Eve

Eve is my quiet little baby. My don't-mind-me-I'll-just-chill-while-Mae-freaks-out baby. She has a big round belly and her legs are slightly shorter than her sister. Her face and head are both perfectly round, which is why we call her Moon-pie.

She was my breech baby, sitting down at the bottom of things with her little feet tucked under her. It means when she was brand new her feet tucked in flat on her bottom. As she's unfurled a little they don't fit quite as well, but when she's first waking up from a long nap she still keeps them all curled in. It's adorable.

She's also slightly smaller than her sister in weight, but she's trying her best to catch up, eating more than Mae at every meal currently. She is a very concentrated eater and gives the cutest upset squeal if I have to remove the bottle from her mouth while she's eating. (btw - the only reason I remove the bottle from a feeding baby is usually because I'm feeding her sister at the same time and sometimes that gets tricky...but I will admit sometimes I do take the bottle away from her just to hear her squeal. It's that cute of a sound).

She has also never breastfed, which, for the first three weeks of her life made me feel like a failure. In the hospital we tried every three hours. She'd try so hard and get a weak latch, but then, because my milk took a week to let down, would get frustrated and give up. So, after two weeks of trying every meal and a third week of trying almost every meal I gave up. My aspirations of being a true super mom fell short. Then I remembered that I had successfully carried twins to week 38 with no problems or issues and I told myself to get over my disappointment. I already was supermom.

Now, my little moon-pie does all kinds of grunts and squeals. She's still reticent with her smiles. but we're working on that. She's also getting much better at holding up her head.

This evening, as we're all sitting on the couch getting sick, Eve was sitting in my lap staring around the room with soulful eyes. The way I have it figured Eve will be my quiet bookish girl, scheming quietly and goading her sister into breaking rules, like plotting how to steal cookies from the kitchen.

So, they'll be sitting in their room one night about 7:00 p.m., not yet bedtime (bedtime will be 7:30 p.m.) and they'll want an extra cookie. Mae will want to just go in and ask for it, but Eve will point out that Mom's pretty strict so that won't work. So Mae will part to pout and throw herself back on the bed while Eve sits cross legged on hers, hands clasped together.

"I know what to do." said Eve.

"What?" Mae said to the ceiling.

"About getting more cookies." Mae sat up and looked across the room to her sister. Eve's eyes were bright as she smiled at her sister. "Mom and Dad are playing Trivial Pursuit tonight. That means they won't pay attention. So, sneak out to the kitchen, grab the cookies and then come back here."

"What about the dogs?"

"Sherlock won't care and as long as you give Bailey a little piece she won't make a noise either." said Eve.

"I dunno."

Eve leaned forward, "Come on, Mae. I convinced Mom to let us have an extra soda three days ago. It's your turn."

Mae stood up, dragging her feet. "Ooookay." she reluctantly agreed. "But you have to stand watch in the hallway."

"For what?"

"If Mom or Dad get up to go to the kitchen make a sound."

"Like what?" said Eve, straining not to roll her eyes.

"I don't know, a cat sound or something. Are you ready?" Mae slowly opened the door and peered out in the hallway. She looked back at her sister. Eve stood up and came to stand beside her sister. She nodded and pushed Mae into the hallway.

Mae slowly tiptoed the length of the hallway before taking a left into the kitchen. Eve could hear her mother and father laughing in the living room, obviously still playing the game. She could barely hear Mae greet Sherlock as he came out of his kennel to jump up on her.

Mae carefully out the stool from the wall over to the counter where the plate of cookies sat on the counter. She paused to listen to her parents before deciding it was still safe. She climbed the stool and grabbed two cookies. She placed them in the front pocket of her dress and stepped back down. Unfortunately she lost her balance and fell to the floor.

"Bailey, get off. Bailey, stop." she commanded, but the airedale continued to snuff at her pocket. After a few seconds the old dog claimed victory, appearing in Mae's line of sight with a cookie rapidly diappearing into Bailey's mouth as she swallowed the cookie in two gulps.

"What's going on in there?" came Dad's voice. Mae dropped her head to the floor.

"Nuts."

Dad flipped the light on. "Mae? What are you doing-" he looked at Bailey who was still sniffing Mae's pockets. "What's going on?"

Mae sighed and sat up. Quietly she heard a "meow" come from the end of the hallway. Stupid Eve.

"Nothing."

Dad looked at her quietly and waited.

"I was getting a cookie for Eve and me to share." Mae confessed. She saw a small smile on her Dad's face that disappeared as Mom showed up behind him.

"What's up?" Mom asked, peering over Dad's shoulder.

"Nothing." said Dad. "Mae, why don't you and your sister get ready for bed? We'll be in shortly to say goodnight."

Mae's eyes got big but she didn't say anything as she stood up and ran to the bedroom. She shut the door tightly. Eve was sitting cross-legged on her bed, a book perched on her left knee. She looked far too innocent.

"You didn't make the signal in time." Mae accused, pointing her finger in Eve's face.

"So? Dad didn't get you in trouble." Eve pointed out.

Mae shook her head and started pulling her pajamas out from underneath her pillow. "I'm never listening to you again." she declared.

Eve smiled quietly and kept her eyes focused on the page in front of her. "We'll see."

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Yeah, that's pretty much the way I see my girls working.