Twin love

The kids and I went to the mall today, of course we had to make a potty stop and this sweet scene unfolded:

The three of us crowded into a stall at JC Penney, Alden decided he wanted to stand to pee, so I got him into position and he let loose. I was encouraging him and he was smiling, then all of a sudden Ruthie leaned in and gave Alden a bear hug and said "Good job, I'm so proud of you Awwlden"! The hug knocked him a little off balance and the spray went a little crazy, but I hardly noticed through my misty eyes. I love it when they are so caring and supportive of each other.

This evening my dear friend Patty and I went shopping for the family my SAHM group has adopted for the holidays, we had a blast while Nick entertained the twins and Patty's son. When we got home Roo was asleep but the boys were up, waiting for their mamas. Alden's been waiting up for me when I have a rare evening out, it is so cute, he always looks a little surprised to see me then runs up for a hug.

Privacy Time

I walked into the playroom to find Alden in his poo crouch, I asked him how he was doing, and he said "go back in the kitchen and finish your eyeballs (buckeye balls)". I asked him if he was okay and he said "I already told you, I need privacy time", then he pushed me out the door and closed it. WTF. Are these kids 2.5 or 13?

Any ideas on how to get him to poop in the toilet? He's fine with going pee, but for dropping a deuce he needs a diaper.

I telling you last time!

"I want to watch Handy Mandy! Last time mama, I mean it! I not joking around."

Well, I suppose it is good that she's listening and understanding me when I say things to her.......

Ruthie is a Narc

Tonight as we were driving home from looking at Christmas lights:

"Careful Doug, that's what Nana says to Gwampa" says Ruthie.
I say "When did Nana say that?"
"When him driving us to him's house, him's a cwazy driver and nana says careful Doug!"

My little tattler! Over Thanksgiving weekend we'd gone to downtown Placerville w/my family and nana and grandpa took the kids back to their house so Nick and I could have a date night. My dad is a pretty wild driver, he talks with his hands and likes to look you in the eye when you are talking, even if he's the one driving on the scary twisty narrow roads to his house.

Christmas 2008 formal pictures

I took the twins to Kiddie Kandids on Friday, we always have good results there, although some minor injury ALWAYS occurs before we step up to the platform for pictures. For their 2nd birthday session, I accidentally pinched Ruthie's thigh when I was snapping her onesie. This time Alden slammed his fingers in a drawer. Oh well, I think they are pretty darn cute!

Alden is potty trained!!!

My little sweetie is turning into such a big boy! We started potty training over Thanksgiving weekend while we were visiting my dad. I guess things just finally clicked for him and it's been pretty smooth sailing. Back when Roo decided to potty train, I figured I may as well try with Alden, but no dice. He could hold it for hours but wouldn't pee in the toilet no matter what I tried, he insisted on a diaper. Anyway, he looks so stinking cute in his little briefs, he even has little boxer briefs for the super hubba-hubba look. We are still wearing diapers for poop, and for overnights. I'm not quite ready to close the final chapter on this last shred of babyhood. This is a great step for him, preschool requires that he be potty trained, so I'm glad that's out of the way before next fall. We are working on his aim, maybe he and Nick can both learn at the same time! Haha.

Is there such a thing as too sensitive?

On Friday night Nick was reading Dumbo to the kids. It's one of their favorite movies and they love the book too. When Nick read the page where Dumbo's mommy gets locked up for going crazy, Alden got very very upset, and kept asking where she went, then he finally dissolved into tears. It was so sweet and sad at the same time. He was inconsolable until finally we read the page where Dumbo flies and then is reunited with his mom.

He has so much empathy in his little soul, I don't want that to change but if he's this emo as a toddler, what will I be dealing with when he is a teenager?

More funnies

Wearing only her baggy underpants, Ruthie walked into the kitchen. She had one of I'm Up To No Good smirks on her sweet face, and she said:

"I hide-a my bunty inna my panties, dat's how me rolls."

and turned and walked away.

As she was walking, I noticed a little tail in her undies, sure enough, she'd stuck her bunty (pacifier) in her panties to hide it from Alden.

Alden's favorite song is "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" but he puts his own special spin on it:

Head
Shoulders
TESSICLES AND PENIS
AND BUTT
AND FARTS
AND BAGINA
HAHAHAHAHA

OMG, I'm not sure I'll be able to take him to story time at the library next week, that dang song is a staple. I can just picture him busting out with his special lyrics and those stuck up bitches from last week running out of the room in horror.

Use your inside voice when talking smack

Our local library has a story hour every Friday, a few weeks ago I noticed two newcomers. I believe they are a grandmother/daughter/granddaughter, and the grandmother is babysitting another granddaughter too. Got that? Okay. Anyway, during story time the kids tend to get up and walk around a little, nothing too bad. The twins like to get up and sit with their friends or just stand up to get the wiggles out. No biggie, right? It's a room full of toddlers, not a mausoleum. Anyway, after the story time the granny and her daughter were complaining about the level of chaos and bitching about the moms who are "just letting their kids run wild, how will they ever learn". Dude. It's story time. For toddlers. If you are that uptight now, just wait till your little darling is two. Of course, they were only complaining to each other, loudly, in front of other moms. Passive aggressive much? Ugh.

Real life is scary

So, yesterday we had this fancy box installed. It gives us over 100 TV channels! For the last 2+ years we've had an antenna and only watched ABC, CBS, NBC and sometimes Fox. Ruthie started resenting the aluminum foil helmet we made her wear, and she got too big to perch on the windowsill, so our reception has been pretty fuzzy lately.

Anyway, a whole new world has opened for me. Did you know there is a show called My Big Fat Redneck Wedding? I am seriously frightened. The episode I'm watching features a hot dog eating contest during the reception, the grandma of the bride popped out her dentures in preparation. Holy crap. Damn those red states!

Election Night

Go Obama!!! I'm so excited for this new chapter in our lives, I think Obama will do great things for our country.

The California measures, I'm not too stoked about . Prop 8 seems to be passing, mega bummer dude. I think all people should be allowed to marry, but apparently others don't believe in equal rights. Merced County voted in favor of Prop 8 at 72%!!! No wonder I feel like such an outsider. Gee whiz.

These kids!

Most days end with my stomach hurts from laughing so hard, that's the only abdominal workout I've had in a long time.

Ruth: Alden jacked my peas!
Alden: I love poopoo, yummy!
Ruth: Only us ladies can go inna here, you boys go inna other one *points to the men's room door*.
Alden: I voting for John McCain!
Ruth: Write my name mommy, R-U-T-H spells Ruth!
Alden: Turkey makes my tummy hurt, we have McDonalds?


After I got a speeding ticket:
Ruth: Why that man make us stop? Us going fast.

The Mommy Blahs

I'm in the mood for some retail therapy courtesy of my Amazon.com giftcard.

First order of business, shoes:

Did you know that Chuck Taylor Low Top Converse are now almost 40 freaking dollars??

WTF!

I'm way too stinkin' cheap to spend that much money on a pair of shoes for myself. I do need something more sensible than my usual flip-flops, so I'm going to bite the bullet. The twins run super fast now and wet flipflops aren't so good for sprinting after them when they decide to dash for the road full of pedophiles and candy and razorblades and other unsavory things.

An ethical dilemma

What would you have done?

I went to Target by myself (a rare treat). I picked up a few essentials and checked out. As I walked out I noticed that two of the items in my bag were not on the receipt. Score for me!

Okay, not really. I would have felt way guilty for keeping the items without paying, so I hustled over to the customer service desk to pay. The woman sort of acted like she thought I had stolen the items. WTF? I will always remember this Dateline or 20/20 type of show where people were on hidden camera in various scenarios. One scene involved a cashier "accidentally" giving people $20 too much in change, the people who realized it and still kept it seemed like such jerks. I wouldn't want to be that jerk on TV.

This is officially the most boring entry I've written. **Insert cute and folksy Sarah Palin eye-wink here.**

Some Ruthisms

Aunt Squeaky is getting married on Halloween, this weekend Ruth and I attended her bridal shower. Poor Roo was very confused about why everyone was coming to Auntie Amy's house to take a shower. When I told her it was almost time for the shower to start, she said: "I don't WANT to take a shower"!

This weekend there was lots of wedding talk, and on the ride home from the festivities, I asked the twins if they were going to get married someday. Ruth said "Mama, us getting married". I asked for clarification and she said "Me and Alden, us getting married". Well, I guess that is one way to save money on their weddings. We might need to move to Arkansas.....

Today we met up with Nick for lunch, as we were leaving he took Ruthie to the potty. When they came back he showed me a wet spot on the back of her jeans, she likes to lean back when she pees, which results in a stream of urine shooting over the front of the bowl. It's lovely. When we were loading them into the car, Nick decided to take off her pants since we were just going straight home for naps. Ruthie yelled "Mama, daddy peepee onna my pants, now I naked!" I said: "Daddy peeed on your pants?" She yelled: "Yup, him peed on my pants!"

On the ride home from lunch, both kids were a little punchy. Ruthie had her bunty (pacifier) and she decided to hide it from Alden. From the backseat I hear: "Mama, I hidda my bunty in my bottom. It's inna my panties", then she has a fit of giggles. Me, horrified, driving on the freeway: "Your bunty is in your booty?" Her, giggling: "Yup, I hide it from Alden so he no take it." Giggle giggle giggle. OMG. I don't know where she actually hid it, but it was in her hand when we pulled up in front of our house.

Violet has an ouchie.

On Saturday morning little Miss Violet jumped out the bedroom window and went to visit the dog next door (technically behind our house). We went looking for her after we realized she got out, and Nick found her cowering in a corner of the neighbor's yard. He scooped her up and we decided to bathe her because she was covered in dirt. We thought she was fine then realized she was definitely NOT fine, her leg bone was sticking out all crazy. Not through the skin thank goodness, but definitely not in the right place. He rushed her to the vet while I stayed home with the twins. We were able to save her, but her leg had to be removed. The vet says she'll be just fine, in fact she's already getting around pretty easily. We are keeping her in our bedroom for the next few weeks while she recovers, we need to make sure her stitches keep clean and that our dog doesn't bother her. She's still a kitten so mobility-wise she will adapt and still be able to do all the usual cat things like climb and run and pounce. Ruthie doesn't understand why Violet can't sleep with her, last night she asked for her and Nick told her Violet has to sleep with mommy and daddy, so Ruthie said "give her my Aunt Jeffer blankie". Awwww, she meant the quilt my sister Jennifer made for Roo when she was a baby. How sweet is my little girl?!?


Here are some pics, they are pretty graphic. I wasn't prepared for this at all, I didn't realize how shaved she would be and how big the incision is.

Dude, where's my freaking leg?

You take my leg AND I have to wear this stupid collar? Oh well, at least it is purple.

Ruthie is A-OK

Well, she's still sassy, but I didn't expect that to change. We waited around until noon on Friday for the all clear. Grrr. Not too impressed by the service we received at the ped's office. We had a fun weekend at my dad's house. Nana and grandpa babysat so the husband and I could go out OVERNIGHT. We stayed at a cute little hotel in Placerville and went out to dinner and did some window shopping. We attempted to see a movie but arrived at the multi-plex and realized that we had NO IDEA what any of the movies were about. The posters gave a little clue, but rather than waste $20 on something that might suck, we decided to go walk through Nugget. Nugget is like Whole Foods on steroids, tons of organic stuff, and the prepared food area is amazing. There's a salad bar, Chinese bar, grilled chicken, beer/wine, Mexican, on and on and on. The new store in El Dorado Hills is crazy big.

So yes, we spent our date night walking around a grocery store. When did I get so old and boring? Oh well.

Don't call CPS on me

Ruthie had a little tumble today, she fell off her scooter. It seems she may have broken a bone in her foot, I should know for sure tomorrow. Poor little bit, I have to carry her around, so she calls to me: "mommy, please take me potty" or "mommy, I want to sit in the other chair". So sad. I took her to the pediatrician and we had x-rays done, but the radiologist hasn't reviewed them yet. In the meantime, ice cream, an ACE bandage, and some Motrin is holding her off until the morning. The medical imaging place has a special separate room that is quite obviously the mammogram room, while we were waiting no fewer than three little old ladies came in to get their boobs squished. They all looked slightly nervous, and when the door to the special room opened I saw posters about breast self exams. Ruthie kept asking "what the ladies doing mama?", it was cute. She's such a little chatterbox, her latest kick is knowing everybody's name. The mailman, the homeless guy looting our recyling bin, the little girl having a tantrum at the doctor's office, the x-ray technician, etc. she must know everyone's name or else!

A (not so) Happy Meal story

I was stumped for ideas of what to do today, so I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch. They can run around and work off some energy while I sit on my butt in the shade. Sounds awesome, right? The husband met us there and immediately Ruth had to pee, so he took her to the men's room. Ew. Apparently there was poop on the back of the toilet and that upset Roo, so later on when she had to poop she chose to crap her pants in the middle of the play area. This was our first crappy pants experience, she hasn't had any poop accidents since she potty trained. I took her to the ladies room and cleaned her up, but I didn't have any bags so I had to stick her poopy panties and shorts in a happy meal box. Luckily I had spare panties and shorts in my car, but she's been so good about not having accidents, I was really caught off guard. When I asked her why she pooped in her panties she said "no go bafroom, it dirty"! Is there a good way to get poopy panties off without getting crap all over her legs? I pulled one leg out then the other, so we only got poop on one leg, but ew.

She has such a big heart

We went for a bike ride today, pics to come later. There's a gorgeous bike path in town that runs along a creek and through one of the older neighborhoods in town. About a year ago a house burned down, the elderly couple who lived there were both killed (the fire was set to cover up the scene) and the crime is still unsolved. :-( The house is still standing, though basically destroyed. I was dying of thirst and we just happened to stop right across the street from the house, and Ruthie and Alden were very curious about what happened. I explained that the house caught on fire and burned down. Naturally, their response was "why?". I said someone was naughty and played with matches. Ruthie reflected on that for a minute, looked at the house, then looked back at me and said "Mommy get house ice?" Ice you see, is the miracle cure for everything. Your brother bites you? Ice! Your kitty scratches you because you are trying to stick your finger up her butt? Ice! Mommy refuses to read Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See for the thousandth time? Just cry and ask for ice! She's such a sweetie. I wish ice could fix everything wrong in the world.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Yesterday we went to Monterey in order to escape the heat. It was so refreshing to be out of this hot weather and gross air. Towards the end of the day we actually had to buy sweatshirts! I felt like such a tourist. We started out at the aquarium, which the kids l-o-v-e-d. We did the older part first, and the newly remodeled Splash Zone. We discovered that European tourists are extremely rude, and that it was pointless to bring the strollers in because Ruth and Alden preferred to sprint between exhibits. Ruthie's favorite animal is the "habapuss" aka octopus, Alden seems to prefer the starfish and kelp. We took a break around lunch time and had some pizza on Cannery Row.

After pizza we went to Trader Joe's and bought some flowers, then we went to the cemetary and put them at my grandfather's grave. To escape the somberness, we then took the kids to Dennis the Menace Park. Unfortunately our battery died at the aquarium earlier in the day, so no pictures of the twins having fun. While I was waiting for Ruthie at the bottom of the slide, I had a nice chat with a woman who just moved to the area a year ago. I commented that the park had changed a lot since I played there as a kid and she said "oh the park has been here that long?" I'm not sure what her interpretation of "that long" was, and I started to wonder if I'm really old, then I realized that I played there TWENTY YEARS AGO. Crap I'm old.

After we left the park, we walked around Fisherman's Wharf and chowed down on some free chowder samples, and we had a caricature drawn of the kids. We also went to the candy store and Ruthie picked out "candy balls" and Alden chose gold coins. That boy, he's all about the money! He loves carrying coins and paper dollars.

After the Wharf we went back to the aquarium and went through the Outer Bay area. The aquarium is open until 8PM on weekends in the summer, but it was mostly deserted. It was so neat to have room to let the kids run and shout without worrying about losing them or getting the evil eye from the previously mentioned rude European tourists. Seriously though, at the Splash Zone, Alden splashed some water. Approximately three drops landed in the vicinity of this little girl's sleeve. The five adults with her all shouted "hey hey hey" and shot Alden dirty looks and clucked their tongues and shook their heads. WHAT THE HELL?! I looked at them and said "he's 2 and you don't all need to yell at him". Ugh. Asses. It's not like he dragged her into the bathroom and gave her a swirlie.

Anyway, here are some pictures!

Big news from Ruth!

About three weeks ago Ruthie woke up and decided she wasn't going to wear a diaper anymore. Yes, she is AMAZING. She peepees on the potty like a pro, and poops too. In fact, she makes family poops. After she dropped a dooce last week she proudly pointed to the different...um...elements and pointed out "there's a mommy poopoo, a daddy poopoo, and a Woofie (Ruthie) poopoo!"! She also does two different types of poop, pieces or a choo-choo. Pieces are little nuggets, a poo-poo choo-choo is a log. Fascinating, isn't it? We talk about poop all the time here. Finding tiny panties has been a little hard, she can wear size 12-18 in the waist and panties come in 2T-3T as the smallest size. Gymboree fits her pretty well, and Hanes from Target. The funny thing is that quite a few of her shorts and capris are way too big now that she isn't wearing a diaper! The good news is that I got out her last year's fall/winter wardrobe and discovered that since she isn't wearing a bulky diaper, she can wear most of her bottoms again this year.

Alden isn't as taken by the potty, he has peed in it on occasion, but I don't anticipate him being ready to potty train any time soon. He wears little underpants but tends to pee in them or take them off and streak through the house. We do a lot of streaking here. Well, the kids do.

As a reward for being a big girl and saying bye bye to diapers, Ruthie got a new kitty. She's a little Siamese named Violet.

San Diego

After our Disneyland sojourn we packed up the car and ventured down to San Diego! We have lots of family and friends in San Diego, and it was nice to spend quality time with all of them. Our hotel was definitely a huge step up from our Disneyland Dive, my brother in law scored us a room at the La Jolla Marriot for a super cheap rate. There was an indoor AND outdoor pool AND Bath and Body Works toiletries in the bathroom. The parking lot was the worst in the world, just ask my sister's brand new minivan. People have no conscience. The highlights of the trip included visiting with college friends, checking out the beautiful grounds of the Mormon temple, and walking around La Jolla.

Disneyland

Disneyland was awesome. I totally misunderestimated (thanks GW for that gem) the twins. I thought they'd be overwhelmed and not have fun, or they'd be bored. HA! In hindsight we should have planned on going to the park for two days rather than just one. Our hotel was a dive but the location was awesome, right across the street from the Happiest Place on Earth. We checked in on Wednesday, hit the park on Thursday, then drove down to San Diego for more family fun on Friday! Ruthie loved the princesses, specifically Tinkerbell. Well, I guess she isn't a princess.....whatever. She loves her! I had to stalk some new pajamas on Ebay so now she has two pair of Tink jammies. We didn't take our camera in so I only have a few pics that my sister took. Enjoy. The first one is Ruthie with her cousins and uncle Tyler, and Cinderella.

My baby sister and my nieces, and Ariel.

Pollock Pines

We had a super fun visit with Grandpa and Nana and my sisters and brother in law and sweet nieces. I loved holding my newest niece Madeline Kate, she is so sweet and cuddly! Makes me want another baby. Shhhhh don't tell the hubster, he'll have me send up the river. Our visit marked the first time I went to the lake part of Lake Tahoe. I've been skiing up there several times but never actually ventured into the lake. It is very nice, lovely sandy beach, decent parking, not too crowded....we brought plenty of drinks and snacks and had a ball playing in the sand, splashing in the freezing water, and spending time with family we don't get to see often enough.

Travel plans

We are gearing up for a fun week+ of traveling throughout the state. On Friday we head up to my dad's house for Father's Day festivities, and Nana's birthday. Nick has to come back for work on Monday/Tuesday, but the kids and I are staying up there until we all leave for Disneyland on Wednesday. We'll drive through Merced for a potty break and to pick up Nick. We head down to LA and go to the park on Thursday, then Friday we drive down to San Diego to visit some dear friends. I'm looking forward to it! I want to go to Mexico too, we'll see what we have time for. Nick says we can't b/c someone will steal the kids. Whatevs, I'm sure I can translate "terrible twos" into spanish and that will scare everyone off.

Two year pictures!

We finally took the twins in for some pro pictures! It was a rough trip, they weren't really in the mood for photos, Alden is getting molars so his fist was in his mouth constantly. When I was changing Roo's outfit I accidentally pinched her leg when I snapped her onesie. Oops. Poor chicken little, her face is all blotchy in the pettiskirt pics, but she's still hecka cute. See for yourself!

Nana made the sock monkeys in the photo, she is amazingly talented! Their matching library bags are hanging on the bench. The twins have been getting a little rowdy at the library, so we bring their sock monkeys and they hold them while Ms. Carr reads books. It is so cute to see them sitting with their monkeys on their laps. Ruthie's favorite book is Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?, she has it memorized! Alden likes any Sandra Boynton book, but especially Hippos Go Berserk.

Alden wasn't happy about posing, I call these his calendar pics. I see a modeling career in his future, what do you think?

Happy Birthday to my Twinkles!

I'll post pictures later, too pooped right now.

We celebrated Ruth and Alden's second birthday with a big bash at the lake. It was a Rootin' TWOtin' good time. Yes, I'm a dork about themes. I can't believe my lovelies are two, the second year flew by, even more quickly than the first. They learn new things every day, Ruthie knows all of her colors and can count to 5. She sings a bunch of songs, and has memorized a few of her favorite books. Alden is alway studying how things work, hinges, doorknobs, wheels, etc. His love of animals continues to grow, we saw some dogs at the park over the weekend and he immediately squatted down to their level (the ever-popular Merced Chihuahua) to say hello. I can't wait to take them to the fair this summer, they will go nuts.

Their size differences remain fairly constant, Ruthie is a hair over 23 pounds, Alden is a hair over 32!!!! He's also about 4 inches taller. The funny thing is, she eats way more than Alden. We eat lunch together and she scarfs hers down, then steals pieces of my food. I'm doing Weight Watchers, maybe she's just trying to keep me on track?

We have a busy summer planned, we are going to my dad's house next weekend, then we are off to Disneyland and San Diego. All told the kids and I will be gone for a week, my older sister and her family are in the states before their move to South Korea. We are all looking forward to spending time with her and her family, including my newest niece!

Had a crappy Valentine's Day (literally)!

Man, us Mercedians sure know how to party! We started off with a romantic breakfast of green eggs (scrambled eggs with steamed broccoli mixed in), then went to the park for a playdate with friends. We had an intimate lunch at the local Indian buffet, just us and our friends Harper and Merrick and their parents. To cap off the day, Nick and I took the kids to McDonalds for a gourmet meal of chicken nuggets and apple slices. Alden showed how he feels about me by climbing into the top of the play structure and taking a gigantic dump. I mean GIGANTIC. As in, down his legs, all over his pants, onto his socks and shoes gigantic. Now, this sort of thing doesn't happen often (read: ever) so I was totally unprepared and didn't have any extra pants for the poor little chubster. Once I had decontaminated Alden and finished gagging, I realized I didn't even have a manly diaper to put him in!!! Poor little guy had to wear Ruthie's Paper Doll diaper. Sorry Bubba!!! Did I mention that he started crying after he pooped and I had to worm my way into the twisty turny part of the tubes to get him? Yeah. Awesome.

A new kind of babywearing!

The whole family has been sick and, well, I got a little crazy with the home confinement, barfing, snot, crying, etc. Roo picked up my backpack and somehow this brilliant idea was born!


Isn't she the cutest little thing? She was happy to sit in the backpack, I even put her on and carried her around the house! Forget those pricey Ergo and Mei Tei carriers! My highschool-era Jansport puts those to shame with it's style and ease of use. We probably could have crammed a doll and some Cheerios in there too.

I think we are all on the mend now, cross your fingers! If things get bad again you may see some "twins in a rolling suitcase" pictures.

Obama your mama!

Monday and Tuesday were full of political activities! On Monday we joined some fellow Dems for a little sign waving at a busy corner in town. Apparently Republicans thing it is really funny to honk then FLIP ME OFF! Seriously, what the heck? Don't agree with my political views, but have the class to not flip me off in front of my babies. Ugh.

Tuesday we voted. On the drive to the polling place we practiced saying "vote" and "Obama". While I was filling out my ballot Ruth kept yelling "vooote" with a long Minnesota-esque long O. Alden kept yelling "O-MAMA"!! I don't think the VFW hall has seen so much excitement in many years. We all got "I voted" stickers, Ruthie opted to put hers on on her sippy cup but Alden proudly affixed his to his shirt.

Bet they've got their hands full.....*snicker snicker*

We went on a shoe buying adventure this weekend, Roo is now the proud owner of some super cute Vans. They run very fast and go JUMP JUMP JUMP. Anyway, as we were leaving the mall I saw a double stroller with two little baby buckets inside. As I stopped to admire the babies, I spied a single stroller with a THIRD baby bucket! Yup, TRIPLETS. The dad saw me staring and I knew the look on his face. It said "oh geez, please don't ask me any stupid questions". I knew that look well, as I have worn it myself on many occasions. Anyway, I swiveled my stroller around to show off my duo, and we traded genders, ages, etc.

As we walked away, Nick and I went through the List Of Questions* as a joke.

It started with Nick saying: "Triplets huh, bet they've got their hands full."

I followed up with: "Triplets? Are they all related?"

Our other favorites are:
Oh god, I'd kill myself.
Twins? That's grounds for suicide.
That's what you get for playing god (people rightly assume we used fertility treatments).
Boy and girl? Are they identical? No? Are you sure? They look so much alike!
So are they brother and sister? Both of them? Huh.

*These are ALL things people have said to me or Nick!


I think the "hands full" comment aggravates me the most because I hear it so frequently. Yes,, I do have my hands full. Instead of standing like an idiot and gaping at me, why don't you hold the freaking door open!!!

Our formal Christmas photos...

They are getting so big!! I figured this was my last year to dress them up in silly outfits, so I went all out with Alden. I love his little coveralls!