The Quirky Things :)

A BIG reason why I spend so much time writing out our family stories in this blog is so that I will remember them. I like the idea that one day I will go back and read about that crazy first road trip with my children and get a good laugh! (If you haven’t read that story, you totally should by clicking here.) I also want to remember all the sweet stages of twin life, and just life in general. I so wish I had done with years ago so that I could go back and read about all of Noah’s cute, little stages.

I have not decided whether or not I am going to blog each month of Twin Life: Year 2, but I am learning towards not doing it. Instead, I think I will just blog about the fun family things that we do, trips we take, Fall in general because it is awesome and I love it, etc. I also want to remember the quirky little things, so I am going to take a moment to jot a few things down…

First, bath time is so fun right now. We let Noah join the babies in our big bath tub about once a week and that is always so fun because the twins think Noah hung the moon. They get so excited to have him in there playing with them. He is six years older than them and I know there will come a time when he is no longer interested in shared bath fun with them. It’s rapidly approaching. So, for now, he can enjoy an occasional bubble bath with the babies! The twins are so different in how they act at bath time, which is why I think it’s so comical and worth categorizing as a “quirky little thing.” If you follow our family on instagram {@hchristianson,} you know that Eli has recently started lying down in the water so that it almost covers his face. Emry Jane used to like doing that, but gave it up quickly because if Eli splashed, or moved the water at all, and it got in her eyes or mouth, she was not happy. Eli does not care if the water splashes his eyes and I think he likes when he gets a mouthful of water with his new bath technique. The bath water can be up to his temples and right up to his little face and he is SO happy about it, just lying there in the water! Emry Jane is always the first one out of the bath. Always. She decides she is done WAY before Eli is ready to get out. I dry her off then she walks all around our bedroom with her purple penguin towel on her head. That’s her routine. That’s what she loves at the moment. That’s one of the things I want to remember about this sweet time– Emry Jane the Purple Penguin running around our bedroom with her towel on her head each night. Eli tries to avoid getting out of the tub. Every. Night. I say, “Eli, are you ready to get OUT?” and he immediately flops down on his belly like that will prevent me from pulling him out of the tub. It’s a game we love to play. Every night. Multiple times, I will ask him if he’s ready and he will flop onto his belly. It’s hysterical. After several minutes, he will decide he is ready to come out and I will dry him with his blue penguin towel… He won’t wear it on his head though!

The love of their blankies is another thing that I hope they hold on to for awhile and that I do not forget. Those little Linus’ {you know, the Peanuts character that always had his blanket} carry their blankets all over the house. First thing in the morning and after each nap, they pull their blankets out of the crib. Just their special silky ones. They also each have a blanket in their crib that was their Daddy’s special blankets. Their silky blankies stay close by them for the rest of the day. They come downstairs when we come downstairs. Upstairs when we are upstairs. I think I mentioned this in the 13 month blog, but we have purchased identical blankets (except Emry Jane has a pink one instead of two white ones because the company no longer carries the white blanket) so that they would have the same blanket for “school.” Now, we just have double the blankies all over our house. 4 blankets downstairs or 4 blankets upstairs is the norm right now. Carrying two babies upstairs, for whatever reason, is a challenge. Add two blankets, two pacifiers and, sometimes two bottles, and it can get REALLY tricky. Also, they are now throwing their play food from their kitchen in the upstairs hallway down onto the stairs so I have to dodge the play food land mines while climbing up the stairs will ALL this in my arms! It is a wonder that I have not fallen up or down the stairs yet. Oh, and just in time for school, Eli and Emry Jane like to lift up their shirts…or your shirt… to find their/your belly button. Haha.

I cannot think of a new “quirky thing” that Noah does at the moment. Well, he will not quit calling kids “Dude,” which drives me absolutely nuts, but I am not sure I would consider that quirky. I am not sure where he picked up the phrase, but he uses it all the time. He is finishing up his first week of school today and he tells me every morning and afternoon about how he loves second grade and how he wishes that it would last all day. As a former teacher, you know that I LOVE hearing that 🙂 Baseball practice started Wednesday and the new league has lots of new rules (like kid pitch, base stealing and the catcher has a much bigger, more important role) so Tommy and Noah have been spending a lot of time outside working on baseball skills. They quickly learned that Noah can no longer practice baseball in our front yard because within two swings he almost hit the neighbor-across-the-street’s car and another neighbors’ house window…AHHH! Now, he is “crushing the ball,” as Tommy likes to call it, from our little side yard. I hope that our next house has a large backyard for Noah and the twins to play in. I desperately want a swing set and more running/playing space for them and Manning. Hopefully, in just a few short years, we can make that happen!