Monday, May 31, 2010

A Trip To Costco... Not So Fast Mommy

Tuesday I needed to make a trip to Costco.  Now getting out the door with 1 baby is tricky, with two your timing has to be impeccable!  The schedule went as follows, babies are up and fed in their new high chairs at the new kitchen table.  Then babies are bathed and dressed.  Give each baby a small bottle to top them off for the ride and begin that packing procedure.  Babies in car seats now and out of the garage we go.  Stop for the mandatory cup of Starbucks for Mom and start to get on the freeway.  Hear Calista grunting, hear the Frrrrpppttt, smell the poop.  Proceed to turn car around and head back home again.

So I had a nice little trip to Starbucks and that was it.

Once home though they did lay down for a bit of a nap and I went into remodeling mode.  Somehow we needed to fit that table and chairs into the small space we had in the kitchen.  We could fit the table just fine, it was a matter of how to fit the high chairs in with all of it.  After much rearranging I think I did get a workable layout.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet.  Alex started showing signs of coming down with Ed's cold so he got some extra TLC.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is almost getting to your destination, only to have to turn around for a 'kid emergency'.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is a nice long nap for the babies so I can get the house in order somewhat.

A New Kitchen Table

So the high chairs are all put together and it's time to bring them upstairs.  Now here's a problem.  Our 1950's kitchen table that came straight off the set of Leave It To Beaver will not accommodate the two extra chairs.  That's when Monday turned into a small adventure for me and the cubs to American Furniture Warehouse.

Ed was still sick with his cold and wasn't going to meet me over there, but once I got there I really wanted his opinion on the table I purchased.  And his work was only a few minutes away so he agreed to join me and the cubs there at lunch.

Both cubs were really good in the store and we had the usual people stopping us asking if they were twins.  Although we were trying to get out of there, Ed had to get back to work and I was trying to find him.  One woman asked if they were twins, I smiled and nodded but kept walking, she almost chased me down proclaiming that she too is a twin.  One thing is for sure, they do get a lot of attention when we take them out.

I got home with the cubs and Ed came home early feeling crummy.  In the end I had to pack them right back up in the car and head back to American Furniture Warehouse to meet my dad there so we could pick the table set up with his truck.

I made the mistake of stopping at Taco Bell for dinner.  I swear the Taco Bell in Windsor has to be the slowest drive thru I've ever encountered!  By now the cubs are unhappy, I'm hungry and it's getting late.  By the time I got home Dad had already been there and gone.  So I ate my food and put Ed in charge of watching the cubs while I assembled the table.  I had it together in a quick time and now we have a perfect place for family meals.

Now Calista is still waking up in the middle of the night with her teeth bothering her.  We go in and she is just a chewing away on her hands.  But for the most part they are sleeping through the night.  They wake up at around 4 a.m. for a feeding and then back to sleep until around 8 or 9 a.m.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is being trapped in a drive thru with screaming kids in the car.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is putting another piece of the puzzle in that makes us a family... a family dining area.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Starting with Craft Day and Ending with a Sick Husband

We awoke to silence in the house, which is always unnerving.  You want them to sleep a little longer so you can get things done, but your heart also sinks worrying about SIDS, at least I do.  All was fine in the nursery though so Ed and I had our breakfast and I went to work getting ready for Craft Day.

I still had a ton to get done and cleaned up in the Bead Store so I put Ed in charge of cubs.  My crafty ladies started arriving around 12:30 and we got the party started.  Nora and Anne were the first to show and they took some turns holding Calista since Alex was asleep in his crib.  Then Mom and Dad showed up, Mom joined us for crafting and Dad went downstairs to help put high chairs together and also to help Ed watch the little people.  Wanda and Gina arrived and we got into full swing of our crafting.  We had some good treats to munch on and lots and lots of laughter.

Half way through the craft session I heard a baby so I went down and brought up Alex to show him off and Dad brought up Calista.  I think they were really fussing down there because I didn't even finish my sentence, "I'm going to take Alex upstairs to...." and Dad was saying YES.  So the babies were passed around the crafting table until bottles were ready, then Ed and Dad took them back downstairs and feed them.

Once craft day was done I went downstairs to get Ed who looked a little green.  He had Alex next to him on the couch on his tummy and Calista was asleep in her crib.  Ed said he had a sore throat and was just listless.  So we had some dinner and he had himself an early night.  As soon as the cubs went to sleep he went to bed.  By morning he sounded horrible, but dragged his sorry butt to work anyway.

In the middle of the night I heard Alex start coughing and knew he has this bug too.  Poor little guy has the sniffles and you could tell he just didn't feel good.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is having a sick baby.  Especially at this age because there are not many medicines you can give them to make them feel better.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is having a husband and father that will watch the little people so I can have a craft day.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Where Did That Day Go?

Saturday morning Ed and I were attempting to finish up the things that didn't get done on Friday.  We did get a nice breakfast out at the new Perkins by the Budweiser Event Center.  After that it was a race to get home and ready for our day.

Mom was supposed to bring the twins back to our house by 11 a.m.  Then we also had Lizbeth coming to clean the house at 11 a.m. since I wasn't home for the cleaning the day before.  We had to get the cubs ready to go to a graduation party in Fort Collins, and it is never easy to get out the door with two babies.

Lizbeth arrived right on time and her and her daughter started cleaning.  Then Mom arrived with the cubs and Ed and I got them dressed and fed.  Of course Alex gave Ed a triple P play.... poop, pee and puke, so he was changed again before we left.  We took a big chance and left Lizbeth alone in our house.  She's cleaned for us a couple times before and my gut told me she'd be okay leaving alone here.  We were then off to Fort Collins.

We arrived at Joe and Julie's and didn't even make it up the drive way before Julie was taking one of the babies from us.  From there on the two of them were just passed around by the young and old.  I hope they didn't take too much of the focus off of Jessica and her big moment of graduating.

We only stayed for about an hour.  Experience has taught me that if we don't get the cubs down for a nap close to their scheduled time they tend to get extra fussy.  We also needed to get back to pay Lizbeth.

My gut was right and we arrived home to a spotless house, Lizbeth was just finishing up.  The cubs went down for their nap and Ed and I finally got a little relaxing time after all.  I spent a good chunk of my time in the office getting ready for our craft day that would take place on Sunday.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is racing through a day so much that you don't get to enjoy your babies as much as you'd like to.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is hiring a housekeeper, leaving a dirty house and coming home to a clean house.

Too Far Gone

I'm so far behind on my blogging I'm just going to have to pick up from where I can remember, which isn't far these days.

Last Thursday I took the cubs to go meet Ed for lunch at the Olive Garden, where they were very good little babies. I brought along Calista's unfinished bottle and Ed just had to feed her that right before our food came out. Toward the end of our meal Alex started in with his new sound, which is sort of like if you suck a bunch of air in and make a noise doing it... only really loudly. We both have to laugh at it, and luckily the other patrons didn't give us dirty stares.

The time had finally arrived to go find some high chairs, and where else would I start looking than the used baby store. We found two brand new, in the box, Graco high chairs for $80 there. (Later my dad would tell me that they were $140 at Target for the exact same one). Ed loaded those up in his car and headed back to work. And as most of you can probably guess, I just had to do a little baby clothes shopping. I was pretty good this time though and only bought 2-3 outfits per child.



By now it was past nap time and the kids were getting fussy so we went home and I got about an hour of work done at the bead store before they woke up. By evening we got both babies down without too much trouble and started anticipating our day off tomorrow. Mom and Dad were taking the cubs overnight on Friday and I had a full day planned with Coit coming out to clean our air ducts and our cleaning lady coming out as well.

At this point Calista is the only one that seems to wake up in the middle of the night. She's usually chewing on her hand. We give her some teething medicine, replace her hand with her pacifier and back off to dreamland she goes. I want to add here how lucky we are that neither of our kids like the pacifier. This is the only time of day when Calista will take it. I'm grateful that I won't have to break them of that habit later.

Finally Friday has arrived! Ed and I are both looking forward to a relaxing night out to dinner then a quiet evening in front of the TV and I can get some beading done! However this entire plan goes out the window quickly when Coit calls at 7 a.m. to tell me that they need to reschedule our cleaning from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Alright, I can adjust to this, I'll just go get a mani/pedi before noon when Lizbeth gets here to clean the house at 12:30. Mom and Dad arrive to pick up the cubs around 10 a.m., we give them a quick something to eat and I get a bag all packed up for them, then they are out the door by around 11 a.m.

Now I know I'm cutting it close, but I think I can still get my mani/pedi done. After all this spa has gotten a mani/pedi done for me before in under an hour. This time however the girl is much more thorough, and all though it feels wonderful, I'm getting nervous because time is ticking away. They asked if I wanted a flower painted on my big toe, which I always get. But the guy that was doing them must have been new to it. He kept messing up and then having to clean the nail polish off and repaint my toe nail. ARGH! I'm going to be late for Lizbeth. I tried to call her but soon find I have her number in my phone incorrectly. Finally I tell the guy I'm just going to have to come back for the flower because it's now 12:30.

I race home to find a million messages from Lizbeth and a note on the front door that they were here at noon and have since left. Since I now have the correct number I gave her a call and we were working out a new time for them to come over. We get that all set up for Saturday instead and I have the silly notion that I can now go back to the spa and get my flower and manicure done. That's when the doorbell rings and it's Coit, an hour early!

By the time they get done it's almost 4 p.m. and I can finally go back and get my flower and manicure finished.

Meanwhile Ed's mom has called him and he has to drive her to the hospital to get a chest x-ray. That trip turns into a mess quickly with no one at the hospital knowing who ordered what and where they should go, etc.

Now it's 5 p.m. and we are both on our way to Outback to meet for dinner. We have a great dinner there and get home by around 7 p.m. By the time we get home though we are both pretty tired, neither of us feel relaxed at all and the only glimmer is that we get to sleep through the night. Which we did and did well!

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is planning too many things for a day that the kids are gone.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is those crazy baby noises. Who knows where they come from, just all of a sudden some sort of screechy, squealing sound will pop out of your child.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Kayleah Wilson

This is just a supplemental blog... something's I just needed to say.

Yesterday they found the body of a missing 12 year old Greeley girl in a drainage ditch.  The girl had been missing since the end of March.  I think most of us were hoping that she just ran away.  But with the down pour of rain we had this week, I think it might have unearthed a shallow grave, (this is just my speculation).  The body was so badly decomposed they didn't know if it was a boy or a girl, only that it was about the same age of Kayleah.

Today at a news conference at 4 p.m. the Greeley police department confirmed that it was in fact Kayleah.

I just can't stop thinking about her poor mother.  I can't even imagine that kind of pain.  I have a friend that lost her grandchild to a drunk driver.  When that happened I wasn't even pregnant yet, but I still felt such a huge loss for my friend.  But now, being a mother, I think it really puts things in perspective and gives you a deeper emotional response to things like this.  If something like this happened to my Calista or Alex I know I'd never be able to put it out of my head, it would be with me always....it gives me a chill to even think about it.  But how can you not admire the strength and courage of the mother that has lost a child, but still carries on to take care of her other child or children?  How do you not just go into a dark hole and never come out?  I guess they do it because they are women and they are mothers and this is just what we do.

Even though no one knows what happened to this little girl yet, I can only send these wishes out into the universe for her and her family.  I hope that she didn't have to suffer.  I hope that she wasn't terrified at the end.  I hope that her mother finds some way to carry on.  And I wish above all that they find some sort of peace to make it through this tragic time.

Tonight I hug my children just a little bit tighter and send healing thoughts to those mother's that can no longer do that.

Sunday Sewing Lesson

Sunday was Ed's turn to go and play for the day.  As usual he wanted to go play golf.  So him and my dad went off for a golf game in the afternoon.  The cubs and I however had some plans ourselves.  Off to grandma and grandpa's house so my Mom could teach me how to sew.

We got there in the afternoon, fed the cubs some baby food carrots, peas and a bottle then got them to sleep.  (They wore more than they ate I think).  Then armed with my bag of fabric and patterns I set out to learn this craft that has alluded me all my life.  I tried to sew once before on a very old machine, but after I ran 2 scrap pieces through they just fell apart on me and I gave it up.  But the idea of being able to make matching outfits for the cubs lured me back in.

We got the patterns cut out, pinned to the material, and that just took forever!  By the time I was ready to learn how to use the sewing machine the cubs were waking up.  But the timing did work out good since Dad and Ed arrived back from golf right about then.  So they were able to take care of the cubs while Mom showed me how to use her sewing machine.

My first piece is a pajama for Alex that is dark blue with red race cars on it from the Disney movie Cars.  Once I was shown how to thread the machine properly I really took to it.  I'm already hitting Ed up for a sewing machine for my birthday, (although I think he might have to go and shop with my mom so he knows what to get).  I got almost all of the pajama done except the legs and the snapping up the front and some sort of surging for the inside piece... not sure what that's about but I'm sure my mom will show me.

By now though it was time for dinner, Mom made a yummy roast for all of us and we sat with babies on our laps while we ate.  We were all sitting there talking when I guess Alex decided he wanted to be part of the conversation too and let out this scratchy screech.. just out of the blue.  We all had a good laugh about that one.

After dinner Alex and Grandpa were asleep in a recliner and we needed to get them home and off to bed.  All in all it was a really good day, it'll be hard to come up with a worst of motherhood for today.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is finding out that baby food carrots stain bibs.  My Mom found this out when she tried to wash the bibs she has at the house for them.  However I did hit mine with spray n wash before I sent them through the machine and it took out all the stains.

The best part of motherhood for this blog are those squeaky, screechy sounds from babies that just show up out of no where.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

4 Days of Blogging

Luckily there wasn't much that happened on these four days so I can somewhat get my blog caught up.

Weds. we were trying to get all settled back in from our trip.  Remember the poopy story?  Well mommy here went and put those poopy overalls of Calista's into the diaper bag.  So Weds. consisted of me pulling everything out of the diaper bag and washing it.  When I came back upstairs I found Calista on the play mat and she had discovered her toes!



Since it was snowy and cold out we didn't go anywhere, just stayed inside for the day and played on the floor.

On Thursday we attempted some #1 baby foods.  Alex was having a hard time figuring out what to do when the spoon approached his mouth, but caught on after that.  Calista figured out the spoon thing right away, but I think she is going to be my picky eater.  She made the most horrible faces with everything but bananas.  Alex loved everything!

I also had the great idea on Thursday to go to Joanne's to buy a pattern and some fabric so Mom could make me a shopping cart cover for the cubs to sit in.  However, Joanne's had all their McCalls patterns on sale for $1.99 and I just can't pass up a good sale... so I went a little nuts.  I bought a bunch of fabric and patterns and asked Mom if she could teach me how to sew.  Calista had such big smiles for all the ladies at the fabric cutting counter, they were all just ooooing and ahhhhhing over her.  Alex was getting a little grumpy and wanted to go home.  He's his daddy's boy when it comes to shopping.

Friday I needed to desperately get to Sprouts Market for some produce.  Mom and Dad were going to join me on this trip to help out with the cubs.  Problem was by the time Mom and Dad were free, the cubs were down for a long nap.  By around 3 p.m. they started to awaken though so we got them fed and ready and we all took off to Sprouts.

And by the way, I love this market!  Great prices on produce, lots of organic stuff.

Our first stop was Michaels for a couple things Mom needed, however I'm the one that walked out of there with a bag of goodies and not her.  I found these little wooden decal things, trees, butterflies, cars, clouds, etc. that I bought to stick up on the kid's bedroom wall to decorate. 

Once at Sprouts Mom and I did our shopping while Dad wheeled the cubs around aisle to aisle to keep them entertained.  Alex ended up falling asleep in the stroller for a while.

Friday night I attempted to stick all those cute little things up on the nursery wall.  It must be a heating vent issue or something, but all of Alex's fell down while Calista's stayed put except for one dragonfly.  So I need to come up with something different for that.

Saturday was mommy's day off.  I worked a little in the morning and then took off for the afternoon to see a movie.  I went to see the movie Babies because it had gotten such rave reviews.  And it was good, but I guess not what I was looking for.  I think when I go off on these little 'mommy outings' I'm looking for something to get lost in and mentally check out for an hour or two.  This movie didn't do that for me.

After the movie I came home and we had to pack the cubs up and take them to Target to get a birthday gift for Ed's mom and a graduation gift.  Another stop at Joanne's because I saw some fabric on my way out Thursday that was really patriotic that I thought would be really cute as matching outfits for the cubs on the 4th of July.  But I already had my cutting done and Alex had had enough so I didn't get it then.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is pulling a bone head move like placing poopy clothing into a diaper bag full of clean clothing.

The best part of motherhood for this blog was Calista and her great big smile for all the ladies at Joanne's.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Leaving Our Mark Across Colorado

Tuesday morning found the Edwards clan up early feeding babies and getting ready for the drive back home.  First things first, of course our little Calista had to get her poopy mess out of the way.  After Ed changed that diaper he held it up and said, "We should hide this in this room somewhere".  He is quite the character isn't he?  But without hiding it, that room was pretty ripe.  I went down to get a little of the free breakfast, biscuits and gravy, and when I walked back into the room I was just about knocked over from the smell.

We got ourselves put together and Ed loaded up the car.  Each time he walked back into the room he would make a face about the smell and then chuckle a little.  I found a way to entertain the cubs while we got ready with pillows and cartoons.

Ed didn't want the freebie breakfast from Holiday Inn, so we took the cubs over to Denny's.  They were just the hit of Canon City... as if no one in that town had ever seen twins before!  Everyone stared at them and one older lady actually came over to the table and asked to hold Calista so I could eat.  I'm a little leery of strangers holding my babies, so I thanked her and told her we were fine.  Ed ate his breakfast and I picked at a breakfast burrito, I wasn't that hungry since I had the biscuits and gravy at the hotel.  But while we were eating Calista all of a sudden discovered her tongue.  I had her in some little overalls with a kitty on them and she kept putting her tongue out to taste the overall and the buckles that held them up.  So I took a dab of sour cream on my finger and put it on that protruding tongue.  She seemed to like that so I tried the same with some ketchup.  Alex just fell asleep in his car seat.

Done with breakfast it was time to hit the open road again.  About the time we were hitting the winding road between Canon City and Colorado Springs I started not feeling so well.  At first I thought it was a bladder or kidney infection because I was having so much pain all up the right side of my back (and I had a small sign of blood in my urine the week before... I know, TMI).  So I told Ed that when we got back I was going to see if I could get into a Dr.  By the time we passed the military base I was in sad shape.  I pulled into the first gas station I could find and headed for the bathroom.  When I came back out I just wasn't up to driving anymore and handed the keys to Ed, very unusual for me... I always do the driving.

As we pulled away I told Ed that I smelled poop and figured it must be Alex's turn for a poopy diaper.  But by now we were back on the highway so we figured we'd just get it next stop.  We didn't make it too far before we had to pull over again, but it wasn't at a gas station.  Ed had to pull over on the side of I-25 so I could puke out the door.  He merged back onto the freeway and this time we made it to Castle Rock when I had him pull over again.  This time we made it to a gas station, well kind of.  We stopped at a Conoco station and I made a bee line for the bathroom while he put Alex in the driver's seat and got his diaper changed.  There were no changing stations in the bathrooms so this was our only option.  I was in the bathroom forever, not really queasy, but just not feeling good.  I heard someone trying the door and knew I couldn't stay in there forever so I left there.  I got sat down in the car again, shut my door and immediately opened it back up again and threw up all over their parking lot.  The only thing I can figure is that it was some kind of food poisoning either from the Holiday Inn or Denny's in Canon City.  After that I started to improve.

Back on the road again!  Ed informed me that Alex wasn't poopy, but I still smelled it.  A little ways up the road again we're looking for a place to pull over and check diapers and feed babies.  We found Larkspur and drove through the town to find the one gas station they had.  Yet another Conoco with no changing station.  We got out the bottles and Ed started feeding Alex while I put Calista on the passenger's seat to get her changed.  Alas I found the poopy baby.  It had leaked out the side of her overall outfit and gotten on the car seat.  So I'm attempting to get her outfit completely changed, looking at the temperature it's 40 degrees out and my poor girl is butt naked.  Which means I need to move quickly, however I'm hunched over trying to get her changed in the passenger seat of our car.  Ed and I were both so frustrated that these places don't have a changing station we decide to teach them a lesson and throw the poopy diaper away inside their establishment.  I walked in, there were about 3 tables there for people to sit down and eat and at the first table was a family of 4 eating lunch.  Right by the door was a waste basket and that's where I threw that smelly poopy diaper!  I walked back out to the car and Ed and I had a knowing laugh between us.

Back in the car I started feeding Calista who is now in her jammies and without thinking about the consequences the poopy overalls are now in the diaper bag.  Ed has finished feeding Alex and we have the heat going full blast trying to warm up the car.  That's when we heard Alex grunt then Frrrpttttt and we knew.  So Ed went and got the diaper bag back out and Alex got changed in the driver's seat of the car and into his jammies he went.  And where did that smelly poopy diaper go?  Yep same place and another satisfied chuckle between mommy and daddy.

Finally everyone is fed, changed and ready to go home.  We made it the rest of the way home without having to stop again for peeing, pooping or puking.

I think the twins would've slept all the way through had I not had to stop so often to get sick.  In the end though between the four of us, three of us left our mark on most of Colorado this day.  And Ed, who is usually so proud to do these disgusting things, didn't do anything but drive and stop at every exit along the way.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is idiots that own gas stations that don't put a changing station into their bathrooms.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is getting revenge on those gas stations by throwing out the poopy diapers in waste baskets that are next to where they are feeding people.  If they had any sense they'd realize that if I was able to change my child in a bathroom with a changing station I would throw the smelly diaper away in the bathroom.  But apparently common sense aludes them.

Babies First Road Trip

The start of this road trip was entirely dependent on what time the cubs woke up.  Our plan was when they woke up, get them fed, get them bathed and head out the door.  We had quite a drive in front of us to our first destination, Colorado Springs.  Once they did wake up we went into full swing.  Both babies were fed, bathed and dressed and we all made it out the door by about 10:45.  Record time if you ask me for getting twins ready.

We stopped off to top off the gas tank and get the ever important cup of Starbucks before we hit the open road.  Our timing seemed to be close to perfect, there wasn't much traffic and taking the E470 toll route is so worth the money!  We slipped by all of the mess of driving through Denver.

The twins were really good on our drive.  As babies do, they slept for most of the way.  We were going to stop in Monument to feed them, but since they were still being quiet we decided to just push on through to Colorado Springs.

Our first stop, time to meet their Great Aunt Lisa, my cousin Sara and I think this is right, their second cousin Jack.

Last time I saw Jack he was about 7 months old and I was just amazed at how big he's gotten!  He was really bashful around us, but he seemed to have a good time playing with his blocks and cars and such.  I don't know if he was too sure about these new little babies in HIS grandma's house, so he sort of kept his distance from them.  I hope that a year or two down the road the three of them will find great play mates with each other when we visit.

Auntie Lisa couldn't get enough of the little ones and always had one or the other, (sometimes both), on her lap.  She's already talking about coming out to our place next so she can get another 'twin fix'.  We had lots of hands to hold a baby or two in this house.

Calista decided that she wanted to show off her talking to her new found relatives and began her screeching.  It's a new sound she discovered and really sounds a lot like a Raptor from the movie Jurassic Park.  It had us all laughing at her.  Alex was a quiet little man for the most part, he did a few of his Ooooo's, but mainly just took everything in.

Our next stop was Canon City to meet their Great Grandma Conley.  We arrived in Canon City and got checked into our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, and then headed out to Great Grandma's house.  I did try to take Ed on a quick detour to show him the house my Grandpa Crites had lived in.  I knew that they had torn it down and rebuilt on the land, but I couldn't remember what street it was on.  So we just headed over to Great Grandma's house.

When we got there the cubs were still in really good spirits and full of smiles and giggles.  Great Grandma was amazed at how calm and happy our little cubs were.  We had a nice visit and Great Grandma got to hold both Alex and Calista (although we forgot to get a picture of her holding Alex).

By about 8 p.m. though they were getting pretty fussy and it was time to get them fed and put to bed for the night. We packed them up and went back to our hotel.  As Ed and I were carrying the cubs into the room a biker in the room next to us was just coming out of his room. He saw the two car seats and you could just see the look of pain on his face.  Made me chuckle though.

Now we had requested two cribs when I checked us in and was told that they only had one crib. And that crib was a JOKE! It looked like it came from a 1950's hospital ward with the mattress almost sitting on the floor. I'm calling it the back breaker. The other item they had was a play pen... each was an additional $10. I paid for the one crib and we figured we'd just put one cub in bed with us.  The other thing we discovered was that there was no fridge in the room.  This meant making formula on the fly in the night.  But we also had to go find some cooling system to keep Alex's medicine cold.  We ended up with a bucket of ice.

When I walked into the room I smelled smoke, but it wasn't over powering.  The entire hotel was supposed to be non-smoking.  We got the cubs fed, changed into some jammies and settled in for the night.  I went in to use the bathroom and was just about knocked over by the over powering smell of stale smoke.  It smelled like someone had left a dirty ashtray in there for a week.  So I put on some pajama bottoms and went to the lobby to complain.  I've read too many things about second hand smoke being linked to SIDS to want it anywhere near my babies.  The desk clerk did come up with some deodorizer and that seemed to clear up the smell in the bathroom.

At last we were all ready to go to sleep for the night.  We had Calista in the bed with us and poor little Alex in that old old crib.  But in the middle of the night we switched them up just to keep things fair.

Everyone else went to sleep rather easily, I however couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about that smoke and is it going to get my baby.  I think I fell asleep by midnight and they had us back up at 3 a.m.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is staying awake all night listening up for your baby breathing, afraid of SIDS.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is having my cubs meet family members.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

My First Mother's Day

Ahhhh... I finally get to celebrate this one! I waited so long to be able to celebrate this day and wanted it for so long and it's finally arrived. No longer would I get depressed on Mother's Day and want to crawl into a dark hole.


The day started bright and early, which was good because I had a day packed for myself. Alex had me up at 6:30 a.m. wanting to be fed. I had him downstairs in our big blue chair feeding him when I watched his little face turn bright red, a grunt and then you guessed it. For my very first Mother's Day my son shit on me. This is something that I hope to re-tell through the years to come until he's sick to death of the story and thoroughly embarrassed. I walked by the bedroom and yelled in to Ed that I needed him to get up and finish cleaning up Alex so I could go take a shower. He got Alex all cleaned up and then my little boy drifted back off to sleep, as if to say, "My work here is done".
Ed was going to make me breakfast in bed, but after that fiasco I was up, showered and dressed anyway. So he came looking for me with a plate of food and found me in the back bathroom doing my hair. He was somewhat disappointed I think because I wasn't waiting in bed for my breakfast... but it's the thought that counts.

Around 9 a.m. I set out for my Mother's Day off. Funny, I'm celebrating being a mother by not spending most of the day with my kids. First stop was a manicure and pedicure. Lucky I got in there early enough because the place really started to fill up after I got there. After that I raced over to the theater to meet my Mom for a movie. We saw How To Train Your Dragon and both of us really enjoyed it.

After our movie it was time to come back to the house to rescue Ed and Dad from being alone with the twins. They took off to go pick up Ed's Mom and Mom and I got the twins dressed and a little bite for them to eat before we left. We all met at Cafe Athens for our Mother's Day meal, man is that place tasty! Our only complaint was that it was too warm in there. Otherwise we had good food and a good time. The cubs behaved beautifully!

Once our meal was done Ed and Dad left to take Jo back to her place while Mom and I headed home with the twins. We then kicked into high gear getting ready for our trip and attempting to get our hotel room booked. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, but I would assume by now my family wouldn't expect anything less from me.

Even with the poopy morning, I had a wonderful Mother's Day.

And now a special note to my mother for this day. Thank you for all the help you give us, for shaping me into the person I am today and for your love and patience. You wrote on my card that I am doing an amazing job. I must give credit where credit is due; I couldn't be amazing without you. I had to learn it somewhere. I love you very much.

Now the worst part of motherhood for this day, although I did laugh about it (and still do laugh about it), it would have to be getting crapped on in the early morning hours when you were planning on going back to bed.

The best part of motherhood for this day was finally getting to celebrate it.

A Quiet Saturday

Saturday was so quiet, this will be a Twin Time Blogger Lite edition.

Ed and I were in a hurry to get as many chores done as possible Saturday.  We had Mother's Day on Sunday that was booked up and then we were planning the cubs first road trip to Colorado Springs to visit their Great Aunt Lisa, Cousin Sara and Cousin Jack.  Then on to Canon City to meet their Great Grandma Conley.

Ed had the yard to mow, I had laundry to get done and we still had to get gifts wrapped and cards signed.  Luckily the cubs were able to entertain themselves for a bit while we got these things done.

By late afternoon though I had to call Ed in to come and help me feed them since both were crying for food.  So he didn't quite get the lawn all raked up, but at least the grass was cut.

We were able to eat our dinner quickly and had a relaxing evening.

The worst part of motherhood for Saturday was attempting to pack for the babies, trying to figure out what all we would need, am I over packing? Am I under packing?

The best part of motherhood for Saturday was sitting on the floor playing with both the twins on their play mats.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

A Puddle in my Bra

Friday found me feeling a whole lot better and in better spirits to take care of the twins.  They awoke at 7 a.m. and we all had our breakfast and some play time.  I find if I really wear them out in the mornings they'll take a nice long nap in the afternoons.  And I needed them to be worn out and napping on this day since I had a housekeeper coming in at noon.  I found a terrific lady to clean my house, she's dirt cheap, brings her own cleaning supplies and does the most fantastic job of deep cleaning.  And I find it improves my mood a great deal to be in a clean house rather than sitting with a baby on my lap that I can't place down to get it done myself.

Calista played herself to sleep by about 11:30 and I just had Alex to wear down now.  He was on my lap and I was pretending like I was eating his neck, both of them just love that.  He was giggling and smiling away as I held him directly in front on me with my shirt gapping a little below him.  That's when he smiled and spewed a mouthful of puke directly down my cleavage.  I reached for the burp cloth to wipe him up first, then set him down to try and fix myself.  As I looked down my shirt I found a puddle of puke swishing around in my bra.  So I fastened Alex in his chair and went on the hunt for a new shirt, bra and wash cloth to clean myself up with.  There are many disgusting things that come with motherhood... sticky boobs has to be up there in the top ten I'd say.  After that incident though I was able to get him down.

Lizbeth showed up a little after noon and I was just getting Alex down, so the timing was perfect.  She cleaned the house from top to bottom while the kids slept and I got some work done.  All in all it was a really good day.  Ed got home around 4 p.m. and I headed off to the post office.  Since I got so much work done when Mom was here and during their nap time I decided to bag working in the bead store after that.

Alex was pretty fussy and ended up falling asleep in his play pen for a short time after his dinner.  And since Calista was in good spirits I decided I'd go ahead and get her bath out of the way.  That little girl loves her bath time!  She's somewhat startled when we first put her in her bath seat, but then when she unstiffens her body she gets a great big smile.

Alex woke up and was still really fussy, but he had to have a bath.  Once in the tub with daddy he calmed down though and I gave Calista a bottle during that time.  Then daddy and the twins played a game he invented called 'Frog Attack'.  It's a little stuffed frog that Ed uses to attack them, both the kids tend to grab onto the frogs arms and legs with this game and try to rip it apart.... (oh dear am I going to have some destructive children?).  Then it was time for the last feeding of the night, but Calista decided she wanted to sleep instead, so I put her to bed reluctantly.  I knew if she wasn't going to eat then we would be up in another hour to feed her.  Alex was still a little fussy man and we never could figure out why other than he was just getting over tired.  But we tried to put him to bed and he fussed so much that he woke Calista up.  So at this point Alex is down, but Calista is awake.  We fed Calista her left over bottle and down she went again, this time for the night.


By 9 p.m. mommy and daddy were able to climb into our clean bed in our clean bedroom for the night.  It was just heaven!  I had bought a new book on Amazon that had just come in, Making The Rounds With Oscar about the cat in the Rhode Island nursing home that goes in to comfort patients right before they die, as if he can predict death, and I was going to lay in bed and actually read!  It really is the little things in life for me.  I read 5 chapters until my eyes wouldn't focus anymore, how relaxing.

I also tried something new with Calista and her waking up in the middle of the night.  To date our routine had been she fusses, we go and give her some homeopathic teething medicine and a shot of tylenol and try to get her back to sleep.  None of that has worked and we always end up bringing her back to bed with us and I nurse her to sleep.  Last night though I gave her the teething meds, tylenol and then put her on her tummy to sleep.  She went right out.  I came back to bed and we set the alarm on my cell phone for 15 minutes and when that went off I kicked Ed, (he told me to), and he got up and put her back on her back to sleep.  And just like that, she slept through the night!

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is sticky puky boobs.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is that moment when the children area all tucked in and the entire house is quiet and you get a little mommy time to do something like read a book.

He Just Had To Share That Bug With Me

Alex is still sleeping through the night, so I think he has his sleeping down for good now.  Calista though is still waking up in the middle of the night with her teeth bothering her.  They both seem to wake around 4 or 5 in the morning, Ed and I feed them and they are really good about going right back to sleep.  Even if we put them down wide awake, they fall back to sleep.  Seems like they are both waking up around 9 a.m. these days, sometimes a little earlier.  But they are sleeping in long enough for mommy to get a shower and breakfast done.

Wednesday was a nice quiet day around here. The kids and I played on the floor for most of the day with play mats and rattles.

Ed took the day off to play golf, but he was up and out of here at the butt crack of dawn.  (Something that golfers and fisherman do that I never could wrap my head around.... getting up that early to go relax?  Why not just stay in bed and relax?  But that's just me).

Ed and I also made a deal so that I can keep a steady schedule at the bead store.  He gets home at 4:30 or so and I come back to the store and work with the door closed until 5:30.  It's just an hour, but if I can combine that with the 3 hours the cubs nap in the afternoon then it's at least a half day of work done.

However today I wanted to get out of the house instead.  When he got home around 4 p.m. I jetted out the door to the post office and then off to Target for a little shopping.  We needed mother's day cards and I wanted to replace the towel bars in my bathroom downstairs.  The current bars keep falling down, plus I wanted to get some nice decorative ones.  I got the mother's day gifts and cards, along with a huge supply of batteries for all the swings and chairs we have around here for the cubs.  Everyone should be proud of me, I passed by the infants clothing but didn't buy any.  However I did buy them a new toy.  Picked up some dinner at Cafe Athens in Fort Collins, (a wonderful place if you like Greek food!), then headed home.

Calista and Alex with their new toy
We got the twins bathed and dressed in their jammies for the night and headed downstairs to watch American Idol.  I'm not sure what it is, but Calista just loves Simon on American Idol!  She can be really fussy, and as soon as she hears him talking she clams up and all her attention goes to him on the TV.  Maybe it's the accent?

They went to sleep pretty easily and it was a normal night, I was asleep by 10 p.m..  That is until midnight when Alex's tummy bug hit me.  I was trying to decide if I took an anti nausea pill, if it would stay down or not.  I did get it down so that stopped the puking... but I still had the other unpleasant part of Alex's tummy bug.  At 2 a.m. Calista was up with her itchy teeth, then at 4 a.m. Alex was up wanting to be fed.  At 6 a.m. I was trying to figure out how I was going to take care of these two babies if I was stuck in the bathroom sick?  What else could I do, I called and woke my Mom up to see if she could come over.  Thankfully she did.  I had Ed go in late to work so he could help me in the morning, then Mom got here around 10 or so.  By about 9 a.m. I was feeling better, just sort of listless so I called to tell my Mom there was no hurry... but she had already left.

Alex however is starting to feel much better by now.  No more soupy poopy for him!

The other big event this week was starting Calista back up on some cereal.  They were both so fussy on it before I took them off of it and wanted to try later... it's later now.  She is doing great with it.  The first couple of bites she has to figure out what to do when the spoon come to her mouth.  But after that she opens up wide for that spoon.  It is a messy business getting that cereal into her, especially when she grabbed the spoon full of food from me.  Luckily I kept a wet wash cloth close by for periodical wipe ups.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is when the kids get sick, you get sick.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is watching how fast your children catch on to something, like eating with a spoon like a big girl.

Quick Trip to the Dr..... yeah right!

Monday found Alex still with a case of the soupy poopy's so it was time to take him to the Dr.  I was pretty sure it was just a stomach bug that they probably couldn't do anything for anyway, but better safe than sorry.

Now for you parents of singles a trip to the Dr. is not that big of a deal.  However any of you parents with multiples know the first thing you think of is, 'How shall I do this?  Put them in the stroller? Lug them up in their car seats?'.  There is no easy way... that is unless you have wonderful parents like mine that you can call at a moment's notice and ask if you can drop Calista off at their house so you can take Alex to the Dr.  And that is just what I did.

So the entire day was spent in the car it seemed, dropping one baby off, taking the other baby to the Dr., going back to pick up the first baby. 

Alex weighed in at 14.1 pounds and just as I suspected, he has a tummy bug.  There is nothing they can do for it and we just have to watch to make sure it doesn't go on for more than a couple of weeks.  And then the greatest news was that Calista, Ed and myself are probably going to come down with it as well, possibly Mom and Dad too.  But what are ya gonna do?  Kids get sick.

Tuesday was supposed to be a nice day off for Ed to go play golf and Mom was going to come over to help with the twins so I could get some work done.  I was really looking forward to getting some of these beads put away and up on the DJBeads site.  Then the entire day got shot to hell in about an hour.  It started with a weather forecast of 80 mph winds for Northern Colorado, there went Ed's golf game, which also meant my afternoon of help was gone too.  Next was a call from the assisted living facility that Ed's mom had fallen again.  In the next 2 hours we got yet another phone call that she had fallen again, that's 3 times in less than a week.  Amazingly enough she still had not broken anything!

The rest of the morning was a frenzy of phone calls to and from assisted living, paramedics and emergency rooms.  Her blood sugar was down to 31 and she was very close to a coma.  Long story short, turns out the assisted living facility 'accidentally' gave her a sleeping pill at 9 a.m. the day of the first fall and she was too groggy to eat and just never quite recovered from that.  They have since fired the person that gave her the incorrect meds.

Mom had called and heard it in my voice that I was in the dumps.  I guess I had the blues due to feeling rather isolated and just really wanting to get some work done and not being able to do that.  So they offered to come and get the cubs so I could work for the afternoon.  All in all, I really only ended up with about 2 hours of time to work, but it was enough to get me over the hump of my blues.  It also helped that I had a good chat with my buddy Sandy in the morning.  That broke the isolated feeling.

Since Mom and Dad took the cubs I said that I would make dinner and bring it up when we picked them up.  When Ed got home it was a race to get everything prepared and out the door with it.  But we managed to do it and only be a 1/2 hour late.  Since we didn't have the cubs with us we really had no excuse other than poor planning on our part.  We had a nice dinner with them and the cubs were very entertained with all their family around.


Alex with his new toy that Grandma & Grandpa bought them

We did get a late start out the door though, it was after 8 p.m. when we left.  Ed and I learned a very valuable lesson that night, never feed one baby and not the other.  We had fed Alex before we left and Calista didn't seem very interested in food, that is until we got her in the car.  That's when Ed got to take his first ride in the screaming express.  We made it just a little ways out of Berthoud when I finally pulled onto a little county road and found a little pull in to breast feed her.  She got a little something in her tummy and then she was fine the rest of the ride home.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is that trying to plan out a day is near impossible.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is still having enough breast milk to feed a screaming child in a pinch.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

May 1st, Alex Day

Saturday morning found Mommy and Daddy in very good moods!  Alex slept through the night for the first time.  Ed went around telling everyone... Eight Hours and Fifteen minutes.  We have declared May 1st Alex Day and were just overjoyed with our additional sleep.  Now if we can only get Calista to do the same we'd get a night's sleep around here.

Saturday was Mommy's Day Off, I thought the day would never get here!  I went to go see the movie The Back Up Plan.  I didn't have high expectations for it and it was a little bit better than I expected, but none the less, a nice diversion.  After that I did a little shopping at Bath and Body Works.  I just love this store!  They have a decent selection of aromatherapy products, and if you get the chance try the sugar scrubs.  My skin has never felt so soft.  After that I wandered over to the kitchen store and treated myself to an electric tea pot.  On the way home I realized that we should've bought one of these 5 months ago to warm the cubs bottles up in.

Saturday was another full night of sleep for Alex.  Calista however is waking up with her teeth hurting her, so our plan is to give her a shot of teething medicine, a shot of infant tylenol (the generic kind not the recalled kind), and then she ends up in bed with us while I nurse her a little to get her back to sleep.  This is the only time I'm nursing anymore so I can't imagine she's getting too much off of me.  Once she's asleep then we transport her back to her own little bed where she sleeps until morning (sometimes).

Sunday I told Ed he could go hit a bucket of balls since he watched the cubs on Saturday.  We had quite a few chores to do around the house, but managed to get most of them done so he could take off.  In the afternoon Alex was asleep on the floor while Calista was talking in my ear while I tried to watch a movie I had borrowed from Mom over a month ago.  Not being able to hear yet another movie/TV Show, when Ed got home I told him I wanted to go and buy a sound system for our upstairs TV.  So we packed up the cubs and headed to Best Buy where we actually ended up with a home theater system with a blu-ray.  It was cheaper than buying the amp and speakers.  I can finally hear the TV but Ed is not happy because I won't let him blast the sound on it and deafen the children.



A couple of other things happened this weekend too.  One, we got a call at 5 a.m. from the assisted living facility that Ed's mom is living at now that she fell getting out of bed.  She didn't break anything thank God.  That's the 2nd time I know of she's fallen and hasn't broken anything... amazing and very luck for her.

The other is that Alex started having diarrhea.  Poor little guy's bottom is just all red and he has some sort of stomach bug.

The worst part of motherhood this weekend is baby diarrhea.  You're afraid to turn the diaper even a smidge because it will just flow out.

The best part of motherhood this weekend is that first night that baby sleeps all the way through the night. 

A Trip to Costco

Thursday Mom and I were supposed to take a trip to Costco to sign up for a membership with the cubs.  I had let my Sam's Club membership expire because I just have such strong feelings about Walmart and the way they treat their employee's as well as their lack of philanthropy.  (If you'd like to get an eye opener watch the movie, "WalMart, The High Cost Of Low Prices").

Anyway, in Northern Colorado we awoke Thursday to a pretty heavy blanket of snow.  I decided that I wasn't going to take the cubs out in that so it ended up being a day at home.  The cubs and I had some play time on the floor with their play mats, but other than that it was a really quiet day.

Since we couldn't go to Costco on Thursday I called to see if Mom wanted to go on Friday instead.  I had to get diapers so it was no longer an option for me of what day I'd rather go.  Mom was able to go so I drove out to pick her up and away we went.  We don't have a Costco close by so it was about an hour drive, of course the cubs slept.

Once there we signed up for our membership with a cub in each cart and everyone walked by ewwwing and ahhhhing at them.  One lady however said they looked exactly alike.... I'm not sure about that?  You can tell they are related but they are not identical.

We started with each cub in their car seat/pod inside the shopping cart.  Then Calista started to get fussy so I put her in the big girl seat in the cart.  I strapped her in and had to hold her a little, but she seemed to enjoy the bird's eye view... so many colors and things to see!  Next Alex started to fuss so we tried him in the big boy seat and he took that for a little while, but in the end he decided that nothing is better than Mommy and Grandma's arms to carry you around the store.  Needless to say, both Mom and I had sore arms and shoulders after this shopping experience.

Once we finished our Costco trip we got them changed and ready for the ride home.  As soon as we got back to our house it was a race to get in the door and get some bottles made up.  So Mom heated up the water while I started grabbing babies.  We got them fed, changed, food put away and out the door we went again.  This time to the Post Office, it really is easier to have someone just sit in the car with them while I run in, so if I can find someone to do that I take advantage of it.  Meanwhile Calista was in the first stages of a meltdown.  Little did we know it was going to be a MAJOR meltdown!

That little girl cried and screamed and cried and screamed all the way to Berthoud.  We never did figure out what was wrong with her.  Once we got onto the main street in Berthoud she was so worked up that I had to pull over and take her out of her car seat and walk with her on the sidewalk.  She was crying so hard she started choking.  We got to Mom and Dad's house, got her out and she seemed to calm down... she just didn't want to be in that car I guess.

We had a nice time at Mom and Dad's, Ed met us there and we had pizza.  Then, as Ed says, it was time to deploy the fleet.  Which in Ed language means time to pack up the kids and head home.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog was that screaming express drive.  Hearing my little girl crying so hard that she's choking and I can't get that car pulled over fast enough.

The best part of motherhood for this blog was watching the kids eyes take in all the sights from the store.  It just seemed like their little brains were overloaded trying to take it all in.

Monday, May 3, 2010

A Quiet Day and a Work Day for Mom

Tuesday was a relatively quiet day around here.  The cubs followed the usual routine of being up at 2 a.m. for a feeding, then again at 5 or 6, then back to sleep until around 9 a.m.  I love this schedule because I'm able to get my shower done, bottles and formula made, breakfast eaten and a little work done at the bead store before they wake up.  That is provided, I don't fall back to sleep.

Weds. I planned a day of hard work for myself.  Setting up for the twins to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the day.  First stop was getting the cubs ready.  I walked into the nursery and about fell over!  Yep, somebody made poop!  I got the first poopy diaper changed, took that little baby upstairs for the day and came back to start on the other little baby.  Still smelling poop though... sure enough, the 2nd little baby made poop as well.  Ed had taken the day off to go play golf and it took him 3 tries to walk through the door of the nursery.  But once all the babies were changed and fed my next task was to get the car all loaded up, these cubs come with a ton of baggage!  Chairs, blankets, diaper bag, toys, play mats, etc. etc.  But we finally met G&G at Target in Loveland for the switching of the cars.  It's just so much easier to switch cars since the car seat bases are already strapped down in my car.

We did the car switch and I barely got across the road when I realized that my garage door opener was in the other car.  Since I don't carry a key to the house I had to call Mom and Dad and get turned around to go back and get the opener.  Since I was already turned around and I was cub free.. why not stop and do a little shopping at Target?  So I wasted an hour there, but it was a good mental break for me.  I bought a great picture frame for Ed's mom for Mother's Day and a few other items.

Then break time was over... I needed to get the day started working!  I had a ton of Cabochons and Beads to get put away and restocked during my break from the babies.

I worked until 5 p.m. or so and then we went to meet Mom and Dad at Carino's for dinner with the cubs.  They were really good during dinner and just started getting fussy towards the end of our meal.

Once home though, that was another story!  I went to take Alex out of his car seat, he was in the cutest little short outfit with a fire truck on the front.  But as I lifted him out I suddenly felt the oozing.  I can only assume that Mom and Dad thought it would be funny to give him a laxative before they handed him back to us.  It was all over me, him and anything that came near him.  So I got him on the changing table and started striping him down, then I let Ed take over so I could go and jump in the shower.  Once Alex was cleaned up a bit and striped down as well Ed handed him to me in the shower.  This was his first shower and he really seemed to enjoy it.

Later I discovered a very poopy car seat as well.  I took a chance that the insert to that was washable and threw it in the washer with a ton of bleach.  There was poop clear up to the head rest, which I can only assume happened as I was lifting the child out.  I let the car seat inserts air dry on our treadmill, (might as well use it for something right?), and they cleaned up very nicely.

Now we have clean baby and clean mommy... all is right with the world again.  As Ed was taking Alex out of the bathroom all bundled up in a towel I looked at him and asked, "Did you enjoy that shower Alex?"... to which he chuckled with a 'Ka Huh', that made both me and his dad laugh.


The worst part of motherhood for Tues. and Weds. was being the unsuspecting parent that lifts the poopy child out of a car seat and gets it all over him/herself.

The best part of motherhood for Tues. and Weds was a little Alex chuckle.