Its a Boys' Life

How we have fun on a weekday morning:

Step 1:

Get yourself wet. I mean really wet.

A garden hose is essential. 

A water table works great too.

Step 2:

While still dripping wet, insert yourself into the nearest dirt pile.

Maybe bury yourself a bit.

Help yourself to a bite or two.

Mommy is always telling me how much she loves diapers embedded with gritty sand.

Just remember to keep the hose handy; that dirt can really dry out your mouth.

Step 3:

Smile innocently.

Bonus Options:

20 bonus points to each boy accomplishing this messy feat before 10:00 a.m. PST.

50 bonus points if said feat is accomplished within 24 hours of your last bath.

Can you see why I need this sign?

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Kendry's shoes after this particular morning adventure:

Its a good thing I'm not a clean freak, right?

Party Central

Whew! April and May are always a crazy time of year for our family; when June hits I feel like I can finally take a deep breath, poor myself a big glass of iced tea, lounge with my feet up out on the patio, and enjoy the 80 degree afternoon sunshine.

Buahaahaha!

Get real.

At the present moment I'm trading the patio for the indoors because I have 10 loads of laundry to tackle. When one load is done I hop right up and get the next one going. So if my thoughts appear scattered in this post (squirrel!) its because I was interrupted by the dryer finishing its cycle. I have this silly fantasy that one day I will have ALL of our laundry clean at the same time. Just let a girl have her dreams, okay?

And I'm swapping the 80+ degree sunshine for a spot right next to my A/C vent, a mighty strategic location since I'm drinking my second cup of hot coffee for the day. The kids will be awake and on the move again in one hour so I'll take all the caffeine I can get. Oh sure, I should probably opt for a iced coffee since its such a hot day, but that would require using the blender. Did I mention all three kids are asleep?

And since the gutter guys are here as well, drilling and pounding on the house outside of Kendry's windows, I had better cut to the chase and share what I intend to share today:

BIRTHDAYS!

Several of you have asked about the boys' birthdays. But first, a disclaimer: if you can avoid having three kiddos' birthdays in the span of three days, DO IT!

Okay, moving right along....

On Kendry's birthday we did a mini-celebration with cupcakes and presents.

Since he was having a minion birthday party the following week, I tried to make him a fancy-schmancy minion cupcake. Let me tell you, it was AWE (wait for it) SOME! Alas, the world will never know... because I put it outside in a tupperware the night before, which incidentally turned into a mini-greenhouse in the sunshine the following day when I forgot to bring it back inside.

(no actual minions were harmed in the creation and destruction of this cupcake)

For the twins' birthday two days later we did a similar cupcake celebration. Jack dove right into his, while Cohen repeatedly dipped a single finger and licked - over and over. We finally helped him shove the darn thing into his mouth so he could see that the entire cupcake was indeed edible. You can't blame the kid for being all about the frosting. Aren't they all?

I'm convinced this kiddo will always be a messy eater.

Now we're talking, Cohen!

I still cannot believe our littles are one year old!

Fast forward to the following week when we held Kendry's birthday party at our local gymnastics joint. Their staff did a fabulous job with the kiddos. 

Kendry loves the Despicable Me movies and requested a minion birthday months ago. This theme was actually a fairly easy one. We went with a blue and yellow color scheme and found a minion pinata:

Kendry picked out his minion tee at Walmart and we had a 5 screen-printed on the back. You may recall that he has a number shirt every birthday.

I found the helmet idea on Pinterest. I purchased two dozen yellow construction helmets on Amazon and then printed out several copies of minion eyes I found online. We just cut them out and pasted them on the helmets.

Not to be left out, the littlest members of our family dressed in character.

There are some pretty elaborate minion cupcakes to be made, but I went with an easier option. These are just regular cupcakes frosted yellow, then decorated with white, gray and black frosting. A few have licorice hair on their heads.

A big shout out to my Dad who helped do the yellow frosting (I can't believe I didn't get a picture of him in action), and another shout out to the hubs for making the gray and black frosting.

This birthday boy loved every minute!

The morning following Kendry's party we had a small birthday brunch for Jack and Cohen. We went with a 'little men' theme, making a mustache cake and a tie cake:

The boys also had matching onesies. (Thank you, Auntie Kathy and family!)

After some deliberation we opted not to repeat the cake scene with the twins at their brunch, because a momma should only have to drag the shopvac out once per birthday. 

Rest assured, the twins did get to 'blow out' the candles on their cute cakes - we just didn't feed them any.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our three precious boys!

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 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.