this season, that you have as much to be thankful for as I do. 

Pure joy

I'm going to be really honest here. The reason I haven't blogged a ton lately is, well... things are too great. I feel like a blog post consisting entirely of "wow, these kids are awesome and totally, completely perfect" isn't very interesting and just comes across as bragging. On the other hand, the real intended audience of this blog is... them. And you know what? I want them to know, when they're old enough to read, how amazing I think they are and always have been.

Yep. Pretty great.

One of the things I hear a lot is, "Oh, my kids/grandkids/nephews/friend's kids are twins - it does get better!" And I don't want to be smug or rude, but my truthful answer to that would be, "If it gets even better than this, I think the world might explode from too much wonderful."

We've gotten past the stage of random inconsolable crying - I sure wished, during that time, that babies could talk! It does seem like they've gotten better at communicating - mostly by diving for whatever it is they want. When they're tired, they've made up their own proto-sign language, and they put their hands behind their heads. Occasionally that works for "all done" too - Eleanor does it sometimes when she's eating and doesn't want any more.

Not the "sleepy" sign.

Steven, on the other hand, would never use it for that purpose, because he's never done eating. That boy loves his food - his only problem with solid food is that it doesn't come as fast and as seamlessly as his milk does. For the most part, Eleanor can take or leave purees - she'll try a bite or two, then lose interest.

Little boys and "see food." Starts early.

Eleanor is more interested in Doing It Herself. She wants real food, and she wants to do it all by herself. She really wanted a corn dog at the State Fair a few weeks ago, and today during lunch, she nearly got a mouthful of eggs and salsa when she attacked my dad's taco. She did get a piece of tortilla, which she gnawed at enthusiastically. I found some little rice cracker things that she likes, because they're easy to gum and dissolve in her mouth, but she can hold them herself - she needs some practice to be able to pick up smaller bits of food.

MINE.

They're just entirely too much fun, really. Steven is the happiest baby, and wants to let you know it - he goes from zero to SHRIEK WITH JOY in about 2 seconds. He finds lots of things funny - he's ticklish, and loves the anticipation of a tickle attack coming; he thinks the "so big" game and mouth noises like clicks and raspberries are entirely hilarious; and he thinks being startled is the best thing ever.

Pure joy.

Eleanor is our acrobat - she loves to roll and scoot around, and is always using whatever's around her to move where she wants to go. We have a hard time keeping her in one place - diaper changes have become more like eel-wrestling matches, as we try to get her out of and into a diaper while she tries to roll off the table, or eat her toes, or (inevitably, every time) kick her feet right into the mess she just made. I have a feeling it's going to be a lifelong workout keeping up with her!

"This is how I ride, okay?"

Costumes

Happy Halloween! Steven and Eleanor got to visit Grandpa this morning, for the big (HUGE) Halloween party at his work. In fact, it's too big to be rightly called a "party" - more like a festival. They had a lot of fun - we encountered a very hyper, yelling Mad Hatter in one of the shows, and Steven got so excited that - hey! People are yelling in this one! - that he started yelling back. It was great fun (well, until the Hatter got even more excited and scared him - but it was fun till then!).




Steven went as Waldo, and Eleanor went as Carmen Sandiego. Her little trenchcoat is so cute!

I got some video of a very happy Waldo:

The most fascinating person in the world:

A one-sided conversation.

Morning play

Life has been pretty uneventful around here - lots of playing, trying new foods, meeting new friends, and developing new skills. Eleanor is getting the hang of sleeping in her crib (vs. her rock-n-play), so we're getting ready to start Steven sleeping in his crib too. This morning, Eleanor woke up cheerful and ready to play, while Steven... well, he sort of woke up, I guess...

Pumpkins!

I took the babies to a pumpkin patch this afternoon for some 6-month photos. Can you believe they're 6 months old already? They're both growing so fast.

Eleanor is now 24 inches long, and weighs 14 pounds exactly. She's still very thoughtful, but is starting to make more sweet little noises, and she loves to play. She figured out last week how to roll from her back to her stomach, and now she's rolling all over the place. She's our little monkey - she'll grab on to anything around her to help her get to where she wants to be. She's sleeping in a crib now, instead of her rock-n-play, because she started climbing so much, we were afraid she'd climb right out.

Steven is still a little ham - he loves to talk and laugh and smile at anyone who looks at him. He's 25 inches long, and weighs 14 pounds, 11 ounces - they're both officially "on the charts" for their age now! They're catching up fast. He's really testing out his voice these days - his favorite thing to do is to hold his hands over his head and try out all different pitches of yells and screeches and squawks. 

They're both getting so good at sitting up - not quite on their own yet, but definitely close! They love to stand up, holding someone's hands, and they both love to laugh and chatter with each other. 

They're more fun every day - I love seeing their little personalities develop, and it's so great to see them enjoying each other.