Twin Talk

6 Months Old

My sweet babies are already half a year old. I can't believe it. In just 6 months, these babies have become such a special part of our lives. It is hard to remember what life was like before them. We find it easy to compare the two (and their older brother) when they are so close in age, but there are also things that are very different about them at six months.

ZADIE

At six months, our darling baby girl Zadie Anne:
-weighs about half a ton and is really long (actually, probably closer to 20 lbs, but I'll get back to you on that after our doctor visit next week)
-loves to laugh. She giggles at her brothers, at toys, and strangers with her contagious smile.
-eats rice cereal aggressively. She usually ends up with half of it on her face, but thouroughly enjoys the process.
-can't stand being left out of the action. She'll go from happiest girl in the world to devastated if she feels left behind.
-falls asleep every night by rubbing her face with her hands and her special blanket.
-loves to sleep late in the morning- an hour later than the rest of the family!
-hates the pacifier.
-will roll to her side when highly motivated, but prefers to lay around on the floor and let the action come to her.
-always steals the "crunchy" books from Ezra
-does stomach crunches and lifts her head up to see what's going on while on her back. Abs of steel (covered by a fluffy layer of chub)
-loves to suck her big toe!

EZRA

At six months, our adorable Ezra Allan:
-is incredibly cheerful and smiley by 6:30am every day!
-likes to "talk" and make gurgully baby sounds like "nnn naa" and "gaa" and "daa"
-rolls and scoots all over the floor to find toys.
-appears to be entirely sinewy muscle and brut strength
-adores Zeke and prefers playing with big brother's cars and trains to other baby toys.
-uses his muscular legs to stand up in the exersaucer, jumperoo, johnny jump-up, and with daddy's help.
-digs the rice cereal, and is excited to move on to more exciting foods soon
-puts everything he finds directly into his mouth
-loves family walks- especially being strapped to Daddy's chest in the Ergo carrier.
-weighs less than his sister, but is still getting pretty heavy! (again will update later)
-has a nice head of darkish hair beginning to make a comeback after disappearing for a few months.


And in case you're wondering... BOTH babies:
- are still breastfeeding- and thriving! We supplement with about 4 oz of formula each per day, and are beginning to introduce some solid foods.
- started wearing cloth diapers last week. So far so good!
-love sleeping close to mom and dad. We keep a crib next to the bed and throughout the night, there is often one baby in the crib and one nursing/sleeping with us in bed. This arrangement works really well for our family, allowing mom and dad to get 8 full hours of sleep each night.

Having twins has been surprisingly easier than we anticipated. While there are definitely moments of insanity around the house, for for the most part, the babies are incredibly happy, easy-going, and patient. We are so blessed.

Watching TV in the Backyard

Happy Mother's Day!

Karine is a great mom. The kids are so lucky to have her loving them every day. She's an inspiration. She deserves like a million pancakes in bed. Every day.

Constructing a Square Foot Garden

Even though our solid food-eating child eats only chicken nuggets, sausage, and pancakes, we thought it would be beneficial for him to realize that green foods do exist and, also, that these wonderful, although, from his perspective, suspicious, foods pop up right out of the ground.

So we decided to built ourselves a Square Foot Garden. There is a guy we like to call Miracle Mel. He is the guru of Square Foot Gardening. His real name is Mel Bartholomew. We bought his book. You can enjoy learning about earlier attempts at gardening in Honduras, here.

Getting corners square is not as easy as you might think. I used C-clamps and something that is already square (the sand box under the play tower) to set up my box. I attached the cedar 1 x 6s (4 foot long) at the corner with two 3-inch deck screws. One inch is not a lot of wood for a screw to bite, so make sure your screws are going in straight. Also helps if you have a sweet drill.

I reinforced my bottom with another cedar plank. This helped me stay square. It also gives my box more support. I put more deck screws in the corner and down one side.

I did my two corners, added the support plank, then connected the two halves with more deck screws. When I was done I had something that was pretty square.

I drilled holes in my reinforcing planks after I had everything squared up. This is to let water pass through. (You probably knew that.)

I put the boxes in the ground and buried the bottom planks. Zeke was a huge help here. He kept asking me what I was doing. So I had to tell him. That way I couldn't forget.

I put some anti-weed paper in the bottom of each garden. I then covered the bottom inch-and-a-half or so with about 150 pounds of fine sand. Zeke helped level the sand with a back hoe.

Then it was time for me to get my hands dirty. I spread out a tarp and mixed up a batch of Mel's Miracle Mix: peat, compost, and vermiculite. Zeke was a huge help here too.

That's it. Now I'm just waiting for Karine to plant something so I can eat it.

New Links Spotlight

Here are some blogs we've been reading lately:

Rori and Jon (and kids!)
Our niece's and nephews' adventures on the Mississippi.

Lindsey's Blog
Family friends. New parents.

Molly's Blog
College friend. New blog.

Jacy's Blog
Funny family tales in SoDak.

Tippy's Blog
Met them in Honduras. Love what they're doing in Kansas.

Chance's Blog
Karine's Underwood High School friend. Teaching in Korea.

Springtime Flowers

We live in the Ozarks! Sometimes we forget this. One of the things we're blessed with down are beautiful springtime flowers. I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago. We didn't plant these flowers. They came with the house!

Trouble?

Zeke informed his mother this week that he would prefer his boogers left inside his nose. He did that by bursting into tears. When the screaming subsided, she wiped the tears away. He told her to put the tears "back on".