Screamfest '07

How long can they possibly scream you ask? Well last night it was 2+ hours, tonight it was only 1. This week Lily & Reese have decided to not go down to sleep as well as they have for the past 8 months. Oh no. Now it is a negotiation with Reese, who in-turn, recruits Lily in her screamfest. In some ways, we have created some monsters. First, we let them stay up way too late in the beginning. Everyone elses kids were going down at 7 or 8 pm, ours were up until Midnight until about 1 1/2 months ago. Second, we started letting them drink bottles in order to go to sleep, drink thier bottles in thier cribs. BAD IDEA. This has made going to bed without a bottle a nightmare. I have to say, lots of moms have given me advice on putting kiddies to bed. Its a whole other ballgame with two. The same rules don't apply. There is no "crying it out". If #1 wakes up and is screaming, #2 is waking up which is a huge SUCKS. There are no good advice books out there for putting two to bed. NONE except other moms of twins. And even they don't have any good tricks. You can't take one to bed with you and leave the other in the crib. Then you are just giving one special treatment. You can't leave one screaming either. So for now we have the 15 minute rule and bottles with only water to bed. Oh and ps, now that Reese can pull herself up she works herself into such a fit that you find her standing in her crib screaming. Safe right? I think the reason she is so motivated to crawl, sit, and stand is because she gets so pissed off that we leave her in her crib to go to bed. She screams and bulldozes herself around the bed. She also cracked her egg (ie head) yesterday on the TV stand which is a totally cheap IKEA thing, so no major harm done. I should of known she would be the first to crack her noggin'.

Lets hope they sleep until at least 4am. I went to work on about 4 hours sleep today thanks to Lily waking up at 3am and not going back to bed until 415am. I get up for work at 515am. Luckily I can function quite well on little sleep nowadays. I am totally adjusted after 8 months of craziness. Conditioned.

I had a flashback of my two little burritos when Hilary sent me some baby pics from a friend of hers that just had twins yesterday. All swaddled up with the little hats. Now I have two climbers, rollers, and screamers that want to be free al night long and eat stereo wires.

Sleepless Nights

Reese.Lily and her cookie. Don't worry they are dairy, soy, and wheat free.
Yes, she actually sleeps like this...Lily.
Sleeping in Princeton.
Reese sitting up trying to grab me.

So Friday night I drove down to DC for a conference Saturday sponsored by The Cancer Project (it was part of one of my classes). Anyway it was the first time I have been away from the babies overnight. I was planning on going to bed by 10 and waking up at 7 and then enjoying pancakes and coffee. Well I couldn't fall asleep until 1130 and then proceeded to wake up at 230am, 430am, and 615am. I had to get up at 7 anyway so I just got up and watched TV. I didn't stop thinking about the little buggers all night, well actually since I got in the car to drive down to DC. Don't think I will be doing that again anytime soon.

So Lily and I went to a baby shower today and she had such a good time with the other babies once again. Reese got to spend the day at New Labor with her dad which was fun for her. I think she helped someone write a resume or something like that. They are getting so busy with their creeping and now pulling up a little. They also continue to steal toys from each other which is so funny to watch because what usually happens is that Lily will steal something and then just as Reese is about to grab it Lily will roll over so Reese can't reach it. Ha.

Five New Things About Lily & Reese

1. Reese can go from creeping (not crawling yet thank god) to sitting up.

2. No matter where you put the two of them on the floor (i.e. opposite ends of the room), in a matter of seconds, they will find each other and one will end up getting kicked in the face or head.

3. If you leave the phone, or even a barrett on the floor, they will find it and eat it.

4. Reese weighs exactly one pound more than Lily (Reese = 16 pounds 2 ounces, Lily = 15 pounds 2 ounces).

5. They officially proved they were Cunninghams when they housed a bowlful of pumpkin tonight with a little nutmeg and pears.

High Chairs and Brunch

Lily at Long Branch, NJ.
Reese!
Holy Cow I love this chair.
Happiness.
This is actually how Lily likes to sit in the high chair. It's kinda funny because I like to drive this way, with one leg up, usually not out the window though. At least since I was 17 years old.

BBQ's and New Cars

I thought I would add some more recent pictures of Lily and Reese at thier first Jersey City BBQ. Although they were the only babies, they still had a great time watching

three (yes three) dogs that all could not lick them enough. In other news, the ladies are riding in style in thier new Hyundai Santa Fe. It has made the car seats and also double stoller much more comfortable compared to the Honda Civic. Oh and also they can enjoy the free XM radio for 3 more months, which so far we like. Ha.

Today we ventured down to Long Branch for brunch. It was thier first brunch out (we even tried them in highchairs!). They were so good. Not one tear or scream. They were too intrigued by all of the other people and kids and also my breakfast which ment handfuls of salsa for Reese. Its so funny how much they stare at other people in order to get them to look thier way. Its a good thing babies get away with staring or we would be in big trouble.

Lily eating sand sandwiches.
Sand sand sand in Point Pleasant.
Lovin' the boardwalk.
Swim class #2 with dad, Reese making the fat kid face. Ha!

The babies have had a busy 4th of July weekend for sure. Not only did they love thier second swim class (learning to float on thier backs), but have attended not one but two bbq's and totally loved them both. At Peter and Ali's they even got to play in a sandbox and go in the baby pool with the big, well other one-and-a-half year olds.

As Promised!

Carrots!
Reese in her cuteypie bathing suit.
Lily in her retro 70's suit.
After swim class.

I love the swing.

Raspberries

That is all Lily wants to do today, blow raspberries and smile at people.