Super Sunday, Super Stuff

"I am stuck on Band-Aids, 'cuz Band Aid sticks on me!"

Welcome to an abbreviated version of 'SSSS', as I am typing with 9 fingers...I just got back from the emergency room where I got my left index finger stitched up...what happened? Well, I like what Jon said...

"It's not the size of the knife you bring to the fight, it's the size of the fight in the bag of frozen peas."

I learned my lesson. Next time I will put the bread knife down and look for the scissors. It only cost me 3 stitches, $100 and 2 hours of my life to learn this.

That said, I'm not REALLY just plugging band-aids tonight.

I decided that tonight would be a personal thank you to the inventors of two wonderful devices - the Kiddopatumus 'SwaddleMe' and 'The Ultimate Cribsheet'



The 'SwaddleMe' is lovingly referred to around here as the baby straight-jacket. Above is a picture of my kids, feeling the SwaddleMe love. If you are a fan of swaddling, and especially if you are an MoM fan of swaddling, these things can't be beat. We probably aren't too far away from outgrowing them, but they have been a lifesaver for us in helping the boys to sleep more soundly. If your own kids are too big for these, give them as shower gifts - they are $9.99 and are available on Amazon.com or at Babies R Us.

The Ultimate Cribsheet (UC to those of us with 9 digits from here on out) most recently saved us today from a 2nd full-on cribsheet change in as many hours when Brewer spit up just as he was being put down for a nap. These little wonders go over your fitted sheet and have little snaps that wrap around the crib's slats. They are a sheet/cover with a waterproof bottom liner, so if your little one spits up, drools or has an accident, you can just change out the UC with the work of a few snaps instead of dismantling the entire crib. They are a little pricy - $19.99 - but totally worth having one or two on-hand to enable you to space those 'time to strip the bed' days out a little further. Available at Babies R Us.




I won't disclose the retailer who I swiped this UC picture from...it made me laugh because putting your baby in the crib with a half-undone UC is probably the LAST thing you should do, but hopefully this was a stunt-baby or something. I looked for the caption that said "no babies were actually injured in the shooting of this photograph"...but I couldn't find it. (wink) Anyhow, I thought the picture would give you an idea of what to look for in the store. Please remember to always FULLY install your Ultimate Cribsheet.

So, what I want to know is if anyone tried the Hyland's tablets since last Sunday, and what you thought about them....comments please!

Jon is watching the Grammy's right now and saying some pretty hilarious stuff. Maybe I can get him to be the guest-blogger tomorrow and give a Grammy review while my finger heals...

Happy Sunday! Until next time...

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!

Way-back When-esday...

Ok, I'll play along...Here is a picture of me and Jon hamming it up on our first married Christmas in 2005 - WOW - check out that long hair.

The other picture is one of my favorite pictures of our sweet boy, Jako when he was a kitten.

Tomorrow I'll upload the great pictures we got tonight of Brewer's Buddha Belly. (say that 3x fast!)

Boys Rule!

I found out today that the amount of boys in the kids' class at school drastically outnumber the amount of girls! Only 2 girls and all the rest are boys!



It's funny because when our niece was little, it was the other way around...My mother-in-law told me about how the only boy in that class used to insist on having his hair put up in ponytails just like the girls when the daycare workers would put up the little girls' hair....It makes me wonder what kind of tomboys these two little girls will turn out to be after spending so much time with all these little dudes.



Today was day two at work and so far, so good! It's a challenge, but I am enjoying being back. I wake the boys up and feed them and get them ready every morning and I like the quiet time I get with them before Jon gets up and I take them to school. I LOVE seeing their smiling faces when I get home in the evening.


Our nighttime routine is taking shape as well. We fed the boys together and I read 'Sweet Dreams' to them. Jon has turned the lights down low and put them in their pj's. He is swaddling them and putting them into their cribs now and I can hear him talking to them in the other room while he gets them ready for bed. He says such funny things to them and I can hear the pure joy in his voice. I know that he loves these boys with everything that's in him.

'Night-night' time is daddy's time. I love watching Jon with them. I think this is my favorite time of day.



Good night and Sweet Dreams!

Today was a good day...

Cue the classic 80s tune by Ice Cube...hehe.

I got up at 5 am this morning and spent an hour with the boys. I fed them, changed them, and we played a little while.

Then I got ready for work and Jon snapped them into their carseats for the ride to school. When I dropped them off, we ran into Aunt Juli and Rebecca who were really happy to see the boys.

Granny went by to visit them and she called to give us an update that the boys were doing great. Just what mommy needed to know!

Jon went and picked them up about 5 o'clock and we just finished bathing them and putting them down for the night around 8:45.

So, everyone survived...and I even had an ok day at work! YAY! Hopefully things will continue to go well for both me and the boys. Sorry if this posts seems so mechanical. I really am thrilled that things went so well today - just flat exhausted...oh well, we'll get back up in the morning and do it all again!

The boys got a care package from Aunt Jenn-Jenn tonight and a phone call from Aunt JJ to say that she'll be coming to spend a couple of days with the boys in March and she'll bring her twin girls (they are 12) with her!

Yay! A twin cousin get-together! I am SOOO excited. We'll post pix of the boys sportin' their care package gear later this week. We'll also post some pix that Aunt JJ sent. There is a great one of the boys with their Uncle Kevin.

We love you, Aunt Jenn Jenn and Uncle Kevin, Kendall and Kourtney.

Thanks everyone for your comments on Super Sunday! We'll keep it up - I am already planning next week's post!

Super Sunday, Super Stuff.

I've been noticing now that I am out here in Blogland more that alot of people have themes for their post for certain days of the week.

Well, I was inspired by the happy resolution of Brewer's first teething fit and by Superbowl XLIII to start my own. Sundays will henceforth be the days for Super Stuff on this blog...I'll post about a great product (or two) that made my day, products I can't live without, wish I had, etc., etc. I am no Oprah, of course, but it'll kinda be my own version of "Favorite Things".

I may also use it to shamelessly plug the products of people I know personally on occasion - only if they have GREAT products of course!

So, without further ado, our first 'Super Sunday Super Stuff' product is....

Hyland's Teething Tablests.




















These TOTALLY saved us last night.

My sister first recommended these to me before my kids were even born and I must say they are every bit as fantastic as she says.

Up until we finally tried the teething tablets, Brewer had cried for hours, only calming down (somewhat) during his feedings. I gave him two of these tablets and within 20 minutes he had calmed back down to his usual pleasant self and shortly thereafter he went down for the rest of the night and woke up in a great mood this morning!

Jon used a couple on him again this afternoon when he was having some obvious teething issues. I'm not knocking any other teething products or methods of soothing, but I will say these tablets work great for us when the standard teethers and cold washcloths aren't making the grade!

They are available at CVS or Walgreen's if you want to go bricks & mortar, or you can find them online at Amazon -
http://www.amazon.com/Hylands-Teething-Tablets-tablets-Pack/dp/B001G7QE2Y/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1233549801&sr=8-1

or on other websites like http://www.drugstore.com/.

Please let me know if you like the 'Super Sunday' concept so I'll know if I should keep it up.

On another note, the Superbowl was a great game this year. I was cheering for the Cardinals, but it was a fantastic game nonetheless.

As for the commercials, the Etrade kids were my favorite. Here's a link in case you missed it....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_npD8zzFi0w .

Well, I have to get going. Tomorrow is my first day back at work. I'll update tomorrow night to let everyone know how it went! Have a great night!

Zoo Crew - Take Two!

Today we went back to the zoo and met up with Aunt Juli and her family and some friends of hers. We covered ground at the zoo we had not covered on our last visit. We all went over to the children's zoo where we got to watch them feed the pelicans.

At our own feeding time, the boys and Jon and I hung out and got a few good pictures...

The boys looking cool...

Brewer & Me...

Daddy & Co. with the big crustacean...

After we we finished at the zoo, the gang went out and rode the train while I looked on (the boys were napping and we didn't want to wake them). It did not take much convincing to get Jon to join in on the train ride. Here he is with brother-in-law Owen...

After their train ride, Lauren & Rebecca helped with the boys.

When we finished with the train, we all went to Luby's for a good lunch. Now we are at home and ALL my boys (Jon included) are napping before church. After church, I'll try to get the pix added to our original zoo trip.