This morning Joe stopped by Dunkin’ Donuts to pick up some donuts to take to the office in honor of the last day of work for his friend Mark. Joe also surprised the boys and me by bringing us home a box of muchkins before heading off to work. After the boys had eaten their breakfast of eggs and strawberries, I gave them each a munchkin. Caleb proceeded to lick all of the powdered sugar off of his, only taking a bite here and there. Joshua nibbled at his donut, but became distressed by the powdered sugar that found its way onto his fingers and decided that it would be too much of a hassle to finish it. When Caleb realized that Joshua had abandoned his partially-eaten munchkin, he snatched it and licked off all the remaining sugar. Joshua, in turn, polished off Caleb’s “naked” donut, now that it was less of a nuisance to consume, then proceeded to finish up his original munchkin after Caleb also licked it clean. Now don’t you wish you had a twin with whom you could collaborate, too?

Last night, 9-week-old Moses slept 9 straight hours, from 11:45 until 8:45. Hallelujah! I could get used to this.

This evening as we were sitting down to dinner, Caleb suddenly became visibly uncomfortable. In such a situation he usually requests a diaper, but this time the urge overtook him so quickly that he didn’t object when we suggested he rush to the bathroom, where he proceeded to drop a deuce on the potty for the very first time! It was a decent-sized turd, too. We made a huge fuss over his accomplishment and even rewarded his bravery with an organic lollipop, which we let him lick during dinner in-between bites of chicken. Caleb was very proud of himself, as were we. Anyway, as you might imagine, the prospect of soon havng only two kids in diapers is very exciting for us.

And yes, I say “only two” because Joshua has not shown the least bit of interest in using the potty. The other day I insisted that he wear underwear, and he held in his pee all day long until the early evening, when it got to the point where he was visibly in pain and was begging for a diaper. Instead, I put my foot down and insisted that he sit on the potty. While sitting, Joshua mustered all of his might to fight the urge to urinate, only letting a few measly drips accidentally escape his bladder of steel, all the while sobbing uncontrollably. It was completely ridiculous, and demonstrated that Joshua is clearly capable of controlling his bodily functions, but is too stubborn to cooperate. After that episode, I decided to retreat and just hope that Caleb’s progress will eventually motivate Joshua to follow suit. I’ll also pray that as he matures, Joshua’s stubbornness will manifest itself as perseverance, and that he’ll use it to accomplish great things that are even more blog-worthy than relieving himself on the toilet.

8-week-old Moses has slept 8 hours straight the past two nights, from around midnight til 8 am! It has been heavenly!

Today we celebrated Moses’ 2 month birthday with a visit to the National Zoo. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea, because the zoo was not only a zoo of animals, but people, too. We’re just thankful we accomplished our mission to “go see the monkey at the zoos” per Caleb’s request. The orangutans’ tightrope-walking act sufficed, and we went home happy.

Moses is smiling and cooing all the time now. He is a good sport and tolerates his brothers’ lavish attention, which can be literally smothering at times (especially when Joshua affectionately yells, “baaaabyyyy, beaaaabyyyy… yes you are!” over and over again while kissing his face). When we hold Moses, he likes to stiffen his legs and practice standing, and while he holds his head up he’ll move it all around as he beholds all of his surroundings. He is still sleeping really well- lately it’s been 6-7 hours in a row each night! I am extremely thankful, especially because Caleb and Joshua have been quite a handful lately, and if I didn’t wake up each morning feeling well-rested, it would be a challenge to face each new day.

We’re so thankful that God has blessed us with yet another healthy baby boy. When your biggest concern is that one of your baby’s ears is oddly shaped (and even that, I’ve discovered, can be fixed while he sleeps with some gentle persuading from a bit of medical tape and a cotton ball… that’s right- there won’t be any punk kids making fun of my baby boy’s ear ), you know you are truly blessed.

People sometimes tell us that having twins must make our lives easier since they are each other’s built-in playmate. I’ll admit that they do entertain each other quite well, but all too often that entertainment involves getting into mischief.

The other morning while I was occupied with feeding Moses, Caleb went into the bathroom to use the potty and Joshua tagged along to keep him company. A few minutes later, I realized that the bathroom door was closed and that I wasn’t hearing the usual commotion. Now if you have toddlers, you know that silence is usually not a good thing! Suspicious, I opened the bathroom door only to find the boys “cleaning” the toilet (which, by the way, Caleb had just peed in) with my really cool brand new toothbrush. Needless to say, my reaction to this unwelcome scene was not pretty!

Later that same morning, I was once again distracted and the boys once again shut themselves into the bathroom. This time I opened the door only to find Caleb and Joshua standing side-by-side on the step stool at the sink, buck naked with water dripping down their legs. “Here, let me wash your butt!” they chattered happily as they smacked handfulls of water against each other’s backsides. This time I just chuckled to myself and thought, it’s true what they say- it is nice having a built-in playmate… nice for them but not necessarily for me!

Today we went to our 6-week postpartum visit with Midwife Peggy. Moses now weighs 14 lbs. 8 oz. Midwife Kim said that he is the heaviest baby she’s ever seen at a 6-week postpartum visit (granted, Moses actually turned 7 weeks old today). When we got home, I checked out a percentile growth chart and found that our exclusively breastfed baby is the size of an average 4-month-old, and is off the charts for his actual age. Wow!

Now that Moses’ skin has healed from his bout of baby acne, he is having some dry skin issues, for which Peggy recommended almond oil or calendula. To treat his white yeasty tongue, she recommended peroxide or probiotics sprinkled on his tongue, and suggested looking into getting him a prescription for liquid nystatin to speed up the process. Thankfully, the yeast on his tongue has not interfered with breastfeeding.

Caleb, Joshua, and I sure will miss our visits to Midwife Peggy’s house. While homebirthing didn’t work out for me and my big baby, there’s no doubt in my mind that we received superior prenatal and postpartum care, and I still think that under normal circumstances, it’s the ideal way for a woman to bring a new life into the world.