"mama"

I have been promoted from "Mom" (Or "Mine" in Jack's case) to "Mama", and I am quite pleased to have made this transition!

Here is a picture of Logan signing "Mama" and wishing I would pick him up already!

daddy's blue eyed boys

{Logan}
Josh took these pictures of the boys. He is in love with their blue eyes.
I have to say they are quite stunning.

{Jack}
Here they are drinking their sippy cups inside their larger stacking cups. The silly things they come up with have us constantly cracking up.

Yesterday Josh and I were eating dinner while the boys ran around playing. Pretty soon they ended up in the kitchen getting out pots & pans. Jack smashed two lids together, pretty pleased with the loud noise he was able to make. Logan brought the frying pan to me, and I began to pretend to eat what was in it.
He and Jack followed suit and began to "eat" the pots & pans food, too. It was their first real pretend play. It was so cute.

supermom {tries} to take a break

Today was rainy, cold & ugly here in the Pacific Northwest. So when I got home and got the kids in bed, I decided it was time for Mommy to take a bath, read her favorite book and bask in the warmth of the tub.

Halfway through filling the tub, the hot water ran out.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

Now instead of feeling relaxed, warm & cozy, I am left frustrated & FREEZING!
Grrrr...

supermom

I have been told many times in the last few weeks that I don't give myself enough credit for what I do, or that I'm supermom. I have to say that while before I disagreed with that statement, I now believe it wholeheartedly.
I do everything. (This is not to say Josh doesn't help, but most of the household responsibilities are still on me since he is in school.) Here's what I mean:
{my day}
6:00am- The alarm clock rings and Josh gets in the shower. I go in the nursery where the boys are inevitably awake, even though they are supposed to sleep another hour.
I watch them while Josh showers, make the bed, throw our lunches together and then get in the shower myself. Once I am out of the shower I get dressed, get the boys in their high chairs, get them some food, try to blow dry my hair while they eat, get them down, give Jack his medicine for his ear infection, turn on Baby Einstein and try to put my make up on.
Brush my teeth, tidy up the boys room, and bring out their clothes. Start to change diapers and dress babies & my mother-in-law shows up (if it's her day.)
8:20am- Kiss each baby at least fifteen times, and head out the door.
Drive to work, thinking of what, if anything, needs to be done on my break that day.

8:40am- Show up at work, put away my lunch, visit with coworkers on the way to my morning meeting.
Listen for fifteen minutes to anything I have been doing wrong/could do better at my job, head out to pick up the kids off the bus, and take them to breakfast. Cut up pancakes, open milk boxes, instruct kids to wipe their mouths 47 times, send them to the bathroom, make sure they actually go, make sure they actually wash their hands, and make sure they get their pants buttoned.
9:30- Take a morning break. Make some appointments, call to haggle over some bills and maybe sneak in a snack.
9:45- Back to the classroom. Juggle three special needs kids in my group; doing reading, handwriting and math. No, you have to count "4, 5, 6..." not "4, 5,7..." My patience wears thin.
11:00- Work my tail off when my co-worker goes on her break and I take over her group.
12:00- Finally kids lunch and recess- a break from the insanity of work time with that many kids.
1:00- My lunch: Sit. Eat. Read.
Ahhhh...
While at work it's my job to remember EVERYTHING. Luckily my home life has trained me for this. However, I have to say that lately my memory is not what it used to be (have you heard the stroller story yet?). And I forget. A LOT. At work I have to remember handouts, assignments, kids' schedules, to send them potty, what time recess is, who went where... it is so much.

3:45pm- Back at home {finally!} with my kids. One of the two of them tends to tantrum as Carol is leaving the house. I think the transition in power is hard for them, and they are mad that I left them. Some people disagree with this, but it's how I feel.
By 5pm Josh is home and we just try to spend some time playing with the kids. We also feed them dinner, then we begin the bedtime routine.
Baths (play, wash, rinse, and repeat);
Diapers (ointment, lotion, velcro, and repeat);
Pajamas (one leg, then the other, zip, and repeat);
Hugs (kiss, snuggle, love, and repeat);
Cribs (give binky, bub, blanket and repeat);
and finally story time.
Fan on, CD on, Lights off by 7pm.
Watch both episodes of "The Office" for my daily dose of laughter, and eat dinner. Unfortunately lately dinner has been a sandwich or anything our microwave can produce. I just don't have time to cook dinner. The boys are clingy at night, and I am too burnt out to put effort into dinner. I feel like Josh suffers for this, but hopefully when I am a stay at home mom I will be able to get my mind around making meals for our family.
8:00pm- Run a load of laundry, take out the trash, run the dishwasher, clean out the sink, tidy up the living room and vacuum so that the house is ready for Carol the next day to watch the kids. We also try to get lunches made, clothes picked out and our bags ready so leaving in the morning is seamless.
By 10pm we are in bed, reading usually, and praying the kids WILL NOT wake up as they have been for the last week.

The whole schedule even worse (more work) on the days I have to take them/pick them up from my mom's house.

I am exhausted.
And it honestly never ends. If I don't do some of these things, I pay the price the next day. Or if I spend the whole weekend playing (myself or with the kids) I end up doing laundry/cleaning during the week. And believe you me: I have lowered my standards. I really can't let anything else go.


Maybe it's time I start giving myself credit for how much I do.
And maybe it's time I start giving myself a break.
Supermom needs some time off!

20 months

{Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page so you can listen to my music along with the slide show.}

{replacement} stroller

After a {horrendous} shopping trip with the boys to Babies R Us yesterday afternoon, we came home, put them to bed and found a gorgeous, basically never-used stroller on Craigslist for about $100.00 less than the new ones at BRU.

I am overjoyed to have a stroller again.
Here's hoping this one {always} makes it into the car!

baby swing re-introduced

Roxanne gave me back the boys' old swing since she doesn't use it for Ferris.

So the boys have been using it as an easy chair.

They sit back, watch some TV, rock their babies to sleep.

Remind me of their Papa Barry.
Ha!

TWO too MUCH

When it all gets to be TWO too MUCH
around our house...
we go for a walk.

The night before last there was TWO too MUCH crying,
TWO too MUCH hurting,
TWO too MUCH being awake.

Yesterday:
Jack was diagnosed with an ear infection,
I missed work {again},
but Logan was feeling fine.

Thankfully yesterday afternoon there was...
TWO too MUCH giggling,
TWO too MUCH playing,
and TWO too MUCH feeling better.

So we went on a walk.
It was TWO, too beautiful!

The train came by,
and the kids were TWO too EXCITED!

{Did I mention TWO, too excited kids?}

We had a really great time,
despite the fact that none of us slept
AT ALL
the night before.

But I did mention in the beginning that we walk when it's all just
TWO too MUCH...
Right?
I did remember to mention that?!?
Cause that's the most important thing to remember.
That's the whole reason for this post.
{Well, that and the adorable kids}

Because the kids were TWO too MUCH.

I was exhausted,
they wanted to run around...
Getting them in the car was like running a marathon.

So... once I got them in the car
WE LEFT.


Only... I hadn't {exactly} finished loading the car.


Yep.

Oh no.

YES.

I LEFT MY DOUBLE STROLLER ON THE SIDEWALK.
Where you see it located in the last picture
is where it stayed.
ALL NIGHT.
ALL MORNING.

Until I went to Costco this morning, and opened the trunk to put my box of 500 diapers in the back and saw:
NOTHING.

That feeling in the pit of my stomach when I remembered our walk, TWO too fussy kids, a TWO tired Mommy...

And NO stroller in the car.
~
It's lost & gone forever.

babies, basketballs & guitars

Jack has been dribbling balls around here like crazy. He learned from his cousin Isaiah, and it is adorable (!!!) to watch!

Logan enjoyed watching Papa play the guitar so much, we gave him one of his own.

But he wanted the real deal.

So Papa let him give it a go.

The Adelman Twins

This afternoon I met up with Juli & her twin sons Orion and Mason. I work with her husband, Scott, and my mom watches her twins {as well as mine} during the week. It was fun to see the boys play together. They are about six months apart.

{Orion & Jack}

{Logan & Orion}

{Orion's turn!}

{Mason & Jack}