Lexari Sinead and Donelle Mairin's Nursery

[Amyla Edana]

May had the twins, and they're both girls. She would write, but she's exhausted still, and the twins are keeping us busy. May still isn't sleeping, obviously. One girl is full, and then the other wants to nurse, and then the first one wants to be held. Demanding pair, they are, but damn, are they cute. We named them Lexari Sinead and Donelle Mairin. Lex was born first. She doesn't cry much, but she screeches like a banshee if she wants something. Donnie doesn't make much noise at all, but she squirms and pouts an awful lot. Her hands are clawed, which makes her a bit more dangerous to handle. Both girls have muzzles, wings, spiked tails, and clawed feet. They're so cute, though, that it's hard to be mad at them for waking us up every half-hour during the night.

Oh, in other news, we have a new guest in the house. May met her at the hospital. Her name is Aditya, and she suffered some kind of head injury, and her memories went poof. She is pregnant too. Nice girl. She's staying in the guest room. It's a wonder the kids haven't driven her bonkers yet. I want to see what happens when she sees Kayce talking to thin air or Eowyn wielding a broadsword. Ha. Probably scare her out of a few years of her life. Her boyfriend came by and spent the night the other night. I didn't hear anything, but Lex and Donnie were keeping most of my attention. Yana is helping us out too. The girls seem to like her, and she is good with them.

Anyway, I need to check on May. She fell asleep half an hour ago, and I want to make sure she's still asleep. Gods, I could use a nap too.

Aiodhan

 

[Amyla Edana]

Having two infants in the house was bad, but having three is ten times more stressful. Yana is old enough to help out with Caleb, Lex, and Donnie, but Aiod and I are still run ragged. Lex has toned down her screeching a little, but she isn't any less demanding. I believe 'high maintenance' is the proper term. She's adorable and endearing but oh-so tiring. And Donnie is active as can be. She's already rolling around the crib and testing the bars. She doesn't make a whole lot of noise. She just chews on the bars like Caleb does.

Can I not have a normal child?!

Then again, normal is rather boring. I think I'll take my rugrats over normal crying babies any day, even if these rugrats do drive me up the wall. Yana is good at helping us out, though. Caleb is fond of her, as are the girls. She helped me put them all down for a nap a half-hour ago, and all three of them are still asleep. Yana joked yesterday that I needed three more of her to help out. I agreed and then added that I like having only one of her. It makes her all that much more... Yana-ish. She blushed and pretended she didn't know what I said. Typical. I try to compliment her, and she can't take it.

In other news, I'm grateful that the twins aren't quite as violent about nursing as Caleb. They don't bite, and they're quite snuggly. Nieva made some special booties for them so that the claws on their feet don't scratch us. The girls don't seem to mind the booties much, and we are most grateful for them. The girls squirm and flail when they start to get fussy, which is often. They seem to swap off demanding something. First, Lex wants to be fed, and then Donnie wants to be rocked. Then Lex wants to be rocked, and then Donnie wants to be fed and held. Then Lex wants to be fed again. It's nonstop!

Speaking of, one of the three just woke up, and my bet is on Lex. Gods save us all.

~Amyla

 

[Amyla Edana]

The girls are finally calming down. They've started rolling around more now, and their smiles and giggles are becoming infectious. Donnie is still quieter. She just watches everyone a lot more and moves about whenever she feels like it. She gnaws on her crib bars all the time. It's only a matter of time before she gets out. I know it.

Lex, however, has taken to 'talking' to us. Neither of the girls are doing much besides baby babbling as of yet, but it's really quite cute to listen to them. Lex makes a lot of high-pitched screeching and chirping noises, though. She has different little tunes for different things. One for food, one for changing, one for being held, one for Donnie needing something, and one general "I'm happy" sort of tune.

One noise that her and Donnie both seem to make is 'Ahhhhh' quite a lot. Whether that stands for 'Mama', 'Papa', or 'Yana' remains to be seen. But whenever they say it, one of us comes running. Yana has been such a blessing. She loves the girls, and they love her. She seems a little withdrawn lately, though. Hiroko is growing up and being a good pair of ears for her, but I think Yana needs some intelligent non-human companionship too. I need to work on this.

Anyway, both of the girls are still nursing. They're learning to be gentle now, though Donnie gives me a bite on occasion. Aiodhan laughed until Donnie started nipping at his fingers in search of food. It was funny to see his face. They've calmed down since their initial high-demand stage. I think they were panicky because they sensed that they had competition for food and attention. Now that they realize that both are in plentiful supply, they're calmer. They're still babies, though, so they fuss an awful lot. I need to get them out and about, to get some new experiences while they're still young. It'll do them good.

~Amyla

 

[Amyla Edana]

Yana has been gone less than a day and a half, and already the house is different. I know she'll be back in like a week or two, but the twins are absolutely frantic. She is their favorite sibling, and both Lex and Donnie have been crying nonstop all morninig since she hasn't been around to cuddle them. May and I have been with them the whole morning, and they're still really upset. Lex keeps screeching and clinging to me, looking all over for Yana. Donnie just cries and wriggles. They're not used to her not being here, and they don't like it.

The good news is that their activity levels prove that they're healthy. They are both starting to crawl now, and while they don't do much besides babble, they have babbles dedicated to different things. We can tell by Donnie's cries and Lex's screeches what they want, and both of them will make noise if the other wants something. Weird kids. Must be mine.

We managed to get them weaned onto formula, which was a relief for May. Of course, with Yana gone, we're still short on hands to feed them, but Nieva has been pitching in to help. She doesn't need to help Kari with Evie as much, mostly because Evie is slowly learning to read and Kari has a new boyfriend. She says it's not "like that", but she lies. I'm a dad now; I know these things! When are they going to learn to not lie to me?

But anyway, I've got Lex in my lap, and she's quiet now that I have the bottle in her mouth. She won't stay quiet for long, though. She wants Yana back. I can hear Nieva yelping in the next room. I think Donnie bit her. She does have a tendency to nibble on things.

Aiodhan

 

[Amyla Edana]

Lex and Donnie are getting bigger... and heavier. I'll go do a short shift at work and come back to find that they always seem heavier than when I left. Maybe it's the amount of formula they've been putting away? Or the amount of baby food they're getting down, what of it they don't smear all over their faces. Their personalities are a lot more distinct now, and while I had to often take a second look before to tell who was who, I don't have to anymore. The amount of noise and the activity keeping them busy is usually pretty telltale.

Lexari is the screecher still. Most of her noises are more melodic, and she is into tunes. Both of the girls can sit up right and crawl now, and Lex seems to be sitting a lot more, banging on something or doing that gods-awful-loud screeching at the top of her little lungs. Did I mention she has excellent lungs? I'm almost wishing I was as deaf as Yana. Oh, Yana is home from the hospital now. She is a bit on the weak side, but she's been snuggling with the girls. Lex screeches for her constantly in between tunes. "Annnnnaaaaaa" is roughly what we hear.

Donelle, on the other hand, is the one who is crawling around into everything. If it is within two feet of the floor, she'll make a grab for it. She can't stand, but she can sit and crawl just fine. She doesn't make as much noise as Lex does, so long as she gets cuddled whenever she crawls near someone. She just bulldozes around the house, grabbing for stuff that looks interesting. I was surprised to find a nice little stash of shiny objects in her crib. I was wondering where the extra house key went too. We had to make her some leather-tipped gloves and booties to keep the claws under control, but she hates them. We try to keep the claws trimmed so that they aren't as sharp, but that is only good for a day or two. They grow back very quickly, which is unfortunate.

Gods, I'll be glad when they get a little older. I'll look forward to sleeping through the night a little more often. Feedings every three hours get old after awhile!

~Amyla

 

[Amyla Edana]

We had to lay off on feeding the girls a bit. They were getting a bit porky. May and I were wondering what was making them eat so much. It turns out meerkats have really high metabolisms. Great. That's all we need: two little bottomless pits.

Cute bottomless pits, though. That makes it better.

Lex continues to make a lot of noise. Goof. She does an awful lot of warbling still, but we're trying to encourage her to crawl around and play more. May had the brilliant idea of gating her and Donnie in the family room and then hiding all of her noisemaking equipment all around the room, so she'd have to find it before she could start banging on stuff. It works... sort of. Donnie keeps stealing the one pan from her, though, because it's bright and shiny metal. I constantly have to distract her with something else so Lex can make us all deaf.

And speaking of Donnie, those claws are becoming rather worrisome. We're working on getting her to control them, but sometimes she just can't. Her gross motor skills are barely present--hey, she's a baby!--and her fine ones are nonexistent. She just can't keep the claws under control sometimes when she reaches for stuff with her hands. We stash shiny stuff for her to search for. It's entertaining watching her try to squeeze herself under the couch to grab for a piece of tinfoil or an earring back that we did not hide.

Tell me again how I ended up with two weird kids?

Aiodhan

 

[Amyla Edana]

The number of infants in this house just doubled again. The clinic was closing down, and they had some infant kids that needed homes, so, of course, we took in a couple. Yana is the one that really mothers them, and they respond best to her. When she was out of commission after her second surgery earlier this week, they were crying and clinging to her. Lex and Donnie weren't much better. They've gotten attached to her as well.

Lex and Donnie don't seem to mind their new siblings. The girls all have a good time playing. Leah and Donnie like to play with the shinies, and they seem to generally agree. Kali just mauls everything within reach and screeches and chirps up a storm. Lex likes that. They make a lot of noise together. I swear; I'm going to go deaf too at this rate. Yana was surprised by the amount of noise. She can't hear a whole lot yet, but we're getting her fitted for hearing aids soon, after her ears properly heal. That'll help her.

Lex is getting to be more outgoing too. She seems to like people and showing off her noise-making abilities. Donnie is a bit less interested in people. She just likes her shinies and cuddling up with me or Aiod or Yana, or Nieva or Kari if the older girls are upstairs for extended periods of time. I'm just hoping that Lex and Donnie don't get into more trouble once they get more mobile.

~Amyla