Survival. That is what I have been doing for the past five days. John? He's been his best self. Yep, that's what happens when the babies come for a visit.
You don't even know how much I wish I was one of those baby mamas. I talk to women, and they will stop all conversation when they see a baby. They want to hold it, and kiss the chubby feet, and make the baby smile.
Give me ten more years, and I'll be all about talking to that baby and becoming its friend ;-). I don't know why I'm not a baby person, but I thank everything that is holy that I at least loved my own babies ;-)
Ethan and Rebecca wanted to take a trip together to San Diego. Ethan was headed there for work, and Rebecca wanted to tag along. Since Linda (Rebecca's mom) was already watching several other grandchildren, John and I were the back-up plan and were asked to watch them. I remember John coming to me the night that they asked us (he cornered me in our bedroom) and said, "I don't think we can do this." I had been having the exact same feelings after spending the weekend with their entire family.
Babies are just so much WORK, and we have definitely moved into a different stage of work now. The changing diapers, and carrying diaper bags, and carrying babies, and feeding babies every three hours, and entertaining them for hours at a time? Holy smokes, it's a LOT. I don't know how these women in our ward who have eight and ten babies do it. Yes, I wish I had more growing children now, but holy smokes, I didn't back then. In fact, I can vividly remember thinking that I was pregnant after Glo. Three years exactly, and Glo had just started German kindergarten. I was in a public restroom on base, with a pregnancy test in one hand, and my cell phone in the other, crying to John that I didn't want to take it BECAUSE WHAT IF IT CAME BACK POSITIVE?!?!? I had just gotten my life back a little bit, and I couldn't imagine losing it all again.
Yes, it's a miracle that Ethan isn't an only child.
Anyway, we survived the past five days. It wasn't pretty at times, but everyone is living and breathing, including the kids ;-)
John was solo the first day while I was still at Girls' Camp. He also took Beth's kids for the day while she was at Girls Camp. John deserves a gold star.
The second day, I was on my own while John took the elders to the temple in the morning, and took himself to our work shift in the afternoon.
Funny story from the day (which, of course, means it was a nightmare, because the worst experiences always make for the funniest stories). I had decided that I would take the kids to the pool. It was 7:00, so the sun was going down which meant I didn't need sunscreen (major win for me AND for the kids). There was hardly anyone at the pool (another win). We were doing pretty well until about five minutes in (yes, four minutes of peace at the pool is significant). Baby had to go potty. I was going to convince her to just pee in the pool, because I assumed the club house would be closed. However, she insisted that we just had to "hold up the thing" to open the door. Yes, indeed. We held the key fob that let us into the pool up to a black square that also let us into the club house...and the bathroom. Brother just toddled around while I spent the next millennium trying to pull up Baby's wet swimsuit after she peed a teaspoon.
Twenty minutes later, Brother decided he was tired of walking around the pool and wanted to get in. He sat on the top step and was having fun splashing when Baby loudly announced to me and the rest of the world that "I HAVE TO POOP!'
Really, Baby? Are you sure? I could see the desperation in her eyes. The bear was coming out of the cave.
So I grabbed the keys again, along with Brother. But Brother wasn't wanting to leave the pool now that he had dipped in his chubby toes.
Commence scream of the banshee.
We rushed into the bathroom again, and I could just hear Baby over Brother's insistent screams that she had to use her "body muscles" to push out the poop. Yep, pooping should be an olympic sport in Baby's eyes.
Again, I lost minutes off my life trying to get that swimsuit back up, and I was building up a nervous sweat, feeling the anger and frustration in Brother's screams.
I rushed us back out, only to discover that Brother didn't want to get back in the pool. He just wanted to be MAD that any of this had happened. And perhaps he was a bit on edge because I had decided to take them swimming just an hour before bedtime. Whatever the case, we couldn't stay there with him acting like that, so I announced that we were leaving.
At which point Baby decided to start crying as well.
Of all times I had decided NOT to drive to the pool in Greenie.... we had to walk back to the apartment with the scream of the mandrake, announcing to all our global position. Trust me, the Spirit definitely wasn't with me as we read scriptures and sang "I Love to See the Temple" that night before bed!
John, on the other hand, was in his element. Whereas I was rolling my eyes about all the demands, he was making up songs about the "poop train". He was even cleaning up poop that Baby had deposited in her underpants during her nap, and that, as he put it, was hard enough to fall out of her pants onto the floor, but soft enough to stick. I was getting the babies to eat their food by strong-arming them, and he was tempting them with popsicles. He was smiling, and happy, and definitely did the lion's share of the work.
When I took the babies to the library, I did a decent job of playing with them and keeping them entertained. But once John showed up, he introduced the growling monster into their puppet show, and took library entertainment to a whole new level!
After four days of piecing together meals, we decided to go grocery shopping (I mean, a gallon of milk lasts us weeks in the fridge without babies around). All Baby wanted to do was ride Sandy....but who has cash these days? I even looked all over the ground for the measly penny with no success. So we just pretended to ride her. #grandparentingfail
One win for me? If I put "Hawaiian man bracelets" on Brother's legs, diaper changes were a breeze!
I put colored hair extensions in Baby's hair. She loved them. But I stupidly asked to take her picture AFTER I had told her that it was time for a nap....
It makes me wonder how I ever did it so alone for all those years during medical school and residency, and I wonder when the switch flips to when I become the good cop of parenting? ;-)
Looking back at my pictures from the past few days, I find that most of them are of us sleeping. If that isn't telling of what moments I enjoyed the most, I don't know what is ;-)
We took the babies to see The Lion King (John's idea). While I leaned my recliner back, Brother sat upright in my lap, without moving, for a solid 90 minutes. The only thing that moved on him was his popcorn arm which easily found the caramel corn bucket every time ;-)
Look at peaceful, little Brother. After the poop train had left the station, John brought Brother in with us to take his Sunday nap. He just laid there, not moving until his little eyes closed <3
You don't even know how much I wish I was one of those baby mamas. I talk to women, and they will stop all conversation when they see a baby. They want to hold it, and kiss the chubby feet, and make the baby smile.
Give me ten more years, and I'll be all about talking to that baby and becoming its friend ;-). I don't know why I'm not a baby person, but I thank everything that is holy that I at least loved my own babies ;-)
Ethan and Rebecca wanted to take a trip together to San Diego. Ethan was headed there for work, and Rebecca wanted to tag along. Since Linda (Rebecca's mom) was already watching several other grandchildren, John and I were the back-up plan and were asked to watch them. I remember John coming to me the night that they asked us (he cornered me in our bedroom) and said, "I don't think we can do this." I had been having the exact same feelings after spending the weekend with their entire family.
Babies are just so much WORK, and we have definitely moved into a different stage of work now. The changing diapers, and carrying diaper bags, and carrying babies, and feeding babies every three hours, and entertaining them for hours at a time? Holy smokes, it's a LOT. I don't know how these women in our ward who have eight and ten babies do it. Yes, I wish I had more growing children now, but holy smokes, I didn't back then. In fact, I can vividly remember thinking that I was pregnant after Glo. Three years exactly, and Glo had just started German kindergarten. I was in a public restroom on base, with a pregnancy test in one hand, and my cell phone in the other, crying to John that I didn't want to take it BECAUSE WHAT IF IT CAME BACK POSITIVE?!?!? I had just gotten my life back a little bit, and I couldn't imagine losing it all again.
Yes, it's a miracle that Ethan isn't an only child.
Anyway, we survived the past five days. It wasn't pretty at times, but everyone is living and breathing, including the kids ;-)
John was solo the first day while I was still at Girls' Camp. He also took Beth's kids for the day while she was at Girls Camp. John deserves a gold star.
The second day, I was on my own while John took the elders to the temple in the morning, and took himself to our work shift in the afternoon.
 |
| A minute after we arrived...when life was still good. |
Twenty minutes later, Brother decided he was tired of walking around the pool and wanted to get in. He sat on the top step and was having fun splashing when Baby loudly announced to me and the rest of the world that "I HAVE TO POOP!'
Really, Baby? Are you sure? I could see the desperation in her eyes. The bear was coming out of the cave.
So I grabbed the keys again, along with Brother. But Brother wasn't wanting to leave the pool now that he had dipped in his chubby toes.
Commence scream of the banshee.
We rushed into the bathroom again, and I could just hear Baby over Brother's insistent screams that she had to use her "body muscles" to push out the poop. Yep, pooping should be an olympic sport in Baby's eyes.
Again, I lost minutes off my life trying to get that swimsuit back up, and I was building up a nervous sweat, feeling the anger and frustration in Brother's screams.
I rushed us back out, only to discover that Brother didn't want to get back in the pool. He just wanted to be MAD that any of this had happened. And perhaps he was a bit on edge because I had decided to take them swimming just an hour before bedtime. Whatever the case, we couldn't stay there with him acting like that, so I announced that we were leaving.
At which point Baby decided to start crying as well.
Of all times I had decided NOT to drive to the pool in Greenie.... we had to walk back to the apartment with the scream of the mandrake, announcing to all our global position. Trust me, the Spirit definitely wasn't with me as we read scriptures and sang "I Love to See the Temple" that night before bed!
John, on the other hand, was in his element. Whereas I was rolling my eyes about all the demands, he was making up songs about the "poop train". He was even cleaning up poop that Baby had deposited in her underpants during her nap, and that, as he put it, was hard enough to fall out of her pants onto the floor, but soft enough to stick. I was getting the babies to eat their food by strong-arming them, and he was tempting them with popsicles. He was smiling, and happy, and definitely did the lion's share of the work.
When I took the babies to the library, I did a decent job of playing with them and keeping them entertained. But once John showed up, he introduced the growling monster into their puppet show, and took library entertainment to a whole new level!
 |
| This is outside the library. Baby's flip flops are on the wrong feet. |
After four days of piecing together meals, we decided to go grocery shopping (I mean, a gallon of milk lasts us weeks in the fridge without babies around). All Baby wanted to do was ride Sandy....but who has cash these days? I even looked all over the ground for the measly penny with no success. So we just pretended to ride her. #grandparentingfail
One win for me? If I put "Hawaiian man bracelets" on Brother's legs, diaper changes were a breeze!
I put colored hair extensions in Baby's hair. She loved them. But I stupidly asked to take her picture AFTER I had told her that it was time for a nap....
It makes me wonder how I ever did it so alone for all those years during medical school and residency, and I wonder when the switch flips to when I become the good cop of parenting? ;-)
Looking back at my pictures from the past few days, I find that most of them are of us sleeping. If that isn't telling of what moments I enjoyed the most, I don't know what is ;-)
 |
| Brother fell asleep to John singing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". Yes, yes he does, and it might have become our mantra during the most hellish moments ;-) |
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| There's nothing like a freshly bathed baby <3 |
Look at peaceful, little Brother. After the poop train had left the station, John brought Brother in with us to take his Sunday nap. He just laid there, not moving until his little eyes closed <3
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