Quick Takes/Pinishers

--1--

 

Andrew has been gone for bedtime twice this week (for a rehearsal and a concert, I'm considering asking for 50% of what he makes as hardship pay...).  Bedtime by myself is NOT fun.  Here's how it goes:

 

- Get big kids in bathtub.  Make SURE that there's a "mystery color" (a couple of drops of food coloring in a plastic cup) ready to go so that John Paul doesn't freak out.  This actually makes him not fight bathtime at ALL, so it's worth it to me.

 

-  Get babies naked and put prefolds all over their rug to catch the inevitable pee.

 

-  Let babies play while naked, go yell at John Paul for spitting water in Cecilia's face/pouring water on Cecilia's head/telling Cecilia that he's going to push her, all of which make her sob.  Tell Cecilia to stop threatening to bite John Paul, making HIM cry.

 

-  Start a load of diapers or other laundry

 

-  Start diapering babies, who are now sobbing because MOM LEFT THEM ALONE FOR MINUTES!!!

A couple weeks ago Mary Claire got so tired of waiting for me that she just babbled for a while and then fell asleep naked...

 

-  Hear water pouring on the bathroom floor, tell big kids to drain the water (you bet I'm not washing them tonight - we'll do it tomorrow!).

 

-  Babies are crying more.  Get onesies on and swaddle them.  Put Mary Claire in the swing downstairs with lights and music to lull her to sleep (while she cries for a few minutes.  I'm sorry, Dr. Sears, sometimes I can't meet all my baby's needs when I have 3 other children to attend to...).  Pick up Elizabeth and start nursing her.

 

-  Put hooded towels on big kids and tell them to dry themselves after they take one last pee in the potty.  Hand them toothbrushes with toothpaste and let them brush & rinse themselves tonight, since there's no way I'm going to be able to do that with one hand.

 

-  Tell big kids to go get jammies on.  Balance Elizabeth on lap while still nursing to help Cecilia with her shirt. 

 

-  Read a book on the couch with the big kids while nursing.  Prayer, song, tuck in and lights out!

 

-  Continue nursing Elizabeth for another 30 minutes or so.  Put her in the crib and sit down with a sigh of relief.

 

(Then of course, Mary Claire wakes up to be nursed, John Paul and Cecilia wake up to pee, Elizabeth wakes up again...  I don't know how single moms do it!!!)

 

--2--

 

Yikes, longest #1 ever.  That could have been a post on its own...

 

Anyway, Andrew left right after the big kids went to bed tonight.  Which is normally fine, except the babies did not particularly feel like going to sleep.  So after an hour of nursing, I put Mary Claire in the swing (Elizabeth doesn't go in there swaddled, she rolls herself over...) and Elizabeth was ALL smiles!!!

 

 

Which was amazing considering how fussy she was for me all day...  But we know that babies have that special super-power to turn into the cutest, most engaging little things RIGHT when it's time for them to fall asleep!

 

--3--

 

So here I was with a swaddled baby in a great mood when I suddenly remembered a pin I had seen...

 

Draw eyebrows on a baby and then take pictures?  Yes.  Yes, yes and YES. 

 

Andrew wasn't here to stop me.  He decided to go see the new Star Trek movie in the same week that he had already been gone for two bedtimes.  So, inspired by Spock, I went to work with an eyeliner pencil.  Elizabeth was SO happy (in a non-sarcastic way - she thought this was REALLY REALLY fun!!!)!

I contemplated not washing it off and getting a hilarious reaction from Andrew when he saw her like this in the middle of the night.  But then I realized it would probably rub off on our sheets, so I cleaned her forehead.

 

And I figured, this was DEFINITELY an adventure!  An adventure in finding out if my husband thinks this is hilarious or borderline child abuse...  But really, he only has himself to blame!

 

So I'm doubling my link-up fun and linking up with Dorian's Pinisher series!

 

Let's be honest, kid's gonna be STUNNING once she actually grows some eyebrows!  And it's just not fair that her twin has eyebrows and she doesn't...  6 months is plenty of time to grow some, I don't know what her problem is :P

 

 

And how could this not be considered a success when it yields such amazing super-villain-type results as this:

 

 

--4--

 

Okay sorry, that was another really long one...

Mary Claire loves bow ties already.  Good girl.

--5--

 

I took John Paul to work with me today and he LOVED it!  He's been begging to come with me for weeks, but the schedule wouldn't work and now that we're in testing season things were thrown off enough for me to bring him in.

 

He packed his little frog backpack for me - I put two of his favorite books in and told him to pick one on his own.  His choice?  The Way of the Cross.  Of course.

 

Then he put his backpack on and waited by the door for almost an hour before we needed to go.  Kid was EXCITED!  He was SO good the whole time (except when he kept putting markers into the safe in our room...  We'll get them back eventually) and sang with my choirs and danced all around the room during warm-ups because he was so happy, and then spent a while on my laptop playing PBS Kids games (the first time he's been allowed to and he almost died he was so happy). 

 

Huge success, but not something that's going to happen often because I got VERY little done.  But hey, I made his day :)

 

--6--

Ah, Cecilia.

It seems as though the potty inspires some of our most amazing conversations:

Cecilia, in the bathroom:  Mom, COME TO ME!!!
Me:  No.
Cecilia:  Mom, COME WATCH ME POOP!
Me:  Cecilia, you don't need me to watch you poop.
Cecilia:  MOOOOOM!  HOLD ME WHILE I POOP!
Me:  *sigh*  I relented and went to the bathroom to keep her company during this difficult time.  As usual, we had a conversation about her poop.
Cecilia:  What comed out of my booty? (EVERY time.  Every single time she asks this question.  How can she possible not know the answer by now?)
Me:  Poop.  Poop is coming out of your booty.
Cecilia:  For eatin'
Me:  No, we don't eat poop.
Cecilia:  What animal eats poop?
Me:  No animals eat poop.  It would make them sick.
Cecilia:  Um.  Maybe a cow.
Me:  No, not even a cow would eat poop.
Cecilia:  Or a horse.  What do horses eat?
Me:  Hay.
Cecilia:  And pigs eat corn!  And chickens can eat corn and seeds and bugs!  And birds can eat seeds and bugs!

Yes.  Good.  Glad we had this bonding moment on the can.

 

--7--

Cecilia, screaming and almost in tears:  A BUG!!!!!!!  *runs to me*
Me:  It's okay Cecilia, it's just a big ugly bug that can't hurt you.
Cecilia:  Wike a ugwy pwincess!
Me: 
Cecilia, snuggling into me:  I snuggle Mom, it-a not hurt me...
Me:  That's right, sweet girl.
Cecilia:  Da fwy's name is Minnie Mouse!  And, da odder fwy is Mickey Mouse!  And Goofy!  And Pwuto and Donald Duck and Daisy Duck!  And...  Tootles.  And Choo-Choo...

They have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book.  Can you tell they're obsessed?

 

And there you have it!  I'm just going to go ahead and post this on Thursday night because I don't think anybody should be denied the baby eyebrows...

 

Linking up to Jen at Conversion Diary, the most scorpion-tastic blog I read!