Sunday, September 22, 2013

Garage Sale

Our newborns are newborns no more! It's time for a garage sale. But wait... we have no garage.
Sidewalk sale? Craigslist? Facebook? $5 for $100 at a thrift store?

I've been typing up descriptions of items for the longest to send out tomorrow for a local mailing list. I even created an e-mail for selling items and decided on a spot for exchanging our goods. I'm really hoping to get 50% of what we spent so we can move on and purchase new toys for the kiddos to outgrow or break.

My oldest will be starting soccer soon. I'm pretty excited and hope he's all set to play with other kids and make a few friends. Also, I'm pretty eager to get a few photos of him in uniform running around (hopefully smiling).

They're growing so fast. I need more memory cards.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Nap Time, Established? Could it be??

Right now, I'm sitting here stunned. I have time to type?? I rushed through dinner prep and still had time? I cleaned the counters? I swept the floor?? No crying? My ears are still working and I hear the sound machine over the monitor. I've snuck into the room a few times to make sure everyone was breathing-- and did a fast back-tip when I heard stirring.

That's right. All three. The 19 week old twins and the 1.5 year old-- all down. In the same room. Dreaming to the same lulling swoosh of the sound machine. ::Does little happy dance:: (I can't believe I had time for that).

I decided it was time to put some napping rules into play. Not just for my toddler, but for the little ones too. They get over tired and cranky... and when they're not down before the toddler's nap... they make me feel like I need to be heavily drugged. The twins usually nap around 10 on their own. Kind of. I carry one around until they fall asleep. When they stop jumping every time my toddler yells (multiple times per minute), I can do a fast walk to the room and put them down before the toddler follows and takes them.

Today was special. They woke up late. Around 9/9:30. So at 10, they were up. They were playing with each other in their exersaucers during lunch. Toddler ate happily. Immediately after, the crying began. I took the crankiest and offered food (the boob). She ate a little. And cried. So after the grand burp and a diaper change, I walked around with her telling her it was not the end of the world. She was loved. And we would have many more hours of play. She didn't really believe me but she stopped crying. And I put her down, awake. She wanted to cry and I pacified with her favorite pink one. Then I tucked her in and left the room.

Good thing I did. Toddler was right behind me.

I gave him a glare and pointed back to his play area and mouthed "Go Back". He listened! Great kid. I love him to pieces.

So on the monitor, I've got a screaming child. I have one cranky baby, and an attention-craving toddler. I put on classical music and whip out a few books. I hold the cranky baby, and read to the baby and the toddler (who is now moderately delighted). We all try and get through the crying, which ended during board book 2. I think it was the alphabet.

Cranky baby was getting a little worse. So I fed until feeding was no longer desired. I burped. I changed. I put her down. My little guy followed me before I had time to tell her the world wouldn't end. So I tucked her in really fast and ran out the door before the footsteps got louder. She cried. She woke her sister. They cried. Little guy and I read. They stopped. Score. I was feeling good. Until I realized I was at a crossroad.

They were down... My little guys nap was in about an hour. I could put him down happy, or put him down cranky and screaming in an hour. I read him a few books... and then nap time. Early. He woke everyone up. They all went back to sleep. I got work done.

Why can't this be every day?

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Changes

A lot has changed! And I am delighted to finally have a few moments to write again! (At 2AM...).

I am no longer cloth diapering. Reading past entries make me smile.. in part because I remember all of the cute diapers and the happy feelings I had when a new package would arrive in the mail. When my son started pooping solids, I tried so hard to stick with cloth. I used dog poop bags to pull of turds after attempting to spray the turd into the toilet (ew, ew, and ew! No sprayer is good enough for that job!). One change to disposable diapers and I knew we were done with cloth, with this guy at least.

A few months later, my husband and I welcomed our twin girls into the family. I was excited to bring back the cloth and save some cash! With three kids under one, my bag of cloth diapers was put in use again for about one hour-- after which, I knew it was time to bag the diapers and help kill the planet. I'm still working on having the time to put my stash up for sale... but they will go! Even if it's a year from now!

I have become a stay-at-home mom. After talking with my one-year old all day and attempting to talk to my two-month olds, I am starting to feel like my communication skills are on the decline. I'm starving for conversation so much that I strike up conversations about anything with anyone who will listen.. The UPS guy, mailman... ... people I run into in aisles at the grocery store ... telemarketers... billers... Anyone really. I had a long conversation with a Customer Service rep about her kids over the phone for a little over a minute before needing to tend to a crying child.

I am breastfeeding this time around, so we are trading in the cost of formula for the cost of diapers.

Speaking of.. Time for another feeding.