Something Very Fishy is Going On Here

Two years ago we traveled to Alaska to spend Christmas with my family. It was zero degrees the night we arrived in Fairbanks, and nearly forty below the day we flew home. Thankfully, my Christmas present from Justin that year was my beautiful purple down jacket.

Unlike Alaska, we have very mild winters here in in the Lewis Clark Valley; there are few really cold days that require a good down jacket, but I still wear it as much as I can throughout the winter. I truly love this jacket. Its warm, but not too hot - a good layer of down without being too bulky. Pretty but practical.

What does this have to do with fish, you ask?

Where to begin...

The other day on a family outing I had just zipped up my purple jacket when I caught a whiff of a strange odor.

"What is that smell?" I asked Justin. "It kinda smells like fish."  

He couldn't smell it. Kendry couldn't smell it either. So naturally, as any mother would, I walked around and sniffed each of my children.

Kendry?   Nope.

Cohen?   Nope.

Jack? 

 

Nope.

Strange.

And then the smell was gone and I forgot all about it. Until last night when I went to fetch some chapstick from my purple jacket. As soon as I opened the door of the coat closet I smelled it again. 

Sniff sniff. What is that awful smell?!

I pulled the chapstick from the inner pocket of my jacket and was shocked to find it covered with a reddish brown substance. So I smelled that. BLECH!

What on earth?!

 

The clean freak in me immediately tried to rationalize the situation: "Okay. No big deal. So you have a decaying fish in your jacket pocket."

Hey, stranger things have happened. And we have had two fish fatalities in this house in the last two weeks.

Holding my breath, I removed the jacket from the closet and took it to the kitchen for further inspection. Justin spotted me with the jacket and immediately asked "Where did you get that grease stain?" 

Sure enough, there was a visibly large stain near the inner pocket. Now I'm really dreading sticking my hand into the pocket. But I am the mom, after all, so I take one for the team and bravely stick my hand into the deep, dark pocket - after all, someone has to do it before the fish stench knocks all five of us unconscious. 

What do you think I found?

Three decomposing prenatal vitamins and a set of keys to my office, all covered with the reddish brown coating leaking off the vitamins and all stinking like fish because, as my vitamin jar so clearly points out, these vitamins contain DHA in the form of fish oil. 

FISH OIL!

Dagnabbit, Jody!

Of course, its all coming back to me now... wearing my purple jacket when we traveled to Justin's parents' house for Christmas... remembering as I walked out the door that I forgot to pack my vitamins... throwing three loose vitamins into the inner pocket because "surely I will remember to take these vitamins while we're at my in-laws".

If motherhood has taught me anything it is that I don't remember nearly as many details as I used to. 

Details like actually remembering to take a daily multi-vitamin every day. Details like not leaving pills loose in a jacket pocket where they not only start to decompose but also appear to chemically react with metal, like that found in keys. I have scrubbed the heck out of my keys and they still reek. I've put them into a ziplock bag to contain the smell. I may have to request replacement keys from my employer.

As for my jacket, I just removed it from the washer and it still smells like fish. 

I'm taking it to the cleaners tomorrow, but I am not very hopeful.

Forgetful?  You betcha.

Hopeful. Not so much.

Baby Barber Shop

Since the twins' arrival people have inquired how best to tell them apart. We would direct them to the hair.

Jack had it. Cohen did not.

Jack after his very first bath:

Hair, no hair.

Hair, no hair.

 

We recently concluded that Jack was starting to look a little shaggy.

He has super straight hair that loves to stand on end, along with some newborn locks that kink at the tips.

"I don't have hair - I've got feathers."

(Any Notting Hill fans out there?)

Yes, it was time for a haircut.

(Sorry, grandmas.)

Around these parts we opt for home haircuts. With four boys in this house we save a lot of money by doing it ourselves.

"Haircuts are no sweat, Mom."

 

"Yep, I can handle this."

 

"Uhhh, on second thought let's not do this!"

Much better! 

And then Cohen said, "I want a turn!"

Not really.

In fact, we may have scared him off haircuts forever.

Like I said, Cohen really doesn't have any hair, but what he does have on the back of his head was making him look like a balding old man, so he got a little trim too.

"And just what do you think you're doing with that, Dad?"

 

"Wahhhhh!"

All is forgiven.

Now for laughs and memories, take a look at these:

 

That is Kendry getting his first haircut at 10 weeks.

What can I say? We like 'em clean cut around here.

 

 

Our 12 Days of Christmas

Here is fun update on our December and Christmas festivities. Feel free to sing along!

"On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

12th Man headwear a'sporting

11(00) hairs a'standing on end (in anticipation, no doubt)

10 verses of Twinkle, Twinkle (or was it 12?) at a Christmas program

9 identical expressions from Cohen

(must we go on?)

8 bells a'ringing

(that little bell choir is 20 years old and still making music)

7 hours of driving (to Grandma's)

6 little hands a'baking (cookies for Santa)

5 Gimlin Boooys!

4 gingerbread contractors an'eating - errrr, I mean a'building

3 blue locomotives

2 babes having a 1st Christmas

(there's that expression again)

and 

1 four year old elf in Christmas jammies.

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from the Gimlins!

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Welcome to December!

Ready to do the Christmas Can-Can?

{2}
Do you realize this means our babies are nearly seven months old?!

Yowsa!

Here is the most recent photo of our little turkeys.

{3}

Problem: Scores and scores of fallen leaves in our yard.


Solution: Hubs does one final mow of the lawn and mows over the leaves in the process.


Problem: Instead of tracking in leaves on the bottom of our shoes we're now tracking in leaf confetti.


Doh!

{4}
The leaf confetti issue is further complicated by our main entry (aka former carport) being closed off due to floor maintenance.

And by floor maintenance I mean this.

{I'm typing this blog post while literally waiting for paint to dry. Stenciling is tougher than it looks!}

We're making progress, baby!



{5}
Baby?
 

Did somebody say baby?

Where is the baby?

This is what happens when you leave big brother alone with little brother...and beanie babies en masse.

{6}

Its all fun and games with beanie babies...

until one of those little suckers busts a seam and spills beans eh-ver-ee-where.

(sigh)

Ahhh well, it compliments the leaf confetti.

{7}

Currently in my car's CD player:
 The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.

 

Would you believe I've never read any C.S. Lewis?!

{8}

Nothing screams "I'm a frazzled mother!" more than strolling around the mall for an hour with all three kiddos in tow (each one happily, mind you) only to return to the parking lot and realize you left the back door of the minivan open the entire time.

And wouldn't you know as I was strolling the mall with my three happy and well-behaved kiddos I even had one of those prideful "Look at me because I've got it all together" moments.

And then I returned to my car.

Thank you, Lord, for keeping me humble - and for keeping thieves away from my car.

{9}

Kendry helped me pick out fabric today for Jack and Cohen's stockings. I can't wait to see all five hanging above the fireplace.

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

A wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with the hubs' family.

Our New Normal

We're still here, I promise.

Life with three kiddos has just altered a lot of our 'old normal'.

After nearly 5 months of maternity leave, I started back to work two days a week at the beginning of October. I would be lying if I said the transition has been easy, but the five of us are slowly getting the routine down to a science. Justin takes all three boys to daycare on my work days and I'll be darned if he doesn't appear to get out the door with a lot less chaos than when I'm in charge. 

Not that I'm surprised. He is an amazing daddy. 

An amazing daddy who even multitasks while watching the Seahawks.

Hi, Jacks!

Yes, I called him Jacks with an 's' - thats my nickname for him.

Cohen is Coh-ster (like 'coaster').

Anyhow...

When I'm not at work my life looks like this:

Plus this little ham.

Okay, so maybe my life doesn't look like that every non-work day. I'm not smiling every moment, and I certainly don't have my hair and make-up done every day. Oh, and it goes without saying that those two babies in my arms aren't always happy, and the four year old isn't always cooperative.

My house, on the other hand, does look like that almost every non-work day.

 Because our new normal is:

1. Puzzles and blocks strewn about the dining and living room floor. Hey, the kiddo played by himself for 15 minutes - maybe if we leave the toys out in plain sight he'll do it again.

2. Multiple burp rags stashed in each room of the house because you never know when a baby will spew. Though I cannot guarantee every burp cloth you reach for is clean. Honestly, who has time to keep track?

3. A playmat, two bouncers, two bumbos, two highchairs, two carseats, one jumperoo and a partridge in a pear tree all stuffed into our main living area - because we enjoy the obstacle course that is maneuvering through said baby paraphernalia without breaking a toe simply to reach the DVD player.

Just kidding. We have no time to watch a movie.


And I did break a toe.

The new normal does not include babies sleeping through the night.

The new normal has yet to see a real date night.

The new normal is two babies still sleeping in the same crib - a situation we are looking to amend in the very near future. Who can sleep when you're literally butting heads with your roomie?

I'm not trying to sound negative; I'm just trying to be real.

Nothing prepares you for life with multiples.

You sleep when you can, accept help whenever its offered, and you adjust your old normal accordingly, so when you look back at this crazy (but very short) period of your life you can say with certainty that you didn't just survive the first six months with multiples, you thrived.

The new normal is taking semi-daily walks around the neighborhood, even if it takes me half an hour to get all three boys bundled up.

And its not feeling guilty if everyone is still in their jammies at noon and I have yet to brush my teeth.

Its doing preschool learning at home with Kendry since he only attends his daycare/preschool on my work days. No kidding, the kiddo did this for fun during his self-play today.

And its breaking the rules when necessary, like the kiddo watching a Disney movie at 10am on a Monday so I can catch up on missed sleep.

Its not panicking if the babies go 48 72 96 hours without a bath.


Its letting go of the self-imposed pressures of social media and a beloved blog in order to really live our life without posting about it. 


Its celebrating the six month milestone of breastfeeding twins.


Its setting aside that last hour of the day to be spent with your spouse - even when there is a kitchen to be cleaned, toys to be put away and two dozen burp rags waiting to be laundered. (You think I'm kidding?)

Its starting a tradition of Doughnut Mondays - a brisk walk for exercise followed by doughnuts from the corner store. I hope when Kendry gets older he will remember our silly little doughnut picnics on the living room floor. I know I will.

 And its making smiley-face snacks, even on the rough days, when its hard to put smiles on our own faces.

The addition of these two little fellas to our family has brought so much joy, and a lot of changes.

Some days are crazy. Some days are fabulous. Some days are really tough.

But this is our fabulously crazy life now, and we love it.



And sooner or later we'll have time to post more about it.