Twin Challenge

Good luck with this one!

Twin Challenge - Answer

(If, on the last post, you guessed Kayla on the left and Megan on the right -- you were correct!)

 

Twin Challenge

As the girls grow up, they look different and their different personalities really show.  But I see them all the time.  I'm not sure if they look as alike to people who don't see them all the time like I do!

Can you tell who's who?

Twin Challenge - Answer

The first picture is Megan.
The second is Kayla, "reading" a book!

Twin Challenge

Guess who this bright eyed beauty is?




 And if you're wondering, yes, I can tell who it is from the picture, but I can't describe what it is that makes them look different to me.  I can tell you their hairlines are different -- but at any given time, Kayla's may look like Megan's and Megan's may look like Kayla's.  The spacing in their teeth is different.  Kayla has a mole that Megan doesn't have, but it's not somewhere that shows. They both have pink spots - birthmarks that have faded as they've grown, so unless you know where to look and which one looks like what, that doesn't help either. 

But those aren't the things that make me know.  They just look different to me.

But in a photo, it's a split second point in time, and there are some pictures where I'm not 100% sure who's who.   But that's okay, they're only pictures.

And besides, if you call them the wrong name, they'll let you know!
"That's Kayla, I Megan!"
"I not Megan, I Kayla!"


And Megan will tell you her name is "Megan Wae!"  (Megan Rae)
And Kayla will tell often tell you her name is "Kayla Wae" -- but will giggle and tell you the truth, garbling her middle name in a way I can't begin to duplicate in text, "Kayla Madelyn".  I think she wants a middle name that she can actually pronounce.





Sometimes it helps to see another picture.
Of course I'm not telling if it's another of her, or one of her sister!




And this next one is from a completely different day, in which they both also happened to also have pigtails.

 

Answers to follow later!

Trash Can Wars

First there was Star Wars.

Then there was Junkyard Wars

Don't forget Whale Wars.

And we can't miss CupCake Wars

But now, to top them all -- we have Trash Can Wars!

In this episode, we have Kayla and Megan battling with the garbage bin and the recycling bin.  The battle takes place in the kitchen and the adjoining laundry room.  While it started out as a bumper-car like battle through the kitchen, it quickly becomes a chase into the laundry room.

Scooting quickly across the floor, as the crown roars, the girls wrestle, each with a can nearly as tall as themselves.  They take great pleasure in their triumph over the large plastic containers as they slide back into the kitchen with them. 

Oh, wait, that wasn't a crowd -- it was mommy, saying, "hey! Put those back right now!" (While capturing the last moments of the event on camera.)

Can you tell who won?
Or better yet .... can you tell who's who...

Mouse over and highlight the bar below to see the answer! 

Kayla is in Aqua with jeans shorts and Megan is in Pink with Purple shorts 
(May not work in all browsers)

Twin Challenge

The girls do love that ravioli!  But can you tell who's wearing her dinner in this picture?
 

Twin Challenge

The girls still look very much alike.  A lot of people say if they see them together, they can tell them apart - but don't know which is which.  Some say if they only see one, it's harder.

Yes, mommy and daddy can tell them apart, even if we only see one. Although we've both been known to momentarily mistake one for the other - particularly if we only have a side or back view, but it's only momentary.

Guess who?

You Make Bath Time Lots of Fun!

I remember that song Ernie sang about his rubber ducky.  It's not the rubber ducky that makes bath-time fun around here -- it's the girls themselves.  

 

 Who's who? scroll down to next photo for the answer!
(Click to enlarge - look out for that splashing water!)

With Daddy out of commission as far as bath time goes, Mommy has had to improvise.  Grandma Ruth comes over most bath nights to take daddy's place in the assembly line.  That's the usual routine -- bathe one, get her dried and dressed for bed while bathing the other.  Get the second ready for bed while getting bed-time sippy cups ready, then sit with sippies and watch some Wiggles or Yo Gabba Gabba - then off to bed. We bathe them in the kitchen sink still -- generally one at a time.  But this particular night, Mommy improvised.  Both girls at once!

The girls loved it.  They like to splash -- that got a bit messy.  But luckily, despite their fascination with the sprayer, they haven't figured out how to work it.....yet. 

 Megan & Kayla

But boy, did they have fun!  It's not the first time we've bathed them together -- but it's definitely the exception, not the rule.  And the girls always have fun when we do it!  When one splashes -- the other splashes!  And that can make for quite the mess!

 Megan & Kayla
Click on this to make bigger -- check out all those teeth!!

After we played and bathed, i dried them off and let them run nekkid to their bedroom to get ready for bed.  Daddy was laying down -- the girls got sidetracked and ran to see him -- what a surprise that was!  He probably thought I'd really lost control at that point.  But that's okay, we all know who rules the house around here -- it's the babies!  With those smiles, how could they not?

Twin Challenge

Can you tell who I am?









Now can you tell who I am?








What if I show you my sister?






I bet if you see us both together you can tell!



It's Megan on the left, and Kayla on the right!

Another Twin Challenge

Without the hair as a clue - can you tell who's who?
(Pardon the rough editing -- I wanted to remove the clothing as a clue as well.)

A Mother Always Knows -- Except When She Doesn't.

Let's revisit Mike's last post.
He posted a "twin challenge" picture. A picture in which the girls looked remarkable similar and difficult to distinguish.

I looked at the picture and thought how similar they look -- but still, I knew which was which. I even identified the girls in a conversation with my mom-in-law.

Today, I looked at that picture again -- this time, I clicked on it to make it bigger. And what, to my horror, did I discover? I, their own mother, had mixed them up. And I'm horribly embarrassed. So embarrassed I'm posting it for the world to see!

Anyone who listened to even part of my hysterical ramblings when I was pregnant with the girls knows that one of my top fears was that I'd mix them up, not be able to tell them apart. Over and over, people have asked me, has it happened? And I can always say not really -- sure, the occasional momentary slips -- I'm notorious for saying good morning to the wrong one when Mike brings one in to wake me up if I'm sleeping in...but can you blame me when I haven't been awake but a matter of seconds, and have a cheerful baby pouncing on me?

So tonight I scanned the photo files to see if Mike had taken any other shots of the girls at that same time, that would make it more obvious. There were only two pictures that I found.

The original:



One other:

And now I'm even more positive about which one is which.

Unless of course, Mike swapped them between photos....

Twin Challenge

Can you tell which is Kayla and which is Megan?

Girls have pretty much mastered the art of standing up on their own, and walking around tables and such. We've also seen standing for a couple of seconds on a number of occasions as well.



Unfortunately girls have also been sick again recently. Ear infections for both. We were fooled the first few days with Megan, thinking it was just teething, but the fevers kept on, so here come the antibiotics. They're both doing a lot better now, but still a bit fussy in the evenings going to bed.

Granny Vogts was also down for a visit earlier this month.



Seen here shamelessly spoiling the girls in some nebulous way that will only later be revealed.

That's all for now, this post was mainly about getting some recent pictures up. See you later!

Busy Month

First off, I double-dog dare you to figure out which one is which in this picture. Honestly you take the hair away as a factor and it's a little tough for me as well.



All kinds of happenings since my last post. About a month ago. Heh. Anyway, Linda, Jordan, and Jalen came for an afternoon of play:



This serene picture belies world of chaos that was the house that day, lead chiefly by Jalen, of course, who I am convinced has the strength, speed, and stamina of 10 babies. One day soon we will learn that government agents gave him the Super Soldier formula shortly after birth, and he is destined to become Captain America.

This week also had Granny Vogts down with us, taking care of the girls while giving Ruth a break from daycare duties, an event that we somehow managed to not document with even a single picture (though we did get some video I believe). She came at an opportune time, as both girls are teething pretty hard, and have had a Fussiness Quotient well above 7.9 at times, especially at bedtime. Nobody can rock a baby to sleep like Granny, though, so all was well, and we definitely look forward to her triumphant return the second week of July.



So yeah, teething (and other tricks). Megan now has two bottom front teeth poking through (you can feel and see them); Kayla has none yet, but considering the fevers she's been running, we expect them any day. No crawling yet, at least according to Webster's definition of the word, but both girls can get up on hands and knees with ease, and will make progress sort of lunging forward when properly motivated. They just need to make the quadrupedal locomotion discovery. They both can sit up on their own power as well (though it lacks grace admittedly, generally coming in the form of a half rollover from the hands and knees position), and just this week we caught Megan in particular sitting up in her crib. Megan has also made efforts to pull herself up into the standing position, though gravity of course remains an unforgiving instructor.

Both girls have also mastered "Peek-A-Boo" to a level unheard of since my junior year of college, recognizing that the burp cloth should not only be removed from their faces, but daddy's as well. All these things should come as no shock to me of course, as they are 8 months and counting now, but still, it is somewhat surprising how a simple act like sitting unaided or pulling cloth from face can change your perception of a human life. I told James the other day that for the first 3 months or so, babies are basically Sims characters, which is crass for the sake of humor of course, but the point being, the ultra-small of our species basically has 4 settings: Hungry, tired, soiled, or just mad at the world. You evaluate the situation and react accordingly, and that's pretty much it. Then one day you wake up and they can say "Bye bye" and you realize that, yes, there is a brain in there, and it is growing exponentially.

Sleeping Miracles

(I’ll let you guess who’s who in the pictures – answer below!)

There’s nothing quite like a sleeping baby.

Anyone who knows even part of our story knows what miracles we have in our two little ladies. So is it any surprise that there are times I can look at one of them, and merely thinking about their existence brings tears to my eyes?

Last night was a big night for the babies. It was the first time they BOTH slept through the night. Both of them have done it on their own before, but never with their sister. I’m convinced they’ve plotted against us to keep us from sleeping through the night. We think they’re just cooing and chattering, but really, they’re deciding which one will get us up that night and which one will sleep through!

Our bedtime routine is bath, bottle, swaddle in crib -- lullaby CD plays, humidifier runs, and they go to sleep. We can put them down drowsy but awake, and they’ll drift off to sleep. If they’re too awake they’ll squawk for a pacifier, but if they don’t “ask” for it, we just keep one nearby. (We’re not encouraging them and hoping to break them of the paci habit soon). Last night I turned out the dresser lamp while they were sleeping. I wonder if that had something to do with it?

I think we’re pretty lucky that both of them cooperate so well in going to bed. I hope it lasts, but I doubt it will. I only watched my nephew Nathan a couple times at night several years ago, but I remember him peeking around the corner for the umpteenth time, and taking him back to bed. I have visions of two little heads peeking around corners in the future, just like cousin Nathan did.

They usually break out of the swaddle, and sometimes I’ll rewrap them back into a baby-burrito while they’re asleep. Usually I can do it without really waking them up, and they sleep better that way. I wonder if I would sleep better if Mike would swaddle me! Megan is still wrapped up in purple in the first picture. Kayla has broken free, wrapped in pink in the second picture.

I like to go in and look at them while they’re sleeping. Not to check if they’re still breathing, (okay, sometimes I do check.) but just to look at them. It can literally bring a tear to my eye. How am I going to going to explain that one to my little miracles down the road:
“Mommy? Why do you cry when you look at us?”
“Because I love you.”

Who Am I?

Daddy's sleeping, and Mommy's trying to sleep. I just want to play! So let's play a guessing game.

Can you tell who I am?

Mommy covered my hair with the hat for this picture, because sometimes people can tell us apart by our hair. One of us has more hair that's a little darker than the other. Mommy also put me in a sleeper that's too big for me, because sometimes people can tell us apart by the way our clothes fit. One of us is about a pound bigger than the other.

Mommy says it's easy to tell who's who when we're together, but not as easy when we're not side by side. She can almost always tell us apart in pictures, but in person she keeps calling me by my sister's name! I'd tell her who I was if I could talk. Daddy does a better job of telling me apart from my sister.

So can you tell who I am?




















I'm Megan Rae!