We now have big girl beds!! We thought we were just going to put their crib mattresses on the floor for awhile, but since a) they were so traumatized when they thought I was getting rid of ALL of their things, and b) I received my Oregon public employee retirement account check, we decided to splurge and go ahead and get the twin bunkable beds.

We bought them late in the evening, so when we got home, we put the girls down in our bed. Papa and Mama stayed up late that night assembling the beds. After we assembled the beds and when the girls were sound asleep, we gently slipped them into their new beds. When they awoke, they were "freaking out," squealing with excitement. It was a good decision to buy the beds, because they have slept all night for two nights in a row now! The only problem is getting them to fall asleep initially. This evening, I sat in their room with them to make sure they stayed in their beds. They were so cute and funny, it took all I had not to laugh at everything they said. It reminded me of when I was a little girl at "bunkin' parties." ("Sleepovers" for you Yankee readers.)

Finally, it got quiet. I thought to myself, "yay, this is it!!" Then Parker raised up and said, "Annie, you asleep?" Annie replied "no." Then they both started laughing hysterically. I giggled and had to leave the room to ask their Daddy-Bear to finish the role of "sleep monitor" for the evening. It's quiet up there, now!! I just hope it takes less than an hour-and-a-half for them to drift off to dreamland tomorrow night.

After two exhausting weeks of VERY little sleep, my husband was entertaining the girls with his math skills. He said "one plus one is two, two plus two is three..." When that came out of his mouth, I said "umm," he quickly realized his mistake, and we both laughed hysterically. He decided to leave all future math teaching to me. Ugh. And to think I went to law school to try to avoid math. (No offense, brother!)

Yesterday we ate pizza and learned our shapes. I asked the girls what shape the pizza slice was. They replied "triangle." I asked what shape the plate was. They replied "circle." I asked what shape the table was. They replied "square." I thought, good, they're three for three. I then asked them what shape daddy's head was. Annie replied "square." We all four died laughing.

Parker Grace, our younger twin, is very tall. They both are, but this story is about her. She can reach higher on the counter than my husband and I realize. A couple of days ago, she found Daddy's travel coffee mug from the day before. I was downstairs, and when she arrived, I noticed her drinking the day-old java. I told her "no, you cannot drink that," and explained that "little girls should not drink coffee." With tears streaming down her face, she replied, "I want coffee!! More coffee! More coffee!" Through my laughter I told her I was sorry she could not have more. This half-bred Pacific Northwest baby sounded just like her Daddy.

Husband-bear's boss gave him four free tix to a Rockies game, so we decided to take the family out for the day. The day began, however, with a couple of hours at church. During the girls' class, they made cute flowers in flowerpots. The flowers were silk sunflowers. Baby B dropped her plant, and the pot shattered as we were walking out the door. We thought she'd be upset, but she didn't care; as long as her flower was ok, the pot didn't matter. We then changed clothes and caught the Light Rail to Coors' Field. We had to bring our sunflowers with us. While the train was the most fun part for them, I enjoyed that they held on to those darn sunflowers for three hours' straight. Other highlights of the day included: Baby B's flirting with 20-year-old boys on the train, Baby A's dancing during every song at the game, and people laughing at the twins when they were eating snacks as fast as they could. The lowlights of the day were that my husband and I both missed the only score the Rockies made during the game because we were both tending to babies, I forgot my camera and couldn't document the event (another argument to allow me to purchase a cool new Blackberry/camera phone), and we had to leave the game early although the weather was nice. However, no other scoring occurred after we left, and the Rockies lost, so it was kind of good we got to beat the traffic. I was SO amazed that those babies stayed happy for an hour-and-a-half during the game!

Another funny thing: I just read my brother's blog, and he describes he took his daughter to a Royals game, and my niece ate treats the whole time. (Ours did, too!) So, I guess I had more of a "twin connection" to him today than his own twin! I look forward to taking him to a Rockies game during his visit in August.

So, there I was yesterday morning working very hard at my computer. I was so excited to catch up on work a little. Then, of course, I ran out of ink. Full of frustration since the babysitter was on the clock, and I had to interrupt my good work pace, I had no choice but to make a run to our local discount/grocery store. Once I arrived, I quickly found the right ink and decided to procure some lunch fixins. I sauntered up to the deli counter and placed my order. It took quite a while, and I was a little stressed about how long it was taking. After I thanked the attendant, she replied, "have a fabulous day." This wish seemed very strange to me, as I evaluated my appearance. (I guess I usually equate fabulousness with looks.) I was wearing sweats and no makeup--a pretty scary sight. I thought to myself, ok. How do I have a fabulous day when I look like this, the legal work I was doing at home wasn't very sexy, and I was caring for my kids and visiting in-laws. As I was walking to the register to pay for my ink and meat, I decided I could have a fabulous attitude. I began to smile. I instantly felt better. I chatted with the employee working the checkout counter, and I made her laugh. In my sweats, with a frazzled brain, I actually became pretty fabulous. I shall strive to be more fabulous every day, no matter what's on my plate.

WARNING: the squeamish may not want to read this one.

It happened on Saturday afternoon. My husband-bear and I put our little darlings down for their afternoon nap. We were exhausted, they weren't. I heard them fussing, but since they weren't fussing too bad, I left them in their cribs. We dozed off--for a very short time, and when I awoke, I ventured into their room.

When I arrived, I found that Baby A had thrown all her bears and blankets out of her bed, stripped down naked, and peed all over her mattress. Likewise, Baby B had thrown all her bears and blankets out of her bed, stripped down naked, and pooped on her mattress. She also smeared it all over the wall and crib, and she was brown from head to toe.

I yelled for my husband, and we both wanted to gag. He took Baby B and jumped in the shower, and I left Baby A in the wet crib and gathered cleaning supplies. I threw Baby A in the shower with dad and Baby B after "B" had been decontaminated and began my cleaning. At least "A" went poo-poo before I put her down for a nap--it could have been much worse. Husband-bear cleaned and dried the babies, and I cleaned and did laundry. My small mountain of laundry quickly turned into Mount Everest, especially after finding many treasures at yard sales.