success

Well, mostly...  Overall, Caleb and Logan did great on their very first camping trip.  I think they liked being outside so much and having lots of people to watch.  They slept wonderfully the first two nights (together in their pack-n-play in our tent), but they didn't nap very well during the daytimes and by the third night they were just overdone and didn't sleep well. 

We decided we're glad we went (it was actually the weekend we were in the hospital having them that we signed up to go...crazy!), but definitely wouldn't go if it weren't a group event.  It's a little harder to take care of babies when you're camping, so if there weren't people to hang out with in between feedings, naps, etc. there wouldn't be much point in going.  It really worked out well.  We're the only ones in a tent and it really came in handy that everyone else had a camper.  Due to limited space in our vehicle we were able to send some things with my brother and parents because they had plenty of room.  We coordinated meals, and I was able to use my parent's camper for feeding the boys, which was great - the tent would NOT have been nice for that!

We were in Van Buren State Park near South Haven.  Very nice park.  We had great sites where we could all be together (Thanks, Emily!), and it was a nice walk to the beach.  We went to the beach a couple times.  We hung out around the campsites alot.  It was quite a warm weekend.  The very first night was chilly, but after that it was very warm.  Saturday morning my brother Mike, Eric, and I went for a run.  I did my 3 miles then my Mike joined in for a few.  The three of them went for a 6 mile run this morning.  Last night Mike, Mike, Eric, and my dad had a race up a sand dune.  Eric smoked them.  Dad made it halfway up, and in my husband's defense, he hasn't been running like Mike and Eric (he's just getting back into it this past week).

Lots of laundry to do - gotta go switch loads!

6 months

I don't have time to write much, but wanted to at least share a couple quick thoughts.

Tomorrow my babies will be 6 months old already!  I wouldn't say I'm necessarily having a 'hard' time with it, but I have to admit that it's a little bittersweet.  These first 6 months have gone so fast and I know it's just going to continue that way.  It's so much fun seeing all the new things they do and observing their personalities.  But, I sorta miss having teeny-tiny little babies to cuddle!  I've really enjoyed everything so far, but I guess it has been a little bit of a blur of feedings and diaper changes.

The days of me being able to set the boys on the floor and go to another room for something are just about over.  They are rolling around so much! 

I'm thanking the Lord for two healthy, beautiful boys that have brought so much joy into our lives.

hot

Phew!  It has been quite warm and muggy here.  Summer is on it's way!  So of course now I've gone from wondering if the boys are too cold to wondering if they are too hot - if only they could just tell me...  :)  They have made a smooth transition to sleeping without their swaddles - what a relief.  We've used their swaddles since birth - they were great this winter to help keep them warm enough and they liked being wrapped up tight, but any time I had to wash them and they had to take a nap without them it did not go well.  In preparation for the warmer weather awhile back we started the transition - we would wrap them up with one arm sticking out, and then eventually with both arms out.  When it started getting really warm we just didn't put them on and they did great!

Caleb and Logan have also done very well sleeping in separate cribs - no trouble with the transition there either.  Yesterday they took a nap together in their cousin Heidi's crib (hence the pink sheets) and this is how they ended up even though I had put them facing the same direction on opposite ends of the crib.  :)

The other day Caleb and Logan helped Mike wash and wax his truck.  They did a good job!  It gave me a little bit of a break.  :)  They had the radio on and Mike said he had to do a little singing and dancing after awhile to keep them happy - good thing we live in the country!

growing up

Sigh.  It goes so fast!  :)  All of the sudden the other day as we were carrying the boys into church they felt so heavy in their car seats.  It's going to get harder to carry both at once!  And, I don't think they are too far from sitting up on their own.  They are both strong and sit up really well with minimal help.  Both are doing great with spoon feedings now, too!  Just a couple nights ago it really clicked with Logan, last night Caleb caught on, and last night I managed to spoon feed them all by myself!  I had been a little worried about how I was going to spoon feed on my own, but just like nursing and bottle feeding you just try it and figure out how to do it.  It helps that they can sort of hold their own bottles - I let Caleb drink his bottle while I fed Logan, then switched.  This was a scream-free spoon feeding, which was a huge improvement.  :)  They are so cute when they're eating!  I've taken a couple movie clips, need to get them posted.

It has been so much fun watching Caleb and Logan interact now that they're becoming more aware of each other.  One pacifier and two babies makes for some good times.  And Logan was kind enough to let Caleb suck on his thumb the other day.  I love it when they look at each other and smile - so sweet!  Will be fun when they start talking to each other.

They have been doing really well in separate cribs, there haven't been any issues.  We'll have to put them back together in the pack'n'play when we go camping, so we'll see how that goes!  Camping in general should be interesting...  :)

dessert

click here to see Logan have a little dessert

bird

We had an interesting visitor in the house yesterday.  I was working in the office and thought I heard a strange noise downstairs.  Wasn't sure exactly what it was or where it was coming from, but it had me a little freaked out.  After hearing it a couple more times I decided it sounded like a bird in the basement.  Called Mike at work, he said there was no way a bird could get into the basement...  He was going to come home and check it out at lunch time, but I decided I could survive the rest of the day.  When he got home from work he went around checking things out and found nothing, but later on in the evening after I heard it again he opened the basement door and guess what came out??  Yup, a bird.  So, now I'm stuck in the chair feeding the boys, and Mike's trying to get a bird out of the house.  He let Macy in and she helped.  The bird left a little evidence of it's visit behind, but otherwise we made it through the ordeal just fine.

Broke down and bought some new running shoes today.  I am so Dutch.  I KNOW having good shoes is important, it's just so hard to spend the money!  :)  Now we're considering a good, used jogging stroller - that'll make it a little easier for me to still get some running in as Mike gets busier at work and is less available to stay with the boys.

Speaking of which, Caleb and Logan are sleeping in separate cribs for the first time!!  They took their evening nap in separate cribs, and now this will be the first overnight.  So far they seem okay.  I thought they would miss each other.  But, I guess they don't really miss the other one kicking them...

It is 9:30pm and Mike is out mowing the lawn.  Last Saturday he finished after 10pm.  There's just no other time to do it!  He enjoys it though (at least he says he does).

chunkers

Logan and Caleb are packing on the pounds!  Tonight was another weight check.  Logan is now 12lbs 1oz, and Caleb is 11lbs 11oz.  So, that's basically a pound each in the last two weeks.  They're almost back on the charts.  :)  They're doing well and definitely headed in the right direction, so no more weight checks!  Woo-hoo!  Actually, we kind of like going in.  We like finding out how much they weigh, and I usually have some other question for the doctor.  :)

sharing

And the fun begins.  This morning I was holding both boys after breakfast.  They both had pacifiers, but Logan's fell out.  He started eyeing Caleb's, reached out, pulled it out of Caleb's mouth, and put it in his!

separation anxiety?

I didn't really expect the boys to have issues with this until they were a bit older, but we may have had an instance last night.  Mike came home from work just as I was finishing feeding the boys.  I handed off Logan so Mike could burp him, and I burped Caleb.  Then I put Caleb down and was heading to the kitchen to start supper.  Logan was still with Mike and started to cry, so I walked back over to him and he got all happy, then when I tried to walk away he started crying again.  I did this a few times to test it.  I have also noticed a couple times when putting them down for a nap that Caleb will watch me leave the room then start to cry.  Hopefully this doesn't turn into TOO big of a problem.  :)  Please spare me the comments on how someday I'll miss them needing their mommy.  Sure, some of that is great, but I would like to avoid having it become a major roadblock to them becoming emotionally healthy, independent, productive members of society.  :)

A few weeks ago we did a few spoon feedings of cereal for the boys, but then we switched to doing it with a bottle due to being out of town and just plain busyness.  Tonight we gave the spoons a shot again.  Talk about a scream fest!  Hope it doesn't take them too long to learn.  Mike pointed out that it's rather interesting that normally anything that comes within arms reach goes right to their mouth, but try to put a spoon in their mouth with milk & cereal on it that they eat out of a bottle all the time and love, and they act like we're the meanest parents ever! 

Mike took Caleb to the store with him tonight.  So it's just me and Logan for a little while.  And he's down for a nap.  I've got half an hour before the next feeding, maybe I should actually do some cleaning like I intended to today?  Maybe it's not worth it and I can just leave it for tomorrow, or the next day...

mother's day

Well, last year on Mother's Day Caleb and Logan were just two little peanuts inside me.  We did know by that point that we were having twins, but we were still a couple months away from finding out they were boys.  I've got all sorts of sappy, reflective, insightful thoughts flying around in my head, but I don't have time to organize them and type them out - I'm a busy mom!  :)  Let's just say that life is great with my boys and I am having an incredible amount of fun with them. 

Yesterday was the big race day!  Months ago I had decided that I wanted to do the 5k River Bank Run, but I just wasn't sure if I was going to be able to pull it off.  I really owe it to my husband and brothers.  Mike so willingly watches the boys so that I can get out and run a couple times a week with my brothers, and my brothers are kind enough to slow down and run a few miles with me (they do longer distances at a faster pace otherwise) and encourage me to keep going.  Anyways, I didn't train for very long, so my goal was pretty much just to run the race without having to stop and to not be last, and I did it!  I didn't have a stellar time in comparison to other runners, but I met my goal and that felt great.  Just a little over 5 months ago when I could hardly walk thanks to a couple little boys in my belly I certainly didn't think I could run a 5k!  I'd like to keep finding races to run periodically and continually improve my time.

Almost the whole fam came out for the day and it was alot of fun.  My brothers, and my sister-in-law's brother and his girlfriend all ran races as well, so it was great to be supporting each other.  My race was first, then my brother Mike and Rob's girlfriend, Carolyn, did the 10k.  Eric and Rob did the 25k.  It was a chilly morning for spectators, but a great temperature for running.  A little windy at times and some precip, but not too bad.

kitten

Went to Tulip Time with Lea Anne, Boden, and Heidi yesterday. I guess we didn't get a pic of them together by some tulips, but here they are by a cool fountain. :)

My brother, Mike, and I had an interesting run last night. First of all, only in Beaverdam could there be a traffic jam with a lawnmower, golf cart, tractor, motorcycles, and joggers! Then, a little over halfway through our run a kitten decided to join us. Cute little thing, but I know what they grow up into... We were right by a farm and stopped to see if it was theirs, but no luck.

dedication

Yesterday at church we had the wonderful privilege of dedicating Caleb and Logan to the Lord. This is really a commitment on our part as parents - what an awesome and scary responsibility. Not only am I responsible for the physical lives of my children, but I have a great influence on their spiritual lives and how they turn out as people as well!

It was so nice to have some of our family there to witness the occasion. Someone mentioned from the pulpit that we had alot of family there - little do they know that wasn't even half of them! If all our family had been able to come we would have taken up alot more space!

The boys did great being up in front of church. Logan got a little squirmy towards the end, and he spit up once, but it wasn't too bad. Pastor Charlie decided to hold both of them at the end - I was worried someone would spit up on his nice suit or start screaming, but I guess he knows the risks and they did great anyways!

After church we had the fam over for brunch at our place. It was a beautiful day so the kids could play outside. I think they all had fun playing together, and of course, Sadie and Macy added to the fun too. :)