A Week of Milestones

First I'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy 4th weekend.  We were very low key here for the fourth of July.  The cubs were in bed by 8:15 and Ed followed them directly after by being in bed by 8:30 himself.  This left me up alone until midnight working on the matching Fourth of July outfits that wouldn't be completed until July 5th.  Oh well, I guess they can still wear them and look cute.  I'll see if I can get some pictures of them in these outfits for my next blog.

So our week in review!  Tuesday we saw the emergence of 2 teeth in Calista's mouth.  The two bottom teeth just sort of appeared out of now where.  We learned a game of peek a boo with either baby can cause buckets of squealing laughter that has a tendency to get adults laughing just as hard if not harder.

Wednesday the cubs officially turned 7 months old.  I did my best to get pictures, but both babies were more interested in grabbing for the camera than holding still for a photo shoot.

This week also found them almost sitting up by themselves.  I can set them down on the floor between my legs and they need little or no support from me and are able to keep themselves upright.  The crawling/scooting is also coming along.  So much so that Ed and I now have our baby gates and are all ready for the big crawling moment.

Thursday ended up being my day out and I went to go see The A-Team with Mom and Dad.  It was the 2nd time I'd seen it and the first for them.  I think they enjoyed it and it was better than I expected.  In fact it's one I'll be putting on my Blu Ray wish list when it comes out.

Friday was a shopping adventure with Mom and the cubs.  We were up, fed, bathed, dressed and out the door by about 9 a.m.  Not to bad for twins if I do say so myself.  We stopped at the bank then went for some Mom juice (a.k.a Starbucks), but there was a line for the drive thru clear out to the curb.... so I had to go caffeine free (a fate worse than death!).  Then we met Mom and JoAnn Fabrics.  They had their McCall patterns on sale for $.99 and I'm really starting to have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine.  I love to try these new patterns, but I hate it when I can't get them right.  But I keep practicing and reminding myself that when all my friends in high school were in Home Ec. I was in Auto Shop.  I think it was probably easier to learn this stuff at a younger age.

Anyway, we toodled around JoAnn's for quite a while and then took the stroller through the shopping mall there in Loveland.  We stopped at a couple of clothing stores, Ross and Marshalls where I found some really cute bath toys for the kids.  Both of them are getting really grabby in the tub, so some bath toys were in order.  These are little sea animals that squirt water when filled up.  The kids hands are not quite big enough to go around them or squeeze water out, but they sure do love looking and grabbing at them while in the tub.

By now it's noon and I was starting to get hungry, so Mom and I decided to head over to Panera for lunch.  Since I hadn't expected to be out that long I hadn't packed any baby food for the kids, whoops!  However, Panera sold some Yogurt in a tube and Mom and I, each holding a baby on our lap, squeezed yogurt into their mouths.  I had Alex and I think he wore more than actually made it into his tummy.  We each tried our soup on them as well, they didn't care too much for Mom's tortilla soup, but my Clam Chowder was a huge hit.  They also had a taste of a yogurt smoothie in both Black Cherry and Mango flavor which they liked.  Luckily I did have a change of clothes for Alex since he was not just damp from food spillage, but the kid was actually gooey from head to toe!  Calista was a little cleaner so she got to stay in her outfit.

After lunch we made a quick run into Staples so I could pick up a few office supplies for DJBeads.com and our shopping day was finally at an end.

Saturday turned into a moving day as we tried to clean out Ed's mom's house so she could get it put on the market.  We made a very small dent in what needs to be done and I'm sure I'll be spending at least 1 day a week over there in the near future.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is being a Mom out and about town and forgetting something like baby food.  When you realize you've done it you have such a DUH moment and think to yourself, 'even if I didn't think we'd be out this long I still should have put some in the bag just to be prepared for the unexpected'.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is the hilarious game of peak a boo we played with the kids this week and how hard it got them both laughing.  If I can I'll get the video posted on Facebook to share with you all.  Should bring a smile to your face.

A Busy Day That Ended with a Very Tired Little Girl

This morning started out with Calista waking up first.  They both wake up so happy these days, when they lift their heads up from the crib and spot you, you get the most wonderful toothless smile.  I changed Calista and gathered her bath items, bibs and clean burp cloths and headed upstairs for our breakfast.  This morning I decided to try the Peaches and Rice Cereal on them.  For the life of me I don't understand it, while I was pregnant me big craving was peaches.  We couldn't keep enough of them in the house!  But this little girl wants nothing to do with them.  She took a little taste and wrinkled her nose right up at those peaches.  Before I could decide what to feed her next I heard Alex on the monitor, so I went downstairs and gathered him up with bath items as well.

Now Alex ate his peaches and rice cereal.  He wasn't his usual 'shark' about eating them, but he ate them.  I dug out a jar of banana's for Calista and she gobbled them right up.

After breakfast it was bath time.  Since Calista is rolling all over the place these days the only way I can do bath time by myself is to leave her in her highchair or put her in the play pen downstairs while I bath Alex.  I gave Alex a quick bath and got him dressed in his shark shirt.  But before I could get a picture snapped of him in it he puked peaches up all over it.  Then he went down on his play mat in the living room while I grabbed Calista, striped her down and gave her a bath which she really enjoyed.

Then we were all off and running.  First stop was mother's little helper, my friend Starbucks for a nice big cup of 'Go Juice'.  Then off to Grandma and Grandpa's to say good bye to their English friends Mac and Nicol, pick up some patterns that I had left there and see if we could get one of them to go with us to the grocery store to pick up baby food.

At Grandma and Grandpa's they had a quick lunch of green beans on the patio outside.  I'm not sure how it happened, but I think Calista got a little sunburn on her face, just on one side of course.  She's not screaming about it, so it must not be too bad.

After lunch we loaded the kids up in the car and I followed Mom and Nicol the King Soopers in Loveland, where they apparently have an IQ requirement of below 50 to work there.  I was already in a rush since it was 12:30 and Jessica was supposed to be at the house by 1 p.m. to work in at DJBeads.  I left a message on her cell phone that I would be late and started on the power shop.  We had three carts for this little adventure.  Mom had one with no one in it, Nicol had one with Calista in it and I had one with Alex in it and mountains of baby food.  Once up at the checkout stand though I noticed that my carton of milk was leaking all over my bags.  So when I reached the cashier I told her I needed a new milk, she then handed it to the bag boy, Micah who proceeded to argue with me that the milk was not leaking.  I told him that my bags where the milk was sitting were all wet with a white liquid so it must be the milk.  And off he went with the leaking milk.  About this time I find out that Calista is throwing a fit on the other side of the store with Mom and Nicol, so I tell the checker that I'm in a hurry and to just forget the milk.  She says Micah will be back in a minute with it, so we wait.  I tell her again after a few minutes that I really have to go and to forget the milk and she says, 'Oh wait there he is'.  I looked over and if this guy was moving any slower he would've been walking backwards!  And to top it off, he has no carton of milk in his hands.  ARGH!!!  I just want to give this woman my money and walk out the door with my groceries, is that too much to ask?

Finally rung out I get to the parking lot with the three carts, Mom and Nicol and my groceries.  We get Calista in the car and when I go to the other side to put Alex in the jerk parked next to me parked so close that I can't even get my car door open.  So I have to back my car up into the middle of the isle, park it and go and put Alex in.  I don't know what I would've done if Mom and Nicol hadn't been there to watch Alex while I moved the car.

For all you childless people out there, or those that have children older and don't remember, this is my plea.  If you're parking next to a car and you see the car seat bases in the back seat... please remember to give us enough room to get that huge car seat in through our door.  If you don't I can't promise you won't come back to a vehicle side full of dents.

Finally done with our adventure and heading home.  I get in the door and Jessica is back in the office working away on 6,000 4mm Aqua Pearls... bless her nimble little fingers!  I raced through the house changing diapers and getting 2 bottles ready.  Alex got fed first and I figured he would be really tired, but I put him in his crib and he just talked to the walls all afternoon.  Calista got fed and you could see she was really drowsy, so she moaned a little in her sleep, but ended up sleeping almost 4 hours!

Alex on the other hand just wouldn't go to sleep.  I came upstairs to put our new Variety Packs together to ship out and just kept hearing the talking mixed with fussing.  I ended up going downstairs and got on my knees next to Alex's crib and just patted him on his behind and rubbed his back for at least a 1/2 hour.  Only when I heard snoring did I feel ok to leave and go back to work.  But he only slept for about an hour.  Once he was up I gathered him up to go to the post office, Ed got home and took over listening for Calista and Jessica finished up the pearls.  Everyone had a job to do.

At the post office Kari got to see Alex for the first time in about 3 months.  She came out from behind the counter to hold him.  He sent her home with a little reminder of himself with some slobber on her postal uniform.

Back home after that, Ed fed Alex while I wrapped things up in the office with Jessica.  We made our dinner and ate all while Calista slept away.  When she did finally wake up we fed her and made it downstairs by 8 p.m.  I had Calista tonight and she thought it was a ton of fun to yank at my hair.  She was standing up on my lap facing me and proceeded to grab at my hair and pull back as if she were throwing handfuls of confetti.

I was worried that because she slept so long she wouldn't go down at 9 p.m.  But she started dosing in my arms and went right to sleep for me.

After they were both down Ed promised me he'd give me 15 full minutes of folding laundry.  He gave me 3 minutes then started playing with his phone and complained asking how much longer he had.

Once he went to bed I have the house to myself and worked on a little bit of sewing.  I'm making a romper outfit for Calista that is pink with butterfly's all over it.  At this point I have the piece all put together, it's just the finishing touches, (i.e. hemming that I really suck at by the way), that is left to do.

So the worst part of motherhood today was having an idiot park too close to my car so that I can't get a car seat through my back seat door.

The best part of motherhood today is those big toothless grins when the cubs see me first thing in the morning.

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.

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.

A Busy Monday

There were a ton of tasks to get done on Monday so we hit the road rather early.  The twins got up around 9 a.m. which allowed me to get a few more things done around the house like laundry and formula made up.  But even with them getting up at 9, it was still after 11 before I got out the door with them.  Calista had not finished her breakfast so there we all were, babies in car seats and ready to walk out the door and she is just screaming away.  So I put everything on hold and made her a quick 3 oz snack, kneeled down on the floor and fed that to her while the Alex waited patiently in his car seat.

However even in the car she was still a screamin demon, that is until the car started moving, instantly asleep!  I swear the person that could bottle the motion of a car that puts babies to sleep will be richer than Bill Gates.

Our first stop was the Post Office.  There was just not going to be an easy way to do this, so here is how our simple trip to the Post Office went.  Pull into the parking space, unload the stroller from the trunk, set the stroller up.  Get the first cub out of the car seat by undoing the two straps and buckle and then into the stroller and search for the 5, (yes count them 5) straps to tie them in.  Go around to the other side and get the second cub, again undoing all the snaps and buckles, then put second cub in stroller and again search for the 5 straps to tie that cub in.  Grab bucket of mail and walk 10 feet into the Post Office.  Shipping packages  and checking PO Box consumes approximately 5 minutes of time.  Then walk the 10 feet from the Post Office back to the car.  Undo the 5 straps that are holding the first cub in place in the stroller, place that cub into car seat and redo the 2 straps and buckles for the car seat.  Walk around to the other side of the car and repeat process for the second cub.  Lastly, do battle with the stroller to get it collapsed again and stuff it back into the trunk of car.  Total time inside Post Office, 5 minutes.  Total time required to spend 5 minutes in Post Office, 30 minutes.

Next stop was the grocery store and I certainly didn't want to repeat having to drag that stroller out again.  My plan was to put which ever baby was sleeping in their car seat inside the shopping cart and put the other baby in the baby seat of the shopping cart.  Alex was the sleepy one so he got to ride inside the cart.  Calista did pretty well in the baby seat of the cart, although she's still a bit small for it so I had to hold her throughout the store.

After this Mom deserved some Starbucks, plus they were getting a little fussy so a bit of a drive would calm them down I figured.  After Starbucks I was in desperate need of some shampoo from Aveda Ten Salon.  Again I didn't want a repeat of the stroller incident so I decided I would just carry both car seats, (or as Ed calls them, Pods), into the salon with me.  The door into the salon was a pull open and not a push so I had to put one cub down, pull the door open and hold it with my foot, then work both pods in through the door.  Once inside a girl behind the counter came over to ask me if I needed any help finding anything.  I told her no I was just getting the shampoo.  So I placed the bottle of shampoo in with Alex and then hauled the two pods over to the counter.  It's worth mentioning here that there were 3 girls behind that counter and I was the only customer in the lobby.  They rang me up and asked if I wanted a bag.  I said that actually I did if it had a handle on it since I had the two babies to carry as well.  She hands me my bag and then those 3 girls watched as I went to the door and struggled to get myself, the bag of shampoo and my two babies back out the door.  Not one of them came over to even hold the door open for me!  Suffice to say they have lost my business.

By this time it was getting to be 12:30 and I knew that Alex was probably going to want to eat by 1:30.  Since Calista had a snack before we left I figured she'd be okay for a little while longer.  Then came the question, should I press my luck and go to Carters to buy some pants for Alex.  The poor kid really needed them, all he seems to have is shorts and jeans.  I wanted something of a sweat pant material for him to wear.  I decided to go for it rather than have to pack them all up again tomorrow to complete this mission.  This time I did take the stroller as there was no way I would be able to shop and carry both pods.

I knew I had to be quick, and quick I was.  I managed to drop $60 in a matter of about 15 minutes, but at least Alex now has some comfy pants to wear.  By the time I got to check out Alex was just starting to fuss, so I timed it pretty well.  We took the screaming express home and once inside the garage I raced in and started up a bottle for him.  After a little food for both of them all was right with the world again.

By around 4 p.m. they were both pretty worn out and fell asleep on the floor.  It was perfect timing so I could get dinner started and finish some work at DJBeads.com.  Ed got home and was able to mow the lawn.  Then just as I finished up cooking dinner and we're ready to eat they both woke up.  So we fed them and had ourselves a luke warm dinner.

Calista fell asleep with her bottle in her mouth for her 8 p.m. feeding and Alex was right behind her, so we never got baths done last night.  Tonight they will get baths though.

Calista's teeth are bothering her so much right now, by 11:30 Ed brought her into bed with us.  The bad part about that is that I was having a hard time falling asleep and by 11:30 had just started to doze off.

By 2 a.m. they were both up and wanting to be fed.  I can't wait for these 2 a.m. feedings to be done!

The worst part of motherhood on Monday was how many different steps you have to take just to get a 5 minute task done.

The best part of motherhood on Monday was the cubs sleeping in the afternoon so we could get something's done around the house.

A Day with Grandma and More Firings

Thursday my Mom came over to help me out with the cubs and the DJBeads bead store.  When she got here I already had Calista bathed so it was Alex's turn for a bath.  Mom took that on so I could weigh out a huge Delica bead order.  From the sounds in the bathroom I think they both had a lot of fun.  I got over by the bathroom door just in time to see Alex let loose and pee all over the bathroom and Mom.

After bath time they were good little babies and took a nice nap for us and I was able to run out to the store really quick to get a few things.  And drop off that monstrous Delica order at FedEx to ship.  I needed to be back by 2 p.m. because as you remember I had to reschedule the Air Duct Cleaning people, American Air Duct since they were a no show on Tuesday.  This time the guy showed up a little after 2 p.m.  I'd first like to point out that I find it ironic that the company is called American Air Duct, however they are all Russians that run the company, but okay, whatever.  So I go through the house and show this little guy all our vents and registers, then we get down to the basement where the furnace is and I can't get the stupid doors open on it.  They've somehow slipped off the tracks and I'm banging my knuckles against the wall trying to get them open, to no avail.  Finally the little Russian tells me he's going to give me an estimate, however I inform him that I have a coupon for $65.  I'm not sure if he just doesn't understand me or is ignoring me, he goes on with his estimate that comes out to $245.  So I go show him the coupon and he shows me a picture of a heating system and explains that that coupon is only for one duct, we have two and intake and an outtake.  Well DUH!  Don't all houses have an intake and an outtake?  I'm not an expert, but I would assume they do.  So I tell him I only have $65 to spend and he lowers the price to $118.  I tell him we'll have to cancel the appointment because I only have $65 to spend on this.  He seems rather put off, but he's not the only one.  When I read a coupon that says entire house air duct cleaning for $65 that's what I expect to get.

So the little Russian left and not 3 minutes later his Russian wife or whoever she was called me asking if I want to reschedule the appointment and that they can do what is on the coupon for $65.  Well what is on the coupon is whole house air duct and in small print it says only 1 air duct.  Why just have them do half the job?  In the end they really screwed themselves because he came all the way out here for nothing.  If they were more honest with their coupons he would've had my business.  Instead I fired him.

Ed got home and we slammed down some dinner, then before we could blink it was time to get the kids to bed.

Sorry I didn't get any pictures taken on this day, seems like we were meeting ourselves coming and going.

The worst part of motherhood on Thursday getting to the end of the day and thinking, where did the day go?  Seems like I just woke up!

The best part of motherhood on Thursday was help from my Mom so I could get a few things done.

Up She Goes

Calista was up at 8 a.m. Tuesday, but I still managed to get a shower done, a load of laundry in the washer and the dishwasher loaded and running before then.  I felt like SuperMom!  She decided she wanted to practice her standing and was pushing herself up straight to a standing position from my legs.  I just know she's trying to hurry and grow up so she can leave us!

Alex woke up around 9 a.m. and we got the daily party started.  Both babies were fed by 9:30 and lucky me, they passed out again until noon!  Oh the work I got done in those 2 1/2 hours at the bead store.  What  a load off to know that I was getting things under control there.

By afternoon when they woke up and feedings were done I decided to take them on a small adventure.  I didn't want to mess with having to get them out of the car, so we were on a strictly drive thru adventure.  First stop was the post office to drop off some mail in the boxes.  Then the bank and finally a quick trip to King Soopers to get some gas in the car.  That was the only time I had to get out of the car which was good because it was really windy.

Weds. was mommy's day off.  Grandma and Grandpa came over around 10 a.m. to watch the cubs so I could get out and catch a movie.  I saw Ghost Writer, which was good but a pretty intense plot that I think I was just too brain dead to catch on to.  After that I headed to the used baby store for some long sleeve shirts to get Alex through the Spring and some shorts for Calista to get through the summer.  Afterwards I realized how low Calista is on pajama's and was kicking myself for not picking some up while I was there.

Then I headed off to Best Buy to buy my Sherlock Holmes movie on Blu Ray, I've wanted that since it came out.  Luckily with my handy Droid phone I was able to find the best price on it.  Best Buy wanted $30 for it, so I opened my ShopSavy app and scanned the barcode in and low and behold my phone told me where I could get it cheaper.  So right there in the middle of Best Buy I purchased my movie for $18.52 at Amazon.com.  Isn't technology great???

Then I was off to Target and Ulta where I really splurged on my favorite perfume that I've been out of for well over a year now, Spellbound by Estee Lauder. 

When I got home it felt like my boobs were about ready to explode so I was looking for a baby to nurse... any baby!  So I got ahold of Calista and downstairs we went.  Mom and Dad stayed on to watch Alex while I nursed her so that made it nice to not have to worry about him.

Ed had to work late so by the time he got home we both had a pretty late dinner then went downstairs to watch American Idol.  (Can you believe Michael Lynche almost left the show?  I'm just sure he's going to win the whole thing).

Anyway, bedtime brought it's own trials for us.  Neither child wanted to sleep, I don't know why...sleeping sounded really good to me and their father.  Can you remember a time when you didn't want to sleep?  Seems unfathomable now doesn't it?  But I got Alex nursed to sleep in our bed and just as he drifted off Calista started really fussing.  So as I put Alex to bed, Ed got Calista and brought her to our bed.  A footnote here, it seems that these days Ed and I just pass each other in the hall with one baby or another in our arms.  At least we don't give each other a nod as we walk past one another.

I tried and tried to nurse Calista to sleep but she just kept screaming and since Ed was already so tired from his long shift I decided to try and take her to the living room.  I got her nursing in the big blue chair where she proceeded to fall asleep after about 4 minutes.  I wanted to make sure she was good and asleep so I waited for about 15 minutes before I took her to her bed.  During that time I watched her start smiling in her sleep and then let out a giggle or two.  She did this a few times and it just tickled me, but I couldn't laugh out loud or I would've woken her up.

Finally by 10:30 the entire house was in thier own little beds, including me and Ed.

For these two days the worst part of motherhood is a changing routine.  Just when you think they'll go to sleep at a certain time, because that's what they've been doing for a few weeks now.  They up and change it on you completely blind siding you.

The best part of motherhood for these past two days was those sleepy Calista smiles and giggles.  I don't know what she's dreaming about, but it certainly does make her happy.

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.

How Could They Possibly Have Anything Left In Them?

Although they didn't sleep through the night, it still turned out to be a good morning.  I had to nurse them back to sleep as usual in our bed, but once there they slept until almost 9 a.m.  It's always a good day when I can get my shower done and breakfast eaten before they wake up.  I even managed to get some work done at the DJBeads Bead Store this morning.  Which makes me feel less stressed and better able to focus on the kids and the house.

This afternoons adventure was a trip to the grocery store.  We were almost out of formula, and frankly I don't want to live in this house if we run out of that.  The trick was how was I going to push a stroller and a shopping cart, or my other option was to push 2 shopping carts at once.  They are still too little to sit in the shopping cart seat so I have to either put them in the stroller or put their car seats in the shopping basket.  Luckily Mom and Dad had to do some shopping as well so I was able to meet them at King Soopers in Loveland and the three of us each had a shopping cart.  One with just food, one with just a baby and one with a baby and food crammed around that baby.  The trip was rather uneventful, that is until I got home.

Before I even contemplated leaving though Calista nailed me with an abundance of puke on my shoulder.  Not a drop on her though, I'm not sure how she managed that one.  Just once I'd like to make it to noon with the same shirt on.

Once home they were starting to scream for food.  Alex was first in the feed line so I took him downstairs to change him.... ack a poopy diaper.  It caught me off guard because I hadn't smelled it in the car.  Shortly I realized why I hadn't smelled it, he was still going.  Quickly I shoved the diaper back under him, but too late, it was already on the changing table cover.  Thinking he was done I pulled the diaper back and do you know what that little boy did to his mommy that loves him?  He pee'd on her!  So back went the diaper to catch the pee.  At least I hadn't changed the changing table cover yet, since I only have 3 of them I tend to run out quickly.  Besides one was already in the wash so I was down to two.  So, the little boy is now all cleaned up, new outfit on, changing table cover changed to a clean one.  Put Alex in his crib for a minute so I can start a load of laundry.  Come back to get Alex and he has blown chunks down his clean outfit.  Change the boy again... repeat.  I think that kid went through 7 outfits this afternoon.  But I finally got him upstairs and a bottle in his mouth. 

By this time Calista is waking up and starting her screaming.  So I put Alex in his car seat, (and he's not the slightest bit happy about this), put the bottle in his mouth and prop it up with a pillow to hold it in place and take his sister downstairs to change.  I took her diaper off, she smiled and giggled at me so I smiled and giggled back at her and then do you know what that little girl did to her mommy that loves her?  She pee'd too!  Change the girl, change the changing table cover, take the girl upstairs and nurse her all the while pushing the pillow that is anchoring Alex's bottle up with my foot to keep the bottle in place.  (Yes when I have to feed both of my children at once I sometimes have to use my feet... so don't tell me I didn't come from an ape...lol).

Finally both babies are fed.  Alex pukes a few more times and I change him a few more times.  Calista pukes 2 more times and we also go through an array of clothing for her.

They both passed out in their chairs for a little while, and that's when I got the Al Bundy picture of Alex.  Good Grief it's starting already!!  Check out where his hand is.

Next feeding is starting, this time since they are both in their chairs I decided to just plop down on the floor with them and hold a bottle in each hand to feed them.  About this time I'm starting to smell something.  I figured it might be Calista since she hadn't messed for the day.  At the same time I'm looking at the clock, Ed should be home any minute now.  Maybe I can hold off and hand her off to him.  (Evil of me isn't it?  But I swear my children always save the messy diapers for mommy).  They finish their bottles and I take Alex down to change him.  Dang it, he pooped again!!!  All the while he is grinning away at me, he's so happy that he's kicking his feet.  Which in turn gets the poop on his feet.  In my effort to control the kicking poopy feet, the messy diaper slips out and now I've got poop on my hand and the last changing table cover.  At this point I clean him and take a chance on picking him up naked so I can get the poopy mess removed for a clean spot to finish cleaning him up.  I put him back on the changing table on the bare pad and that little boy is still grinning.

I did dodge one at least, when Ed got home Calista had one for him.

The rest of the evening saw more outfit changes because of spit up after spit up.  All the bodily fluids my children started out with this morning are now absorbed into some sort of material in my laundry hamper.

Best and Worst, and I bet you can't guess what my worst will be today?

The worst part of motherhood today is puke, poop and pee.... on everything and everywhere.

The best part of motherhood today is a little singing bear we got at the used baby store yesterday by VTech that makes my babies smile and giggle.

ACK! So Far Behind

Ok, so I'm very far behind in getting my blog updated. I'll do what I can to catch everyone up on the last few days.

Thursday brought both Mom and Dad over to help out, but it still ended up being a crazy day. I was attempting to get my hair colored, Mom had a Dr. Appointment for her back and it ended up that I didn't get my shower taken until after 1 p.m. After that I did get a couple hours of work in, (not nearly enough), a quick run to the post office, put gas in the car and the grocery store and before I knew it it was 4 o'clock and Mom and Dad had to leave.

Friday I was just bound and determined that I was going to find a way to get some work done at the DJBeads bead store. Of course my twins had other ideas. If only I could somehow find a way for the cats to entertain the twins and vice versa. That didn't pan out so my plan then became to find a way to wear them out so I could come and work while they slept. You guessed it, adventure time! This was a trip to Target again. Our mission, find some sort of organization for the accumulating toys. I found a storage cube system with 9 cubby holes and bought 4 material drawers in pink and blue. They now have a place for all their toys and books. That is until Grandma and Grandpa spoil them some more with more toys and books.

While at Target though Mom and Dad did find these adorable bunny ears to try on Calista. Isn't that hysterical?

Friday was also a day that I started working on vowel sounds with the kids. When they are on the changing table I'll go through the vowels with them.... Aaaaaaa Oooooooo. I can see Alex really studying my lip movements and attempting to copy me. While Calista has no patience for one sound at a time, she wants to say them all right away. However by the next day Alex is really doing well making his Ooooo sound.
Saturday, oh sweet Saturday. In exchange for the long hours that Ed is having to work his boss got the entire department $100 gift cards for Outback Steakhouse. So again Mom and Dad came over to watch the cubs so we could go out. (And we do realize how very lucky we are that they watch the kids for us as often as they do so we can get out). We went to see Hot Tub Time Machine and loved it! Definitely a play on Back to the Future, it even had George McFly in it... but it was the kind of stupid humor that was right up our ally... 'Whisper' Great White Buffalo' Great White Buffalo'....lol

Outback was fantastic as usual and we ate like pigs, in fact worse than pigs, we ate like hogs! And I paid for it by having a case of gut rot all night long. Remember those days in high school and college when you could eat Tupperware, stay up all night and still feel good the next day? Gone are those days.

Sunday was one of my favorite days, Craft Day. Once a month I try to have a craft day with several of my friends here at the house. Everyone brings a project to work on; we have snacks and lots of laughter. I'm very close to being finished with a Christmas Ornament that I started back in Nov. Once I do get it done I'll put up a picture of it here.

I was amazed at how quickly the cubs calmed down last night. Calista was a good girl and went right to sleep in her own crib at around 9 p.m. Alex went to sleep for a few minutes then started fussing, then the fussing grew louder and louder until we were ready for it to turn to crying. I'm pretty sure his reflux is acting up again and I need to call the Dr. to find out if we need to increase his prevecid medicine. So he ended up sleeping with us last night. However, they both slept until 4:30 this morning!

Now for the best and worst of Motherhood.

The worst part of Motherhood is the unbelievable amount of time it takes to do the simplest of tasks, like run the vacuum or scrub a toilet.

The best part of Motherhood is watching your baby try to mimic you and work on talking.

An Ordinary Day

Yesterday was a very ordinary day.  The cubs ended up in our bed in the morning where I nursed them back to sleep and then was able to get my shower taken and a few things around the house done.  They did sleep until almost 10 a.m. in our bed, so I got a lot done at the DJBeads Store.

Mom came over to help out and when she got here the cubs were still sleeping.  Once they woke up we got them changed and fed then took off for a grocery store adventure.  I was out of formula and close to being out of diapers.... two things that should NEVER run low in this house!

The grocery store adventure went pretty good; both cubs fell asleep in the store.  Alex got a little fussy once we got back in the car, but the entire adventure was pretty quiet.

Of course I had to play with the camera on my new phone some more and got this picture of Alex and his Grandma.  And being the little ham that she is, you can see Calista's feet kicking away down at the side there.

The evening brought a snow storm and it just felt like a good night to hunker down and cuddle up with some cubs.  Alex fell asleep hard on me.  We gave them both their night time feeding and started the process of putting them to bed.  ARGH!  This is such a battle!  They were both crashed out, snoring away, but the minute you lay them in the crib the eyes pop wide open and after just a couple of minutes the crying starts.

So in an attempt to get them used to sleeping in their own beds I tried this approach.  I nursed them both to sleep in our bed, then slipped out and folded some laundry for about a 1/2 hour.  Once I thought they were good and asleep I put Calista in her bed where she fussed for a minute or two then fell asleep (against her will I think, she was trying to keep those eyes open).  Then I waited 15 minutes and got Alex out of our bed and put him in his crib.  He fussed for a couple of minutes as well then drifted off.  And low and behold, I went to my Baby Free Bed!

Time for the best and the worst of Motherhood....

The worst part of Motherhood yesterday was the never ending battle of getting the baby to sleep in the crib.

The best part of Motherhood yesterday was succeeding at this finally and sleeping in a baby free bed.