Playgroup :)

I just got home from Emilia and Eva's first playgroup visit.  It went really well and they were perfect little babies who seemed really at home in a new environment.  I feel so proud of them.  We had a sing song and then the teachers brought out some animals and little Eva laughed out loud.  Bless her!  They were really helpful and when it was one on one baby play one of the teachers played with Emilia and I was with Eva.  Next time I will take Emilia :)  It was great fun for them and for me.

Eva can sit up on her own :) She is a little bit wobbly and is still mastering the art but she can definitely do it.

Emlia is desperate to crawl and flips over to her belly as soon as she is laid down.  She is eating well and I am sure that she will have put on a good amount of weight by the 13th June when we will see their neonatal Dr.

So all is going so well.  We are slowly but surely getting our house organised and it has been lovely being able to be in the garden with my babies.  Just seeing their little bare legs wiggling around in the pram gives me the biggest surge of joy, especially now that Emilia is starting to get tubby thighs :)

Daddy time

Playtime

Feeding time, a particularly messy event!

Some close ups for extra effect (haha!).

Laughing

The baby girls have got dirty laughs like me!  Enjoy

First night away

I am watching Emilia trying to turn over from her back to her belly whilst sucking her thumb at the same time!  Bless - I wish I could tell her that it doesn't need to be so hard.

Eva is sitting in the middle of my twin breastfeeding cushion (am glad it is finally getting some use!) and it is supposed to be a back support, encouraging her to practice sitting up but instead she has wriggled down and is using it as a pillow and just lying there chilling out!  haha, they are just so different.

They are both little stars who just let me and Jens have a 10 hour sleep - undisturbed :)  We were naughty parents this weekend and stayed over in Varberg after Martin and Peter's 30th birthday party by the sea.  We were having too much fun to leave early as planned.  So I caller super nanny Mandy who said it was no problem to come home in the morning.  It was nice to be able to let go in the company of such fun people.  It is really important to be able to have a social life in the midst of this parenting lark; I think it keeps my sane and definitely gives me a mental energy boost to be able to be the best Mummy I can be.

We were greeted by two very content little baby girls who were very excited and happy to see us again.

School application

I just filled out Eva and Emilia's school application forms :) How crazy and fantastic is that!!!

Jens completed the half marathon with an outstanding time of 1:49.  We are all so proud of him.  Irene had made a really sweet banner with his name on and the plan was that the twins would be out of the pram to cheer him on.  Little did we know that he was sprinting round the course and so he ran past us much earlier than expected. I had just put the camera down to pick up Emilia and the banner was the wrong way around.  haha, typical. My Mum shouted "there he is" and so I frantically searched for him and caught a 1 second glance.  My Mum saw him kiss the three lions on the England football shirt he was wearing (they represent Emilia, Eva and me) which is just so sweet.  Hopefully next year I will get to see it!

But the weekend has been really lovely.  A short but very sweet visit from Grandma and Grandad Brown who spent lots of time playing with their amazing little Granddaughters who were very relaxed in their company.  We took the twins for a swim last night in the new bath and they had a great time.  Being together feels so natural in spite of the distance between us and they are by no means strangers.  The twins see their Grandparents every morning for breakfast via video chat.  My Mum cyber babysits regularly when I need to run off to the toilet.  I usually return to some forgotten song of my childhood ringing out in the kitchen; it is heartwarming stuff. I shed a few tears after I left them at the airport but they are going to be back again at the end of July and then they will stay for a week.

The twins are thriving.  Emilia has learnt a new noise and Eva is desperately wanting to sit up on her own, but she isn't quite there yet.  They are still not playing together but every now and then Emilia looks at Eva and smiles (Eva laughs and smiles every time she sees Emilia) so I think by next week Eva will finally get the playmate she has been longing for.

Eva ignoring Mummy :(

So just as a I start getting used to my high maintenance little Emilia and super calm little Eva, the roles reverse and I am left playing catch up.  Emilia has transformed into a calm baby, who you can cuddle, who sleeps during the day without any fussing and eats like a horse! She seems to be so content.  That is the good news and makes me happier than words can do justice.

Eva however, has entered into a new phase, presumably one she has to go through, but one that has left me googling "babies ignoring Mummy!"  (I am chuckling to myself as I write this, just as Mandy found my reaction to this highly amusing yesterday).  For long periods of time yesterday she refused to look at me, I am sure in the end my pathetic desperation left her pondering over who her mother had become, but I just couldn't accept that Eva was ignoring Mummy.  She is my little Eva, who always smiles at me.

I discovered that lots of other Mums have been through this.  I particularly liked the one reasoning where the baby sees the mum as an extension of themselves and therefore doesn't need to give them any attention.  I suppose it is like when I am with Jens;  I don't need to make any kind of effort, I can just be.  Of course nobody really knows but that one decription made me feel better.

I just got Eva out of bed and was greeted by a super happy, wriggly baby who made eye contact with me :) 

So our family dynamics have changed.  Both babies are healthy and for the most part happy and so I am not complaining about anything.  It's just this ever changing role of being a mother is easily the most challenging, interesting and stimulating thing I have ever done.

Mandy the little star cleaned our new bathroom yesterday (tiles and everything), then some of the pipes fell of the wall (not Mandy's fault).  Our builders had used a new "super glue" that should hold 50kg that they won't be using again, then the electrics stopped working in the girls room and I felt super stressed.  But after using my new bath I felt a lot better. Our new bathroom is lovely and the pipes and electrics are being fixed today.

Grandma and Grandad Brown are arriving in 3 hours and Jens is running his first half marathon this afternoon.  So me, the twins and the Grandparents are heading over to Farfar and Farmor Lindqvist to watch him.  The place in the half marathon was Jens' birthday present from me, 2 weeks before the twins were born.  But against all odds he has managed to get some training done, unfortunately nowhere near as much as he would have liked.  However it goes today and I know he will be able to finish, I am so proud of him.

Farfar saves the day

So me and Claes have had a very interesting, action packed afternoon.  The babies were sleeping and we went upstairs so I could show him all the building work we have had done.  Little did I know that the builder had fit the door catch, without a handle and so when we went into the spare room, the door closed behind us and locked us in!  We searched in the room for something to open the door with, to no avail.  We were trapped, we had no mobile phones with us and due to the torrential rain outside the neighbours were nowhere to be seen.  I started to panic and could just imagine the babies down in the basement crying, feeling all alone.  It was awful.

Then I thought about getting out through the window.  I tried but it felt too far down and I am so weak in my arms that I couldn't hold my own weight.  Then Claes took the old curtain and tied it to the radiator, squeezed through the window, hung off the window sill and shot down the curtain.  Claes the action man! Claes our saviour.  Who would have thought retired life would be so life threatening and exciting.

But now the panic is over and we can just laugh about it.  I think we have both got a few more grey hairs after today.