3 months have gone by...wait, what?!!

Scott's birthday celebration

April has finally come and the weather has indeed broken.  I raked out the gardens the other day to find that many of the plants that I brought with me from the old farm were going to make it!  There are little signs of life on the Peonies, Sedum, Lambs Ear, Flowering Quince, Irises etc.  And I am so excited!!  There are also signs of life from the bees!  One out of the two hives that I have survived the move and the winter.  I am sad that one did not make it, but this is better than last year when both of my hives died.  I am pretty excited to have some more honey so soon and I am even more excited to move forward with an established hive this year.  Fingers crossed I can get at it with two babes to tend to as well.

Meeting the Girls

We have taken to strolling in the early evening with the babes and Stella through the paths of the farm.  This is the first time that I have really been able to see the property as I was too pregnant before, then bed rest, then new babes in winter.  Our splurge on the stroller was a good one as we are able to trek all over the place.  We are truly lucky to live where we do and we say so constantly as we look out over the beautiful landscape that is our backyard.  I am so eager to watch as our youngest members of the family begin their own exploration of the land.

Speaking of the youngest members-they turned 3 months on Easter Sunday.  I really can't believe it is going this quickly-have I really not slept a whole night for that long?!

Stella climbing

We have reached our destination

River Chatting to the little pig

They are growing and changing so fast.  River found his stronger voice recently, has started batting away at his toys and talking up a storm to them, us the dogs-whatever he can look at and tell stories to.  He is adorable and healthy as can be.  His hernia is gone and he now has a sweet lil' belly button and his heart murmur is sure to disappear as he grows as well.  We are so happy he is a healthy little peanut now.  He also is just about to roll over and he is starting to laugh!!  They are both so strong.

Wren is such a character and is sure to give me a run for my money always.  She has this sweet little voice and she does a cute game where she looks at you sideways and mutters something sweet and then smiles sooooo big!  She still loves her dad to pieces and is warming up to the fact that I don't just give her milk, but am pretty cool too.  She found her toes, is such a wiggler that she is almost rolling over from back to front and front to back.  Also, when you put her down on her belly and she can get a good grip with her feet she will propel herself forward, of course her poor face is on the ground as she does it, but she is quite pleased with herself.  She is working on laughing too.  

Sadly, we are pretty sure that she has also started the really early phases of teething.  Her cheeks and chin get bright red, she is drooling like mad and wants something in her mouth at all times-usually that is my finger.  She's started to get quite fussy at times about it.  I can't believe it-it is too early to go through all that.

Sweet Wren 

I feel like in the last two weeks we have begun to crawl out of the insaneness of infancy and we are able to breathe a little bit now.  They are still pretty relaxed babes and are enjoying getting out and about in the stroller and like to hang out with us outside and in the kitchen.  They are big enough to sit in their seats now and are actually enjoying them.  Wren likes the swing (it is broken so doesn't swing, but she doesn't care!) she sits in there and chats away to the cow and the chick.  River likes the bouncy seat and he just recently started to be able to make it bounce.  He talks away to the pig.  I can actually get some things done now even when they are awake.

Just this afternoon I was making lunch for Scott, putting the dishes away, boiling up some eggs and listening to music while they happily played away.  I thought to myself, wow!  How far we've come, I would never have been able to do this even a month ago!!

I have remembered to keep telling myself not to project too far forward-you know, the whole "the grass is greener..."thing-and I have tried to savor each stage/phase/moment, even when it is hard.  I am excited to see what these sweet beings become, but also am so very aware that these are my last babes.  Even now as they don't nurse off to dream land, I long for the special cuddling moments that we used to have.  River has been sick with a hugely stuffy nose and so he has been so snuggly and needing to sleep on my chest as I am sitting up sometimes and this just melts my heart because I don't get as many of these moments anymore.

River talking away to Gramma

I will say that as they have gotten bigger and their personalities have come through more, it is getting harder to keep them on the same schedule.  River loves to sleep and Wren doesn't so much and so I find it hard to think of waking up River, who is establishing healthy sleeping habits, because Wren has decided that a half an hour is a good enough time to sleep.  So, I do the best I can with keeping them pretty similar and I just keep remembering how short a time this all really is in the scheme of things and that one day soon all of this will be something I reminisce about.  I remind myself that I am really lucky that they go off to sleep at night pretty well and they don't get up to play at all when it is dark out.  Granted I usually get only 3 hour stretches out of them most nights, but that's better then nothing so I'll take it.
I keep second guessing myself and checking in with different books and twin "experts" to see what "the right things to be doing are."  I know that I have the instincts to do the right thing, but just need to remember that in the moments when it is hard and I question what I am doing.  I am not one to let them "cry it out" and I like to have them sleeping soundly next to me, I am in love with being able to tote them around in different slings and I truly appreciate that I am able to be home with them until the next school year because I can't imagine having them be away from me in the care of strangers.  Everyone I meet with twins and anything that I read says that the first year is the hardest, and it is hard, but it is also really beautiful.  When I just have one with me for some reason, it feels funny and wrong.  I feel so lucky that I get to have two more beautiful children and I feel pretty special that they picked me to come to!!

Wren finding her toes