Leaving the House With Twins

Obviously I knew that having twins would make leaving the house into a bigger hassle than when it was just Tyson and me ("Shall we leave the house?"  "Yes."  The end.)  I just didn't know that I was going to be planning my entire day around it...

90 minutes out:  Do my own hair and makeup.

70 minutes out:  Lay out my clothes and jewelry on the bed, so everything is ready to go (because that stuff is going to be spit up, drooled, peed, and/or pooped on if I get dressed anytime before The Last Freaking Second before we walk out the door).  Sometimes I'm also nice and lay out Tyson's clothes.

60 minutes out:  Pack up diaper bag with: (1) extra set of clothes for each kid, (4-6) disposable diapers, plus diaper cream and wipes, (2) blankets, (2) bottles of thawed milk (plus the ice pack if I haven't pumped recently and it needs to be kept cold), (2) bibs, (3-4) burp cloths, (1) extra set of pacifiers, and, oh yeah, all of my stuff like wallet, keys, lip balm, etc.

40 minutes: out:  Feed Baby #1. (This is ideal.  Sometimes they decide to eat sooner than this, sometimes later.  Like when we were trying to go to church at 9:30 one weekend and they were SUPPOSED to be due to eat around 9:00, so I kept waiting until they wanted to eat so I didn't have to force feed them but they decided that they didn't really want to eat until more like 9:40.  So...yeah.  9:30 church.  Not so much.)

30 minutes out:  Pass Baby #1 off to Tyson to be burped.  Feed Baby #2.

20 minutes out:  Change Baby #1's diaper and into their Going Out Outfit.

15 minutes out:  Change Baby #2's diaper and into their Going Out Outfit, which has been carefully chosen to coordinate with Baby #1's.

10 minutes out:  Tell Tyson to change clothes and get ready and what do you MEAN you haven't even shaved or brushed your own teeth yet?!?

5 minutes out:  Change into my clothes.  Tyson packs both babies into their car seats.

2 minutes out:  Double-check that we have everything

1 minute out:  Tyson and I put our shoes on.  It's go-time!

20 seconds out:  Caden and/or Brooklyn fill their diaper spectacularly.  And/or spit up all over their outfit/carseat.

The Time We Were Supposed To Leave:  Repeat (most of) the above steps.  In reverse order.  This time, also cleaning up a good portion of a(the) baby(ies) and/or their clothes, carseats, etc., etc., etc.

Don't look at me like that.  You're lucky to see the light of day.

Same goes for you.

That's better.

Five Month Outtakes

Each month, I take several (hundred) photos to compile the monthly updates for the twins.

It looks (sounds?) something like this:

"Caaaaaa-deeeeeennnnn!  Ooooooooohhhh Caaaaaaaa-deeeennnn!!!"  *click click click clickity-click*  "Hey buddy!"  *click click click click click*  "Broooooklyyyyynnnn!  Right here!!!"  *click click click*  "Hey you guys!!!!!!!!!!!" *clicks times one million*

Then I go and edit way more than I ever need to for the few that I actually use for their little updates.

And some months, like this one, I'm left with gold like these, and decide that since I have way too much free time (*sarcasm alert!*) I might as well edit them, too, because they are HIL-AAARRR-IOUS.

These two are part of the, "What the Heck Were You Focusing On, Anyway, Mom?" series:

Next up, we have the "Invisible Things" category:

Invisible Jet Pack!

Invisible Surf Boards!

Swatting an Invisible Bug!  Gaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

"Brooklyn is the  Star of the Show" (alternatively titled "Caden Patiently Deals With Brooklyn's Madness"):

"Look...

...at...

ME!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!"

Quickly followed by "Wait, where Did Brooklyn Go?":

Also, "Hands.  Brooklyn Has Them.":

(And they are delicious.)

And then there's the "Blurry, but Not Mom's Fault This Time" genre:

(Girls got some air.)

(THIS IS US MOOOOVVIIIIIINNNNNGGG!!!!!  Good luck taking a picture, lady.)

The "Funny Faces" category:

(Caden is not impressed.)

And last, but not least, two that I like to call "Don't Mess With Brooklyn":

Five Months

p.s.  We're going to miss you over the next couple of weeks, Daddy!  Hurry home.  Luckily Mommy is bringing in reinforcements (aka "Grandmas").

The Fourth/Second Reception/Big Chip Mega Post!

So we were gone for a 1 1/2 weeks again (for the last and final time this summer!) for the Fourth/second wedding reception/my family's annual vacation to Big Chip.

(If you are a picture-hater, this post is not for you.)

While we were many different places and did a lot of different things, I did notice one theme running through all of the photos I took...

Babies... 

...asleep...

...everywhere...

...anywhere.

Oh.

And the big people, too.

(Click below for more...much, much more...)