Adventures in Parenting: Lesson Three

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS, even on a cloudy day put sunscreen on your kids! I took the girls to the park today and it was completely cloudy and overcast, and did not even think to put sunscreen on them. Well, you guessed it they got really burned. Their faces, heads and little arms. I feel so bad, but will ALWAYS put sunscreen on them from now on!

Preparation

Tomorrow we leave for our first family vacation so today is preparation day. I am finishing laundry and packing and getting the house clean. I hate coming home to a dirty house so vacuming and ensuring everything is in order is a must before we leave. Also, making sure the girls bottles are set and everything is loaded and ready tonight. We leave for the airport at 5:00 AM tomorrow morning...I am not sure what exactly I was thinking when I bought these tickets other than I just want to get to Maine, but now I am wondering if getting a later flight would have been wiser, but I guess we will see. This time tomorrow we will be in Philadelphia getting ready to get on our second flight which will take us to Portland Maine. There my mom will be waiting with the car seats. We decided that this would be a good time to upgrade the girls into their "big girl" seats and that way we would only have to haul them one way, home and then we wouldn't have to rent them, since you never really know what they have been through. Then we will head straight to the house in Maine for some peace, relaxation and LOBSTER! Can't wait and I am sure we will have more stories for you when we get back...I mean you think grocery shopping with twins is bad...lets see how traveling with twins is :-)

Oscar the Grouch

Lately I have been like living with Oscar the Grouch. I go to bed grouchy and wakeup grouchy. I don't know why, maybe it is the recent lack of sleep or the girls constant need for me, but something has been putting me on pins and needles lately and I need a smack or something to get out of it. I am hoping that our vacation in Maine starting this weekend will help me get out of this rut. Honestly I know that I have nothing to be crabby about but I just am. I mean I get to wake up and spend every day with my little girls. I don't have to go to a 9-5 job, don't get me wrong, I work hard at home, but I am my own boss. Soon I will be able to say I live in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood and there is no one to answer to. I just hope that I can get past this and quickly and life through my eyes can be a little nicer...I know Tom would appreciate this :-)

Self Sabotage

Lately I have been doing a really good job of eating better and trying to walk at least 4 times a week and it has been working! I have finally started to lose weight and it feels great. The only problem is that as soon as I start to lose and I see the numbers going down I start eating junk again. I don't know why I do this, but I am starting to get really frustrated with myself. I have given myself plenty of time to relax and just enjoy life with the girls, but now it is time to start to get serious and to start being a good example for them. I do not want them to have weight complexes when they are bigger and I want them to see Tom and I eating healthy food, so I need to start now. I just don't know why I can't do it for an extended period of time. So I guess no I need to stop sabotaging myself and just get down to business and do it. Eat better and continue with those walks. That way the girls will see that it is easy to eat well and hopefully they will not have this battle that I am having.

Teething :-(

Ahhhh, the girls, yes both of them, are teething. I never knew that something so small could turn two little angels, who never make a peep or whine, into clingy, crabby, fussy little things that hang on you and need to be held constantly. Maddie has the first little portion of a little razor poking through and Natalie is a few days behind with all the symptoms that Maddie had over the weekend. It is crazy because I have been saying that they have been teething for months, but in reality all that drooling and sucking on things is NOTHING compared to actual, true, hard core teething, that which we are experiencing this week. I have attempted to comfort the girls the best I can with some homeopathic teething tablets, Tylenol and simple love, but I cannot seem to ease the pain. I have purchased numerous teethers and other things for them to put in their mouths yet they enjoy chomping on their pacifiers the best...haha multipurpose! In the end all I can do is hug them and hope they cut the teeth quickly because I hate seeing them in pain. I have even taken to the dreaded, for me, co-sleeping. I usually end up with Maddie in the guest bed because she just wants to be held. Not a problem just scares me a little, but we seem to have worked things out nicely so everyone is comfortable and safe, but the poor thing just moaned and tossed and turned the other night, it was too sad. In the end it is another milestone, but such a painful one for them that it pains me too...please let this pass quickly!

Little Vs. Big

Well, the girls have already started picking on each other. Actually, let me rephrase that, Natalie has started to be really mean to Maddie. She will steal whatever toy Maddie has and even deliberately kicks her and tackles her. At first it was cute, because it looked like they were just wrestling and Maddie would laugh. Now Natalie totally slams Maddie and literally almost holds her head to the ground. Maddie of course starts crying, which breaks my heart. I know they are to young to yell at...what is the point, they don't understand and then that just starts an atmosphere of yelling, which I am not down with, so I try to pick Maddie up and tell Natalie that isn't nice. Only today Maddie fought back...she started trying to bite Natalie's head, good thing she doesn't have teeth yet, but man I am in trouble when she does. I know this is only the begining of their sisterly love fights, but boy it seems like they are starting so young, but so is life I guess and we will all survive!

Twice the Stares

Today my friend, who also has twins, and I went for a walk on the canal downtown. It was so much fun...they have done wonderful things to the area surrounding the canal and great landscaping as well! It was funny though because there we were with our double strollers, basically taking up the entire walk way with our four kids among the two of us naturally drawing attention to ourselves. Luckily though not to many people stopped to stare and no one touched any of the kids. It was nice having someone to relate to the double everything and I hope we will do it again. But if you are looking for a nice place to walk let me suggest a journey to the canal, because it is great!

Your Shopping Options

Typically I do our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart or Meijer because they tend to be cheaper than anywhere else. However, I hate shopping at these places for a number of reasons, which I won't go into now, but the main one being people won't leave the girls and I alone anymore. I love shopping at Target though because people leave me alone and it is clean, but we thought that it was a lot more expensive. Then you have your Marsh and Kroger options as well. These options usually aren't the best if you need diaper and paper products like TP or paper towels, so I tend to avoid those two. Today I asked Tom if I could do a test and do all the shopping at Target and he said yes. Ironically I spent less than I normally do at Meijer or Wal-mart. Now I don't know if I was being more diligent and price conciousness, or if it was because I only bought what was on the list, but I was very pleased. I am hoping that now I can throw this option into the mix from time to time, because it is definately a more pleasurable experience to say the least!

No Time Like the Present

After 8 Months I have decided I had better get cracking on the girl's baby books. When they were first born I was pretty good about answering the questions in the book, but I have since gotten really bad. I started looking at the books and was shocked at how much I have missed writing in them, like when they first rolled over and sat up...at least I know they just started crawling, and being on the move, but I realized I really need to keep up with them or a year will pass and the books will be incomplete. So that is today's activities while the girls nap, haha, or play on the floor!

5 Weeks and Counting

Now that we have our official closing date I have already started the count down. 5 weeks until we officially close...I am so desperate to get out of this horrible apartment I am going to suggest to Tom that we move the girl's cribs ourselves and we can sleep on the floor, just to get out of here! The ants in this place are really starting to get beyond disgusting...today I picked up the toy basket and there were hundreds in there swarming the girls toys and blankets...I was so mad and I had to spend 30 minutes cleaning everything and vacuming the basket and what not. It is not sanitary in my mind. They are coming on Wednesday, the earliest the apt. complex could get someone out here, to spray for them, but that leads me to worry even more about what chemicals they are going to be spraying where my little girls crawl around. I think I can honestly say I am never going to rent again. The amount of money you throw away for one hassle after the next is not worth it. I know I complain a lot about this, but it just floors me to throw money down and have to fix things myself and to live with an ant infestation...YUCK! So 5 more weeks and luckily one of those weeks we will be in Maine, so we only have to live here for 4 more :-)

O Happy Day

Yesterday we got our official letter telling us when we close on our house. Monday July 23 at noon is the date! Yippee...we are so excited. I almost ran back from the mail box I was so excited. It is a day earlier than they predicted we would close and almost a week earlier than the latest date they gave us. This means we get to move on Tuesday and don't have to move over the weekend which is Brickyard weekend, o happy day. It also means we can shell out some dough and just pay someone to move us during the week and we don't have to beg our friends and family to help us and Tom go to work and then come home to the new house! We are more than excited that is for sure. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Snap

Well, today I finally lost it. For over 2 months now we have been listening to our upstairs neighbors stomp around and slam their door each and every time they come in and out, and least of all steal the only good parking spot that is the easiest to get the girls in and out of the apartment. That's right I can leave for 5 minutes, literally and when I come back the spot will be gone. Well, tonight was the night I snapped. We were trying to get the girls to go down for the night and the guy just kept going in and out and in and out slamming the door like every 5 minutes. Finally I got up and noticed the door wasn't shut all the way. The next time he came out and slammed it I opened our door and went out. At this point I just asked him if he could please not slam his door every time he went in. I think I really scared him, I don't think he was expecting anyone to jump out like I did, because he just kept saying sorry. It remains to be seen if he will slam the door when he goes back in, but here's hoping he doesn't and here's hoping nothing happens to my van or that he doesn't slam the door even more! Oh well, I guess 5-6 more weeks :-)

And So It Continues

Today has been a continuation of yesterday's not so good format. The girls are going through something, or are having a not so good reaction to the medicine they are on for that ring worm. Last night Maddie woke up at 1:00 and would not let me put her down. I even had to hold her while trying to pump...not an easy feat to say the least. Then once I had finally gotten her to fall asleep and stay asleep Natalie woke up and did the same thing same, only she wouldn't go back to sleep so I had to hold her on the couch for 2 hours. Finally at 3:30 she went back into her crib and then both girls woke up at 5:00 screaming. Luckily after eating they slept until 9:00. Only my sister and I had planned to leave for the zoo by 9:30...we finally got out of the house by 11:00. In the meantime I was throwing laundry into the wash when I picked up a basket in the living room and it had over 300 ants I am guessing, and that is not a big exaggeration, crawling around in it and on the carpet around it...I have never been so grossed out in my life...I mean this is IN THE HOUSE...not an ant hill! So I washed that load twice and there were still ants in it...so I dried the clothes then shook them all and had to wash them again! So one would think that is the end, but no. At the zoo both girls had to be changed because of full diapers. Then we went to Wal-mart to get some things really quick and as soon as we walked in the door Natalie started screaming. I looked at her pants and you guessed it there was poop leaking out...so we ran around literally got what we needed and she got changed again. Then we got back to the apartment and I told my sister to shut the apartment door and to not let my cat, Bailey, out. Well, you guessed it again, I come back and the door to the apartment is wide open and Bailey is standing on the side walk. I started yelling for my sister to get the cat, but luckily she just laid down so I could drop all the stuff I had in my hand and grab her and get her back into the apartment. I am sure hoping for an easier night tonight and a better day today, because I am exhausted. At least my sister is getting the best birth control one can have!!!!!!!!!!

Roll with it

Today, or this morning I should say has been one of those mornings. Natalie woke up at 5:40 so I got up to feed her. In the process Maddie, who was sleeping in her swing, woke up. So I got her out and she wouldn't let me put her down just kept crying, finally I laid her down to change her on the floor. Well, no sooner had I gotten her diaper off she started peeing. All over me and the floor. Luckily we got these foam tiles for them to play on and it went on those. So I got her cleaned up and on we went. Then after breakfast she had pooped A LOT and I was trying to change her and clean the stuff that was half way up her back when she reached around and grabbed a whole handful before I could stop her and then rubbed it all over her stomach. AHHHHH, so while I am drawing up the bath she goes to the bathroom again all over herself. I am like good thing you are headed to the bath. Then clean out of the tub, Natalie crawls over and pukes on her head....what next. It is 8:30 and we have already done it all..haha, but all you can do is roll with it. Here's to hoping for a better day!

5 Years Gone By

Yesterday was my 5 year college reunion. I cannot believe that much time has passed already. It was very surreal being back on campus and seeing people I had not seen since we graduated. At the same time it was a lot of time and it almost felt like no time had passed. When we were sitting at lunch, though, it was weird because I found myself sitting at a table with all the girls who live in the Indy area, yet we hardly see each other. One girl even commented how sad it is that we get so caught up in our own every day lives and time just flies by. This is true, but then we miss out on those friendship/relationships that we could be fostering and enjoying more of. On my way home I thought about this and have now suggested to my friends that live in the area that we try to get together for monthly dinner "pitch-ins" at someone's house to catch up and spend time together...we will see if that pans out. But I guess that point is to foster the relationships you do have and don't let 5 years slip by before you know it.

The Perfect Day

When today started I was thinking, great here we go, another bad day, but instead of being bad it turned out to be the perfect day. Maddie woke up at 4:00, as her usual, she ate and I put her in the swing and she feel asleep again until 7:00. So we played a little until Natalie woke up at 8:00...a good thing since she wouldn't go to bed until after 10:00 last night :-( So we ate breakfast and I started the laundry. When the first load was done I turned on the dryer and it made the worst noise I have ever heard and I thought "great I have at least 4 loads of laundry to do today and the dang dryer is broken" But after a little shake and a cleaning of the lint trap it seems to be working fine. (We are still getting a new one once the house is done...I can't wait all new appliances and Whirlpool's cabrio washer and dryer!) Then the girls actually took a morning nap, over an hour long. So we ate and I loaded them up for our weekly Friday trip to the store. I hate these because of all the gawkers and annoying people who stop me, but I needed to go. So to walmart we headed. Since I had a big shop to do I put Natalie in the snugli and kept Maddie in her carseat. Can you believe it, but I made it through the entire store without a single person saying, "look twins" or stopping me to look at them. It was awesome! Then I got home and unloaded everything before it started to pour. I cannot believe my luck today. I think I am going to buy a lottery ticket, it might be our lucky day tomorrow if we do!

Child Proofing, things you really don't think about

Monday's topic at the new mom's support group was child proofing. I had always thought that we were doing a pretty good job of preparing our house until I heard everything you need to consider. It really is amazing the things you would think are common sense in child proofing, but really some of the simple things slip your mind. For instance one knows that you should put a child safety gate by the stairs at the top and the bottom, only I didn't realize, but it makes sense, that the gate shouldn't be placed at the top of the stairs but before the stairs! Of course the child is going to go stand at the gate or shake it even and when it comes loss down they go. Common sense one would think, but that is where we were going to place the gate until this was brought to our attention. Also, cleaning supplies under the sink. I think almost everyone keeps their cleaners and dishwasher soap here, but even if there is a child lock on the cabinet kids can still get into it and try to eat it! Outlet covers, I never would have thought that a child would actually sit there and try to pluck them out, but apparently they do, so those aren't a "for sure" thing. Shelves and other media paraphernalia need to be screwed to the wall. I was so glad this was brought up because we have two really big bookcases that go in our living room that probably would topple over really easily if one of the girls tried to pull up with it, so these will be screwed down once we move. Finally, table cloths. I have a ton of these that I use all the time, and I didn't even think about the girls going and pulling on them, so holidays only now! I think for safety purposes, and it will make cleaning easier, once we move we will be taking the minimalist approach to decorating at least for a couple of years to make sure the girls stay safe. I know that even if we are ultra careful they are going to get into things because that is what little ones do, but we will try to help them stay out of trouble by not putting trouble at their level.

Pushing the Limits

Today I had to take Maddie to the doctor for an unplanned visit. She has had a rash on her face for about a month and we had been running through the litany of antidotes, lotion for excema, jock itch lotion, etc, all to no avail so I called this morning and they wanted her to come in. It was 9:00 and they wanted us there at 10:00. To a normal person this would seem like no problem, but for me, who was not showered and the girls not dressed it was going to be a challenge. So I dressed the girls really quick put them in the crib to play and jumped in the shower. I surprisingly got ready quickly and was ready to go with enough time to load them into their car seats and head out. Only when I got to the crib there was orange puke everywhere from the breakfast of carrots and Natalie was covered. Maddie luckily was fine so she got strapped in. Somehow I made it to the doctor on time. The appointment went well, only I felt horrible because Maddie has some how gotten ringworm...GROSS! I guess even if a cat doesn't have it they can transmit it, Tom says that is another strike against the cats...I wish we could build them a fortress or something in the basement where they could just live and not be under foot all the time, but I digress. So I have to head to Target to get Maddie's 3 prescriptions after the appointment. Me being the fool I am head into the store without the bottles, knowing full well that it is nap time and they are going to be hungry any minute. Well, I should have known, because there was Maddie, being "that kid" screaming because she was tired and hungry and the bottles were in the car. Luckily the girls love my car keys so I gave her those and we managed to get out of the store without causing to much of a scene. But never again will I push that limit and try to go without a bottle when I know I will need one! Lesson learned, keep the kids away from the cats and always have a bottle on hand :-)

A Big Thank You

I must send out a BIG Thank your to Jeanelle for telling me about a new mom's group that meets in Speedway each week. It was so nice to get out of the house and see other mom's with babies the girls age and to have my questions answered. I have to say Thank You Thank You Thank You! I look forward to going to future meetings and to having play dates!