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.

Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes... How Do You Measure A Year?

For the Edwards household we measured a Year with a great birthday party for the cubs.  Our little house was busting at the seams with friends and family.  And one thing is for sure, those kids will not go without clothing or toys!  Everyone must really love them as much as we do.

So it's been quite a while since I've written my blog.  Life just got so busy I couldn't keep up with the blogging, caring for twins and running the bead and jewelry store.  But tonight my parents have graciously taken the cubs overnight, so I'm burning the midnight oil and figured I'd try to catch everyone up.

I think the last time I wrote in here was July and so much has happened since then.  Most recently Calista has started walking... or should I say running.  I don't think that girl is going to wait to learn how to walk.  Tonight Ed and I spent a good deal of time looking at even MORE baby gates, (we already have 2), and trying to figure out how to gate off part of the house with stairs, kitty food and litter boxes, yet still make it accessible to the cats.  I think we may have to buy these gates online with the pet doors because no where in Fort Collins did these exist!

Alex is walking with some assistance and he is a mad man crawling now.  And that clever boy has learned how to open up the gate we have in the living room.  Friday I ran downstairs for a moment to throw in a load of laundry and empty the diaper pail.  As I came back to the foot of the stairs I heard a 'pat pat pat'... the sound of little hands on the hardwood floors.  Half way up the stairs I saw Alex staring back at my like, "Whatchya doin Mom?".  Needless to say I dropped the bag of diapers and ran to get him from the top of the stairs!

Each of them have gotten in quite a few teeth, Alex currently has 6 and we think Calista is working on her 5th.  We had a problem for a little while with biting, but I think we now have that under control.  Although one day I was nothing more than a chew toy for every creature in this house I think.  I was on the floor with a baby leaning on each side of me and biting me.  Then when I went to bed our little cat Leo wasn't getting enough attention so he tried to give me a little nibble.  I'd had enough by then and Leo went to the floor.  (Not for long though, he is a cat after all and they do go where they please).

Overall they are very happy little babies, and why wouldn't they be?  They have every toy known to man, Mommy and Grandparents see to that, and they are absolutely loved by everyone in their life.

Medically we have been having a scare with Alex, but I hope (fingers and toes crossed), that he is on the mend.  He has a blood disorder called Petechiae.  It started as a rash back in June/July and I assumed he just had an allergy to the new laundry soap I had bought.  But after much research and the help of a wonderful Dr. from the Youth Clinic we found out it is this disorder of low platelet count.  Our goal was to keep his count above 50,000 (it's generally supposed to be above 100,000 I think).  At the worst time he was getting spontaneous nose bleeds and his count dropped to 13,000.  This finally resulted in a trip to a world renown hematologist at Children's Hospital in Denver where they finally put him on a steroid and his numbers came up a little.  We're still battling this one and will have more results next week when he is completely weened off the steroid and another blood draw is done.  The absolute scariest part of this was when the Dr. told me that he wanted to rule out Leukemia.  He said that it was only a 5% chance, but no mother wants to hear the word Cancer in any form when talking about her child.  I remember that I found it hard to catch my breath after he said it and feeling like I could throw up right there in the office.  However, the tests they ran on Alex at Children's Hospital came back that it is absolutely NOT cancer.... so WHEW!!!!

The cubs are sleeping through the night really well and on a good day they sleep in until almost 9 a.m.  Every once in a while Calista will have a bad dream and wake up crying and I have to cuddle her back to sleep.  I'm usually still awake anyway so it's actually a sweet time.  Last night I heard her start to cry at around 10:30 so I shut down the TV and set my beading project aside.  I don't know what scares that little girl in her bad dreams, but her face is soaked with tears and her arms go up as soon as she sees me for me to pick her up.  So I pick her up and we go over to the rocking chair in their bedroom.  I rock her back and forth and rub her back and stroke her hair.  She in turn lays her head on my shoulder and started to snuggle in, but then pulled herself back for a moment to look me in the face and smile at me.  I don't know if that smile is a 'Mom I'm glad you're here to hold me' or a 'Ha Ha... Made you come in and hold me'.  Either way it's sweet.  I rocked her for about a half an hour until I felt her go limp and I knew she fell back to sleep, all the while listening Alex's steady breathing rhythm.  It was one of those nights that I just could have stayed in there forever holding her, but I knew sooner or later I'd fall asleep and probably drop the little girl.  So I put her in her crib and went off to bed myself.

Alright!  Time for the best and worst of motherhood.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog would have to be hearing the word cancer when a Dr. is talking about your child.  Ever since this day I really take to heart those St. Jude commercials to give thanks for the healthy children in your life.  Even with Alex's illness, we are still so extremely lucky our kids are relatively healthy and my heart just aches for those strong parents that have a child with a terminal illness.

The best part of motherhood for this blog would have to be the silent nights.  And that doesn't mean the nights they sleep all the way through without waking us up (although don't get me wrong, those are nice too).  These are the nights when I can sit in the nursery with them when they are both asleep and I can just watch them.  They'll never know until they have kids of their own how happy it makes me to just watch them sleep.

Excitable Boy

The cubs slept in until almost 9 a.m. today!  And Mommy was right there with them snoozing away.  I guess we all needed it after a restless night.  I went to bed around midnight, then they were up being restless around 3 a.m. and I changed Alex.  Then they were up at 6 a.m. for a feeding, but went back to sleep directly afterward.

By the time they were waking up at 9 a.m. Alex was laying in his crib just a chattering away.  He's trying so hard to form words, he almost has his Mmmmm sound down so I'm hoping he will spit out a momma here soon.  He was chattering so much that as I was changing Calista on the changing table she was craning her neck around to watch him and listen to what he had to say.  Could be that twin talk starting up, in which case they are already ganging up on me and Ed.

Although I love being able to sleep in like that, we did have a busy day ahead of us.  We were going to meet Daddy and Grandma Edwards for lunch.  So that meant I had to get them fed, bathed and dressed in an hour and a half.  Not to mention making sure I have baby food and a diaper bag packed.  But when you've packed them up this many times you become somewhat of a pro at it and I ended up with a little time to spare.

We had lunch at Cafe Athens and it was really nice.  My real reason for wanting to take them out for lunch was to show off the new matching outfits I had made them.  These were the Fourth of July outfits that ended up being finished on the Fifth of July instead.  Hopefully they can wear them for the rest of the summer before they outgrow them.

After lunch we got home, I unloaded the cubs fed them a bottle and they went down for a nap.  I was feeling so tired from getting 3 hour stretches of sleep overnight that Ed suggested I lay down as well.  Right now it's hard for me to lay down or work on a 'fun' project.  We've been cleaning out Ed's mom's house to get it ready for sale which means we have things piled everywhere in this house.  I needed to find them homes and try to get organized before I could really rest.  I did get my old dresser cleaned out and all of my clothing put into my 'new' dresser.  After that I tried to take a little nap.  I managed to close my eyes for about 20 minutes and then Calista woke up.

We went through our normal routine, dinner for the cubs around 4 p.m..  I gave Ed some chores to do around the house when he got home, after he was done with those the two of us had some dinner.  Then off to the nice cool basement with a couple of bottles for the babies.  Now this is where the 'Excitable Boy' comes in.

I few days ago I bought them sippy cups with the handles on them.  Well I think something clicked with Alex holding that and realizing that if he would just hold his own bottle he could control the food coming to his mouth.  Tonight he grabbed hold of his bottle with both hands and then got so excited that he was kicking and flailing his arms about so much that he couldn't keep the nipple in his mouth.  In the end I did have to keep one finger on the bottle to keep it tilted in just the right direction for him to get the formula out.  But all in all, he did a really good job holding it himself.

The worst part of motherhood for today was the babies waking up every 3 hours overnight.  Just when you think you've got that sleeping thing down, they have a restless night and you find yourself tired and unprepared for it.  (Especially if you stay up until midnight like a dummy).

The best part of motherhood for today was listening to Alex and his babbling.  Such different sounds coming out of him, I wonder what it all means?

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.

Blinded by the White

Yes, again it's been awhile and it seems that I only get to my blog these days when something out of the ordinary happens.  That is not to say that something out of the ordinary doesn't happen everyday, after all, I have twins.

So a quick run down of what has happened since my last blog is in order.  Calista is so ready to crawl!  She has that butt up in the air and almost made it today.  Yesterday she managed to crawl backwards for her daddy.  It's time to baby proof the house, we have our baby gates all ready to cage them in.  Now we just have to go after things like light sockets, power cords and other delightful objects at floor level.

Calista has also gotten very grabby.  If it's within her reach she has it in her hands, and what a grip that little girl has!  Jessica found out the hard way last week when she left a container of baby food within Calista's reach on the highchair table.  All I heard in the office was an "OH NO Calista!".  Later I found out that Calista had grabbed the container and dumped it all over the tray.  Lucky for me I was able to learn from Jessica's mistake and I don't let any baby food close to Calista's reach.

Now Alex wants to crawl just as bad, but he always manages to get himself over onto his back instead.  He's got the pushing down with one of his legs, he just needs to get that other one coordinated and he'll be on his way too.

And when it comes to food, my Alex doesn't mess around.  There's no way he'd risk spilling his food by grabbing it.

Friday we took a trip to Costco for our monthly supply of 424 diapers.  (Yes, that is the amount of diapers that we go through in a month.  However it does not count the diapers that they use when they visit Grandma and Grandpaw, so it's probably a little higher).  Walking through Costco Calista had a fascination with my Starbucks and was very grabby about the cup.  Just like her momma... brought a little tear to my eye.  By the time we left she had chocolate all over her face.

Other events that happened this week was an overnight stay at Grandma and Grandpaw's house on Saturday so that Ed and I could go out for our anniversary.  We had a couple of massages and went out to dinner.  We were going to see a movie, but neither of us were very enthused about what was playing so we just came home and watched our Netflix.

It's so bittersweet when they go to their grandparents house for the night.  On one hand we love the sleep and time to ourselves.  On the other hand, I found myself looking at empty cribs and missing my cubs.

Sunday they came home and mommy and daddy were thrilled to see them.  We got them changed and went directly to the park to swing for a little while.  They were both pretty tired so we didn't stay too long.

And that brings us to today and the story behind the title of this particular blog.  We had a great day today.  Calista woke up around 7 a.m., had some breakfast.  Then Alex woke up at around 8 a.m. and I found again that he had pee'd through everything.  The whole front of him was soaked and he smelled of urine.  So I striped him down, wiped him off with a wipe and put him in a onsie for the time being.  Then he had some breakfast.  After breakfast I was downstairs stripping down his bed, mattress pad included, and throwing it into the wash.  This is the 2nd time he's done this and I'd had enough.  So after bath time we were on our way to Target for 2 back up mattress pads and some night time diapers.  Back home they had a little lunch, a bottle and then took a nice nap for me.

When they woke up they had a bottle and we played on the floor with some new books I bought them at Target.  Calista can grab it and turn the pages by herself... Alex just tries to eat them.

When Ed got home we had our dinner and he went in to clean up the kitchen and make formula while I played with the cubs.  They just love it when I lay down in between their play mats, they can grab at my face and I can tickle them.  But I just had to take it a step further today.  I got a hold of Calista and laid her on my tummy so we were tummy to tummy.  She smiled and giggled, raised herself up on her arms as if to crawl and then BLAM!  A white flood covered my face.  Puke in my eyes, up my nose and all over my mouth.  I'm attempting to yell at Ed without opening my mouth, which ended up sounding a bit like a person yelling with a mouthful of peanut butter.  Ed came running in thinking someone was hurt and all I could say was 'Get me a rag'.  He got Calista off of me, (who by the way was all grins after this), and proceeded to blow mass amounts of baby puke out of my nose.

Yeah, I let him play with the babies after that while I cleaned up the kitchen.

Kitchen now cleaned and time to go downstairs for the night.  I decided to take Alex... (can you blame me?).  Once downstairs Alex and I are in the big blue chair sitting face to face practicing our A's and O's along with our new game, 'Nose/Toes' where I point to his nose and then his toes repeating Nose and Toes.  We are both very low key, but out of no where he pukes all over my.  Yep, Ed is on the couch with Calista laughing at me.

We got them both changed into pj's for the night, this time I took Calista back with me.  Ed had Alex on the couch tickling him and making him giggle so loud I was cracking up at it.  Then Alex puked on the couch, then proceeded to laugh immediately afterwards.

Bet you can't guess what my worst of motherhood for today is?  Baby puke in your orifices!!!

However the best part of motherhood for today is no matter how much they both puke, both of my babies are very happy babies.

First Day at the Park

The past few weeks have been so busy that I've really let my blogging go, so I'm going to do my best to just start fresh with today.

Jessica came to babysit today which meant that I got to get some work done in the office as well as get out for a little while this afternoon.  I spent a luxurious day getting a mani/pedi then went to see the latest Shrek movie.  (Which I can say still wasn't as good and 1 or 2, but better than 3 by a long shot!).

I still made it home by 1 p.m. and walked into a quiet house with the cubs sleeping and Jessica sitting quietly on the couch with her laptop.  Such a pleasant day, yet I knew that I was about ready to go into battle over Alex's medicine.

On their 6 month well baby check up Dr. Hansen bumped Alex's Previcid up to 5 ml's per day.  His current prescription is for 3 ml's per day and had no refills on it.  To top that off, for some reason all of a sudden the insurance company decided they don't want to pay for it anymore.  No reason, just denied.  My mission was to first yell at the Dr.'s office since for two weeks I've been calling them asking to call in the new prescription for 5 ml's which they still haven't done.  Next was to do battle with the insurance company on why they aren't paying for it anymore.  I never made it to the insurance company phone call.  I spent probably an hour between the pharmacy and the pediatricians office just trying to get the new prescription of 5 ml's in place.  Turns out our Dr. Hansen dropped the ball on this one.  He wrote on the sheet he gave us with Alex's height, weight, etc. that he was to take 5 ml's per day, but never changed it on Alex's chart from 3 to 5.

So the Dr.'s office told me to go to the pharmacy and have them call the Dr.'s office and then they could get it straightened out.  Of course it didn't dawn on me until after I hung up that I would have to then fight this battle in a public arena at my local King Soopers with two babies in tow.  Not to mention what a pain it will be to get them all packed up in the stroller just to go in there and do someone elses job so my son can have the medicine he needs.  Also, at this point we are just going to pay for it out of pocket, (which I'm sure is exactly what insurance company's hope for).  So there will be more on this topic and whether I've won or lost my battle.

Now for the rest of the day.....

I did get a large shipment of beads in today for the upcoming Mellow Yellow Variety Pack.  Realizing that I probably should have stayed home and worked on that instead of going out and playing I decided to ask Jessica if she wanted to do some work in the bead store for me tomorrow.  Once she said yes I once again felt a big weight off of me and sat down for 20 minutes to make some earrings.  Ahhhhh, that time is just the best!

Ed got home at 4:30 and Jessica took off.  Ed and I ate a quick dinner and fed the cubs, who by the way are now on stage 2 baby foods and LOVING IT!  The past 3 days or so Alex has started making a weird sound when we feed him and he lunges for the spoon of food.  We say it's like feeding a baby shark...lol.

Once dinner was done Ed got the stroller out of the trunk, we put on our walking shoes and went for their first trip to the park.  The Main Park in Windsor is really well kept with a lot of outdoor toys for kids, and when I drove by it yesterday I saw that it had those swings for babies with the holes for the legs to come through.  Our walk was only about 20 minutes to get there and it was a little on the warm side, but not blistering hot.

Calista was the first one out and her and daddy found a nice piece of grass to chill on.

Alex was a little on the sleepy side so I took him directly to the swing to see how he liked it.  Turns out the swing didn't wake him up too much.  He just swung back and forth looking at the ground the entire time.

I shot some video of him in the swing then it was time to switch so I could get some video of Calista's first ride in a swing as well.

Calista on the other hand loved her swing ride.  Every time she came at me I'd grab her swing and hold her for a second, then let her swing backwards.  The result was adorable baby giggles.  Alex had enough by now though so him and daddy sat in the swing next to us for a little while, then went to that nice patch of grass he had found earlier.

We only stayed for about 20 minutes, but it was such a nice time.  On the way home Alex fell asleep in the stroller, so once we got home Ed took him directly to bed for a quick cat nap.

They got into their jammies and both babies practiced some crawling for a while.  I think Alex is going to be out of here sooner than later, where as Calista is really great at standing on her own and loves to do that.

Calista began to get fussy so Ed laid her down in her crib for a bit and then we both played with Alex for a while, giving him hugs, neck sugars and playing cow attach with the toy moo cow.

We gave them their final bottle at 8:30 at which time Alex fell right to sleep on me.  He was so snugly, I really didn't want to put him in his crib tonight.  Calista was awake, but she seems to be easier than Alex to get to sleep when it's bed time.  You can lay her in her crib and she'll talk for a little while, but then she goes to sleep within 15 minutes I'd say.

With both babies asleep it was time to tackle that mountain of laundry that needed folding, (another thing I probably should have done today instead of playing).  Knowing that Ed would want to go to bed at 9 pm sharp, I asked him to help fold clothes for the next 10 minutes until he went to bed.  We both started working on the laundry basket when he decided to move all the clothing over to one side so he could sit down.  When I asked him what he was doing he told me why stand up when I can do it sitting down.  We were almost to the bottom of the laundry basket and I told him that there was still another load in the dryer and could he please go get that out, which he did.  About 7 minutes had gone by since we started our laundry adventure when Ed says, "Isn't it time we take a break?".  What could I do but stare at him in disbelief and say, "I am always amazed that you have held a job for as long as you have".  He was kidding of course and so was I.  I just thought it was a funny story I would share.

Ok, now for the best and worst.

The worst part of motherhood for today is trying to get medication for your baby that you know they need and running into brick walls left and right.  Makes me just want to scream, "He's a baby and he won't feel good unless he has this! Why are you not making this a high priority that he get his medicine!!!".

The best part of motherhood for today... well I have two actually, one for each baby.  The first was our trip to the park and listening to Calista giggle on the swing.  There is nothing more healing than a babies giggle in my book.  The second is a warm snugly Alex asleep on my shoulder.  I didn't even mind the snoring in my ear, (which I'm just sure he gets from his daddy...lol).

Lazy Day and the Week In Review

Monday Ed and I lazied around the house and played with the cubs all day.  We only had one outing where we went to pick up Alex's medicine and a quick trip to Starbucks.  Other than that we were home bodies.

I did however manage to get myself hooked on the show Lost, after it's off the air of course.  However I think the best way to watch a series like this is through Netflix online through the blu ray player.  I don't have to watch any commercials and I don't have to wait for the next season when they do cliff hangers.

I also was able to finish beading a little wall decoration I had started for Alex.  It's a little Rainbow Truck done in Peyote stitch.  The pattern is available at The Bead Coop for anyone that likes to do beading.  Next up is a pattern I created myself of a little red choo-choo train.  I'll post pictures of that one when it's finished as well.  Now the only issue I have is that Lost is starting to scare the crap out of me and I fear it's going to make me jump and I'll spill all of my tiny little seed beads everywhere.

And don't think that I'm leaving Calista out on this one.  I have patterns in the making for ladybugs, butterfly's, flower and all kinds of garden creatures.  I just need to sit down and finish the patterns for them.

Weds. was Jessica's first day and what a difference!  Ed came home to a couple of happy cubs and a wife that didn't look so frazzled that she was ready to rip his head off.  Just a little break and I'm good as gold.  I also find that I have the energy to play with the kids more when I've had a little bit of a break from them.

On Friday Jessica was back at the house and I felt she was plenty capable to handle the twins on her own, so I took off to go and see a movie.  Went and saw, Get Him To The Greek, which I thought was hysterical!

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is that bitter sweet of leaving your kids with someone else to get a break from them... only to find that you really miss them once you're away from them.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is how happy you are to see your kids again after such a break.

Saint Jessica

Saturday morning we got the call from Julie that her daughter Jessica would be available to babysit for us during the week.  Since she seems to be swooping in to save me, I now call her Saint Jessica... the patron saint of a frazzled mommy.

Sunday, the cubs officially turned six months old.  While Dad and Ed took off to go play golf, Mom and I set out for Estes Park with the twins.  They had a craft show going there, the weather was beautiful so why not.  We got them in the stroller, strapped their fashionable sunglasses onto their heads and away we went.

They were the talk of Estes Park!  Everywhere we went people commented on them and the sunglasses.  One vendor selling stained glass even had to take a picture of them.  We had a bunch of fun, spent a little money with our local crafters, (I'd rather support them than China) and before we knew it the clock said 5 p.m.

We headed back down the mountain and ended up meeting Dad and Ed for Mexican food here in Windsor.  Calista did her standing up on the table and let out several of her high pitched screeches for the other customers.  Again the time seemed to fly and it was well past time to get them fed and off to dream land.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is having time just get away from you.  Where did the day go?

The best part of motherhood for this blog is finding a babysitter you can trust!  What will I do when St. Jessica heads off to college???

Stressed to the Max

I've noticed that the disheveled look of my house seems to be in direct correlation to what kind of day I've had.  Both last Thursday and Friday the house looked like a band of gypsies had set up camp in it.  By now Alex has come down with Ed's cold and he is stuffy, miserable and whiney.  He doesn't take a very good nap these couple of days, and when I do lay him down he fusses so much that he wakes Calista up.  Needless to say mommy is stressed out!  And all you mothers out there know exactly what I'm talking about right now.  You're just at a loss for what else to do for the child, nothing seems to calm them and you have to really try to stay with it mentally so you don't blindly shake the baby.  And once you take a step back from being in this state you feel like a terrible mother.

Both of these days I ended it in tears and by Friday I think Ed saw that I was getting warn down.  We discussed at dinner that priority number one was to find a baby sitter.

In the end all Alex really needed was to sleep to get rid of his cold.  After placing both him and Calista up on the couch with me in front of them in case they tumbled forward, I turned away for a minute and when I looked back the little guy had fallen asleep sitting up.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is feeling like you're loosing your cool.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is when sick baby falls asleep and you know that's the best thing for them.

Finally That Trip To Costco... Never Again By Myself!

Wednesday come hell or high water I had to go to Costco, we weren't going to make it through another night without more diapers.  So repeat the drill from the day before, but this time I made it past Starbucks.  I got to Costco and knew that I immediately had to get Calista changed, so we went straight for the bathroom.  She did it to me again with a poopy diaper, but I got her all cleaned up and left a little gift in the trash for the cleaning lady in Costco.

Luckily the shopping carts at Costco have seats for two babies in them.  So I brought a blanket from home and put that at the base and placed both cubs in the cart.  They aren't sitting up on their own yet, but Calista can hold herself up straight.  Alex on the other hand slouches a bit.  The problem was though that both of their heads were hitting the wires at the back of the shopping cart seat, so I had to pad it with the blanket and a burp cloth.

With that all set we were off on our shopping adventure through Costco.... at lightning speed I might add.  I knew my time was limited before both of them became fussy.  I made it through 3/4 of the store before I had to pick Calista up out of her cart seat and carry her.  At this point I have 2 boxes of diapers, 3 gallons of bleach and lots of other heavy items in my cart, Calista in my right arm over my shoulder, Alex in the cart seat and I have to turn this heavy cart with one arm.  I knew it wasn't just me that found this taxing when I saw the looks of pity on other shoppers faces.  One woman even said she wouldn't have had the nerve to go it alone with one baby, let alone two!  So thinking myself to be a super mom after that comment I decided we were done and it was time to get going.

At the check stand I ran into yet another problem though, I had to put the items on the conveyor belt.  How was I going to do that while holding Calista.  So I told Calista she was just going to have to sit in the cart seat for a little while so I could unload.  I set her in the seat and started to buckle her in when I caught the tender under part of her arm in the buckle and pinched it.  Oh that little girl screamed!!!!  (As would I, that's a tender area!).  The entire Costco warehouse seemed to be staring at me and I went from super mom to 'what an idiot' in about a split second.

I picked Cailsta back up, she was crying, I was crying, the checker looked over at me and I explained to her what I had accidentally done.  Next thing I knew there were two Costco employees unloading my cart for me and entertaining Alex as he went through the check out line.

With my purchases all loaded back up in the cart, Calista in my arms, Alex in the cart seat still, all that was left to do was load it all up in the car.  As I exited Costco though the woman that was behind me stopped and looked at me, then stopped again and asked if I needed any help.  I told her thank you, but I can manage and started making a turn with the cart to go to the car.  She stopped again and said, "Really, please let me at least push your cart for you".  So I said okay and thanked her.  Now in the back of my mind I'm having an argument.... is she a kind person or is she going to take off running with my Alex in the cart?  Too many stories in the news, so you never know.  With caution I told her I would pull on the front part of the cart to help her steer it since it was so heavy and Alex needed to be held upright.

Once at the car she offered to hold Calista and asked how in the world I was going to get the groceries into my car.  I told her that was the easy part, I put Calista in her car seat, then Alex in his leaving both doors open since it was hot out.  Then loaded up the groceries and was done.  I thanked her profusely... and turns out, she was a kind person not a kidnapper.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is doing something really stupid like catching your child's skin in a buckle.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is the kindness of strangers.

A New Kitchen Table

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Where Did That Day Go?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Too Far Gone

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Sewing Lesson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 Days of Blogging

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leaving Our Mark Across Colorado

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Babies First Road Trip

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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