If It Ain't The Kids, It's The Cats!

Thursday when Ed and I went to the store one of the items we needed to pick up was formula.  In fact it's rare we go to the store and don't pick up formula.  On this occasion I happened to spot a different can that stated it was for Night Time Feedings.  Well sign me up!!  We bought a small can of it to try and it's been a disaster ever since.  Alex has had the roughest time with this stuff and Calista has been fussy ever since.  It took us forever to get the kids to go down.  The middle of the night feeding was just as bad with Alex crying out like someone was stabbing him in the gut.  So product review on that... Don't Do It!

But before the formula nightmare we decided to try going out to eat again with the kids.  This time we asked Mom and Dad to join us at where, you guessed it, Chili's.  Chili's seems to be the only place that comes to mind when I think of a place easy to take the little ones to.  They were all dressed up and ready for their evening on the town and were relatively good, that is until the food came.  Alex was the first to start his fussing, so Ed got the waiter to bring us a nice hot container of water to warm up his bottle in while I took him to the bathroom to change his diaper.  The bathroom at Chili's was like ice and Alex was none too keen on that and pitched quite a fit in the bathroom.  Once he was back in the warmth though he calmed down and Ed fed him.  Right about that time Calista started her fussing, so I repeated this with her.  She had the same reaction to the cold bathroom and let out some screams.

Grandpa with a well behaved Alex, before our dinner came.

We got back to the table and Mom and Dad ate their food while Calista and Alex ate their food and Ed and I stared at our delicious hamburgers just sitting there waiting for us to take a bite.  Calista decided that she really didn't want to eat after all so Mom and I took turns rocking her in her car seat while we ate.  Alex calmed right down and just sat in his car seat while Ed and Dad took turns talking to him.

We had two more missions to complete before we headed home.  Go to Target to get more diapers and teething pills for Calista and then off to Carters to buy some new pajama's for Calista.  Target went well, Calista fell asleep half way through the store and Alex was quiet.  At Carters they were both really good too, until we got towards the end.  Calista had had enough of this shopping thing, so I wrapped up my shopping and we high taled it out of there.

I then took a ride home on the Screaming Express.  That little girl cried all the way home!  In fact at one point I called Ed who was driving behind me with no screaming children in his car so he could share my driving experience with me.  He didn't care to and the phone call was a short one.

The plan was once we got in the door I'd take Calista downstairs and nurse her while he got Alex set up with a bottle and we'd just unload the car later.  The plan went off smoothly and they were both down by 9:30.  We forgot about the car and just went to bed ourselves.  Good thing because they were back up again at 1 a.m. still very fussy and screaming from that awful formula we gave them.  It took us over an hour to get them settled and back into bed.  At around 2:15 I think it was we were trying to get back to sleep ourselves when the cats started in.  Lucy and Leo were scratching on boxes, doors, cabinets, anything they could find.  I think our kitties have had enough of not being the center of our universe anymore.  Mental note: Must find some time to pet a cat or two each day.

The worst part of motherhood is having a crying hungry child in your car and no way to take care of him or her until you get to your destination.  Not only is it deafening, it also makes you feel like a bad mother for having a hungry child in the first place.

The best part of motherhood is getting to dress up your children.  I'm just going to hate it when they decide what they want to wear and I can't dress up my little dolls anymore.

Misbehaving Children... not my little angels of course!

Friday the cubs woke up in such a good mood I decided it was time to introduce them to a restaurant. I called Ed and offered for him to take us out to lunch and he accepted. By 11:30 we made it out the door and were on our way to pick up daddy from work, then off to Chili's for lunch. We had a nice big booth and put the cubs on the inside of the booth and they were just little angels. Nice and quiet, no fussing, Alex did a little flirting with our waitress; (it starts already!).

Now our children were very well behaved, but the clan that was sitting behind me were little monsters! Directly behind me was the mother, and little boy around 4 or so whose name was Bobby and a girl around 7 or 8 I'd say. Well Bobby just had to keep turning around and checking out Alex in his car seat hovering over my child with his snotty nose and sticky fingers. When they were hovering over Alex they must have been doing acrobatics in the booth because my seat was being jolted constantly. After about 4 times of Bobby turning around in his seat to hover over Alex the mother joined him and said with a laugh, "Sorry, he just loves babies". I gave her a look of not being amused then turned to Ed and said out loud, "I don't care what age our children are Ed, they will not behave that way in a restaurant". Later on Bobby realized that Calista was with us too and exclaimed, "Look Mom, they have two babies!”

After lunch I went into the bathroom to wash my hands and get ready to leave and there they all were. But what struck me is that the mother had Bobby, the child that looked to be about 4 years old, on the changing table and putting a diaper on him. I was wondering if the child was mentally challenged or something, but then I thought back to the comment of 'Look Mom, they have two babies'. Sorry, but I think this was just laziness on the part of the parents and potty training. So in the end I guess I feel sorry for Bobby.

Saturday brought Ed's relief day since he watched the cubs with my Dad last week so I could have a craft day. Alex decided he didn't care for what I was wearing and proceeded spit up a huge glob, which because of how I was holding him landed squarely on my crotch, thus making it look like I had pee'd myself. So I had to change myself and him. Amazingly though, he had hardly any of it on him. The cubs were pretty good for most of the day, Alex and I watched the movie Bolt on our Netflix account while Calista slept. Then I watched The Proposal with Calista while Alex slept. By the time Ed got home though my nerves were fried! Ed ended up being a little grumpy because as he put it, 'For the last two days when I walk through the door you give me a look like I killed your cat'. I had to explain to him that it's not him, my nerves are just raw. It seems like Calista has turned her screaming volume up a notch or two lately and I just don't know what to do for her. Along with that, I think most parents get a little bit of a break when their kids take a nap or fall asleep. My kids however don't ever seem to sleep at the same time, so I perpetually have a baby in my arms. This means of course that I can't get a dishwasher loaded, load of laundry done or folded, or any work done at the bead store. These are the things that make me frazzled I guess.

Time for the best and worst of motherhood.

The worst part of motherhood is trying to get the sleep timing just right with twins. On one hand you want them to sleep at the same time, but on the other hand, if they do that means they'll wake up at the same time and both will be screaming for food at the same time. It's a no win situation.

The best part of motherhood is when your babies wake up in a smiling happy mood.