Bad Parenting at its Best

So, I bought a storage tub at Walmart the other day.  They were on sale for like $5 and I can just never pass those things up.  They whisper to me this promise of organization, order and peacefulness.  I imagine a world where everything - all my clutter - is neatly tucked away with a printed label telling me its contents.  No overstuffed closets, no drawers that will not close...where was I?

Oh, yes, I bought a storage tub.  I brought it in from outside and sat it in the kitchen floor.  The girls were incredibly interested in it, pushing it all around the house.  I needed to get caught up on my email.  In a moment of genius, I flipped the tub on its side and instructed the girls to play inside.  It's a playhouse!  They giggled and huddled inside and I happily grabbed my iPad and sat down.

I was immersed in the email I was writing and hardly noticed Lily toddling up to me.  "This!" she exclaimed and held out her hand.  I get "This!" about a hundred times a day.  She usually hands me a piece of lint or dog food or a dried up Cheerio.  I looked up from my computer and she handed me a sticker:

Ironic?  Oops.  Guess I lost out on Mother of the Year.

Happy Monday!

This...

is how my Monday morning started.  It's going to be a great week! Note to self: Always close the pantry door behind you.  Always.

Gratitude Attitude

My Monday evening Bible Study is switching gears a little bit after finishing our last study.  We are doing a book club of sorts and our first selection has been Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are  .  We are only a couple of chapters in, but already I have been convicted on so many levels.  Ann's basic premise is that many of us our not living fully due to the sin of ingratitude for what God has given us.  In Chapter 2 she says,

"As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible. Joy is always possible.  Whenever, meaning - now; wherever, meaning - here."

Joy is always possible.  Sometimes thankfulness, and in turn joy, is hard for me even in the "little" things.  So, I have been bouncing that statement around in my head the last week or so.  I needed it on Tuesday.  I was at the drugstore, ironically buying Peeps for my recent Easter project, and I got the call.  It was a call we moms all dread...Harper and Lily's teacher at our church's Mom's Day Out.  I saw her name on my phone's screen.  I groaned.  She informed me that Harper had a 102 temperature, was crying and not acting like herself.  Great.  I was enjoying my time aimlessly wandering the aisles of my favorite stores.  My attitude went south from there.

I bought my Peeps and headed out to pick up the girls.  My mind began playing out the afternoon and my worst-case-scenario mindset began to settle in.  I called the doctor and they wanted to see her due to the fact that she had been battling a double ear infection.  They had one appointment left...it would cut the girls' nap short.  Awesome.  Aaron had a busy afternoon at work and a program at church that evening, so his help was out of the question.  Great...I'd have to drag both girls out by myself. 

I picked up the girls.  Harper cried the whole way home.  Lily wouldn't eat lunch and threw her food on the floor.  I was impatient with her.  Harper was clingy and wanted to be held; at the same time Lily was demanding of my attention.  I was grumpy and hustled them off to bed for nap time.  

Sweaty and in a foul mood, I arrived at the doctor's office.  Big surprise: one ear still slightly infected and strep throat.  My day was just turning out fabulous.  I now needed to take the girls to the store and pick up a prescription, then head home, do dinner for the girls who would probably throw their entire meal on the floor and then do the bedtime routine all by myself.  As I drove home, I was having a massive pity party right there in my minivan. 

Then it hit me.  Gratitude.  I had just been reading a blog over the weekend by the mother of a little girl getting ready to check into St. Jude for treatment of her 4 brain and spinal tumors.  Perspective and gratitude.  How blessed am I that my worst-case-scenario that day was solved by a little piece of paper from the doctor that I take to a store and pay $4?  That mother whose blog I read?  What would she give if a piece of paper and $4 would "fix" her little girl?  Gratitude and joy.

Though I didn't face death or cancer or loss on Tuesday, I did face down ingratitude in the "little" things, the daily things.  I deliberately replaced ingratitude with gratitude and I found joy.  I loosened my tightened grip on the steering wheel as I drove, I turned the radio up, sang along and by the time I walked into the store I was in downright good mood.  I was kind to the pharmacist at WalMart and I didn't even mind that I got stopped 4,022 times by people wanting to look at "the twins".  That night, I made room on my lap and snuggled two little girls who both wanted me.  We read books and we gave kisses and the night was peaceful...and joyful even without Daddy home.

As I checked on my girls that "one last time" before going to bed, I reached down to feel Harper's forehead and check her temperature.  She was cool.  I thanked God silently for $4 antibiotics.

I'm in Trouble

Well, I'm in trouble.  Let's just say that I'm not really one of those girls that knows how to "do" hair.  You know at slumber parties when you did makeovers with hair and make-up?  I don't think anybody ever wanted me to do their hair.  I just can't do hair.  I guess I do ok with my own.  But, that only entails drying it while brushing at the same time.  I don't do anything beyond that...ever.  I don't do ponytails or twists. I don't use curling irons, curlers or flat irons.  It just stays how it falls after drying.  Anything else just seems way too high maintenance to me.

In addition to my lack of hair abilities, I have the.straightest.hair in the entire world.  Well, it was the straightest hair in the world until the birth of my daughter, Harper.  She has trumped me in the straight-hair contest.  Exhibit A (with static):

I am also seeing some girly-girl tendencies in this child.  She recently brought me some hair bows she found and was whining and pointing to her hair.  She wanted me to put them in her hair.  Doesn't she know I can't do anything with hair?  I can handle maybe a barrette or a headband.  But, these were like little ponytail holders with bows.  Oh my.  I tried.  I really did.  It is not a good combination, you know - a mom who can't do hair and a child with the world's straightest hair.  Bless her heart.

She looks so proud of her hair in this picture.

Another view

From the back

Lily is the fortunate child in that she doesn't have enough hair for mommy to do things like this to her.  I have a lot to learn with two girls' hair to fix each and every day.  Do they have classes for this kind of thing?  Perhaps I will just keep their hair cut in a little pixie style.  So, please, if you see my children out in public, don't laugh at their hair styles.  It's not their fault.  Their mother is doing the best that she can. 

Peep Art

I don't have the biggest sweet tooth in the world.  Don't get me wrong, I do love to eat.  But, candy and sweets aren't particularly my "thing".  Give me some pasta or fried chicken or mashed potatoes...then we're talking.  However, I do have this tremendous love for Easter candy.  I love Cadbury Eggs, Reese's Eggs and, of course, the quintessential Easter favorite, Peeps.  This is just the best time of year when the stores devote an entire aisle to all my favorites.  The other day as I was looking at Easter basket stuff for my girls, I remembered this guy I saw on the Today Show (my source for all knowledge) who did art with Peeps. He did this really cool graphic, pop art looking stuff.  I made a mental note.

So, I picked up a couple of boxes of Peeps.  They come in all kinds of colors and shapes now besides the traditional yellow birds, were you aware of this?  I chose some green chicks.

For the record, I also picked up one of these (and ate in the car):

But, that has nothing to do with where I am going with this post.

Anyway, in order to actually do something with my little Peeps, I had to find the proper receptacle.  I remembered that they guy on the Today Show had done mostly framed art.  But, in order to fit a Peep, it would have to have depth like a shadow box.  I immediately remembered that Hobby Lobby had just the thing.  

I picked this one out - unfinished wood saved me some cash - it only cost $3.50.  I sprayed it down with some leftover pink spray paint I had from a project for the girls' birthday party.

Then, I started lining up my Peeps using the glue gun to secure them.

All my Peeps in a row (it's just fun saying "Peeps")

I thought it still needed a little "something", so I dug around and found some ribbon (again from the girls' birthday project...I should show you that sometime).  I think this topped it off nicely.

I am loving how it turned out!  I thought it would be a nice seasonal addition to the girls' pink and green room.  However, I think it is so fun that it could be used year-round as a bit of the unexpected on the wall!  I'm even considering another project with the more traditional yellow chicks...I'll keep thinking on that one!

The Things People Say

My local multiples club has been doing a little exercise on our email group asking club members to introduce themselves and tell other members the craziest thing they have been asked while out and about with their multiples.  You would not believe some of the things people have been asked. It got me to thinking about my own twin experiences out in public.


When I had my girls there were many, many things I anticipated but was in no way prepared for - the utter exhaustion due to lack of sleep, the helplessness you feel when two newborns are screaming, how you carry two babies up and down stairs, how in the world you manage to feed and burp two babies at once...but, ahem, I digress.  However, there is one thing that I never, ever anticipated - the attention we would receive when we were out in public.  It is almost comical at times.  I have decided that I can never be famous.  All the attention and being stopped for autographs would send me over the edge.

This is how we rolled out of the hospital and how we got around those first few months...the tandem stroller.  Can you see why we attracted so much attention?

I try my best to be kind and gracious - I really do!  I have a real soft spot for the older people who stop me especially.  I understand that most everyone loves a baby and two babies is just, well, more cuteness than most people can handle!  But, oftentimes, I am in a hurry.  I just want to run in to WalMart, grab my box of Tide, check out and get home so I can do one of my 5,243 loads of laundry.  These are the times that I am stopped 10 times (always by the WalMart greeter, always) before I can even make it to the detergent aisle.  Then the questions begin.

"Oh!  Are they twins?"
"Two boys or boy and girl?" (This would be on a day that both girls are dressed identically in a pink ruffly outfit)
"Who is older?"
"Did you know you were having twins?" (I think the only people surprised by twins these days are the ones that appear on TLC's "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant")
"How much did they weigh when they were born?"
"How long were you able to carry them?"
"Do you get any sleep?"

On and on the questions go.  I have often joked that I am going to start carrying a business card with a FAQ section.  It would include all the girls' birth stats and a few bits of trivia about each girl.  I have been blown away by the personal nature of the questions...from breastfeeding ("How does that work?") to the method by which the girls were delivered.  I've been asked it all...and by men, no less!

Perhaps the strangest encounter I had was with a woman in the Hobby Lobby parking lot. "Excuse me," she called after me.  "I would like to take your picture with my phone to send to my daughter-in-law," she said.  Ummmm...I hesitated and she continued, "She can't seem to get herself together and take ONE baby anywhere.  I want to show her your picture out with TWO babies."  She laughed.  I graciously declined on this one.  There wasn't any way in the world I was getting in the middle of THAT one!

One of the more comical and yet sad encounters was with a little girl at WalMart who asked me if the girls had the "same Daddy".  I kind of giggled and replied that they indeed did have the same Daddy.  She launched into a story about her and her many siblings and how they all had different Daddies.  At this point her embarrassed mother intervened and steered her down another aisle.

The infamous double stroller that attracts so much attention.

I shouldn't complain, because as I often say to people when I am out, I get by on the kindness of strangers.  I can't count the number of times people have run to my aid when I couldn't steer my double stroller and hold the door open at the same time.  Or there was the time when we were having a huge wind storm.  I was putting one girl in her car seat and the other was in the stroller.  A huge gust of wind began to blow the stroller across the parking lot with Harper in it.  A kind lady literally ran across the parking lot to catch the runaway stroller for me.  Orlando Airport's security checkpoint nearly shut down as all the TSA agents scurried to help Aaron and I make it through with two 3 month-old babies.  They informed us that the ticket counter had called ahead to inform them that "twins were coming".  You can't beat that VIP treatment.  I depend on strangers to find lost paci's, chase me down with a lost shoe or most recently interrupt my concentrated shopping with, "Ma'am, one of your children is climbing out of the stroller."  Or maybe, "Ma'am one of your twins is biting the other one."  Insert screaming by Harper as Lily tries to look innocent.  Oh, the kindness of strangers.

I am always kind of touched when I get a little wink and nod from an older lady who tells me that "she has been there" and her twins are in their 40's or 50's now.  She assures me that she survived and I will too!  I also love it when I am stopped by someone who is a twin and they tell me what it was like growing up as one of a set.  An older lady came up to Aaron and I once and told us that she was a twin.  She said that she and her sister were 85 years old and had never lived more than 5 miles apart their entire lives.  She ended by saying, "Well, my sister's mind is gone now and she doesn't remember me, but she lives with with me and I take care of her."  With that she left.  Aaron and I stood looking at each other with tears in our eyes right there in the toilet paper aisle.

For all the annoyances, it is kind of fun.  Plus, I know it's only a short stage of life. Pretty soon there won't be double strollers or lost pacifiers.  I'll be that older lady winking at the young mom saying, "I've been where you are.  I survived and you will too."