Whaaaaaat a day...

Friday, June 7, 2013

If you're not a fan of the blog posts in which one complains and complains about all the things that are annoying, you might want to skip this one...

Because, you see, today started early.  REALLY early.

To provide you with a little background information, we have a walkout basement with a drain right outside the door that tends to get really stopped up when it rains.  The first time it flooded (only about 5 feet into the basement), Andrew replaced the screen and made sure to keep it clear.  But it kept flooding, so he just started using a huge mixing bowl to bail the area out every time we had monsoon-type rains (which happens a lot in Virginia in the spring).


John Paul the lion tamer.  Because what's a post without random pictures?


Also the babies, who had been champion sleepers for quite awhile, decided that they will now ONLY sleep in their swings.  And only while the lights and music are on.

Anyway, around 1:30 Elizabeth was refusing to stay asleep in bed (because she'll only stay in the swing for like an hour, then she HAS to be snuggled up to Andrew or nursing), so I went to see where Andrew was because he still hadn't come to bed.  I saw that he had fallen asleep on the couch with the lights on, so I told him to come to bed and then went back to bed myself (after putting Elizabeth in the swing, where she just fussed for a while).

Then I started hearing loud noises and what sounded like water...  Confused, I figured Andrew must be busy, so I took Elizabeth back to bed with me and tried to nurse her and snuggle her until she finally decided to sleep.  She slept in fits, but decided it was time to roll over and play around 3:30.  Andrew still wasn't in bed, so I stuck her in the swing and went upstairs to see if he had fallen asleep on the couch.  For some reason all the lights were on and I found out he had called the plumber (who knew they came out in the middle of the night?) because the drain wasn't draining at ALL and the water was coming in the basement and he couldn't do anything about it.

Well, Mary Claire decided this would be a good time to wake up.  So I nursed her, posted my quick takes, and then Elizabeth decided to wake up, too.  Because, you know, 4 AM is the time to wake up and play and poop a lot.  Yeah.

The plumber snaked the drain and everything was fixed, but we still had two very awake babies on our hands.  Andrew played with Mary Claire for a while and I nursed Elizabeth back to sleep and put her in the swing.  Then Mary Claire was willing to nurse to sleep, but not until about 5 AM.  We finally went to sleep and she was up an hour later.  And after 30 minutes of nursing she decided she was totally up for the day.

So do the math and you'll see that we got nooooot a whole lot of sleep last night.

Add that to the fact that it was raining and gross all day and we had to explain to the kids seven trillion times that they can't go outside and play on the swing set in their pajamas and sandals in the pouring rain.

 
At least they love it in the sunshine!

And add that to the fact that I can't exactly sleep during naptime, since I work part-time so I'm not even home during that part of the day. 

And add THAT to the fact that we have no coffee in the house because we don't drink it and oohhhhh boy could I go for some right now!

Then Mary Claire decided that her new favorite game is to roll onto the hardwood floor, puke a little bit, and explore it with her hands and every bit of her body. 

Then both babies decided they wanted to roll off their rug and pee on the floor during naked time in the morning.

And the babysitter was late.

And it's the end of the school year, so I have little motivation and my students have NONE.

And one of my classes returned their choir folders and music and the janitors carted it away and tossed it all.  THOUSANDS of dollars worth of music and folders, and they just trashed it because it happened to be in a box.

And did I mention that it's raining?  A lot?

Thankfully going to work meant I got to sit down for a while and do some grading while the kids organized the music (we were missing 20 students for various reasons, in a 50-person class, and we're done with our concert so really what else are we going to do?).  And when I got home the babies were in happy moods and were pleased to play on the floor for a while as I put away dishes and ate.

 
Still not quite crawling, so they fight over their favorite toy and look longingly at it when they can't reach it...

Then the big kids realized I was home so I had to let them out of their jail cells.  And Cecilia had to spend forever on the potty talking about something funny that comed out of her booty or her cwotch.  But when I went back to check on her she had decided to flush and then dip a whole bunch of toilet paper in the potty to "Cwean myself off!"
 
NO.  We NEVER clean ourselves off with toilet water!!!

(Better than the time I found her drinking it)

So then she spent a long time trying to brush her teeth and I just didn't care because did you know that I'm tired

Then I put the babies down for their naps and gave John Paul a much-needed haircut that somehow looks worse than his hair looked before...

Before

After (and after a blueberry lollipop)


And Cecilia needed HER hair cut because she wanted a lollipop...  So I put her hair in braids and trimmed the ends off.



And now they're downstairs watching Leapfrog because the babies are napping and I need not to have to answer questions like, "Empty meeeeans....?"  "It means it's not full."  "Not full meeeeans?"  "It means it's empty."  "Empty means...?"  "It means there's nothing in it."  "Nothing in it meeeeeans?"  "Just stop asking questions.  Please?"

"Please meeeeeeeans?"

Most.  Annoying.  Behavior.  Ever.

Can we order caffeine-laced pizza for dinner?  Or just go to bed at 7?

And in keeping with the theme of the day, the babies decided to take micro-naps because, you know, they got so much sleep last night.  At least nobody has pooped on the floor today?  Yet...

7 Quick Takes - My 7 Favorite Posts

Two nights ago, bored me was thinking, "What am I to do when I'm nursing the babies to sleep for all these hours and I have already read all the blogs and the entire internet???"

Grace to the rescue!!!  She created a link-up for people to add their favorite posts they've ever written, and I read maaaaaaybe all of them...  But it was so hard to pick just one favorite post!  A bunch of my current most popular posts are on the sidebar, like my birth story with the twins, the time I drew eyebrows on Elizabeth, my nursing rules for babies...  But here are some of my favorites that have been lost in the archives:

--1--


My belly wasn't *that* big, but it wasn't until almost 30 weeks in that we found out we were expecting twins...  What would YOUR reaction have been?

33 weeks

--2--


Whoever is asleep at the moment?  This was when I finally realized that it's not a cop-out when my mom says we're all her favorites!

--3--


 
I suppose I should have known he would be a ridiculously early reader when he refused to nap without cuddling a book...


--4--


I don't think this requires any explanation

--5--


4 kids by the age of 26.  Why yes, we DO get frequent comparisons to the Duggars!

--6--


Just a typical conversation with a 3-year-old

--7--


In case you wanted to ask "Did you PLAN all those babies???" but felt too awkward, here's a story of how they came to be (without too many details, because my mom reads this!).
 
And because I can't leave a post with so few pictures, here are the kids playing on theur new swing set!
 
 
 
It's HARD to focus on a moving target!

Go check out for Quick Takers at Jen's, where most people are probably not up at 4 AM nursing a couple of babies while the emergency plumber tries to keep the basement from flooding!




Theme Thursday: Girls

Thursday, June 6, 2013

I had the picture all planned out - Cecilia sandwiched between Mary Claire and Elizabeth, all on their tummies and smiling.  I forgot that trying to get a 2-year-old and two 6-month-olds to cooperate long enough to take a decent picture was an impossible task...

"I'm all done!"

"I need to go pway wiff da hula hoop!"

"Awww...  She just wants to snuggle me!  I LOVE you, Elizabeth!"

Twin snuggles!

Why snuggle when you can maul?

Here we go, almost cooperating!


Just look at the camera!

"I'm all done!  But da babies on my arms!"

"She want to suck my finger!"

"She want me to touch her head!"

Aaaaand at that point I gave up...  But look, here's Mary Claire looking REALLY excited!!!
 
Check out more pictures of girls at Clan Donaldson!
 

Five Favorites!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Somehow it's already Tuesday night, and because I have nothing pressing to blog about (do I ever have anything pressing to blog about?  I think not...), here are some of my current favorite things!
 
ONE
 
 
Major kudos to all you moms who cook and puree your own baby food.  And even if you just feed regular purees, whatever - you're doing what works for you.
 
But can I just say, baby-led weaning is freaking awesome?  We have finally sort of started the twins on solids and do you want to know what they've had so far?
 
They shared half a strawberry (MAYBE half - we just let them suck on it a little bit and I say WHATEVER to this as a common allergen because my kids aren't allergic to anything ever and the AAP can't make up its mind about when to introduce this stuff anyway), sucked some guacamole off my finger (Elizabeth LOVED it, Mary Claire thought it was death), and tonight we actually let them hold their own food to try it:
 
 
That's Mary Claire with a grip of steel on a giant hunk of flank steak.   Would YOU want to eat that pureed?  I think not.
 
But seriously, she was the calmest she's ever been during dinner because she was just sooooo happy to be sucking on some beef!  Elizabeth liked it too, but not as much.  She prefers toes:
 

 
Disclaimer:  We started John Paul & Cecilia with unseasoned fruits and vegetables.  But I just don't care this time around - I really don't think they're going to get addicted to salt if I give them salted food in the beginning.  John Paul's addicted to salt already and he didn't get any for his first several months of solid foods.  Kids get addicted to salt because it's delicious.
 
TWO
 
This marinade for our delicious flank steak (from some magazine at some point, but I cut it out and cut off the info!):
 
4 cloves garlic, smashed
4 sprigs rosemary
1 tsp kosher salt
lots of pepper
5 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sugar
 
Smash together first four ingredients in freezer bag.  Add remaining ingredients, and steak.  Marinate 4-24 hours, flipping occasionally.
 
Cook 5-7 minutes per side on grill, or broil.
 
And it's delicious enough that babies who have not tasted solid foods will love it!
 
THREE
 
Source
 
 
Um, don't buy it on Amazon.  Go to the actual store and avoid the $3/pound price they charge...
 
But seriously, kosher salt is one of the best things EVER.  You don't need to use nearly as much of it to make your food satisfactorily salty, and it's prettier, flakier, and it tastes better than regular salt, and Alton Brown swears by it and I pretty much do whatever he tells me to do...
 
FOUR
 
 
Braids!!!
 
Yes, her bangs take up half her head...  But she stayed still long enough for me to braid tiny little pigtails AND she kept them in for a few hours because I told her that Uncle Michael wanted her to wear her hair in braids for his birthday.  But seriously, how cute?  And when did she get so OLD???
 
FIVE
 
Source
 
SUCH an easy tape measure to use, and John Paul loves playing with it.  A little too much actually, since it's lost and I need a new one...  But it's only $5, so no biggie!
 
There we go, baby-led weaning, Alton Brown, what else do you need?
 
Check out Moxie Wife for more inspiration!

WIWS: Anniversary Edition

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Happy 34th Anniversary to the two people who passed on those genes that make me look ridiculously young:


That's my dad at 21 and my mom at 23 (on their wedding day).  No wonder I get mistaken for a high school student even though I'm 27!

And what would a WIWS post be without an out-of-focus shot of what I wore?
 
 
Dress & shirt are repeats, and I promise I DID wear shoes to Mass - this was taken hours after we got home, because our usual 9:00 Mass has changed times and we have to be out the door in time for an 8:30!  I didn't really have any way of expressing "Corpus Christi" in my attire - if only I had a fish-print dress to go with the gospel :P
 
They've been announcing it at the beginning and end of Mass for the past few weeks and it's been in the bulletin, but the same people who are normally late also usually leave early, so there was a not-insignificant number of people walking in halfway through and looking VERY confused!
 
We used chocolate-covered pretzels as this week's bribe, which worked VERY well for John Paul, but Cecilia was her usual self.  She was VERY upset not to get one when we got home, so I think I'll use them again and see if that helps next week...  It's a huge sacrifice having chocolate-covered pretzels at home, of course, since somebody has to eat them ;)  But I think we can handle it!
 
Check out some well-dressed ladies at FL&P!
 
And because you KNOW I can't resist a linkup, also linking up with Grace, the only blogger who makes me feel like my life is a little bit normal...
 
On am unrelated note, if you're in the DC area and have wanted to try a produce delivery service, we use From the Farmer and LOVE it!  They're running a promotion that ends today - if you sign up and tell them I referred you (Rosie Hill), you get $20 off and I get a free basket!  It's win-win!

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