Conversations with a 2 year old.

I just had the best conversation with Brennan.  Two weeks ago he decided to become a little adult and has been getting progressively better at conversing with us.  It's amazing and adorable and makes me want to squeeze the life out of him.

(I had just eaten a Hershey Kiss and Brennan came over to tell me something.)

Brennan: ::sniff sniff::  Um Mommy, put chocolate in hand!
Me: You want me to put chocolate in your hand?
Brennan:  Yeah yeah.  Brennan neeeeeeeds chocolate.  Yum yum.
Me:  I don't have any chocolate.  Where do you think we could find some?
Brennan:  Hmmm, let's see.  Treats over there on counter.
Me:  There's treats on the counter?  Where?
Brennan:  Show you!!  This way OK!! This way go Mom!  ::runs to kitchen::  Right there hind you chips!
Me:  The treats are behind the chips?
Brennan:  Yeah yeah.  Treats in hand.  Please Mom.  Three treats in hand.  Yum yum.
Me:  You want three treats?  That's a lot for a little Brennan.
Brennan:  Hmmm, let's see.  Brennan not little.  Brennan three treats in hand!
Me:  How about you have one treat now and after dinner you can have another treat?  Is that OK?
Brennan: How bout three treats now?
Me: No.  One treat now or no treats now.  Do you want a treat now?
Brennan:  OK thank you please Mom.  Welcome Mom.
Me: I'm supposed to say you're welcome Brennan.
Brennan:  Oh sorry.  Welcome Brennan.  How bout Brennan have treat for brother?
Me:  No, brother doesn't eat treats yet.  Someday you can share your treats with him.
Brennan:  Uh oh OK Brennan eat brother treat.
Me:  No, Brennan already ate a treat.  No more treats til after dinner.
Brennan:  Uh oh OK Brennan eat chips.

He's a smart one, that kid.  I adore him.

Favorite Posts Friday.

I did way more reading than writing this week.  There wasn't much time for writing while nursing my 4 sick men back to health, but there was plenty of time for reading.  And I found lots of great posts to read!  Luckily, {I hope} everyone is almost all better and we can resume normal life ... which means I can start writing again!

Entertaining a baby (or 3) while pumping.

My twins have never been exclusively breastfed.  We've struggled long and hard with breastfeeding and milk supply issues.  (It's a very long, very frustrating story you can read about here if you're interested.)  Because of all of our issues, I've spent more time than I'd like to admit hooked up to my lovely breast pump.  At one point, I was pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock, plus nursing and bottle feeding.  That doesn't leave much time for anything else.  But unfortunately it's what my body requires to keep up my supply.

It's time consuming and having 3 little boys under 3 is also time consuming.  With the exception of the first 3 weeks of the twins' lives, I don't have any help during the day.  So being hooked up to a pump for 20 minutes is not exactly ideal.  When the boys want attention while I'm pumping, 20 minutes can seem like 2 hours.  A visitor recently asked me when I was disappearing to my room to pump how I manage doing it when I'm here by myself.  After clearing up her assumption that I pump in my bedroom when I'm here by myself, I started thinking that it might be fun to list my crazy tips for keeping my children entertained while I'm hooked up to the milking machine.

the plague.

This is a sad, pitiful household friends. 

Last Sunday, Beckett came down with a fever.  He was cranky and fussy and just didn't feel good.  Meanwhile, Brennan came down with a fever.  He spent a night in our bed for a night and had a few lazy, snuggly days.  Then Kiernan and I both spiked fevers and Kiernan started a little cough.  Daddy came home to save the day and I slept for hours and felt functional again.

Favorite Posts Friday.

Ahhhh.  It's Friday.  What a beautiful thing.

My list this week is a little light. Maybe it's because I just wasn't feeling most of the posts that showed up in my reader, or maybe it's because I skimmed over a lot of them while wrestling sick babies, half exhausted.  Either way, here are a few of my faves!

Doing the best I can.

It's 6:52 p.m.  I'm feeding Beckett in the rocking chair in a dark nursery, the soothing sounds of ocean waves crashing from the Sleep Sheep. It should be a calm, quiet environment.

But instead, I'm stressed out.

Beyond the ocean waves are wails and whines.  Brennan is done with his dinner and more than ready to get out of his chair.  Kiernan is starting to get sleepy and hungry and is letting me know ... very loudly.  But I can't leave Beckett yet.   He's drifting, but fighting sleep because he's fighting a fever and doesn't feel well.  Brian is working late, so bedtime routines fall completely on my shoulders.

44:27.5 {Twin Weight Tuesday}.

On Sunday we woke up at the butt-crack of dawn (which I suppose is really no different than most days).  We got dressed in workout gear and loaded the boys in the car and headed to the park near our house for the Strawberry Festival 5K.  This is a pretty common occurance in our family as it's no secret that Brian is an psycho avid runner.

But this time was different.  This time I was the race participant and Brian stood on the sidelines to cheer me on.  It was odd to have this role reversal.  I've become an expert at scouring course maps to find strategically placed cheering spots.  I know his pre-race ritual like clockwork and am always available to hold shedded layers of clothing.  I know his paces for various race lengths and how much time I have to move between cheering spots.