We managed to find time this weekend to finally get the curtain hardware and curtain panels hung in the master bedroom, guest room, and living room. The weekend was dreary, and it was a perfect time to work indoors.

I was rewarded for my hard work this past weekend by bright sunshine peering in through filtered white lace this morning. The house looks so much less "naked" now, and I quickly took a picture of the guest room (not yet finished) so you could enjoy the airy room with me.



My husband isn't a fan of shabby chic, so the guest room is sort of my "play room". Not that he is a fan of deer heads either!!! He happens to prefer more traditional decor, and leans toward formal- even Victorian. I tend to like both, so having the guest room for my romantic tendencies and the rest of the house more Victorian suits me just fine. And he is particularly patient with my love of mounds and mounds of frilly feminine pillows which can be found in every room of our home! Neither of us can even fit on the sofa without moving a few ruffled necessary fancies aside. Heh. I love the idea of a sinking into a pile of lush downey pillows when tired, or settling down with a nice book for a pleasant afternoon respite with tea in hand, but, they are seldom functional and often when I do try to settle into the pillows in my current fat preggy state, I end of toppling to one side and asking my husband to help reposition ME.

The twinkies and I had a pleasant squealing match this morning. They both speak "babble squeal" now. The one comment I consistently get about them (after "Are they twins?" "Are they Identical?" and "Whose older?") is "My, they are LOUD babies". It is true. Neither of the grandmothers will take credit for this either, although they are quite willing to duke it out over where Lucas inherited his cleft chin (my dad), or Matilda's colouring (Duane). To the high pitch constant squealing they both say "None of my babies were ever like THAT!!!" And "I hope they grow out of it!!!".

Well, I *do* take credit, and attribute it to how wildly happy we are, and the fact that they are free to express themselves as much and as voluminously as possible. I only find it even remotely awkward when we are in restaurants and one of them discovers that they would like to announce their happiness to the surrounding patrons. Hmpfh.

Off to feed the twinkies breakfast- its pears, oatmeal, and cinnamon this a.m., then nap time!

My Great Great Grandmother was an artist. She penpaled with Liberace and he helped her publish a few hymns. She wrote poetry and lived an artful life.

Her daughter had 13 children and didn't have much time for poetry and hymns. Her home was decorated sparsely and my only memory of Maggie was that she had an orange lava lamp and she liked to pin curl my hair into tiny ringlets all over my head when I was in grade school. I would sit on her hardwood floor staring at the lava lamp watching the beads of wax float up and down in the light mesmerized by the fluidity of molten wax in water while she would work with bobby pins behind my head to created a 1920's masterpiece. I loved my ringlets and wished I really did look like Shirley Temple as she claimed. She was the sweetest lady and always had perfect hair!

Her daughter is my grandmother, who is the queen of crocheted toilet tissue covers. The artistry of hair that my great grandmother inherited from her mother was lost on my own grandmother who seldom shaves her chin, let alone bothers with a bobby pin. She has the tackiest home ever- surrounded by dancing Elvis dolls, crocheted toilet tissue covers, oil fountains, a fake fireplace that makes crackle sounds, and her multiple furniture throw covers which never coordinate. Her only inspiration in decorating is curtains of which she must have 5 sets per window. She does love a good drapery. My grandmother loves all her things and has a cement goose in her front yard that she excitedly dresses for the season. My mother recently put her little gooses summer frock on. My mother also bought her a light up pink flamingo for her yard last Mothers Day. Perfect!

Its amazing then with this example of decorating that my mother manages to make tacky look wonderful. My mothers home is a mixture of vignettes of all her favorite things. The best one is the wall by her (real) fireplace where she has some vintage Christmas tins hung with her childhood wooden sleigh and my fathers scooter from when he was 3. Anyone that walks in my mothers home inquires about it, and remarks on how lovely such an interesting display made on her wall. In her guest room she has a vintage door plopped up against the wall with a display of old hats and purses. And in her bathroom she has a hodge podge of vintage tins and dried flowers that look like they were snagged straight out of a country magazine. She buys nothing to make these things, its all stuff she finds places, and things other people might have cast away.

So why is it that I can't create small romantic vignettes? I can compose poetry. My twins would say I can write songs (of course they are 9 months old, I can put two syllables together, to them thats impressive!), and I do believe I can decorate. But, I fail miserably when I try to create the same small eye candy centerpieces my mother does, and things I put together either look forced or sparse.

Here is the little area above my china cabinet in our living room. If anyone has any ideas on how to make it more "full" let me know!

This is the first outing the twins had outdoors- and it was a few weeks ago at their aunt Susies. Lucas loves his feet- they are both little "yoga babies" and enjoy sucking on their big toe. Ewwww. I love this picture because they look so happy.



I have ate 16 chocolate dipped strawberries in the last two days! And the days not over yet! My SIL gave me a box of Shari's Berries for my birthday, and their spring catalog started me craving some. Rather than pay 65 dollars for a two day supply, I went to publix and bought some strawberries and dip. Isn't it nice how you can buy the melting chocolate right in a microwavable container now? Certainly efficient for those of us with limited time. I even used the dip at Christmas to make yummy "Oreo Truffles". This weekend I am hoping we can make our annual pilgrimage to the local "you pick" Strawberry farm. I love small farms, and there are a few in our area that have public access. One has blueberries, and this one has Strawberries and figs. I could easily eat an entire gallon for dinner! And what a lovely preview of summer- fresh red strawberries bursting with earthy yumminess!

So, in honor of Hoffman Media, I sat down this afternoon with Victoria magazine in hand, and a plate of chocolate dripped strawberries. What a lovely way to spend the twinkies naptime.

My first post

Card Sachets.

I love doing small romantic crafts. With 8.5 month old twins and another set on the way, I find that I no longer have the opportunity to create the larger crafts I used to adore. But, I still enjoy making things by hand, and this allows me to be able to enjoy crafting on a smaller scale. Also, these are such fun to make in bed while we wind down at the end of a long day.

Crawling Lucas

OK, so much for posting just TODAY that Tilly would crawl first
because shes "rocking" on all fours. Lucas really likes the puffs can,
and the way it rolls and rattles. I was in the floor of the nursery
while they were playing and Lucas was playing with the can. Its
cylinder shaped and kept getting out of his reach. Before I even
realized it, he was military crawling to get it. After he realized
this new mobility, he started doing it more and more, although he is
still a tad slow.

I had assumed she would crawl first because she is on her hands and
knees, but had only read last week from babycenter that many babies
"military crawl" on their elbows and knees instead. Thats how he has
been doing his "rocking"- but I thought he wasn't strong enough to get
on his hands and knees. Everytime I tried to lift him to his hands, he
would go back to his elbows. It never dawned on me thats this was how
he might crawl.

It will be interesting to see if he keeps this up, or graduates to his
hands and knees. When Duane came home we tested him by giving him a
toy he liked four feet from him, and then watched him crawl to it!!!

I am so proud of our boy- its nice to document his "first" being ahead
of Tillys for a change!!!

Vacation! And update on twins!

My sister and I went to the beach last week. Duane joined us over the weekend. The babies had a blast, although we had a difficult time
getting their second nap in daily. They get "over tired" with
excitement and then won't sleep! We went to the pool nearly every day, lounged on the beach, and the one day we were stuck indoors, I blew up their pool floats and put them in the master bathroom garden tub to play!




On one hand I am really happy about Lucas and Matildas development.
They both feed themselves now atleast two meals a day- Lucas will now
hold his bottle for all his feedings, but Tilly wants to fidget and
can't keep her bottle in her mouth really well except at breakfast
when shes half starved for a bottle- not that us feeding her helps
this- she fidgets so bad we have trouble getting her to hold still,
too. She rolls all around on our laps, and tries to eat on her stomach!

They both can also use a sippy- Lucas just needs to be handed him and
he will gulp down three ounces and hold it right the entire time.
Again, Tilly doesn't have much interest in liquids in general, and
other than hold it and sip for a few moments, once the interest wanes,
she throws it. She will drink half an ounce, anyhow.

Both can pick up finger foods in their thumb and index finger- but
neither like them.

Tilly is now up on all fours "rocking" and we figure she will crawl
soon with Lucas close behind. Both are trying to pull up now, too.

Tilly has a big babble vocabulary. SHE NEVER STOPS. She says "mama",
"dada", "baba", "yum" (when she eats, LOL), "yiyiyi" now when she
whines, "nanananana"... ok, it IS babble, but its cute. She is also a
very gifted squealer. Her squeal- and I am not kidding and have
temporary deafness to prove it- is as loud as a gym whistle. Lucas is
sticking with "dada" and "yaya".

Both understand the sign for "eat" so I ask them if thats what they
want when they act irritable. Thats been a big help.

So, heres my issues... one- NO interest in finger foods- not even the
puffs. They gag and act like they will vomit from them. NO interest in
homemade baby foods either, which we really need them to have since 8
jars a day is killing our food budget. How can we get the food as fine
as the jarred? ANY lumps and Lucas flinches, shakes, squints and vomits!!!

Second, its been two months since they started sitting up, and they
still topple over! They have no interest in sitting up unless they
have something to keep their focus for a few minutes. Today Tilly was
looking at her dresses embroidery and sat up unassisted without
support for ten minutes. The minute she lost interest in the dress,
she looks at me and flops to the side. Is that normal? I noticed how
well Kellies son sits up in his pictures and it has me wondering why
these two won't. Not even the tv is enticement to sit up. To be
honest, they both bore VERY easily and fidget constantly- everyone
comments on how "active" they are. I am constantly moving them from
one activity to another and its exhausting. I was trying to ween them
from the swings and after two weeks of lower back pain, got them back
out last night. Swinging AND watching disney for half an hour in the
a.m. and p.m. keeps them more focused than any other activity. Just
watching alone won't do it. After ten minutes they want ME to come
play again, and I can't get anything done and have trouble lifting
them. We bought a "super playard xl" thinking more room would help...
nope! But they do LOVE to swing an hour a day broken up into two
sessions. They will also entertain themselves in their jumperoo and
exersaucer for twenty minutes- thats my limit for that activity, I
read someplace that longer than that at a time is bad on their hips.
So, I do get breaks- but they are few and far between.

Back to bottles- Tilly only drinks a full bottle at breakfast. The
rest of the day she wants two- three ounce "snack bottles". She
probably wants a bottle 5-6 times a day- but just for a quick snack,
where as with her jarred food she is all attention and gobbles every
last drop and then some with full attention. I know when she wants one
as she will start getting frustrated and whiney. Two ounces later she
tosses the bottle and is back to being a cutie.

Also, still three naps a day. When do they cut back? They sleep about
15-16 hours a day. Its just too bad that I never know when they will
marathon nap. It might be an hour at breakfast and two ours at lunch,
or, two hours in the a.m., and an hour at lunch, or both one hour naps
then a 45 minute dinner nap...

mama and dada

Quick update. The thing I worried the most about having twins is that
they would be behind in their speech like some twins in studies. I
have tried so hard to read, sing etc to them... even talking on the
phone while I hold them if I run out of things to say.

Well, in the last two weeks, both of them have started saying "mama"
and "dada". I am so thrilled. They also grab the spoon out of my hand
when I feed them. I don't think they know WHO mama and dada are, but
its good to see they are actually a tad early on speech, instead of
behind!

They are also both rocking now and up on all fours. I think they will
be crawling by the end of month eight.

Lucas and Tilly are 8 months old today!
16.5 weeks with twins!