Super Mom

I am lucky enough to say that I have LOTS of help from my wonderful husband with these kiddos of ours. We make a great team and I am so thankful for that. It does feel good to know that when the occasion arises, I can stride on my own and juggle all three munchkins and not have my whole world come crashing down. Today David had the chance to go fly fishing with a few friends that hired a guide to take them and brave the rain and the river (they are not home yet, so hopefully it was a success). The afternoon went smooth with lots of laughing, books and make believe. The most challenging time of the day is definitely between 5:30 - 8:00pm. This is when we(usually Dave)are trying to prepare dinner, we eat (typically right when we sit down to eat it is cue for Jett to start screaming), then Dave puts Piper to bed and I nurse the babies, then we give bottles to top them off so they can sleep through the night (which thank goodness, they have been doing since 3 1/2 months). Then it is time to clean up the dinner dishes and pick up the tornado that hit our living room from a fun filled day. And finally we can relax and reconnect with each other. Tonight I was ready and willing to take on this challenge and am happy to say with the exception of about 5 minutes of insanity, it went great. While nursing the babies I had the idea to recap the nights adventures, so I can impress my readers =-), but most of all so I can remember when I reread this blog in years to come. Luckily I was able to bypass the major time consuming dinner prep piece of the evening since I had made a yummy minestrone soup yesterday, so leftovers was key! As my soup was reheating on the stove, I made Piper her Quinoa noodles and thankfully the boys fell asleep in their swings after all the awake time they had watching Piper have the "Piper crazies" in the playroom earlier in the evening. Here is a kind of funny story...at dinner Piper was asking if "When the babies leave, she can roar like a lion as loud as she wants?" I ask "Where are the babies going?" Piper says with a smile, "To another house?" Ha Ha, I laugh and tell her that they aren't going anywhere, but after dinner we can go outside and roar as loud as she wants. Screaming or "roaring" at the babies and making them wake up or cry has been quite a problem lately and resulting in lots of time outs in Pipers world. So we head outside while the babies stay sweetly sleeping inside in their swings. We roar and play in the rain and Piper has fun chasing me with a squirt bottle. So it is time to come inside and just as we step in the door and I am telling Piper to go pick out two books to read before bed, she ROARS as loud as she can right in Calvin's face. He of course wakes up screaming, I have to leave him there, and march Piper upstairs with NO books! The thing I am most proud of, is how quickly I am able to calm a screaming Piper down at this point. She realizes that not reading books is fair punishment and we talk about how that was a bad decision to scream at Calvin. We rock and sing, brush teeth, go potty and Piper goes to bed with out much fuss. I run downstairs and rescue poor Calvin and nurse him at his usual 7:00pm on the dot. Jett by the way slept through the whole thing! Just as Calvin is finishing Jett wakes up ready to eat and just as I am getting him on, I hear Piper saying she has to use the potty. Piper has been sleeping at night with no diaper for about a month, so we are still pretty sensitive to take her to the bathroom if she says she has to go. Here is the 5 minutes of insanity I spoke about earlier...so I take Jett off the boob, he starts screaming his high pitch scream that is like fingernails on a chalk board, and Calvin was already crying because he is still hungry and ready for his bottle. I leave them both crying, run back upstairs and very calmly go into Piper's room. She runs into the bathroom...and nothing happens, maybe a toot. She says she is all done and asks if she just "Cried Wolf?" This girl melts my heart even in this situation. Back to bed, with no problems, she can hear the babies crying, so I think she felt bad and didn't make another peep. I run back downstairs, get a bottle ready for Calvin, meanwhile the babies are frantic, but I somehow keep my cool. I get Jett back on to nurse and plug the bottle in Calvin at the same time. Skills I tell you SKILLS! They both finish, and I heat up 2 more bottles and proceed to feed them both bottles at the same time. All is calm, and this is when I had the idea that I am a supermom and need to brag about it! =-) Then I gave Jett his second bottle and we are in the finishing stretch of bedtime routine. After I got all their burps out, I put them both on my chest holding them so I could watch them look at each other. Just wanting to savor all their babyness and soak up this quiet happy time with just me and the twins. We hung out for a little while, it is so much fun to watch them interact. They were reaching out putting their hands in each others mouth, holding hands, cooing and smiling. It really is fun having twins. Calvin and Jett are both so sweet, yet so different...I love them. I carried them together up to their room, changed diapers, and snuggled them in their cribs. I sang twinkle twinkle little star and not one peep from either baby as I slipped out the door. Pat on the back, way to go, I love being a mom! Even though I am proud of myself, I am still WAY happy to have back up and teamwork from my amazing husband on a regular day to day basis.

Home Exchange

A few months ago I signed us up on a Home Exchange website. We were pretty skeptical that anything was really going to work out, but thought it was worth a try. The very first night we posted our house we received an inquiry from someone with a loft in Nashville, TN! We were not interested in going back to Nashville, after having spent plenty of time there when we sold books. But never the less I was encouraged. I spent some time sending out emails to places in Greece, Hawaii and Mexico, with the hopes to find somewhere warm to spend next December when the boys would be turning one years old. No luck, but lots of polite responses and a few maybe's for another year. Then we received another inquiry from a family wanting to trade their 3000 square foot apartment on the 24th floor in downtown Beijing, China for a month in July. China has not been on our radar of top places we wanted to travel, but the opportunity was staring us in the face and we were really close to accepting the exchange. It was an emotional roller coaster trying to make the decision. Ultimately we decided that the air pollution keeping people indoors was probably not the best for our sweet little babies lungs. Not long after turning down the China opportunity, we got a positive response from a family in Kauai. So after several emails back and forth we agreed on an exchange for 3 weeks in September. It is a one bedroom condo with a pool on the beach and sounds like a very do-able and super fun vacation to do with our little ones. We haven't quite figured out where everyone will sleep, but we will figure something out...we are excited! And just to test the waters on the whole exchange thing we agreed to do an exchange with a couple from Hood River, OR for Memorial Day weekend. It seemed like a lot of work to get our house ready, just for the weekend, but it ended up not being that big of a deal. We even traded dogs for the weekend! The whole exchange thing is funny, just to think about the fact that you are in this random persons house and they are in yours. I really like the trust in it. I had never been to Hood River before, so it was fun to see a new town, just 3 hours away. The town had a great feel to it and the house was nice and in a beautiful wooded area. The big hit was the trampoline in the back yard, wow Piper LOVED the trampoline. We are getting good at the preparation it takes to go on vacation and have learned that the more we think through ahead of time the smoother everything goes. These little trips are like baby steps and confidence builders in getting our little family ready for all the traveling we hope to do in the near and far future. Not everything went totally smooth on this trip. We were out of routines and stretched out bed times and naps, which lead to major melt downs and 2 and 1/2 year old testing of limits. But we made it though and were able to laugh at ourselves along the way. Overall it was awesome family time, we ate good meals, hiked up to a waterfall, went to parks, roamed around downtown and tossed rocks in the Columbia river. The only bummer was that it was not windy enough to fly the kite we brought. That was a total surprise since Hood River is famous for the wind with all the kite boarders and wind surfers that hang out here. Overall we think Home Exchanges rock and are looking forward to the next opportunity that arises.

Sweet Cheeks

I couldn't resist some naked time pictures! These little tooshies are irresistible. I am leaving off the more racy shots for blog viewing, as I wouldn't want my posts to circulate the world wide web without Calvin and Jett's approval. The twins are 4 months now and really getting fun. They are such different kids in how they look and how they act. It is such a cool part of having twins to see the differences side by side. Jett can be pretty intense, his cry is an ear piercing shriek that really gets our attention. It is like nails on a chalkboard, so guess who usually gets fed first. =-) Jett likes to stand tall and see around and often just demands to be held. He is quick to smile and has the cutest giggle. Calvin is more mellow and cuddly. His cry is softer, but more emotional. It breaks my heart to see him cry. Calvin doesn't seem as interested in standing, he is more of a pile of mush. But even though he started out the smaller twin, he has passed up Jett in size and has already rolled over a few times. The boys don't seem too interested in each other yet, but Piper sure gets their attention. They love to watch her play, she gets them to smile just by looking their way. Piper seems to have fun choosing toys for the twins or getting their binkies if they cry. It is funny she is always very fair in tending to them equally. One of our spring projects to do was getting a fence up!!! We live on a busy road, so with out the fence it was always a little stressful to have Mango and Piper out in the yard. We are super happy with how it turned out with 14 new trees and a couple climbing rocks and a drip system to keep it all green and beautiful. David got his fair share of manual labor in with all the holes he dug for the trees and moving around the bushes, building mounds etc. The effort of making a nice yard for our family to enjoy has already proved worth it for Piper. Not surprisingly she loves to be outside, she has so much fun playing with Mango or kicking a ball or our new favorite game is to hide these little lizards and frogs and find them like an easter egg hunt. We are looking forward to a fun summer playing out in the yard. Even our bees like their new home! We had another visit from my mom this past weekend to help me out while David went on a "Guys Trip" to Moab, UT for mountain biking. I had one full day on my own before Grandma arrived and I am happy to say I managed very well. I was proud of myself and the kids, we even made it out to Best Buy to purchase a new laptop. I was quite a scene with the two babies in their snap and go stroller and Piper riding up on top as I wheeled us all in the store. It was super nice when my mom arrived to have the extra hands and help, but more than anything it was fun to see her love on her grandkids. Piper was a little possessive of Grandma, only wanting all the attention on her, but luckily my mom had lots of love to give to them all. Thanks Mom! Here is a few bonus pictures of the boys from today, aren't they sweet?!

Easter in Seattle

We continue to impress ourselves with the mobility of our family of five. Before kids we were happy to make the drive from Bend to Seattle in 6 hours. Since having Piper, it has taken us as long as 8 hours. This past week both going and coming home we were able to do the drive in just under 6 1/2 hours. That is with one stop to nurse the babies, get lunch and use the bathroom! WAY TO GO TEAM!!!

Time flew by in Seattle, but we had a nice trip and even squeezed in a day at the Woodland Park Zoo and Pacific Science Center. Fun to take advantage of these big city attractions while we had the chance.

Grandma and Grandpa got lots of snuggles from the kids and it was so much fun to see Piper play with her big cousin Garret. He is so good with Piper and they really do play well together.

We got to meet Cora, our one year old Scottish cousin while my cousin Jolyn and her husband Joe were in town from Scotland. And The Tylers even made an appearance to see us and meet the twins. Their four kids always impress me, it is so fun to see them even for a short visit.

Easter egg hunting was a big success - Piper loved it and was surprisingly good at it. The Easter Bunny hid eggs all over the house in pretty hard spots and Piper was so into it. She found all but one or two of the hidden eggs and wanted to keep looking for more. It was probably about an hour of entertainment...(note to self - something to remember for a game at home) A few weeks before Easter we had told Piper that the Easter Bunny would be coming to Grandma and Grandpa's house and he was going to bring candy for her like Santa brought presents at Christmas time. Well Piper was so excited about finding the plastic eggs she forgot all about the candy and was happy to just put the eggs in her basket. Later that morning, while we were out to breakfast, Piper says, "The Easter Bunny forgot to bring candy!" We all laughed and when we got home showed her that the candy was inside the plastic eggs.

We had family come over to celebrate Easter and my birthday in the afternoon, with a highlight being another Easter Egg hunt for Garret and Piper. More exciting news was my cousin Celeste sharing that she and her husband Tim were pregnant with a baby boy! Congratulations!!!

The babies did really well and were spoiled with love and attention. I guess I didn't get many pictures of Calvin and Jett on Easter, but I promise they too had fun.

Here is a cute picture of Piper helping to feed Jett a bottle while I went to book club with some friends last night. David "the super dad" got all three kids fed and in bed with no problems, what a rock star! Thank you Love of Mine!!!

Walk before we RUN

While walking with our three kids in the chariot stroller the other day, David and I came up with a good analogy for getting out and enjoying our life. At the time we were on a little outing, heading to the "Lion Pool" (see older blog for pics of Piper swimming). We were talking about the big travel plans we have for our family and feeling a little overwhelmed with how we were going to make such grand plans happen. We decided that we need to just start getting out and going places and doing things and these outings will give confidence to plan the next adventure. The analogy of needing to walk before we can run came up and we laughed that the very outing we were on was like rolling over before we could sit up...

So that must mean that last week when we took our first family trip to the Oregon Coast, we now have "sat up." This was a very fun and I must say successful first get-a-way. The kids did great on the 4 hour car ride, only needing to stop once to feed the twins. We had a cute little modern house with great beach access. Piper and Mango LOVED running on the beach - getting chased by the waves was favorite activity. The aquarium at Newport was impressive and just so much fun to watch Piper get excited about everything she saw.

The babies weren't as crazy about seeing the ocean for the first time in their little lives, but we had to get them out to feel the salty breeze. I think they will thank us in the future! =-) This is David teaching Piper about never turning your back on a wave. The freezing cold water didn't seem to phase piper...we definitely have a water baby! Fun times had by all...Balancing rocks has become one of David's new favorite past times, he has gotten quite good at it...I liked this picture for its artistic angle of having me and the kids (babies in stroller) in the "mouth" of this balanced rock.

Now we are back home ready to enjoy a nice spring, this picture is with the twins in two Bjorn baby carriers and Piper of course in her stroller. I was out on a walk to the park and I couldn't believe how many people stopped and stared, one family slowed down their car to watch us walk by and most everyone at the park liked to make comments...I think it is a good thing we started out our family with our good looking dog, Mango. We have gotten used to people stopping us to ask about him and make a fuss about how cute he is. Now it is having the twins and a two year old that is the show stopper. That is okay, I know I must look pretty ridiculous...as long as we are getting out and on to the next adventure.

Next up learning to crawl...

Piper's first hair cut

A few Friday's ago we decided to FINALLY give Piper her first haircut at almost 2 1/2 years old. Part of me just wanted to let it keep growing and growing, but the endless food getting caught and causing unmanageable tangles finally won me over. That and the fact that Piper is not a fan of getting her hair combed, it was starting to look ridiculous. I think my resistance to getting it cut was my personal grudge against my own childhood bowl cut that lasted way too long. I see the ease of short hair on kids, especially when they don't let you comb it, but Piper likes her long hair...and so do I. Even if it means a struggle to get it brushed. We went to Sprouts, a kids salon, and Piper liked the car chair she got to sit on. The stylist even put sparkles and a purple clip in her hair.

Piper the FISH

Piper has mad skills in the water. We call her our little fish! She loves to be underwater and can hold her breath for a long time - it is almost scary. We went to McMenamins soaking pool yesterday as a special date with just mommy, daddy and piper. This Turkish bath is like a hot swimming pool, with fountains and beautiful tile work and best of all has an open air ceiling. It was such a fun morning, we biked over to our favorite bakery, Nancy P's for a sweet treat, then headed to the pool. I am happy I had my camera to witness Piper take her first real swim across the pool. She was so proud of herself and wanted to do it over and over again.

Piper is not even 2 1/2 years old yet and so confident in the water. We are so proud!

Seriously, Piper loves to be underwater, she might grow gills if she is not careful!

And the boys are growing and getting cuter and cuter...Thank you Courtney for the matchy-poo monkey suits. I never thought I would be one to dress them alike, but I have to admit, it is fun! In all of these pictures Calvin is on the right and Jett is on the left.