Brandich, Party of Five!: Twins are 7 months and 5 months corrected

From the heart.

7 months old

Time to reflect. This month I have been thinking a lot about my life. *It might be because I am trapped inside with 3 kids during the suckiest winter I can remember in Ohio*. It has been a very trying month for me. I boast that I am a positive person but you can get really depressed when you don't get ANY natural vitamin D! There are things I miss, we used to just get in the car on weekends and drive places and do randomn shopping, hiking, visiting friends, eat out and drink a lot! We did all of those things with one child just like when we had no children. Having 3 is a total game changer. We are out numbered and leaving is not spontaneous, it involves packing our Yukon to the gills with kids and stuff...lots of stuff! Because of their age group I literally cannot handle all 3 kids on my own in public. That is especially hard as I like being out doing things. I miss my friends, it's so very hard to get together with them or even just talk on the phone..we text...how sad! When I do get out I get glimpses of my former self...who knew twins would change me sooooo much!

Multitasking starts at 7:30 A.M.

To be brutally honest though, I wouldn't have it any other way! I am the luckiest person on the planet. I get to stay at home with my kids versus go to work! My whole life as far back as I can remember, I loved babies and wanted to be a Mom! Yep, that's it! I never gave too much consideration to a career because all I ever wanted was babies! God sure did produce! I love my kids with every ounce of my being. I sacrifice for them on a daily basis. I sleep less to comfort them, I eat less to make sure their belly's are full first. I clean less so that I have time to snuggle and cuddle them. I constantly think, that can wait- they are more important! Before now it was very hard to relax and just have true sweet moments with them. I was so consumed with the work load that survival was first love was second. I know someday we will be able to be social again and at least when the weather breaks we can go outside. Overall, it has been a very sentimental month. The realization of my tubes being tied has got me sad at each passing milestone. I won't be pregnant again, give birth or most recently, nurse ever again! That kind of stuff is sad to me, I know we made the right decision but it's still hard none the less!

At Christmas, my childhood friend and neighbor was diagnosed with cancer. He and his wife just had a baby girl. I have been thinking about him/them for these past months! I have been reading his very positive posts about radiation and chemotherapy and just hoping he would be lucky enough to meet his daughter! It has made me really appreciate that my family is all healthy and happy and that I have nothing to complain about! Life is not life if it's all sunshine and lollipops! Struggles are what make us realize when we are happy! So I am happy! Happy for our marriage, happy for our kids, happy even when things are difficult, happy my life is so very different than it once was and happy I live in freezing Ohio because that's where our family is, happy happy happy!

A rare dinner date out

And now for the usual updates!!!

The babies are on a roll this month, literally. Kelsey was first to roll tummy to back at a month old and now she can also go back to tummy. She is crazy strong and tosses her body over very quickly. Logan just learned too and needs some fine tuning. They are both sitting up with assistance in their boppy pillows and love to stand in their saucers. We are borrowing one that Logan can jump in because he is more rowdy! The boy loves to stand and has taken steps with assistance. He isn't strong enough to stand on his own or cruise but he sure does want too! I walked at 9 months so I would not be surprised if he can at least cruise by then. Logan is also my backbender! If we do not strap him into chairs he arches and twists until he is out of it!

Learning to play and share

Cousin Clara and Grammy feeding the twins dinner

We are finally seeing a consistent routine in the works! The babies wake up about 7:30 a.m. and have a bottle. They usually have a cat nap before waking up again to eat breakfast around 9:30 which consists of a fruit and oatmeal. So far we have introduced banana, mango, nectarine and pear. They take another small snooze(still napping between each feed) then have a bottle around noon. At 1:00ish I get everyone down for a nap including big brother Austin. By 3:30 or 4:00 they wake and have another bottle. They eat dinner about 6:00 which includes oatmeal and a vegetable. We have introduced squash, carrots and sweet potato. They sometimes nap again and then at 8:30 they have a bottle and go to bed around 9:30p.m. Kelsey is usually easy and goes to sleep in her crib on her own. Logan usually needs rocked or his pacifier back a couple times until he is officially out for the night! On any given night one of the babies ends up in our room and sleeping in the cradle (in effort to not wake up the other twin). Just about every night 2 kids sleep all night and one doesn't sleep well....I barely ever win and once in awhile all 3 sleep for an interrupted night!

This is what $3.50 of homemade carrots versus $5.00 of store bought Pears looks like!

This past Saturday we got really brave and super ambitious and decided to attempt to take all 3 kids to the West Side Market. We each wore a baby in the Bjorn and pushed Austin in an umbrella stroller and he walked for some of the time. We had no melt downs or unhappy babies and we got plenty of unsolicited attention and "you're brave comments." We have started to learn that if we want lives, we better be brave A LOT! We spent about an hour in the market and walked away with 4 bags of groceries and a tray of berries. Leaving was quite comical and I wish we had a photo of us lugging kids and the groceries back to the car!