Baby heaven

At last, I have reached the last post about our Christmas trip to Denver. I saved the best for last. My brother Brad and his wife Dani have six month old twins named Connor and Christine. I was so excited to meet them at long last! It was so fun to have enough babies to go around. We all took turns holding and playing with them and soaking in their sweet smiles.
These two babies are HAPPY babies. Some babies make you work for any little dimple or smile, but Connor and Christine would smile at almost everything we did! It was the best. I was in baby heaven, which is an intense place to be where twins are involved, but it was so much fun. Of course, Brad and Dani did all of the heavy lifting with the middle-of-the-night teething and double-duty mealtimes, but they graciously shared their babies with the family whenever we asked.

LOVE.

Aunt Mel, holding Connor, AJ (age 4), and Christine. 

 I have never enjoyed bathing babies, but serving as post-bath-twin backup with Mel was awesome! Is there a better smell than freshly bathed baby?

Connor won the award for best cheeks. 

 Grampa Charley and Derek (the twins' big brother) taking turns holding Connor.

The babies sprouted three teeth between the two of them while we were together, and therefore required extra snuggles. No problem there! One day Connor actually laid his head on my shoulder and it was one of the highlights of my Christmas.

The Womb Mates at chow time.

I think these Puffs cereal may be the only food consumable via osmosis--they dissolve so fast.

 Twin mom vs. twin aunt: only one of us had it figured out, and it sure wasn't me! Haha. Seriously, it was such a scary intense feeling holding two babies at the same time! I only did it twice the entire week, but both times it was overwhelming.

The twin parents, handling it like pros.

Grama Meri helping AJ hold Christine.

I said there were enough babies to go around, but that really wasn't true. We still had to take turns more often than we wanted to. Rose comforted Mel by giving her a back rub while Braxton got his eyebrows plucked by Christine.

Alivia has the magic touch for a sad teething baby. And Amber was doing wild gymnastics in the background, curls flying.

Christine has FOUR dimples.

 I have a thing for baby selfies. They are my favorite.

Hee hee

This was the first time I held both babies at once. They were feeling wiggly and fussy. Dani handed them to me, then said "now, try to do anything else." The babies started flailing and I was totally unable to do anything to help, I felt so buried in babies!

Jay especially loved Connor. He would come over and quietly talk to Connor and pat his soft duckling down hair.

Even wild Amber showed interest in the babies every now and then.

Jay and Connor, bonding.

Connor especially enjoyed selfie time with Aunt Shaina.

Peek a boo!

My hat goes off to Dani in a motherly salute. This phase is so intense, and she is handling it with grace and style.