Bathtime

Today, I feel like a champ. For the last 11 days Connor has had a severe phobia of the bath tub. Bath time has been very stressful and I was beginning to think he would be a sponge bath kid until age 5. But after keeping at it for 11 days, he finally renewed his love of the bath. I was even able to wash his hair.  I have no idea what spooked him, but something did to the point he didn’t want to touch the water. I am so grateful that he decided on his own today to get in.

How I did it:  I’ve been letting him just stand outside the tub and watch Emma get bathed every day. I’ve tried everyday to give him a bath in water one way or another. Today he was playing with the toys at the side of the tub when he lifted up his leg to get into the tub. I let him get in with his clothes and everything as to not discourage him. After he had been in the water awhile, I took off his clothes. Then his diaper. And he sat and played allowing me to bath him like the good ol’ days. I was very relieved.

Update

We safely returned to Michigan, to cranky, off scheduled children who were teething their way to two new teeth. A month later, Emma is still trying to get those teeth cut and Connor has 3 top teeth. The first couple days back were rough. We decided the kids had to go to bed when it was bed time and that was that. The first night was terrible. Crying for 45 minutes…I had to leave and keep myself busy by organizing the MI pics. The second night was much better and on the 3 night and since, its has been a piece of cake to get them to go to bed.

Laundry and unpacked bags are still around the house. Immediately when we got back, I had to start on the cakes for the fair which took every spare second I had. It paid off. I won first and second place for 2 out of 3 of my cakes and I’m working on a 4th for a special competition on Saturday.

Things are getting back to normal with Kelly going back to work last week. The kids are getting into everything and its a joy!

Off to Michigan

We are off to reek havoc on Grandma and Grandpa Larned’s house for 12 days. This will be the first time flying for the kids and I am praying that they do fine. Our layover in Phoenix is extremely short, so short I am hoping we don’t miss the flight or get there so late that its a huge ordeal for all of us to sit together. We are praying for sympathetic flight attendants and passengers. Lucky for us we do have A seats, so we get on first. Yeah! I’ll try to post from MI. In the meantime, happy flying.

Twin Life ridiculousness

Here is a clear example of the inconveniences we moms of multiples sometimes face that no parent with a toddler and an infant, no matter how close together truly face in the same way. Today I went to the Orange County office of Birth and Death Certificates to get the birth Certificates for Emma and Connor, just in case we actually need to show it to Southwest Airlines for our flight to Michigan on Monday. When I arrived, with the two kids in tow, I was greeted by a security guard at the door who told me I could not bring my stroller into the office. I asked him how I was suppose to get the certificate if I couldn’t enter with my stroller and he said “you have to leave it out here like everyone else does.” “But they don’t walk, their only 9 months old and I can’t pick them both up at the same time”. He just shrugged his shoulders. “The lawyers say no strollers, its a liability” “Then you should have a window in the hallway for people with multiples or have that information on the website so we know we need to bring someone with us. I know you aren’t the one making the rules, it just doesn’t make any sense that I am expected to either leave my kids out in the hallway or ask a stranger to assist me.” “everyone else does” he says. He was kind enough to give me the paperwork I needed to fill out and I even got him to walk it up to the window with me. I asked him if he could ask them to come out to the hallway to assist me since they could not accommodate me with a stroller. After telling the guy at the window that I wouldn’t leave my kids, the guy at the window waved me in. The security guard said “sorry” and I said “I know you are here to enforce the rules, no big deal” Then I thank the guy at the window who explains the fire hazard and I told him “not a problem, I’ll wait in the hallway and you can just wave at me when the certificates are ready.” That seemed fair to him and that’s what happened. I literally spent more time trying to get in the door than I did waiting for the certificates. Do they truly expect you to either have constant help if you have multiples or just leave your kids with some security guard in order to stand in line? That seems like a bigger liability. Granted, I understand that you can’t have strollers everywhere in this tiny room, but there are always exceptions to every rule and some common sense for moms like me with multiples, clearly, we should be the exception.

After my rule bending victory, we headed to Target for the few things I failed to get at Walmart since I checked out right after the earthquake on Tuesday. Connor was in the big part of the cart and Emma was sitting in the seat. I first attempted to feed them before we got the last few things, however, my kids were distracted by every person that walked by.  30 minutes later, we began shopping.  Connor loves standing so he was having a good time standing up while the cart was moving, but as I was adding things to the cart, he began getting fussy. I decided to play musical chairs and switch the seating arrangement when I saw Connor with a jar of baby food in his hand, getting ready to drop it out the side of the cart. Luckily I saw him before the actual bombs away, but I have to remember that Emma is less interested in standing and throwing things out of the cart and happy to sit among the items and tasting them.  Connor is equally pleased being able to see everything and trying to reach everything on the shelves from the seat of the cart.

Brother and cousins are visiting

Cousins

My brother is in town visiting. Its the first time they’ve met the kids. Its been a heck of a week. Very busy with visiting and doubly busy because I’m trying to get everything packed and the house cleaned before we head out on Monday.  Saturday we have a wedding and Sunday a birthday party……so I’m even more exhausted just thinking about it.  Its great though, to spend time with my brother and his family. I miss having him around.

Evan, Audrey and Griffin

Earthquakes and being a mom

EARTHQUAKE:

By nature I am not afraid of earthquakes. I don’t think about them much and I figure that even though they are unpredictable, I would take an earthquake over any other natural disaster any day of the week. I don’t know why, I just would. Today, there was an earthquake and Chino Hills was the epicenter, which is where I happened to be at the time. I have to say that I’ve felt much stronger ones even though this was a pretty good size earthquake. I guess they say the closer to the epicenter you are, the shorter the earthquake (that whole ripple effect thing) We managed to escape with one broken picture frame and several on the ground. I was actually in walmart with the kids at the time of the quake…a very helpless feeling of not being able to protect your children. But after looking around, I knew that even if it was a bad one, nothing except the ceiling could fall on us.

MOMMY OF TWO NON WALKERS…I”M COMPLETELY DOUBLE TEAMED

Over the past week, I have found a new appreciation for those in wheelchairs and polite people. I have found myself just surprised at the common sense (or lack thereof) of people in general. Again this week, I was meeting a girlfriend for brunch with her daughter and I had the kids. We went to Mimi’s cafe, one that I don’t ever go to. Of course as they take us to our table, it is the furthest from the front of the room that it can possibly be. In addition, there are tables in the middle of the room, with no way around them. My stroller is not even as wide as a wheelchair would be, and yet I can’t fit my stroller in between any of the tables that I need to pass in order to get to the table I’m being assigned to. As I am struggling to move chair after chair out of the way, the “hostess” is standing and watching. This just blows my mind. My hands are full, I’m pushing a stroller with two kids and a huge diaper bag with no help from the person who should be making sure I can make the hike to my table. And then I finally make it to my destination and the hostess says “are they twins?” Since she had the better part of 10 minutes (a total exaggeration) to stare and analyze the situation, this did not surprise me. What did cross my mind however was “if a person in a wheelchair was having the same difficulty I did getting to the table, would she at least help them?” I haven’t come to a conclusion at the best way to handle this sort of situation, but it is frustrating not receiving help when it is obvious that assistance is needed.  Oh, and then to top off that experience, the server set the very HOT plate in front of Emma who went to grab for it.

Sometimes I think the kids are tag teaming in order for them to get what they want. At this same brunch, Emma dropped her toy and when I went to pick it up, my fork disappeared from my plate. It wasn’t until a couple minutes later that I realized what Connor had in his mouth was not a spoon, but my fork which he grabbed when he had the opportunity.

Shopping and Dining with 2 non walkers

Its always a challenge to go shopping with the kids. They love being out and about…especially Connor. I always have to add an additional 30 minutes to my estimated time out because if people aren’t stopping us on their own, Connor draws people to him with his smile. While both Emma and Connor are friendly, Connor is definitely more extroverted and therefore smiles at people before they smile at him. Emma likes to look around, take it all in, and then smile when your not looking. Or insist you make some silly face before she smiles her big grin. They are both very curious about everything these days and the stores that don’t have carts, or for whatever reason I have them in the stroller at the store, they are at the perfect height to touch everything. Going through a clothes rack, they touch the fabric. If I stop to look at something, they reach out and grad something, or someone. And really they are still to young to know what “don’t touch” means. They just sort of look at me and usually smile and let out a laugh.  What can you do?  Inevitably, you run into someone who knows someone with twins, or someone who has older twins. Today was no exception. I won’t bore you with the same stories I get, but today was advice about keeping the kids in the same class. Something I can’t say I’ve given any thought to seems as how school is 5 years away. But after that 5 minute conversation, I needed to move on. I am after all trying to get something accomplished besides the normal eat, feed, change routine.

Then later tonight we went to have dinner with my family for my mom’s birthday. This is always a challenge  because not only do we need to feed the kids in the restaurant, we also need to keep them entertained.  Just getting all our gear into the restaurant can be challenging. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve wacked someone in the head with the diaper bag. As if having twins wasn’t an attention grabber already, walking in with a stroller, a gift, a huge diaper bag, high chair covers and trying to fit through narrow walkways with chairs everywhere will draw more attention. We literally had to take the kids out of the stroller (Kelly holding both kids while I) empty the stroller, juggle all our belongings  and fold up and carry the stroller to the back of the room where are table was. We were early, so it was Kelly and I attempting this while the restaurant patrons watched and commented under their breath. Usually the kids are smiley enough that the attention is taken off the ridiculousness of the situation and instead refocused on to the kids.

Mission Accomplished

So, I did attempt again this morning to take some pictures of Emma and Connor together. This time, we went with a different theme, which the kids seemed to like. I was pretty happy with the results. The kids loved chewing on the paint brushes, and amazingly, they weren’t in the mood to stand. This is quite unusual, as they normally want to climb all over everything. But of course, since I wanted to document it, they refused. Nonetheless, I was able to get a few good shots for print. And that, really is all that matters.

Attempting 9 month pictures

Connor

I’m having a heck of a time thinking of something sort of cute to do for 9 month pictures. It was crazy windy outside by the time I was ready to shoot, so I had to change my whole idea (because I was determined to take some photos today darnit) to inside. After much hassle, I had no light left so I had to use just the kitchen light and the flash……not the results I was looking for. But anyway, here is my first attempts. I have a couple days until I have to pick official 9 month pictures to print for the fam.

Emma taste tomato for the first time

Crawling time

Connor is now starting to fully crawl. He started crawling officially on Father’s Day, but it’s taken about a week to get the full fledge crawl. Emma is perfectly content using the army crawl to get around. They are both very vocal and these days really like me to be around them all the time. We are having a lot of fun, but man are they a lot of work!

I guess I never published this little tidbit back on 7/22….oops