So we’re back home & we’re surviving.

We’re still settling out bit & pieces with the twins, but on the whole they are pretty good. They usually sleep between feeds, particularly at night, so we’re making the most of that! We’re still up a fair bit each night doing feeds & other stuff related to that.

I have wondered: “how do you find the new normal?” now that there are four kids in the house, not two? One thing that has been helpful to us is making sure that we go out somewhere each day, to remind ourselves, and to let the twins know that we have lives that exist outside of this new responsibility & concessions are things that are made by all parties in any good relationship.

On our first day home we started with a walk down to our favourite cafe.
Yesterday we walked down to a local French outdoor fair (we’d been warned that if you have twins you’ll be stopped regularly so people can stare & chat to you. Having a second pram behind it with another two younglings seems to get more comments, 5 seconds after we’ve passed….).
Today we made it down to Avoca and the kiddy park.

I’m sure we’ll have some sleepless nights ahead, which may challenge our little plan, but so far it’s been good.

A couple of pics for the eager…

Cupcakes at the French fair.

Pumpkin showing off her recently developed climbing skills.

Who doesn’t love a digger?

Obligatory twin shot, as “Picard” (I really need better names for the twins) helps me out a little with his feeding…

Well they are here.

I’m aware that not everyone is on Facebook, so not everyone has seen some pictures. (For those who have seen them, never fear, there are some new ones in this blog)

I’ll keep the writing brief, as I am quietly confident that no one cares much about what I have to say if there are pictures to be had…

We don’t have too many pictures of the family together. This is the first of the SIX of us.

A doting sister is a beautiful thing. So far both Pumpkin & Gumnut have been very loving to the twinnies.

Grandma pic #1. I love a doting grandmother!

Grandma pic #2. One of my favourite pictures of my mum!

They look it, but it turns out they aren’t identical twins…

There has to be an occasional picture of me doesn’t there?

Baby hands are always awesome. Gotta love that grasp reflex!

The family getting ready to head home.

Every kid needs a special “going home” outfit. Looks like we’ve managed to create two children that actually might fit into 0000 clothes…. there’s a first for everything.

I wasn’t particularly interested in Seinfeld when it was on TV. It was watchable, but I didn’t like any of the characters enough to invest.
Seinfeld’s new series, which is a web-show “Comedians in cars getting coffee” however, I really like. I’d go as far as to say that it might represent the future of TV in some ways. There is a real sense of the personal to it. They still feel a bit like they are speaking lines, but it is a heck of a lot more natural. I like that you can see cameras in some of the shots.

Worth a spare 10 minutes if you’ve got it.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee – Alec Baldwin – YouTube.

I read this article this morning about pro tennis players boycotting the Australian Open because they feel the prize money is not sufficient.

In the first instance I was incensed. These guys get paid millions for hitting a ball over the net. I understand that people pay to watch it & they are getting just a small cut of the money earned from the game still…. really?

Turns out, however, that the big guns are actually sticking up for the little blokes who trudge around the globe playing in pro tennis, getting knocked out in the first round.

Nice to know that people are interested in supporting the “bit characters” on the international tennis stage. I don’t care much for tennis either way, but I do think it seems to be a sport that throws up a fairly large group of moral, thoughtful superstars who have a real interest in looking out for others.

Nice way to turn around what I thought would be a frustrating article!

Well the twins are almost, but not quite here….

This pregnancy feels like it’s been the longest. We’re ready for the whole thing to be over.

I know you’ve been waiting patiently, so I’ll reward you with some recent pics of Pumpkin & Gumnut to hold you over.

Here’s the family at Taronga Zoo. Becoming “Zoo friends” was a great idea to keep us having a real “family day” on our day off.

Having sung the praises of the zoo, given the choice the other day, Pumpkin was most interested in having a “babycino at daddy’s favourite coffee shop”

Where’s the love? There’s the love!

Pumpkin & Gumnut LOVE Avoca beach & the playground

More Avoca

Avoca playground #3

Appropriate bedtime attire? Aren’t we all grateful for appropriately placed Bunny dolls!

I might have to give this a try!

(Props to St. Eutychus)

I’m a big fan of Kimbra’s music, & I always appreciate stuff that’s brought together out of nowhere (or, what appears to be two iPads!) like in this vid!

Having just extolled the value of how using a secular song as a “hook” might encourage people to think about the scripture more, here’s a classic Christian song from the archives.

It’s not deep & challenging like the Supertones, but the W’s are very catchy!

At “Communicate Jesus” Steve has written an interesting article about using a secular song as a memory trigger to a sermon.

I think it’s a fab idea!

How many sermons has the average Christian heard, the contents of which they can’t remember (though, I think we go about things wrong if we think we need to remember what the 3 points were every Sunday. I couldn’t tell you the contents of any one sermon I heard in my formative years, but the bank of information slowly grows as you remember and synthesise bits & pieces)? How valuable a tool is it if, every time that song gets played on the radio, people are reminded of a passage & a point.

That’s what I want out of an illustration!