Tummy Time

Happiness

Hugo could not wait to get out of bed today, we had a playdate scheduled with his favorite Miss Thing 3. He was not interested in preschool. Did not want to go. Wanted me to drive him straight to Thing 3's house. Like now. Somehow or other, I convinced him to leave the house with Ms Ruth Ann and go to school. The girls and I tidied up the house, packed lunch items, dressed, nursed, got tucked into car seats and out the door we went to retrieve Master Hugo from school. Have I mentioned that I carry the two girls, in their car seats, up the stairs into the church where preschool is held, and then down the stairs to where the classrooms are, to fetch the dear little one? I was the last mom to pick up today so I took advantage of free time with Mrs Newton to ask how Hugo has been doing. She exhaled a deep sigh, then described him as a little ant. Into everything at all the wrong times. Sounded about right. I thanked her for her time and we headed back up the stairs and down the stairs to our awaiting van and playdate rendezvous.

We need a trampoline. That's all I'm saying.

Thing 3 finally convinced Hugo to come indoors and watch a dinosaur movie with her. Hugo loves all things dinosaur, so not much convincing was needed. He would not look at me while the movie played. Fine, I was busy anyway learning how to make caramels. I was also busy juggling girls who were supposed to be sleeping but were not. Shaka helped by holding and bouncing one wiggly girl or the other. We traded off whoever was the crabbiest. Finally they passed out and we were able to eat our lunch and finish up the caramels.

When it was time to leave, meltdown city occurred. Shaka offered to keep Hugo a few hours more. I was temped, but not sure... Then we spied Thing #4 climbing into Hugo's car seat in the back of our van and realized the situation had been decided for us. We swapped kids for the late afternoon/dinner hour and it was fun! It felt like old times when Hugo was small and wanted to never leave the Thing's van. Good times. When Hugo returned home tonight, I was upstairs preparing the girls for bed. Cheyenne opened the door for him and as Hugo crossed the threshold he hollered, "Hey MoOOOooommm! I'm hoooome!" I loved it.

Shooshas

Here is big brother Hugo helping Momma with his sisters.  Thank heavens he is excited about helping because I sure need him at times.  For the most part, he still jumps at my requests for missing shooshas and Kleenex to mop up spit-up and he will hold a sister, or two, at a moments notice.  Look how long in length he is compared to his sisters.  Almost 4 he is.  My big boy. 

The girls are becoming less enchanted with their shooshas with each passing day.  They still serve their purpose somewhat but, less and less.  Sabine has truly found her fingers.  I had hoped she'd stick with the shoosha, but no.  I then hoped she'd find her thumb, I was a thumb sucker myself, but no.  Sabine discovered her middle two fingers and contentedly sucks away on them whenever she pleases.  Marlo.  Oh Marlo.  Marlo needs the shoosha to help her pass out,  to chill, to be happy, unless she chooses to cry herself to sleep that is.  Once she falls asleep at night she doesn't need it any longer.  I wake her at 11:30 pm to nurse one last time before morning, when I lay her down in the crib again, she wont take the shoosha.  She cracks me up cause she clamps her lips shut tight like a little vise!  Hugo always wanted his shoosha.  Loved them.  And for the record, I don't like these green shooshas at all.  They're size newborn but the girls refuse to take the next size up.  These green shooshas bounce and roll when dropped, I've gotta search and search for them sometimes.  I bribe Hugo to win marbles or with candy to help me find missing shooshas on the floor, in the van, buried in the couch cushions, underneath the crib and more than likely, behind the girls ears.  Our boy is a pretty good shoosha detective. 

The above photos were taken on an especially cranky afternoon for Marlo.  She finally passed out and was deposited in the chair.  There was no way I was going to disturb the beast.  At the same time, Sabine was peacefully sleeping in the swing as it swung from side to side while sucking her fingers, hence the blurry but cool image.

Peek-A-Boo

Peek-a-boo!  I see you!

The girls still aren't sure about bath time.  Their reactions are like a box of chocolates.  Bathing two infants one right after the other is very... interesting.  Tricky.

I feel bad that I have so many more photos of Marlo than Sabine, the reason being that she, Miss Marlo, leads all our routines.  We do something, I take a picture, everything seems fine and then she balls her head off.  Sweet Sabine just goes with the flow annnddd sorta gets swept under the carpet at this early stage of the game.  I can hear all my middle siblings yelling at me to make sure Sabine gets her fair share of screen time.  I promise to try harder Miss Sabine.  Just know here and now that your Momma loves you very much, no matter how many more photos we may own of your older sister!  Your Papa thinks she is going to be an actress, wanting all the attention for herself as she does.

King Shamrock

Hugo made this shamrock crown at school yesterday.  I thought he looked so cute that I couldn't wait to take his picture.  He was game, but wanted to have his robot in every - single - shot.  I put my foot down after attempt #47 at having no robots in front of his face.

Photo A - He had a fit.  

Photo B - Checking to see if I'm paying him any attention.  

Photo C - Over it.

You need to know that this is currently the FAVORITE shirt of all time in Hugo Land.  Why?  Because it glows in the dark!  We ran into the pantry and closed the door behind us to take this last shot.  Hugo was in skeleton heaven!

Open House

I went to Hugo's Preschool Open House tonight.  It was an evening to meet parents and kids from your child's class and to check out their room.  The teachers also hoped that we'd register for next fall.

I loved walking around Hugo's classroom seeing his name here and there.  They had check off lists with all the kids names for things like who was the class leader for the day and who held the flag for the pledge of allegiance that day.  I had no idea that Hugo knew the pledge of allegiance.  I went right home and asked him all about it!  I said, "Hugo, you know how to say the pledge of allegiance?!"  He replied with a big smile on his face, "Yeaaahh!" in a voice that sounded like - duh Mom.  I thought it was totally cool that our young son knew how to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Its been so long since I said the words myself, that I really had to think about them.  Oops!

Yesterday

Marlo and Sabine were delightful in the morning.

We began our tummy time with smiles and sweet coos.
We practiced rolling back and forth.

Then the crying began. I tried to stuff her in the Bumbo to see if a different point of view might be interesting enough to sidetrack the crying. She was not thrilled or motivated in the slightest to stop crying.

Sabine was in a fine mood today.
She smiled and talked all day long.
She just wouldn't smile for my camera.

Here she is all excited to talk.
I left a message for the Early Intervention people today.
They have a free evaluation clinic on the 30th.

p.s. Marlo rolled over for Cesar on Monday!

56 Degrees

It was a balmy 56 degrees outside today and felt super wonderful to this house arrest body. I loaded the girls into their car seats and stroller for their very first short ride over to the neighbors. Surprise, surprise on me. They were in the middle of getting all dolled up to attend the SPCA Fur Ball. Huh... a fur ball. Interesting.

Home again, home again we strolled on down the road.

Lost In Her Hat

People go crazy about these sweet fruit hats on the girls.

We heard a playgroup was meeting at the Rec today so I dressed the girls and packed a lunch for Hugo and I. As I stood up from tucking the girls into their car seats and looked at them from this new advantage point, my heart smiled. They looked so cute! I ran for the camera and realized that I didn't need to adjust Marlo's hat. This girl is always - lost in her hat. Since she came home from the hospital, we've been rescuing her from being lost in her hat. Grandma Kris coined the term and boy, did she peg this girl! When we're out and about, people stop me all the time, "Her hat is covering her eyes." or "The hat is over your baby's face." Sometimes, when we're out with bright lights overhead, I don't mind her being a little lost in her hat. I think it has protected her preemie eyes, it's amazing to me how very much she has grown and changed so quickly. Sometimes, I don't even mind her being lost in her hat here at home. The hat is like a sleep shade. A nap signal. A silencer. Sometimes, I even tug down her hat over her pretty blue eyes at nap time.

I went through all the photos I have of the girls so far, looking for Marlo being lost in her hat and found surprisingly few of them. Kinda sad really that I didn't think to document this silly baby behavior before now. Here are the few I've got... and by the way, Marlo and Sabine have the same head measurement, but Sabine is rarely ever lost in her hat.

Full face mode.

...20 minutes later, half face exposure, her best look.

One more time. Full face mode of being lost in her hat.

Half face exposure. Yes, she was awake, hence the kicking foot.

Sabine. Miss Sabine has just started to take her hat off her head and eats it. I haven't actually watched her remove her own hat, I've only stumbled upon her munching away at it.

I will add photos to this post as I remember to run and grab the camera before rescuing Miss Marlo from being lost in her hat!

4 Months

Look who turned 4 months old today!
Our girls!
Too bad they were both cranky pants for most of the day.

Hugo says, "Momma, why is she soooo cranky?"
Momma says, "She's tired, honey."
Papa says, "Boy, these girls sure are cranky. Is it time for them to eat?"
Momma says, "They want more of your undivided attention, darling."
Papa says, "They don't sound like newborns any more. They're loud!"
Momma says, "Yes, they are loud. And we love them."
Hugo says, "Momma, why don't you feed them your milk?"
Momma says, "Okay, you hold this one, and I'll hold that one and... ready, set, go!"

Marlo during tummy time.

Miss Sabine during her tummy time.

Once our afternoon tummy time had ended the girls were ravenous. I doubted that one would have lasted peacefully while I fed the other, so two at once it was. I used the Boppy with Sabine resting on top of Marlo's bottom half. The girls don't seem to mind being one on top of the other while they feed. We've got piglets I tell you. 4 month old, darling as can be, piglets!

The photo above and the following two below are my views of the girls as I nurse them.

I love the knuckle dimples and wrist bracelet on Marlo.
I love that Sabine holds onto me with both hands as she feeds.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Hugo came home from school a week ago acting a little funny. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets. I asked what was up? He tried to hide for a minute or so... then, ever so slowly, produced this rubber bat from out of his pants pocket. Hugo told me that it was his Teacher's. At first, I thought his teacher passed them out for little prizes or something. Then Hugo's words hit me and I got it.

Hugo had stolen the rubber bat from his classroom. Uh oh.

A Batman obsession is brewing here in our house. Hugo loves to watch Batman cartoons and movies. He hauls his superhero figurines around in his Ole the Viking backpack. He especially loves to play Lego Batman on the xbox and his favorite character to be is the Man Bat. The little turkey will even happily do chores in exchange for game time. Hugo has told me that he wants a Batman costume for his birthday. Oh, and by the way, Hugo has been trying to convince me that he is going to turn 5 on his upcoming birthday. "Not 4 Mom, 5. Just like Parker." says Hugo.

I wasn't much surprised at all by my son's choice of stolen objects, just that he did it. When questioned as to why Hugo took the bat, it was very clear to me, that he knew he had done something wrong. He did try to explain it away as that he only wanted to play with it for a little while at home. I told him we were going to take the bat back to school, return it to Mrs. Newton and he would need to apologize.

Long story short, in a weak moment while I was messing with the girls, I let Hugo play with the bat and then, he lost it. I hauled Hugo and both girls into school the following Thursday to inform Mrs Newton that Hugo had taken the bat. Then I had to confess that I allowed him to play with it and it was now lost. She was not pleased with me, I felt like I was 4. I promised that we had every intention of finding the rubber bat and returning it to her.

Hugo found the bat buried in the bottom of his animal drawer and ran with a big smile on his face as he brought it to me. We talked about how it is wrong to take things from other people. How he needed to return the bat and say sorry to his teacher.

Today the bat has been returned to the classroom. Hugo said he was sorry to Mrs Newton. She was nice to me, I can feel 38 again.

Just before I departed down the hall with a baby carrier slung over each arm, I asked, "There wouldn't happen to be a ghost that goes along with the rubber bat would there?" Mrs. Newton looked thoughtful for a moment and answered that there was a ghost, why? "Oh, Hugo has been talking a lot about a ghost, so ahhhh, maybe you should watch him, if and when, he plays with the ghost." She laughed with me and said that she would!

A Roll Over

As Marlo, Sabine and I practiced tummy time this afternoon, Hugo snapped some pics with my phone. This was not planned. I was not aware at the time, or had any idea, that my darling boy was photographing our tummy session until Miss Marlo rolled over! What a treat to find that he had for the most part, captured this fun baby moment. Not to mention the fact that I'm actually in the shot! Woo Hoo for Hugo!

In the above photo, Sabine had gotten tired and began to cry so I had just picked her up, Marlo is on the floor to the right.

Hugo took this shot just after she flipped. Here I am smiling and laughing as I gazed in happy disbelief at a surprised Marlo. She had no idea what had just happened, or that she herself had made the flip occur. I think the flip was caused by the inertia and weight of her bobbing head, but we're keeping this exciting milestone. Marlo has rolled over!

She got a big smooch of congratulations from me, her Momma.
At this point I knew Hugo had my phone and was snapping shots.

Still Hugo snapping away with my phone. This is Sabine Luvenia. Hugo loves to call the girls by their full names. Sometimes he begins to say their full name and pauses because he has forgotten, he'll ask me to whisper it to him. Sabine Luvenia, Marlo Amalia. "Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. I've got it." he'll say.

The End.