Where Do Gullies Come From?

My Sister In Law, Toni, asked the question. I was asked it by someone last night as well. So for those who don't know....When the Gullies were about two months old, they started to make this funny vocalization when they were sucking on their pacifiers. Both of them would get a very serious look on their faces as though the were about to lecture us on something that we'd done, and very clearly and very loudly say "Gully, gully, gully, gully!" It turns out that my brother, Jonathan, used to do the same thing! We just picked it up and started to refer to them as the Gullies. Part of it too is that the term "The Twins" has always had a very negative connotation for us. We knew from very early on that we wanted our daughters to be unique and independant from one another and one way of doing that was to not refer to them as a unit (The Twins). Now here's where you say, "Ah! But The Gullies is a unit term!". You'd be right. We ended up doing it anyway. I do try to refer to them by their many names (Mathilde, Tilly, Tilda, Matty Jo, Alexis, Lexi, Ali, Lex, Lexis, Lex Lou etc) rather than as one term as much as I can though. Sometimes brevity is necessary and the term Gully is one of endearment. We still dislike the "The Twins" by the way. It really rubs me the wrong way when I hear it. Sorry if I've offended anyone. (I am aware that they are twins though!)
Toni pointed out once that it's funny when we end up doing the very things that we set out not to do. Ivan and I swore we would not dress our children alike, but sometimes I find myself dressing all three of us in a similar manner. This, as it turns, has more to do with what the temperature is outside. Ivan and I also dress alike. Never on purpose, but more often then not we'll be out and realize that we're wearing the same shoes, pants and shirt. This is obviously because we share the same lifestyle and maybe is also in part due to the fact that we wear a uniform to work every day too.
We also said that we would never let them cry. I think I even made a negative comment about Dr Ferber in an earlier post. Now, I've never even read his work, only summaries of it and I "knew" enough to judge his methods and everyone on the planet who followed them. We soon went from never letting them cry themselves to sleep to often letting them cry for a bit to see if they'll fall asleep. Guess what? They do! I absolutely apologize to anyone out there that may have read that post. Likely though, if you're anything like me, you'll have done and said practically the same thing yourself. Thank you Toni, for reminding me that we're human and in the nicest way, that parenting is something you learn on the way. You don't know it all from day one. Well, you might think you do! Thank goodness for flexibility.
Well, I've got a Gully (Lexi Gully) waiting for her lunch. Mathilde Gully is still sleeping away. She's getting harder and harder to put down these days. (She does a lot of crying.) I may or may not have a bad habit of bringing her into bed with me in the middle of the night. Hmmm...I think I had some choice opinions about that too....! Well, you reap what you sow, right? Who wouldn't love a warm, snuggly gully in the middle of the night though? Have a wonderful week everyone!