As this is my first post, let me get a few introductory remarks out of the way. I'm a thirty-something mom to an almost-three-year-old princess and three month old identical boy twins (whom I affectionately refer to as Thing One and Thing Two). I'm also a stepmom to an incredibly smart and talented 16-year-old young man, (calling him a boy no longer feels appropriate) who I'll call "Mr. Cool" and I'm a usually loving, sometimes cranky wife to my dear husband who I have nicknamed, "Monk" (more on that later). My life seems to have more than the usual level of craziness in it since the twins were born, and my goal with this blog is to share some of our daily insanity with all of you in cyberspace with the hope that you might glean something from it (birth control?) and I can have a place to let off a little steam without causing bodily injury. Since the people mentioned above take up most of my waking (and a healthy portion of what should be my sleeping) hours, this might very well be the only post you ever read. In case that's true, let me make this one worthwhile... some anecdotes from my life staying at home with three kids, all still in diapers (more or less).
We get up between 7 and 8am. By "get up" I mean I have finally fallen asleep after the twins' last feeding, probably around 6ish, and I groggily open my eyes to my little Princess peering at me from next to me on the makeshift bed I have created on the floor of our living room (more on that later, too). Since the boys eat every 2 hours or so (and sleep in between on a good night), needless to say I would love to be heading straight for the coffee pot. Unfortunately, shortly after the boys were born I was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer, which means no coffee for me (and since I have been the ulcer route in the past, with some disastrous results, I actually heed the doctor's advice). Hopefully at this point the boys are sleeping through my discussion about breakfast choices with the Princess (pretty much the same every morning- apple, banana, or cereal) and also my saying no to the whining for verboten items she asks for (M&Ms, popsicles, fruit snacks). Once she has her fingers wrapped around an apple slice dunked in peanut butter, I can finally escape to the bathroom to power pee. Inevitably, this is when Thing One (or Thing Two) will awaken (and wail- loudly) and the Princess will start to chant, "The baby's crying, the baby's crying, the baby's crying!" One of the two will wake up the other baby, who will also start to wail. My daughter's chanting will ramp up a beat so I start to hear, "Thebaby'scryingthebabyscryingTHEBABY'SCRYING, MAMA!!!"
And this is where I commit my first bad mommy sin of the day. I let them cry. All of them. I don't dawdle, but I take the time to take my pills, get something to drink (usually water in the absence of being allowed to indulge in hot, caffeinated goodness), and something I can eat with one hand (crackers, bowl of cereal, freeze dried fruit). I put some milk in the bottle warmer. And THEN I pick up a wailing infant and start with the diaper-changing, clothes-changing, baby-talking, baby-feeding portion of the morning. And I have to admit, I don't really feel that badly about it.
Okay, so I feel a little bad. Part of me wishes I could pick them up whenever they so much as hiccupped. Another part of me is more realistic, and knows that I didn't even do that for my daughter as a baby, knows that it's good for kids to try to learn to soothe themselves, and knows that I am doing the best that I can.
Still... it kind of sucks. Listening to your kids cry and not being able to help them, for whatever reason (even if that reason is you want a Pop-Tart). But that's pretty much how the rest of my day goes- someone always needs me- usually at the same time as someone else- and I need to choose who I pay attention to first, and who can wait. Unfortunately, I have to admit, my older daughter seems to get the shaft in this situation a lot since the twins arrived. She's been pretty good about it, but she's still just a little girl (no matter how much older or more capable she may seem in comparison), and it's starting to wear on her. I try to give her some special time together whenever I can- when I run errands sans babies, or if the boys happen to nap at the same time (although when they nap at all it's cause for celebration). All in all, I think she's adjusting to life with twice the number of brothers she previously had pretty well.
And speaking of her older brother- my stepson- she adores him. Absolutely worships the ground he walks on. And Mr. Cool is excellent with her. He was just here for almost a week, visiting over the holiday, and it's always great to have him here. We love seeing him, of course, but the Princess- just mention her older brother and her whole face lights up. He travels back and forth between here and his other home on the train, and the Princess is fond of saying, "Brudder is on the train? I go see brudder on the train, Mama!" I hope her love for him only grows as they get older.
The little ones are up and about again... not that they haven't been while I've been writing this post, but there's a limit to what I can do while typing (never mind trying to sustain the same train of thought while listening to my daughter's latest Curious George tale). Hopefully I can find the time to write again before the boys start college...
