Monday, May 28, 2018

This is the girls and me 37 Weeks and 1 Day into pregnancy (the day the babies were born), and 37 Weeks 1 Day out of pregnancy.  I think they look better on the outside.





Hattie and Tille love to give each other kisses.  More and more they'll give Matt and me kisses now too.  They'll come up to us with their mouths wide open and suck on our nose or chin.  I'm pretty sure this is their kiss.
I've added some videos below, but I don't think they're loading right.  I'm just going to leave them and try fixing them later if they don't work.  The first is the babies' favorite game to play with Matt.  He'll come stomping and roaring at them and they'll break out in giggles and try to get away.  Every time.  So cute. The second is Hattie playing peek a boo.  Tille has started it now too, but I don't have a video of her yet.  Any time I pull my phone out to take a video or picture, they stop what they're doing to look at me.




It's been a year since we bought our house, so we decided to buy another.  It's a real fixer-upper.  Okay, so we actually bought land in the Uintahs, and it happens to have a couple of old trailers on it.  We first looked at the property back in September and then thought about it all winter and bought it a few weeks ago.  We went up this week to look at it again (it had snow when we went before so I stayed in the car with the babies, so I wanted to see it better).  I think the trailers will work for now to sleep, cook, etc in.  But our plan is to eventually have some sort of cute cabin on the land.  The big trailer has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and kitchen.  The second has a bathroom, bedroom, and living room.  They're pretty gross (been there for about 60 years), so we're going to go up in a few weeks to scrub them.  I'm excited to have some land just an hour and a half away, where we can just go get away for weekends whenever we want.  I think it'll make for some great kid birthday parties in a few years. 







Monday, May 7, 2018

The Latest

Here's a little update of what's been going on at our house lately.
Last week Hattie came down with a fever. We thought it was from teething, so we gave her Tylenol and cold things to chew on, and tried to keep her cool.  It was so sad.  For a few nights, she just wanted to be cuddled all night.  I spent a couple nights on the couch holding her, kind of sleeping, kind of not.  One of the nights (it's all a blur) I fed both babies around midnight. Then one woke up an hour later so Matt fed and cuddled her.  Then the other woke up an hour later so I fed and cuddled her, and by the time she was back to sleep, the other one was crying, so I fed and cuddled her again, and that's kind of how the entire night went.  Finally on Friday night we were exhausted, so Matt and I agreed to let both girls sleep in their beds all night.  There was a lot of screaming that night.  We'd feed and cuddle a baby if she had slept at least one hour since the last feeding. Too often, they'll seem to be asleep but then wake up crying 10 minutes after we put them in bed, so we let them cry through that. Saturday morning, we were comparing notes of the night before, and we realized Tille slept from about midnight til 6 or 7, and Hattie only got up twice and went back to sleep after eating and crying for a bit. Much much better!  Saturday night Tille slept even longer and Hattie also did better.  I hate to jinx it, but we might be turning a corner with their sleep.
Anyway, back to Hattie and her fever.  I think it was Wednesday night, Matt put her to bed right after I got home from work. Usually she'll cry for 5-10 minutes before she falls asleep.  But she was quiet.  We each checked on her a couple of times, and she was just sitting in bed, staring blankly around the room.  She was bright red with fever and just looked so sad.  She got lots of extra cuddles last week.  Her fever went away on Thursday and we thought all was well.  But then she woke up with a nasty rash on her face Saturday morning, and it spread all over her body throughout the day.  It looked awful.  She didn't seem to be feeling too sick, other than screaming for no apparent reason for just a couple of minutes every now and then.  After some research, I think she had roseola. I could be wrong, but that seems to fit the best.  She looked a lot better this morning.  Her rash is super super light and she was in a much better mood.  Now we're just waiting for it to hit Tille.  The babies share everything, so I can't imagine Tille will avoid catching this.  The incubation period is 1-3 weeks, so any day now :(
Since Hattie was covered in rash and we expected Tille to get a fever any time, Matt stayed home from church with the girls (I play piano in Relief Society, so I had to be there).  After sacrament meeting, I checked my phone and Matt had just texted to let me know Tille had been stung by a bee and should we be freaking out?  We had the windows open on Saturday because the weather was so nice, and a bee/wasp/hornet had gotten inside and died.  Tille found it and when she picked it up, she got the stinger in the palm of her hand.  Matt said she screamed for a few minutes, but then was ok.  I did some quick googling in the chapel and found that we just needed to watch for a reaction.  But she's fine and didn't even remember it when I got home and looked at her hand.
A couple weeks ago Matt and I went to the dentist for the first time since we moved.  A little back story- Matt got his wisdom teeth removed when he was a teenager.  All four were impacted and it was awful.  His dentist just gave him a local anesthetic, which didn't work.  Matt kept telling his dentist that he could feel everything, and the dentist just ignored him.  And then, as the dentist was digging to get a tooth out, one of his tools broke off in Matt's gums.  And he felt it all.  So yeah, pretty awful.  Back to a couple weeks ago.  Matt doesn't enjoy the dentist and wasn't looking forward to this visit.  And then, the worst happened.  The dentist took some xrays and told Matt two of his wisdom teeth had grown back and would need to be removed.  I didn't even know wisdom teeth COULD grow back!  And of all the people for them to grow back for, it had to be Matt, who had the worst wisdom teeth story I've ever heard.  So last week Matt went in and got one of his wisdom teeth removed again.  He said it actually went pretty well and he likes our new dentist.  Phew!  I was scared for how bad it might be.  He'll go back in a few weeks to get the other one out.
Anyway, last week was rough in our house.
Here are a few good things.  I've noticed lately that Tille might like to be tidy.  I don't know if I'm reading too much into this, but I've seen her try to put blankets that fell on the floor back on the couch, when she pulls the kitchen towel off the oven door she'll try to put it back, sometimes she puts toys back on the shelf.
On weekend mornings when all we want to do is sleep but the babies are ready to play at the crack of dawn, one of us will get them up and put them in the living room and they'll play while we pretend to sleep on the carpet.  My favorite is when I'll be lying there with my eyes closed, and then I'll open them and a baby will be an inch or less from my face, just smiling big at me.  It's so cute!
I've noticed Hattie and Tille playing more with each other.  A few days ago we'd all been in the kitchen, and then Matt and I went to the living room.  We could hear the girls crawling over to join us.  And then, from behind the couch, I could hear one crawling and one giggling.  Then Hattie came into view.  She would crawl a few inches, then turn around to look at Tille and giggle, then go another few inches and giggle some more. A few days ago I was feeding both girls in their high chairs when they took a break to hold hands and giggle with each other.  It was just the cutest.
And a few days ago, I was feeding them both in their high chairs.  Every few minutes, Tille would get a really serious look on her face, and then fart.  Then she'd look serious at me for a few seconds, and then she'd crack up.  And that made Hattie crack up.  Safe to say they got my sense of humor.
Hattie and Tille like to chew on baby carrots.  I think it feels good on their gums. Hattie is on the right, with the carrot in her mouth.  Tille has the carrot in the picture below.


Meal time! Hattie doesn't like oatmeal, Tille doesn't like bananas, and neither of them likes pureed green beans.  But they love sweet potatoes, baby food mac and cheese puree, rice cereal, applesauce, and cheerios!


Hattie's just chillin' in the stroller.

Tille's enjoying the sunshine (and learning to smile for the camera)

I love these dresses the girls wore last Sunday.  We have lots of super cute clothes that I've been waiting for the girls to grow into, so I'm really trying to get them into the rotation before the girls blow right past those sizes. This is Hattie playing with her play table.

Tille loves technology.  She kept turning the cable box on and off, so we had to turn it to the side so she can't reach the button.  She'll find our cell phones and the remote control no matter where we put them.

This is how we spent Sunday School last week.  A minute later, Tille grabbed a handful of the moss in the tree pot.

I gave the girls slices of zucchini to chew on while I made dinner the other night.  It kept them busy the whole time. (Tille in pink, Hattie in white)



Poor sick Hattie with rash all over


Tille was trying not to go to sleep, but was too tired for selfies.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

8 Months!

Hattie's cuddliest times lately are when she's tired.  

Two smiley girls.  Hattie is on the left, Tille on the right

Both girls always sleep in this position (Tille on the left, Hattie on the right).  Usually when they're tired and almost asleep, they'll put their hands behind their head.  That's the magic moment when if we get them right to bed they'll go to sleep without fussing. And sometimes they'll be in the middle of playing and put their hands behind their head for a second before they remember that they're not tired.

My phone was upside-down when I took this picture. This was their first bath together in the big tub.  Their little cheeks are just the cutest!

I tried to get a cute picture of us all lying next to each other.  This is the best I got.  Very typical moment in our living room.
Here, Tille's resting on my leg while she plays.

Tille likes to rest on whatever is nearby.  We were watching tv and she just sat there so nice with her head resting on my foot.  So cute!

Here's Hattie being cuddly again.  I think she had woken up after going to bed and just needed some hugs.


I love this picture.  I was sitting at the table doing some work on my laptop and I looked up and it had started snowing outside and the girls were watching it.  Now that they can pull themselves up to stand, they love looking out the window.  But they don't know how to get back down, so when they're done looking or get bored, they just scream until Matt or I comes to the rescue.  Speaking of screaming, the girls sit in their high chairs at the table every night for dinner now.  Usually we'll give them some baby food first and then give them little bits of our dinner.  If we take too long between bites for Tille, she yells at us.  She really likes dinner and doesn't appreciate having to wait for a bite.  Hattie is pretty patient between bites.  She'll play with the straps on her chair or just look around.

8 months old!  This picture perfectly captures the girls.  Tille smiles with her mouth wide open.  Sometimes I'm not sure she's smiling.  She just opens her mouth as wide as she can and looks at us.  But sometimes it's a definite smile.  Hattie usually smiles with her mouth closed tight.

Hattie's coming to get me at the table while Tille watches.

We bathe the girls in the tub most nights now to help them settle down for bed.  Last night, I was looking for their bath toys and Matt called me over to look.  Tille had gone and sat right under the faucet while it was going (Matt turned off the water by the time I got my camera ready).  She likes to sit under the water and on top of the drain.

Hattie usually sits at the other end of the tub and plays with toys and splashes.
I don't know if the video below is loaded right, and it won't let me add a caption, so I'll caption it here. This is one of Tille's first crawls.  She army crawled for a couple weeks before she figured out how to really crawl.  Hattie is super fast with her army crawl.  Lately, if one girl finds something interesting to check out, the other will follow closely.  So we see them crawling down the hall as fast as they can.  The other day, Tille had crawled over to their bedroom and was playing with some socks in the closet.  I figured they were both in there, so I went to get them, but I couldn't find Hattie.  Turns out she'd gone into our room and was playing with my shoes in the closet.  Matt said the day before he found Hattie under our bed.  Time to baby proof! (and sweep under the bed)

Monday, March 19, 2018

Almost 7 Months

Hattie and Tille are getting better at playing on their own now.  They can sit up and play with toys and stay busy for a little while, and they're both great at rolling around.  Tille is really good at doing an inch worm crawl, and can get all over.  She especially likes playing with/sucking on the phone charger cord, and about half the time I plug in my phone, I get an error message saying moisture is detected in the port.  So that's pretty fun.  Hattie can also get all around, but she moves by rolling to wherever she needs to get.  It's getting pretty cool to see their personalities and their interests come out. We have all their toys on shelves in the tv stand, eye level to them when they're on their stomachs.  It's fun to see them go over to the shelves and pick out the toys they want to play with.  They have a few favorites that they always go for.  A few days ago when I got home from work, Tille immediately started army crawling over to me.  And almost any time we leave them in the living room to go to the kitchen or dining room, they'll try to follow us.  So at least we know they like us :) Unrelated, but something I keep meaning to write down so I remember- the first day I went back to work, when I got home I just wanted to hold and cuddle my babies.  By the time I got home, Matt said they had just gone to bed.  Of course I wasn't going to wake them up just to play with me, but I was bummed.  But Hattie woke up a few minutes later.  Matt handed her to me and she just clung to me and cuddled for like half an hour.  I was making dinner, washing my lunch dishes, etc, and she just held so tight to me and I held so tight to her.  It was the best. 
One of my favorite ways to play with the girls is to build a little play pen with my legs.  I put both girls in my legs and then pile a bunch of toys in, and the girls will play with each other and their toys for a long time so I can work on my computer or pretend to sleep.  Now that they can sit up and move around, they're a lot better at playing by themselves, but they still like to have me or Matt nearby.  So the leg play pen works out nicely. (Hattie facing me in pink, Tille in stripes)



Tille facing me in pink, Hattie in blue


Tille loves feet.  She loves playing with toes, untying shoe laces, and just looking at our feet.

Matt's sister sent me this picture one day while she was babysitting.  Tille played so hard that she just fell asleep in the middle of all her toys.  I think it's so cute how she's clinging to that billy goat doll.  She usually likes sucking on its ears, but I guess she likes hugging it too.

Both girls feel asleep on me while they were eating.  (Tille on left with flower pjs, Hattie on right with stripes).  Lately, the best and most sure-fire way to get them to sleep is to nurse them.  Sometimes at night that's the only way they'll go to sleep.  I know I should break them of this habit, but when it's late at night and I need to sleep, I have a hard time feeling really strongly about them learning to go to sleep on their own.

A couple Sundays ago we were getting ready for church.  Matt checked on the girls and called me in.  He said they were just staring at each other and smiling, but by the time I got there to take a picture, they were more interested in what we were doing. (Hattie on left, Tille on right)

A little sisterly love yesterday while we were getting ready for church (Hattie in blue, Tille in grey)


Ok, there's some real sisterly love.  They've done this more and more lately.  It's kind of their own hug style.