Congrats, Nikko!!

I feel old. My baby brother Nick, soon-to-be Godfather of my kids, the one who married Billy and me, is graduating from college. Soon enough, he'll get a real job and a real apartment (well, a nicer one, I hope...) and get up before noon on weekdays. Maybe play less beer pong. He's not making any promises.

FavAuntie, Jenn., Yours Truly, Auntie Kim and Amanda dressed for the occassion, back at Nick's HS graduation.

*On a side note, when telling my mother about this T-shirt idea, she asked, "Where are you going to find white T-shirts??" Really, Mom? Are you sure you don't drink when no one is looking?

The graduation is in dowtown Boston at noon, otherwise known as nap time. Awesome. Thankfully, I will have FavAuntie and Auntie Kim to help me wrangle the twins and of course Grammy and Grampa will be there, too. FavAuntie is coming in from San Diego for the big event and will be watching the kiddos while I escape motherhood for a couple days. Still working on the list of "how to get through two days with 5 month olds infants and not commit any major crimes" - as you can imagine, the list is rather long. I'm on page three and going strong. Good luck, FavAuntie. You're in for a treat.

***

In baby news, Collette slept unswaddled for the first time last night. I have talked about ditching the swaddle for so long that when it happened, I thought it would be a much bigger deal. But it happened so randomly. First off, she hardly fits in the uberswaddle sack and actually has chafing on her pinky toes where they rub up against the sack. And I can barely get the velcro part wrapped around her and that's how she broke free, undisturbed, Tuesday morning. So, I figured we should ditch it - it obviously wasn't working and she slept even after she escaped it. I put her to bed in the same sack we use for naps and that was that. No issues, no waking in the middle of the night. One little nugget of success to get me through what has been kind of a rough (half of a) week. I'll take what I can get!

Sebastian - you're next!!

I had a dream...

I dreamt that there was a group of people, like a social action group, that was trying to get the government to ban lactation rooms. I was, of course, against this idea being that I am a lactating person and like the idea of a room dedicated to me and other lactators. Not that I need one since I don't go to an office every day. My whole house is one giant, unapologetic lactation room. But still, I'm pro-lactation rooms, for those working moms.

Anyway, in the dream, one of the anti-lactation room activists said the only reason women breastfeed is so they can have big boobs. I countered with "I breastfeed and I already had big boobs! Now they are too big and I hate it - so there!!" I even had a witness to verify my pre-lactating, pre-pregnancy chest size. Not sure who this person was - you know how dreams are...

So, what do you think? Is this some sort of Freudian dream? Does it mean I want to keep "lactating" or stop? Or is it just a pile of subconscious crap?

Makes My Monday: Week Ahead...

While it was BEAUTIFUL weekend in New England, that isn't making my Monday. However, my upcoming week IS. It has been a trying 5 months (duh, right?? Infant twins, and all) and I am in desperate need of a break. This Friday, I will be leaving Beantown for the Big Easy. One of my nearest and dearest friends is getting married and the hubs and I will be in attendance, SANS twins. This will be my first time away from them for more than a few hours since they have been home. And honestly, I'm really, really, really looking forward to it. The babies have been my pushing my every last button lately and as much as I love them, I think a little time away will make me a better, more patient mom.

Also, this will be my first time in New Orleans and its Jazz Festival - awesome! They have been playing ads for it and apparently Bon Jovi will be there. Not sure what Bon Jovi has to do with jazz but who cares - it's Bon Jovi!! (Ya...I'm a huge Bon Jovi fan. I touched him once. But that's another post for another day)

Here I am with Lena, the bride-to-be. Yes, we were drunk. And at a club. A small part of me misses those single days...a very small part.

Monday, Monday, Monday...what's getting your week off to a good start? Join in at Twinfatuation!

Friday Foto Finish Fiesta: Baby Tails

Auntie Kim has transformed my twins - now I have a little lamb and a puppy.




Why is everything ridiculously cute on a baby?? It's so not fair.





Find some other fun fotos for Friday at Candid Carrie's!

5 Months and counting (with Thursday Theater)

So, we have successfully hit the 5-month mark. Not that 5 months is some huge milestone but its another month down. Babies are still alive and well and I guess that's all that matters. And I'm alive and well. Does that matter??

So, I really thought that by this point, we would have ditched the nighttime feeding but, alas, we have not. Billy and I decided we will give them until after our vacation to correct this on their own or else they get Ferberized. Actually, I'm not sure if Billy know about the whole plan but I'll fill him in. Eventually. Or I guess he could just read it here with the rest of you. What a considerate wife I am.

Anyway, the fact that they haven't dropped the night feeding has led us to think that maybe they are just really hungry. According to the good Dr. Ferber this is probably not the case. Oh well. It was worth a shot. So, we figured we would give them a bit more milk in each of their daytime bottles (4 a day) and add in 1-2 *solid* food meals. And I have to say, so far, so good. As far as favorites go, its a toss up between bananas and sweet potatoes. Avocados were fine, they just don't seem to really love like they sometimes do with the others. Not sure what we will try next...In the meantime, here is a video of our first attempt at baby feeding. This video will of course be burned onto a DVD and stored next to their first bath videos so that we can easily embarrass them in front of their prom dates.

The challenge for this week was to add a soundtrack. I did this but it just sounds like we are listening to music in the background. Not sure yet how to get the music to play INSTEAD of hearing us on camera...

In other 5 month news, Sebastian is rolling and Collette is almost sitting (although I'm sure real sitting is still a long way off) and kinda/sorta standing with assistance. I have already shared a video of my rolling boy but here is Collette, "standing up", during our chair picture photo shoot.

So, some good gross motor stuff going on. In the fine motor department, the babies are definitely getting more grabby. I can no longer wear my hair down near Collette and Sebastian love rattles. He doesn't actually know to rattle them but he likes to hold them and try and get them in his mouth, albeit unsuccessfully. Practice makes perfect, Buddy. We're rootin' for ya.

And now, for posterity, here are their chair pictures. 5 months and counting.

This is also Collette's "First Jeans" Picture. I like to kill two birds with one stone.

I wonder what was going through her mind in this one. "Pose for a pretty picture" was definitely NOT it. Although she still looks cute. Naturally.

Sebastian hamming it up. Atta boy!

To find some other fun videos, head over to Goddess in Progress. I'm sure you will find much better editing than you did here.

Wordful Wednesday: The Mommy Brain

Everyone knows (or at least every mom knows) about the massive loss of brain cells that women experience during pregnancy. This leads to "Mommy Brain" - it's not that we get dumb, not by a long shot, but we become FORGETFUL! Ok, I do - I guess I can't speak for every other mom out there but I know I'm not the only one.

In my opinion, this has been a mixed bag - blessing and curse. It's hard when I feel like I am constantly leaving something upstairs or downstairs or in the car or in the house. This was already an annoying part of my life and now it's a million times worse. I also forget conversations I've had with people even though that used to be one of the things I was good at remembering. It's as if my brain is only letting certain things in and everything else just gets flushed out.

However, it's nice to not always remember everything. I didn't go into labor (and therefore did not deliver my babies the old fashioned way), so I can't say that I forget the pain of childbirth having not gone through it. But a lot of women say that they know it was bad but they can't really remember just how bad it was. I can say that I have easily forgotten how uncomfortable I was during my pregnancy. I guess this helps ensure that we will all keep having babies - most days I'm ready for number 3! (I know, crazy. Lock me up, please)

A couple weeks ago, I had one of those days where things just were not going well and it all culminated in a total twin meltdown. I couldn't calm them both at once so I had to choose. It was the worst feeling, leaving one baby crying like that for so long, for so hard, just because I had another baby to deal with. I was so upset and I was thinking, "I gotta write about this because I feel so awful and it'll be all cathartic, and yadda yadda, blah..." By the time I got to my computer, later that night, babies in bed, I couldn't even remember what I was so upset about. It was as if my brain had purged the memory of the event and the feelings that went along with it.

Thank God. Those aren't exactly the memories I want to hold on to. So, while I usually complain about Mommy Brain, it serves it purposes. Otherwise, there would be a lot of only-children out there...

Check out Seven Clown Circus to see who else is sharing this Wednesday!

Makes My Monday: Bananas, Avocados, Sweet Potatoes, OH MY!

We finally did it! We gave the babies their first taste of *solid* food. Billy and I decided to skip baby cereal and go straight to real food. I ran out to the grocery store and got the baby spoons, very ripe bananas and avocados and one small sweet potato. Billy brought the high chairs up from the cellar and got us all set up at the dining room table.

Our first try at it was Saturday morning and we made some banana puree.

Sebastian looks like he is spitting it out but he actually liked it a lot.

Miss Collette is laughing because she thinks we're crazy for trying to get her to eat this. "Where's my milk?!!" She had a little and then was ready for her bottle.

I have a very cute video of them as well but it's a bit long so I need to edit it. This is a skill that still needs some honing, so I hope to have it ready for Thursday Theater. We'll see...

In the meantime, hop on over to Twinfatuation to check out everyone else's Mondays.

Vacation Practice: Take 1

As all things with the twins require a bit of practice, we did our first trial run of outdoor playtime/feeding time yesterday. It was so nice and warm, I simply couldn't resist. And we leave for the Cayman Islands in just a couple of weeks so we definitely need to practice! I set up the sun dome with boppies and toys for tummy time and their car seats for feeding. They were starving so I fed them first. They had no problem eating outside and were ready to play once their tummies were full.

Collette, rocking the Gilligan look - she refused to wear the elastic band hat. She always has her tongue out, a habit she must have picked up from Lola.

Sebastian didn't mind his elastic band hat. They are so geeky, they're cute! He's spying a toy in front of Collette. And so begins twin toy envy...

Lola had to mark her territory and get in on the photo action. After all, the backyard is her turf!

I was diligent about keeping the babies out of the sun. That was smart because once I got inside, I realized I had quite the sunburn on my arms and shoulders. Never expected that from April in New England...

Hope everyone else is enjoying the weekend. We are going to try solid food today so I'll be sure to post about that tomorrow!!

Friday Foto Finish Fiesta: Sisterly Love

It has come to my attention that my sisters are competing over who gets more "exposure" on my blog. Honestly, I never thought they would care about this silly thing I do, short of the pictures I put up of the twins. But they can see them on Facebook, so why bother coming over here?? Well, now they have a reason to - to see if they got a mention. So, to appease them, here is a shout out to them both.

Stacey is my first little sister. Little in the sense that she is younger than me, by 13 months. She outgrew me when she was about 4 and I have been wearing her hand-me-downs ever since. I remember when she was in Kindergarten, she told me that someone asked her if she was in the 3rd grade. This gave her a big ego and gave me a short-complex. I'm 5'4" which I just recently learned is average height. My family didn't get that memo - I'm the shortest by at least 4 inches. Hence, my collection of 4-inch heels.

Stacey lives out in San Diego now which sucks because that's way too far away. She claims to have moved out there for a great job but we all know its for the year-round tanning season and the rooftop pool. But even from 3000 miles away, she sends the twins oodles of love. And she is always ready to be on twin duty when she comes home. She will be here for my first weekend away from the babies and I know they'll be in good hands.

Kim is my second little sister. Again, just little in the younger sense. She lives nearby and helps out every week with the twins. She also has fun criticizing my homemaking skills and reminding me of all the items my kitchen lacks. I can't wait until she has kids - she will learn how fast housekeeping takes a backseat to a screaming baby(ies!). Well, in all fairness, housekeeping already had a backseat in this house... To keep things fair, I criticize her for not knowing common trivia and key SAT words. We are working on it - 7-8pm is designated for Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Gotta keep the mind sharp. She usually beats me at Wheel but I kick her ass at Jeopardy. Lots of useless knowledge up in here.

So, in honor of these two, here is the only photo I could find of just the 3 of us. Yes, that's me with the day-glow skin, pulling on Kim's top (in my defense, I was drunk) and my lovely sisters, looking like they just got back from 2 weeks in the Caribbean - they hadn't. I'm pretty sure it was winter when this photo was taken...So.Not.Fair.

L to R: Stacey, Kim, Yours Truly

Hop on over to Candid Carrie's to find other bloggers' photo-stories. Always a nice way to start off the weekend.

Theater Thursday: Lola's First Halloween

Goddess in Progress is encouraging us all to break free from still photography and hop on the vlog-train. That's video blogging. Or so I'm told. Here's mine - an old video I dusted off, but a video nonetheless. Complete with furry friend to go along with this week's optional theme.


Halloween is probably my favorite holiday - it might even beat out Christmas. I love making my own costume, trick-or-treating for as many Reese's Peanut Butter Cups as humanly possible (well, not anymore. I'm too old for that...) and doing the Thriller dance. This will be my first year with kids to celebrate and I am already thinking of costume ideas for us. In the meantime, though, I have had to torture my dog, who hates wearing clothes, and make her dress up with me. This video is of her very first Halloween, when she was just 5 months old. Please excuse my costume - this was just the costume I had for giving out candy.



PS: Please click on the Thriller link. Hee.

Wordful Wednesday: FREEDOM!

Seven Clown Circus hosts Wordful Wednesday. Hop on over to check out some other Hump Day stories.

Yesterday empowered me to finally try it: a nap with no swaddle. And it worked. I cannot believe it, but it did. I used these cute sleeper blankets that have sleeves, not that I think it makes a difference, I just don't want their little arms to be cold. After an hour, I went in to peek at Collette and she was still fast asleep. Here is the proof:

What an angel!!

A few minutes later, I checked on Sebastian and he had just woken up. So, they both got a little over and hour long nap with no swaddle. A true success, in my book. I will be going for it again tomorrow since my mom will be around to help out. And then we can do it all weekend with Daddy comes home tomorrow. Hurrah! The week is almost over...so far, so very good!

Today was a good day...

Today has been one of those days where things just go very well, from start to finish, with little to no effort on my part. How rare that is, especially with twin infants!! And so, I feel I must document this day in hopes that maybe writing it all down will make it happen again. Kind of like The Secret that Oprah is always squawking about. Who knows, right? It's worth a shot. :)

First off, today was the first day that I started naps in separate bedrooms for the twins, on the advice of the very wise Mommy, Esq. Yesterday, after the kiddos were in lala-land, I wrangled the pack'n'play up the stairs and into the guest bedroom. It's a tight squeeze but I got it in. As a bonus, the room is nice and dark because of the burgundy shades so its ideal for napping (I say this from personal experience, from my former life when I used to nap). Sebastian got his first taste of life away from Collette (sniff, sniff) and seemed to enjoy the experience. Nap #1 was still a short one, 50 minutes, but nap #2 (drum roll please...): OVER 3 HOURS! And Collette must have liked her privacy because she also had a +3 hour nap. And 2.5 of those were overlapping hours. Hell to the yeah!! I mopped, I watched DVR shows, I ate lunch uninterrupted, I played outside with the dog. It was glorious.

This afternoon, Sebastian had all this good energy from a such a restful nap and showed off with lots of rolling. He did it 4 times in a row! Atta boy!




To make this great day even better, my sister came over to help with the babies. It's always nice to have another adult around. Here she is, showing that even Auntie's of twins can earn their stripes - and how!



Lastly, it was a gorgeous day, so all 5 of us (twins, me, Auntie Kim and Lola pug) took a nice walk downtown, met approximately 17 other dogs, drank cokes, and walked back. I also discovered a new Reese's product - the Crunchy Peanut Butter Cup. Why didn't they think of this sooner?? Hello - crunchy peanut butter has been around for eons and you guys are just getting on this? Anyway, it was delicious and complimented my coke very well, not unlike a fine wine with a good meal. It was the perfect little surprise for an all around awesome day.

Makes My Monday: Easter and some TMI

I'm so lucky because I have TWO things Making My Monday this week. Let's start with yesterday - Easter! We had an impromptu family get-together with a surprise visit from my grandmother, now Great Grammy. All four generations had a great big brunch at my house. It was a nice day but not very Easter-y. With no little kids, there were no died eggs, no baskets filled with candy, no egg hunts. Just grown-ups, chowin' down and infants doing what they do - drinking milk, napping, crying, repeat. So, to make things feel a little more festive, I tortured my twins and got some great Easter pics. Here is my favorite:

(They actually LOVED the grass and I may have to keep it around as one of their favorite "toys" - Sebastian sat in that basket for about 30 minutes, happy as could be, so it really wasn't torture. I promise.)

***

The other thing making my Monday is breastfeeding. Yes, that's right. Breastfeeding. As some of you know (because you know me IRL or have read other posts about it), I have been pumping exclusively for my twins since they came home from the hospital. There were a myriad of reasons why I pumped and bottle fed instead of just breastfeeding. Now that my babes are almost 5 months old, a lot of those reasons are no longer a concern. And for a while now, I have been thinking about switching to breastfeeding but, to be honest, it seemed kind of overwhelming. They eat at the same time right now so how do I teach them to latch without feeding them one at a time? How do I know if they are getting enough? Will I still have to pump and feed them bottles after they breastfeed?

Well, I finally got up the courage to at least try and had my first bit of success this morning. With the help of a nipple shield (which I just bought this weekend, at last!!), Collette latched on just fine while Sebastian took a bottle with the help of the Milk Maid. After BFing for about 10-15 minutes, she took about an ounce from her bottle and was done! I felt so accomplished!! As the week goes on, I will try to breastfeed more often and hope that one day, I will be just breastfeeding and can use bottles for special circumstances. I am open to ANY and ALL advice from BFing moms out there as to how to make this transition work. I may see an LC but I'm a do-it-yourself kind of girl and love advice from real moms who have gone through these things themselves.

So, a very good Monday here in the Soto household! Check in at Twinfatuation to see how everyone else's Mondays are going.

Friday Foto Finish Fiesta: the Cadbury Baby?

My favorite thing about Easter is the Cadbury Creme Egg. I have loved them since I was kid and have no shame eating countless eggs as an adult. I also love the commercial, where the turtle and the lion (and some other animals...) all try out for the Cadbury Creme Egg Bunny role. I'm going to try to get Lola to wear bunny ears but I'm not banking on a successful outcome. She is faster than my camera and historically uncooperative. Stupid pug.

In the meantime, I dusted off this old photo of my nephew, Ben, and his Cadbury Bunny audition. Now, tell me you wouldn't hire him??

Join in the Foto Fun at Candid Carrie's and see some other great fotos!

Thursday Theater: Goodnight Funnies

Bedtime at our house is still pretty uneventful (sorry babies - you're not ALWAYS so interesting...) but one thing that we've started doing really amuses me. Since I do bedtime solo a few nights a week, I needed something I could do with both nuggets to wind them down after their bottles. And what's better than reading a book?! Since I'm so unoriginal, I bought Goodnight Moon to read to them at night and add to our little routine. Well, Margaret Wise Brown, it appears you missed your calling as a comedienne. Or maybe I did. Either way, my plan to help the babies wind down backfired because, apparently, Collette thinks this shit is hilarious!




(Collette got a bit upset at the end there because she had a burp. And I haven't yet figured out how to film and burp a baby at the same time...)

Yes, Collette. I, too, find bowls full of mush very funny.


Sleep tight babies. Don't let the bed bugs bite.


Head over to Goddess in Progress to check out some other very bedtime stories.

So That's What These Are For!

The day has finally come. My kids have discovered their hands. So far, they are only using them for Good, but as they get older and smarter, I know they will try to use them for Evil. This has been awhile in the making but this past week, it has really taken off. And both babies are taking this developmental leap at the same time, which is kind of cool. I certainly don't expect them to hit milestones at the same time - Collette slept through the night well before Sebastian and Sebastian "rolled" before Collette. So, it's nice to seem them go through this together, and also see how they do it differently.

Sebastian is determined to be a thumb sucker. He is now a pro at getting his fist in his mouth and as soon as his coordination improves, I'm sure he will succeed.

Collette isn't as much interested in putting her hand in her mouth as she is putting anything else in it. Especially cloth things - bibs, burp cloths, blankets, Sebastian's sleeve if he gets close enough.

Both babes are grabbing things with more purpose as well. They have a few favorites so I am constantly rotating those few toys between the two of them.

It's so exciting to watch them grow. Can't wait to find out what else they have in store for me...

Makes My Monday: Sox Opener!!

Cheryl @ Twinfatuation hosts Make My Monday and I am joining in again. Although its Holy Week and we pretend to be Catholic, nothing Christian is making my Monday. However, another sort of religion is: the Red Sox!! If you are from Boston, or have ever been here, you know what I'm talking about. This is the one religion that everyone here follows, at least from April to October, November if we're lucky.

In honor of this holy sports day, the babies have donned their first Red Sox outfits - thanks Fav Auntie!! They might have to wait until next year to go to their first Sox game, but there's no reason we can't start indoctrinating them now, am I right? Here they are, the littlest members of Red Sox Nation:

The hats did not go over as well...

***

In unholy news, the twins have had a bit of sleep regression this past week. Wednesday night, Sebastian woke up at 1am for his middle-of-the-night bottle. This was weird because he had skipped that feeding altogether for 3 out the previous 5 nights and when he did take it, it was around 4am. His sister quickly followed suit and every night since then, both babies have woken up no later than 230am for their middle-of-the-night bottle. This, in and of itself, isn't so bad - I'm still only waking up once, its just a few hours earlier. They still get up at the same time in the morning.

But last night, one of my alone nights, they decided that sleeping was not nearly as exciting as crying. Sebastian woke up at 1030 (yes, I was asleep, had been since 9) because he escaped is uber-swaddle sack. Or, his forearms did. Re-wrapped and back to sleep. Then, they both were very awake at 1am, so I fed them, hoping they would stay asleep until 630. No such luck. They were awake from 415 until 515, necessitating many trips to the nursery to replace pacifiers, in hopes of calming them back to sleep. Eventually it worked and they stayed asleep until 630, at which time they both woke up, happy as pigs in shit. Mommy, not so much.

I know that this isn't really that awful. It's more just out of character for them. For the past month, they have been very predictable little sleepers, sleeping through the night a handful of times. So, its seems like this is a big step back and is trending worse with each night. Not sure why this is happening although one person's theory was that if they are hitting one developmental milestone, they may fall back in another. This may be our case since both little ones have been all about their hands lately, which I'll post about later, with lots of pics. Could this be the cause?? My hope is that it doesn't last and we can go back to our nice, calm, predictable overnight routine.

Adventures in Baby-Shopping

For those of you who know me, it goes without saying that I'm a bargain hunter. I really hate to spend a lot of money on things and I get VERY excited over a good deal. I was always that girl who was like, "Guess how much I paid for this??? 50 CENTS!!!!!!!!!" Ya, I kept the local Salvation Army in business for most of my high school years. Now, I baby bargain-hunt. The twins club has helped me get lots of good deals (thanks!!) and whatever I can't get there, I search for on Craigslist. I was in the market for an exersaucer, to go with the Jumperoo I got at the Twins Club Sale, and hit up Craigslist. Luckily, I found one quickly for just $20! Retails for like $85. Sa-weet.

I was too excited to wait for Billy to get home to pick it up, so I packed up the twins and the pug and hit the road. Pick-up was 30 minutes away which I thought would be perfect - an hour of babies sleeping, relaxing time for me. But of course, I forgot the directions. And then I got a bit lost. As I was getting my bearings, praying the babies don't wake up with all the stopping and starting, the dog started crying - ya, you read it right. The dog. W...T...F, Lola?? Well, that cry, in pug-speak, means "I have to go pee, NOW!" And since I'm a totally unprepared douche bag, I didn't have a leash for her. She didn't even have her collar on. Ya, I'm a winner.

Luckily, I found a little side street with just empty-looking office buildings with some grass in front. I pulled over and let the pug out. She immediately peed but then ran off, collarless, right onto the street. The abandoned office building was not quite abandoned and the workers inside were looking at me like I was some kind of asshole (the retarded, incompetent kind, I assume). While I did not have a leash, I did think to bring one of her toys, a squeaky one at that, and coaxed her back to the car with it. Runaway/roadkill crisis averted.

I found the street. Found the house. Paid the nice lady and rearranged every last thing in the car (inclduing the stroller that, if I had half a brain, i would have taken out before leaving) to fit in the exersaucer. We drove home in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic on the way home. And here is the thanks I get for all my troubles:

Thursday Theater: Morning Smiles

While I hate getting up in the morning, I love walking into the nursery and seeing the smiling faces of my littles ones. The long night of sleep (woo hoo!!) does them well and they wake up so happy and smiley - best way to start the day.

Of course, at 630am I wasn't thinking about my camera so I got Sebastian up and changed and started on his bottle before I remembered this video challenge. Oops! Luckily, Collette was patient and let me go get the camera so I could try to film her getting up. So, here is a little slice of our morning.

Check out lots of other cute videos at Goddess in Progress - Thursday Theater!

Wordful Wednesday: Coming Full Circle

When I was learning to drive, my parents had a super-cool Plymouth Voyager. With faux wood grain stripe on the side. Naturally, I didn't care too much, so long as I got to learn to drive. And I did learn to drive the behemoth. And then I got my own car - a convertible! woo hoo!! - and was free from looking like a Suburban Soccer Mom. Until now.

Our lease on our Equinox is up in May so we decided to start test driving cars now. We thought we would look at some SUVs and some minivans. But, after a bit of thinking, it was clear that going the minivan route made the most sense. We settled on the Toyota Sienna and started the paperwork this weekend. We would have finished the paperwork but, much to the salesman's dismay, the babies needed to get home for bedtime and signing papers would have taken too long. So, as of this Friday (when we pick up the car with Daddy), I will have officially come full circle. From learning to back the Voyager into our parking space and merging with highway traffic with my nervous mom in the passenger seat, to being the mom worrying about her kids safety in the back - and I'm only 27. Yikes!

I'll be sure to post some pics of the twins in our new ride. Still can't believe I'm excited about a minivan...but I really am!

***
I have to give a shout out to my fellow MOTS and bloggers for a fun night-out yesterday. It's so nice to see adults that I'm not related/married to - no offense Mom, sister, husband. Because we have these two thing in common, blogging and mothering twins, it makes talking and getting to know each other very easy and relaxed. Definitely no small talk at this table. Also, I had two adult beverages (hurrah!!) and was not hungover this morning so that's a success in my book. Ya, doesn't take much these days. So, thanks Goddess in Progress, Mommy Esq., The Finbergs, What a Card, Zimmer Zoo and Snickollet. Zimmer Zoo has photographic evidence of the event - we all look so happy to be out!

Join in the Wordful Wednesday fun at Seven Clown Circus and see who else is playing, too!