Dear Internets,
Let me tell you how awesome my morning has been. no really. I'm being sincere. No, i haven't been body snatched... but the girls may have been.

Let's start at the beginning:

I went upstairs to get them up and when I opened the door, they both smiled at me and asked if it was 'just plain old mommy day' Fearing the worst, I braced myself and said it was Monday and Daddy had gone to work. no one cried. they even let me take their diapers and pj pants off. They collected which toys they wanted to bring down stairs and came down the steps.

I offered to make breakfast, but they wanted to have a tea party instead. I made a cup of decaf tea to pour into their tea pots so they could dispense it around and drink it. Then after that, they each ate a granola bar and a plum.

Next I wanted to clean up the house a little. I gave them each a feather duster and they dusted all their toys. Then picked them up so I could vacuum. and as I vacuumed, they followed me around and told the vacuum what a good job he was doing.

Finally they asked if they could relax and watch something. C picked a movie and they both sat on the couch.

Then, get ready for this... I took a SHOWER! alone. and shaved my legs. and no one came in crying or ripped the curtain open to see what I was doing in there. and I even told them where I would be. I even brushed and flossed my teeth.

Now I am sending out this amazed blog post while they finish the show. I'll make them some lunch and hopefully they'll eat it and then decide to take a nap. I wonder if I have time to mop the floor while they continue to be enchanted by whatever fairy came in the middle of the night and took pity on me.

Even Sam only bit me once this morning. and it wasn't even that hard. Should I be afraid of evil harbingers of doom? Or should I just silently pray that it will continue? Is there a light at the end of my tunnel? Or is it just the train coming?

wha?...huh?... ok

This weekend I told the girls that if it was nice weather we could go swimming in Grandma's pool. Of course it poured rain Saturday morning which made C inconsolable. But it looked like it was clearing up at naptime so I made a last minute decision to throw them (and H) into swimsuits and hit the pool.

Remember that time I was pregnant and went to the hospital with nothing packed? Yeah, like that. Just went to the pool. no change of clothes, no snacks, nada.

They REFUSED to leave grandma's. No arguments, they just decided they would have a sleepover party. With Grandma. and I could leave. or stay. meh.

H and I drove back to the house to pick up pjs, bed rails and a change of clothes. My poor little mini suv has never ever moved that fast. I think H was afraid they'd change their minds.

But they didn't. B/c grandma lets you stay up until 11pm and jump on all the beds. Somehow I do NOT remember "grandma" being quite so fun when she was just "mom"

Quite honestly, I didn't care if they never went to sleep. H and I went to the movies and then came home at 11:30 and talked loudly. in the dining room. naked. and mixed drinks. also naked. it was epic.

Sam was not amused. he would have called CPS to report us for gross negligence if he only had opposible thumbs. and they had a cyraphone for kitten. or urdu. not sure which he's more comfortable speaking on the telephone.

We went back over Sunday morning and swam in the pool again. And then tried to leave for naptime. There was a sit-in. They wanted to stay at Grandma's "forever and ever and never leave and swim everyday" So H and I left again. and ran copious errands. things you don't want to do with two chatty kids in tow. like buy an air conditioner or a car top carrier or drink a very large cup of iced coffee.

Z fell asleep at 7pm on H's lap on G-ma's couch. C made it to her car seat. I made it all the way home and was up at 1:30am catching up on my blog reading. oh and I reorganized my itunes. all 90G. Cause 20 oz of iced coffee at 5pm is an awesome idea.

You may think that I have sped up the video. But no, sadly, this is their normal speed.

TGFSS

Sesame street is a golden beacon of light. if there were no muppets, I would have jumped from a bridge long ago. Right now C&Z are catching up with murray and learning irish step dancing. I am sitting here trying to keep my face from falling off as it tries to explode from horrendous head cold. awesome.

I can only assume that this is also where Z learned to count to 11. Without prompting she has started counting things. After 11, however, things get dicey. usually it goes 18, 19, 13. Apparently 13 is the biggest number she knows. Which reminds me of sorority rush and the number 12.

ugh. have to blow my nose again. I forsee a lot of muppets today...

Lots o' Learning

Z&C are big time into numbers and letters. I would take credit for this, but they seem to say most of them in a suspicious Cookie Monster-like voice....

They are both able to point out M, G, T, P, O, A, S and D. Number wise they can spot 1 and 2 reliably, but call out other numbers while we count.

Wednesday night, H asked them how many cookies they wanted after dinner. C said "two" as this is the only number she really knows (2 babies, 2 cookies, 2 cups.... gee I wonder why that is?) Z looked at him very seriously and said "ten". Then she cracked up laughing.

C says "Doe Doe Funny" at least 30 times a day

My mother bought them a nursery rhyme book with pictures over some of the words. C is OBSESSED with Humpty Dumpty. We read it 45 times in a row last night and again this morning. It goes something like this:

J: Humpty... (pointing to picture of egg wearing pants)
C&Z: DUMPY!!!!
J: Sat on a wall (pointing to picture of wall)
C&Z: suck thumbs furiously
J: Humpty... (pointing to picture of stupid egg wearing pants)
C&Z: DUMPY!!!!
J: Had a great fall
C&Z: giggle maniacally
J: All the Kings... (points to picture of disembodied horse heads)
C&Z: PONIES!!!!
J: And all the Kings... (points to picture of tiny tin soldiers)
C&Z: BABIES!!!!
J: Couldn't put...(pointing to picture of damn egg wearing pants)
C&Z: DUMPY!!!!
J: back together again!
C: Dumpy funny mommy. Again. Pease. Again.

Santa Claus is Coming...

... to your living room to scare the bejesus out of your children:

What? Santa doesn't ride around on a fire truck traumatizing children with goodies in your town?




And if Santa on a fire truck doesn't traumatize you, then maybe the same event last year will:

happy belated birthday

H's birthday started off with a bang. or a barf. The girls had shots the day before and chose 12:30 to barf their brains out in the cribs. They had low grade fevers and chills and spent the rest of the night in bed with us.

Here's how H's bday ended:A little better. But C still looks ill. Z looks like a pyromaniac. Which she would get from her Daddy.

bad bad blogger

not much time to post these days. girls are up and running. everywhere. and I am exhausted. but I am at work now so it's nice and relaxing and therefore...



... I have nothing to say. Let's see, some recent developments:



the upstairs nursery is done and painted and decorated and has two little girls sleeping and napping in it. They LOOOOVE it! It has mad fun animals and toys they've never seen before and a piggy bank that they can point at and say "piggy" one million times. never gets old.

yesterday I let them crawl up the stairs for both naps. also mad fun. but led to Z getting carried half the way since C was zooming and Z liked to hand me every dust ball and cat hair on the steps. Which led to me sweeping steps. bad bad housekeeper as well. Starting yesterday and this morning, I let them walk out of their bedroom and onto the landing where I plopped them on my lap on the top step and bumped our way down. I am hoping this shows them how they should go down the steps and does not lead to a cave in due to the strain of my gargantuan ass galomphing on aged stairs. Let's pray we all don't wind up in the basement. Although Petey will find that amusing. If he can manage to stay awake long enough to care.

Petey has taken up residence on the foot of my bed. on my side. and by residence I mean he only leaves this spot to sniff disdainfully at his food dish and raise an unholy racket in his litter box. next to the babies' room. while they are sleeping. awesome. His new home also means that there is no place for my feet to reside whilst I try to sleep.

At least they are sleeping better and I started reading a book that has been sitting on the shelf for almost 2 years. It's a nerdy genetic book, but I think it's awesome and I'm sure it makes H cringe. He better cringe softly and out of range since it's a hefty volume and would most likely make a dent in his already lumpy head.

Today I stopped at bedbathandabsurd to return something and buy a veggi grill pan (the one with holes in it. how have I existed for so long without you?) and a helpful employee had to go in the back to find one. As grilling is done for the year and next week they will be rolling out snow shovels. I shit you not.

Enjoy your long weekend of BBQs and fall allergies. I myself, have a $4 coupon for zyrtec. yippie.

walking

C is toddling all around these days and today, Z managed a few steps on her own. Her motivation? To show C the toy she had and not let her have it. Which led to screaming.

awesome.

it is kind of cool that they can get around on their own a little better. Today I don't think I carried anyone anywhere. I let them crawl to their highchairs for meals and crawl to the bedroom for a diaper change. Mostly this was possible as H was working from home today.

I think I'd have better luck herding cats.

Just for fun, can you guess who's who? here they are "reading"

Mooooooo!

or, the magic of milk....

The last two nights the girls got bottles with 8oz of cow's milk before bed.

The last two nights I got 7 hours of straight sleep.

Coincidence?

Who cares, I'm not messing with a good thing. If this keeps up I may be able to leave the house in matching shoes without having to triple check that I even have feet. It may also mean that they are effectively weaned.

I think I'm supposed to feel sad about that or nostalgic or something. Mostly I feel relieved. Although the boobies are complaining today and I did nurse C a few minutes just before bed to help her relax. (C has relaxing issues. let's just say she has two modes: insane and unconscious) But after all the trials and tribulations we had here with breast feeding, I'm glad we made it a year and even more happy to be (almost) done.

Now that I've said that they'll be up 3x tonight I'm sure.

Happy Birthday!!!!

What a difference a year makes....

bad bad blogger

i don't get a lot of computer time these days. but that's because there is a lot going on around here.

I had a physical therapist come out to the house to give us an evaluation. Turns out that I'm not crazy and the girls are a little delayed in their motor skills. but not enough to get us any free services, just enough to make me feel bad and give me a new job of SAHPT. so in addition to keeping house from falling apart, cat from shedding everywhere, babies from starving, falling, rolling into stuff they shouldn't and/or being too filthy, I am now in charge of increasing gross motor skills.

which in reality means a lot of tummy time while I cruelly move toys out of reach. and you can just imagine how much they love that. so there's never any crying here.

which leads me to the great sleep fiasco of 08. no one wants to sleep in a crib. well, that's not true, I think H may opt to sleep in a crib soon. Friday night I hit my breaking point. I slept the whole night with C on my arm and when I tried to roll over or even move, she would scream.

So saturday she learned how to sleep in her crib like a big girl. it took her 45 min to fall asleep while H sang to them and then she screamed from 3:30 to 5:30. yes, two hours of shrieking. Z slept through the whole thing not 2 feet away. Petey did not. he was pissed. he kept licking me and batting at my arm as if to say "get up and get that thing to shut up" but I refused. H went to the crib every few minutes when she would spazz really badly. She was a very tired girl yesterday.

But last night I put them to bed myself. I just sang until they both were quiet. C was sleeping, but Z was still awake when I left the room. and she slept until 7am! not a peep. C got up at 3 to nurse and went right back into her crib no complaints and got up at 7 as well.

A few more nights like that and I might be human.

So it looks like we have "sleepign through the night" in the near future and possibly crawling as Z is up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. She also has a nice gash and egg abover her right eye as some stupid mommy thought it would be a good idea to practice crawling on the changing table. Needless to say, Z face planted onto the metal hinge on the table top.

That should look awesome for the baptism pics on saturday.