Slippity Slide Edition:

*For two of my all time favorite photos go here….I would love to know which you like best!

I got nothing for you today. I’ve been busy trying to keep up with The Crazies, housework, and a recent photo session. I usually photograph children, which I LOVE, so this session was a little different for me. My sister and I had our first session together photographing Danielle and Johnny. They recently got engaged (CONGRATULATIONS) and wanted some photos done for their announcements. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how so many of the photos turned out. They were so fun and easy to photograph that it made my first “Adult Only” session easy as pie!!!

You can check out some of my favorites here. Let me know what you think of my first engagement/adult session.

And because I’ve neglected taking pictures of my Crazies this week here are a few from last weeks fun.

When the babies were first born we were house bound. They were born in RSV season and since they were preemies that had NICU time our Doctor told us it would be best to limit outside exposure. The minute that we got the go ahead to leave I would take them out just to get some adult contact. Although browsing Tar*get probably doesn’t count as adult contact, but whatever. I was lonely, tired, stressed, overwhelmed, and going crazy staying at home every single day.

March 2007

When they got a little older I would leave twice a day. The reasons were two fold. If we stayed at home all day I would go crazy. If we stayed home all day the babies would go crazy. There just wasn’t enough to keep them occupied and interested ALL DAY LONG, so we would take walks, go to the park daily, go to Tar*get, Wally World, Cost*co, browse other stores, the Mall, you name it we did it. Honestly it wasn’t much fun loading/unloading all of us numerous times a day, but better than having crazy, crying babies stuck at home all day. Our summer are brutally hot so trying to find things to do was NOT fun. I spent way too much money shopping for needless things just to get us out of the house.

August 2007

These days we have found a better balance for staying at home and leaving. It certainly helps that they are now capable of doing their own thing for short time periods. Lately they are playing with their old toys in new ways. Instead of just hitting the singing dog and then moving on to the next toy they are hitting the singing dog and singing along with him. They are building things with blocks instead of just throwing them around. They are coloring with crayons rather than eating them. Play doh is a HUGE hit around here as are blowing bubbles.

March 2009

I am looking forward to this spring and (pre)summer. I’m confident the sandbox, trampoline, and slide will get much use. Instead of trucking to the park every single day we can relax at home and play in the sprinklers, watch movies, blow bubbles, and do artsy fartsy stuff. The babies are FINALLY playing with one another instead of CONSTANTLY fighting all day. It is so fun to see them interact and play.

So I’ve been a member of the gym for one month (I actually started working out on 2/6/09, but officially joined the gym 1/26/09) . Here are my first month statistics (hopefully by posting these here I will be held accountable for seeing/not seeing results):

Starting Weight:117
Body Fat: 21%

I’ve been trying to go three to four times a week. I take one mat pilates class, one spin, and do two days of cardio/strength training. I LOVE pilates, I struggle through spin huffing and puffing the entire time, I like the weight machines and strength training and I HATE cardio. I try for 40 minutes 3x a week, but OMG I HATE it. I am hopeful once it gets a bit easier I won’t hate it as much.

Ending weight:118 (oops)
Guess I should add - Mini Chocolate Bars ate: Approx 100

Next move - Chocolate Anonymous

This months goals:
Four days a week at the gym.
One Spin, one pilates, and two days cardio/strength

At Home Workout
1-2 days of cardio on my elliptical at home
Ab Work

Wish me luck!!

*Is it just me or does “You look great for having twins” just not sound like a compliment. Why can’t it be just be “You look great!”

Bubbles! Edition:

Last fall when I brought out the bubbles the babies didn’t quite “get” that you were supposed to blow to make bubbles. This spring there will be no stopping them. I am going to need to stockpile bubbles with as many as they blow combined with the many bottles they’ve spilled.

Today (Monday) was one of those days. You know, those days. The days where just about nothing works out and you are doomed from the get go.

It all started with Heaten waking an hour early and crying in bed which just about never happens. You wouldn’t think an hour would make much difference, but OH MY HEAVENS, it does! He was tired and grumpy and I was just tired. All morning he proceeded to cry, fuss, have tantrums, and in general make me want to run away. He is cutting his last three teeth right now (minus 2 year molars) so I gave him a dose of Tylenol hoping it would help. About 20 minutes later I got my first smile of the day so I’m assuming his teeth are the culprit of early wakeup and crazy crying.

It was all going to be ok though because I had my entire morning planned out and I was getting a break from Crazy Town!! Last night I laid in bed night dreaming over how wonderful this morning was going to be. Our babysitter ‘A’ isn’t going to be able to babysit anymore (boooo) and today was her last day. I was going out with a bang!!! I had my three free hours filled to the brim. First, I was going to the gym for pilates and cardio, then to the shoe store to get new trainers, and as a grand finale head to Applebees for a yummy Oriental Chicken Salad. I was going to rush home with minutes to spare, feed the kids lunch and throw them in bed for their naps in hopes to get some editing done from my photo session yesterday.

Here is where it all falls to pieces. My head is hurting, Heaten is crying, Shenzie is spazzing and the phone rings. Not too many people call at 8am so I knew it probably wasn’t good. And I was right. ‘A’ was sick and couldn’t make it. You could hear my scream of NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO a mile away. All of my wonderful plans flushed down the drain. Wahhhhhhh.

And then it falls apart even more. I get all crazy, impatient, loud, and mean. The babies do not like this version of Mama so they, in turn, get even crazier. Not good. And of course we still have to go through the daily fight of getting dressed, shoes on and out the door. This can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour depending on how much they fight, scream, run away, and how fed up I get. Enter bribery. Lolli’s to be exact. You’d be amazing how quickly they come around when bribed with candy.

To get out of the house and save my sanity I decided to go to the shoe store. I was hoping they would at least be patient enough for me to find one pair of shoes. It was a risk, but at this point I figured how worse could the day get? Oh silly Mama, you should know not to ask that question.

Let me just set the stage for you. There is me, the big double stroller, twins, narrow aisles in the shoe store and limited room to maneuver. We’re just browsing the shoes quietly minding our own business. I look back at a pair of shoes while turning the corner and hear EXCUSE YOU! I quickly turn around and see a lady in front of me. I tell her I am sorry and giver her a smile. She just glares at me - I mean, really glaring at me with an evil glint in her eye. Really? You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m already in a bad mood and now I have to deal with glaring lady. She just stands there glaring at me. Ummmm. Last time I checked I said I was sorry and it wasn’t like I ran her over or anything. I make a GIANT sweeping gesture with my arm to show her she has PLENTY of room to get by us. She sputters and practically yells - YOU ALMOST RAN ME OVER WITH YOUR STROLLER. I could have been nice and apologized again, but instead I just look at her while waving my arm for her to get the hell out of my way. As she scurries away I hear her comment about how rude I am and what a great example I am showing my kids. And then to show her what a great example I am to my kids I call her a F’ing B*tch really loudly and continue on my merry way.

Happy Bloggy Anniversary to me! Today marks year three of Barr Babies. I am SO happy I started this blog. I don’t have the best memory (more like the WORST memory) so this blog really helps preserve all of the precious memories of the babies growing up. I love reading old posts and looking at old photos of the little Clammies. Hopefully one day they’ll love reading their “books” as much as I do.

I started this blog on March 3, 2006 the day we found out we were finally pregnant. This date was and still is the happiest day of my life. There were no words to describe how it felt to know I was finally going to be a Mama. When the nurse called with my first beta number I cried. I can’t even explain how it feels to think you might never be able to have children. To think you might never carry a baby in your belly. To want something so very, very badly and have it be out of reach, and then suddenly the thing you want most in the world is yours. Truly, there are no words.

27 weeks and still growing!

About three weeks later we found out we were having twins (and of course I cried again). As hard as my pregnancy was (bedrest, preeclampsia, gestation diabetes, HUGE ASS BELLY), I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am so very thankful we have not one but two healthy, wonderful, sweet, precious babies that sometimes I want to cry.

We are very blessed and lucky.

The Crazies have *finally* started talking more. This is a GREAT thing, except when I can’t understand what they are saying and then OH MY, the tantrums violently erupt from their little bodies. Shenzie knows all of her colors so when she asks for something it is usually color specific. The purple bunnies - she wants Annies Organic Fruit Bunnies (the boxes are purple or green hence purple bunnies). Pink could go many ways. Pink cup, pink bows, pink thread spools, pink bunny, pink baby bear. I just start guessing until I figure out what pink she wants. Yellow is usually a lollipop. I find it pretty funny that I understand ‘Shenzie and Heaten Talk’ because anybody else would be like ‘what in the world are they saying’?!?

Here are a few of my Heaten Favorites:

Ne-nee = Shenzie
Binni = Bindi the Jungle Girl
Nino = Dinosaur
Nate-nu = Thank You
Doo = Dude

Sit = Shit
nummy = Dummy
asha = Ass Hat

Ooops. Notice a theme? I suppose I should stop yelling at other drivers in front of the babies.

It is never ending fun watching them try to get their point across. They will point to their ears if they are saying something is loud. They will sign cold when they want their jackets on. Mostly they will drop to the ground flailing, screaming and crying because I don’t get what they are saying on the first try. Makes it very interesting when we’re out and about and my kids start having seizure like symptoms.

Their talk is like short hand or something. When they tug at their clothes and say running I know they want to get undressed and run around in their diapers. They still combine signing (thank goodness) because sometimes it really helps Mama figure out what in the world they want. Cookie, cheese, milk are all common words they still sign and say. Heaten will mostly point to what he wants and grunt Uh. Yes = Uh.

I’m finding the more they talk the more enjoyable our days are. They love it when I get what they are saying. I can’t wait for the days of actual conversations!!!!