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.

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. 

Seth Gets The Strap: A Dramatic Reenactment In 5 Parts

 ED. NOTE: I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS HUGE SPACE IS APPEARING HERE, BUT EVERY TIME I TRY TO FIX IT, IT ONLY MAKES IT BIGGER. SORRY ALL.

Part I:

Oh hi everyone! It's me, Seth. You will need to use your imaginations for 'dis part of the re-enactment because I was not laying here with my diaper on quite so peaceably (even tho' it looks like I am). I is not that kind of guy.

No, instead you should picture me sans diaper and maybe with a little bit of poopy bum.

Part II: 

And here you need to picture me still sans diaper, and still with a little bit of poopy bum, but now also a poopy foot. Maybe a little poopy hand too. Mommy wasn't too happy about my new moves and was pretty busy with 'dose baby wipes (you know, the ones in that really neat Green Box that she hardly lets me play with?). 

Part III:

'Dis the part where I get the strap, but don't worry. I is OK.

Mommy is still busy with 'dose wipes, and you know, she pretty quick too. Before I know what's what I has on a clean diaper and clothes and I been wiped from head to toe.

Part IV: 

I still pretty quick guy though and has tricks up my sleeves. You didn't think I was gonna let Mommy have the last laugh, did you? 

Part V: 

Hey, where you goin' Mommy? What do you mean you has to go Google wrestling holds? And what is duct tape? Mommy?

... Mommy?

- L.

Life Lessons With Nate & Seth: Hurt Babies Make Mommy Cry

First: Everyone is OK.

Second: There is no guilt like mommy guilt – period.

Third: This was entirely a life lesson for me.

Here's what happened:

It was Saturday night and M. had already changed Seth. I had just taken Nate into the nursery to get him ready for bed before their nighttime feeding when I noticed a hair (very likely one of mine) loosely wrapped around one of his toes. I reached down quickly to remove it and in an instant all I was holding was a piece of the hair that snapped off – the rest was suddenly coiled around Nate's toe so tightly that it started swelling immediately. In less than two seconds that coil of hair had virtually disappeared between the puffiness on either side.

And then it started to bleed. : (

My poor baby! He was crying so hard, and I get a big, fat fail for what happened next because I was not a calm, cool mommy at all. I was a scared, shaky, quivering mess!

I scooped up Nate and yelled for M. – who fortunately was a pretty collected daddy – and he managed to fish out the hair that was cutting off the circulation to Nate's wee toe. I thought only the sight of my own blood freaked me out that badly, but apparently the sight of my baby's blood does the same thing. I'm really going to need to grow a much thicker skin before my babies start running around and the scrapes and bruises start or I'm never going to make it.

Here are some pics I took the next day. You can still see how deeply that piece of hair cut in. : (





Of course, Nate was fine almost right away and hasn't made any complaints since. I, on the other hand, am continuing to slather his wee toe in Polysporin and thinking about how I spent too long baking those ten perfect toes to lose one. I swear I thought it was going to pop right off.

Ugh. Mommy guilt is the worst.

- L.

Life Lessons With Nate & Seth: Thumbs Are Not For Sucking

Hi. My name is Nate and I really like my pacifier. I like it a lot. You may have noticed this about me from many of the pictures on this blog. But recently I discovered something even better...

– Well, hello there!



– Wonder how far I can fit this in my mouth.



– Oh, 'bout that far. Good stuff.



– Uh-oh. My mommy says fingers and pacifiers are OK, but thumbs are not for sucking. That's how this thing ended up back in my mouth.



– What a spoilsport that mommy is! And Seth? Let's just say he's not too impressed with any of this either.



– See? Not impressed at all!

Mommy note: The discovery and love of the go anywhere "pacifier" is a new development. For now, if I see a thumb in the mouth it gets replaced straight away with the pacifier – but as you all know you can't watch them 24/7. This past week it's not been uncommon to find Nate in the nursery asleep with his thumb still half in his mouth. I'm not sure we can do a whole lot at this point, but I'll be doing some research in the meantime – this is definitely a habit that I'd prefer not develop only because I know it's a powerful one to break later. There was a baby "expert" on TV the other day who said, "You can always throw away a pacifier but you can't throw away a thumb". Good point. Of course, I missed the rest of what he had to say because I was busy with the babies, so if you have a helpful suggestion please leave it in comments.

- L.

Life Lessons With Nate & Seth: Priorities

Being a new mommy is hard work and being a new mommy to twins is – at times – very literally double the hard work. There's precious little time for anything other than their care and comfort, so you have to learn to have patience with the things that can wait. Like cleaning. And feeding yourself. And wearing something other than pajamas. Etc. and Etc. again. The list, of course, goes on.

I wasn't having the best morning I'll admit.

And then this happened:



Sorry for the grainy pictures, but the sun was barely up, the boys had just finished breakfast and I was in the process of transferring them from their Boppy's to their bouncers, when I went to pick up Seth and saw the biggest smile on his face. It had diminished a little by the time I grabbed a camera (also said camera was a tad distracting), but there's still some little grins going on here (and a big one too!).

After I carried him over to the bouncers, I looked down and there was Nate, also full of smiles. You can tell he thought the camera was great fun since his grin just kept getting bigger and bigger.



And seeing them both so happy for no particular reason – just because – made my whole day in those few moments. Everything else can wait.

- L.

Life Lessons With Nate & Seth: Mittens

Lesson 01: If you can still manage Exhibit A after a manicure...



... then it's MITTENS for you!



Remember how much Seth loves Sophie? Well, that is at least how much Nate loves his hands. They are always on his face somewhere, usually making a tasty snack in his mouth. Sometimes he gets a little carried away and yesterday he gave himself a scratch in the 5 minutes or so he had his mittens off. Of course, they were promptly reapplied.



And fortunately they don't affect the flavour one bit:



NOM!

Seth, on the other hand (pun intended?), prefers to remain scratch-and-mitten-free.



- L.