We're BAAAACK!!!

Er, I am anyway....finally able to blog after working ungodly much for an ungodly long time...I'm going to start blogging REGULARLY again - YAY! There is so much to tell with the boys...Bonny is walking, Brewer is in full-on tantrum mode, and the birthday party plans are in full swing.

In short, mommy is very, very tired. More later this week with pictures and video

Stay tuned...

Dear Brewer,

Crying it out is miserable - whether you are 9 months old or 32. But sometimes it is all you can do. And in the morning, you do feel better. I love you, son.

xoxo

Mumma

What a treat!

Tonight the boys were still awake when I got home so I threw on my sweatpants and hopped in baby-jail to play.

My sweet Boo-boo came right up to me and crawled in my lap to cuddle - playing with my necklace, his head on my shoulder, arm wrapped around mine.

Bonham - standing (again, more, still...) in the corner of the baby-jail, grunting and yelling to get my attention because the world will end if you don't watch him stand every possible second. LOL.

After snuggling Boobear for a bit, I helped Bon cruise over to me to get his cuddle time. He tried to climb me..succeeding of course...roaring the entire time. This earned him a new nickname - Bonzilla!

A quick bottle and fresh diaper for each and they were both nighty-night.

Sweet dreams, boys. You made your mommy's day.

(Daddy, thanks for making dinner. You're pretty good stuff, too.)

What a week...

Brewer's up on his hands and knees now, too! Only a matter of time till he crawls, too!

I've worked a few late nights this week, but I also took the boys with me to my dentist appointment and had them accompany me to lunch on Wednesday, so I guess it all balances out, right? Ok, maybe not exactly, but you do what you have to do...besides we had a blast on Wednesday at the dentist - before he did mommy and daddy's cleanings, he made plaster molds of the boys' feet for us - I can't wait to pick them up! Thanks, Dr. S.! You helped us make a really special memory!

I'm looking forward to a great weekend with the boys and especially to Sunday! Ok, so technically it is my 2nd Mother's Day, but I am so looking forward to seeing my little guys giving me that "I love you, Mommy!" smile on my special day!

I wouldn't trade this life - with all it's ups and downs - for anything!

Mommy's Day In...

Today I spent at home with the boys because the daycare was closed for Easter. We had an awesome day. The boys napped, played and ate, and then they did it all again - and again. I stayed in my jammies all day and worked during naps - Wednesday is still a deadline, after all!

I got some cute video, which I will upload tonight if I have time.

Now, it's naptime again and I've got some stuff to check on for work.

Tomorrow - 6 month appointment! YAY!

Phantastic Voyage...

and the babies sing...

Hey come on mama, my mouth's open wide,
Where's that bottle - in your hand- it' 3:25...
It's cry, cry, all I do is cry...
I'll flow the tears and scream till your eyes open wide...
I'll cry, cry, cry and cry...
You're gonna be awake till I'm satisfied...

Cry all night long, its what I do, cry all night long...
Till the break of dawn, what you think, it's our own thing...

OK - that's all I've got - I'm headed back to bed.

Thank you boys for the midnight concert, boys - sponsored by Similac...it's what's for dinner...(and breakfast, and morning snack and lunch and afternoon snack, oh and the all-important PHANTASTIC 3 am snack)

Hungry, hungry hippos...

The boys are now eating 'solids' three times a day. It's wild how fast they have escalated from once a day to three times. The last couple of days Jon has done a great job of feeding them their evening food on his own. He is such an involved dad and has sooo much fun with the boys.

Now that the boys are eating more, we are really starting to notice Brewer's tongue giving him problems. I am glad the ENT told me about it so I can bring it up at our 6 month appointment. Ideally, they'll be able to cut it(if need be)while he is udner the anesthesia for his tubes.

Jon is taking the next couple of days off work to take care of our ever-mounting to-do pile...it won't be fun, but he is up to the task.

Thanks for stepping up sweetie! I love you so much - and YES you may go out with your friends on Friday as a reward!

Sigh...my hubby is a doll.

Redemption....

awww...Bonny-love must have sensed my sad mama vibes.

He woke up crying and had leaked through his diaper, so I got him some clean jammies and fed him a bottle to help calm him down while Jon changed his bed...I'm sure it was all a show, put on entirely for my benefit - to remind me I AM important (read: still the mommy).


Way to get in some late-night snuggles to make your mommy feel better, buddy!

Mama loves you!

It was bound to happen...

We were late getting the boys from daycare...Jon usually picks up the boys in the evenings and I guess he got caught up at work - I never asked the full story. He tried to call me, but I was in a meeting, so he called his parents and they got there to pick them up, but they were a couple of minutes late.

Hopefully we won't get charged because it was our first offense. I guess I will be doing the walk of shame tomorrow when I do the morning drop-off.

Continuing to work late tonight after I heard what had happened and coming home to sleeping babies gave me my first undeniable dose of 'working mom' guilt. I've worked late and come home to sleeping babies before, but for some reason it really bothers me today, given the chain of events.

Jon says it's all fine. We got them and they are home and safe and everything is fine. So why am I still so miserable about it?

Sigh...

Freaky Friday...

So, as many of you know, my hubby is most definitely NOT a morning person. Well, it just so happens that I have a 'condition' (read: personality flaw) that makes it nearly impossible for me to leave the office by 5 o'clock most days.

Because of our complimentary shortcomings, we had worked out a system whereby I get up every morning at 5 a.m. during the week to pull morning duty with the boys. I feed them, dress them, get them ready for school, etc., until 6:30. Then I take a shower and get ready for work. After that, I take the boys to school on my way to the office.

Jon picks the boys up in the afternoons and I meet him at home in time to help with the evening bottle, a little playtime and dinnertime chores. After that, Jon puts the boys in their pj's and a clean diaper and tucks them into bed. Then he goes to the kitchen and makes the bottles to go to daycare the next day.

Well, this is where it gets a little wild - are you sitting down? - we instituted what we call "Freaky Friday"! On Fridays, Jon takes the overnight and early morning drop-off shift. Then I take the evening shift so he can go to Happy Hour! Are we the most sickeningly cooperative couple you have ever seen or what?

It worked out great today, but today was Jon's 9/80 Friday. We'll see how it goes on a Friday when he has to work and he can't come home to nap! As for me, I really enjoyed the night off and picking them up was a nice change of pace.

I'm so glad we already have a system that is starting to fall into place! I know it's early days, yet, but I am feeling pretty optimistic. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids and I would love to be at home with my boys all of the time, I have lots of friends who do stay home with their children full-time and I have all the respect in the world for them - it is a massive responsibility to take on to be almost the sole source for your child's enrichment in the early years of their development, it is ALOT of hard work and very rewarding - for me personally, though, I do really find alot of value for myself in my career, too, and I am lucky enough to have found affordable childcare with people I trust and respect.

Because I feel secure about the people who care for my children while I am away from them, I would like to give having both a family and a career the old college try.

What surprises me is that some women I encounter seem to be openly shocked that I have gone back to work, even women who also have jobs outside of the home. It makes me wonder if my good mood about how things are going is just me being delusional. I guess maybe its because twins seem so overwhelming at first blush, I don't know...

A particular example from today finally gave me enough unsolicited opinions on the subject over the course of this week for me to have to post about it, against my better judgement. I'm not picking on this woman by any means, she was perfectly nice and I am sure she meant well, heck I may have even mistaken respectful amazement for disdainful shock but I do want to share with you all a small little taste of the kind of things I have heard at least once a day for the last couple of weeks, just so you'll have an idea of what I am talking about...In a way, I think it's the constant encounters like this that may cause moms who do choose to work outside of the home to question their decision.

There was a woman, clearly coming from some type of office job, who was picking up her child at school and she saw me loading the boys and said,

"Oh, I don't envy you!" (eyeroll - I love being me, who are you again?),

then "Oh, they're TWINS!" (ummm....Yeah?!? Actually people say this, all the time, I think the first comment had just sent me down the wrong road already and the question became annoying when it is usually somewhat amusing...),

then "and you're WORKING?" (again, yeah!?! I guess I should have said, no, I just like flushing $1700/mo down the drain so I can lay around at home by myself all day without the little ankle-biters intruding on my 'me time'...and you?)

The whole time, this woman is looking at me like I am out of my damned mind...(another eyeroll)...

I suppose everyone is entitled to their opinion, heck, I even WANT to hear what some people think when it is presented constructively, but I do wish that complete strangers would just compliment me for how cute my kids are and let me get on home to dinner and evening play-time. (grin)

Oh well, I am sure she meant well, and like I said, she seems like a nice lady - hopefully I'll run into her more and she'll get to know me better.

Thankfully, the folks at my office have been pretty supportive and kind to me about my return. They seem to be pretty excited that I am willing to give coming back full-time a try. Well, all I can say is 'week one - DONE!' It was a pretty good week, I think. We'll see how it goes from here on out - I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I can't wait to spend a weekend with my boys (who were very relaxed about me going back to work - this is a picture of them waiting to go to school on day one).

As promised (though a day late), at the top of the post are pictures of Brewer's Buddha Belly...ignore the dishevelled mommy. Below are pictures of the boys wearing some of their loot from Aunt Jenn Jenn. On the last pic, the boys made it clear that they had had enough! Have a great weekend!