Rowan recently started sticking his long tongue out all the time. It’s so cute! He used to do it before, but then he stopped and now he’s doing it again. We were super tired today, so we pretty much spent the day napping with the babies. They sure are getting big and heavy. In the evening, we got our babysitter and we went climbing and then to see “Kicking and Screaming”. Climbing was weird since I haven’t done it in so long, but it always comes back to you. I tried to have “quiet feet”. Michael did really well and showed off that he could lead (almost clean) an 11a. The movie was ok, it wasn’t one of Will Ferrell’s better ones, but still enjoyable. We had some extra time after the movie so we went to Thai Ginger and got some spring rolls and mango ice cream. When we got home, the boys were already in bed, so we really got a nice break. We decided that we need to hire a baby sitter more, but we should restrict it to 4 hours (for financial reasons) and have it end right around bedtime. That way, we get the most for our money. The whole time we were out, we talked about how much money we DON’T have!!! It’s hard to adjust to one income and living more frugally, but we’re managing. We still have to scale back more though!

I stayed up late last night and when the babies started crying, I was groaning. I looked at the clock and it said 6:45. Ugh. Michael was kind of confused as to why I was all upset. He said that he was running late and he needed to go. Apparently, it was *8*:45, not 6:45. So much chaos happend this morning. We had our “cook day” today, so we needed to corral the cats into the downstairs room. It’s really easy to do if you don’t feed them the night before, and when you go to put out their food in the morning, they are all there. We did that, and then Michael went into that room later, carefully opening the door and they all bolted out! So, we were chasing the cats all around the house, then Jodi (our chef) came. We finally got Samwise in the room and Michael could go to work. I also went to run some errands with the little tots. They were extremely good, I like taking them out in the morning, they are very patient and quiet. When we got home, the smells in the house were just too much! One of our favorite meals is Pork tenderloin with Chipotle Aioli sauce, it is sooooo good. That’s what we had for dinner along with a fresh salad.

We received news today that Michael’s stepdad’s cancer is back. It was a shock to all of us and our hearts went out to him and Michael’s mom. Needless to say, we were on the phone a lot today, trying to figure out when we should go for a visit. We haven’t made any arrangements yet, we’ll probably go sometime in the summer.

In other news, the boys are officially now in 6-9 month clothing. It’s amazing how fast they grow. As I was cleaning their drawer out, I found some stuff they didn’t even wear. It sucks! I did some poor planning when buying clothing - I didn’t think about the seasons, so I had some thick sleepers for them in the summer and some summer clothes in the winter. I’m being more careful about that kind of stuff now, although they probably won’t outgrow clothes quite so fast.

I went to my class tonight and it was pretty good. I talked to the instructor about the final project. I was so confused as far as what to do and couldn’t come up with ideas. He highly encouraged me to *not* do babies, since I have been doing that all along and to sort of branch out. I thought about it all through class. I finally had an idea to call my cousin, Eric, and take pictures of him in full Kendo gear. That should be fun. We’ll see how that goes.

I have become addicted to the Turkey Pesto sandwiches from Starbucks. That stuff is good! I also like the apple cinammon bars, at least I think that’s what it’s called.

Today we were paid a visit by Sarah and Lily. Sarah wanted to see if Lily would like the Amby hammock. I think she liked it ok, she did a lot better than the boys did at their first time. We also did a quickie photo shoot. Lily was a very cooperative subject. She seemed so relaxed in front of the camera and the flashes didn’t bother her at all.

Elijah was really cute today, giggling at every chance he got. He also does his high pitch scream thing, and he sounds like he’s fussing, but he also looks like he’s smiling and just likes to hear himself make loud noises.

We also got our new bed today, but I noticed that it had a weird plastic advertisement thing on it like in the store. I called the salesman again and he said that the warehouse guys gave me a sample bed. So, he had to arrange for another one to be delivered!!! Geez, will this bed saga ever end? The bed is really comfy though, I hope it solves my back problem.

We put the boys to bed today at 8:30 and I think it might be a little too early. Rowan the naughty, started fussing at about 10pm and would not stop until we came in. He pretended to be hungry but I think he just wanted the company. When we looked at him he would give us a big smile. What a naughty boy! We fed and changed him and put him back down. He went down with no other problems. We’ll have to make sure that we don’t make it a habit to get him when he just wants to play.

I did my photo assignment (on camera flash) late today since I had to wait for the dark. I wanted to do this thing that I saw in a magazine where the camera is “open” and the person walks around with a flash until and flashes on interesting objects to light the whole picture. It was raining when we went out there so the pictures came out well for the first try, but it could be better. I had to pull Michael out of bed to help me since you need to hold the shutter button down to keep the shutter open. I will also do some other flash stuff tomorrow with the boys.

I was soooo late getting out of the house this morning. Mostly because I wanted to get them up early and have 1 nap before we went to our class at 11. I thought I had the timing right, but always at the end, time somehow speeds up and then I’m late. It wasn’t too bad. We rushed right in and was only a few minutes late. The other guy in the class was commenting to Michael that he is amazed that we’re always there and on time every week. If he only knew the stress we have on Tuesday mornings. The boys did very well today. I think it’s because of that nap. I’ll have to make sure to do that anytime we have a class. There’s so much planning to do now, it’s not just “walk out the door”. Here is my sequence of timing:
1. Determine what time you need to be at your destination.
2. Subtract driving time
3. Subtract 10 minutes for getting boys ready and in the car
4. Subtract 30 minutes for changing/feeding
5. This is the time to wake them up.

After class, we went to eat lunch at Oobas and then we went to Sleep Country to pick out our new bed. We were just going to get the one we liked last time, but the salesman wanted to sell us the more expensive ones. He really didn’t want us to get a cheaper bed. Since we had the babies and they were fussy, we kept them in the car and we went in one at a time. I went in first and chose 2 beds. The sales guy did have me lie down on one of the most expensive beds and I didn’t like it all that much. So, I went out to the car and had Michael go in and try them out. I thought about telling him about that expensive bed but didn’t think the salesman would show him that one. I was wrong. Somehow he got Michael to say that he liked that one the best. So, Michael came back out all flustered because the salesman tricked him into saying that he liked the expensive bed. I went back in and stuck to my guns. The sales guy was like “Your husband liked the expensive one” and I was all “Well, I didn’t and I’m the one with the sore back”. Then he went on about how their policy was to exchange for the same price or more. Then I brought up that we discussed this policy when we bought the Tempurpedic bed and he said that we can work it out. Threw that in his face!!! He then caved, and I got my way. We decided to go with a bed that was a little more expensive than the cheap bed we thought we would buy but $700 cheaper than the expensive one. I felt very victorious! A salesman didn’t get their way!!!

I didn’t make it to the massage class today because I am an idiot! I fell asleep while the boys were napping and woke up too late. I got up at 11am and rushed them out the door. By that time, it was 11:25 and I got about a mile away from home and realized that sugary sweet thing I ate in the morning is now giving me a stomach ache. I turned around and went back home kicking myself for doing this. I am so hard on myself. I think it’s because I feel like this is my job and missing an appointment or class means I’m suck at being a mom. I don’t know why I get overly critical.

So, instead I went to the Redmond Town Center for a leisurely day of window shopping. It was really nice and the boys were so good. I realized that I am no longer afraid to take them out since I can predict when they are going to fuss. I had to go to Safeway to get our medicine and there was a woman in line who said “Those are the biggest twins I have ever seen”. I was so confused so I said something like “Well, they are almost 6 months. They were 5 lbs when they were born.” Then I realized that I think she meant that my boys were really chubby/fat. Oh well, they are very healthy! :)

Today Michael and I took turns taking care of the boys. In the early morning, Michael went for a trail run with Nathan. He came home and then I left to go do a photo shoot of Bob and Mardi. It was really fun to take my time and play around with the lights. I had a lot of problems with the flash sync. God, that thing is so irritating. I think this replacement that I got is also not working properly. My favorite light setup is just 1 softbox. It gives such pleasing light and shadows. Doing this photo shoot makes me want to get a paper backdrop setup. We’ll see. After that, we went to Starbucks for a turkey pesto sandwich. Oh my god, their sandwiches are the BEST! I can’t get enough of them. I rushed home and then Michael left again to go climbing with some work friends. Michael was introducing them to climbing and they all really liked it. They went for a beer afterwards. This evening I looked in Rowan’s mouth and noticed that he has patches of white. We have yeast again!!! Dang it! I’m not doing nystatin again, I want to go straight for the diflucan. It sucks that I have to call my ob/gyn for a prescription for me, then I have to call their pediatrician for a prescription for the boys. What a pain.

We went to the Redmond Farmer’s Market today with Nathan, Sarah and Lily. We were late getting to their house. Elijah got up at 5am for some odd reason, but since I was already up to pump, I fed him first and then pumped. I put him back down immediately. He went back down but talked to himself for awhile. He sounded so cute! After about 20 minutes, he fell asleep again and then they both woke up at their normal time, around 8am. I was still too tired, so I had Michael feed them. We were just so sluggish this morning. We were supposed to be at their house at 10-ish, but we ended up getting there around 11. We packed up the kids in the strollers, and walked about a mile to the market. It was a very nice day, not too hot and not too cold. We bought some brown and green(!) eggs from a local farm, garlic herb spread, and of course a crepe! After the market, we walked to the Redmond Town Center to do even more shopping. We bought a picnic blanket that was water resistant on the bottom, something we need! I also bought summer hats for the boys since they have been in the sun a lot. Not enough to get a burn or anything, but we plan on taking them hiking a lot in the summer, so we will put it to good use. The boys did pretty well today, only fussing when we stopped and when they were hungry. I’m glad they are pretty predicatble! When we got home, we were soooo tired, I think it’s because our house was hot and humid so that made us both tired. Rowan didn’t nap very long, so I stayed up with him as long as I could, and then woke Michael up to stay up with him until it was time for bed. Elijah napped through the whole rest of the afternoon! He was tuckered!

I was determined to go to the movies this morning, but whenever I woke up, I was soooo tired and the babies were fussier than normal so that made me stay home. It’s so easy to find a reason to not leave. I gotta get better about that. I spent the day napping with the boys and didn’t really wake up until around 3pm. I was hoping that Michael would come home early so that we could go out to dinner, but he ended up going climbing at Marymoor with Carlos so he came home right when I put the boys down for their naps. We ended up having a feast of hamburger patties (one of my favorite dishes) and then we had s’mores for dessert! Mmmmm… We watched “elf”, I love Will Ferrell, he is so funny! “There are 4 basic food groups - Candy, Candy Canes, Candy Corn and Syrup!”

Our friend, Nathan, was gracious enough to let me borrow his tungsten lights so I didn’t have to buy some. It was fun to experiment with “hot lights”. I took pictures of the boys again. I’m glad I have always available models, and they’re so cute too!

The benefits of tungsten lights are:
1. They do not flash so the babies don’t flinch
2. They are warm so naked babies are comfortable even in the winter
3. I am not connected to the lights by a sync cord
4. Lights are inexpensive
5. I can change shutter speed/aperture, don’t have to have a flash sync
6. What you see is what you get

The cons are:
1. They are warm so after awhile the model can become uncomfortable
2. The light is sometimes not enough, so you almost always have to shoot wide open (aperture). There are no adjustments for more/less light.
3. Limited with light accessories
4. Need tungsten balanced film or filter if using color film/white balance for digital

I liked playing around with the lights and it was good to list the good/bad things about it. I always thought strobes are the best, but really, tungsten lights do have benefits over strobes. I can also use those lights for video interviewing and what not. Anyways, the photo shoot went well. The pictures are here. There is one really cute one where Elijah is pointing to the chair arm and Rowan is just chillin’ in the background.

I went to class and they liked the pictures, but they were more impressed with my printer quality and everyone thought they were “C” prints (the stuff you get at a photo finishing place).