Feb 16
Everyone,
You think you’ve had a bad shopping trip? Try to top this one.
We went to the grocery store this morning, as we always do on Wednesday morning. About half an isle in, Pirate decides that it’s time to knock over ALL the oatmeal containers. ALL OVER. So while I’m helping and directing him to pick them up, Professor wanders off. I race around the corner and don’t see him so I race back to Pirate and scoop him up to go look for Professor.
Pirate happily annouces the need for a fresh diaper.
Well, hopefully the shopping trip won’t be too long, I figure he could last until we get out to the car and get a clean diaper there.
We jog around the corner and no Professor. I look down the isle. No Professor.
I glance down the next isle. No Professor. Now I’m getting worried. So I walked down the isle to the middle break and find him studying the cans of stew. I tell him we need to get going on our route around the store. He disagrees.
Loudly.
So now I have one 2 year old, stinky, and one 2 year old, screaming.
I tuck him under my arm and start a mad dash through the store to get the things I need. Pirate was trotting, stinky, by my side. Professor calms down eventually. I may have bribed them with cookies. Professor got comfortable in the cart. I had a chance to chat with a friend from church.
But then we had to change carts at check out and Professor flipped out. He flung himself on the floor and screamed and screamed and screamed. So loud I couldn’t hear anything the cashier was saying. I dumped my stuff into bags and high tailed it out of the store, while being pounded on by Professor.
I tossed him into the car and started loading Pirate and the groceries in behind him. As I’m lifting Pirate up into the car he says, “Uh oh! Change!” And I glance down in time to see a river of poo running out his pant leg. He soaked his clothes, his shoes, but thankfully not my car! Well, not yet.
As I’m stripping and wiping and cleaning up after Pirate, Professor is just raging. Screaming crying kicking seats and hitting the windows. He gets even more upset when I push him off of Pirate, whom I’m trying to change.
I’m lucky I keep a spare set of clothes, and wipes in the car. Because I needed both!
Once Pirate was clean (“Tank yoo Mommy!”) I turn to deal with Professor. I dangle the cookies I bought in front of him to get him into his seat. He becomes sweet once more after a few cookies and bananas on the way home.
I, on the other hand, was covered in sweat and tears and snot and, I’m sure, poop. I sat in my car when we got home, just breathing.
“What doing Mommy?” “Yeah, what doing?”
Nothing. I’m trying to do nothing for just.one.minute.
Sadly in my mad rush to leave the store, I forgot about MY treat. Anyone have chocolate I can have?
Safire
Safirebad days bad days, shopping
Jan 22
Everyone,
Good thing about Professor: he is starting, on his own, to potty train. I am SO not ready to start this. (Read, denial that I actually have to potty train 2 boys.) I guess he is. Almost every time I change his diaper in the past week, he’s asked to go sit on the potty. And then, every single time, he pees. I’ve been wondering if it was just him suggesting it so I started asking him at odd moments. He’s been game every time. And gone every time. I bet if we put underwear on him he’d be potty trained.
I, however, am not interested in letting him do this because it means a lot of attention. Honestly, I just want to potty train both boys at the same time. Let’s rip that band-aid off all at once! I will wait until they are 3 and I am ready.
Bad thing about Professor: We had to carry him kicking and screaming through the mall today. We went to the store, had lunch out, and then went to the mall to let the kids play at the kid corner thing. It was jammed. There were BIG kids there, running very fast. But they all seemed to enjoy it and the big kids were very respectful of every one’s space. The kids ran. A lot. And then it was time to leave so Professor screamed and screamed.
In fact, today was an off day for him. There was lots of screaming to be had the whole day long. He only wanted me and I only had patience for so much.
Safire
Safirebad days, Professor Professor
Apr 27
Everyone,
Isn’t it true that bad (and good) things generally happen in threes? I’ll look for a bad day tomorrow because today totally sucked. Again. Let’s start with the oldest and go from there.
Butterfly: she had 3 accidents today. And one that was not just pee. What’s going on with this girl and her bladder?! The past 2 weeks or so she’s had major bathroom issues. It’s a bummer. We had to leave the park because she had an accident. That one was partly my fault because I saw the signs and didn’t march her to the bathroom then. I was waiting for her to tell me she had to go. Obviously she was having too much fun to stop. Boy she is going to be interesting in school. I hope she gets an understanding kindergarten teacher.
She also lost her movie for the day (a HUGE upset) and she got put to bed when the boys went to bed. It was not a good day for her.
Pirate: he is growing so fast! He is tall enough to reach things on the counters. Things I’ve been putting up there to keep him away from. Things like bowls or hot pans. No he didn’t get a hot pan but he did get a bowl. Butterfly was peeling hard boiled eggs to put in the bowl. He offered it to her. She huffed and turned away from him. (Girls!) Then he got angry and threw the bowl. The floor won. Now I am a bowl short and cross.
Professor: this is a pretty funny story and really, not something that was his fault. But still, it involves him so it goes under his label.
I was sitting with the boys on my lap, one on each leg. I was by the big window in our front room. Both the boys were facing the window looking out. Professor was in front, and Pirate was behind him, with his belly pressed up against Professor’s back. Professor was grunting and complaining that Pirate kept leaning on him and pushing him out of the way to get a better look at the truck out the window. I finally got them apart and noticed that there was a big green streak on Pirate’s arm. I was on the phone with my dad at the time and had to hang up quickly (“Ew! Green sludge!”). I then dump Professor on the floor and gingerly carry Pirate over to the changing pad to detoxify him.
I got his clothes off and open his diaper to…nothing. There was no poop anywhere on his body except his belly. That’s when I gasped and left poor Pirate buck nekkid on the pad. Professor was playing quietly on the other side of the room. When I got closer to him, I noticed that the back of his hair was kind of dark.
I gingerly pick up Professor and shoo Pirate off the changing pad to detoxify Professor. I should have been wearing some kind of hazmet suit because this was bad. Up the back, up the front, bright green and slimy. Oddly enough, there was a spot on his diaper that didn’t have anything on it. It was right where he was sitting on my leg so maybe it squeezed out either side?
Note to self: beans for dinner and a strawberry/spinach smoothie do not mix.
Safire
Safirebad days, Butterfly in trouble, diapers, life with twins, Pirate the pirate
Apr 15
Everyone,
I typed in 4 different titles before that one and each one I had used before. Feeling Crabby, Crabby Here, etc. Did not improve my mood.
The kids are fine. Oh Professor is a little more clingy than normal due to his face thing. And Butterfly refuses to bend her knee (also due to the face thing). But she happily went to swimming lessons today and jumped right in the pool no problems. Crazy girl.
We stopped dance lessons because were going to be in Utah during the big spring showcase. This was the session where they were going to pick out costumes and learn a routine for it. I knew she couldn’t handle doing all the prep work and NOT dancing in the showcase. So we switched to swim lessons again.
She is SO much happier in swim lessons. There is no hesitation, no crying, no forcing when we need to get ready. She does it happily and jumps right in the pool without even waving good bye. There is only one other boy in her class this time so she should get some good one on one instruction.
I, on the other hand, am crabby. I don’t know why. Just one of those days. So what are things to help get you out of a crabby funk? These are what I normally do:
- Exercise. It’s amazing what getting your blood pumping can do for your mood after. Plus! You can loose some weight if you’re doing it a lot. Negative- I always wonder what the kids are doing (when they are not exercising with me) and it’s almost always then that they get in trouble.
- Clean. In the movie, “The Emperor’s New Groove”, Pacha’s wife gets mad over something Pacha says and snorts, “I’ve got to go clean something.” I feel like that sometimes. A clean something means a task is done. And done tasks make me feel better. Negative- The kids ALWAYS want to help but it ends up making it worse and then I have to do it over. This does not make me happy.
- Sit in the sun. It’s so peaceful and nice to sit and have the sun shine on your face and head. I like the way my hair smells after I’ve been outside. Negative- The kids scream if I don’t take them out with me and then things like the face incidents happen and then no one is happy.
- Read a book. I’ve read a few books lately, but none that I’m really excited about. One is dry, long and somewhat boring. I don’t like the writer’s style. I’m more confused after reading the last chapter (I’m one of THOSE book readers) so I actually have to read the book. Anyone have anything good out there to read? Negative- the kids DO NOT like me reading my books. They bring me their books. And there is only so much “Water Water Everywhere” that I can take before I become the pacing cat at the zoo again.
- Put on some fun music and dance. This is a good one. Everyone gets moving. Everyone gets happy. Maybe I’ll go do this one now.
Safire
Safirebad days, grumpy, swim lessons
Apr 03
Everyone,
And no, this is not a Maryland crab joke. I tried one of those on Juice this afternoon and he kind of looked at me funny.
The day started out okay. Juice got up early to go to some sort of skeet shooting thing with the church. He should have checked his email before he left because it got cancelled. He came home crabby because no one was at the church. From there, he hustled us out the door, which made ME crabby. I had big plans this morning. Like resting my aching legs and desperately trying to find some time to do something on line that I want to do.
No go with him. Out the door to the grocery store and to get the boys’ hair cut. This is their second professional cut of their lives. The first one was around their first birthday. And this one only because I’ve trimmed it badly several times in a row and it looked all lopsided.
Half an hour later and three suckers (Butterfly was lucky enough to get one even though she did not get her hair cut) and we were done. They look so old! There was no screaming this time. What a difference a year makes.
Then from there we rushed home for lunch and naps before our church’s big general meeting. We have them 2 times a year (always the first weekend in April and October). This year Easter and Conference landed together. We’re able to watch Conference through the Internet. Sadly, I slept through most of the morning session.
In between sessions (5 sessions total, 3 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, each 2 hours long) we ran to REI to pick out a big girl bike for Butterfly for her birthday. I am a member and I get cash back for everything I purchase there. And last year I bought A LOT of stuff from them. So I got a lot of cash back. We did not come home with a bike today. But we did come home with a size for her bike. She looks enormous on a 16 inch bike but okay on a 20 inch bike. Seriously, she is amazingly tall! Sadly, this also means we’re going to have to buy special training wheels for her that will fit her bike. And they didn’t have the color she wanted in stock so back home to order it online.
The whole time we’re out everyone is cranky. Professor REFUSES to be put down by me or touched by Daddy lately. He spent the day strapped to my back. Butterfly is whining that she doesn’t WANT a bike (but perked up when I told her she could have a bell on it) and Pirate desperately wanted to be where Professor was.
Several times today I had to count to 10 to keep my temper. Everyone needs to just do as their told! And if I tell you to stop whining, DO IT.
I didn’t buy a one of a kind necklace that I wanted to. I saw it about a week ago and thought I would wait a week to see if I REALLY wanted it before I bought it. That whole, trying to keep impulse buying down to a minimum. I REALLY did want it but as of a few days ago, it was sold. I am super sad about it and am now researching how I can make one of my own.
Juice (happily…too happily in my opinion) went off to the meeting for the men tonight and left me to get everyone in bed. Which happened soon after we had a snack. And during the snack, both boys started signing every sign I know. More, milk, hurt, various animals, sorry, sad, happy, thank you, cracker, cereal, etc. They were having a ball and asking each other for more milk and then passing cups around. Butterfly caught on to what they were signing before I did.
After they were in bed, I spent the evening eating Easter candy, putting some in their baskets, and watching a very girly movie. It wasn’t great but my popcorn was good.
Now if I can get to bed and get some sleep, maybe we’ll all be in better moods tomorrow.
Safire
Safirebad days, church, Conference, Easter baskets
Feb 04
Everyone,
So all of my children lived to see the sun set today. This morning, it was pretty dicey as to whether or not they were going to. I just can’t seem to catch a break with the kids lately. Good thing I called Juice on the brink and he decided that I should get out tomorrow morning before the storm hits and be alone. He thought it was a great idea. Right?!
So, the boys this morning come downstairs without me while I am arguing with Butterfly over something. Then I hear a crash. I rush downstairs to see what it was and they broke a glass that was on our table. They were also up on the table. So I clean that up (to a chorus of screaming, no injuries, just removed toy and table top exploration) and start to get breakfast ready. While I am putting oatmeal and milk in the microwave, I hear another crash. This time the broke a glass that was on the counter. No one was hurt but it put me right on edge the rest of the day. And it was only 7am!
After a lack luster breakfast for everyone (the oatmeal was good…no one ate it except me) I go upstairs to start getting everyone ready. While I am changing diapers and telling Butterfly she has to wear some kind of pants under her dress because it’s winter, the boys find Juice’s soccer ball and basket ball. They are super excited (“Ball! Ball!”) and I let them have fun chasing each other and throwing the balls 2 inches. While I am trying to explain cold weather and proper clothing to my daughter, I hear a big bounce, bounce, bounce, thud.
This time they threw the balls down the stairs and put a nice dent in the wall in the stair well. 8 am and already I’m ready to walk out the door and leave them behind. I don’t like being the one in charge right now!
And finally, while I was in the shower, they managed to pull Juice’s tie rack out of the closet wall and scatter ties around the room. They really like Juice’s Marvin the Martian tie and were fighting over it when I surveyed the scene. (This is where I called Juice and suggested STRONGLY that I needed to be away from the children for awhile tomorrow. Good thing his work is flexible. I’m off to breakfast early…anyone else need a break too?)
Professor screamed so hard during his nap today that he didn’t nap. And Pirate didn’t nap long enough because of all the racket. By the time Juice got home I was so spent that I could barely say hello. Needless to say, he cooked dinner, we watched movies and rejoiced when they were put in bed.
Safire
PS- We’re supposed to get 3 feet of snow this weekend, starting tomorrow. 3 feet is not a lot to all my Utah family, I know. But 3 feet out here is more than they’ve had since the 1950s. Hopefully the power stays on but it may not. Not to worry…we’ve got candles and warm clothes and a fire (outside) with which to cook food over if it gets that bad. Sadly though, no heater. We’ll probably all sleep in the same room and won’t that be fun. So if you don’t hear from me for awhile, I’m buried under snow!
Safirebad days, double trouble
Jan 29
Everyone,
Today was a better day. Not a great day, just better than the past ones have been. Juice came home early as he often does on Fridays. He was able to cheer us up before naps. The boys were pretty miserable off and on today. Mostly it’s been Pirate who has been screaming today so that’s been a change. I think they both have a miserable cold.
Nuts. I hate it when the kids are sick.
While the boys napped and Butterfly played on the Wii, I just chilled out. Juice was in charge of the kids and I did nothing but poke around on the Internet and wonder why it takes me two tries every time to log into twitter.
Once the boys were up I got out my amazing steam cleaner and cleaned my kitchen. I steamed out my microwave…awesome. I steamed my counters, my sink faucets, the screen above the stove, and the floors. In half an hour. Seriously in love with the Oreck.
Juice picked up all the toys (and there were MANY) and vacuumed the house. I feel so much better with the house picked up and everything tidy.
Everyone went to bed early and Juice and I had a nice date on the couch watching a movie about John Keats. Okay, I had a nice time. I think he tolerated the movie for my sake. He’s so nice.
We’re off on an adventure tomorrow. We decided this after both the boys were hugging their coats and hanging on the door crying. Poor little Professor kept saying, “Ouuu? Ouuu? Ouuu?” Hopefully we won’t freeze to death while being ‘ouuu’.
Safire
Safirebad days, cleaning, Professor talks, sickness 2010
Jan 27
Everyone,
Today has been another crappy day with screaming and snot and spilled milk on the couch. Professor is just so fragile with his feelings lately. He throws a down-on-the-ground-limp-and-forgotten tantrum if I set foot in a bathroom. Probably because I go into the bathroom to escape the constant pulling on me to be picked up. Seriously, my arms can only handle so much. Plus, I kind of need at least one hand to do something. But nothing is getting done because no one will leave me alone. Looks like I need to break out my wrap and strap someone on me.
Yes, I know the house will be clean one day and that there will always be laundry and they are only little once, blah, blah, blah. I feel over worked, over tired, and overwhelmed. It’s on these kinds of days that I wish I was close to my Mom’s house just to go over there for a change of scenery.
I’ll be better after awhile I’m sure but for now, I want to lock the kids in their room and spend the day cleaning/resting/reading.
I was hoping to get somethings done earlier today that now I have to do while the kids are napping. Which also equals no down time for me.
Safire
PS- No I won’t take Professor to the doctor despite all the screaming. There is snot but no fever, no pulling at his ears, no other sign of sickness. And the snot is probably from all the crying. I think he’s just being clingy and needs attention I can’t give him right now. So he cries. We are also out of milk which upsets him too. When there is no milk in the fridge and he sees that, he says, “Uh-oh!” in increasingly worried tones and breaks down crying very quickly. It’s just how our days are going. Gah.
PPS- He JUST NOW started screaming in his nap. He’s been down for half an hour. I can hear him screaming around his binkie. Please please please let him go back to sleep!
Safirebad days
Jan 27
Everyone,
Hey it’s almost February and it finally snowed and actually put inches on the ground! I was beginning to think that we would be a snow less winter this year. Sad.
I had big plans to get out into the snow. But that was yesterday. And yesterday I had a little smidgen of a cold but was fine. Today, I was not. I hate having colds. I hate the congestion, the sinus pressure, the breathing through your mouth, everything. The kids have had a cold the past week or so and I figured that I wasn’t going to get it. I think days of staying up too late along with boys STILL waking up at night have caught up with me. I’m sick. And in no mood to be in a good mood.
I did try hard to get everyone out this afternoon right after nap. I was trying to feed the boys and get Butterfly out of the Tinkerbell dress she has been wearing for 3 days straight. It’s a cold dress. One should not wear that dress out to play in the snow. So I told her to go get pants on while I fed the boys. Well, she didn’t want to do it alone. She needed help. Why wouldn’t I stop feeding the boys and help her?! The whole time this is going on, she is in and out of their room where I am sitting on the rocking chair trying to keep their attention on the business at hand. They wanted to know what was going on with Butterfly. They are her adoring fan base after all. Normally I encourage sibling exchanges but all the smiles and giggles of babies does not diminish the fact that there is milk spraying on them from behind while they crane their little necks around to see what Big Sister is doing!
I tried turning around but that just made her actually come into the room. I tried to keep milk off the computer that’s in there and failed. (Just the screen, it still works Dad, don’t worry.) I got so frustrated with her. If she would leave us alone for 5 minutes, then I could go help her and we could go. So, I admit. I yelled. She puffed herself up, yelled right back at me and flung the door shut. But she didn’t get her fingers out of the way in time and shut her nail beds into the door. Ouch!!!
By now, the boys have not eaten, milk is covering their backs and will soon make their hair crusty and sticky if Soot doesn’t lick it off first, and Butterfly is screaming and trying to climb onto my lap with bloody fingers. And the boys are laughing. I put them down, and the laughing turns to crying. Arg! I had had it!
I very calmly bandaged and kissed the hurts, held Butterfly in my bed until she stopped crying, and ran some damage control from the little tornadoes in my room. By the time Butterfly was feeling better, both boys were clamoring to eat again. I turned on a movie for Butterfly and got the boys fed. Butterfly was not interested in going outside with her hurt fingers. She moped around the house every time she saw me looking at her. Otherwise she played just fine.
When Daddy came home, it was all smiles and trying to get him to go out and play in the snow with her! Because, “Mommy didn’t want to.”
Uh-huh. Juice pounced on the chance to go out and play. He got her all ready to go out (no dress, 2 pants, all happily done for Daddy) and they played and built a very small snow man. I put two screaming boys to bed and ate dinner by myself.
Juice was very good and put Butterfly to bed and is in the kitchen doing the dishes as we speak. It’s nice to just lay on the couch with the computer and not do anything. Ahh…sweet laziness.
It was a snot ridden frustrating day for me today.
Safire
Safirebad days, sickness 2009, snow
Dec 13
Everyone,
It must be me because I’ve been having a string of hard days lately. Today started out nice with Juice home and entertaining Butterfly instead of her jumping all over me. So I got to lie in bed for just a moment longer. That moment didn’t last as I remembered that we had a birthday party to go to this morning and I had to make sure that the boys napped on time. (Juice was going to help someone move so he couldn’t watch the boys.)
Of course, the boys did not nap on time. Oh I tried. They talked and babbled and shuffled in bed while I ran around the house getting everything ready. Butterfly was a gem and very helpful. I didn’t hear the boys about 10 minutes before we had to go and sure enough, they had just fallen asleep. They were side by side in the crib with their arms linked facing each other. For how dissimilar they are, they sure do love to be next to each other and doing whatever the other one is doing.
So now I’m headed out the door with two tired and whiny boys and Butterfly to the party. It started out great. And then I noticed where Butterfly was sitting there was a puddle. Uh oh. When I went over to see what happened, she simply said, “I peed.” She went back to decorating a bag. Boy she got in trouble. Everyone was great about it at the party but we left. I can’t have her not caring that she peed somewhere. Arg! I was mad.
On the way home I did see a bald eagle over my house! (Totally unrelated I know.)
After we got Butterfly cleaned up and I went for a walk looking for that bald eagle to take a picture of, she asked to go back to the party. I figured she had been punished enough so we called to make sure it was still going on. We went back (without the boys, they napped for Juice for about 3 hours) and had a nice time.
Home, naps all around and dinner. I just got back from grocery shopping by myself. So although this day had it’s low and high points, it ended fine.
Maybe this is why I shouldn’t write every day in December. I do remember my last December being much the same. But no one else has to remember it if I don’t post it. Sigh…
Safire
Safirebad days, birthday parties, wildlife sightings
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