Ten Ways to Tell the Twins Apart

Inspired by my friend Ashley's recent posts about her favorite things about her husband and sons, I think I will write a little series of "Ten" posts. I'd like to think I'll do one a day for several days in a row, but let's get real. I'll just try to do it by the end of 2012, okay? Attainable goals. I am busily pondering all the things I love about my hubby and kiddos and writing lists in my head for those later posts, but I'll start with something more concrete tonight because people ask about it all the time. Identical twins are, as it turns out, fairly identical. Our babies' heights are the same and their current weights are within four ounces. But as time goes on we are seeing more and more differences. So...

10 Ways to Tell Joshua from Jude

1. Jude has the giraffe paci, Joshua has the monkey. If their clothing has a giraffe or monkey on it, use the animal cues as well.

2. If one baby is dressed in blue and the other in pretty much any other color, Jude is the one in blue. (I follow this pattern as much as possible.)

3. Joshua has a red birthmark on his left side, Jude has one on his left eyelid. (They are less prominent than a few months ago, though.)

4. Joshua has a little freckle on his right ankle.

5. Jude's hair sweeps out to the left and right along his hairline more dramatically than Joshua's. Alas, though, I think Joshua's is starting to look more like Jude's every day.

6. If one baby is crying, it is probably Joshua. Really--by using this clue alone you could guess the twins' identity with about 90% accuracy.

7. As long as they're not crying (see #6) Joshua has a sweet, pleasant look most of the time while Jude tends to look concerned. Their faces do no match their personalities.

8. If the babies are asleep, Joshua is the one on his tummy and Jude is the one on his back.

9. If the babies are eating, Joshua is the one who spits out most of what goes in his mouth. (As of today. I really hope this doesn't last long.)

10. Um...can't think of anything else really good...so if all else fails, ask Joshua and Jude's mommy or daddy who is who. That usually works. :-)

Jude: sporting a giraffe bib, with a slight look of concern; if you zoomed in
you might see the birthmark

Joshua: sporting a monkey bib, looking pretty chill, probably about to spit
out some cereal

Pictures of This and That

This and that meaning my kids being cute, of course. Because that's what they do best. (Or maybe making messes is what they do best. Hmm....)

Esther likes to play with toys in unconventional ways.

Not supposed to be a riding toy.

Meant for babies of the non-real variety.

"Stickers are for paper," we say a lot around here.

Hey, this is pretty close to what the stroller is meant for!

 Austin does not usually amuse himself very well. A bit needy, that child. Unless you give him the big box that a highchair came in and license to do with it as he will. Forty minutes later...

My oldest and my youngest.

Grandmas's first morning here, so naturally the kids were checking out
all the goodies she brought. Esther tried on the big girl panties Grandma
brought her. (No, not potty trained yet. Maybe over Zach's Christmas break.)

Grandma and Joshua.

Jude got a little too comfy in Daddy's lap.

All dressed up for church.

Austin's class went to the pumpkin patch and we all went along. It was the
coldest day of the year so far but we had fun.

Grandma and I each toted a baby.

A four year old was used but not harmed in the taking of this picture. The twins
love their big brother.

Joshua close-up

Jude close-up

Grandma and Grandpa took the big kids to a park just to play in the leaves.
Our yard has no deciduous trees. Cedar needles are just not the same when
it comes to fall fun.

Grandma and Jude. You might notice a pattern...Jude is much more likely to
quiet down and fall asleep in your arms, the swing, etc, than Joshua.

The grandparents are attempting to brainwash our
children into becoming MU fans. It's okay with us. I
probably would have gone there myself if I wasn't a
small-school kind of girl. Everyone around here will just
assume the kids are wearing Steelers gear from the colors.

Last Warm Days

This has been a beautiful October week, a warm and mostly sunny break from the colder weather. With each warm day I think, is this it? Is this the last day of outdoor comfort before the long long winter? With snow forecast for next week I definitely wanted to get my kids out to run around in the backyard for awhile today.

I told them to run off some energy. Run they did.

Sometimes with a lawn mower.

Mom, do you see that Esther is playing in the dirt? Yes, yes I do. Go ahead
and join her. :) We made time for a bath while dinner was in the oven.

Jude watched the goings on from the bouncy seat on the porch.

Joshua watched the goings on from my left hip. Took a lot of tries to get a
decent shot, holding the camera out to my side as I was.

Milestones

We reached a few significant milestones at our house this weekend.

First, with the twins just a few days short of six months we decided to give them their first taste of cereal this morning. Although we haven't been good at all about taking videos of the twins, we did think to pull out the camcorder today. After watching it, I almost decided against editing and posting the video but then I figured, maybe some of you have wondered just what kind of craziness goes on in our house. Grandpa was manning the camcorder, Grandma was taking still shots, Austin and Esther were being their usual busy, let's-get-in-the-middle-of-everything selves, we were Facetiming with Gran in Texas...and oh yeah, we fed the babies. Just a day in the life. :)

The twins were a bit upset at first because they were hungry but they both settled down and ate pretty well. We weren't sure how they'd do since their adjusted age is only four and a half months but I'd call this first feeding a success. So--gulp--here we go with solids. I remember from my other kids just how much time it takes to feed babies in the early days of real food and that was just feeding one! I'll be spending a lot of time in front of those highchairs in the weeks to come!

So the second milestone: Esther climbed out of her crib. You could say she finally crawled out of her crib. We'd seen her swing one leg over the rail a few times but yesterday she finally got brave and went all the way. Austin came downstairs to tell Grandma about it during "naptime" (yeah, obviously not a lot of napping was happening) and then she and I went upstairs and made Esther give us a demonstration. And naturally today I had to get it on video. Austin never climbed out of the crib--Esther is actually getting a "first" all her own!

Zach pulled the toddler bed out of the basement this morning so Esther is upstairs in it now. I'm not sure if I can say she's upstairs sleeping in it right now; I have heard lots of noise from that quarter despite it being over an hour past her bedtime. But she has only gotten out of it once so far (that we know of). Not bad for her first night.

What a Difference a Year Makes

One year ago today we learned that twins were on their way to our family. In a moment we went from our assumptions that children would continue to join our family in an ordinary, approximately-every-two-years fashion, to the realization that we would have four children under the ago of five. Shocking and a little scary. There was no longer any discussion of having three or four children; four it would be.

This year has been the most challenging, crazy, busy, beautiful year of my life. From the six months I spent (knowingly) pregnant with the twins to the six months I've spent raising them so far, they have dominated my life. Twins are all-consuming.

But that's a good thing in its own way. I am so easily distracted by the things of the world. The temptation to neglect my family and pursue my own interests (think Facebook and fluffy reading material) is strong, but the simple matter of keeping the twins fed, dressed, and in clean diapers takes a lot of time. My focus has been rightly redirected toward my family since the twins' birth.

If I have grown one way in the last year, it is in my understanding of the sovereignty of God. Or perhaps I should say, in my understanding of the mystery of God's sovereignty. So many questions: why did He choose us to have twins? Why were our twins healthy when some suffer from TTTS? Why did He think I could handle four children so close in age? More recently, why oh why will they not sleep well at night? :) But as there are not easy answers, I've been learning to trust more and question less. To use some biblical language, He is the potter and we are the clay. Twins are how He is molding our life and I trust He will use them to make us more beautiful vessels.

Pictures to come soon. I have taken some but need to transfer them to the computer.

Sunday Pictures

Just a few more pictures. And Esther is included this time. :)

Getting better at smiling on cue. Man, I love this
kid more every day.

This girly does not sit still! She was up and down,
up and down, up and down the stairs as we took
pictures. Have I mentioned how much I love having
a daughter?

The "big kids." When I look at this picture I understand why people
are always telling me Esther looks like her brother.

This is how far we've come: Zach took this picture while I was out, I looked
at it for the first time this morning while he's already at work, and I will say
with complete confidence that Jude is on the left and Joshua on the right.
(Hint: look at their hairlines.)

Adorable pile of twins.

Jude says let's be fair; now it's my turn to lean on my brother. And Joshua smiles
anyway.