A look at the past...

I posted this on a Mommy message board a year ago... Just wanted to repost because it reminded me of how far the girls have come in the past year:

A recipe... for chaos:
How to make bread with twin toddlers: I and my "assistants" set out to make healthy whole wheat bread this morning. It was quite the experience, so I thought I'd share, as I'm sure everyone could relate to our chaos. After waking at 8, dressing, eating, cleaning up after eating, pottying, and a short playtime, we set out to make bread at 10. Step 1, mill the grain for flour. This we achieved easily... 10:10 allowed my assistants to stand on chairs on either side of me at our kitchen island to watch as I pour ingredients into the mixing bowl. Water, check; honey, check; oil, check; At this point I'm cockily thinking, "This is going swimmingly! What a great lesson for the girls!''Flour- I announce, "we need seven cups"... lets count 1..2...3...4....5....6.... At which point, Assistant 1 decided to see what's in the bowl so far... she grabs the bowl and promptly pulls it down as she loses her balance, spilling all ingredients all over herself, the floor, and my counter. Assistant 1 cries, and Mommy, wanting to cry herself (those ingredients aren't cheap in the amounts I use them), comforts Assistant 1, taking this time to teach about how "accidents happen"... Strip assistant 1 (Sarah) down to diaper, put both assistants in high chairs to prevent "fun with dough," clean baby, clean floor, clean counter, clean bowl and utensils, dry bowl and utensils... break for good laugh as assistants begin to poke each other and giggle in their high chairs...Pause for potty break for both girls, a temper tantrum over both who gets to go first and who gets a prize first... wash both hands...break for another temper tantrum over who knows what...Continue to clean EVERYTHING....Get out clean washcloth because the first one looks like a wad of playdough now...Redress assistant one and start a load of laundry before the flour dries on her clothes...Wring broom, and dustpan away from screaming assistant who has decided to use them to knock pictures off the entertainment center...Take measuring spoons away from other screaming assistant's mouth and clean them... Again...10:45- start milling more grain for flour and start all over again! p.s. 1:30 bread is done and assistants asleep. Mommy wishes she had prozac!

Exciting Changes

The girls just keep blooming and blossoming... growing up so fast. I can't believe they'll be three soon! This week they haven't been napping well, and have been going to bed really late, so I've decided it's time to drop naps, at least officially. I told them they can now have quiet time from 1-3, meaning they don't have to sleep but they have to hang out in their beds and play. They also started wearing pull ups instead of diapers at naptime and bedtime, so I put the potties in their room and told them that they can get up to potty if they want to try to stay dry at those times. Up till now, they've been told they can't get out of bed for anything, so this is a big leap of freedom for them. I decided to put a nightlight in their room so they can find their way to the potty, and I went to Target to buy them yesterday with the kids. I plugged the light in and put it on a timer, and then at 9 pm went up to check on them. The light was so bright, it was like the noon-day sun in their room, so I had to scrap the nightlight and use their baby monitor light instead! They're so proud every time they actually keep their pull up dry, it's really cute.

Caleb also took a leap this week. He's decided he no longer needs to be swaddled, and is trying to break out of his sleep positioner by scooting all around the crib. He keeps bumping his head on the crib sides, so I had to put his crib bumpers on... now I can't peek in on my baby easily anymore :(. He's getting so big, 15 pounds now. A friend brought her 5 week old baby to a playdate today, and he just looked huge in comparison! I'm just trying to enjoy every minute I have with him since he's my last baby.

p.s. The J key on my keyboard is broken, so if you notice misspellings, just know that I have to proofread and retype every J with extra pressure, and that's why occaisionally you'll see words like "enoy" instead of "enJoy"!

WHY???!!

Why is it every time I put all the kids down for a nap and it looks like I might have a minute alone, that's when the wash spin cycle gets out of whack and the darn thing starts CLANGING AND BANGING so loudly that someone wakes up and my peace is RUINED!

Why is it every time I go to sneak a reese's cup, 3 people magically appear behind me asking, "whatcha eatin?" and suddenly the 2 with no attention span cannot move from that spot or stop asking until I answer truthfully.

Why is it that the baby sleeps so heavily sometimes that I cannot wake him up no-matter-what, while every night at 10 when I go to sneak carefully and quietly into my bed next to his crib, he stirs and wakes, even though I'm sure I haven't made a sound.

Why is it that the girls can be playing happily together independantly, but the moment my hot coffee emerges from the microwave, they immediately need to be taken to the potty.

Why is it that when I potty the girls before naptime, they always deny needing to go, but the moment I walk out the door after putting them down, I hear, "Mommy, I hav a poo poo in my diaper!"

Just wondering.

New things we learned yesterday...

"Yoo-hoo!" That's Sarah's new word. As in, "Yoo-hoo, Mommy! Hannah has a poopoo in her diaper!" I hear this over the interecom at naps. Or, "Yoo-hoo, Mommy, I threw my sock across the room and now my feet are coooold!"... Cute, huh? Ryan learned a new lesson about living w/ girls yesterday, too. He learned that if you don't put the potty seat down, little bottoms will tend to fall in and cry and scream for help. Poor Sarah, now the kid thinks she could fall in at any second, and she grips that potty seat with white-knuckles for fear of drowning. Naughty Daddy!

Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water...

Watch out Jonah's of the world, here he comes!

Can you tell I enjoy this kid? He really cracks me up!

Outdoor fun

I can't wait for spring to really gear up. Today was a beautiful sunny day, and we took full advantage. It's amazing what you can do with an empty refridgerator box and 2 two year olds. Today it was a castle, then a fort, then Noah's ark. We also enjoyed a little time on the girls' bikes. Sarah's great at pedaling now, and can go up and down the sidewalk independantly. Hannah still can't reach the pedals well, and hasn't figured out how to steer yet, so she just enjoys sitting and playing the music on her Dora bike. She'll be the one who at 16 can't focus on the road because of her preoccupation with the radio, I think. :). Caleb is now getting really good at holding his head up, but I just wish he'd sleep a bit more at night. He's still waking every three hours to eat, sometimes four or five if in the swing. Other than that, though, he's a dream baby, as easy as a mommy could ask for. P.s. I stink at posting pictures so forgive me if this post is messy!

Why I'm not cut out for newspaper delivery...

And why I don't play softball. I have NO arm for throwing. That being said, today when I went to put the paper up on the porch, this is where it landed. Yup, that's my roof. I am a really terrible pitcher! At least the girls got a kick out of it.

Just so that Mom doesn't feel TOO homesick in Florida...

I'm posting some pictures of the snow today for Mom, so she won't feel too homesick while she vacations in sunny Florida. It didn't last long enough for the girls to enjoy it before it melted, but they sure enjoyed watching it. Sarah just said, "Mommy, it looks like white rocks everywhere!" We also had a fun playdate at our friend Lettie's house today where everyone wore pajamas, so I took a couple pictures there, too. It's been an uneventful few days here. Ryan made me a lovely Valentines Day dinner with candelight, mimosas, cornish game hen, and his special chocolate ice cream this weekend. What can I say, he's a great guy! It's nice to finally have a fridge again, too.

A trip to the Gardens

This morning I got a bug in my butt to take the kids to the Botanical Gardens. It was a gorgeous 71 degrees most of the morning, and I decided to make good use of the passes my Mom bought us. We really enjoyed the Children's Garden. We hunted for (fake) alligator, climbed up the treehouse, danced in a teepee, studied the cactus, and dug in the dirt, and went pee about one million times (including a lovely stop at the airport observation deck where they couldn't wait and peed next to the benches on the ground... squirrels and bunnies do it, so can they) and everyone got a good dose of sunshine before the clouds rolled in at noon. Caleb slumbered through most of it, and when asked what he though, replied, "goo," and then tooted. This is pretty much his reaction to everything. Then we had a picnic in the War Memorial Garden under a lovely white gazebo. Sarah and I shared peanut butter crackers, carrots, and apples, while Hannah ate her apple only and then declared, "I DON'T WANT NO MORE!" and stormed off (her usual reaction to everything, unless we want to go or we want to end a meal, then it's "I WANT MORE!"). Overall it was lots of fun, and I'm so glad I got up the guts to take all three off for the excursion. Unfortunately this meant no naps for the girls this afternoon, so now I'm a bit batty, but it was worth it, I think. Enjoy the picture from the tree house!

Garbage

Tonight at dinner, I made asian cabbage with pork tenderloin. Sarah loved it and scarfed it down, while Hannah, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with the cabbage. I left for a moment to take Caleb up to bed, and when I came down, Hannah looked at me and asked, "Mommy, can you please help me eat my garbage?" Pretty accurate, I guess, for her first attempt to say "cabbage."

That's just pitiful...

So the girls are sitting on the couch after their nap, and I told them they could watch an episode of Kipper while I cook dinner. Then the snow starts... YAY! It was so beautiful coming down, and I opened the back door to the storm door so they could see better. Then I said, "Come over here girls and see the beautiful snow!"

Their reply:
"Well, not right now, Mommy, we can see it just fine from here, thanks."...

Maybe I need to get them out more.

What I did with my extra time...

Deer Dadee,
Pweeze done furgit milk. Mommee sez sheel hav tu reeesort tu ekstreem mezyures if yu furgit tu breeng it home!

How I got some extra time myself today...

So I noticed that I had some extra time to myself this morning as I was going thru emails and checking message boards and such. Normally, the girls are swarming around me asking me questions and telling me to come play RIGHT NOW. So after a while, I decided to check what was up. I find Sarah on the potty, and Hannah in the bathroom up at the sink. Apparantly, Hannah had gone and washed her hands and as she stepped down, her sweatshirt hooked the handle of the cabinet, effectively hanging her from the cabinet door (Though her feet could reach the floor, so she wasn't hurt, just stuck, so don't go calling DYFS on me!). So Hannah's hanging there quietly asking Sarah to help her, and Sarah is quietly asking Hannah to hand her toilet paper. This little limbo could have possibly gone on forever as neither of them thought to call for me.

The girls have had colds for three weeks straight now, so I think we're all going a little batty. They're getting darn sick and tired of me telling them to cover their mouths and not touch baby brothers stuff. Caleb is blessedly well, though, and happy as a clam. I felt like a real heel last night because I put him in his swing with every intention of turning it off after 20 min as I always do to ensure he's getting good sleep (quote Dr. Weissbluth - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child , "Motion sleep is not quality sleep") but I fell asleep and he swung there for THREE HOURS. I must have been really tired cause normally I'm anal retentive about not using the swing a long time. And still, we have no fridge... the wait continues for delivery!