Doctors in the House

Left to their own devices, this is what Megan and Bridget created a couple of days ago - a hospital that accepts all dolls, baby and otherwise (see Piglet).

Tractor in the City

Matt just started the season as head coach for the baseball program at SI, and we're starting to realize a few benefits. Okay, so maybe just one so far.

Perk #1 : Access to a bonafide tractor. What more could two little girls ask for? (Over and over again, I might add.) We spent last Sunday afternoon exploring the baseball facilities at Marchbank, and Matt let the girls go for a spin on the little tractor they use to drag the field.

Daddy's pretty cool right now! Semething tells me that won't always be the case. We're enjoying our brief hero/heroine statuses while they last!

Happy 11 Months, Babies!

Annie and Tessa

I'm actually a day early on this one! Here are the babies right before one of their naps today. Don't they look drowsy?

11 months brings one stander (Annie), one stair crawler (Tessa), two little "MaMa" and "DaDa"ers, and two sweet, sweet babies!! I can't believe they're almost one!

Morning in Motion

Too Big For Her Britches

The drawback to making our 2-year old feel like she's a big girl, constantly grouping her together with her bigger sister and endlessly distinguishing her from the "babies?"

She thinks she's older than she is!

Bridget routinely describes her next birthday party, where she'll be turning four, of course. And, although she's potty-trained, she still wears a "sleepy diaper" at naps and bedtime. This is a sour point with her, and she firmly believes that some kind of discrimination is taking place as Megan hops into her bed diaper-free.

Also, in her mind, she is way older than her cousin Clara. Clara is actually less than 2.5 months younger, but this is light years in Bridget's book. Just last week, at the "inside park," when a little emergency called for a new pair of pants for Bridget, Sara came through with a pair of Clara's. As I negotiated the change in the girls' bathroom, with or without Bridget's full consent, she complained that Clara's pants were too small.

Me: "Really? Clara's the same age as you, Bridget. How old is she?"

Bridget, with as much contempt as a 2 year old (or almost 4 year old, depending on who you're asking) can muster: "Four months!"

Definitely 2 going on 16!

Sunny Days

More like sunny day (singular).


Today I took all four girls for a walk in our neighborhood. A first, mostly because the walk back to our house usually involves big girls wanting a ride and completely melting down. But, since the weather was sooo nice today, we donned our hats and sunscreen and headed to the school playground that we normally can't use during the day. Ironically, it's ski week for the kids at the school, so we could actually play there on a weekday.


This was my view on the walk there. Megan and Bridget held hands the entire way. So sweet! And, Annie was in the stroller, too, just facing Tessa, our strollervore.

A Little Slice of Heaven Called Naptime

How do I get any time to myself with four kids under the age of four? And, how do I even think about blogging??

It's called.... naptime!!!

I consider it an art form. Maybe, someday, when I actually go back out into the world and find a paying job (that seems lifetimes from now), I can teach a course on how to get all of your kids down for a nap at the same time. There will be a few different tactics taught in this class, including but not limited to brainwashing and bribery. I didn't say this would be the most politically correct class!

For you lucky few who are reading this, I'll share my tactics now, and you can say you knew me when...

First of all, as for the brainwashing? Megan, almost 4, always takes a nap, for at least two hours, and usually three. She doesn't have any idea that most of the kids in her class don't take one anymore, or that most kids hate to nap. As far as she's concerned, naps are just part of the day, and not at all optional. She is our best napper, even with a yappy sister wanting to talk in the bunk below her. I am not looking forward to the end of her napping, and more importantly, the end to my little break in the day.

Back to our little routine:

When 1pm rolls around every day, I'm pretty spent, but I begin by corralling everyone in the big girls' room. #1 (Megan) goes #1 to ensure no early wake-ups for that reason. And, #2 (Bridget) gets her "sleepy diaper" on, which is a wrestling match in itself, since she believes that she shouldn't ever have to wear diapers. Once they're settled in their bunks, with their menagerie of dolls and blankets, and while the babies are pulling books off shelves and trying to climb the bunk bed ladder, I not-so-subtly drive home my bribery:

Me: "Okay, girls, who can tell me what happens if we go right to sleep?"

#1 and #2: "We get to watch a cartoon when we wake up and we get our juice and milk."

Me: "And, if you don't go right to sleep? If I have to come back in here even once, you get no cartoon, no juice and no milk!!"

I've only had to follow through on this threat one time. Luckily, they like their cartoons :)

Next, I pick up one baby under each arm and head out of the girls room, after hugs and kisses are given to each baby by each big girl, of course! With my 20-lb. barbells under each arm, I close the girls' door with my foot and head down the hall to the babies' room to begin phase 2. I change each baby, put them in their sleep sacks, get all of us settled in the big chair in their room, and and then nurse both babies until they're pretty much asleep. Then, I carefully stand up with both of them still in my arms, and deposit them in their cribs.

Woohoo!!!

With all four down, I get to the fun stuff I do at naptime. And, I have to do it in the first 30 minutes of this precious time, or I risk waking the babies. As fast as I can, I:

• change the laundry
• wipe down two high chairs and two booster seats
• clean the dining room floor
• wash lunch dishes (have I mentioned that we don't have a dishwasher?)
• prep dinner if possible
• clean up a small tornado of toys/sippy cups/art projects in the living room
• take a shower if I'm lucky

and

• sit down and eat my own lunch

At this point, I could have as little as 10 minutes or as much as two hours left to my own devices. Lately, I've been using this time to play Words with Friends on my iPhone. Extremely productive. If you want to (or dare to!) play me, my "handle" is sfshawna. You'll just have to excuse any long delays on my turn. It probably means naptime is over :(

Our napping angels at naptime yesterday:

Stair Master

No -- no one's working out here. Don't worry!

But, Tessa has mastered crawling up our stairs. This is an important milestone in our house, since we have two flights of stairs. It's very scary to teach them and make sure they're safe, and presents a whole new challenge for me to keep them away from the stairs when I can't be right behind them. She can climb to the top, with someone spotting her from behind of course, and she loves it! If we leave her alone for even five seconds, she books it to the stairs, laughing hysterically.

On my to-do list: Buying a baby gate for the bottom of the staircase.

Climbing...

almost there...

She did it!

We Definitely Have Girls...

With road construction going on on our street, we have had a lot of noise and a lot of big trucks doing a lot of digging right outside our living room window for weeks on end. I think if I had four little boys in my house, instead of girls, the trucks would provide pretty endless entertainment. As it is, the girls haven't looked out the window once, or even noticed the commotion. While our kitchen cabinets were vibrating from the digging going on today, I caught a picture of the scene that would have most boys begging to go outside to investigate.

Meanwhile, Megan and Bridget were in a land far away with their princesses.

A Trip to the Zoo and a Trip Down Memory Lane

This weekend, on Matt's birthday no less, we decided to put our annual passes to the zoo to use. I haven't been since my last trip by myself with the girls, and Matt hadn't been since the 4th grade!

So, we pulled out our second double stroller for the occasion. Yes, we own two double strollers. Don't get Matt started on that point. I really believe we have very few strollers considering the number of children we have. (We have a grand total of three - our Inglesina Zippy single stroller, our Kolcraft double that I use all the time, and this second double - an Inglesina Twin Swift.) And, this second double stroller was bought way back when I was taking care of Joey during the day, and needed a way to get both Megan and Joey out for walks around the neighborhood. Seems like ancient history, but here is a cute shot of the two of them in their stroller:

And, since I had to search for that picture, I couldn't resist a couple more shots of the cousins together as babies. Joey is just 8 weeks older than Megan, and I think taking care of him prepared me a lot for having twins!

Incidentally, when out and about with Megan and Joey, people constantly asked me if they were twins, and in my foggy state of mind at the time, sometimes I believed they were. Foreshadowing?

Anyway, back to our zoo outing. We had a great time, and saw much more of the zoo than I've seen with the girls in the past. Going with another adult makes a huge difference! The girls were able to ride the train and the carousel (twice!), which isn't really possible when I've got everybody on my own.

Here's the birthday boy (is he still a boy at 35??) with his stroller of kids:

And, the girls with Daddy waiting for the train:

The best part about two strollers? We could walk slightly apart from each other, and people wouldn't necessarily think we were all together. It was a nice break to have people sweetly smiling at my stroller with just the twins, instead my usual: blatant staring at me while I'm struggling with my entourage of four crazy kids. As it was, we still spent as much time looking at animals as we did answering questions about the kids, how old they are, etc.

And, just to prove that Tessa and Annie came with us, here's Annie peeking from behind the sunshade on her car seat:

And, Tessa looking cute eating some zoo french fries. Super healthy!