mommy moment:: life

I used to.....

Stay out till 2am
Sleep till noon
Do laundry once a month
Clean house once a month
Read books, knit, and lay on the couch for hours at a time
Drink beer, wine, and the occasional cocktail or two (or three, four, and five)
Got dressed up every day, make-up and everything

Now...

I get 2 hours of sleep at a time. 
Bed at midnight, up at 2, 4, 6 and 8 (for real this time)
Clean house EVERYDAY (it neverends)
Laundry EVERYDAY (again, it neverends)
Read baby books and run up and down the stairs umpteen times a day
Drink a whole pot of coffee daily
Dressing up means clean sweats and shirt


Worth it....

To see my boys sleeping in the same room peacefully
To see Kannon give Clark kisses for no reason or real understanding
To see Clark smile big gummy smiles at my sight every morning
To hear Kannon babble in his carseat as though he is talking to us
To hear Kannon laugh as he rolls and growls pretending to be a dog
To get wet, sloppy kisses from both Kannon, the dog, and my husband
To have Kannon bring me a book and sit in my lap with it
To be a mom to two wonderful boys

mommy moments:: bath time

I am amazed somedays at how easy and routine our little life has become.  Most days go off without a hitch, both boys happy and asleep by 8pm.  Those are days when I have help.  Days when Dale is home and can bathe Kannon or Clark or days when visitors are here to help (thanks mom!).  Then there are days when it is just me.  Me. Alone. Alone with two boys who demand to be fed at the same time, bathed, and in bed at 8. 

Things get a bit crazy. 

I find myself trying to soothe two very unhappy boys, juggling dinner and nursing at once, and feeling sweat poor down my face because I am running around frantically trying to keep it together.  But dinner is the easy part. 

Bath time is a whole other story.  Kannon loves his bath time.  Clark loves his bath time.  I can't skip it. It has to happen.  Until Clark is big enough to bathe with Kannon I have to do baths in shifts.  This leaves Kannon screaming because its not his turn (even though he just had a bath) or Clark screaming because his water got a little cold while I was shaking Kannon off my leg. 

Bedtime clearly requires two people.  They both need me and there is only one of me around.  I have tried switching the routine trying to put Clark to bed earlier or vice versa and it doesn't work. 
Somehow my boys are already joining forces trying to make my life a living nightmare. 

They think its funny to see me sweat, panic, fluster.  They think its funny to watch Kannon shove a toothbrush into the VCR because mommy is nursing Clark.  They think its funny to watch Kannon scream because he has decided to reject wearing pajamas or diapers.  Even better, they think its funny to watch Kannon poop in the bathtub, followed by Clark pooping after mommy just cleaned the tub for the umpteenth time. 

Boys.

Cant live with them, cant live without them. 

But by 8pm, Kannon is sleeping in his crib, Clark in his and I fight fatigue.  The 2-hour routine of dinner, bath, and bed leaves me exhausted, covered in food, milk, tub water, and snot.  I have a beer to get the screaming children out of my head and apologize to my VCR. 

I keep hoping that it will get better but a month into this routine I realize that this will always be the game.  Next year, I will be fighting off two toddlers who have decided to reenact Star Wars via my bathtub at my expense.  Its a tough job but somebody has to do it.  

mommy moments:: two

Awhile back I complained about the second child syndrome that had been troubling me.  It seemed that we were all so busy preoccupied with Kannon, life, and other business that we forgot about the second bean in my belly.  While Clark may have gotten slightly ignored while in the womb, he is certainly not ignored now.  Rather, he has become another star in our lives, always bringing a calming air to our insanity.

We are in love.

With Kannon in the care of grandma I spent the week hibernating with my new love.  Already, I have taken note to how different Kannon and Clark are.  Kannon is exuberant, silly, and independent.  From the very beginning Kannon made it clear that he needs his own space.  While Kannon slept the first few weeks away, Clark spends hours awake each day, staring at world, alert and calm.   But really there is no comparison, each child is so different from the other and I love getting to know both of them.

It has been a challenge learning how to balance the two.  Grandma went home yesterday and for the first time I had to tackle getting two kids in and out of the car, fed, bathed, and to bed.  I found myself on the freeway with two kids crying in the back seat singing as loudly as could, if not to calm them, to calm me!  My life has begun to look a little crazy!

While it may be crazy I am in love.  Second time parenting is so beautiful.  It is full of snuggles, cuddles, and kisses without those first time parenting fears that you are doing something wrong.  We are enjoying every moment, knowing how quick it all goes by.

My quiet time with Kannon is all the more precious now.  He is walking more and more, learning how to use puzzles, and push and pull toys.  He is turning one in 11 days and growing up way too fast.

Even Clark is growing too fast!

And 8pm could not come soon enough each day, when Kannon and Clark are both asleep, and I can finally focus on me before I crash into a dreamy abyss.

mommy moments:: like mother, like son

I have grown up eating at restaurants.  Everytime I visited my grandparents, had a relative in town, or went to visit my Dad at work, there was always a restaurant involved.  It is no surprise that I married a man that loves the restaurant industry--food, wine, exceptional service as much as I do.  It is also no surprise that our son is better behaved at a 4-star restaurant table than at ours.

My grandparents always share stories of my baby moments eating out.  The steak I ate, the olives on my fingers,  and number of coffee creamers I drank.  Yes, I used to be addicted to coffee creamers. 

Today, that addiction has transferred to Kannon.  We were stuck in traffic as the Ballard bridge was up and Kannon screaming in the back found a coffee creamer.  Silence.  Giggles.  More silence.  I looked behind me and he was powering through each coffee creamer like it was liquid gold.  He spilled it everywhere and Emma cleaned him up.  He squeezed the creamers as hard as possible and creamer squirted all over the back of my car like a big zit.  Kannon demanded more. 

The coffee creamer addiction has started.  I am hiding them from his little reach and hoping that Seattle restaurants will do the same.  The last thing this baby needs is cream.

mommy moments:: always use a diaper!

Kannon has a habit of waking up with a wet diaper that smells like a locker room.  Dale sometimes gags during diaper changes because the sweaty acidic urine smell is too much at 7 am.  Kannon ate zuchinni and turkey sausage last night and apparently that combination created a fowl aroma that none of us could tolerate.

So off with the diaper.  We decided to give the man some fresh air.

20 minutes had passed and Dale and I both forgot that Kannon was crawling around diaperless on our friends floor.  Then, we heard it.  The grunting, the red face, the stillness.  Kannon was pooping.  Before Dale and I had time to realize what was going on and slap a diaper on, Kannon pooped on the floor.

Sorry Hanna and Ian.  We cleaned it up and you would never know, but today, Kannon pooped on your floor.  Oops.

mommy moment #4:: toenails and formula

You know you are pregnant, too busy for words, and amidst chaos when you slice your son's foot with *ouch* your own toenail.  I know its gross.  I need a pedicure.  Furthermore, I need to clip my nails and I cant reach them!!!! 

Also, you know you are a mom when you pour formula in your coffee and forget to put the nipple on a bottle.  Sheeeze.  What a morning!