A Day In My Shoes

A little insight into my world. This is how a typical day for me goes...

5:00-5:30am: Somewhere in this time frame my husband's alarm clock goes off. I wake up, roll over, and attempt to go back to sleep. I usually get woken up again when he kisses me goodbye but that is something worth being woken up for. Then I try to go back to sleep again for a few more minutes. 

6:00-6:30am: Lily comes downstairs and gets in my bed and snuggles with me while I watch a few minutes of the news. 

6:30am: We go upstairs, I make bottles for the twins, and get Lily some breakfast. Then I go to the third floor (townhouses and all the stairs SUCK) to get the babies, who are already awake and playing in their cribs. I get one in each arm and bring them down to the main floor. I change their diapers and they drink their bottles, Lily eats her breakfast, and I make my coffee. I feed the doggies and let them outside. 

7:00-9:00am: The kids watch cartoons and play together on the floor with toys while I check emails, Facebook, or blog. 

9:00-9:30am: Time to get the girls dressed and ready for the day!! This takes about a half hour. I make the twins another bottle and they drink it while I get Lily dressed and do her hair (doing her hair can be quite an ordeal as she has long curly hair and it gets tangled very easily. She absolutely hates having her hair brushed and usually throws a fit while I'm trying to make her look half decent). Then I struggle to get my wiggle worm twins dressed and change their diapers. 

10:00-11:00am: Emma and Zoey go down for their morning nap and I jump in the shower, get dressed, and dry my hair.   Lily usually complains that she is hungry in this time frame so I make her a snack. I also try to get some cleaning done in this hour, usually vacuuming and a load of laundry at the very least. 

11:00-12:00pm: As soon as the babies wake up around 11am they want a bottle so I make them one, change diapers, let them play for about 20 minutes, and then feed them some baby food. Lily likes to help me feed them. Although this is very sweet of her, it most often results in baby food flying and spilling everywhere. So, after I clean everyone and everything up, I make Lily some lunch and get ready to head out to a friends house or go for a walk, or anything that gets us out of the house for a bit. I pack up the twins diaper bag, trying to remember everything that they could possibly need, but inevitably, I almost always forget something. 

12:00-3:00pm: We play with friends or go run some errands. If we go to a store, I have to maneuver a double stroller and a shopping cart through the isles by myself. This is harder than it sounds. We get many looks and people often stop me to check out the twins, ask me a million questions, or joke with Lily about being a big sister and helping mommy. Although these people mean well and are very nice, it almost doubles the time it takes to go anywhere and get stuff done. During this time the babies usually take a nap, whether it's on the floor of a friends house, or in the car as we are driving around. They drink another bottle and they get another diaper change too. Sometimes we do stay home all day, in which case the babies take a longer afternoon nap in their cribs.

3:00-4:00pm: Kids play while we wait for daddy to get home. We usually read a book and sing a song or two. Then, we work on ABC's and numbers or color/paint. Twins get a diaper change and a bottle. I let the dogs outside. 

4:00-6:00pm: Jeremy gets home from work around 4pm and after sitting down for a few minutes, he plays with the kids for a bit while I do some chores or just go outside for a 5-10 minute break. Then he takes Lily for a walk or we all just hang out together for awhile. 

6:00-6:45pm: We make and eat dinner and then clean up/wash dishes. Twins get a diaper change and a bottle and/or some baby food. The dogs also get fed and let out. 

6:45-8:00pm: Bed time routine. The kids get baths, brush teeth, and we read a bedtime story together. I put the twins to sleep in their cribs and Lily picks out a movie. She watches a movie before going to bed every night. She rarely makes it through the entire movie before falling asleep though. 

8:00-10:30pm: Jeremy and I finally get some "adult time". We talk and watch tv together. I do a load of laundry and finish up some chores, check emails, and try to catch up with friends and family through Facebook, texting, emails, phone calls, etc. I also try to do a little reading before passing out. 

11:00-5:00am: Sweet, sweet sleep! Lily sometimes comes downstairs in our room and tries to get in bed with us or she just grabs a pillow and blanket and sleeps on the floor with the dogs. The twins, thankfully, sleep through the night. And then the whole process starts all over again!

This is just a typical day for us. Not every day goes as smoothly as this. There are melt downs, tantrums, days that we don't feel good, special events, etc. However, 90% of the time, this is pretty darn accurate. 

What is your day like? 

I've got birthdays on the brain.

Yesterday my husband's cousin's baby girl had her first birthday party. It was super cute and it was something I'd never seen done before...a breakfast birthday party at 10am. I was way late of course, nothing new there, but the theme was so cute. Here is the invitation...

Zoey got ahold of it and chewed off the right corner a bit. The invitations were all hand made and the party colors were all done in the "Tiffany's" blue and white. We were all encouraged to come dressed in our best pearls as it says on the invite and everyone looked great! And check out this cake!

We also got "Tiffany's" look alike jewelry boxes with candy bracelets inside as our gift for attending. The whole thing was just adorable and it got me thinking about my own children's upcoming birthday parties. 

Lily's actual birthday is May 11th, which also happens to be Mother's Day this year so we decided to have her party the weekend after. She is obsessed with Cinderella so we are throwing her a princess party. The big surprise is that Cinderella herself will be attending. I can't wait to see Lily's face when she meets her idol. We've never hired an actor for a birthday party before but I've been to other parties where they had a princess come and it was great. All I need to do now is figure out the food/snacks, get a cake and decorations, and put together some gift bags. Ok, I have a lot more to do than I thought but at least I still have 2 weeks to do it. 

Emma and Zoey's birthday isn't until September 3rd but that didn't stop me from thinking about their first birthday party. I looked up some themes online and the three I like the best so far are:

Sugar & Spice

2 peas in a pod

Thing 1 & Thing 2

All of which are very common themes. 

My search will continue and maybe I'll come up with something a little more original. If anyone who reads this has any ideas at all, please feel free to let me know!

Until then...Pinterest here I come! 

We made it!!

6 Months!! My twins just turned 6 months old and we are all still alive and (almost) sane. I knew that having twins would be hard, I just didn't realize it would be "I can't take anymore and want to jump out a window" hard.

When they were only a month or two old I frequently had these thoughts: "Why me!?! I never wanted twins. This isn't fair! I didn't ask for this. I wouldn't wish this on my worst nightmare"...and so on. I also greatly envied women who had singleton babies around the twins' age. I would see other moms with their babies out and about and get so jealous. People would tell me how lucky and blessed I am and how they wished that they had twins and I wanted to punch them in the face! THIS is not lucky I would think.... THIS is torture.

Then on top of taking care of the twins, I had my oldest daughter, Lily, to take care of. Sometimes she made life easier by helping here and there and sometimes she made life more difficult by acting out for attention. Overall though, I couldn't ask for a better big sister for my girls. Lily loves her sisters so much and has adjusted so well to having to share mommy and daddy after having us to herself for 3 years.
And the twins, Emma and Zoey, are also very good babies. I really shouldn't complain. I will say though that I am thrilled that we are finally at the 6 month point... and I never ever want to go through having newborn twins ever again.

Oh, its still very hard and I still want to jump out a window some days but at least we are on more of a schedule now. At least they sleep through the night now and at least we have now accepted the craziness and chaos that is our family.

6 months down...a lifetime to go!
Happy half birthday Emma and Zoey!!

A Little About Me and the Mini Monsters I Created.

Hello there. I'm Crystal and I have no idea why I just started a blog. I suppose it's more of an online diary. I certainly shouldn't be giving advice to anyone considering I have no idea what I'm doing half the time. Anyway, I am 26 years old and have three little girls. I think God was punishing me for my teenage years because not only do I have all girls, I was blessed (ha!) with TWINS last year. Don't get me wrong I love them to death but whew! it's so much work. There have been many times that I contemplated running away. I have been with my husband for 8 years and married for 2 of those years. Marriage is hard. Jeremy is a carpenter/handy man and works a ton of hours in order to support us so I spend a lot of time alone. Well not completely alone...I have my kids to talk to. It's riveting conversation. For me, that is the hardest part of being a stay at home mom...not having adults to talk to on a regular basis. Most of the time I have no idea what's going on in the "real world" but I could tell you all about "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", potty training, and nursery rhymes. Thank goodness for Facebook. It keeps me updated on the big news stories and all the juicy gossip about my friends and family. Plus I get to see what everyone is having for dinner, all the events that I'm missing out on, and who is having a birthday today. Heck, I may even get lucky and read about someone's bowel movements. I admit it, I'm a Facebook junkie. And who wouldn't be with all of that crucial information at your fingertips.

My mini monsters are Lily (3 1/2) and the twins, Emma & Zoey (4 months). They are all cute as a button and annoying as hell all at the same time. Lily doesn't stop talking...ever! And her questions are endless. Although she drives me absolutely insane, she often makes me laugh. The stuff that comes out of her mouth is hilarious and I am frequently caught off guard by how smart she is. Lily is also the most loving child I have ever met. She is constantly giving hugs, kisses, and cuddles and I love it!
Emma & Zoey...well what can you really say about a 4 month old. They eat, sleep, and poop. Zoey is a drama queen and is usually the fussier one and Emma is very laid back most of the time. They are fraternal twins (we think-different doctors tell us different things but they had two sacs, two placentas, etc.) but they look ALOT alike. Their daddy still cant tell them apart and even I get them confused from time to time. We were shocked when we learned we were having twins, but I'll tell that story another time.

Well, those are the main characters in this chapter of my life story. Most of the time my life is pure chaos but every now and then, I stop and look around and realize that the life I lead is actually quite charmed. We have a roof over our heads, food to eat, and all the love in the world for each other.

CHARMED
adjective
1. (of a person's life) unusually lucky or happy as though protected by magic.
Synonyms: charm, beguile, bewitch, captivate, enchant, entrance², fascinate

CHAOS
noun
1. complete disorder and confusion
Synonyms: mayhem, disarray, havoc, turmoil, commotion, disruption

Thanks for stopping by my page! I hope you will enjoy reading about my crazies and our shenanigans. Feel free to leave any comments or just drop a line to say, Hi! Have an awesome day everyone.