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 Trip To Costco... Not So Fast Mommy

Tuesday I needed to make a trip to Costco.  Now getting out the door with 1 baby is tricky, with two your timing has to be impeccable!  The schedule went as follows, babies are up and fed in their new high chairs at the new kitchen table.  Then babies are bathed and dressed.  Give each baby a small bottle to top them off for the ride and begin that packing procedure.  Babies in car seats now and out of the garage we go.  Stop for the mandatory cup of Starbucks for Mom and start to get on the freeway.  Hear Calista grunting, hear the Frrrrpppttt, smell the poop.  Proceed to turn car around and head back home again.

So I had a nice little trip to Starbucks and that was it.

Once home though they did lay down for a bit of a nap and I went into remodeling mode.  Somehow we needed to fit that table and chairs into the small space we had in the kitchen.  We could fit the table just fine, it was a matter of how to fit the high chairs in with all of it.  After much rearranging I think I did get a workable layout.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet.  Alex started showing signs of coming down with Ed's cold so he got some extra TLC.

The worst part of motherhood for this blog is almost getting to your destination, only to have to turn around for a 'kid emergency'.

The best part of motherhood for this blog is a nice long nap for the babies so I can get the house in order somewhat.

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.