Resistance is Futile

Must resist urge to purchase completely ridiculous foot ware for baby daughter, no matter how cute.

Gone, Daddy Gone

Daddy's on-call. Pizza & ice cream were served for dinner. Baths will not be administered, teeth will not be brushed. Mommy will keep a grip on her sanity.

That "New Washer Smell"

So, we continue to sink deeper into this suburban life, as evidenced by how we chose to spend some of our tax refund this year. When we bought our first house in 1998, we inherited the washer and dryer that existed in the house, and at the time we were delighted to have them. It didn't matter that the set was roughly about the same age as we were, only that they worked (and belonged only to us!). The dryer kicked the bucket within the first year, but the washer survived another nine years and two moves. Actually, it was still working as of this weekend, but it sounded like it was going to lift off out of the laundry room every time we ran it, and it didn't always do the best job cleaning our clothes. Sometimes after a load of towels I would find it had walked a good two feet away from the wall, and I was becoming concerned it would eventually just walk out the door and down the street. So we went to Lowes last week and purchased the top of the line Whirlpool front-loader washer. This thing is supposed to be able to handle 16 pairs of jeans in one load (although I would like to meet the family who is washing 16 pairs of jeans at once and offer them my sincerest sympathy) and has a special steam setting that will remove stains without any pre-treatment. We had a little mishap on the first load - we never really had to separate colors in the old washer because I suppose it wasn't strong enough to really cause any of the colors to run. Rob tossed a pair of Riley's purple pants in with all of her other clothes, and it turned the entire load a bluish-grey and mysteriously turned all her spit-up stains bright blue. After that everything turned out great - all stains were removed and our whites were whiter than before. One of the best features is that it is so quiet while it is running Ani can go in the laundry room and eat & drink - the old machine made so much noise I think she was afraid it was going to eat her.

My, my, how things change. There was a time when we spent our tax refund on season tickets for football and massive quantities of beer. Sadly, I'm not bothered by this. You can laugh at me all you want at my excitement over a new clothes washer, but you'll be doing it in dirtier clothes than mine.

Funny Kid

If "the first cut is the deepest", then perhaps it should be said that "the second cut is the crappiest". Poor Connor. We took the boys on Saturday to get haircuts, and with an hour & a half combined sleep the night prior between the two of us, we were not on our "A" game. Which I guess explains why we both sat there slack-jawed as the hair dresser continued to chop away at his little head like she was auditioning for some local production of "Sweeney Todd". Connor has a beautiful, enviably thick head of hair, and you have to be careful to not take too much off the top or as a result he will end up looking like an extra from a Flock of Seagulls video. I assure you that this photo is no exaggeration, this is not bed-head. It sticks up all over the top of his head like this all the time, and because the rest of his hair is laying flat almost looks as if he is wearing a bad toupee. Fortunately, his hair grows fast and so this 'do will not last long, and in the meantime we kinda' feel like it fits him, much like the chipped front tooth he acquired falling in the bathtub the night before I had Riley. He does drive us all nuts with his antics, but he also has me doubled over in laughter on a daily basis. He's just a funny kid. And now he's a funny kid with a (temporarily) funny haircut.

Things have been a little busy around here. Actually, to say that things have been "a little busy" is sort of like saying Elliot Spitzer is in "a little trouble". A typical morning looks like this:

Wake Up

Change a baby

Feed a baby

Put one baby down, pick another up

Change a baby

Feed a baby

Hand out cups of milk

Kiss a boo-boo

Help #1 get dressed

Change a baby

Find a binky

Get van warmed up

Put all three in the van

Drop off #1 at preschool

Feed a baby

Change a baby

Feed myself

Search for binky

Lay one baby down for a nap, pick the other one up

Feed a baby

Change a baby

Give a baby a bath

Bathe myself (on a good day)

Wake a baby up

Put babies in the van

Pick up #1 from school

Last week was my first week by myself with all 3 kids and no additional help, and although I felt completely overwhelmed a good portion of the time, we survived. Everyday we get a little bit more settled into a routine, and I can see the light of spring and better weather ahead soon.

One slightly less chaotic time during our day is bathtime. On a good night the boys will agree to a bubble bath together, and will play without bloodshed in our big tub. Riley seems to enjoy her bath time as well, as she spends most of her bath calmly staring at herself in the mirror. I love the time between their baths and bedtime. Everyone smells good and clean, and there is some sense of accomplishment that we made it through another day together. I'm trying very hard to cherish these days when they are all so small instead of focusing on how tired I am or how crazy they are making me at any given moment. So things may be a little busy right now, but they are only little for a short time, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.