Last Days of Disco

I registered the "babies" for kindergarten a few weeks ago.

I don't call them "babies" anymore of course, but that's what they will always be, technically.

The enormity of impending kindergarten is not lost on me.

It's been a looooong two years. It's been wonderful and maddening and exhausting and frustrating and ridiculous and hilarious and stressful and a gift.



When I lost my job just over two years ago, my life changed overnight. Never in a million years did I imagine myself as a "stay at home" mom (and I don't consider that I ever have been since I was fortunate enough to fairly effortlessly segue into steady, part-time freelance work at home). But there is no question that in the last two years I have been "home" much more than I ever was with any of my children. And I don't think I've made any secret of the fact that it hasn't been easy. Of course it hasn't been.



I feel like it's all been leading up to this--the "this" being kindergarten, aka, a full day to complete my work (imagine!) and all the other endless tasks that go along with a house of six that includes four young children. Right now, I bookend the bulk of my work in about three hours in the morning (the amount of time I have once I get all the various children to all of their various places before it's time to pick the twins up from school) and at night after they all go to bed. There's a babysitter in there when work gets particularly overwhelming. I also answer work emails and phone calls and address inquiries throughout the day. And yes, I am basically a crazy person because of this.

I despise being rushed. I abhor doing things "halfway." I detest leaving dishes in the sink and crumbs on the counter and Lego bricks on the carpet in front of the coffee table (OUCH) and laundry unfolded in a basket, but this is what I have learned to live with in the last few years. I pick my battles, I look the other way and I have learned the hell out of prioritizing, compartmentalizing and yes, time management.

I HATE losing my temper and running out of patience but I am human and I have done just this, more times than I am proud of. Because, helloooo, stress.



The days have been long, for sure. Going into this whole "working from home" gig, I knew this was IT. Once they start school? You lose a tiny bit of them that you just never get back. I know this because of Leo and Ellie. These last two years I've done my best to pack the twins' days while also getting my work done. Before they started school in those dark, snowy months right after my full-time job ended, we made the rounds at library story times and used afternoon grocery trips as a way to stay busy get out of the house. Then in September of 2014 both twins were in school five mornings a week, and I got a taste of what life COULD be like when I had the time and space that I had once known. It was a tease of the future, of a life with "big kids."



Once we were no longer slaves to the afternoon nap (at age three, when Lucy put an end to THAT nonsense (groan), the twins started the requisite afternoon classes--gymnastics and swimming at the local community center, two days a week. And sometimes (OK, often), trying to slide dry clothes onto wiggly, still-damp bodies that won't stand still long enough to get properly dried off is about the LAST thing I feel like doing, but I tell myself, SELF? This is it. This is what you do. Because there will never be 1pm swimming classes again, ever. And sometimes we even stop for ice cream on the way home, because that's what you do too.



And now, officially registered for kindergarten and on the precipice of full-day school for ALL four (three at the SAME school? What the what?), it just feels...big.



We sold this bad boy a few weeks ago. Of course we hadn't used it in a while but still...I haven't been without a stroller in my house for...eleven years. It's the end of an era, to be sure.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, as hard as things can feel sometimes, I do my very best not to wish time away. Some mornings when I'm getting breakfast on the table (three different drinks for four kids) and packing lunches and snacks into backpacks and someone is playing a keyboard and another person turns on "Knuffle Bunny" on the CD player at full volume, the very hairs on the back of my neck stand up because it is SO EFFING LOUD and it feels like the walls of the house are going to close in on me.

But then Leo's bus pulls up and he gets on and is off to middle school. And then the rest of us load into the van and sing "Cheerleader" on the way to Lucy's school. And then we get home and Harry's bus is waiting for him. And then it's just Ellie and me. And then she's skipping down the hill to the blacktop where the third, fourth and fifth graders line up.



And then, it's just me. And it's quiet. And sometimes it just feels altogether unfamiliar.

Playing Catch Up: First Day, Last Days, Birthdays and Big News (NOT PREGNANT)

It seems silly to start a post with a recap of Harry's first day of school when the last day of school happened two weeks ago. But. Harry started preschool! And now he's in summer school (which is basically a continuation of the school he started two weeks ago). I think it's safe to say that he is absolutely thrilled with his new student status. He pants in front of the door in the morning waiting for the bus and bounds outside when he sees it pull up. Another bonus? He and Leo get to ride to the same bus (they're attending summer school at the same location). I KNOW. Leo basically explodes every morning he's so thrilled.



Leo finished up fourth grade (meaning next year will be his last year in elementary school, did you hear my heart stopping?) with an end of year choral concert which Lucy and I were lucky enough to attend.



Ellie transformed from a Daisy into a Brownie (see above for the "Bridge" ceremony) and finished first grade. Didn't I just take a half day from work so I could bring her to the kindergarten orientation? GAH. Time, you are a sneaky, sneaky one.



Ellie also had her seventh birthday party (notice how I didn't say she turned seven-yet). That will come next month.



I finally got my act together and planned her party for before the end of the school year (well, technically it was the weekend of the last week of school). People in our town seem to just disappear on the summer weekends, making summer birthdays very sparsely attended.


As you can see the only problem with the party is there just weren't enough baked goods.



Ellie with her "beach" themed goodie bags (they held a shell bracelet, sunglasses, a mini-beach ball and of course, cookies). I tried really hard to not go all junky with the goodie bags. I HATE the crap that so often comes home from parties: trinkets that break before they even leave the car on the ride home, that I end up finding sprinkled all over the back of the mini van. Also, candy that no one needs (but we all need chocolate chip cookies, of course!).


Harry, (who apparently knows how to break dance-who knew?) made good use of his sunglasses.

For some reason I was very nervous about having a party at home (well, a party in general but an at-home one raises the stakes a bit). I wanted to make it very simple and of course it got more complicated than I set out for it to be, (there may have been some last minute ridiculous amounts of money spent at Oriental Trading) Let's just not talk about the "express mail" fees, ok? But all in all I'm very happy without how it went. It organically turned into a "mermaid" themed party when I randomly chose an Evite with a mermaid on it while Ellie was at school (I thought it befit a backyard pool party). (She "hand wrote" all of her invites but I wanted to follow-up with something a little more concrete). Ellie ran with the mermaid idea (she LOVED the Evite) and before we knew it I'd ordered mermaid plates, napkins and cups (as an aside I have to pause and extoll the virtues of the Target debit card (they aren't paying me to say this but they can if they'd like to)--anyway, free shipping on all Target items. Seriously the best.


Making their shell frame "craft." I thought this was cute and it went with our "beach/pool/mermaid" theme but I really bought it in case it rained and we were stuck inside.



The girls were semi-into it but it's hard for gluing tiny shells on frames to compete with pools and water sprayers and a playground and Cheeto balls (Ellie asks for these probably every time we see them at Costco and I always say no but for a birthday party? I finally said, YES).





The weather was A-MAZING which, when you're having a backyard "pool" party, that's really half the battle.

Did you know six and seven year old girls scream a lot? And when I say "scream" I mean "OMG THIS IS SO MUCH FUN I JUST HAVE TO SCREAM!!" screams.


Of course Spidey had to make an appearance.

At the end of the party, Ellie announced that it was "probably one of the best days of her life." So. Really can't argue with that one.


Speaking of birthdays, these two actually had their birthday, earlier this month.

Three.





This momentous occasion, this third birthday surviving another year with twins, really warrants its own post (which it will get, preferably before the fourth birthday) but I will interrupt this broadcast with some important breaking news. Lucy and Harry are officially potty trained. And say what you will, but I'm fairly certain that potty training twins will go down as one of my greatest life achievements. Let's just say it wasn't for the faint of heart!

The Road to Wellness, Edging Toward "Big Kids," Hearing Harry, Still Can't Shut Up About "Frozen" and Transcending It All

I've made a sort of unwritten rule not to talk about sickness here because really, no one wants to hear about your cold, right? Sufficed it to say that fifty percent of our house was felled by a nasty virus this week, to the point that Ellie sounds like she's got quite the serious two-pack-of-Marlboros-a-day-habit and I took my first sick day from work in three years. Poor Ellie has missed school all week and been (understandably) miserable and cranky and let's just say I think I may have glimpsed a view of tween/teenhood and I am afraid. Very afraid.


Looking not so tween/teen and also, pre-sickness. My Little Yentas. It might just be time to introduce Ellie to "Fiddler on the Roof."

So, yes. Hard week. Mercifully, I'm just starting to feel like myself again. It's an amazing thing really, how the body (blessedly, usually, ideally) fights off illness. Obvious but true statement of the day: As terrible as it is to not feel good, it makes getting better that much more sweet. The thrill of realizing that filling the dishwasher again is not a crushing blow but something you can actually accomplish--that is a welcome relief.

But I am living in FEAR that the babies twins are going to get sick. Please. No.

And of course, with sick kids ALWAYS come the work deadlines. Yesterday I had to stay late and called home to check on Ellie. When asked if I could bring anything (I was thinking something along the lines of Popsicles), her response was "I just want Yooooooou! I want you to come hooooooome."

Insert knife, into heart.

You will happy to learn that all was forgiven when I arrived home (after dinner but well before bed time) with vanilla ice cream. Ellie did make one request: "Is it OK if I sleep in your bed? It makes me feel more secure." Then, crossing her arms she said, "I'm sorry if I don't know what secure means." 


She felt better in the morning. Well enough, even, to make them a little bed in the living room.


Lucy was insistent that Harry take a Goldfish. No was not an option.

These two. Two and a half years old. Technically closer to three years old than two. Preschool is on the horizon. I continue to call them babies but see glimmers of kids, kids who understand and can be reasoned with, who show empathy and real problem-solving skills, on a daily basis.

Don't worry. They also still make me smack my forehead and want to tear my hear out on a daily basis.

Harry, who hasn't been much of a talker until pretty recently is suddenly busting out with new words and sentences every day. It's such a sweet and welcome joy to have him bound over to me, barreling his hard little skull into my belly and exclaim, "Buzz! I found Buzz [Lightyear-pictured above]." Admittedly I could do with out the barreling skull, but hey, he means well. He is such a little snuggler.

I'm still not quite accustomed to his little voice. I'll hear chattering away in the car or in the corner while he snaps Duplos together ("I did it!), a sentence or two, and I feel momentarily disoriented--Leo, Ellie, Lucy: they talk constantly-our house is L-O-U-D. I can recognize everyone's voice in a heartbeat (OF COURSE) but who is that one? Why, it's Harry!





File this one under, they're not really babies anymore: The other morning Lucy woke up crying around 4 a.m. It was (of course) dark as night outside (anything before 5 a.m. is night in my book). That's when I whispered to Lucy that it was still nighttime and she needed to go back to bed. And you know what? She Did. I couldn't believe it either. See what I mean? Glimmers of reason. And I do mean glimmers.


Yes, yes. We eat a lot of Goldfish in our house. Probably more than we should.


Four way ball (they roll it to each other). It lasts for all of 2.3 minutes but those are beautiful, gleeful minutes.

In the midst of the Daily Din I think you all know that I do my best to recognize those "transcendent moments," you know the ones, they make you, just for a brief few minutes even, rise above the chaos and havoc and incredible noise and clutter and overwhelmingness of it all. We had one this morning and you might not be surprised to learn that it had to do with "Frozen", a movie which has provided me with a seemingly unending amount of pleasure. Not to get too fruit ball on you all but so many parents I know have spoken of how they love it as much as their kids and they've loved loving the movie along with their children, all of which sounds pretty transcendental to me: A shared joy. A break from the monotony.

Back to this morning. Everyone was finishing up breakfast and I remembered that I'd just read that "Frozen" had a DVD release date (there's a part of me that doesn't want to own it because I know that once we can watch it any time it will no longer feel special). But the big deal for us is that when it's on DVD the babies twins will be able to see it-they might be edging toward kid-dom but I was not quite ready to brave a feature length film with them, so they have-gasp-yet to see "Frozen." And of course Erin, who has not yet had the pleasure (you know you want to see it Sweetie) will benefit from the March release.

The kids were mildly excited at the DVD news but I don't think we will really care until they can hold it in their hot little hands. Ellie then suggested we show the babies the clip she and I had watched the night before (laying in bed beside a coughing and despondent Ellie I thought "watching" one of her favorite songs would be a little treat and a break from our routine of listening to Pandora's "Soundscapes" station on my iPhone).

The next thing I knew, I had the laptop out, a cup of coffee next to me, Ellie snuggling on my lap, Leo across from me, and two babies the twins, sitting beside me in their high chairs, in complete rapture. It was the "Frozen" they'd been hearing so much about (quite literally, in the car, every time we go ANYWHERE it's Frozen soundtrack central).

Bliss. Peace. Everyone happy.

No picture.You'll just have to trust me on this one.

Looking Back and Laughing Part 979: Twin Bath/The Bathroom Formerly Known as Clean Edition

Last night I left work early because of a tornado warning (I know! What is it with New Jersey lately?). Most nights I don't make it home in time to bathe the twins which means...they don't get bathed as often as one might hope.

But last night I had an extra hour. And since Harry's favorite pastime is to dig in the dirty (we don't call him Dirty Harry for nothing) I figured, carpe diem. Bath time.

Did I mention our house cleaners (a once in a blue moon occurrence) came yesterday? Believe me, this detail will be important in a few sentences.

We have a running joke that whenever the house cleaners do come, that same day, inevitably one of the children will spill something, usually something quite voluminous and sticky: orange juice and chocolate milk are a few examples of liquids spilled on House Cleaners Days.

But on to happier things. A soothing bath before bedtime. There was Harry, splashing around in the warm bubbles, a Percy train in one hand, mini Buzz Lightyear in the other. There was Lucy, gleefully announcing she was "Going to lie down Mommy!" They are finally enjoying the water and learning they need to sit (there was a good month there where neither one would do anything but just stand there which produced...very clean feet and ankles).

Then it was time to get out of the bath, which, with twins is another way of saying All Hell Breaks Lose.

Getting two toddlers dried off at the same time, or at least dry enough so that they don't slip and fall on the bathroom tile or hardwoods in the hallway, well let's just say it's even more difficult than it sounds. I corralled Harry into the twins' room, trusting that Lucy would be ok in the bathroom by herself (I have a clear shot of it from the twins' room and the bathwater was almost gone). That's when Lucy announced she wanted to wash her hands. Fine. I wrestled Harry down to get a diaper on him, because, nothing says pee all over the floor like getting out of a warm bath (I know this from experience).

"Mommy! I'm washing my hands!" Lucy called from her perch on the step stool. It was right as she was attempting to help herself with the foaming hand wash that the flood works opened up. Pee. Everywhere. All over the step stool. All over the floor in front of the sink. All over Lucy.

"Mommy! I pee pee!" Lucy exclaimed. (Don't even get me started on this one. Any child who can announce "Mommy, change my die-py (diaper), I stinky" should be potty trained. But that's another post.)

I groaned inwardly (and maybe a little outwardly). No orange juice or chocolate milk on the kitchen floor tonight. Our newly cleaned bathroom floor would not be so lucky.

I jumped to my feet, told Harry to stay where he was (Yeah Right) and lunged for Lucy, quickly dunking her in what remained of the bath water. Grabbing a towel, I spun around and there was Harry, running toward me. Before I could scream No Harry! he landed on his bottom, feet up in there, marinating in a little puddle of Lucy pee.

Seriously? Is this happening? Do I just live full-time in a ridiculous, screwball comedy?

Yes, pretty much.

I will look back and laugh. I will look back and laugh. I revisited my near-daily mantra that I try to remember when I am about to feel supremely overwhelmed (and possibly, just a tad, aggravated).



I remember when toddler and preschooler Leo delighted in emptying dressers full of clothes or playroom buckets full of toys. I thought that was chaos.

Not. Even. Close.*

*Notice how calm and mild mannered they appear in these pictures. Don't believe it. Not for a second.

Notes on a Friday

Like me, slumped over in her chair (in spite of the fact that she's wearing stretch pants) Lucy is ready for the weekend. (I'm dying to know what Harry was saying to her here. Doesn't  it look important?) Hey Lu, how do you think the Ducks are gonna fare this weekend? Or maybe "A priest, a rabbi and a minister get into a rowboat..."


These two. They had the entire backyard to themselves and yet what did they do? Dragged these little chairs rightnexttoeachother. They had to be right on top of one another. And do you know what they're doing here? Saying "Cheers." Clinking their Popsicles. Completely on their own volition. Where did they learn it? From Leo and Ellie of course...who learned it from...what can I say, we're a celebratory family?



1/4 smiling and looking at the general vicinity of the camera. Yup, that's about right.



I know it's not even October yet, but last night I broke down and hung up the Halloween lights (not sure who voted and decided that orange and purple were the official Halloween colors but that happened). There's something so happy about colored lights and since fall officially starts this weekend and that kicks off the beginning of my favorite time of the year ever (hooray for the decorating season and the absence of hot weather!), well, I figured why not?

The kids (mostly Ellie, but the twins a little) appropriately oohed and ahhhed at the lights---I only decorated one window this year (since the other one is a bit more accessible) for fear of the Crazies twins "interfering" with the lights--that's code for Tearing Them Down Triumphantly--(they've already made their mark on the curtains that skim the side of the train table, ahem).

Ooohs and ahhhs at the end of a long week. Because isn't that really what it's all about?

Life Amidst Royalty and Other Weekend Notes

"Lucy and I are playing queens," Ellie announced, bright and early on Saturday morning (note the tiny paint brush scepter in Ellie's hand) .

Oh! I answered. What will you do now that you're queens?

"Just, you know, rule," said Ellie.



A few hours later, the little queen pictured above awoke from a too short nap, positvely furious and inconsolable (don't be fooled by her angelic looks and the heavenly sunlight pouring down on her). This little queen can show quite a little tempter.

Ellie's response: "She's just a big piece of work!"

You have to give Ellie credit for trying. She really is so good with Harry and Lucy. She has an endless amount of patience (way more than I) and is so creative and constantly thinking of ways to amuse and distract the babies when they're out of sorts.

For example, when neither lunch nor milk would cheer Lucy up after her little post-nap tantrum, Ellie dug deep, knowing I'd promised we'd go outside to play and swim in the baby pool after lunch: "Hey Lucy,"said Ellie, "Want to go be ladies in the pool?"

Eventually, Lucy came around.


And later, there was the requisite post-swimming, group ice cream meeting.

I scored a great find at a garage sale this weekend. Of course as I was buying it ($5!) I thought to myself, Lucy and Harry are totally going to fight over this. I even said as much to the woman I bought it from who, coincidentally also had twins (and two older ones-yikes, what a nut!). She just smiled and waved me on.

You know what I think I love most about Harry and Lucy? How well they share. 

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Yes, that's Lucy falling backwards, feet first. Turns out Harry is toughening up a bit lately and working on his offense. He's apparently especially territorially when it comes to anything vehicle oriented.

That's better. Enjoying the new boat in PEACE.

Around Here

Why is your soccer playing crying, I asked Ellie. "She's not crying. She's sweating!" Ellie replied.


Open Refrigerator: Siren's call to a pair of babies I know. Because, you know, we never feed them. Savages. Oops, I mean, scavengers. Right.


Ketchup Block. What's that you ask?  Why, it's a large box of cereal placed between Ellie and the offender, her most dreaded condiment of all time (ketchup). Feel free to use "Ketchup Block" in conversation as much as possible: I feel strongly that it has a place in our cultural lexicon.


This weekend Leo discovered the Sunday "Funnies."


Harry hitches a ride. Those baby giggles, you should hear them. Best. Sound. In. The. World.

Threadless

I keep waiting to post these pictures for a time when I have a "real" post. Some kind of thread that ties everything together.



Sorry to say, this is not that post.

Because I realize that if I wait too long, these pictures will be outdated. And by too long, I mean oh, two weeks. These pictures are from just a few weekends ago, and I swear the babies already seem bigger and older now than they do here.



Harry is still a fan of Thomas and can usually be seen clutching one of his little Thomas trains. Recently he's discovered other vehicles: see above. Each morning when Leo's bus pulls up in front of the house, Harry greets it with unabashed enthusiasm, waving and grinning. Last week we he rounded out his vehicle collection with a miniature New York City taxi cab, thus adding a new word to Harry's vocabulary: "Ta-eee."



All hail garage sale season and a recent score: the Fisher Price Popper.


Best fifty cents I've spent in a long time.




Lucy is busting out with sentences: "I like that" and "I think so." (When she doesn't have a mouthful of ice cream, of course.)


I swear that Ellie made this exact expression at this age. I have to dig up some old pictures.


It's the old Sure, Mom. You want to take a picture of me? Picture THIS.

I'll give you two guesses as to who tends to be the messier eater of ice cream.

Happy weekend, all.

Tricks

Lucy has a new one.

Hey, what's that you got there? A zipper? Hmmmm...

Who me? Right. SO innocent. And Harry? He is the perfect victim, crying and whining and collapsing into a little whimpering puddle of SAVE ME! whenever Lucy strikes. Which is...often. 

Yes, she's taken to attempting to disrobe her big brother. She had already started trying to strangle him pulling off his bibs (ouch!). Now, if the poor guy is in possession of a zipper (footy pajamas, coat), forget it.

She's also moved on to Houdini-like antics herself. Last night I went in to check on the twins before I went to bed and sure enough, she'd made good progress in unzipping her own sleep sack. It wasn't completely off but I did spot a little naked pink foot, so she'd clearly made some headway. This morning? There sat the sleepsack in a little pile. She's the first kid to successfully escape one of those sacks. She certainly won't keep a blanket on, so not sure what we're going to do about that.

Speaking of tricks, someone is very excited about his new keyboard. This is "his" musical instrument for the year and he gets to keep one at home to practice.

Leo's teacher emailed me in advance to let me know he'd be bringing it home and that it was just for Leo's use and to let me know if it was a problem having it in the house (does she know our crazy family, or what?). Leo was very good, waiting until after dinner to haul it out. He even performed a little "concert" for us. Note: I use the term concert loosely. Ahem.

He's especially a fan of the "outer space effect" (think 50's alien movie soundtrack) that his little keyboard features. He calls it "solar system" music.

He is very proud.

20

It's taking all my willpower to not post the picture I really want to post here, which included not one, but TWO naked baby tushies. Since Harry and Lucy may want to run for public office someday, I thought it best to hold back on that one. In other news, you may not be shocked to learn that bathing two toddlers who won't sit down in the bathtub is both challenging and a comedy of errors.

Ellie had a wonderful time in the bath with the babies. Unlike me, Harry and Lucy loved being squirted by the various rubber bath animals. There was much squealing and happy shrieking from all three. Until Harry peed (what's that saying? It's all fun and games until someone pees in the tub?) and Ellie was absolutely scandalized and...scene. Bathtime was promptly over.

Ellie is on her way to learning to read. She has quite a few sight words. The babies are her perfect audience.

It occured to me yesterday that the babies twins are now twenty months old. That feels like another "momentous" milestone just as entering the "teen" months was. So here they are, now marching squarely toward two. Gulp.

Lucy is...how shall I say this? The BOSS. Or at least she thinks she is. "Don't want it!" "No way!" "Come on!" "Color!" (meaning, she wants to draw, which she always does when she spies the big kids huddled around the kitchen table, drawing) are just a few of her favorite and frequent phrases.

She knows what she wants, and when she wants it. And Look Out if you stand in her way. Just look at that focus. She's going to brush that doll head's hair and she's going to do it right.

And dear, sweet Harry. I've never known a baby who could amuse himself more than this one. He "reads" books to himself. He is absolutely in love with Leo's train table, whether it's covered with trains or Duplos he is on the case and happy as can be. He also recently discovered Thomas trains (see him clutching his little Thomas in the bath, above). He carried that train around all weekend and was seriously perturbed when he found out he wasn't allowed to sleep with it. He's saying a few more words. This week he busted out with "night, night." Most of his words seem closer to approximations than full words but we can usually figure out what he's trying to tell us.

Speaking of "night night," we have a newish bedtime routine. Rather than just plopping the babies in their cribs, turning on the sound machine and music and turning out the lights, as we did for months and months, we're now finally reading books before bed (add this to my list of things I felt guilty about the twins missing out on, since I always dutifully read to my singletons).

Of course nothing in our house can be simple, so when the twins' bedtime hits, which is usually about halfway through Leo and Ellie's dinner, everyone scrambles upstairs ("Last one up gets a rotten egg!" calls Ellie), fights for rights to the rocking chair, and thus begins a rollicking rendition of "Baby Beluga."

Lucy bobs her head and shakes her hips and Harry bounces and sways and throws himself onto his mattress and rolls around to the beat. I scratch his little head like he's a puppy and he flashes me a grateful smile. Leo and Ellie then each sing their own lullaby, alternating nights (some kind of fight about this breaks out nightly, trust me). And then at some point Ellie's Dreamlite became part of the mix (I know, it's practically a Vegas show, right?).


Or maybe more like a circus act.

Fearless Babies and Frigid Temperatures

It was so cold here this morning (11 degrees) that I spilled coffee on my coat and it literally froze. The good news is, this frigid cold air appears to be excellent hair weather (it's a dry cold!), so, yay?

This was last week. Before it became January with a capital J.

We had a nice, long weekend. I firmly believe all weekends should be three days long, especially when one baby decides to rise at 9:30 on a Friday night screaming, feverish and pukey. Yes, poor Lucy was awake and miserable most of Friday night and into Saturday.

Of course by 5 a.m. Saturday  morning, she was snoring. Albeit, briefly and on my lap.

By Monday, Lucy had recovered. Strangely enough, no one would let me watch the inauguration (I snuck peeks as I switched the channels during some after breakfast "My Little Pony" most annoying show ever viewing). Leo did take great pleasure in marching around the house and saying "Obama! Not Mitt Romney!" (in case there was any question where his politics lie).

Leo is a Democrat, meanwhile Harry? Is just a really messy eater.

After lunch I had to get everyone out of the house (mostly me). Thankfully it was in the balmy 30s, the frigid temperatures hadn't hit yet so we headed to the park. My phone was being cranky so I don't have any good pictures of that outing. I know I sound like a broken record on this topic but it's just incredible to me how much the twins are changing from week to week. We went to this same playground three weeks ago with the grandparents and the babies were more tentative, fell down more, needed more hand-holding and steadying. On Monday? Harry somehow got his little meatball thighs up and over the "Recommended for age 2 and Up" steps and scaled the spiral slide, headfirst. Lucy followed close behind.

Taking all four of them to the park by myself is...exhilarating. I don't worry about Ellie and Leo is fairly trustworthy, but the babies? They literally toddle off in opposite directions. There's a constant need to weigh who's in more danger? Who's closer to falling off the side of the play structure or getting a little too close to the open gate. Letting them "go rogue" at the park is exhausting, more mentally but physically. But I liken it to going on a good, long run or writing something I'm especially proud of. I feel compelled to do it, kind of dread it, but once I've done it? I'm so glad I did. And seeing their little faces when they're "set free?" The best. And worth all the stress and mental anguish (ha ha).

The back yard (fully fenced) is admittedly, much more relaxing and toddler-friendly then the wide expanse of the park. While Lucy recuperated on Saturday and Sunday, Leo, Ellie, Harry and I had some fun out there (One baby? Easy peasy! Where's the challenge in That?). 

I probably hover more than I should (as much as I can, with two), always certain am I that when someone falls it will be on their head, in the worst possible way. Maybe in some ways, the good thing (one of the many!) about having two babies is you simply can't always be in two places at once, forcing the babies to be a little more independent, self-confident and self-reliant than they might be if there was just one of them. Also it forces mommy to not be such a helicopter.

Even Ellie noticed the twins' progress in beginning to master the intricacies of the dreaded  deck stairs (big! steep!). Ellie observed: "Harry can go up and down the stairs! He's like a teenager!"

Inside, it's warm and cozy. I won't even go into Lucy's new flirtation with "High chair? Who needs a high chair?"


That grin. Clearly, she is not to be trusted.