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.

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.

The Hair that Caused Hysterics

We woke up so thrilled yesterday because the cubs slept through the night.  They got to bed late, but slept until 4:30 a.m.  We were both just elated!  The only bad part was that with this twist in our routine it became doubtful that I was going to get a shower for the day.  Luckily around 10:30 they both fell asleep and I was able to get my shower done.

Right after my shower Alex started to wake up so I put him on the changing table, changed his diaper and upon putting him back together I found a little fluff of toe jam on his right foot.  I kept pulling on it to try and clean it out but it just wouldn't budge.  What was worse is that the more I pulled on it the more Alex seemed to scream.  That's when I saw the top of his foot and his little toes turning red.  Remember when I told you all how my hair was falling out like a chemo patient?  Well in that tuft of toe jam was a long piece of mommy hair that was wound around 3 of his toes.  When I pulled on the tuft it tightened up the hair around the toes.

So began the excitement for the day.  I tried and tried to work that piece of hair out of his toes but all it did was make it tighter and tighter.  So I buttoned up his one leg and left the other one out of his pajamas and took him upstairs where there was more light.  About this time Calista started waking up and started crying on the floor.  With Alex on the couch I tried some more to work that piece of hair out, all the while watching my son's toes turn bright red, then purple and his cries get louder and louder.  Hysteria set in at about this time.  I ran to get a bottle for Calista warmed up, thinking at least I can get her in her car seat and prop up her bottle so there won't be so much screaming and I can think clearer.  I called Ed at work in tears and the words 'I can't do this myself' came out of my mouth.  That piece of hair was wound so tightly down to his skin I couldn't get anything in between it without cutting his skin.

I asked Ed if he knew our neighbors phone number.  The guy does our lawn for us and just a few weeks ago I had met his wife and knew she was a stay at home mom.  Maybe she could come over and help.  Ed couldn't find it so I hung up with him and called my Mom and Dad to see if maybe they were out and about to come and help me hold Alex's foot down.  They weren't, they were 40 minutes away.

So last resort, I wrapped Alex up in a blanket and left Calista on the floor crying and ran across the street to the neighbor's house.  Mike answered the door and I ran through my dilemma with him and asked if he or his wife could come over and help me out by holding Alex's leg down while I searched for the hair to cut.  We ran back across the street and started on the surgery of removing that miserable hair.  Alex just screamed and screamed, which made me cry so I couldn't see what I was doing.  And thank goodness cooler heads prevailed; Mike was able to get Alex's skin pushed down far enough for me to get my cuticle snipers in between that and the hair.  I had to make about 5 cuts before we finally got that hair out.

Such a relief once it was all over with.  Mike saw that I was rattled and put his hand on my shoulder and asked if I was ok...lol.

So I feel I should give his business a plug here.  He owns a company called Rocky Mountain Lawn Medic and they are the nicest people!  He does a great job for us every year and we were really sad to see them put their house on the market.  It's hard to find good neighbors sometimes.

The rest of the day went smooth, baths were given all around and Alex still is having issues with that.  However I was amazed that by 9:15 last night all little babies were in their own little cribs sleeping.  However they did get up at 1:30 for a feeding so they didn't sleep all the way through the night.  But we're getting there.

Today's picture is of Calista and Lucy one of our 3 cats... all of a sudden they discovered one another.

The best and the worst time.

The worst part of Motherhood yesterday was feeling so helpless when your child hurts.

The best part of Motherhood yesterday was getting those babies to sleep early and in their own beds.

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.

The Weekend

This was a really nice weekend, quiet and productive. Ed watched the cubs on Saturday so that I could get some work done at the Bead Store. I managed to get a lot of beads labeled and up in the shop that has been sitting on my desk for several weeks.

Ed had the cubs asleep in the living room when some idiot woman came and rang our doorbell. She had the misfortune of me answering that door and barking at her that she woke up my babies. She had some flyer in her hand to elect somebody to office and I just ripped her a new one and didn't listen to a word she had to say. So directly after that I came back to the office and made the following sign:

NO SOLICITING - BIBLE THUMPING - OR POLITICING
IF YOU RING MY DOORBELL I HAD BETTER KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

Grumpy? Maybe, but if you've ever had babies that have finally fallen asleep and you have precious time to get a few things done, well I'm sure you can sympathize with me.

So that was our Saturday, pretty smooth sailing. Today was also a smooth day with waking up with cubs in our bed again. I gave Alex his bath and he just screamed blood murder! I'm not sure why, but it put him in a bad mood all day. But we once again watched our Sunday morning politics shows, had some waffles and this afternoon went on an adventure to K Mart.

At K Mart we found a little sound toy and oh how it made my little girl grin and smile! Alex wasn't too interested in it; however he's been kind of grumpy all day today as I said. We couldn't resist taking a video of Calista with that little musical toy, so I'll post that to Facebook later on tonight.

Our last stop was at the Verizon store to get some cases and screen protectors for our new phones. The cubs were really good through that, which surprised me. I thought perhaps they would have a screaming fit, in which case we might get moved to the front of the line just to get us out of there...lol. But it all went smooth.

Ok, best and worst time....

The worst part of Motherhood this weekend is no longer having our bed to ourselves.

The best part of Motherhood this weekend is watching my children learn and being amazed at the speed that is happening. They also learned to hold a rattle this weekend and today Calista had both hands on her bottle and was almost holding it. I'm in awe at how fast they are learning things.

New sounds for Alex

The morning started out with my poor girl hurting from her teeth, so I brought her into bed with me.  Partly because Alex was still asleep and partly because I was still very tired.  By the time Alex woke up at 7 a.m. I was able to nurse him a little bit and he went right back to sleep for me.  So with Calista safely on our bed and Alex asleep in his I managed to get my shower done, dressed and ready for the day before 8 a.m. for a change.

The day was fairly usual, nothing out of the ordinary other than Alex and his new sound.  Calista was still asleep and I was fixing my tea when I kept hearing the strangest sound from the office.  I had put Alex in his swing and it was as if he discovered his voice.  I did get it on video and those are uploaded to my Facebook account if you care to go look at them.

By afternoon though we had a baby meltdown.  Calista really freaked out, she wouldn't eat from the bottle at all and finally just cried herself into such a frenzy that she fell asleep in her car seat, (where I was trying to feed her).  Footnote here.... this is how you feed two babies at once.  Set them in their car seat and then you can hold a bottle in each hand and get your Advil ready for the pain you'll have in your back from hunching over.

So after that we took a small adventure to Target to meet Ed and pick up a couple of items.  Again, Alex wanted nothing to do with the stroller and I had to carry him through the store and push a cart that needed a front end alignment.  But we got what we needed and made it home.

On the subject of Target, it's time for a product recommendation.  We bought the Fisher Price 2 in 1 projector/crib mobile and OMG is this thing worth every penny!  It has a little canopy with a projector that shoots pictures onto the canopy while little stuffed animals go around on the canopy.  To top it off it has 3 settings for sound, music, nature sounds and a heart beat (which is what our Dr. had recommended to get our kids to sleep).  I can put the cubs in their crib and turn that on (most of the time), and they'll just stare at it and let me get laundry done and even sometimes I get to go to the bathroom.  So if you're expecting or need a baby shower gift be sure to look into this item.  We paid roughly $45 per mobile.

Today's picture is of Calista in her outfit that her Aunt Sandy bought her.  She looks like she's passed out, maybe she's a milk-a-holic (gosh I hope Lindsey Lohan doesn't sue me for that).

Ok, time for the best and the worst.

Today the worst part of Motherhood is not really being able to run to the store or post office quickly.  All trips are now an ordeal.

Today the best part of Motherhood is hearing your baby find their voice.