Thank Goodness for the Cat!

My two issues for this blog are containment and socks.... how do you keep either of them?

The other day I had to go and change both babies and put them down for a nap.  Since Alex is the clever fellow that learned how to open our makeshift gate I decided to take him down first.  I got him downstairs only to discover a massive poopy diaper that was going to take a little time cleaning up.  No worries, Calista was safe upstairs in the living room, all gated off, and I could hear her playing.  I began my duty of cleaning up Alex's dooty and at the end I happened to notice that it was quiet upstairs.  Then I heard a strange noise.  I grabbed up Alex and ran the bottom of the stairs half expecting to see Calista peering down at me, but she wasn't there.  So I ran back to put Alex back in his crib for safe keeping and hurried upstairs to get Calista.  Imagine my panic when I got to the top of the stairs and found the gate open and no sign of Calista!  I raced through the upstairs looking for her when I heard a squeal of delight from the bathroom.  She had chased Leo into the bathroom and had him cornered.  When I got there Leo just gave me a terrified look as if to say, "Nobody told me those things were going to be mobile!".

Lucky for me Leo lured her into the bathroom and not down the stairs.  Our current protocol for taking care of one baby and leaving the other one upstairs is to put the remaining baby into the jump-a-roo for safe keeping.  That is until our new gates arrive.

After their nap and some lunch I took them on a quick adventure to the bank and then they both got haircuts at Lollilocks.  I just love that place, they are so good with kids.  Both babies did good getting the haircuts, although the stylist attempted to use the shaver on Alex to shape up his hair a bit.... I'm afraid she might have pushed her luck on that one.  He bawled for about 2 minutes until I picked him up out of the chair.  Then he was all smiles and making his new sound Grandma taught him, (running his finger over his lips making a bbbbbbbbb sound).

My other issue I'd like to touch on for this blog is socks.  How in the world do you keep them on their feet?  If they aren't taking their own socks off then they are pulling each other's socks until they pop off.  I bet I spend a good 1/3 of my day just putting socks back on little feet.  You know the commercial with the guy that is dipping his son's feet in the plaster so they are form fitting socks?  Well I'm beginning to think he's actually on to something.

Today was a fairly low key day.  I'm trying them out on more and more solid foods.  This morning they got a tray full of Cheerio's and a jar of baby food bananas.  For a snack they shared a yogurt before nap time and I learned the lesson of not trying to feed them something like yogurt without them being in a high chair.  Calista's hair was plastered to her head with yogurt, not to mention the yogurt bath I was taking with them smearing their mouths all over mommy's sweats and shirt.

When they got up from their nap and we finished up lunch I decided that a bath was in order.  So I turned on Dinosaur Train for Alex to watch in his highchair while I whisked Calista away for a bath.  I think I might have caught her off guard since she wasn't quite as squirmy as usual.  Most of the time it's like trying to dress a grizzly bear in pajama's with feet.  Once she was done I put her in the jump-a-roo and got Alex all bathed.

I did notice today that Alex's rash from the Petechiae is starting to look really bad again.  I've got a phone call into the Dr. to see if they want to do a blood draw sooner to see where his platelet count is.  Judging by the rash I'd be really surprised if it was above 25,000 right now.

After bath time I waited for their hair to dry and then packed them up for a trip to Target.  I bought them some new shoes and returned a toy they got for their birthday that was really cute, but quite working within 5 minutes of use.

The only other eventful thing that happened was yet another baby containment issue this evening.  We have the downstairs set up with the play pen being used as a gate between the couch and the utility room closet.  However the closet doors are not flush with the carpet so Calista has found that she can dig her little fingers into a seam in the cement and get out dirt to eat.  So we took the vacuum to it and got it all cleaned out.  Well tonight I found a little piece of cement in her mouth that had broken off from that seam, it was about half the size of a dime... plenty big enough to choke on.  So we devised another barrier with my crafting table.  I was able to slide it into the side of the utility closet so we can slide it back and forth to the couch.  Now she can't even get to the utility closet.... for a while at least.

Every time we see her pushing on a gate or just staring at it we joke that she's like the raptors in Jurrasic Park.  "You can see she's working the problem"... then when she breaks through the gate... "Clever Girl".

Ok... best and worst.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is constantly putting socks back on their little feet.  I want to give up and just let them play with the socks, but then they crawl over to me and their little feet are so cold.  The sock battle must continue.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is a tray full of Cheerio's that they can feed themselves.  Their independence is going to be a double edge sword I'm sure.  How will it be when they don't need me anymore?  However, them doing things on their own is really a wonderful thing.

Calm that child!

Today was a fussy day for Calista.  I'm not sure if I mentioned before or not, but she's already cutting teeth and she just really had a tough time with it today.    She woke up at 5 a.m. then went back to sleep for about an hour.  I tried and tried to get her down for some kind of a nap today, but she just kept screaming out in pain.

Since it was bath day anyway, I figured I'd give them both their bath to see if that would calm her down at all.  Amazingly enough, it did!  But before bath time I had her half way undressed and her and Leo, our littlest cat, found a new game to play.  Both the cubs would kick on the side of the play pen and Leo decided whatever that protruding thing was, it needed to be dug out.  But after bath time she fell asleep in the play pen in the office and I attempted to get some work done while Alex slept in his swing.  Of course Leo had other idea's.  He thought it would be fun to continue the game.  So while Calista slept Leo dug and dug at the side of that play pen, shaking it all over the place.  Once I chased him away from that he tried to crawl into the swing with Alex.  It was a no win situation for me.  There was no way they were going to let me get any work done today.

So after their afternoon feeding I packed them and the stroller up in the car and we adventured out to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Berthoud.  It was the first time they've been there and needless to say, both Grandparents seemed to enjoy parading them up and down their street.  I did forget the camera today so I don't have a picture for the day.  But if you're on my Facebook page I'll be uploading a video of Leo and the cubs in the crib and their 'Little Game'.

When I got them home it was a race to get dinner done while they were still asleep in the car seats.  We almost made it and the rest of the night was about par for the course.

So the best and worst for the day.

The worst part of Motherhood today is a teething baby that you just can't console.

The best part of Motherhood today is when that child finally calms down and you just hope they feel a little better.