"Duh-d-d-d-d-duh, duh-d-d-d-d-d-duh"

(If you could hear the title of this post, it would sound like the Wizard of Oz tune when the witch is on her bike in the beginning of the movie...hear it?  Think about the biking part of that scene. Forget about the witch part, it has nothing to do with it.)

This little setup here below (with the handsome red-head and two adorable babies with unknown hair color) has spawned a desire for a bike.  Yes, I have wanted a road bike for about 5 years.  Doug has not loved the idea because he knows how to repair mountain bikes, not road bikes.  I have still persisted in my desire for a road bike.  I have wanted to be able to pull these cute kids in this trailer and not be walking up all the hills.

Plus, they love their bike rides.  They are silent the ENTIRE time even if we bike for a full hour.  This means:
a)  Mom gets a workout
b) Mom gets out of the house
c) Mom doesn't have to listen to crying babies for the biking time
d) E&S enjoy it as well!

You can't beat that.

Just yesterday, Doug and I embarked on an afternoon trip to Salt Lake to 'try out' some street bikes (a road bike with mountain bike handlebars and components--a great compromise!). We arrived at a bike shop:

I knew what brand I wanted to ride and the young sales man (boy) said I should ride a 15" bike.  Doug questioned him and said, "Are you sure?  She is 5'8"."  He said that I was probably between a 15" and 17" bike and so I should try both.  Conveniently, there was only the 15" bike to try on display and the sales boy insisted that I start with that one.  I hopped on and he said he needed to move the seat up just a little higher.  I joked, "What if I fall or something?  You're just going to let me take this $500 bike out the shop for a ride?  What if I get lost?  I don't know this area."  I think Doug was a little embarassed by my questions and told me to just go ride.  Here is where it get's interesting.  I started up a hill and was amazed how easily I made it.  This bike is amazing.  I was grinning from ear to ear as I approached a stop sign.  Just as a started to slow down, I hit the pavement.  Stunned.  I stood up so confused. What just happend to me.  I literally thought I lost a tire or someone hit me with their car.  When I stood up, I saw the bike seat on the pavement - yes, not attached to the bike.  My hands were bloody and stinging.  I picked up the bike seat and started back to the bike shop with the bike.  I was not about to try to get the bike seat back on - I wasn't really sure how it fell off in the first place!  I noticed my shoulder really hurt and so did my knee.  I am completely amazed I didn't hit my head because I fell to the side and forward. 

I got back to the bike shop and saw Doug and started to cry - embarassing.  I pulled myself together and asked the sales boy (who just took the bike seat from me and examined it, as if looking for a defect of some kind) if there was a sink so I could wash the gravel out of my hands. 
He pointed to a pile of tires on the ground and said, "under those tires". 
(HELLO!?)  "Where?"
"Under those tires, downstairs." 
(There are stairs?  Where?)  "Are there stairs over here?"
"Yes. Go down those stairs and it's under the tires."  (still looking at the bike seat, never made eye contact with me.)

While washing up in their storage room thing, I discovered the worst of my injuries - a banged up knee and shoulder.  The pedal had hit the back of my knee and I hit the pavement with my hands, right shoulder, and right knee.  After going back upstairs, the sales boy sort of appologized and we opted to save my test ride of the 17" bike for another day.  We needed some bandaids and left.  In hindsight, it appears that he had raised the bike seat so high and that it was barely on and so it spontaneously fell off.  The handlebars were pretty far away because of the smaller bike, so almost all of my weight was on that seat. 

This photo is the back of my calf.  The scrapes are behind my knee and the whole knee is swollen.  I think the bike frame itself hit the inside of my knee, the pavement the front, and the pedal the back.

Last night I think I said, "stupid boy" about 10 times when I found I couldn't do dishes, burp E or S, hold them, pick them up, and felt all the pain and nausea from a pretty nasty fall.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to pick a bike so I can pull these really cute kids in a bike trailer, but this knee isn't going to be doing that anytime soon.  At least I have some pretty cool looking wounds, right?

On a Brighter Note:
Doug has been so helpful since I am pretty much handicapped.  We invited Doug's sister, Michelle, over for her birthday tonight and put Syd in this adorable dress Michelle brought back from Haiti earlier this summer.  Isn't it the cutest thing?  It says Haiti on the front in pink stitches.  Syd makes it look great.

Happy Birthday Michelle.  Thanks for spending time with us.  We loved your company.



A day in the life

This is mostly for our benefit so we remember what our days were like at this stage.  But for those of you who are curious what a day is like at home with E and S, read on.  I'll give a 24 hour break-down:

Thursday
5:15 pm: Sit on the couch and feed the babies.  Burp them (mostly Ethan).

6:00 pm: Put them in the jogging stroller to go water our garden (it's by our old house, so I need to pack them up).  The front tire is flat on the jogger but the babies are already loaded up - push them over suspending the front wheel so I don't damage it.  Get to the garden and notice I dropped a glove.  Wheel them back over nearly to our house again and find the dropped glove.  Go back to the garden to handwater and turn on the sprinkler.

7:00 pm: They are hungry again.  Sit on the couch and feed them again.  Doug comes home from work.

7:30 pm: Get them in the Bumbos and feed them some solids - avocado mashed and mixed with my milk. Doug feeds Ethan while I feed Sydney from the same bowl.  I put some pasta salad I made (I actually made dinner!) in a bowl and chow down on my dinner while Doug finishes feeding them.

8:00 pm: Get out their bath and fill it with water on the counter.  They are COVERED in avocado.  I bathe Ethan and get him dressed.  Put Ethan in the Bumbo while I prepare their nightly bottles - my milk fortified with formula plus a little extra formula because I didn't have enough.  Pump.

8:15 pm: Doug bathes Sydney.  He picks her up and didn't notice that she'd blown out.  He has baby poo all over his shirt and on the mat he was using to get her undressed. 

8:30 pm: Bottles are finished and warmed.  I move some laundry to the dryer (I'd done 5 loads of laundry so far today) and throw Doug's shirt into the wash so it doesn't stain.  We start feeding them.

9:00 pm: Sydney is asleep and I work to get her to finish her bottle of just over 6 oz.  I put her in her bed after getting one burp up.  Pump.

9:30 pm: I burp Ethan while Doug hops on his bike and goes to our garden to turn off the sprinkler.  Ethan falls asleep and I put him in this bed.  This is just about record time!  I quickly do my nightly routine:
- Wash bottles and start the bottle sterilizer (we have no dishwasher).
- Do the day's dishes
- Clean up the Bumbos
- Put yet another load in the laundry
- Take the soiled burp cloths and dirty clothes to their laundry bin
- Clean up toys
- Pick up the house so I start the next day fresh

10:00 pm: Ethan wakes up with burps.  Burp him and soothe him back to sleep. Pump.

10:30 pm: Put Ethan in bed.  When I walk in their room, Sydney is awake.  Put Ethan down and pick up Sydney.  Burp Sydney.  She is acting wide awake.  Feed her another ounce in her bottle.  Put her down in the bouncer so I can finish my nightly routine thinking she might just fall asleep.  Grab a snack.

11:00 pm: Feed Sydney, or at least try to feed her - no luck.  Give her a teething tablet.  Put her back in the bouncer.  Pump.

11:15 pm: She's still awake.  I try burping her again.  No luck.  Put her back in the bouncer - pretty frustrated.

11:30 pm: Try feeding her again.  No luck.  Put her back in the bouncer and clean the kitchen (it's what I do when I'm stressed - clean.)

11:45 pm: Take her to bed with me while Doug stays up to work.  He has a psychological assessment to finish tonight and it's not close to being done.  Sydney just squirms and cries in bed. 

12:00 pm: Bring her to the living room and pour my pumped milk in a bottle and feed her 2 ounces.  Burp her and put her in bed.  I go to bed with many tears.  Doug tries to comfort me, but I was still upset.

2:30 am: Doug comes to bed, but I don't hear him.

2:40 am: Ethan wakes up crying.  Doug takes him to the living room so I can sleep.

3:00 am: Ethan is still crying pretty hard.  I go out and find that Ethan is pretty stuffy and Doug is trying to suction his nose.  I go back to bed and leave Doug up with him on only 10 minutes of sleep.  He's so great.

3:30 am: I feed Ethan in bed.

4:15 am: After trying multiple times to get Ethan to stay asleep in his bed, Doug grabs a blanket and pillow to sleep with Ethan in the recliner to help him sleep with the congestion.  He burps him first and tells me he was up until 5:30 am before sleeping in the recliner.  He's a trooper.

7:00 am: Doug puts Ethan in his bed and comes to bed.

8:00 am: Sydney wakes up and I feed her in bed hoping that Ethan will sleep a little longer since he was up for so long.  (I normally feed them together)

8:30 am: Ethan wakes up and I say to Doug, "you've got to be kidding me."  Doug leaves for work.  I feed the babies together.  Sydney has a blowout while I am feeding her.  I throw her clothes in the wash.

9:00 am: Sydney falls asleep and I put her in her bed. Pump. I burp a very fussy Ethan from 9:00 - 11:00.

10: 30 am: Ethan is still fussing.  I feed him again and burp him.

11:00 am: Ethan goes to sleep finally.  I have 1 hour to myself to pay bills, clean up, fold laundry from yesterday, throw a squash from the garden into the oven for them to eat later.

12:00 pm: Ethan wakes up.  I still haven't showered.  Lame.  I feed him again and then he has a blowout.  I was hoping that would happen twice today.  Put his clothes in the washer with the changing mat.

12:30 pm: Sydney wakes up and I feed them both together.  Burp them.

1:00 pm: Make myself a sandwich and eat it while I get out their bumbos and get their food ready - avocado.  Feed them and clean them up - so messy!

1:30 pm: They are both acting hungry still.  I feed them again.  Followed by the burping...

2:00 pm: Sydney falls asleep and I put her in bed.

2:15 pm: Ethan is still acting hungry.  I make him a bottle and feed and burp him.

3:00 pm: Ethan is asleep.  I bring him into their room to put him down and low and behold - Sydney is awake.  I take her out so she doesn't wake up Ethan.  I text Doug, "I literally think I am cursed."  Feed Sydney and then give her a bottle - formula because I have no more milk. 

3:45 pm: Doug calls to tell me he's on his way.  Yes.  Sydney then has yet another blowout.  Put her clothes in the washer with 2 other outfits in the washer from the previous blowouts.

4:00 pm: I go into their room to get an outfit and Ethan wakes up.  Seriously.  I calm him down and pat his back (if we catch him 'early' this works.)  He goes back to sleep.  That was a close one.

4:15 pm: Doug is home.  I get a few things done for work while he plays with Sydney.

5:00 pm: Ethan wakes up.  I feed them both while Doug blends up the squash.  We then set up the Bumbos and feed them the squash.  Sydney loves it.

After putting all of this 'on paper' I feel somewhat justified that I nearly lost it multiple times today.  Almost all parents of twins have told us that the first year is a blur and they don't remember anything.  I will remember this.  To be fair, this was a bit of a rough day.  Glad this one is over and I am heading to bed.  Let's hope TONIGHT and tomorrow are better.

No crossed-eyes here

Despite her left eye looking crossed, the specialist we took her to yesterday said that it is not!  We were pretty surprised.  He just said that she has a large bridge (distance between her eyes) so it appears that it crosses.  When I asked him if it would get better, he said, "Most kids grow into their faces."  Not sure how I feel about that.  I am hoping she will.  It's funny, I get so nervous that my kids will get made fun of.  I should be glad that nothing is wrong!  She is so sweet and such a patient baby.  We love her.

A few highlights over the past week:

Here is Ethan's 'chillaxing' as we call it.  He does this a lot.  When we change his diaper he puts his hand behind his ear.  So cute.

Syd decided that her toes were too tempting.  Maybe she was bored of her fingers (mostly the thumb) that are always in her mouth, but she went for the big toe.  I couldn't get my camera fast enough and caught a photo just after she backed away.  Blast.

Believe it or not, Ethan has only taken just a few bites of avocado in this photo.  It's mostly all over his face and clothes.  The bad news?  We found out avocado is staining their clothes.  I have turned into the clean face and hands nazi. 

We spent the weekend in Island Park, Idaho with my sisters and their families.  We had such a good time that we didn't take a single photo.  I will be borrowing some from my brother-in-law Chris so I can post a bit of our trip.  The babies did fairly well on the drive.  I think they screamed for about 2 hrs of what turned into an 8 hr drive each way.  The drive is normally 5.5 or 6 hrs.  We stopped to feed them 3 times on the way up and 2 times on the way home.  They were troopers.  They loved their cousins.  I think Ethan loved the attention and Sydney was overwhelmed - she wanted to go to sleep most of the day.  She's so funny.