Wordless Wednesday {What happens when your 20-month-old starts climbing out of his crib ... and doesn't stop}.

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Do yourself a favor and don't tell a twin mom that you "pretty much" had twins.

The boys and I took a walk around the block today.

Like most of our walks around the neighborhood, the Brothers started out in the wagon and Brennan started out walking. By the time we got halfway around the block (you know, about 30 minutes later) I had Beckett  on my hip while Brennan lagged behind pulling the wagon and I chased Kiernan down the sidewalk.  Standard.

Where the wild things are.

One of the things I love about where we live is how close we are to a big, giant park.  It has beautiful trails, a few ponds, a disc golf course, and a playground, among other things.  On Sunday we decided to get the boys out of the house and into the fresh air to try to air out some of their nasty head/chest cold germs.

See this?  Only picture you'll see of Brennan less than 5 feet away from the camera.  He has NO time for pictures when he's at the park.  It's all business.

The terrible, horrible, no good, completely suck-ass day.

That's the title of that kid's book, right?  Yeah, that's what I thought.

If you follow me on Instagram (@imflyingsouth), you had the pleasure of seeing this gem the other day:

Honest to God, it was one of the craziest days I've had in awhile.  The kind of day that 9 months ago, before therapy and Paxil, would have left me crying in the corner with a beer in my hand, on the phone with Brian begging him to come home.  Can we just pause for a moment and celebrate the fact that now when I have one of those days you can find me in the middle of it all, laughing (and wishing I had a beer in my hand, but I'm off the booze til after my race ... sue me, I like my beer), on the phone with Brian telling him that it's no problem that his boss wants him to stay late?  Yeah, I've come a long way.

Chips with grass.

I thought about titling this "Oh no bitch you did not just bring those nasty ass things into my house" but I thought maybe that might be a bit too wordy.

Brennan loves chips.  You might remember that from this post.  I swear, chips are one of his four food groups - along with M&Ms, fruit snacks, and of course, milk.

While we were in Michigan, I was fixing Brennan a plate for dinner and I included some sour cream and onion chips.  When I put the plate in front of him, he recoiled in horror and proclaimed that he does not eat chips with GRASS!!  Chips with grass?  OK, I guess I can see that in the mind of a 2.5 year old.  No chips with grass it is then kid!

Fast forward to last week.  I had just finished putting the twins down for their morning nap and returned to the family room to see Brennan sitting on the floor playing with his trains.  Cooper (our big shaggy dog) was sniffing around the cabinets beside our computer.

Me: Get outta there Coop, what're you sniffing?

B: (without looking up from his trains) It's the chips with grass.

Me: ::blank stare:: Um, excuse me?  What did you say?

He calmly got up, opened the cupboard door, reached in and handed me a giant bag of sour cream and onion chips that had been in the pantry.

I was befuddled for a minute, wondering if the boys that watched our dogs while we were away left them in there for some reason.  But then I of course came to my senses.

Me:  Um, Brennan?  Did you put those chips in there?

B: Yes.

Me: ::deep breaths:: Can you tell me why?

B:  ::locks eyes with me with a look of disgust::  Because, MOM.  I DON'T like chips with GRASS.

Oh dear Lord.  Where did this teenage PMSing girl attitude come from?!  I threw the bag onto the kitchen counter and of course we then had a discussion about how he is not to go into the pantry without permission and how he should not leave food around the house for his brothers or the dogs to eat ... which clearly went in one ear and right out the other.

Case in point - a bit later, I went into my bedroom to attempt to tackle the mountain of clothes that had been sitting on my dresser since we returned from MI.  Four minutes later, I heard a familiar crinkling sound followed by manic crunching of something in the dogs' mouths.  I emerged from my bedroom to find Brennan standing on a barstool, chip bag upside down in his hand, dogs enjoying a nice lunch of chips with grass.

Me: (trying so.damn.hard not to swear) Brennan!!!  What are you doing!?

Picky.

Brennan has ALWAYS been a picky eater.  Even as an infant, I had a hard time getting most foods into him.  He has always liked yogurt and most fruits, but hates pretty much any vegetable and a lot of meats and other things.  From the very first time I tried to give him pureed green beans, he has hated them.  Spit them out and gagged.  We tried and tried until just a few weeks ago I put them on his plate for the first time in awhile.  Brian made him eat one and he gagged and threw up on his plate.  I couldn't get too mad at him because I did the same thing with broccoli when I was his age.  So maybe he'll decided he likes green beans when he hits his twenties.  Until then, no more green beans for Brennan.  

7 months old - not interested in some kind of vegetable

Out-numbered in the airport {part 2}.

Onto part 2 of swimming in shark infested waters, ahem I mean surviving the airport with 3 kids under 3!  And this time, thanks to my friend Paxil, I was actually calm enough to take pictures!

While Brian and I thought our first trip went well, we definitely agreed that there were things we'd do differently next time.  We identified a few minor things right away, and didn't change other things until days before our most recent trip.

Carry-on luggage looked pretty much the same, with the addition of toys and snacks for the twins - both of which they were too small for during our previous trip.  We also got to leave out diapers for Brennan as we can officially declare him potty-trained.  Again we had Brennan's "pack pack" filled with his entertainment, a diaper bag for my carry-on, my small purse, Brian's back pack, and his carry-on suitcase that he insisted he didn't want to check.  It was more to carry on, but we managed and it saved us $40 so I guess I can't complain too much.

Out-numbered in the airport {part 1}.

There are few things less intimidating than your first time travelling with your child.  But usually, you do it the first time and find out that it's not really all that bad.  You have a 1:1 parent/child ratio, or even 2:1 if you're lucky, and everything is fairly under control.

I flew several times by myself with Brennan before Brian ever joined us on a flight and while it turned out to be a fairly exhausting experience as he grew into toddlerhood, it's definitely manageable.

The difficulty grows when you add more children to the mix.  As a parent of twins and an older child, you learn to adapt your parenting.  Everyday is a learning experience and for the most part you are able to make slow adjustments ... until it's time to travel.  Then, you're thrown into shark-infested waters with no life preservers and it's just the 2 of you keeping all 3 of your younger than 3 year old children alive.  OK, maybe that's a little exaggerated.  But just a little.

Brennan.

It dawned on me today that Brennan is officially closer to being 3 than he is to being 2.  This is insanity.

It's not just the numbers that get me, but more so the little boy that he's turning in to.  After a few months of dabbling in potty training, it all of the sudden clicked and he's now in underpants except for night time.  On Saturday we took the front off of his crib and since then he's been staying in his "big boy bed" all night by himself.  He likes to keep track of his brothers, and loves to help out around the house.

I quit.

Today I told Brian that I quit.

He's going to have to find someone else to do this job because for the past few days I feel like I'm not cut out for it.

These boys are killing me.  One ear-piercing shriek and twitch-inducing whine at a time.  And let me tell you,  it's a very slow, very painful death.

Kiernan is on the move.  In the last week he has progressed past his "inchworm" moving to full on big-boy crawling.  Then he started pulling himself up on his knees while holding onto the couch and just a few short days later he started to pull himself from his knees to his feet.  Now he's pulling himself up onto EVERYTHING.  But the problem is that he's still arching his back quite a bit.  So one minute he's standing, the next minute he's hurling himself backward and knocking his head on the floor.  Then of course the screams ensue.  Therefore in a effort to save my eardrums and his ability to use his brain in the future, I spend a good portion of the day just following him around.

Bring on the Brennan cute.

Brennan's vocabulary has been growing by miles these days.  Some things he says make me wonder where he picked it up, others make me want to throw him across the room, and others are so cute they make me melt into a giant mom puddle.  I want to bottle up these moments and save them forever.  Instead, I suppose I'll just record them so I can remember them after he and his brothers have successfully sucked out all of my brains.

• "Help me!" -- He means he wants to "help you".  And no matter how much we correct him, he says "help me".  He'll get it someday.  In the meantime, I'm reveling in the cuteness.

• "Up up away!!" -- Whenever he wants up on my lap he says this.  I'm not sure where he learned it, but it's ADORABLE.

• "Right dare, hind you" -- Brian and Brennan have a game where Brian asks Brennan where something is and Brennan replies "dare".  Brian asks again and Brennan says "right dare!" When he asks again, he says "right there, hind you!" no matter where this object is.  Now he does it all day long.  He wanted something.out of a box yesterday and when I asked him where it was he said it was "right dare hind you mom".  I giggle.  And correct him of course.

• "Alright brudda" -- When one of the babies is crying and I'm busy with the other, Brennan gets right in his face, pats his head, and says "alright brudda".  Of course, this either distracts a baby throwing a tantrum or further upsets a baby who genuinely wants something only mommy can provide.

• "Big hug.  Big kiss.  Pat pat." -- Brennan loves to give hugs and kisses these days.  There was a time when it was like pulling teeth to get one out of him.  Now he's always coming up to me and showering me with love.  I adore it.  The repertoire goes like this: "Big hug Mom!" ::throws arms around me and squeezes::  "Big kiss Mom!"  ::plants lips on mine and holds them while going 'mmmmmmmmwa!'::  "Pat pat."  ::softly pats my cheek::  Seriously.  I melt every.single.time. 

• "Wuv you" -- When saying he loves someone, my kid develops a southern accent.  His 'you' has an amazing drawl.  He used to only say it when I told him to.  Then he started saying it in response to someone saying it to him.  Now he says it randomly throughout the day.  There is NOTHING better than when he runs over, throws his arms around me, and says "Wuv you Mom!"

Of course, all of this cute is scattered amongst tantrums, screaming fits, and outright disobedience.  I firmly believe that 2 year olds must have a genetic predisposition to sprinkle the cute on top of the evil.  It's a survival mechanism.

Brother antics.

Oh toddlers.  Why are they completely insane?

This morning started like any other.  All boys up and fed by 8:00, then the morning nap routine for the little ones started at 9:00.  They were both sleeping peacefully in their beds by 9:30.  Then I launched into productivity mode since Beckett's naps are usually short - throw in a load of laundry, make oatmeal, pump.

At 10:00, I decided to run to the bathroom and then get dressed.  Brennan was playing on the floor in the family room so I rushed off to my bedroom.  Two minutes later I had just pulled on my pants when I heard a baby stir on the monitor.  I didn't think much of it and continued to put on some socks.

That's when I heard it.  The train whistle.  Not from the family room -- from the nursery.  Oh.Balls.  I didn't have a shirt on yet, so I grabbed my robe and flew to the other side of the house.  Luckily, Brennan found the camera earlier this morning and after taking it from him I had shoved it into the pocket of my robe.

I expected just to find him playing on the floor in the nursery, but instead, I found this:

(Notice the wooden train whistle too. )

(Not happy about getting lectured...)

No, I don't generally allow my not-quite-6-month-old to sleep with one stuffed animal, let alone five.  I think they frown on that.  Big brother apparently decided that Kiernan needed some company in his crib.  And then to hear the choo-choo whistle, probably being blown in his face.  Good Lord.  I resisted the urge to yell and instead opened the blinds to get better light for pictures.  Don't worry, he got a nice talking-to after the photo-fest. 

Poor sweet Kiernan was a trooper and didn't mind being woken up after just 25 mins of sleep by a rainstorm of stuffed animals and a big brother.  He didn't like the choo-choo whistle very much.  

 

And of course all the chaos woke up this guy too.  He wasn't happy til Mommy sat him up in the corner of his crib so he could see the action (while Mommy snapped pictures of course). 

I have a feeling that since I have 3 boys so close in age, things like this will be quite the norm in our lives...

January.

January was an interesting month.  It felt more like an early summer month for me.  Hot days, cool nights, lots of sunshine.  I tend to forget that everyone back in the midwest is freezing their bums off in the cold, even though it's been a mild winter there too.  My heart hurts a little when I see Brennan get excited and yell "Mom-mom, SNOW!!" when he sees a snowy scene on TV or in a book.  It's sad to think that he won't grow up playing in the white stuff.  But I remind myself that he'll get plenty of experience building snowmen and making snow angels when we travel back to Michigan.  And we won't have to deal with the mess of living with it!  Someday I'll get used to the weather down here.

This month was one of the firsts months that felt like a glimpse of "normal" life.  We didn't have any major plans, just started to settle into a routine as a family.  The twins have physical and speech therapy appointments, which are going well.  I take them to a Mom's Club, breastfeeding support group, on some Fridays while Brennan goes to friends' houses to play.  We've started walking the mile and a half to a little yogurt bar by our house on Sunday evenings for a little treat.  I must say, Brian and I make a pretty good team.  We are learning to function like a well-oiled machine.  

We celebrated our 5 year anniversary on the 27th.  Brian took the afternoon off and we were lucky enough to have some friends of ours come over in the evening to watch the boys.  We went to dinner at a little restaurant in downtown Melbourne that we went to last year for our anniversary.  It was nice to be able to spend a little time together without little people around us.  It's hard to believe all we've accomplished in the last 5 years - a house, 3 dogs, 3 kids, a move, a new career, and a masters degree (and a half).  There are probably a few things I'm forgetting too.  It's definitely been a wild ride, but a great one.  

Our Wedding Day with our sweet baby Cooper

Brennan is growing like a weed.  He is so much fun one minute and a complete terror the next. I'd expect nothing less from a 2 year old.  He's very patient though, and puts up with lack of attention very well.  His vocabulary grows by the minute and not a day goes by that he doesn't have me wondering "when did you learn that?"  He asks for his Daddy all day long.  All I hear during the day is "Daddy home?", "Call Daddy.", and "Daddy go?"  The second Brian walks in the door Brennan is ready to run and wrestle and play.  But at night time he wants his Mom-mom (yes, he calls me mom-mom.  it's ADORABLE.)  He has developed quite the bedtime routine and after he insists on being "tucked tight" and having a litter of stuffed animals piled on top of him, he wants "Mommy song".  It's the words to a goodnight book sung to a tune I made up and have been singing to him since he was little.  For some odd reason he loves it, even though my singing skills leave a lot to be desired.

February will be more of the same routine.  Aunt Jen and Uncle Brian will come to visit for a day and we have lots of appointments on the schedule.  Brian has decided to give up meat for Lent and I'm giving up pop.  The meat will make dinners interesting, but shake things up a bit. I'm planning a 75% meat free dinner menu.  The other nights he'll have to fend for himself ;)  And giving up Diet Coke will make for a cranky mommy, but it's terrible for me anyway, so I need to get rid of it.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Tricking the picky eater (and his mommy).

(photo courtesy of Food Doodles)

I don't know about you, but my kid is P-I-C-K-Y.  He's come a very long way, but I'd still like to be able to get some healthier things in him.  He's a big fan of "bars" (granola bars) and while they're fairly healthy, they're still full of preservatives and what not.  I'm far from afraid of preservatives and stuff that's in our food these days, but if I can make something healthier, why not?  So when I came across these on the almighty Pinterest, I decided to try them out on the munchkin.  Friends, they are delish.  He loved them, I loved them.  It definitely tastes like you're eating something that's bad for you.  But at 90 calories each, they aren't too bad.

The original recipe can be found at Food Doodles and Oh She Glows.  I changed it up a little bit.  Next time, I think I'll only use one banana and maybe a little more cereal.  And I also think I'll do twice the dried fruit and no chocolate chips.  Another variation I've seen has coconut sprinkled on the top.  YUM.  Make them your own and enjoy!


Frosty No-Bake Granola Bars  
2 large overripe bananas
1 cup oats (I used a little more because it was the end of the container)
1/2 cup crunchy cereal (I used bran flakes)
2 tbsp pure maple syrup(or any other sweetener you use) (I used honey)
2 tbsp peanut butter or other nut or seed butter
2 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp dried cranberries or other fruit (I used raisins)
2 – 4 tsp cocoa powder (I used 3 tsp)


Mash the bananas, then add the maple syrup (or honey), peanut butter, and cocoa powder.  Stir in the oats, cereal, chocolate chips, and dried fruit.  Put cupcake liners in a muffin pan and press mixture in each tin.  The recipe makes 12.  Freeze for at least an hour before serving.  Enjoy!

Confession.

I have a confession to make.  Ready to get all judgmental on me?

I really don't enjoy bath time.  Not my own, although you may think so with as infrequently as I shower these days.  But that really is just a lack of time.  And not baby bath time.  That's pretty straightforward, very easy, and they're blissfully calm in the tub.

It's Brennan's bath time.  I love that boy with every ounce of my being.  But by the end of the day, I'm tired and my patience is warn thin, he is whiny and wild, and that, my friends, is not a good combo.  I know, it's supposed to be a time where I can enjoy him and we can play with duckies and give shampoo mo-hawks.  But honestly?  I don't like it.  In fact, I kind of dread it.

Sometimes I wonder if it's because the only time I do bath time is when I've been home alone all day and Brian isn't home by bedtime.  Bath time is usually their special Daddy/Brennan time while I tend to the twins and clean up the house.  So on the rare occurance that I actually have bath duty, it's usually because Daddy is working late and the kid resembles Pig Pen from the Peanuts.  And after an entire day of being home by myself with my boys my nerves are usually shot.  When it's convenient, I'm more than happy to have Brennan join me in the shower, but that's not usually practical in the evenings when I'm home by myself with the kids.  And I LOVE to do our bedtime routine after his bath.  But I honestly can't stand bath time.  And you know what?  I'm OK with that.  It's Brian and Brennan's special time.  And while I'll fill in when need be, I'll let them have their time together most nights.

I love my boys more than life itself; most moms will tell you that.  But there are women out there who would never admit that they need time away from their kids.  I'm not one of them.  I love being home with my boys every day.  But with 2 infants and a toddler, it's a very busy day.  And I know my limits.  I think that it makes me a better mom to acknowledge my weaknesses and focus on my strengths.  The fact that I don't enjoy every tiny aspect to motherhood doesn't make me a bad mom; it makes me human.

2 year olds are LOUD.

The twins are growing out of that super sleepy newborn phase and (especially lately) are getting to be a bit high maintenance when it comes to sleep. I spend so.much.time. rocking, bouncing, shushing, and soothing them to sleep during the day that I get a bit neurotic about protecting that sleep. Which would be fine ... if I didn't have a 2 year old too. Is it just my child, or are all toddlers unable to control their volume? I'm guessing it's probably the norm. And if it's not, let's just pretend that it is, for my sanity's sake OK?

Today both babies fell asleep on the family room floor while propped in their Boppies. After I picked up my jaw off of the floor, I spent the following 30 minutes trying to keep big brother "quiet". We played the "shhhhhhh" game for awhile, where I put my finger to my lips, tell him to shhhh, and tip toe obnoxiously around the house. He thinks it's really fun for about 5 minutes. Then I tried to get him to go on the back porch to play in the sand and water table, which is usually a HUGE hit. Um, no dice. Then I suggested we go out front and ride his trike. NO WAY MOM. He wanted to "fix" things, which means walk around the house and bang his hammer on everything. And apparently we really let things go around this house lately because everything needed fixed, especially things that were within 5 feet of the twins. So while I was trying to get him to do something else, he started to throw a huge tantrum. Needless to say, their naptime was very rudely interrupted by big brother's workmanship and mommy had to make a huge effort not to reach into the fridge and grab a beer at 11am.

Same stuff, different day.

I've been chomping at the bit to get back to writing, but every time I have a few seconds to sit down, I can't seem to decide what to write about. My life is literally consumed by caring for my family. I eat sleep breathe them. It takes every ounce of energy within me to keep going, and by the time I have a spare moment to myself, I don't have the mental ability to decide what to do with it. So, here's a very rough "day in the life" post from a SAHM with a 2 year old and 9 week old twins. Get ready, it's a bumpy ride!

(All times are a pretty rough estimate...)

• 5:30am - One baby gets up to eat, then goes back to bed.


• 6:00am - I get the next baby up to eat, then goes back to bed.


• 6:30am - I pump. Then I get in the shower and get started with my day. Occasionally, if I went to bed really late and I'm extremely exhausted, I'll go back to bed. But if I do this, my whole day is thrown off, so I try to avoid it.


• 7:00am - Maybe a shower, then make the bed, empty the dishwasher, wash bottles and pump parts from the night time. Vacuum the family room and try to squeeze in some kind of cleaning, but usually all I get to do is laundry.


• 8:00am - All 3 boys begin to wake up. I get Brennan his milk, change his diaper, and put on a TV show for him. If one baby wakes up before the other, I'll put him to breast until the other one wakes up. In order to feed them, I prop them each in a Boppy on the floor, prop a bottle in each of their mouths, and pump while sitting on the floor in front of them. This way, I can burp and change their diapers while I pump. Then it's playtime for everyone.


• 9:30am - I start to try to put the babies down for a morning nap. This process is sometimes long, sometimes short, sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Lately, Beckett fights sleep and Kiernan drifts fairly peacefully. In between trying to get them to sleep, I feed Brennan breakfast.


• 11:00am - Diaper change and snack time for Brennan (I have to make it a point to change his diaper when I feed him, otherwise I forget to do it. Poor kid). Hopefully the babies are sleeping. But they probably are not, so I'm usually trying to soothe the one that isn't sleeping. I try to pump at this point too.


• 12:00pm - Time to feed the babies again. Hopefully, it's a tandem feed while pumping again. If not, then one and a time.


• 12:30pm - Lunch time for Brennan. I try to pump if the babies are happy.


• 1:30pm - Diaper change and naptime for Brennan. Time to start soothing babies to sleep again too. This is always the toughest part of the day to get them to sleep for some reason. And lately, Beckett is very fussy in the afternoons. Putting him to breast sometimes helps calm him and sometimes just frustrates him. He also is so tired that he won't take a full feeding, even from the bottle, and falls asleep. Then, he wakes up hungry in 20 minutes. I'm lucky if I can get him to sleep on me, but even then I can't move or make any noise or he'll wake up. If Kiernan is having a fussy day too, you can imagine how bad it is. I also try to wash bottles at this point.


• 4:00pm - In a perfect world, the babies would be waking up from their naps and eating now. We'll see if that will ever happen. But Kiernan is usually awake by now and ready to eat. I feed whoever needs to be fed and attempt to pump.


• 4:30pm - Brennan wakes up and is ready for milk, a snack, and a diaper change. (Yes, he takes 3 hour naps. It's my saving grace).


• 5:00pm - I start to think about dinner (in a perfect world). Playtime for all the boys.


• 5:30pm - Attempt to put babies down for naps. This usually doesn't work and by now their both insanely cranky and overtired. The swing sometimes helps at this point. Then attempt to cook something.


• 6:30pm - Brian gets home, changes Brennan's diaper, picks up any baby slack I need him to, and we eat dinner. Then I attempt to pump.


• 7:00pm - Start cleaning the kitchen. Start baths and bottles for babies and a bath for Brennan. This is pretty chaotic and is an insanely long process.


• 8:30pm - Bedtime for Brennan. Babies may or may not be in bed; if not, we keep trying. Clean up the family room, finish cleaning kitchen, and continue laundry. Brian and I either spend time together, do work around the house, or he does work and I go to bed early.


• 11:00pm-4:30am - The babies usually wake up once or twice during this time to eat. I feed one, then the other, then pump. The process takes at least 1.5 hrs. If they wake up at the same time, Brian will feed one.


• Whenever they wake up in the morning (usually around 5:30), I start the process all over again!

So that's life. I'm probably forgetting something (or several things). And these times are all INCREDIBLY estimated. Most days, there is no rhyme or reason to what happens, no matter how hard I try.

Right now, it's chaotic, and made more chaotic by my/their inability to exclusively breastfeed and therefore the necessity of fitting in pumping sessions. This is a very sensitive topic for me and someday I'll write about it, but I'm not ready to yet as I feel like the story is not complete. And it's also very difficult for me to get them to sleep during the day. Unlike Brennan, who as a baby liked to be cuddled a bit, then laid in his crib to sleep, they need to be swaddled, rocked, shushed, bounced, soothed to sleep. It's time consuming and the 2nd one usually gets fussy and starts crying before the first one is ready to sleep. The swing sometimes helps, but not all the time. To get out of the house is difficult. It takes an insane amount of time to get them ready, even for just a walk, and by the time we're ready to leave, they need to eat again. So, we don't get out much. Just the occasional walk around the block.

I keep telling myself that they're only 9 weeks old (7 weeks adjusted age) and that babies this age cannot be expected to be on a schedule yet. I know this, but at the same time, I YEARN for some kind of reguarity, just a taste of a routine. I want to be able to devote time to Brennan again. I want to be able to feel like my house is clean. I want to be able to exercise and feel like I'm making an effort to lose this twin weight. I want to be able to do crafts and cute memory things for the boys. I want to be able to go grocery shopping, or meet up with friends, or just to go SOMEWHERE. But, I keep reminding myself that it's only been 2 months. I just need to be patient, which is very frustrating. But I do it because I love my boys. All 4 of them. And I'll continue to run on this treadmill called life in order to make their lives better.

I've got friends in low places.

Low as in Florida. But the whiskey sure isn't drowning, nor is the beer chasing my blues away. But oh, do I wish it was. I'm dying for a beer. Anyways, I digress.

When you live in the same town for your entire life, you tend to keep the same friends around. Sure, friendships ebb and flow. Once in high school, I stopped hanging out with my friends from grade school. They liked to drink and I was too afraid of my parents busy studying. But I quickly made new friends, many of whom I'm still very close with today. One of those girls became my roommate in college and together we made even more fabulous friends.

When you're in a school environment, you're almost forced to make friends. Everyone else is in the same boat as you. But moving to a brand new city, in a brand new state you don't usually have that luxury. Luckily, I had a group of "ready-made friends" waiting for me. The wives and girl friends of Brian's coworkers are wonderful women who welcomed me with open arms. Several of us have had/will have babies in 2011, so we have mommyhood in common. But sometimes I find myself a bit sad for Brennan because he doesn't have anyone his age to play with.

Since I found out I was pregnant the minute we moved here and very quickly started wretching my brains out all day long, and subsequently had a super-crazy-fast moving pregnancy thanks to the fact that I'm growing not one, but two munchkins, Brennan and I haven't explored as much as I'd hoped. So finding friends has been difficult.

But, I have managed to have some success. I met one mom of a 2 year old little girl through a craigslist deal (I know, it sounds sketchy, but she's very normal). Despite several attempts, we just haven't been able to make a play date happen. Then I met another mom expecting twins during our birth suite tour. She spotted us eating dinner at a local restaurant and came over to swap contact info so we could have a playdate in the future. That CLEARLY hasn't happened as we're both HUGE pregnant and have other children to run around after. The thought of that playdate just makes me tired. We also met a 3 year old boy and his mom in our Mommy-and-Me swim classes. Although there's a bit of an age difference between our boys, she and I hit it off quickly after learning that we're both recent "transplants" from the midwest. Again, contact info swapped, no playdate yet.

I think it's just because I'm tired. And the fact that it's physically painful for me to be running around too much. If I was full term with a singleton, I'd say bring on the pain, bring on the labor, but I have to get a few more weeks out of these boys, so I avoid the exertion at all costs. I'm hoping that someday when I call one of these ladies and ask if they'd like to come over for a playdate, that they don't think I'm weird and lame for getting around to it months later. But they all seem very cool and understanding. So while I feel like I've been fairly successful in making friends outside of the company-circle, I have yet to turn them into actual friendships. At least it's progress!

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooo!

Brennan has learned THE WORD. You know the one. The one you hope comes last in your toddler's repetoire of newly developed language. The one you hope he'll NEVER repeat when you say it. But, let's be honest, it's IMPOSSIBLE not to say it in front of him about 982734923874 a day (or so it seems).


Yep, that's the one. "No."


I must admit, it's actually semi-cute. He has known what the word "no" means for awhile now and has been shaking his head "no" for a month or so. But last week, he climbed up on the kitchen chair to try to climb onto the kitchen table while I was fixing dinner. I, of course, walked over to him and said, "Brennan, NO. No, no. We do not climb up on chairs" and shook my finger at him. I think my jaw hit the floor when he looked at me and said "NO. No, no!" while shaking his finger at me.


Now, I really don't think he's telling me "No, don't tell me no!" It seems more like "Yeah mom, I know I'm not supposed to do this, so I'll look cute and say no so you don't yell at me too much". Stay strong mommy, stay strong. He also yells "NO!" at the dogs when they're barking. Maybe this could work out well for me....