The Twinkies

This was Tuesday, and it was a pretty good day; I would call it better than average, but not amazing. Maybe give it a “B”. I got out, got a power nap in, and didn’t get a headache. On the other hand, there was a nasty bout of the evening fussies.

3:45 The cat vomits. I wake up and mutter rude things that amount to “Why on the rug when most of the house has hardwood floors?”. B. offers to clean up the cat vomit so I feed the drowsy babies.

8:15 The babies wake up. They slept in today, so before they got up I ate breakfast, showered, made the bed, checked my email, put away a load of laundry and moved another load to the drier.

9:25: Finish morning feedings and change of clothes. F. had managed to totally soak her sleeper and sleep sack; her kidneys work.

9:30 Read Barnyard Dance.

9:35 I get dressed and take the bags of dirty diapers to the porch; we have about 10 left and I leave a note reminding the service that we need the next size up. Did I mention their kidneys work? J. discovers his reflection in the mirror and spends time flapping his arms and gazing at himself.

9:45 J. has taken to trying to suck on my knee, so I offer him the breast; he suckles for about 5 minutes, then loses interest.

10:00 Start getting ready to go out. Both babies get a clean diaper and sweaters and I pack the diaper bag.

10:20 Go get the stroller out of the car. It is cold, so I decide that we will drive downtown rather than walk. I suddenly have a block of time. I eat a yogurt.

10:45 While sitting on my lap F. spits up enough to soak her bib. I praise the invention of the bib, as well as the foresight that led me to actually put one on her, and change it. After her new bib she decided she doesn’t want to sit on my lap anymore, but screams the moment I put her down on the playmat. The swing turns out to be the solution.

10:55 J. registers his displeasure with the floor mat.

11:00 I load the babies into the car seats and go downtown.

11:15: After swinging by the bank I go to PP where I meet up with 2 other moms for shopping and lunch. Both babies eat in the store and I buy most of their Christmas presents. We go to lunch, where J. gets fussy. He snacks again.

1:15 J. is really overtired, so I leave and go home.

1:25 I change both babies (totally soaked - I really should have changed them at least once while I was out) and nurse J. down.

1:45 J. is out. I start getting F. down. It occurs to me that I could take a nap if both babies were to nap at the same time.

2:10 I pick F. out of her crib for the third time in my attempt to get nappage. She finally has a good nursing session. It occurs to me that she may have developed a preference for the right breast and that I should watch that.

2:17 F. is out. I lie down.

2:37 J. is up. I bring him downstairs so he won’t disturb his sister. I change him. He has the hiccups and blows raspberries in the swing.

3:00 A pissy J. nurses again. Inadequate nappage has left him grumpy.

3:30 The mail is here, as are the diapers. I fold diapers. I feel annoyed as the diaper service clearly forgot I had asked for the next size up and only had 50 of the new size for us, along with a note that they will bring 50 more by tomorrow. Not a big deal, but annoying. More annoying is that the diapers smell like cigarette smoke. This annoys me every week and I promptly forget about it. I consider again just washing my own.

3:45 F. is up with a loud complaint. I fetch her and she joins J. on the playmat.

4:00 The folding is done, and I move both babies to the “playroom”. J. has really mastered turning over in the past 2 days and flaps his arms and tries to fly like an airplane. I start ordering Christmas gifts. This takes a while because it is a stop and go process. J. is fussy and needs to be held. I try the swing when being held is only marginally successful, and that works for a little while. F. is reasonably calm.

4:15 I change F.

4:30 F. isn’t calm anymore. I move the babies back to the living room and feed F.

4:40 I feed J. while finishing the ordering process.

4:45 The order is done, and J. is falling asleep. I take him upstairs and try to put him down.

5:00 I hold F. and she spits up all over me. J. is not going down, so I bring him back downstairs. I try the swing. He sits in it making his gutteral unhappy sound. The evening game of “who is the fussiest baby” has begun and I go back and forth between each, moving them from arms to floor to swing in an ongoing struggle to make each one happy.

5:30 I move J. to the floor, change F. and put her in the swing. I break out the last of the Thin Mints.

5:43 J. seems happy on the floor and has turned over onto his tummy and is airplaning again. F. is squalling in the swing.

5:44 J. is no longer happy, and now both babies are screaming.

5:45 I move both babies to the floor mat and read Moo Ba La La La. This quiets them, so we play some games on the floor together. This seems to work for a little while.

5:55 J. starts to wail. I read There’s a Wocket in my Pocketto try to calm him down. Doesn’t work. I change him. I hold him on my lap, but he writhes about violently, so I put him on the floor. He starts to scream at full volume. Meanwhile, F. has turned on her tummy and is wailing. I read Moo Ba La La La again. That calms them down for the duration of the book. Then, the screaming starts again.

6:05 F. finds her thumb and quiets down. I nurse J. He gazes at me with his big, blue eyes and I tell him I love him. He smiles.

6:20 J. has fallen asleep, so I move him upstairs to his crib. F. appears to be asleep on the floor.

6:40 B. comes home.

6:50 I leave to go to Staples to photocopy the Christmas letter.

7:10 I come back. J. is downstairs and working into a snit. So is F. I throw leftovers into the microwave and F. into the Maya Wrap. With one adult per baby the rest of the hour goes smoothly.

8:00 Bedtime.

9:00 They both go down, and so do I.

No one gets up until 1:30 AM, so it is a pretty good night.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 7:31 am and is filed under From The Trenches. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.