Questions???

I ran out of space again on my computer while trying to download pictures. Instead of spending a couple of hours going through and deleting old ones and backing up the keepers, I'm going to head to bed early tonight.

Instead, if any of you have any questions about the latest happenings, you could leave them in the comments section. I thought it would be fun answering them on my blog. Plus, the teacher in me knows it's good to stop for questions every so often.

For example,
Q: I heard that one of the boys' favorite great aunts wants to know if Reid is still crossing his eyes.
A: I haven't noticed either one of them crossing their eyes in a couple of weeks. They are now really good at tracking objects and following us around the room.

So ask away. Please.
(P.S. It doesn't have to be about the boys.)

Vacuuming My Washing Machine

Post Edit: I tended to ramble quite a bit during the writing of this post. Since my blog is a diary of sorts, I wanted to make sure I wrote down some of the details that may seem minor now, but will be endearing in my memories. I think you'll find it worth it to hang with me through this post. Rambling and all.

Before you seal the envelope on your mother-of-the-year ballot, I must let you in on a little secret. I'm not perfect.
I know, GASP!

On Monday night, I gave Aiden and Reid baths. You may be thinking, of course you did, Keri. That's an important part of the going-to-bed routine. Perhaps it is if you have one baby. I tend to stretch out the bathing frequency a couple four or five days. This time my incentives were meeting my friends Annessa and Sandy for breakfast at the Village Inn on Tuesday morning and the pending return of Eric on Tuesday afternoon. I really should do it more often, but it seems that I get to the end of the day and realize that I completely forgot I wanted to give them baths. Part of my dilemma is that I can only bath one baby at a time which means the other one fusses in his monkey chair. Or falls asleep, which doesn't bode well for the keeping-them-on-the-same-schedule goal. Or on good days, babbles away, completely unaware that I'm standing two feet away.

(While we're on this subject, I cannot manage to keep their nails trimmed. Seriously! It is so hard to trim their nails without them squirming or screaming at me. I try to get them right after nursing when they're fat and sassy calm. But once again, I usually forget that it is one of my goals until they're sound asleep for the night.)

Anyway...
I gave Reid his bath first and put him in his monkey chair. Just as I was about to pick up Aiden, Reid spit up all over his clean pajamas. (Not as bad as the spewing of spit-up he did at the Village Inn the following morning. My hand, which was holding his pacifier in his mouth, was soaked. His bib was soaked. His car seat was soaked. It was bad.) I made sure both boys were securely fastened in their monkey chairs and went to fetch a new pair of pajamas. I finished with the last snap when I heard "TOoOOtTOOooooOTT!" Now one thing I am good at... changing diapers. Unfortunately, my efficiency has recently back-fired. Reid then proceeded to go through two more diapers because I was too quick to get him changed. Yesterday, he went through five diapers in a course of minutes! I finally decided Reid was done and gave Aiden his bath. They both took their bottles well and fell right to sleep.

(By the way, I don't think I've written about this yet on my blog because I didn't want to jinx us... Aiden and Reid started sleeping through the night shortly after their two-month appointment. I remember the timing of this because I asked our pediatrician about sleeping habits, sleep training, etc. and he confirmed that they weren't old enough to have a napping schedule at this point. At that time they were sleeping 5-6 hours, which is what most books refer to as "sleeping through the night". Hogwash. A few days after the appointment, the boys slept close to 8 hours.

As celebrated on Facebook:

Hallelujah!!! Now that's what I call sleeping through the night! I consider myself one of the luckiest mamas ever that they've been doing so ever since. Last night it was 10.5 hours!)

The following afternoon I threw a load of laundry in and the boys and I waited for Eric to arrive home. (How do I keep up with laundry? I now do 2-3 loads per day. I was fearful of our utility bills once the babies arrived, but luckily they've been reasonable. Around $170 for the latest electric/gas bill.) Eric arrived home and was playing with the boys, so I took that opportunity to transfer the wet clothes to the dryer. At the last minute I had thrown Reid's car seat cover into the wash. (Recall the massive spewing at the Village Inn that morning? I had to take all the straps and buckles out. I pretty much disassembled the entire car seat. Good thing we have two of them so I could figure out how to put it back together again.) The last minute addition caused the washing machine to spill over onto the floor. I quickly scurried upstairs to get a towel to mop up the mess. I then started pulling out the wet clothes. I was surprised when I pulled out what appeared to be a wet paper towel. I then figured it had been part of the car seat lining. "Great", I thought. "Now the car seat is falling apart." During the next handful, I pulled out a sopping-wet, water-logged, 10-pound diaper!!! I had accidentally thrown a diaper into the wash!!! Was I so absent-minded that I put a diaper in the washing machine instead of the Diaper Genie? I couldn't figure out what I had done, but I quickly realized that the earlier mystery object had been a Wet Wipe. Ewwww. I reset the washing machine for a second time.

I played with the boys, nursed them, burped them, and then went back to check on the laundry while Eric played with them. I started pulling out the laundry when this time I discovered something sandy-like covering everything. I was frustrated because I thought now I really had ruined the car seat cover. I went to grab the cover when I discovered a second diaper! This one was also a huge, water-logged heap. But it was also falling apart. I figured out that the grains of sand were actually the absorbency crystals that fill a diaper. Sigh.

Time to bring in the vacuum. I vacuumed all of the wet laundry and put it on the counter, found a third diaper (what the heck?!?), vacuumed the inside of the washing machine, and finally put the laundry back in for a third round.

While giving Eric the play by play, I realized that during the previous night's bath time I had put Reid's dirty diapers on the counter next to the dirty laundry. I couldn't reach the Diaper Genie to throw them away because Aiden's monkey chair was in front of it. I forgot about the diapers after the baths and they accidentally ended up in the washing machine after getting hidden under dirty laundry.

So if you're looking for the perfect mom, keep looking. That's fine with me. I'm doing the best I can, with all my heart, and I think that's pretty darn good.

Photo Booth-esque

Ohio Trip Album

On the Tuesday following the baptisms we flew to Dayton to visit Eric's family. We really enjoyed the chance to spend time with Eric's family and give his parents the opportunity to meet Aiden and Reid. The boys were great on both flights, coming and going. As one of my friends pointed out- they should be good flyers; it's in their blood.

Go here (http://keribrusven.shutterfly.com) to view the album. (You'll notice at times I included quite a few shots of the same scene. Sometimes the outtakes are the funniest shots to see.)

P.S. The boys were baptized on July 11th... 7/11. Now I think of their baptism day everytime I pass a 7-Eleven store.

Baptism Weekend Album

The album of pictures from Aiden and Reid's baptisms is now available on my Shutterfly site: http://keribrusven.shutterfly.com/

(Next post: Our trip to Dayton!)

More to Come...

We've had a full week of blessings including family visiting us, us visiting family, and the boys' baptisms. The photos have been downloaded from the camera; I'll work on getting them posted ASAP!

I Should Be Cleaning

David and I loved everything about having relatives visit when we were growing up, except for one thing... cleaning the house. Nag, nag, nag. Blehhhh!

One time we decided that when we were grown up we would save each other the hassle and not be obligated to clean for one another. How wise of us; this was the best plan ever! Unfortunately, the plan never really came to fruition. Whenever David came to visit, my parents usually came to visit as well. Once we met our lovely soul mates, the deal had met its demise.

This weekend we're looking forward to a visit from Jennifer, Shane, and Jordan, as well as David and Kelsey, because we're having the boys' baptism. That's why I should be cleaning.

First, some blogging.

Over the 4th of July weekend Janina road-tripped to Denver from Dallas to visit some friends who had recently moved here. She came to visit on Friday afternoon/evening. It was great to see her. Great friendships are those which are not limited by time or distance. She is definitely one of those great friends.

She also had Aiden completely charmed: (Maybe all twins have a special bond?!)



Some other random moments from the past week...

Happy 4th of July!

_______________________
How to cook with a fussy baby:


_______________________
My all-time favorite food is rhubarb custard pie. With vanilla ice cream and a glass of lemonade, it's hard to beat. My mom recently forwarded the following recipe for rhubarb bars that are even better. Same custard base without the tasteless and messy pie crust.

Rhubarb Bars recipe from my Aunt Marita:
1 c. flour
5 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 c. butter

3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 c. rhubarb

Mix flour, powdered sugar, and butter.
Press in 9 X 13 inch pan.
Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.
Mix remaining ingredients and spread over crust.
Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
(You can double the quantities and bake on jelly roll pan.)
_______________________
Personalized airplane onesies from our friends, the Visocky's. Brian is a pilot and Suky is a flight attendant. The boys are ready to be on their daddy's flying team.

_______________________
Reid finding comfort with Daddy and Grandma Starrs:


_______________________
Other good places to nap, instead of one's crib:



_______________________
Auntie Kelsey says she is looking forward to "pouring some sugar on" the boys when she visits. They are perplexed, but ready.