How stinkin' cute are these???!


Well, I meant the Baby Legs but I won't argue that my little guys make fabulously squishy models :)


Ah, Baby Legs... Bellybou' just started carrying them and I'm pretty much obsessed!


And I'm not just saying that cuz I own the store... heh :)


But for real, these are my new favorite thing! Especially since Cooper has decided to up and cut that whole wonderful stage of 'sitting happily but not moving yet' short and is now crawling all over the place, pulling up on everything - oh joy.


Aaanyway, back to the 'Legs...


I seriously love pulling these puppies on instead of pants, when you're changing two sets of diapers multiple times a day, not having to take pants on and off 4 times per diaper change is well, a mini slice of wonderfulness in a day otherwise filled with repeating the most menial yet time consuming tasks over and over 102083754183 times a day. But I'm not complaining, really... just commenting on the value of these genius things.


Oh and did I mention if you happen to have an uber talented and generous friend like Ms. Lorie Chambless to make you crazy-cute-little-stud-muffin-man-onesies (what? that's a real thing. shush.) then the baby legs cuteness pretty much skyrockets. Thanks LOR!! :)


PS - Much like my Skivvies post from eons ago...you are all welcome to call Bellybou' (or go online) and get your own baby legs (actually the brand is called Zootie Patootie) today! How's that for advertisement?! Hehe :)

It is 11:15pm. I still have 45 minutes of Tuesday left.

So.. what is the next gem of wisdom I shall impart onto all you readers out there just dying for this information that can not possibly be pertinent to almost any of you??

Waking each other up.

It is the single most surprising and unexplainable phenomenon of twin-ness I have discovered thus far. I heard people tell me it would happen, I even talked confidently about it being my plan. But I think I didn't dare believe in my heart of hearts it would actually work.

Well friends, if you have twins; I am here to tell you:

"Put them down in the same room from the beginning, let them cry and don't rush them out of the room when the first wakes up or the other falls asleep first. They will get used to each others cries and will not wake each other up."

It's true and it's incredible.

It should be noted, I am a bit of a 'let them cry a bit' mom. (Side note: If you have twins you do not really get a choice as to whether you will be this kind of mom or not; you will be - but that's for another post)

But I worried about whether their cries would rile each other up or if one woke early there's no way the other would stay asleep, etc. But they really don't seem to hear each other. The only time it even seems to make a slight difference is if I happen to put one down after the other is already asleep but not very deep yet. If the second baby to go down has a particularly hard time for some reason and cries a bit, it may startle the other one. But that is really rare, most of the time they don't hear a thing (and most of the time don't cry when going down anymore anyway...so this is more once one wakes from his nap, the other stays asleep til he wakes naturally on his own).

Now that they're older they will do a lot of 'talking' when they wake up too, and that doesn't seem to bother the other either, so I can leave the first baby in his crib until I finally hear both of them 'talking' to each other. They keep each other pretty entertained I think, they're very used to hearing the other's voice. Cuteness :)

Final note: At the beginning I was pretty skeptical of this idea, but when one would wake, or take too long to fall asleep and I began to get nervous it was going to wake the other I'd just gritted my teeth and listen for the outcome, figuring if it did wake them this one time, it would still be worth it in the end if they did prove to get used to it. And it absolutely is worth it. I will say that I became pretty convinced though that they actually had a little conspiracy going though, in that actually in the beginning when there was quite a bit more 'crying before falling asleep' craziness going on, it almost seemed as though their cries soothed each other. When one would stop, the other would start, when that one stopped, the first would start all over again. It was as if they heard the other's cries like a lullaby or something. Drove me absolutely batty.

But all that ended. And I tell you again. This 'not hearing each other', is a wonderful thing.







5 Minutes into Wednesday. Darn. :)

I promise this will not turn into a blog about Macy's lego creations. Having said that; I opened a way bigger can of worms than intended with this whole: "I'll take pictures and blog them" thing. Now EVERY treasured project needs and picture and a blog. And it is simple devastating to discuss the possibility of leaving something out. So... while I have drawn the line at picture taking so as to spare you truckloads of project blogs; I gave in one last time to my desperate 5 year old and now bring you the update on the newest lego castle.


Afterall, in her words " the other one was sooooo small and not as good at all and people just won't think it's as beautiful unless you show them it now that I've had longer to work on it!" I wasn't about to tell this proud face that she's giving you guys a little too much credit for caring.


And look who decided he'd had just about enough of being left out of all this blog drama. And to be fair, he did infact contribute his duplo blocks to make a 'shed'.


Thanks for indulging my crazy children!

So I may still be figuring all this out myself, but I've at least formed an opinion or two about things that work and don't work in this crazy world of twin life I've found myself in. Figured I'd share.

Tip #1 - To Bumbo or not to Bumbo?

I'm a fan of the Bumbo. I wouldn't dare say anything too negative about something that has provided me such solid chunks of 'hands free' time these past few months. For the most part they have been a genius addition to our lives since the twins were about 4 months old.

However...

The whole..."Oh and you can clip this nifty $10 tray accessory on to it and voila! you have a high chair!" story is a fairytale. One I'm sorry to say, we bought hook-line- and-sinker. Yes, in theory you can clip little trays to the Bumbo's, but they are pretty much worthless. The teeny tiny lip around the edge of it doesn't keep a single cheerio from flying off, especially when over enthusiastic little hands (with under developed pincher skills) are grabbing at (and launching) them at rapid speed.

They are also absolutely not as safe as high chairs. There are no straps or buckles and though it seems it'd be hard for a baby to get out of it. IT IS NOT. Atleast not for Cooper the contortionist. He has more than once found himself sprawled out on the coffee table after flipping his body up and out of the chair in a dare devil twist and dive move. (Yes, Im the awesome mother who turned my back for two seconds to grab a paper towel or break up a goldfish stealing argument at the 'big kid table')

And speaking of coffee tables. That's where I have to set up my two maniac eaters every mealtime because there's not enough counter space for twin bumbos as well as elbow room for my crazy spoon swapping, double bowl dipping, back and forth open mouth filling performance; that is: the art of feeding two hungry babies at the same time. (of which Im getting quite good I might add) So I sit on the couch and the babies perch on the coffee table, for now. But this will not do for much longer; because I literally have to stay put the whole time, no up and down to grab more food etc. And I remember the blissful days of plopping Macy or Carter in a high chair, throwin down some bits of finger food and letting them make a mess to their hearts content. I was able to get a good 1/2 hour atleast out of that time. And a girl NEEDS a good 1/2 hour every once in a while, amen?!

So Bumbo's? Not your solution for a space saving highchair. And not safe for anywhere but the floor unless you're right there with them the whole time. But for sitting up or playing with some toys? Awesome.

Oh! And for using in the bathtub! Now this is definitely not an official endorsement of Bumbo's for this use, infact Im pretty sure they say on the box it's not intended for this. AND you SHOULD NEVER EVER EVER leave your babes in a bathtub alone anyway regardless of what they're in... (come on people now, don't make me regret giving you this tip, let's use our brains please!) But when you have two slippery babies who are only sub-par at sitting up by themselves; bathing them at the same time can be tricky. And who has time to do two separate bathing sessions? Not me! My kids only get a bath every other week as it is. (Oh, you think I'm joking? Sure, I was joking, let's go with that...) :) Anyway... enter Bumbo seats. Put your baby in them inside the tub before you start running the water otherwise the water gets underneath the bumbo and they float and slip around, but otherwise, they are a wonderful seating tool.


Happy, clean babies, happy relaxed mama.




Okay, that's my twin tip for this Tuesday. We'll see how consistently this ends up happening, but it never hurts to try right?! :)

okay?

Over the past year Macy has acquired quite the little lego collection. Almost every single day while the three boys nap, she opts to spend her 'quiet time' in her room building and creating and expanding her lego masterpiece.

She is soo incredibly detailed! There are rooms on every story of the 'castle', stables, dens, garages, offices, porches, playrooms, boathouses, balconies...it goes on and on. (I don't know where she learned of all these extravagant rooms - we don't exactly have a boathouse out back ya know...) But on to the story at hand...




The other day her masterpiece broke. I had made her pick it up off the ground to vaccuum and when she was bringing it back down off the shelf it pretty much toppled into a gazillion pieces. It was heart breaking. Big fat elephant tears, wailing sobs with fists to eyes, heaaaaaartbreaking I tell you.

And it sounded like it too.

My heart had literally stopped beating in panic of what could possibly have happened to my little girl to make her scream like that. (We've had many discussions about how to show emotion appropriate to the level of the problem.... I'm not sure it's taking) Once I got over the initial fury that my legs had sprinted down the hall so fast for...that; I actually did feel bad for her. She had worked so hard, for weeks.

So I did what any good blogging parent would do. I inspired her to start again, to work as hard as she could as fast as she could to make the best house she could during this quiet time, and then I promised I would take pictures of it and blog it so it would last forever. (I also threw something in there about how taking down old things let's us build even bigger and better new things...you know I was getting all deep and stuff.. but the offer to blog about it was really what sealed the deal - a girl after my own heart!) :)


So here's me, keeping my promise.


Crisis averted.

Easter. As a family of SIX. Life is getting crazier and crazier, but Holidays are getting more and more fun. Our family feels full; and each year I am getting more and more used to the way holidays look for us; me and the kids, on our own in the mornings, meeting Ryan at church. It's beginning to feel more normal and even though I had two extra kids to get ready and loaded up this year; somehow, not even as hard or frustrating as past years.

Here's one of a very small handful of family pics since we've become the six of us. Aren't we getting to be quite the crowded little bunch? I think it'll be awhile before I can hope for anything less 'disheveled' than a pic like this; so I was pretty happy.


We went out to brunch with Ryan's whole family after services and then back to his parents house for naps and then standard Easter festivities. (ie: egg and basket hunt). Man, looking at the baskets like that the reality hits me yet again, I have FOUR kids. weird.


And yes, I got Carter a Whoopie Cushion in his Easter basket. It was in the dollar spot at Target (as was everything else in their baskets!) but this puppy was worth $100 for the laughs it has continued to provide from Macy and Carter. I know, I'm asking for it, but who can resist their kiddos belly laughs? Not me.



Oh my big kids. They really are becoming 'Big Kids' aren't they? Crazy the way they have grown up since September; right before my eyes.



Well, Happy Easter everyone. I hope it was wonderful for you too.

Ryan turned 30 on Saturday. The big 3-0. Weird to be married to a thirty year old. Personally, I'm still enjoying my youth :) But on to the birthday boy. It wasn't much of a birthday weekend considering it was the day before Easter and Ryan had to prep for Sunday. But we did our best to celebrate. The kids and I made an Easter Bunny Cake because I saw it on Barbie's blog (thanks Barbie!) and thought it was cute and there was no way I was gonna make two cakes (not because it's that hard to add water, eggs and oil to a powder mix but because I don't want all that CAKE around our house!) So we combined Easter and birthday cake on Saturday, and the kids were very proud of their masterpiece!




(Sooo old, right?)


THIS however, is cake number TWO. (Okay so we did end up with two cakes afterall, but I only had to make one, and everyone ate #2 with us so it doesn't count) :)



We went out to sushi with friends on Monday to celebrate Ryan's birthday when he could actually relax and enjoy it! This, was dessert. Yum.


And because some of you who check in here may have contributed and want to see a bit of the end result, here's what I made for Ryan for his birthday. We're also going to see U2 in June but I wanted to do something a little more significant for him this birthday as well. So I asked people all the way back through his life to write letters to him sharing the way he's influenced their life. People were wonderful and really took time with the way they encouraged him. I out everything into a book and called it 30 years of influence.


It turned out beautiful.


I could write a whole bunch of mushy stuff about how much I love my husband and how proud I am of him and all he has accomplished in his short 30 years. But...too bad for you, I wrote it all in the book. And I'll just leave it in there this time.


But I do love him, and reading these letters and how much everyone else loves him too, and how clearly the Lord has used him in so many people's lives...


Well, it made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.


Happy Birthday Honey.

The post of a lifetime. Get ready for it. It would be fitting if this was my 200th or something like that but alas, this needs to be written now, Ive actually put it off far too long already.

If you are reading this you are about to embark on a post filled with alot of explanation that you may or may not care about. But I'm fairly confident you'll actually care about what it is I'm about to tell you, so hang in there... like I said, this is a big post for me.

I'm going to start by saying that writing this post (and the knowledge of how I can not control what everyone who reads it will say, think or do afterward) kinda makes me want to throw up. It has always been a very hard thing for me to forget about what other people think of me and my decisions, I am not an extremely confident person when it comes to worrying about others opinions of me; it matters to me, there I said it. I have a very insecure side that flashes straight back to my highschool days and worries about dumb boys and mean girls that will gossip and talk and laugh behind my back and though Im an adult now and very secure in my life with my husband and family; in times like this it still has a grip on me.

SO... having said that. This is definitely me, just diving in. Taking probably the biggest step I've ever taken; making a decision based ONLY on what I (well, and Ryan) think and want, and honestly choosing not to care what others might say. What's that? Get to the point? Yeah, that's what Ryan and Ellie said when they proof read this too..

Okay.

We are changing Noah's name.

Now, if you care to read further, I will tell you a little story.

This story includes about 5 months of knowing I was having twins boys, and 5 months of agonizing, literally painstakingly AGONIZING, conversations regarding what we should name them. I can be an extremely indecisive person. And by indecisive, I mean the: have to try atleast 4 samples before I can choose an ice cream flavor; MUST be the last person to order my meal every single time we go to a restaurant; pack three times as many outfits as I will need on a trip cuz I don't know what I will 'feel' like wearing...kind of indecisive. SO, choosing TWO boy names that had to sound good - together; individually; with my other two kids names AND with the last name MacDiarmid - was well; torture, to say the least (if not for me then definitely for my husband).

But we did our best, we had some favorites and we dutifully tried them out for weeks at a time, rating our favorites together and separately and landing on a few front runners that we would head in to the hospital with.

Fast forward to post delivery as we are hanging out in our recovery room, lovin on 'A' and 'B' and basking in the craziness that had just occurred. Ya know delivering TWO whole babies and what not. We know we have to pick names but call me crazy I would just like to REST for a minute first, so we, er um.. enjoy (haha) our first night with the twins and try to get some sleep. Bright and early the next morning, we get a call.

The social security dude is going to be up to our room in an hour and we have to give him the names. HAVE TO. Who gets to say I HAVE TO name my babies on their schedule? Well, apparently the hospital. I have issues with this, but for the purpose of this post I will swallow them. SO to recap, I've pushed two babies out of my body less than 24 hours ago, I've had very little sleep, I'm hopped up on pain meds, I'm very VERY hungry (thank you hospital food!) and I am now on a ticking clock to name my twin boys. (I hope you can picture this, it's WAY more fun this way!)

Enter, Kent and Stephanie, Ryan's parents. Like sweet beacons of light, in they walk to our room carting sinfully delicious bagels. From Noah's. I was in love and so so happy to be indulging in my creamy cream cheese and cinnamon sugar bagel. Suddenly, I look down at the package this heaven sent breakfast came in, and then my gaze falls on the sweet little bundle of Baby B sleeping in my arms right beside it. And wouldn't you know it, I look at Ryan and say,

"Hey, don't you think he looks like a Noah?" I like that name, what do you think about Noah?"

--- Okay, PAUSE. People. We had NEVER talked about the name Noah. Remember the narrowed down list? Remember all the millions of discussion? Yeah, Noah wasn't a part of any of them. This is the part where I blatantly blame my loved ones for not mentioning to me that I may not be TOTALLY coherent at this very moment and should maybe stick with the pre-hospital list of names when making a final decision. But alas, no sense in pointing fingers right?! :)

That, my friends, is the story of how we chose the name Noah. Jude, was a pre-discussed; pre-drug/pre-sleepless/pre-starving name choice. But Noah was, how should we say, a bit more spontaneous.

And so we headed home from the hospital with our Noah and Jude MacDiarmid, and the true craziness of life with twins set in.

It wasn't quite day 2 of being home and I was already (secretly) at my computer in my room, supposedly sleeping, but instead googling the process of how to change names.

"$300 bucks??!?! To change a name I gave him YESTERDAY?!?! Forget it", I thought, "I'm a mess right now, it'll grow on me, no big deal". But as the weeks went by it continued to feel like a big deal to me, I would often look down at 'B' and have to remind myself of his name. I would try to call him Noah and it felt wrong. I would find myself lost in thought and realize I was daydreaming about being able to be back in the hospital again and having the chance to choose the names all over again, and I realized I was genuinely frustrated that I could not turn back time.

Well folks. Around 3 months, I came clean to Ryan...and he thought I was crazy. We jokingly talked for about a month about changing Noah's name, and how I would probably do it if it weren't for how much we would get laughed at. Ryan gave me a firm NO WAY.

Fast forward another month, I'm still jokingly calling Noah by other names to test Ryan's reaction. I'm slowly admitting my struggle to a few trusted friends and family members, to which their reaction is surprisingly understanding. Ryan is realizing I am not just being emotional, but sincerely not connecting with our name choice.

And then one night, right around 4 1/2 months; Ryan looks down at Noah as we're playing with the babies and he says. Okay, let's do it, we should change his name. And just like that, it was a done deal.

We decided regardless of the laughs, the cost, the embarrassment; we would change Noah's name. After all the child is 6 months old. If I had changed it right away, at 2 days old, you all may have already forgotten. I'm hoping that in another year, or two, most will not even think twice about this crazy name changing story, and I know by the time he enters school or has friends of his own, no one will. So, world; I'd like you to re-meet Baby 'B'.



We always knew what we would have named him if we could go back; it wasn't really even a question. It was the name that would almost come out on accident when I was trying to get used to Noah, it was the name that HAD been talked about right up until delivery. The name that was paired with Jude, written on the hospital room white board right beside the Noah and Jude combination until in one swift moment it was wiped away in favor of my ...breakfast.

His name is Cooper. As far as I'm concerned, it always has been.



(I know you're all laughing at the instructions to 'go pee', or if you're not you should be, it's far more funny than the name changing story...) :) Okay, back to the subject at hand...

Now, to be fair. I know I have been making jokes referring to my 'breakfast'. I actually love the name Noah, this is nothing personal about the name or anyone who has chosen it or liked it. There are probably a ton of you reading this right now thinking; 'She's changing it to COOPER, of all the names! I like Noah WAY better!'. Well, all I can tell you is that my baby, the one in front of me, has not become a Noah to me, he has become a Cooper and you just can't really explain it any way but that.

So there you are, an entirely too long post, about an entirely too uncomfortable subject for me, but one that just needed to be written. Our family has actually been calling him Cooper for almost 2 months now and we just needed an official day to announce it and take the final plunge. What better day than April Fool's Day. But no, this is not an April Fools Joke! (Though that'd be pretty funny huh?!)

I know this will be weird for most. It doesn't need to be. If you forget and call him Noah, no worries. If you feel weird calling him Cooper, I get it, it will feel funny for awhile. We just embrace it, acknowledge it and move on. Soon it won't feel weird. We aren't offended if Noah comes out more than Cooper, we aren't gonna have hurt feelings if you say Cooper with a bit of a giggle for awhile; we know it's kind of weird that we've done this. We're just hoping people can eventually get over it :)

And to answer the questions most people we tell ask us; yes of course we will tell him his name started out as Noah. No, we won't change the birth announcement or video, yes I'll get a new pendant for my necklace and wall letter for the nursery. Besides that, there's very little to do, he doesn't recognize or react to his name yet (neither does Jude so this is not due to confusion!) and Macy and Carter have already embraced the switch as well. (Although there IS a little bit of backlash regarding thinking they get to have open opinions about ALL names now, as in 'How about Micheal? How about Jack? Let's name Jude Doo-doo head!" Etc etc :) But all that will fade in time)

We'll simply tell him the story we just told you, and when he's 20 he'll be one of those stories where his friend will find out and go "Dude, you guys, did you know Cooper's name used to be Noah?! So weird huh?!"

Well, now I'm just plain stalling, because once I finish typing I have to actually post this puppy. I don't really have anything else to say though, so I guess it's game time. I'll leave you all with one last thought and then it's posting time, this one comes straight from the lips of parents and teachers everywhere...

"If you don't have anything nice to say; don't say anything at all" :)

Here goes nothin'.