From The Top Of Mt. Crumpit

Due to the outbreak of pink-eye cooties at our house, this was me last Wednesday:

Today I finally thought to Google™ the contagion period for pink-eye and discovered that it's only contagious for roughly 24 hours after you begin treatment – which of course means that the boys could have had their toys back as soon as I'd had a chance to clean them since that took 48 hours to complete. Today I felt very Grinch-like indeed as the toys made their long overdue and triumphant return.

It looked something like this: 

Followed by this: 

It was Christmas at our house today and as such, I leave you with this. I couldn't stop humming it all afternoon.

- L.

Our First Field Trip: The Hallway

– Hi everyone. It's us, and 'dis our first field trip, but...
– Oh yes, hi everyone. Sorry but we is a little distracted right now.

– You know Nate, I don't understand why 'dat Kitty play so hard to get, especially when she make me smile 'dis big. 

– Oh, she toy with us alright, Seth.

– Now she doing that thing where she stare and glower at us for a long time.
– I know! She does 'dat all the time! I doesn't know why. All we wants is to pull Kitty's tail, but it's like she not trust us for some reason. 

– Hey, here she come!
– Sorry, I is busy doing my impression of Kitty coughing up hairball. I think I nail 'dis one. In fact, I think Kitty nail one here too. We should tell Mommy to wash 'dis floor more often. 

– Oh, don't get me started on 'dat Mommy, Nate! I still think you's better turn around tho'...
– Oh I will, but first I need to let our favorite people know that if you'd like to see the exciting conclusion to 'dis episode, you need to be hopping over to our YouTube™ channel without delays. 

– Oooh, 'dis our first cliffhanger!
– Well, not quite – but still pretty exciting. I hope you is going to check it out everyone!

- L.

Rationed Toys: Not A Hit With Babies

– Hi everyone. It's me, Seth! Mommy take 'dis picture yesterday afternoon so you would see how much better my eye is already. Looks pretty good, no?

– Hi everyone. I'm here too!
– Oh, I is glad you show up Nate. I been staring at these toys all morning and thinkin' something funny here. You notice anything odd 'bout these toys?

– Hmm... well, I has 10 Cent Plastic Ring so I is pretty happy but I see what you mean. These not our usual toys, except for Sophie of course.
– No, they is not. Except for Sophie. In fact, I'm starting to think these look an awful lot like...

– Our bath toys?
– Yes. These is bath toys here, but we is not in bath! What is mommy playing at you think?

– Dunno Seth, but I give this a big thumbs down.
– 'Dis pretty stinkeroo mommy. I hope you is going to explain yourself.

•   •   •   •   •

Mommy note: Despite the big improvement in the appearance of Seth's eye, I know it's still important to reduce the risk of recurrence/spreading as much as possible so to that end I have been furiously washing and disinfecting everything. I divided their toys into 3 groups:

1.) Toys That Are Washable, But Would Be Difficult To Wash Daily:

2.) Toys That Are Not Washable, And Must Be Wiped With Dilute Bleach Solution Instead:

3.) Toys That Are Easily Washable And Can Be Handed Back Immediately:

I think you can see which group is the most practical for now, although I've added a few of the most washable toys – like their little cloth books – back into the mix since they dry quickly with a load of their clothes. I got the tip about the dilute bleach solution from another mommy online – 2 capfuls of bleach in a gallon of water, wipe and air dry. Once dry they are disinfected and safe to play with. I've also been changing their bedding after each use, but otherwise it's business as usual over here and so far no sign of any more pink eyes.

I have to say though, that after sorting and cleaning all those toys (which I hope I never have to do again, btw!) I think it's pretty clear that my babies are very well-stocked at playtime. Seriously, that is a lot of toys even for two. Where did we get all these toys? They just sort of appear or maybe they multiply at night. I don't know, but I do know these are two lucky little guys.

Back on the topic of Seth's eyes however, here's an out-take from yesterday:

This maneuver happened so quickly I didn't even see it coming (nor did poor Seth!), but since the camera happened to catch it, I thought I'd post it. Don't worry – no new injuries were sustained and yes, I did put the camera down tout suite to reposition everyone.

- L.

Mommy Guilt Strikes Again

– Hi everyone! It's me, Seth. I apologize for my food face. I's a bit messy here, but 'dis post not about that.

– It also not post about my dock-worker type brawlin' wound 'tho 'dis still quite noticeable. 

– I has pink eye, ya'll. Told you I has tricks up my sleeves. I think 'dis trick backfire tho'. Ouch.

Mommy note: Poor Seth. Earlier today, he skipped his afternoon nap and an hour later was rubbing his eyes and I thought, "well of course you're rubbing your eyes – you're tired". And then one eye started to look a little irritated and I thought, "well of course your eye looks irritated – you've been rubbing it". He was also quite fussy, but again I thought it was because he was sleepy and refusing to take a nap, so... chalk another one up for mommy guilt when his eye was suddenly puffed out, watering and red halfway through our oats and pears tonight. Oy.

- L.

Rolling With The Punches

If you have babies, then you know that plans can (and often do) change on a moments' notice. For example, yesterday I decided to take the babies out for a stroll. It was a nice sunny day – a little warmer than expected – but still, I wanted to bring along the cute new hats Gamma Rita knitted for Nate and Seth, thinking that maybe I could take a few cute pics in natural light while enjoying a beverage on the patio at Starbucks (I even brought along my new macro lens to try out, but I'll get to that in a bit).

So, now you know what my plan was: cute babies, cute hats and cute pics while enjoying the nice weather.

I got everyone dressed to go, put the hats, camera and lenses by the door, turned around to grab Seth and saw this:

Oh, Seth.

He's been at it again and somehow gave himself a fine scratch/welt/bruise in the time it took me to make a single trip up and down the stairs. I think it's a personal record.

I still tried in vain to get some cute pics with the hats, but I ended up with a series of shots like this: 

They both look like a couple of dock workers after a hard shift and some brawling. Well, Nate looks a little scared actually but Seth looks like he's up for some action. 

Seriously, would you mess with this baby?

I rest my case. 

So I scratched (pun intended) my plans for pics in the hats and tried out my new macro lens instead. 

I think I can almost make out the Starbucks logo on the signage in this close-up.

Oh, and can you guess what Nate is working on here? You might recognize this face from previous posts.

He's been very busy lately trying to figure out how the latches on the 5 point harness work. Yes, the ones that keep him from falling out of the stroller. Oh, Nate. Honestly, I'm a little in awe of his dexterity and ability to concentrate and problem solve for a 7 month old baby – and a wee bit scared too. He's a little too good at it for one so small.

And lastly, the other thing I've been meaning to show you all are these awesome Dapper Snappers™ that I found at bynature.ca. They are great for long, skinny babies like Nate and Seth who suffer perpetually from pants that are too big in the waist while fitting otherwise. Can you tell which skinny baby is which by the way?

The makers of the Dapper Snapper™ even have an instructional video which I've favorited on our YouTube™ chanel. I'm a fan for sure since it makes all their pants fit. Pretty affordable too considering they appear very durable and go with everything.

Yay – no more droopy drawers!

- L.

PS. Give yourself a point if you guessed Seth in the first pic and Nate in the second. 

A Couple Of Characters

It's become painfully clear over the past couple of weeks that Nate and Seth have long outgrown their baby towels – and with the cooler weather here having arms and legs hanging out after a warm bath was not a good thing, so the boys finally got some new towels that came very highly recommended from Pottery Barn Kids earlier this week. There's more than enough terry to go around, they're super soft and they're cute in the bargain. 

Nate after a bath in his new dragon towel:

Seth, also post-bath, in his new duck towel (don't forget to check out his little duckie feet!): 

- L.

It's Over!

– Hi everybody! It's me, Seth! I got some big news for you all. 

– I got my first tooth and I'm so excited!!! Check out my close up... 

– Can you see it everyone? 

– I's going to be smiling for the rest of the day and I hope you is too!

•   •   •   •   •

Mommy note: Toothwatch 2010 was officially declared over at 8:15 AM yesterday morning, and as you can see in the close-up pic Seth isn't wasting any time now that he's got his first tooth since he's already working on his second one. I was kind of surprised it hadn't broken through by this morning because it is *so close* to joining it's mate, but no worries. I expect he'll have his second tooth before the sun is up tomorrow. Yay Seth! : )

- L.

Chats From The Big Chair

– Hi everyone!

– Oh, hi everyone! It's us! 

– You know Seth, I was thinking 'bout that last blog post Mommy wrote.
– You mean the sad one 'bout 9/11? It was kind of a bummer. Not really in sync with the flavor of 'dis blog if you know what I is meaning. 

– Yep, 'dat one, but I is thinking 'bout something else.
– Er... OK. 

– Well, mommy was all "lousy job" 'dis and "lousy people" 'dat... but you know what I is thinking?
– I often has no idea what you is thinking Nate. 

– I be thinking lousy work ethic Mommy if you's be playin' hooky at 'da office!
– Er... 'dis hand holding kind of nice I guess. 

– I mean, is I right everyone?
– Hi. I is just sitting here not involved at all in 'dis conversation. I not mess with Mommy anymore (at least not while she looking at me). 

– I gonna go ask Mommy 'bout 'dis right now.
– OK. Good luck with 'dat. I not even paying attention. I's gonna look over here now and not be thinking 'bout duct tape at all. No sir.

•   •   •   •   •

Mommy note: I started taking this set of photos yesterday morning with everyone on the couch after story time. I couldn't help but notice how the sun was lighting up all that fine gingery hair on my babies' heads. In the end, the camera didn't capture what I was seeing but I still got some fun out-takes before we moved over to the armchair.

- L.