Pictures and Milestones

This weekend we pulled out the camera (many of these are from my mom's DSLR, which I don't know how to use and many of the results just made me want to have $700 to spend on Photoshop, which isn't going to happen...), and took pictures of Colin and Claire. Adam went for a ride with Dad, and when he came back he was very interested in having his picture taken too, which as everyone knows, is something I never turn down. Taking pictures of Adam is a joy, and I usually end up with some great ones... or at the very least, some hilarious ones.

Ever since Brenna took Adam's picture at the newborn photo shoot almost a month ago, he asks for gummy worms ("gummy arms") after I take pictures of him. (Actually, he asks for gummy worms constantly, but especially after he's done something well.)

"CHEESE!"

We asked Adam to hold Colin and take pictures, and most of them ended up a little blurry or chaotic, but this one, right in the middle of the bunch, never ceases to make me laugh. As Lorraine says, it looks like they just heard that we were out of gummies. I don't think you could plan this any better.

We also got a couple of good ones of Colin, who's laid back personality makes him very easy to photograph. And apparently the "ham" in Adam is genetic, because Colin's very first social smile was at the camera.

"Oh hello, Camera."

My Little '30's Paperboy

Because we struggled to get some pictures of Claire that day - who was tired and overstimulated and really just wanted to be held by Mamie - I had a quiet fun photo session with both of them the next morning. Both Colin and Claire are very alert, but Colin is a very heavy sleeper so you can manipulate things around him and get him to calm down quickly.

I just love this one.

His little sideways grin...

Claire, on the other hand, doesn't miss a beat and can hear, feel, and sense everything around her, always. Because she's a light sleeper, the click of the camera and the feel of the pearls on her skin made it hard to position her... but once she got comfortable, I was able to get a couple of good ones.

Everyone who knows me knows I'm not really the princess, pearls and bows type of mom... I cherish Claire's strength, agility and fiesty-ness and tell her often that she is a smart girl, a strong girl, and a sweet girl. The "you're so cute," and "what a pretty girl," gets in there too (how could it not??), but those are not the most important things. However, I had this tutu and I had some of my own $5 Target pearls, so if Colin can have some manly pictures, Claire should get some girly ones too...

One of my favorites - She looks like she passed out while playing dress up.

That sweet little grin looks an awful lot like Adam's did at her age.

Baby model.

I had fun with these and am happy with what I came up with, but I'm sure we'll keep going to a professional for the family pictures in the future.

As for how it's going around here, things are about the same. Both of the twins have a psychic connection to one another, but Claire is highly empathetic to how her brother is feeling or what he's doing. If you get Claire to calm down and then Colin cries, she'll start up again not because anything is wrong with her, but because something is wrong with her brother. Claire likes the pacifier but usually Colin finds the pacifier to be a huge waste of time -- lots of work for very little gain. But when he's upset and not taking the pacifier while we're trying to give it to him, Claire can be sleeping next to him, pacifier-free, and start moving her mouth in a sucking motion. And many times, this will telepathically encourage Colin to start sucking also. It's incredibly interesting to watch.

Adam helps me wash bottles, empty the dishwasher, and do laundry. I appreciate the help since after months of bedrest, a twin pregnancy, recovering from surgery, and then all of a sudden having three babies to pick up (one of whom weighs about 35 pounds or more), I have done a number on my back and really need to see a chiropractor or a doctor about it (as if there's time for that...).

Adam is also attempting to be potty trained, and like everything he does, is doing great at it. He has been practicing for a few months now but we have not put pressure on him to do it. If he says he wants to go potty, we take him, even if we know he just went in his diaper or that he tried just 5 minutes before. On Monday morning, however, I was nursing Claire and he starting pulling at his Pull Up while watching Curious George (the new favorite in our house). I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said yes, so I told him to go for it. He ran in there, and after a minute yelled, "I did it!" Then I heard the toilet flush and he washed his hands, and when he came back out I gave him a high five. I have no clue whether he really did it or not but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Monday night, he needed a new pull up so I went and grabbed one out of his room and stuck it on the temporary changing table that we've set up in the living room for the twins. I mentioned to Shannon that when he got a chance, Adam needed a new diaper, but several people in the house needed new diapers, their dinners made, their bottles warmed, etc... so it didn't happen quickly. When Shannon had time to help him out, Adam had pulled off his wet diaper, grabbed his Pull Up off the changing table, and put on his clean diaper (both legs in one hole, but still impressive). So that night I took Adam to go pick out big boy underwear. Since he wasn't all that concerned about what his underwear looked like and basically just wanted to pull it all off the shelves, I picked for him. And of course, I picked the Justice League of America. When we got home, Shannon told Adam that I had been dying to buy him Superman underwear for over a year now... and I sadly, I could not deny that. I had plans to put Adam in the new underwear starting this Friday.

Tuesday night, Adam was pulling at his diaper again so I asked if he needed to go to the potty. He said yes and made his way there. I put him on the potty, but he told me "no," climbed off, said, "I do it!" then climbed back on and actually went in the potty. I was thrilled and could not stop telling him how awesome that was. He flushed, washed his hands, got two gummy worms, and then asked for his Superman underwear (and also the Superman shirt that happened to "jump into the cart," as my Dad would say). Then we ran to tell Daddy and he got to watch Curious George in our bed before bedtime. We won't rush him into it, as he will probably rush himself, but the idea of one less baby in diapers is very exciting.