Parenting,..home "alone"...

I had the best day!

So, Andy left on Thursday night, after the babies were in bed and we'd all eaten dinner. No big deal. I put Ethan to bed and we all slept through the night. Friday morning, I hadn't heard a peep from anybody by 6:30 so I went into the babies' room and Owen was just laying there sucking his thumb. Dylan was still asleep...no word from Ethan. So I brought Owen downstairs and fed him a bottle. Just as I finished with that, I heard Dylan and Ethan. Got Ethan changed and brought both of them downstairs, quickly set up Ethan with breakfast and fed Dylan his bottle. Thankfully, my boss had agreed to let me work from home on Friday so I didn't have to worry about getting myself ready for the day amidst all this activity. It went smoothly...noone needed anything at the same time...not frantically, at least.

Gamma and Liz were here to take care of the kids on Friday while I worked downstairs...Emma and Linnea too, for part of the day. Later in the afternoon, Gampa came over and he left around 5:30/6. I was starting dinner for me and Ethan at this point and was half way in to my second babies' bottle...Dylan and then Owen...they went to bed with no issues and we again didn't have any instances where someone needed something desperately at the same time.

This morning I encountered my first instance of that...both babies were up at the same time...and hungry at the same time. With multiples, or multiple children of any age I suppose, you have to weigh the pros and cons of your kids' needs. Dylan won. He makes things much more miserable for everybody when he is upset than Owen does...Owen has the self-soothe method of thumb-sucking, so he sucked and whimpered while Dylan got his bottle. My patient little dude. Ethan woke up after Dylan's bottle, I quickly scooped up some yogurt/english muffin/juice/vitamin (and later a whole banana too!) for him and then fed Owen. Owen and Dylan were off-cycle on their feedings during the rest of the day so it was manageable.

Gamma, Emma and Linnea came to pick up Ethan around 9:30 to go visit great-grandma Liz in Albert Lea, and then I was on my own with Dylan and Owen. It's quiet around here sans toddler. Really quiet. These babies are good...really good. Not always, but I gotta give them credit when it's due. Today, they were really good. They took a morning nap...and overlapped enough to allow me to shower and get some laundry going. Dylan took a longer morning nap, until about 1pm...so I got to hang with Owen. We played on the floor and in the Bumbo, and played peek-a-boo 'til we were both belly-laughing. By the time he was ready to go down for his afternoon nap, Dylan was waking up. Owen slept upstairs in the crib and Dylan and I played downstairs....tummy time...ROLLING time...played with toys, played in the exersaucer....squeaked at each other (my gosh can he reach some seriously high octaves!!)...he crashed for a cat-nap after awhile and I stockpiled some formula jugs, washed some bottles, did some laundry, dishes, got ready for the bedtime/dinner hours...then Owen was up, and shortly after, Dylan was up. We started rice cereal and then Ethan got home around 4:30.

So, I was busy....there was no down-time, I didn't get to nap, and I barely sat (unless on the floor!)...but I had the BEST time ever!! Granted, for the majority of the day I was actively taking care of only one baby at a time, and I realize this may be a fluke because I KNOW from Gamma that that is not always the case!....but I am SO happy that my day at home on my own with the babies was so enjoyable!!

After Ethan got home and I was trying to watch the Derby and keep the babies awake (they were ready to crash!!) and cook dinner for Ethan and me...yes, I was frazzled!! But most of my day was really pleasant. And ya know, even that frazzled time was pleasant...I just really savor this time with the boys. I didn't even take one picture today to document it...I just soaked in all their babyness, smelled their hair and kissed their cheeks...I can't get enough. They grow so fast.

Anywho, speaking of the Derby....Andy and I were texting shortly before, and after, the Derby. Before the race, he told me that he bet on Ethan's picks. So I was SUPER excited when Mine That Bird won...see previous post for list of Ethan's picks. Guess Andy wasn't comfortable with the 50-1 odds, despite Ethan's affinity for that horse's name. Crap. Like I said, toddlers have a way with these things...they don't over-think, they just go with their gut! :>

*****

Have I mentioned Ethan's obsession with socks?! Ok, so it's not really the socks, but the fuzz that comes from the socks. He loves to put socks on, but pretty much only so he can pull them off and pick the fuzz out his toes. He loves to pick the fuzz out of his baby brudder's toes too. It's weird. I don't get it. My feet are always cold. I want to keep my socks on. I don't want him pulling them off to pick in my toes for non-existent toe-fuzz! But it sure keeps him entertained with his own feet.

*****

I have no memory anymore...forgive me if I'm Mommy-braining right now....Ethan is taking a gymnastics class. He goes on Friday mornings with Gamma. Liz comes that day and stays at our house with D & O. The first week didn't go so well. He was shy and didn't want to participate much. He can't jump (the teacher says some kids don't learn until they are 4). We practiced some things during the week and the second week of class went much better. He participated in the stations and, though he wandered back to his favorites, he tried everything. He said "thank you" to the teacher and got stamps at the end of class (not interested at week one). Last week went well too...he loves to jump in the pillow cases and had stamps all over his legs after class. He can show me the crab-walk, somersaults, and the hee-haw (they get down on all fours and kick their legs out like a donkey). It is SO fun to hear him talk excitedly about his "himnastics" class.

*****

One thing I'm actually on top of this year is Mother's Day. I bought cards last weekend, and wrote, stamp and addressed them today....and...my mother's day gifts for Gamma Leslie and Gramma Nana came today. I can't share any information as they are frequent readers, but now that they are here I am bummed that I didn't order one for myself!! So cute.