17 weeks old, more Keatonisms

Our chunky little men are triple their birth weight now, and are doing wonderfully. Smiles, coos, and even laughs are frequent around here now. Keaton loves when they do any of the above. They still sleep quite a bit, and cry less and less all the time. I am still waking up at least twice a night to feed them, but they seem to be stretching their feedings out to about 3.5 hours now, so I get more solid bits of sleep... usually. It feels like I blink and they are awake again to eat, which makes the night fly by, but the day kind of drag on sometimes. It's good, though. They love to be swaddled and put in their swings, and they will take extended naps (usually) while doing so, so I have been able to get a tiny bit more done around here. Soon, though, they will start getting mobile. I find myself having small moments of panic over this. How will I manage going out and doing the things I do now when they are bigger, moving, and awake more often? It is anxiety-inducing sometimes. I know we will get through it, and I know it won't happen overnight, so I'm grateful for that. I am just becoming more aware that this may be the easiest stage in general. So glad for gradual transitions when it comes to having three kiddos.

The countdown begins... 15 days until we leave for Kansas! I am already there mentally, and have been for some time. I believe the 14 weeks of bed rest and knowing that I couldn't be home for Christmas this year really threw a wrench in my system. I miss being home. I really can't wait to bring the boys home and have them meet their extended family. And we get to be home for almost 2 weeks, so I'm really excited to have time to plan things out and maybe even relax a little bit. Casey will be gone to the UK for one of those weeks, so it allows the boys and I to stay a little longer. I can't imagine a week here in IL without Casey! He's got a lot of travel plans coming up before the end of the year, so I'm hoping to enlist help either here or at home during those crazy times. It seems like every week, someone at work wants him to go on another trip or conference. I'm glad he's a hot commodity, but I also know it's hard for him to be away so often from the boys, especially while they are so small and change so much. We'll make it through, though.

Keith & De came up this past weekend, and help us paint the bedroom in the basement. I really like the color a lot, and Casey and I only have one more coat to do before we are finished with that room and can start on the bathroom. This time a week ago, we barely had drywall... now we have an almost completely finished room! It's exciting. By Fall, we should have a finished basement. It's come a long way in 5 years!

Father's Day went well, I think. Casey was excited about his gifts, and just as excited as I was about the Periodic table of elements board game I got him (which is a lot like Scrabble, only you make words with the symbols from the elements). We had a fun brunch with the Hetricks at Eggs, Inc in Bolingbrook before they flew home. I'm glad they were able to come help, and I'm glad Casey enjoyed his day. :-)

Keatonisms, as promised:

We were at Home Depot with Keith and De, and I was pushing Keaton in the cart. We went past some multicolored duct tape. One of the rolls of tape had mustaches on it, and I pointed it out to him.
Keaton: "Nana has a mustache like that!" (????) Later: "Nana drives a mustache like that!" Then it hit me- Nana just bought a new Mustang, and Keaton got the words confused!

Keaton was counting how many adults and children their were in our group. "There are four adults. Daddy, Mommy, Nana, and Papa." I asked how many kids there were. "Four- Keaton, Nik, Rowan, and Papa."

I put one of my old shirts on Keaton so he could hang out in the basement while De and Casey were painting. I thought it was funny that he was wearing my old t-shirt from ~4th or 5th grade.
Me: "Keaton, can I take a picture of you wearing my shirt?"
Keaton: "No, today is not a picture day."

Random: "Papa is a workin' man!"

Me, to Casey, about wanting to paint the bathroom downstairs but not knowing how to do it by myself while at home with the twins: "I'm not sure how to paint."
Keaton: "You use a paintbrush, Mommy."

"Tooty Fruity is my favorite. I like fruits, but I don't like toots."

Keaton: "My airplanes are invertibrates."
Me, mind blown that he even knew how to say that word. "No they aren't, honey."
Keaton: "But they don't have any bones!" (Can you tell my kid enjoys school??)

Until later!

-Ash