8 days shy of 22 months...

That's how old Molly was the day we had the twins.  That is also how old the twins are today.  It's crazy talk that my babies are almost 2.  It's also crazy talk that we thought Molly was so grown back then.  In my mind, she was speaking in sentences and totally a big girl.  I have video and pictures to prove myself wrong.  My friends Flo and Marie Claude kept Molly that night we had the twins and sent us this video Sunday morning when the twins were just hours old...

  

I plan to take pictures tonight of the babies for a full on comparison.  I know this...Madeline and Marlin have a LOT more hair than Molly did :).  It's a weird feeling for me that they are the same age as Molly was at the time of their birth.  I cannot imagine bringing a baby home to these three today...I do know that.  I actually think Madeline would have the hardest time with it.  She isn't super clingy, but, when she wants her momma...girl wants her momma.

Here are some things I want to make sure I get down on "paper" before I forget them...

• Molly says some funny stuff and I don't want anyone to correct her...I'm sure she won't go to college with funny grammar...Here are some examples:
• "My head-fore hurts"...please no one tell her it's her forehead :)
• "Mommy, the sassy fairy took our sassies and we never not see them again!"  (While shaking her hands back and forth - ha!)  Never not.. I love it.  She also tells me sometimes to "Don't never not do that again!"  Bossy little thing :)  I'm sure she doesn't get that from me.
• She recently told her teachers that Rob and I were getting married...good thing we did that almost 10 years ago :).  We were actually going to the PGA tournament.  Which, by the way, was super awesome.  We had these sweet tickets from on of Rob's big clients and were wined and dined while watching the top 30 golf players in the world.  Hollywood, I tell ya :).
• On the same day she told people we were getting married, she also mistook her teacher's husband for the teacher's Daddy.  The entire school got a laugh out of that one.
• Marlin is talking all the time.  ALL THE TIME! It's so sweet and funny. He's putting together 3 and 4 words at a time.  Last night, I told him to tell Buffett (our dog) good night and he said, "Night-Night, dog" - it was super sweet.  He also likes to make his mouth a really defined O shape when he says "NO" and "GO".  He re-named Rob's mom from Annie to Ni-Ni....we will see what sticks, I guess!  
• Madeline probably says the fewest words right now, but, she doesn't have to talk...she can hardly get a word in edgewise!  She is OBSESSED with a bear pillow pet and she calls him "Burr" and he MUST go everywhere with us.  We did have to have a come to Jesus about taking him to school and she finally agreed that Burr could stay in the car those 6 hours a week.  Her first two word sentence was "Hey Nanny" one Tuesday morning when Mom came downstairs.  Melted Nanny's heart.  Don't let the Mighty Pixie fool you, though.  She CAN talk...she just chooses her words wisely, I guess :).  Maybe she will have a better mind to mouth filter than her Mom ;).
• Everyone is in school 9 - 12 - the twins twice a week and Molly 5 days.  They LOVE it.  LOVE.
• Rob taught the babies to "power" point - and it's HYSTERICAL!  I want to get it on video.  You can almost see the energy coming out of those fingers when they point with such force.  They are funny.
• Marlin has tee-tee'd in the urinal twice at the pool.  Seriously.  Rob held him up there and he peed.  Maybe he will be easy to potty train?  Mad has used the potty once.  They both LOVE to wear panties/underwear over their diapers.  Mom bought Marlin his first pairs of underwear.  It kind of broke my heart.  I can say it will be easier when we no longer have diapers, but, I can also say that I know it will make me a little bit sad when my babies are "big" kids.  I mean, come on...after three, you wouldn't really notice another baby, would you? ;)
• Madeline wants to do EVERYTHING that Molly does.  It's so sweet and at the same time kind of difficult.  We just do everything in triplicate these days.  Seriously.  Don't bring a gift unless you bring three identical ones...just kidding, not really :).  I had a talk with Santa and he's bringing three of a lot of things.  For me, it's just not worth the battle.  
• OH!  MAJOR!  The "Sassy Fairy" came this weekend.  Sassy = pacifier.  Madeline is the only one who never cared about them, but, that is also because she sucks her thumb.  Marlin was just getting CRAZY about it and calling it a YAA (say BAA like a sheep but with a Y) and basically having to have it 24/7.  Molly was only allowed her's in the bed, but, with Marlin having one all the time, it was making it quite difficult.  Saturday after nap, Marlin was just OBNOXIOUS about it and we decided that we'd had enough.  The Sassy Fairy came right then.  It was not too terrible at night for Marlin, but the first two mornings were not pleasant.  Molly did fine until last night and had a little melt down about it.  She was just soooo tired.  Once we got to bed, she was asleep within about 2 minutes and slept all night.  I think it's safe to say that if they find one that we missed, err...I mean the Sassy Fairy forgot...that we are gonna have a total meltdown, but, each day it's getting easier.  Let's face it - Molly only had hers because she was a baby when they were born and I was NOT taking it from her then.  And, honestly, we just haven't been ready to face the tantrums we thought would happen (read that we as 99.9% me - Rob has been ready to take them).  It's a milestone...and the Sassy Fairy is supposed to deliver a big prize tonight for Molly being such a big girl about it.  I hope she pulls through for us ;).

Father time, please feel free to slow down any day now.  

A post 2-ish years in the making...

This isn't some earth-shattering, tear jerking post.  Just something nerdy that I've kept saying I was going to document.  If you know me well, you know that I'm kind of an organization freak that is a total mess.  As in, I LOVE to organize things, but, I'm not the best at actually putting things where they belong on a daily basis.  Yes, it's totally counter-productive, I know.  So, almost TWO years ago...I was on maternity leave with the babies - all of them :).  Because, let's be honest...Molly was still a baby (still is)...looking back, I want to smack myself.  I thought she was so grown.  I hope I relished in her baby-dom like I have tried to relish in the twins.  I digress...

Anyway, so, one fine January day in 2012, I embarked on cleaning and organizing our pantry and cabinets.  Molly did this:

This was her first experience with the stamps that Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jeff gave her for her upcoming birthday.  I wasn't thrilled with the results...but, hey, I'd just let a 23 month old go CrAzY with stamps for almost two hours.  It was blissful...albeit messy.

 So, Molly stamped...and I did this...notice all of our food being stacked on the counter...

 The babies did this...BE STILL MY HEART...look how tiny they were!!

 Molly continued her masterpieces...

 Marlin chilled in the swing...check out those skinny legs!!!

 And, we ended up with these beautifully cleaned and organized storage areas!

 Fast forward almost two years.  We live in a new house, our kids look like this:

And, our pantry has looked like this for a year...

After one trip to the Container Store (with my girl, Emma...where we both got high on organizing ideas)....our pantry looked like this...

And, thanks to Amazon Prime, less than one week later, our pantry is this glorious disaster with shelves...that pull out for total convenience. 

This pantry could still go a long way with some serious Tupperware, but, oh, my...it's a gazillion times easier to find things now...and it just makes me smile when I open those doors (who are kiddie proofed with a pony tail holder :)).  That's right, people...I'm a complete nerd.  If you want any help organizing...you now know who to call :).

Panties...err...underwear

Marlin and Madeline have been obsessed with wearing panties over their diapers...when Pop saw this:

He sent Nanna to the store.  Now we have this:

And he's very proud of himself (Marlin, that is).  Ha!  

And, yes.  Marlin had his third haircut yesterday.  It's a little short for me, he looks too grown up.  He is so awesome sitting there, though!  She even used the clippers - I panicked and Marlin sat there cool as a cucumber.  My babies are growing up too fast.