Three lines.

Pink hat.

Bright sunshine.
Dubious smile.

Baby close.
Sweet face.
Happily content.

Loving sister.
Smiling brother.
Big hugs.

Chewy fingers.
Comfy seat.
Puffy hair.
Rosy cheeks.
Animal shirts.
Best brothers.

Early morning.
Bouncy seat.
Newly independent.

Three tongues.
Silly moment.
Weird people.

10 pictures. 7 snarky comments.

The kids recently had "Family Picnic" day at their school, where parents or other family members could have lunch with their kids. Our kids cried in sorrow at the realization that their parents did not care enough about them to join them for just one lunch. Oh wait - no, that was some other kid.



Horse Mania is back in swing in Lexington. Some artists took the trouble to paint these fiberglass imitations and put them in random places around town. The foals, in particular, were done by kids from the local schools. They can paint them any color they want, but I'm not fooled this time. I can still tell they are horses.



You know, some days our sweet little baby decides to get up early. Like today, when he got up at 4am - ready for the day. But sometimes, just sometimes, Mommy is not as ready to start the day like some people. Yeah, that onesie is on backwards. Yeah, that onesie is on inside-out. Yeah, I only noticed about an hour later. Yeah, I didn't care. Yeah, he only wore it for about 20 more minutes before spitting up and pooping on it.



Adelaide made me take this picture. I'm not sure why. Some of the dolls are bald. I'm not sure why. Adelaide seems to like it that way. I'm not sure why.



My son's favorite song is "Drift Away" or as he calls it "Gimme the Beat Boys." I think the song is ok.



He especially loves the "Kidz Bop" version he got on a Happy Meal CD. Especially when it's played 23 times in a row. I think the "Kidz Bop" version can suck it.



Adelaide finally figured out how to swing by herself. Damon recently figured out that she has figured this out. At one point he told her to stop because she was 'just too high.' I think he's 'just too jealous.'

Buttons: pushed.

Yes, yes. You noticed? There's another new background. I don't try to change it too often, but the last one just made it too hard for me to read. I tried to play with the fonts but it just wasn't cutting it. I've always been sensitive to letter/background contrasts when reading, and the last background just bothered me too much. This one seems to be a bit more soothier (?) on my eyes. Maybe it's just me, but since it's my blog I get to do what I want.

Speaking of 'getting to do what I want,' my dear little kids have really been pushing their boundaries these days. My god! I can not even imagine what the teenage years are going to be like if this is just what the 'fives' are like. Holy crap - it's like: "Let's see how quickly we can drive Mother into a breakdown. We've already broken Papa. Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!"

Now, that is all being said with the love an adoration of a kind mother that I fancy myself to be. But sometime, just sometimes, I don't really like who I am when they go all no-holds-barred on me. And it always starts innocent enough. I'll say something like, "Ok, let's all get in the car to go to the store" and it snowballs into:

"My socks are tickling me!"
"Why does Adelaide get to get in the car first?!"
"Why do you always put Fenton in on my side?!"
"How come you never let me sit in the cart?!"
"When can I have a lollipop?!"
"Can I buy this?!"
"Why can't I have that toy?!"
"I never get to get anything fun!"
"Why do I have to hold on to the cart?!"
"Am I being good?"
"I am walking next to you!"
"Can you put the fruit snacks I picked out into my own bag?"
"Why aren't the fruit snacks I picked out in my own bag?!"
"Why does Kestian get to get in the car first?!"
"Can I close my own door?"
"Can I unbuckle myself?"
"Why does Adelaide get to get out of the car first?!"
"Why do I always have to wash my hands when I get home?"

And this goes on and on and on. Every day and every night. And it's not just when we go shopping. It's like this at bath time, dinner time, computer time, ...yeah... any time! And one gets a tad bit weary of it all. Soon I'm grumpy. Soon I'm shouting "Because I said so!" Soon I'm short and curt with them. I'm not the mother I want to be. I'm some old crotchety lady who just doesn't care anymore as long as it's freakin' quiet. It's almost like I am turning into Damon.

And of course it never helps when your son says to you, while you're washing a ton of dishes again because your dishwasher has been broken for almost 2 months and who knows when we'll get around to fixing it, "Why don't you pay attention to me like you do to Fenny?" Saddened by his analysis of the situation, I say, "But I do pay attention to you. I read you books and play checkers with you..." to which he replies, "That's not attention."

Or when your daughter tiny-steps with a smirk on her face to the bathroom just to piss you off, when she's been told three times already that we need to leave for school now and why hasn't she brushed her teeth yet?!?!?

Sigh. Being a parent is hard. Being a parent of twins who are deep into fits of sibling rivalry between themselves and a new baby is tough. Being a parent of twins and a new baby with tons of housework to do and not much time to do any of it because I work full-time and never get to spend enough time with my kids in a non-barking-orders sort of way because someone decided there would just be 24 hours in a day just sucks.

I only hope that when they look back on their childhood, our kids will remember me fondly and not as someone who's always yelling, "What do you mean you haven't finished your water? You've been sitting there for 20 damn minutes!!" and rather the mother who's always saying "I love you. You are so smart and I love the way you draw!" I suppose it's possible, as evidenced by Kestian saying, as I walked him into the school on Monday morning, "I had a GREAT weekend!"

Really? 'Cause that's not how I remember it.

16 annoying habits

1. Standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom for 10 minutes before opening the tube of toothpaste.

2. Declaring a room "clean" after picking up one toy and leaving 46 more behind.

3. Being told to "get out of your brother's face" only to get in your brother's face again before anyone can finish saying "get out of your brother's face."

4. Asking "why don't I ever get to wash dishes?" when you washed dishes yesterday and the day before.

5. Asking "why?" when I just said "You can't do that because you'll cause permanent disability to yourself and anyone within three feet of you."

6. Suddenly losing the ability to put on socks.

7. Complaining that you don't get to go to the store with just Mommy, and then when you are told that it's your turn to go to the store with just Mommy, complaining "Why do I have to go?"

8. Freaking out that you must have "bug bite lotion" immediately or you will die, only to not be able to identify where said bug bites are for the lotion to be applied.

9. Claiming "it's not fair" when your sibling gets to do something first, only to claim "it's not fair" when you get to do something (often the same thing) first.

10. Always remembering when you are owed a lollipop, but never being able to eat seven baby carrots in order to have dessert, saying "I didn't want dessert anyway."

11. Always wanting the radio on when your sibling wants it off.

12. Blatantly tripping your Papa, only to play innocent and then wonder why you are in time-out.

13. Using your shirt as a napkin right after being told to not use your shirt as a napkin.

14. Playing very nicely together, but then when the other has to go to the bathroom, you suddenly scream "I have to go REALLY bad, NOW!"

15. Asking when you are going to have dinner while Papa is in the middle of serving it.

16. Always wanting to watch the same goddamn Bob the Builder DVD when we have 35 other DVDs to watch.

I live with crazy people.

Baby wearing...

I love wearing my baby. Never do I feel more comfortable going about life than when I have my baby snug close to my chest.


Back when Kestian and Adelaide were younger, I remember wearing them a lot too...

Adelaide - about 2 months old - in her carrier.

I remember wearing one or the other while I was doing the dishes, going for walks, or shopping at the store. And because we had two, Damon also wore the babies. Wearing them always calmed them down and allowed us to manage everything else that needed to be done. But I remember the carriers we had back then to be fairly uncomfortable, and since we had two we tended to always have the stroller with us and didn't "wear" as frequently as I would have liked.

But this time around I got a new carrier and I love it (what a difference a good carrier makes!). Actually I have a couple. I have your basic Baby Bjorn carrier, and also a Moby wrap. I don't "wrap" as much mostly because it has just been too hot. Wearing the wrap gets quite warm fairly quickly. Plus, I haven't quite mastered the front-facing technique with the wrap (but I may work on that more this winter). So I've been favoring the front-carrier.


And let me just say (again) that I love it. I hate hauling around the carseat, never mind heaving a stroller. And when I am wearing him, I really don't notice how heavy he is (unlike when I carry him in my arms). He just becomes part of me. So whenever I can, I wear my baby. I wear him when we go grocery shopping, when we go to the zoo, when we go ... anywhere...


And I'm not the only one who loves it. Fenton loves it too. As soon as he could hold his head up he has loved the forward-facing carrier. He often squeals and kicks in delight as he hangs there as I walk around. He never fusses unless he is wanting to eat or sleep - and not always even then because I can feed him right there and he has napped in the carrier....snoozing for a while then waking up and picking up right where he left off.


Wearing him I know he's safe and comfortable. He can see all that is going on, he's not hot in his car seat, and he knows I am right there. And I feel more close and connected to him. I can sense right away if he is tired or hungry or just grumpy. Wearing him gives us this extra connection.


My only regret is that one day he will be too big to wear...

Fenton cuteness

Reflections...

Now that the kids are in school, they are getting more and more practice with writing. But even before they started kindergarten, we've been noticing that the kids, on occasion, write in what seems to be mirror images. For example, here is a picture Kestian brought home this week:

And here it is reversed...

The word "CAT" is written as a mirror image - backwards and in reverse order. Ok, because the "A" and the "T" are symmetrical, you can't really tell if they are mirror images, except that you can tell where he started the letters (on the right) and ended them (on the left). He was working from right-to-left not just in the order of the letters but as he wrote each one.

But even if this is a poor example, we have seen Kestian do it before. I have seen him write "DEAR" as a mirror image so that it looked something like this (although I can't find the exact picture right now)...


And this even applies to numbers. Here is Kestian writing out some some "teen" numbers:

And here it is reversed...

The "13", "15", and "17" are mirror images, while some of the other numbers are just written backwards ("14" and "16"), and yet others are normal ("10"). This mirror writing seems to happen every now and then, even though Kestian knows how to write all of his letters and numbers the right way. Sometimes, though, it just comes out this way.

I also have seen Adelaide do it, but mostly just with her name (which she knows very well how to do). Here is a picture where she wrote her name (mixed with a bunch of stars, of course!)...

And here it is reversed...
Everything (except the "E"s) are mirror images. Here's another example, where she wrote her name as a mirror image and then at the bottom normally...

Reversed...

Hunting around on the Internet, (because, you know, Lord Internet knows all), this seems to be a common thing for children this age to do. Their brains are still getting organized. They should grow out of it in a few years, but if they don't then we might need to consider dyslexia. I'm not going to worry about it now (since it's normal) but it will be interesting to see if they do it more or quit doing it. We'll have to wait and see. And if they never grow out of it, I'm still not too worried. Let me just remind you of a well-known Italian who's famous work is in mirror writing...

(Grrrr)Roar!

Labor Day weekend was the first weekend all summer that the days weren't in the 90's. So finally we headed outside do something fun. The Louisville Zoo was our destination.

The kids (and Damon) rode the carousel like a hundred times...

We sat around discussing the intricacies and finer points of animal statues...
And we even looked at some animals...

(Of which I did not take any pictures...
Come on, they start to look the same after a while anyway...)

But the main event was to see the Dinosaurs! exhibit. The kids loved it, but to our cynical eyes, it looked more like a traveling side show...complete with a gravel path with a tent selling their wares that you HAD to walk through . Meh...

Weapons of mass destruction

We love our house. The floor plan is great. The location is great. The neighborhood is great. We love it so much, in fact, that when we move we want to take it with us. Well, OK, that may not be possible...

Or is it...?

What could possibly go wrong?

But seriously, we love our house. But one of the things it came with was ivy. No, not poison ivy, but that creeping, sticking, destructive ivy. While probably not as bad as kudzu, it has this nasty habit of growing into things, you know, like brick and siding. Wikipedia even refers to it as invasive exotic domination. Yeah, that about sums it up. While it looks nice, it can become reckless, especially after a few beers. If you don't tame it, the beast runs wild.

So this is what our house looked like last summer when we bought it.

Ivy around the tree bases, the sidewalk, around the sides of the house, and up and around the steps and front door. It looks pretty, but we have been concerned with what damage it might be causing to our house. Indeed, you can see what the ivy did to the bricks around the landing when we went to remove it...


And to the siding around the door...

We tackled some of it back then, but unpacking and painting sort of kept us busy. When that all settled down, I got pregnant and wasn't up for a lot of aggressive yard work. But now that I had the baby and things have settled down a bit again (whatever that means...), I've been tackling the ivy again. Armed with what I like to call my WMDs, I set out to destroy the beast...

A decent pair of clippers to cut back what I can't unearth,
and a grill brush (the only thing I could find that would remove the ivy tendrils from the vinyl siding)

Finally, some progress...

Underneath all that ivy I discovered that there was some nice brick below the siding (undamaged!) and a nice mix of rocks that I spread out around the bushes. I guess it looks a little barren in this picture, but it is actually quite pleasing.

More ivy removal...

Then there's this side of the house...
Do you see that tall bush way in the back there? Yeah, that's not a bush. It's our fence covered in ivy.

This may take a while...