The Best One Yet

OK, I just had to post again:

"My name is Ixxxxx and I really need a job. No one seems to want to hire me because they think I don't have any experience. I,m currently babysitting a family members 4 month old until Sunday. I have alot of energy. I will be able to manage with your two twins."

I can't even believe it's for real. Seriously?!?!

On the other hand, it sounds like she read far enough to see we have twins.

Holy Nanny Application Overload!

I took the suggestion of Strawberry and registered with Care.com (thanks!).

Holy Crap. In less than 48 hours I have received over 85 applicants. My email box runneth over.

Some are very qualified. Some have actually read the ad. Some have clearly NOT read the ad.

Those amuse me so much I'd like to share them:

i am iintrested in this job. I have experience . i am a 17 year old.i'll be very glad if you chose me to take care of your dog. I speek Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, French.Please call me as soon as posibble at xxx-xxx-xxxx, I need i job urgently and would be very happy if you chose me.

Now, I wonder....does the dog need to hear that many languages??

Or, the one that simply says:

I'm interested.

Thanks, I'm not. I need a little bit more from you....

Or how about the young Czech girl who wants the job because she doesn't really speak English and she need to learn so she can get a real job and she loves kids and she's trying to make a baby with her boyfriend right now! Um, no thanks.

Or the nannies who are looking for full time positions. Or live-in positions. Or address me as: Sir/Madame. Or who assure me they can understand English but need a translator to be present if they are required to speak. Or they speak in such broken English in the email that I really don't want my kids learning to speak this way. Or the ones who say they can help them with their homework.

And lastly...."Hey Chicken, do you think she read the ad?" "Is she in a burka?" "Yeah." "Hmmm, no I don't think she'd be the right fit for our family."

The interview with the older nanny was a waste. She is a former baby nurse and while I'm sure she's great with infants, she had a zero sense of urgency in keeping her eye on both boys when we took them outside. I told her that I was going to stand to the side and let her do her thing because I wanted to see what she's got. She got a lot of lazy, that's what she got. Next!

So, now, I'm weeding out the oldies. I need more hustle than experience at this age. I need someone young enough to fit in with our quirky family and be ready to jump. Someone who can take direction (cuz I have my own ideas...) and GO.

Surprisingly, 3 lesbians have answered my ad....one looks very qualified.

Hmmmm.....a young, lesbian nanny. Didn't even think of that.

The search continues.

What should I give my nanny as a parting gift?? Any ideas??

She's Leaving Us for a Man

HN, that is. We were so lucky to find the perfect nanny who lived 2 blocks away, was young and energetic and had the most flexible hours ever. Of course, the fact that she's easy on the eyes was a bonus.

Alas, she's getting married to a doctor who has accepted a position in CA and she'll be moving and doing her PhD program there. We've known about this for quite some time but it all seemed so far away.

Now, it's suddenly upon us and I'm finding myself in a mad scramble to find another PT nanny.

Since I don't work anymore, dates are really hard to keep track of.

The other day a friend asked if we had plans for Memorial Day and I thought "why is he asking that?" Oh...because it's next Monday. Same with Chicken asking me what I wanted for my birthday. Good God, I don't know it's so far away. Not so much. Apparently, it's less than 2 weeks away.

I'm just thrilled she remembered in advance since she forgot last year and already has a strike against her this year for not getting me anything for Mother's Day. (Chicken: Shit. I'm sorry. Can I make it up to you and buy you a house in Florida?)

Chicken is BAD with occasions. I'm not great, but I look awesome next to her.

Anyway, I have about a week to find a nanny. Or some help. Something. The pickings are slim and our situation is unique.

I realized just how strange it is yesterday. Whoop Whoop had woken up early from his nap--too early and was cranky. Now, in the past I would take him to bed and nurse him. Maybe he'd fall back asleep or maybe he'd just snuggle in and zone out.

But--our bed is now in the living room.

As I laid on my back with my right tit hanging out and a toddler nursing beside me I saw HN in front of me folding laundry on the living room floor and Chicken to the left of me, doing work on her laptop at the kitchen table.

I remarked, "Good God, we look like we live in a commune."

I have to find someone who is (1) OK with all of this and (2) someone I'm OK being around with all of this.

And I only want someone in the afternoons. Picky, picky. But I really love my long mornings with the boys. I have them all to myself and we have long nursing sessions followed by a leisurely breakfast. I love drinking my latte and feeding them oatmeal and hanging out with them. We go to the grocery store, run errands and go to the park and come home to lunch, another long nursing session and books on the bed before nap. It's our time and I don't want to change it.

I'm interviewing someone today at 3pm. We'll see how it goes....!

Slummin' It

It's official:


Our bed is in the living room corner surrounded by a playzone plastic gate. We are using their stepstool name puzzles as night tables.
After a week of tossing and turning on ye olde sofa bed, I couldn't take it anymore. I'm exhausted. I need sleep. Good sleep. I don't care how ghetto it looks.
The boys can play on it during the day. They will probably think it's really neat-o. I know I sure do.

Good Night!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

How Do Other Twin Moms Do It? (warning: long)

My last post generated one comment that put me on the defensive. She said:

Maman d'Austin said...

I am afraid of getting flamed here (I am a NYC single mom to a 7 1/2 yr old boy) but Puffer, Puffer, Puffer. You are giving time-outs to 1 year olds? I really don't think they understand cause & effect to that extent. I'd like to recommend a book "What's Going On in There?" by Lise Eliot. I feel for you but at the same time I think of all these nannies that I see in my neighborhood walking around with twins. If they can do it, you can too

This led me to my Manhattan Mother of Multiples forum where I posed this question (note-I did refer to the commenter as my 'friend' for ease of posting the question rather than go into details about my blog, etc.). I posted on the forum with my interpretation of the comment.

Discipline/Playground w/ 16 Month Old Twins--Going Crazy!

I know this topic has been covered, but I'm getting 'flamed' for not being able to handle my b/b twins by myself (at the park/playground) by a 'friend' who is a NYC single mom of a 7 year old. Her reasoning is that "if she did it and she sees all these nannies pushing twins around doing it, that I'm doing something wrong."

First, a singleton is completely different than twins. Second, if you saw me pushing my twins in the stroller, I would look totally confident (but very tired) and they would look totally calm. Outside of the stroller is a different world.

I even ran into another b/g twin mom yesterday who commented on how hard it looked with 2 BOYS. Our twins are exactly the same age. My boys--not to gender stereotype--are all 'boy'. They run in two opposite directions, they are into everything, they have no fear, they go and go and go. And they don't listen very well, because they are 16 months old.

Lately, in the last week, I have been telling them that they need to listen to me when we are outside. Whether it's going to the gate or holding my hand, etc. I give them 3 chances and then give them a 'time out' of one minute in the stroller. After 3 time outs, we pack it up and leave. My "friend" also says this is inappropriate discipline. Maybe it is? I really believe that I need to be strong with the discipline in order for them to be safe.

Any wise words from other twin moms who've been there before? I'd particularly love to hear from those of you with rambunctious boy/boy twins.

In less than 24 hours, my post had been viewed 148 times and replied to by 15 twin moms.

Here are the responses:

The only advice I can give you is to completely ignore this so called friend. Comparing you to other mothers, singleton or twin is unfair and unsupportive. She clearly has no idea what it's like to have twins.

I'm in the same boat and it's incredibly challenging with two little boys (17 months) at this age. We don't go out half as much as we should because I just can't handle it. Discipline seems almost impossible at this stage but you have to start somewhere and I think your approach so far is good. I'm not sure what is so inappropriate about it. Sounds like you're doing great to me.

I tend to stay away from playgrounds with lots of hazards and head for open grass space with balls and other toys. It's so much easier. We only do playgrounds at weekends when their dad is around. Hopefully I can go back to the playgrounds alone once they are more capable of listening and understanding me.

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I don't think you can reason with a 16 month old. Or that you can keep them from running in opposite directions just by asking them to listen to you and giving them time outs.

There is no question the playground is very, very challenging at that age, we have all been there. Not every playground will be safe for them (playgrounds with 7 year olds running wild are out of question), and not every nanny is able to handle it. Some nannies are able to take care of todder twins safely in the playground and some are not. I can attest, because when my kids were 13 months old, I had a revolving door of nannies (there was one month when I had 5 nannies), and the playground was a big, big issue.

What worked for us was safe, enclosed playgrounds, for toddlers only -there aren't many of those, but there are some- and hiring an energetic nanny who was also very conscious about safety, had good judgment, and was experienced at handling more than one child at the playground.

Good luck!

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At this age, I found it very difficult to go to the playground by myself. I always brought a sitter. My twins are b/g and now 4 but at 16 months, they would run all over the place in opposite directions. It's impossible to redirect two toddlers at a crowded playground too. I didn't do time outs yet at this age, it was more about the redirection but again, hard to do at a big park when they are off doing their own thing. If I didn't have a sitter with me, I'd go with another twin mom so there were 2 adults watching 4 and we could help each other out. I know people do it without a problem but I really think it's highly dependent on your babies, mine were extremely active and did not listen, running away at any opportunity. I also did playspaces if I was by myself as it was a bit more contained. I also scouted out those hidden little playgrounds that were gated and more manageable. I'd put both in the swings at once. Then I'd try to have them play in the sandbox together which would keep them occupied. Sprinklers were a huge hit in the summer as they'd want to do that for awhile too. My third child (singleton) sticks with me at the park, he has never run away and listens. It totally depends on the individual child and X2 is much much harder! Hang in there, it will get better.

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I am soooooo right there with you. I just had a conversation with my nanny this morning, asking her to please let me know when it seems too difficult or unsafe for her to take them alone, because maybe I'll try to find someone to help her for a few hours during the week for playground trips. I can't really afford additional help, but keeping them locked in the house is not an option! They need to have fun, and to run around to tire themselves out, but its just so hard to be out with them. Even though I know its not rational, it makes me feel like such a failure.

My nanny doesn't seem concerned or overwhelmed at this point, and I love that about her, though I might not love seeing exactly what goes on when she does take them out. I'm sure they are not in danger, but it is probably slightly less controlled than when I'm with them. I bought the monkey backpacks with tails/leashes and she has used them to go for short walks. Must be quite a sight! But she said the boys had fun. I know some people have issues with putting leashes on children, but I don't care what people think. If they're smart, they'll think think, "oh, that makes sense because its safe." And I agree with the previous poster who said DO NOT LISTEN to any disparraging remarks, especially from someone who only has 1 child. That is ridiculous and not very kind.

My guys are 17 months tomorrow and completely uncontainable, in my opinion. I mean, on one hand I love watching their joy as they explore and test their abilities, but I am overcome by the stress of trying to keep them from hurting themselves or getting too far away from me.

Anyway, clearly I have no answers for you, but I know exactly how you feel. Unfortunately I think they're too young to understand how to behave the way we want them to, though I don't think you're doing the wrong thing by trying to set limits. Who knows, maybe it does help them to develop an understanding of consequences.

Good luck and remember to pat yourself on the back every now and then. I'm sure that your boys are wonderful, exactly how they are!

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I have boy/boy 27 month twins and I still can't take them to the playground by myself. I don't care what anyone thinks about it. My boys are wild, don't listen, go in completely opposite directions and climb on everything they see. I will only go with another adult. Every set of twins is different and every parent is different. One does what's safest for the child(ren) and comfortable for the parent. I am in the playground all the time and watch all the other twin nannies, many of whom do not have control of their charges or keep constant eye contact, something I insist on. In a crowded playground it is VERY difficult to keep track of two children running in completely different directions. No one has any business telling you what is possible with your children. Ignore them. You are not alone!

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I have 12 month old b/g twins and just said to my husband this weekend, "in the last 2 weeks, the playground is no longer fun." I feel so much "better" reading your post and the replies so far as it gives me hope that a) I'm not alone b) it will get better c) there are options (wide open grass with a ball). In my case, my son is happy as can be swinging...could do it all day. My daughter, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with the swing all of a sudden and has to be "exploring" which is just not possible safely with just me. Comparing myself to my nanny is not fair because she has all the other nannies to help her if one of them needs a simple push on the swing and the other needs to explore. The "nanny network" is a very powerful thing and, unfortunantely I don't have that same network at the playground. Unless my husband is with us, I will be sticking to the open space plan for the foreseeable future as having my daughter meltdown and then my son get short changed with a 3 minute push on the swing is a lose lose for all of us!

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I am in the same boat. My boys turned 18 months last week, and I feel like running a half-marathon is easier than 30 minutes on the playground... I was wondering if any of you would be interested in meeting up to go to the playground. We would probably still be outnumbered by our kids, but we could pool all the twin mom skills.

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I have girl/girl twins but wanted to voice support. When my girls were 18 months, I stopped taking them to the park/playground alone because they were impossible to handle, didn't listen, & ran in separate directions (and very quickly!). Just last month, they started listening, and more actively playing with other kids, staying on the slide or the swing, turning when I call them -- and I can take them to the playground by myself. But that was at 2 years, 3 months.

During the time when I couldn't handle out-of-the-stroller trips, I hired a neighborhood teenager to work as a mother's helper and back me up on park & playground trips. She also helped me get the girls dressed and the stroller out of the apartment. On rainy & snowy days, we stayed home. The other thing I could do on my own was our neighborhood playspace (because it's essentially an enclosed big room).

Don't at all let your friend's criticism get to you -- it's simply not the same with a singleton. (I got plenty of the same from friends/acquaintances who were taking their one child on solo museum and restaurant trips and on the subway.)

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My boys are 19 months and also "all boy". We are fortunate to live in a building with a playroom. I can not manage the park alone right now and I do not expect my Nanny to either. I know some can, good for them, and, pardon the expression, they need to shut up.

I do have a "mothers helper" who is about 12. She's great. I give her the mellower of the two and she follows him around, keeps him off the bigger kid parts and bounces/swings/etc with him.

It's actually gotten easier in the past couple months but I don't expect to be able to do this alone for at least another 6 months or so.

I personally think that the time out discipline you describe is totally okay and your friends needs to shove it. People who don't have twins have no concept.

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I so completely understand. My b/g twins will be 3 in July and this spring has been the first time I've felt somewhat comfortable at the playground. Previously, I would start at the swings and try to make that last a long time. Then I would strap one in the Ergo and let the other run around, then switch. Not the ideal situation, especially for my back, but better than going to the ER with a broken bone. Your "friend" isn't helping at all by criticizing you. A real friend would try to help, not make you second guess your mothering. Jeez. I agree with a previous poster who said that it gets better when the sprinklers are turned on. I always made sure I had many different water toys and bubble makers to keep them focused on the same part of the playground. I live in Williamsburg and the waterfront was a life saver for me. It was always fairly empty and running around with a beach ball was heaven. I still went to the playground regularly because I knew they needed to climb and slide and swing. Btw, if the time out thing is working for you, continue to do it! Your friend just simply cannot grasp the stress a mother of multiples has. There really is no comparison.

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I have b/g twins and when they were that age, I experienced the same issues at the playground (my girl was, and still is, fearless). One thing I did at that age to help them learn the "rules' of the playground and to help me stay sane while taking them to the playground was to go to a smaller, gated playground in the off hours. Like 7 in the morning before anyone else was there (or whenever the gates were opened, its been a while). When it got crowded, I'd corral them onto the swings or in the sandbox. But if it got too crowded, I'd leave with them. I was really good at the "2-armed potato sack carry" when I had to scoop up one in order to run to rescue the other. As we all got better at playing safely, I'd plan to meet my singleton mommy friends (who were helpful, unlike your "friend") and since they had only one to look after, they were more than willing to lend an eye and a hand. Good luck!

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There have been a lot of good comments. For me, taking my boys to the playground was a necessity because there are super active and were pretty much destroying my apartment. Last spring/summer, I would take them out usually twice a day. It was quite difficult though. As posters above have mentioned the key was to pick an playground with a good gate and very simple amenities (small or no climbing structures), a sandbox, some swings and a water feature.

One of my favorite places was essentially a playground with a sandbox, a small fountain and two swings.

My nanny also did it alone with the boys (I work part time so I'm alone with them two day and she alone with them the other three days) and she is super cautious.

My boys also went through a huge hitting stage last summer which was no fun, and there were definitely days I went to playgrounds that essentially had no other kids!

The most important thing is to have a good pair of sneakers and wear clothes you don't mind getting totally flithy, when you have to run over and retrieve one of your kids!

Now at 2 years and 4 months it is so much easier!

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My twins are 10 months old so I am not in your position yet, but just reading your post made me mad! Who is this "friend" to be judging your parenting? Would she like being judged for being a single mom, or for choices that she makes bc of her situation? I doubt it. She has not been in your shoes and has no business making such pronouncements. Women need to stop judging each other's parenting choices, every child is different and every family is different.

In any event (not that it is any of MY business either!) I think time outs, combined with leaving the playground if the time outs don't work, sounds completely appropriate and I can't even imagine what anyone could think is problematic with this approach.

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Lastly, Chicken chimed in with a debut comment. If you didn't catch it here is what she said:

This is Chicken. I never post but I'd just like to put a plug in for my wife. First of all let me say that I respect everyone's opinion and input but in my opinion, dealing with twins is not the same as a singleton or even a singleton with another sibbling. Twins are going through the same challenging developmental milestones AT THE SAME TIME. They are both learning to walk and love their new found freedom and ability to run into TWO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS from their caregiver. This makes watching them outside by yourself VERY challenging to say the least.

Even our Nanny (who has 10 years of experience with twins) can no longer take them to the playground by herself SAFELY. So yes, you may see Nanny's out pushing the twins around, but the key word there is PUSHING. If you were to watch that Nanny in the playground running after those twins, especially two boys, it would be a totally different story. And I don't think it would be SAFE, which is really the most important thing.

Our boys are active and all over the place, and I do think that a modified version of time out can work fine on them. I think we don't give enough credit to children and they can understand much more than what we think. This is also what our pediatrician (consistently rated one of the top pediatricians in the country) told us. The best way to deal with them at this point is to tell them "no" calmly and then put them by themselves without interaction for a few minutes. We want to keep our boys safe and putting them in the stroller alone for a few minutes to teach them to listen to their mommies seems like a fair tradeoff to me.

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And finally, the original commenter left another clarifying comment this morning that read:

Maman d'Austin said...

I reread my post & see how the last sentence fails to convey my intent. FWIW it is meant in the spirit of encouragement and my strong belief that barring exceptions a mother will do better by her kids than a nanny who comes to work to pay her bills. So Puffer, I know you can do it!

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Thank you all for the encouragement. From others who have gone before me, it looks like we are in for a long and bumpy ride ahead!

NYC Quality of Life FAIL!

Today was a pretty shitty day. Grunter--who usually falls asleep without a peep before I've left the room, couldn't get it together last night and I ended up nursing him to sleep and he still didn't go down until 8 pm. For a guy that is usually out cold by 6:45, that was late.

Then, he woke up at 5am this morning. I have been sleeping in the bedroom with them this past week because I just can't bear the damn sofa bed. I've got the memory foam topper on my bed and damn, it's a fine thing. However, Grunter is waking early again since we/I'm in there (I even tried the suggestion of a curtain. Didn't help.)

This past week, I've brought him in bed with me, Chicken hits the couch and we cozy up for some booby bedtime. Usually he falls back asleep, I transfer him to his crib and we all sleep until 7 or 7:30am. I don't like getting woken up at 5am, but the sleep I'm getting in my bed is amazing and I do love the quality snuggle time with my little guy.

This morning he didn't go back to sleep. Then W2 woke up at 6am and thank GOD I had the foresight last night to prep as much of their food as possible, because they had meltdowns all day long of epic proportions.

Whoop Whoop wants/needs me to be near him all.the.time, all day long. As in, while I'm changing Grunter's diaper he repeatedly tries to climb in my lap and flips out that he can't. He hangs on my legs, needs to be held and is just super clingy right now. He flips out when I go to the bathroom and he can see me! Basically if I go to the other side of the gate-he goes beserk. I don't even need to leave the room or be out of eye sight.

I think this is starting to affect Grunter because he's not getting as much attention from me now. Today, he started biting W2. So, we did one minute time outs in the crib 4 times. It was horrible.

This morning, I tried to take them to an area playing field that we frequent almost daily but today there were a couple of bikes leaning against the fence and W2 pulled one over on himself and so I parked my stroller in front of them, but even then he was obsessed and while I'm trying to make sure he doesn't hurt himself with the bikes, Grunter is taking off out the gate towards the fountain and no, they won't close the gates and now that I've got Grunter where the hell is W2 and now W2 has darted out the other opening. Yeah. People are not listening to Mommy.

I tell them that they have to do a time out in the stroller every time they go for the gate and after 3 time outs, we pack it up and leave. No more playing.

We threw our lunch, we threw our smoothie cups, the lids burst open, there was smoothie everywhere. Mommy was trying super hard not to lose her shit and so looking forward to nap time so SHE could nap, too!

But Mr. Grunter, who had fallen asleep in the stroller earlier because of his 5am wake up, did not want to sleep at nap time and so I brought him in bed with me again, (my boobs are a powerful thing) so he would at least nurse, zone out and maybe fall asleep. No dice. It was relaxing at least, but there was no nap.

Whoop Whoop didn't sleep long enough and was clinging to my leg as I was trying to take Grunter's sleep sack off him. I had Grunter on the bed and seriously turned for one second and the next thing I know he is falling head first off the bed. Boom. Cry. Everyone scared shitless.

He is fine, but there's a knotty bruise forming on his head.

I decided to try a city playground this afternoon as they keep their gates closed. There is a small one near my house that is rarely crowded and I've been OK there by myself before. Nothing is ever relaxing and it's like watching the world's fastest tennis game while also fetching the balls, but it's DO-able.

It started off fine, W2 happily walking around with his doll stroller and Grunter tottering around. Then W2 wants to check out the tree and it was a really cool tree, so we all go to examine the bark and talk about the tree. Whoop Whoop is a down and dirty kind of kid--all boy--and he starts to examine the dirt. I hate dirt. But I have accepted that kids get dirty and if they want to play in the dirt, I'm not going to stop them. Even Grunter was into it and that kid usually hates to get his hands dirty. So I'm cool. It's dirt. Whatev.

Um, what the hell. This dirt is beyond dirty. It's liberally sprinkled with rat poop.

I scoop the boys up, plunk them down in the stroller and take out the wipes before anyone can touch anything or put their fingers in their mouths.

We walked back to the apartment with Mommy trying not to cry. First of all, I feel like a failure that I can't seem to make it through ONE SINGLE FUCKING DAY by myself without things dissolving into chaos. Second, I feel like there's not a single safe place I can take these boys by myself.

I want them to be able to explore and run and play with dirt--safely.

"Our" house is still on the market.

I was sitting in the living room last night listening to the people outside and thought--if we lived in that house we could be sitting outside right now. The boys could be in bed, but we could be having dinner outside and they would be safe. We could go for a swim and then sleep in our own bed. That would be a really nice quality of life.

I keep trying to make myself believe that we can do this here--to the point I have seriously thought of stopping little kids on the sidewalk and asking them if they'd rather live close to the beach with a huge backyard and a swimming pool and their own playroom or live in NYC? I haven't done it yet, but I've come close. I'm super curious to the responses. What makes people stay? We are going crazy.

We had originally thought we'd make the trip down to Florida in July or early August, but I'm thinking that date might be moved up to June...

I think I just hit my breaking point today where I found myself thinking "My boys just played in rat poop. Can we leave today?"

Anyone have any tips on how to house hunt with twin toddlers in tow?

Grandma's, MIL's and Just Cute Photos

Blogger ate my last post. As in, it was here...and people commented so I know it was here (although I admit it was a lengthy train wreck of a crazed rant on moving. Or not) and now...it's gone. WTF??

Anyway, the boys had a birthday party at Grandma's house over Mother's Day weekend. She wasn't able to make it to their first bday party in January and she wanted to have one for them.

They had a great time--it was better than the party we had for them--and it's always nice to see old friends and family. They were much better at dealing with all of the 'strangers' this time around.

My mom insisted on making cupcakes for them. So...I finally gave in. They had sugar for the first time. Grunter wouldn't touch a single bite. W2 dove in

Although my mom and I have had our differences in the past, I will say having kids has improved our relationship 100%. Chicken is the one who pushed for this trip and I'm glad she did. I would not have suggested it at all. My mom went to great lengths to make this trip the best and easiest for us. She moved unsafe furniture. She cleaned out shelves and drawers. She bought baby proofing items. She borrowed pack n plays and high chairs. She garage saled for age appropriate and push toys and cleaned everything til it shone. She bought us diapers and wipes. She darkened widows and banned the TV in the living room. She requested a grocery list and bought everything on it--even though most items were not what she would have shopped for. She did laundry every day and made she we went home with a suitcase of clean clothes.

It was amazing. And they tried so hard. I'm really happy we went and I know it meant so much to my mother for us to be there on Mother's Day. Now that I'm a mom, I 'get' these things.

I think because my mom did SO much for the short time we were there (4.5 days) it only highlights the fact that Chicken's mom has done nothing. Well, she borrowed pack n plays and high chairs, so she's done a little. But her house is a death trap and there's not one safe space for the boys to play and there are multiple stairways of doom. Now that they are walking--almost running--and into everything on earth, they need to roam. We were supposed to go upstate this weekend, but I begged out. The time at her house stresses me out more than anything. It's the mean MIL plus the death trap house.

MIL did swing by the city for a few hours a couple of weeks ago, so she has seen them recently so I don't feel too bad. I just get sick thinking about spending $400 on rental car to go make myself crazy in the woods for 48 hours. She can keep on coming here.

I know it puts Chicken in a hard place, so she is taking the train up tonight and I have elected to stay home alone with the boys for the weekend while she does her family thing. Much easier this way. Until the boys are old enough for stairs and really listening, we're not going up there.

Here are some photos of last week in the Midwest. Gah, they look so big and old. I can't believe it. The time is going too darn fast.

Whoop Whoop sporting his birthday hat and a new patriotic outfit compliments of G'ma

Grunter Loves Hats

Mommy holding Grunter (notice the great effort he puts forth keeping his feet from touching the grass), my brother who is 8 years older than me, his 10 month old grand daughter (yup) and Whoop Whoop (notice his foot firmly planted in the grass).