I have always been a sprinter. From athletics to deployments, I do things best when I can see the end in sight. I have the "I can do anything for 5 minutes attitude". So, it should come as no surprise to me that I am dreading the end of maternity leave with a kind of sick anticipation that comes with anything I am asked to do that requires endurance.
Friday is my first official day back at work. I am trying anything to fill time beforehand with pleasure. I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow in hopes of finding bliss for an hour before the end of what has been 6 months of intellectual vacation (when you include the bed rest before birth).
For now, duty without a paying boss calls...
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
My first weekend alone...
This weekend was Clay's first in the field of the new school year. That means that he left our house before 5 am on Friday and was gone through the weekend. That's right, it was me vs. the 3 of them for 3 days and I lived to tell about it. Not with an abundance of sleep, never with an extra moment to do anything, but none-the-less, the house is standing, all the kids were feed and bathed and rested and even...just maybe...had some fun. We managed to go out to lunch on Saturday and to an open house at a Kid's Gym to let Kayla work off her energy. It worked once I got over nursing both of them in public (not at the same time) and accepting the help of any poor soul that offered.
On Sunday, we did the almost unthinkable. We went to church alone. Now, I thought this was a great plan because let's face it they all go to the nursery or Sunday school for an hour and my mind though BREAK TIME! if I could just get us there. But, alas this is where the plan had logistical issues. Getting all of us up, showered, fed and dressed in dresses took 3 hours. But, really at one point I was posed to be on time. I had Kayla on the front porch, Karsen locked into her carrier and was walking across the living room with Kennedy when, yup, she threw up all over both of us. Not the little spit up that I have learned to live with and pretend is parenting perfume, but most of the contents of her stomach on my entire outfit, the floor and herself. 15 minutes later we were redressed and on our way, again. Now late for church the children's staff helped me get everyone to their rightful places and me settled into an extra chair in the back of the sanctuary where I could fight sleep and contemplate how long it would take me to leave the house if I had short hair. That is when another 'good' idea struck me, I could go to the nursery and feed each baby with the help of the staff. (Read: Whoever is picked in line to be eater number 2 will begin to protest a few minutes into number 1's meal and I will once again have to silently list the reasons I nurse rather than bottle feed them). To spare you the details let's just say, by the time I left their room BOTH babies were in new outfits, one nursery worker needed to go find something to change into and sad Kayla was the last kid left in all of the Sunday School wing declaring she had been forgotten. I decided that all that effort earned us a trip out to lunch where I fed Kayla everything she asked for off a salad bar (attempt at mother of the year award) and fielded question of the passer-bys that are twin genuises about why they aren't identical, both are both girls and no I don't sleep enough! (see previous blog venting on these things).
Alas, Clay returned home in time to do that magical thing he does were he and the babies sleep on the couch (why has this never worked for me?) and I started the process of catching up all the things my not-so-free hands did not do all weekend. I promise not to share out loud my support for the Citadel's plan to go into the field once every month and instead focus on the things that came out of this weekend.
1) Both babies now go to bed at 7 pm and do not eat again until 6:30 am. That does not mean they sleep, but at least they don't eat.
2) I discovered Kayla can in fact feed herself from the fridge or pantry when I forget to. Who knew a 4 year old could make PB&J?
3) If you don't do laundry for 3 days, it only takes 5 hours to catch up on it!
Monday is back and let's just admit it - thank goodness for Natasha. In addition to keeping me sane, here are a few of the pictures she took to mark their entrance into month 3. Perk #885: her love of photography.
On Sunday, we did the almost unthinkable. We went to church alone. Now, I thought this was a great plan because let's face it they all go to the nursery or Sunday school for an hour and my mind though BREAK TIME! if I could just get us there. But, alas this is where the plan had logistical issues. Getting all of us up, showered, fed and dressed in dresses took 3 hours. But, really at one point I was posed to be on time. I had Kayla on the front porch, Karsen locked into her carrier and was walking across the living room with Kennedy when, yup, she threw up all over both of us. Not the little spit up that I have learned to live with and pretend is parenting perfume, but most of the contents of her stomach on my entire outfit, the floor and herself. 15 minutes later we were redressed and on our way, again. Now late for church the children's staff helped me get everyone to their rightful places and me settled into an extra chair in the back of the sanctuary where I could fight sleep and contemplate how long it would take me to leave the house if I had short hair. That is when another 'good' idea struck me, I could go to the nursery and feed each baby with the help of the staff. (Read: Whoever is picked in line to be eater number 2 will begin to protest a few minutes into number 1's meal and I will once again have to silently list the reasons I nurse rather than bottle feed them). To spare you the details let's just say, by the time I left their room BOTH babies were in new outfits, one nursery worker needed to go find something to change into and sad Kayla was the last kid left in all of the Sunday School wing declaring she had been forgotten. I decided that all that effort earned us a trip out to lunch where I fed Kayla everything she asked for off a salad bar (attempt at mother of the year award) and fielded question of the passer-bys that are twin genuises about why they aren't identical, both are both girls and no I don't sleep enough! (see previous blog venting on these things).
Alas, Clay returned home in time to do that magical thing he does were he and the babies sleep on the couch (why has this never worked for me?) and I started the process of catching up all the things my not-so-free hands did not do all weekend. I promise not to share out loud my support for the Citadel's plan to go into the field once every month and instead focus on the things that came out of this weekend.
1) Both babies now go to bed at 7 pm and do not eat again until 6:30 am. That does not mean they sleep, but at least they don't eat.
2) I discovered Kayla can in fact feed herself from the fridge or pantry when I forget to. Who knew a 4 year old could make PB&J?
3) If you don't do laundry for 3 days, it only takes 5 hours to catch up on it!
Monday is back and let's just admit it - thank goodness for Natasha. In addition to keeping me sane, here are a few of the pictures she took to mark their entrance into month 3. Perk #885: her love of photography.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Look at me!
I can barely believe it when I see my "baby" Kennedy (technically not the baby by 2 hours and 10 minutes) sitting up in her bumbo seat.The twins are now 3 months old and changing fast. They are sleeping from (okay, sleeping might be an overstatement)...they are going without eating from 7 pm when they happily go to bed to 5:30 am when they decide it is time for breakfast. They immediately return to sleep until about 7:15 or so. Thus, we are all getting more sleep on...um, well...most nights. Karsen is addicted to the pacifier (aka baby crack) and occasionally decides during the night that she must have it NOW. So the sleepy parents wander over and replug her every so often. How often dictates how much sleep the rest of us get. And here I thought I was saving myself from a battle over the thumb.
By some crazy genetics, both babies still have blue eyes. Kayla never had blue eyes, they were dark from the start and are huge brown saucers now. I seriously doubt that either little one will keep them, but I am trying to enjoy them everyday that I have them since it is such an anomaly to me. Karsen, if I have to admit it, gets referred to now by the street gawkers as red headed. My dad had red hair so technically this is possible, but I still can't see it.
Speaking of folks on the street who insist on commenting on twins, may I explain the definition of identical? Identical: The SAME in every way.
In all seriousness, I get asked on every single outing if 1) they are identical and 2) if they are a boy and a girl. This is almost always from the same person in that order. #1 if they are identical how in the world do they have the different everything you are commenting on (hair, size, etc). Please see the definition of identical. #2 If they are identical as you seem to think, how would they be a boy and a girl. Have you ever compared the anatomy of a boy and girl? Hmmm. See definition of identical. #3 If they were identical twins of opposite gender then yes, I am the type of mother that would dress both of them in matching pink outfits - who cares about the boy's sense of identity. If it didn't happen so often, it would be as amusing as it sounds.
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