Olivia Christine

Since I'm not creative and am always looking for blog ideas, my friend Holly gave me the idea of posting about my twins and talking about how to tell them apart and how they are different. We will start with "Baby A", Olivia Christine.

Olivia (Livi, Liver Spot, Livage, Olive Oil) loves to be outside. She loves flowers, rocks and dogs. Her favorite thing to do is pick up the biggest rock she can carry and walk around with it, all day.

Livi loves potato heads and blocks. She could sit for hours making new potato heads and building towers. She actually does sit for hours making those things.

She loves babies, especially her little brother, Ewan. Lately, she's been trying to pick him up. He weighs around 17lbs while she is only 23lbs. She doesn't accomplish much but frustration and the occasional tear.

Olivia likes to have her hair done. She knows that she can't go outside unless her hair is combed. She'll say "Walk. Bow. Outside" She has to have a bow in her hair if she wants to go for a walk outside.

These are her sleepy toys. Actually, hers is the grey wolf. Aislee's is the monkey, but somehow, Olivia ends up with both. They're usually in the crib for naps and bed, but sometimes Mommy is a push-over and lets her take them to breakfast. They have to sit on the floor and watch the girls eat once food is on the tray, though.

I tell them that they're princesses all the time. Olivia would take their toy necklaces and put them on her head so she could be a princess.

Olivia is definitely my Thing 1. Any opportunity to get into something she's probably not supposed to get into, she's there! with a smile!

Olivia is very friendly. She'll go to just about any woman, and takes a little while to ease upto men. Our friend Briggs now has a beard and it takes her a little while to go to him.

For differences, Olivia has a birthmark on her right hip. That's why Aunt Sarah calls her Liver Spot. She also has a freckle on her left thigh, and weighs about 2lbs less than Aislee. They're pretty different in their mannerisms. It doesn't take long to tell them apart once you've been around them for a little while. Olivia has her own "tricks". She says, "Owwoooo" for a wolf, makes fishy faces, can do "westside" with her fingers (not on purpose, she just makes her fingers do that), she says, "Oh, no. Oh, no" quite frequently, Olivia does not like fruit unless it's a green apple, and she loves broccoli.

Olivia was born at 6:05am August 22nd. She weighed 4lbs 3oz. She's growing and learning and just a joy for our family.

Aislee Maureen

Aislee Maureen "Baby B" (aka Aser, Aislee Paisley, Aser Taser) was born at 6:47am on August 22nd. She weighed 5lbs 2oz and is still just growing and figuring out the world.

Besides the size difference, Aislee has a freckle on her left-upper tukus (bum). Her hair isn't quite as thick in the back, but just as long. She eats fruit, most of the time. She loves green beans and peas and goldfish crackers. She'll tell me if I'm singing the wrong song until I get to the one she wants to hear. She frequently has a bruise on her head from bumping into something. Aislee has an obsession with phones, but what toddler doesn't. She'll walk around the house talking on the remote and laughing. She's very good at fake laughing, or I really am as funny as I think I am. She knows she has to have shoes and socks on for walks and says, "Sock, shoe, walk!"

She was the bigger of the twins and has always been just a little bit bigger. It's hard to say she was "chubbier" because at 4 and 5 lbs, you're not really chubby! She's still not chubby at all, just 2lbs bigger.

Aislee is willing to try anything once. She will put on the glasses, wear the hat, try on the shoes, and dance in the dress.

However, Aislee is our "slow-to-warm" child. She gets nervous around strangers and will cling to Paul or me in public. While going for walks, we sometimes have a problem with the twins going in opposite directions, but Paul has learned to follow Olivia and Aislee will follow him.

She loves Ewan's carseat, maybe because it was once hers (or Olivia's). Anytime it's out and she notices, she is in it or putting her babies in or trying to get Ewan out of it!

Aislee is my "little mother". She sits by me/on me while I nurse and will set herself up with my nursing bib, pillow and her doll when I'm not using them.

Exhibit A

She loves to carry a baby doll around with a diaper bag. Aislee always wants me to put real diapers and a sippy in her bag. She also quite enjoys Ewan. She loves to give him very wet kisses (we're trying to get rid of her tongue being out for every kiss), and pat him on the head and tummy. He likes the attention, for a while.

We sing a lot of songs throughout the day. One of our favorites is "If You're Happy and You Know it". Here she is singing "Your face will surely show it."


This is a classic Aislee. She has inherited my grace (sorry, kid!). She bumps, trips, bangs, pinches and slams whatever she can. We've been giving a lot of kisses to make things better at this house!

Picture Overload!

Forgive me for taking so long to update. There are a lot of pictures here! I'm going in reverse chronological order.

Ewan is sticking everything in his mouth! He's rolling over and scooting his body almost everywhere. He can turn himself in circles while lying on his tummy or back. He's a good baby who enjoys attention from anywhere he can find it. He doesn't mind being the horsey sometimes when I'm not fast enough to turn him on his back when the sisters figure out he's on the floor.

They all like to play with the playmat. I have to keep the girls from laying on top of Ewan while he is on it. It's a challenge some days!

Aislee is learning to smile for the camera.

This is Olivia's "Oh, no!" face. She also says, "I dunno" quite frequently. I must not know a whole lot and use dramatic facial expressions when I say "oh, no".

They were twirling on their letter boxes.

These are our latest potato head creations. I think I need to limit my potato head time. Last week I had a dream that I was back in high school trying to impress my crush with my potato heads.

Aislee's tower that Olivia knocked down.

The favorite ball popper!

The girls are starting the "do it myself" stage. AAhh!

So, I had my first race post babies. It was the Catalina State Park 5.25 and 10.35 miler. I ran the 5.25 miler. I've never run a trail run before. I had been training at an 8min pace, and was pretty excited to finish around that time. However, I didn't know that with a trail run, some of the areas are pretty narrow and you can only go as fast as the person in front of you. There were also 104 stair climbs in some of the most narrow areas. The first mile was part stair and part hill. We had just started the race (about a min in) and everybody just started walking up these hills and stairs. When I hit the first mile mark and checked my time, I was somewhat disappointed. I tried to pick up my pace, and would be going along pretty well until I came to another stair climb or narrow hill. Everyone was walking! I tried to pass as many people as I could when I got into a wider part of the trail. I didn't get passed by anybody, and I got 5th in my age group. I didn't finish as fast as I would have liked, but I had a lot of energy left over at the end.

Paul and the kids hung out by the water while I ran. We crossed the wash 5 times during the race. Those were the parts I really sped up and tried to pass people at because I could cross just about anywhere. Paul got quite a few stares and comments as he walked around with the twins in the stroller and Ewan in the front carrier. Before the race we got a lot ofs "You guys are crazy", "Are they triplets?", "You've got your hands full". I think Paul got asked if he was running too.

Aislee

Olivia eating crackers while Ewan lies in the shade of the stroller.

The start of the race. In about thirty seconds, everyone stops and walks.

Prerace. We left the house at 6:15am for a 7:40 race that didn't start until 8am. I was a little frustrated that the race didn't start on time. For any of you who nurse and try to run, it's hard when things like that change when you time your feedings around the run. Fortunately, Ewan fell asleep and wasn't too hungry and my milk didn't come in until the last half-mile.

I really was looking at important things (kids).

On Friday we had 85 degree weather, so we went to the pool.

Olivia has to find a rock to bring home every time we go outside.

This is post-pool. We were trying to diaper as fast as we could. Little swimmers don't hold everything, just the big stuff!

Olivia, Ewan, and Aislee Friday morning in Mom and Dad's bed.

Getting ready for the ward Easter Egg Hunt.

Sleeping baby. He's such a good sleeper. He wakes up around 5 so I can feed him and go run before Paul leaves for work.

Aislee sets this up herself so she can feed her baby doll.

There's actually nothing on the TV. I asked them to sit on the couch after their baths so I could clean up breakfast in the kitchen.

They both wanted to put the baby carrier on.

Happy kid!

We play, a lot!

We read, a lot!

Paul's parents came down for a conference in Mesa. They let us go to the Temple and stay at a hotel while they took the girls down the Tucson for a day. Grandma Stacey did Olivia's hair for church in little curlers. Aislee would have none of that.

Ewan in his Easter outfit.

The girls like to lead the music while we watch October Conference before church. Aislee's the one with the straight hair.

We had visitors for Spring Break. My younger brothers, Rand and Joel came down to spend the week with us. Joel will be leaving on his mission to Tokyo in the middle of May. We wanted to spend some time with him before he left. They hadn't met Ewan yet. Our hometeachers told us that Tucson is famous for Sonoran hotdogs, and we just had to take the boys to try them. So, we went to a restaurant a few minutes from our house to try these things. It's a hotdog wrapped in bacon with spicy salsa, black beans, and jalapenos in a bun. I think we'll stick with Oscar Meyer!

Rand sharing his dog with Olivia. She was not a fan.

It's huge!

Joel and his dog.

They also serve them with a tumble weed. Not my favorite.

Rand served his mission in Singapore, and had many exotic dishes there. On their way down from Cedar City they stopped at this place in Gilbert that gets shipments of the cuisine from over there. They brought us some Durian.


Everything about this "fruit" says, DON'T OPEN ME! DON'T EAT ME! I'M NOT GOOD FOR YOU!

It has spikes and a very hard shell. We took it to the park to try because my parents and others who have tried it warned us about the taste and smell. Paul and I are always up for trying something once. I dare say, we will only be trying this once! Rand loves it...we love him, but why does he love this? Blah!

Olivia became very fond of Uncle Joel (he had an ipod).

Aislee warmed upto the Uncles rather quickly. Ewan will go to anybody!

Just hanging out at the house.

Rand

Joel and Ewan

Rand figuring out his new phone.

Future BYU football player. Go Cougs!

Playing with Joel's ipod. He was a good sharer!