STAYING THIN

Pump 10-12 6oz bottles a day of breast milk. Equals roughly 1200-1400 calories a day.

Give bites of every meal with 3 begging babies.

Do not sit down, even for a minute. There are babies to chase, feed, clean... and a house to maintain.

Carry 2 carseats and 2 bags whereever you go.

When there is a spare minute, spend it on the water... using every other muscle you did not touch during the day.

Spend 4-8 nights a month on your feet taking care of 5 sick people in the hospital.

KUNG FU PANDA

I have discovered Jacksons motivation to crawl. :)

"LIFE"

I was proud of the type of mother I was today. We wrestled in the grass. Drew with chalk on the sidewalk. Baked cookies with Brenna. We played with bubbles. Brenna and I decorated a T-shirt. Colored. Everything was prefect until...

I was feeding the brothers baby food. Landon tipped over on the floor and split his lip. After cleaning up the blood in the bathroom I came back and Jackson was choking on a magnet and threw up, all of the baby food I just fed, him onto the floor. Landon was still hurting and screaming. Jackson was crying. I thought that I could not juggle anymore. Then... Brenna fell off a stool and was now screaming.

Finally I calmed everyone down. As I was putting Jackson in new clothes I got his skin with the zipper. He was screaming again... and therefore Brenna and Landon remembered that they were sad too and restarted screaming.

I actually thought more than twice today that I loved my life as a mother and a wife. Most days are easier than I could imagine. This evening and Landons 911 are the only times that I have felt out of control. Gods way of humbling me I guess.

PICTURES

In the sunshine, titled by each of the many nicknames I call my babies.

SNUG ROOM

Are you going to move? Ever since I found out that I was having twins, I get this question regularly. The truth is...we looked into it and the economy has made our place depreciate by $30,000. We are staying put. It is snug but doable.

MOVIES I ADORE

*Middlemarch
Sense & Sensibility
Pride & Prejudice
Emma
*Cranford
Jane Erye
Mansfield Park
*Persuasion (Newest one)
*North & South
*Wives & Daughters
The Way We Live Now
He Knew He Was Right
Northanger Abbey
Little princess
Bride and Prejudice
*Lost in Austin
Under the Greenwood Tree
Room with a View (2007 version)
Berkley Square
*Our Mutual Friend (Dark parts but beautiful love story)
Horatio Hornblower
*Little Dorrit
The Painted Veil and Forsyte Saga (entertaining and well done but both make aldultery look okay if you are married to someone that you do not love and if love the person you are cheating with)
*Bright Star

To be viewed...
Mayor of Casterbridge
Nicholas Nickleby
David Copperfield
Goodnight Mister Tom


To be continued...

FUNNY BABIES

When I feed Jackson, he talks the whole time. He barely even swallows before the next bite. But if he sees I am not giving him another bite fast enough he cries, whether his mouth is still full or not.

Landon thinks he is a big boy now that he crawls and he follows Brenna and Tucker around everywhere. Jackson is too boring, because he doesnt get around as well yet.

Jackson can pull himself from room to room but cries the whole time he is doing it.

Landon cries to be picked up, but once up swirms to get down.

Brenna has to sleep with a blanket over her head. It freaks me out after what happened with Landon. If she naps on my bed she has to be under the comforter no matter how hot. I sneak in when she is asleep and take it off.

Landon will not sit still long enough to eat. when he is eating baby food it ends up everywhere. When he is drinking a bottle he carries it around in his mouth and drinks it when he stops.

DAILY CHORES

Vacuum and sweep: Landon has eagle eyes and can spot every little speck on the carpet. The twins always have hair in their fingers from the floor.

Toliets: Landons favorite place to climb up. Brenna is potty trained...need I say more.

Dishes: Once...twice...three times a day.

Dinner: No longer gourmet. Fast and easy is my motto.

Laundry: Refuse to do more than once a week. It takes me one day to wash it and the next to fold and put away.

Restock diaper bag: With twins it only holds a days supply.

Pick up toys: Once...twice...ten times a day.

Beauty: hygiene and beauty squeeze in somewhere before Shane gets home.

Cloth the kids: Once...twice...three times per day.

Shane often asks me what I do all day...sarcastic of course...but I am very sensitive about it.

My house is picked up and organized but not clean. I have a hard time finding the time or energy to scrub the shower or mop the floors. Unless it looks infectious.

COLORS

I have been working on teaching Brenna her colors. It is not quite sinking in...

Plan A: We were at Home Depot looking at paint chips and they had some shaped like Mickey Mouse... I grabbed a few colors and used them as flash cards for Brenna.

Result: Pink was not a color that I grabbed but whenever I asked her what a color was it was "pink"..."blue"..."pink".

Plan B: M&Ms. I put them in my hand and then asked her to pick out the color I asked. She showed promising potential...until she learned that if she just pointed at each M&M one at a time she would eventually get to the right one.

Next, if she did not pick the right M&M, I would eat it.

Result: She realized that somehow she would get M&Ms no matter what so did not focus on learning.

Plan C: Color video from the library. She is intent and does not take her eyes off the video. She repeats it when they say the color...0but if they are silent and dont say the color...she says "pink".

Result: "Brenna, what color is this ball?". "Ummmm, pink". "No, this ball is green". "Oh, green". "Brenna, what color is the ball?" "Pink...blue...pink"

***Realization that she is smarter than she leads on. I was putting her down for a nap on a bed full of laundry, she grabbed a pair of multicolored panties and said pointing to pink, "Look it mom. Pink". I went on to ask her to point to various colors and she pointed to each correctly. Later that night I asked her what color something was and she said "pink...blue...pink". I then asked her to point to something purple and she did it.***

WRESTLING BED

Shane laid Jackson on the bed and called me in because as soon as he set him down he began to swirm and giggle with excitment. It is our "wrestling bed". They all do it. I can no longer lay them down for a nap with me because it perks them up instead of calming them down.

OUR BOAT

Many more pictures to come. Shanes love is the Skyski. He now jumps alot higher than in these pictures but they are on another camera. He has completed a successful flip. This summer I am learning to love wakeboarding, next summer maybe the skyski. The babies love it and it puts them to sleep. We can boat for a whole day with no complaints from the babies. Brenna pulls in the rope and loves to reach over the side and splash in the water. We boat whenever possible.

STUBBORN SPIDER

Just a little peak into Shane and my relationship. I have recently become scared of spiders and trap them under cups instead of killing them or putting them outside. There are a few reasons. The spiders in our house are getting bigger and bigger. The ones that survived the bug bomb are superpowered and gigantic. Also, I cannot tolerate the crunch of the spider body between my fingers. And, if I flush it or put it outside it will find its way back, I just know it. Shane is now trying to teach me a lesson...

Day One: I found a big spider and bravely trapped it under a cup. Kept Landon away from it until Shane got home. Told Shane about it and asked him to take care of it.

Day Two: Realize that the spider is still under the cup. Try to be brave but it is still moving. Kept Landon away from it all day. Told Shane about it and asked him to take care of it.

Day Three: Spider is still there!!! But is now dead. Brave enough to take the cup off and show it to Brenna but still leave it for Shane to dispose of. Asked Shane to take care of it.

Day Four: Spider still there. Picked it up with a piece of toilet paper and flushed.

"STRETCHY PANTS" DAY

Shane calls them "stretchy pants" days. They are the days that I spend all day keeping up the house and the babies and put off myself. These days average out to about 4 days a week. If I do not go anywhere, or see anyone then I have no makeup and dress comfortable. I thought that Shane would appreciate a clean home and happy children when he came home from work but the truth is he is a guy. I have vowed to attempt to be dressed with makeup on when he come home and greet him with a seductive welcome home kiss everyday (or at least 4 days a week). I think I will feel better and the benefits will outweight the 10 minutes of crying I need to endure in order to get ready.