The past 9 months have flown by

On the twin forum I post to often times there are desperate posts from new twin moms writing about how tired they are, how much their babies cry, asking when things will get better, begging for advice, and basically just commiserating with other twin moms who have been there. And so often I would see veteran twin moms essentially say "Hang in there, the hard days will soon pass and then you will wonder where the first year went." And now that we are getting closer to the end of the first year I am finally starting to see what they mean. There are still plenty of hard days and nights (especially when you have to get up numerous times at ungodly hours throughout the night!) but we are gradually switching from "survival mode" to really enjoying the boys, hard work and all. Brandon and Colin are just so darn funny and sweet now that they are a little older and interacting more and more with us and each other. They are also on the verge of becoming mobile but aren't quite there yet.

Since my last post a few weeks ago there has been a lot going on. We went to Waynesboro one weekend when we found out several of Bill's aunts and uncles would be visiting his parents. There was Harry and Larrie, Fred and Edna (aka Fredna, heh), Henry and Georgana, and Carolyn and Donald. With exception of Carolyn and Donald, who live right down the road from Bill's folks, none of the other aunts and uncles had met Brandon and Colin. So we went for a quick overnight visit staying with Bill's sister, Kelley, and her family. It's always tough traveling with twinfants, but it was well worth it and we had a GREAT time! And the boys did really well meeting so many new people at once. Unfortunately I packed our camera in an overnight bag (which was left at Kelley's) and not the diaper bag, so we didn't get any pictures :( From henceforth I know that anything important MUST go in our ever-expanding diaper bag! One other thing we got from that weekend was referring to Colin's frequently moving hands as "jazz hands." Thanks for that Ben, we use that phrase daily now! :)

The weekend before last I wanted to get some pictures of the boys' baby flab because I hear once they start crawling and walking it usually melts right off. And we just crack up at their pot bellies and chubby thighs, especially Brandon's. So after their bath I laid down a black sheet and did my best to take some Ann Geddes quality pictures. I failed miserably at that, but I did still manage to get some cute pictures.

Here is Colin smiling, laughing, and yelling at the top of his lungs.


And here is Brandon showing off his love handles, heehee:


Then we put them side by side and Colin starting sticking his feet in his mouth like he often does. Brandon sometimes tries that as well, but his belly gets in the way so he is unable to slobber all over his tootsies like Colin :) Then at some point Colin poked or hit Brandon who started wailing. Of course, Colin is totally trying to play it off with that "Who me??" look :)


Oh and here is a picture of Daddy before their baths:



My Aunt Alice stopped by to see the boys this past Friday and she had her hands full. It's always cute when the boys look at each other. Colin also wanted to show off and prove that he could hold a bottle just like his brother (if only for a few seconds). And yes, those are indeed Santa sleepers, which we have gotten a LOT of mileage out of. Sure it maybe March...but they still fit (barely!) so we keep using them!


Yesterday, February 28th, my nephew Ian turned 7 years old (talk about time flying by!) so we packed up the boys and went to Bryce and Becky's for a birthday lunch. Here is a picture Brandon and Colin on their Poppy's lap:



Okay, I'm gonna end this long post now. We have several new YouTube clips of the boys, but we'll save that for another day! The boys go for their 9 month pediatrician appointment on Wednesday, so I'll include those YouTube links whenever I get around to posting another update (hopefully before April!).