I'll give you the moon.

My boy LOVES the moon.  We've known about his love for the moon pretty much since he could talk.  He gets so excited when he sees the moon, be it in real life or a book or on TV.  "I see the mooooon!"

So when I saw these 3D printed moon lamps, I knew I had to get him one for Christmas.  The lamp we've been using as a night light has been scratched and now looks quite tatty.  This is the perfect replacement and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought of this exact photo opportunity when I bought it ;)

The second half - photo session with Laura Aziz.

Of course I had more than 22!  So many stunning photos, I can't thank you enough lovely Laura, you've captured the heart of us in such a beautiful, real way.  Snot bubbles and all, this is us!  xx

Twin Love - Family by Bex

Tonight I lay down on the sofa while Iggle Piggle was entertaining my kids.  I shut my eyes after a long day at work and listened to the Tombliboos twittering away.

Next thing I know, I hear some heavy breathing next to my face.  (Priya is the heavy breather.)  Then I feel a knee next to my face.  She's climbing on to the sofa.  Not a squeak or a word.  She snuggles down into my front.  She's the little spoon.  I put my arm around her.  We lay there together.

For about 2 seconds.  She is two.

2 minutes later, she clambered up again, this time taking hold of my hand and pulling it around her.  Still not a word.  I still have my eyes closed.  She touches my cheek.  I look at her and she smiles, the kind that makes a noise and lights up her eyes.

Next thing I know, Kalyan has realised what is going on.  I hear his little feet, pad pad padding in his fast little wriggly run.  He crashes into the sofa and us.  Starts trying to squirm his way in.

These are the moments I adore.  What I live for.  The closeness, the way they love to cuddle and be close to me.

When I walked in the door after work, they were in the kitchen with Ma & Dadaji.  They both exclaimed and ran to me.  K was first, he threw his arms wide and squeezed me as I crouched.  Huge grins all round.  He then did what makes my heart skip.  He took my face in his hands and planted a kiss on my lips.  No prompting, no asking, he just kissed me and giggled.  Before being shoved out of the way for Priya to get in for her cuddle, she climbed on to my lap and sat down snuggling in to my chest.  This is life with twins.

Not long after K snuggled in on the sofa and tried to climb up, Priya began to kick, she didn't want to be ousted.  He started moaning and complaining, trying to find his space next to Mummy.  I controlled the kicks and helped him in, he laid back into my tummy and Priya protested until she realised she still had my head.  Cue prodding.  It didn't last, it never does.  They compete for their spaces, often wanting to be "dup" (up - Priya adds Ds to the beginning of most words, Dapple, Dummy = Mummy not dummy).  It can get very frustrating, with a ratio of two to one most days.  But we make it work and everyone gets plenty of cuddles.  Of course, I can cuddle them both together but that would be logical and two year olds do not do logical!  I sometimes wish for some space, especially when they won't let me make dinner and start going crazy, but really, I wouldn't have it any other way because without the desire to be held, I wouldn't get to experience the moments like I did this evening.

God, I love being a twin mum.

(Someone please remind me of this the next time they have a tandem tantrum.  Sometimes you don't want sound in stereo.)

The best bits - part 5

I can't believe the twins are now 17 months!  Almost 1 and a half!!!  Time is passing so quickly and there are changes ALL the time at the moment.  They are learning so many things daily and I'm constantly in awe of them.

Here's my latest list of favourite moments:


The cuddles - these are different now - not just given by me but given to me as well.  I just love it when they coorie in to me.

The way they walk - I love listening to their little footsteps and watching them plod plod plod super fast now.

Holding hands, Priya's little fingers wrapped round my finger, god I love it!

Birds and horses - they both love to stand on the windowsill (with me right behind them of course, and there's the sideboard to catch them if they both fell at once!) and look at the horses and birds - constantly pointing in wonder at the world.

Priya is obsessed with bird spotting, she frequently shouts "Bou" (bird) while pointing at birds, in the sky, on the power lines, in the trees, in the field...

Kalyan still loves balloons.  As ever, he is delighted whenever there is a balloon nearby.  Granny and Grampy bought him a new foil helium monkey one recently (the rainbow one from his birthday is STILL going strong, although has finally sunk!) and he loves it.

Words!  Actual words (if you know the context anyway)!

Priya - Bird, Ta Ta Ta (she doesn't say it just once!), Bubbles, Mama, Dada, Yaya (Kalyan).  She started off with the most words but K has fast overtaken!

Kalyan - More, Mama, Dada, Balloon (this is really just Buh), Bebe Bebe (while pointing at the TV = Cbeebies please), Ball, Bowl, Ta, Bird, Yes, Cake, Dirty.
His best and most common word is "More".  Mor Mor Mor, he reminds me of the seagulls from Finding Nemo with their Mine Mine Mine!

Priya showing off her belly!  Ask her where her belly is and she will find the edge of her top, pull it up and reveal her beautiful round belly while patting it proudly!  She loves it if this then turns into a tickle monster escapade!  Major giggles :)  She also loves to search for other people's bellies, particularly Kalyan's or Grampy's.

Spinning - they both love to spin round and round, either standing and then falling down or being picked up and swung.  Again, lots of giggles and so much fun!

There are lots of giggles these days.  I absolutely LOVE it!

Bouncing on the bed - again, they love this and there are again lots of giggles.

Bathtime!  Still a favourite!

Since we bought them their own little table and chairs, they love to sit there for colouring, eating or watching CBeebies.  I love how Priya sits there with her ankles crossed.  They also love playing with their new tea set.

Priya nods her head complete with mouth action.  Her mouth opens and shuts in time with the nodding like she's saying yes, yes, yes but no sound comes out.

Eating yoghurt.  They still love yoghurt and when feeding themselves this becomes quite messy but they clearly love it, licking the spoons and getting it all over their faces.  (Also, feeding each other!)

K running and shrieking when excited.  He also has a happy dance where he jiggles on his feet, little happy stamps with arms to match and a wobbly happy head.  He does this particularly when asking for something and we confirm we've understood him.

P tidying, she loves to pick things up and put them away, into boxes, containers or hand them to me.  They both love to help emptying the dishwasher too, passing up the cutlery one by one.  She'll also take shoes and put them on the door mat if she finds them out of place.

P following instructions - she's so clever and understands SO much, I'm often amazed at what she's picking up already.

K's gobbledegook - constant in evenings

Emptying the dishwasher - still a favourite thing to do!

Generally being funny!

Chocolate!

Still loving books, they both love to choose books for anyone to read to them.

Roly poly twins.  This usually happens after dinner in the evenings.  They both lay on the floor and we say roly poly, they'll roll about, usually crashing into each other which they find hilarious and often end up cuddling.  Heart melting!!

K sweeping - so much joy!  He is absolutely OBSESSED with sweeping, inside and out.  I'll never forget the look on his face when I presented him with his very own mini sweeping brush and mop.  I was far too excited to give it to him after a rare lone shopping trip out while the twins stayed home with Granny and Grampy so I didn't get a photo but I took a few just after.

When you understand Kalyan - he gets so frustrated if you don't understand what he's after but when you do you get happy little dances and shrieks of happiness!

Priya's big grins (particularly when you greet her).

Kalyan's cheesy grins when he's just really really happy.

Nakedness!

Priya waving from her cot when Daddy puts her to bed.  Nik left the room recently and said goodnight and she just raised her arm up over the side and waved.  They're very good at lying down when Daddy asks them to "lie down and go to sleep", usually before standing up again after and "chatting" to each other while we listen on the monitor!

Priya strolling with her hands behind her back.  This is a funny one, she looks like an old style copper on the beat, strolling around holding her hands at her lower back.  I've yet to capture this on video or photo sadly!

When they go on tip toes.

I know there's food up there!

Priya waves at the TV when a program on CBeebies starts or finishes.  I don't say anything, she just hears the music and waves hello or goodbye!  So cute.

She also has a hand gesture for when something is finished or "all gone", no idea where she picked it up from but she twists her hand round and round.  She also does something similar when we ask her where Kalyan is if she can't see him.  She just holds her hands up shrugging.

Their bond.  This is developing more and more as they get older.  It's so sweet when one of them is crying and the other is all concerned, often going over to offer something or just pat the other.  This is usually Priya offering consolation to Kalyan.  It is also usually her who upsets him in the first place by taking something but if he cries she usually gives it back (or offers an alternative, i.e. a smaller piece of whatever food they have, sneaky girl that she is!)

They also now hold hands if I ask them to and they're all happy about it before Kalyan quickly gets fed up of being tethered to his sister and breaks free!

Their cheeky looks and funny faces.

It was a sour orange!

And just how beautiful they are!

Kalyan & Priya's 1st year - by Bex

Happy New Year!

I haven't managed to write my "review of the year" post this year (or any of the Christmas posts I had planned!) but I have finally managed to edit a short version of the slideshow I made for the twins' birthday, featuring all of my favourite photos from their first year (and a couple of sneaky pregnancy ones too).  I wanted to get this done in time to post on their birthday but party plans got in the way and I just didn't have time to be strict and whittle down the sheer volume of photos!

You'll probably recognise the photos taken by Laura at each of our 3 bump-baby-one photo shoots, the first bump photo by Louise, the studio pictures by Jude, the underwater shoot by Little Dolphin and a few others featuring me (and Priya coming out of me!) are taken by Nik or my family, the rest are all taken my me on my iPhone or SLR.

I have had to be really brutal when selecting the final photos to try to make it short enough to fit with one song.  The song I chose really means a lot to me and makes me feel very emotional when thinking about the twins and our journey to parenthood.  I noticed it on a slideshow Clare did of some of her amazing birth photography and just had to use it.  It's cover of A Thousand Years by Boyce Avenue.

The slideshow has not just my favourite portraits of the twins but some which bring back happy memories so they're not all technically perfect or even good quality but they are what they are - our first year as a family.  The full (41 minute!) version has a lot more of what we got up to rather than predominantly portraits like this one.  I'm pretty sure it includes quite a few which I haven't even published on the blog yet.

Anyway, here it is, with a few too many (227) photos flicking quite fast but I love it anyway and I just couldn't edit it down any further ;)

Year One from Bex on Vimeo.

It's been a pretty amazing year!

Happy

by Bex

Sometimes the blurry ones are the best!

A few favourites and general update

by Bex

It's been tricky getting used to the new status quo.  Being back on my own looking after the twins has been hard now they're 3 months older too.  Having Mum around to help out and spend time with us was great and getting a proper break in Saudi, where I managed to do lots of swimming and aqua aerobics (as well as two massages!) and a little crafting, was fantastic which is possibly why I'm struggling being back in the reality of just me and two babies all day every day.  I am knackered.

As is Priya, apparently!

This week has actually been easier again, I think we all just needed a bit of adjusting as the twins had gotten used to having someone else around if they were both upset or wanting attention at once.  Being 9 months versus 6 months makes a difference too of course, they are much more mobile as well as requiring more entertaining and napping less.

The great thing is that now they're older and more aware of what's going on, they play together much more which is lovely to watch.  They often giggle at each other, Kalyan more than Priya - he gets so delighted by his sister!  I think that might also explain some of his frustration since she's been crawling, he can't follow her and she's all over the place now.  He's very close to crawling but not quite there yet.  I suspect he'll be much happier once he can though!

He does still love his maracas though!  I have a great series of photos of him playing with this green one showing off some of his awesome expressions!  They're so good I'm probably going to do a whole post just of our wee Kalybops with his maraca!

Priya has been a delight since crawling and learning to stand - she stands most of the day now when playing - either leaning on the coffee table, sofa or toy box and is so proud of herself.  I think it helps that she can get to where/what/who she wants - she often follows us if we're in a different room.  It may be this that has contributed to their sleep improving too.  They're much more energetic during the day and we changed our tactics when they wake in the night, after about 3 or 4 nights they started sleeping through til 6:30 or 7am!  It's soooo great, although I do still keep waking up at 5am!  Bedtime is trickier as tandem feeding is pretty much done with now - Priya would just try to sit up and roll off the pillow!  I now feed them one after the other and they are both usually very wriggly nowadays when feeding in general!

The rain has been a bit rubbish lately but it did mean I managed to get some pictures of Priya's rose covered in droplets:

She was given it at the naming ceremony by the ladies who came from the pop-in!  They bought us a pink rose and blue lavender to go in the garden for the twins - such a lovely thought!

Priya now has 5 teeth and Kalyan ALMOST has 3!  Sophie is still as popular as ever.

We have bought a second hand Chicco walker which is in great condition (and a bargain at £5!) which they both love although Kalyan just seems to go backwards so far!  They both love walking while holding onto my hands - not great for the back since I'm tall but they're getting so fast and more confident by the day!  Priya's already using the walker to scoot around the kitchen, trying to open cupboards, ovens and bins!  Luckily the walker prevents them opening as it's so large but I have to keep a close eye on her!  Needless to say we already have a gate at the top of the stairs and on the kitchen door.  I caught her today standing holding onto the bottom step trying to lift her leg so that gate will be getting fitted this weekend!

She didn't like it when I left her in the nursery alone to take Kalyan downstairs for breakfast this morning.  Luckily he was then happy in the jumperoo for a while so I played with her upstairs again for a bit.  (And had a mini photo shoot!)

I wish I could spend more one on one time with them occasionally, it's much easier to play and engage when it's just two of us.  Kalyan has been having shorter naps lately and while Priya carries on dozing next to us we've had some fun play time and cuddles.  Apparently twins tend to have slower speech development due to the lack of one on one, eye to eye communication as well as being able to babble at each other.  They're both pretty chatty these days with their ba ba bas and da da das so we'll see.