doesn't it bother them?

people are always asking all kinds of questions about the twins. it's like a whole conversation piece right there. there's no peaceful stroll through the park or the mall for me. no quick trip to target -- just in and out. someone always has something witty or clever to say or a conversation to start (for a full commentary on this please see previous post).

lately a big one (since the boys are getting older & much much more mobile) has been the topic of sleeping arrangements.

do they still sleep in one crib?

hmmm. our townhome is under 1,000 square feet. we had to do a little squeezing to get one crib & changing table to work in their room. i think if we add a 2nd one, the crawl space would have to be converted into a nursery for the boys.

in other words: yes, they still share a crib.

but...doesn't it bother them? i mean, don't they hit each other and things? is almost always the next question.

well, yes. they do poke & prod & hit & wrestle. but...let's think about this...what do you think they were doing inside one uterus for 9 months? i know for a fact that there were wrestling matches even then.

and i know this may be hard to believe, but their crib is...actually...BIGGER...than my uterus was.

by a few inches.

still incredulous, the other person usually persists in the questioning. don't they wake each other up?

sometimes.

does your husband ever wake you up with his snoring? or worse yet, a powerful fart that wafts up the tunnel of covers straight into your unsuspecting nostrils?

perhaps b is unusual. but he wakes me up sometimes. and then i roll over & go back to sleep.

amazing.

babies can do the same thing.

and, honestly, would side-by-side cribs really do much to help one sleep through the other one's screaming in the middle of the night? doubt it.


so all i'd be eliminating is the chance to sneak
into their room
& see this
precious picture.





so. you tell me. does it bother them to stil sleep in the same crib?

arachnophobia

so, earlier this week i was getting ready to jump in the shower -- quite a luxury these days. the boys were napping. the house was quiet. i was in heaven.



i meandered into the bathroom, and that is when i saw this ugly thing staring back at me from the tub. okay, okay, maybe it wasn't quite that guy. but it might as well have been based on my reaction. not to mention my deep loathing of spiders. which really is just an intense fear pretending to be something a bit braver.

immediately my mind started racing, looking for a solution to this problem. brian was already at work, so he could not save me from this flesh-eating beast (as much as i would like to pretend to be a liberated woman, when it comes to bees, wasps, and spiders, i'm still a damsel in distress waiting for my knight in shining ecolab uniforms to rescue me).

the simple solution would be to squish it. but with a paper towel or something similar i would have to get too close to those fangs (dripping venom -- visibly) for my own comfort. after all, what would become of the boys if their mother dropped dead from a spider bite early in the morning?

there was always the shoe-squish option. but that was still distasteful to me. that would mean i would have to get very close to it to clean up its rotting carcass. even that frightens me.

suddenly, i had a brilliant idea. the monster was in the tub, so why not run the water, drown it, and let it just wash right down the drain? brilliant. watch my mad skills. if you listen carefully, you can hear my terrified heavy breathing in the background.



as you can see, that worked marvellously.

in the end i resorted to the shoe technique. my trusty white flip flop has never been more valuable to me. but i still washed him down the drain. no touching nasty creepy crawly things for me. no matter how dead they are. haven't you seen any horror films? the bad guy is never really dead when you think he's dead. he's just waiting for you to let your guard down so he can get you when your back is turned.

happy birthday to my hottie of a hubby!

28 years ago today (gasp, he's an 80s baby -- if you didn't gasp, don't tell me, i don't want to feel old) this adorable creature was born:



brian edward mitchell -- isn't he cute?

check him out a year later. he's already got awesome fashion sense, doesn't he?



being such a manly man, he had to learn to shave that wicked beard at just 2 years old:



at just 3 years of age, we could see where much of his life focus would be -- lookin good for the ladies!



somehow, even at a mere 6 years old, he knew that he would one day get to repair things in kitchens:



time does fly when you are having fun, and soon brian was turning 11. does everyone remember hypercolor? yes, that is a 100% authentic hypercolor t-shirt brian's brother is pressing his face into. ah, arpits and crotches that turn different colors from body heat. what a brilliant idea!



the teenage years are interesting ones for all of us. brian was 1 part nerd and 2 parts jock. he got to travel all over the country (and also to england) for soccer camps and such. doesn't he look like a friendly kid, though?



at 14 he moved to spain & came back in the summers to visit his family. check out his uber-stylish bowl cut here:



now, i know you all are wondering how to snag such a looker for yourselves. but just hold on, things did start looking better after puberty and all its bizarre effects wore off.

this is what brian looked like when i met him in barcelona. if i may say so, i certainly got myself my own mc steamy -- who needs grey's anatomy?



and he's still just as handsome 6 years later!





happy birthday, sweetie, and thanks for making me one lucky woman!

Nolan's new addiction

who needs a wii when you have one of these?



a monitor? you ask. granted, a monitor can provide hours of fun listening to your child cry and can even stimulate your mind as you calculate how many minutes have elapsed since the last time you checked on him and how long you can permit the tantrum to go on, but how could a monitor possibly top a gaming system which, when used properly, actually simulates real physical activity?

well, when the brilliant mind of a 7-month-old is engaged, a monitor can become a gaming system of its own. it's tireless fun. just ask nolan.



he is seen here engaging in the fun.

here's how to play. make sure your monitor has the ability to light up when noise is detected. sit, stand, or lie down somewhere in the room where the monitor is in full view. next, scream, grunt, gurgle, or make any other manner of noise which appeals to you at the moment. the object of the game is to get as many of the little red lights to light up as possible as the receiver (located in another area of the house, of course -- the game is too easy if it is in the same room) picks up your noises. the great thing is, there's no real "winner" or "loser" because if you make it work with a scream, move on to the next noise and see how many lights you can get with that one!

wes doesn't play. but as you can see here, he is exited by the possibilities.



he's sure that if they can just get the word out, this will be bigger than guitar hero.

how can i be upset? a story of bedtime rebellion

over the past couple of days, i have noticed that it is taking the boys a bit longer to put themselves to sleep in the evenings. our normal routine of dinner, about 1/2 hour of playtime in the crib, 10 minutes of crying, and out for the night, has lengthened into an hour of playtime and 20 minutes of crying.

and then 30 minutes of crying.

and then there is tonight.

dinner was around 5.30. a change of diapers, a change of clothes, and into the crib by 6.15.

playtime was abbreviated & the crying started after only about 15 minutes.

and went on

and on.

i checked to make sure no one was on top of the other one a few times & things seemed to be fine.

and still, the crying continued.

at 8.00, i decided that something HAD to be done, so into their room i went. both boys were wailing uncontrollably, but nothing seemed to be physically wrong with them.

as soon as they saw me, everything changed.

the chorus of wails became a giggle fest. both of them. just staring at me and laughing harder than i think they have laughed all day. i think it just would have continued had i not decided that -- since they were clearly in no physical or emotional pain -- i could leave again (and blog about the situation).

what in the world is going on?

is an hour and a half of screaming all just some elaborate game that i just lost? i think they forgot to hand me the rule book for this one. i need to know how to play, because it certainly seems like a lot of fun.

if you win, that is.