6 Months

Bedtime Stories

That's right. They're officially 6 months old! Which means they're more like 4 month-olds, being 2 months premature. They're not the size of 4 month-olds, mind you - they're already busting out of all those cute fall clothes I bought in 3-6 month size (aargh!). Unlike Seville, they are little chunk-a-lunks, growing like weeds. But developmentally, they're more like 4 month-olds, which means they're starting to play with toys, chew on stuff, Oswell can roll over, and they're starting to get picky about where and when they sleep. Which means I'm officially on house-arrest until they drop a nap or two or seven. I'll catch you guys on the flip side - wish me luck as I descend into the depths of isolation and reclusiveness. If I start to act weird it's because I've forgotten how to socially interact with adult human beings, so I hope you'll cut me a little slack and still be my friend.

Sleeping Arrangements

Anyway, you'd think we'd take more pictures, given how cute multiple babies are, but cameras inconveniently require hands to operate (stupid camera-makers), and so there's actually not a lot of photography going on around here. Here are a few recent-ish pictures though.

Boys n' Grandma

And by the way, as long as we're talking about hands, or the lack thereof, I am in bewilderment over ANY piece of baby equipment that requires two hands to operate! Seriously Graco???!!  What are they thinking? I have a number of things (car seats, swings, baby carriers) that have these weird snap/lock/release/lever/clasp thingies that require BOTH HANDS!! Honestly, I just want to slap those designers, if not do something more severe that I shouldn't print here lest it be interpreted as a "threat." Especially since some of them seem to be designed as "safety" measures (so... you think that it's safer to dangle the baby precariously  by a combination of my teeth and my left knee while balancing on one foot in order to free up both hands to undo your clasp instead of just having single-handed operation? yeah, that's just brilliant.) Anyway, if any of you work for a baby-gear company, would you please hand them a real, crying baby and say, "here, now try." Cuz apparently the empty warehouses in Bangladesh which are full of nothing but able-bodied adults do not convey the ridiculousness of what they are asking parents to accomplish with their fancy 5-star rated piece of equipment that's purportedly making parents' lives easier (as if!).

First Day of (Pre) School

Jared's New Look

As for Seville, she started pre-school a couple of weeks ago. I was really nervous about her letting me leave her somewhere without me. After all, I can't even leave her at church nursery without her getting all clingy and momma's girl on me, and she knows those people. But as with most things, I was more nervous about it than she was. We spent lots of time preparing her in advance and talking about what was going to happen, even going so far as to role-play her first day of school, complete with me peacefully leaving with a kiss and then coming back to get her at the end. Much to my surprise and delight, our plan worked! I took her to her classroom, explored it a bit with her, and then got up the guts to say I had to leave and could I have a kiss goodbye. She kissed me and that was that! Then I paced the floors at my house for 2 hours. Amazingly, her teacher did not call me frantic to come get her, she did not cry for me for 2 hours, she did not get hit by a bus or fall and break anything. When I went to pick her up she was happy and told me about her day. Go figure. (and by the way, I know you're wondering how on earth I am planning to get Seville to preschool and back twice a week. SO WAS I! My saint of a neighbor, whose twin boys are Seville's age and in her class, and with whom I had arranged to carpool, said that her stomach turned thinking about me loading all our kids and taking them to school, even for my "share," and she'll just do the driving. Hallelujah! Did I mention she's a saint? yeah.)