One REALLY bad idea.

So here's what happened yesterday. Let me start with a little explanation that will help you understand everything. The twins have been taking one nap a day for a long time now. The problem is we got stuck taking that nap in the mid morning. It seemed like no matter what I did I couldn't get them to stay awake beyond 10:30 am and I tried going back to 2 naps but that was awful. Mark was so grumpy when I had to wake him up from his morning nap and Elizabeth hated taking a second nap. Then the baby came, we moved...all that change led us to doing whatever we needed to do. My sister came to visit this week and while she was here the twins had no problems staying up later in the morning because they were so distracted by all the fun they were having with their Aunt Meagan! I thought I better keep this going so on Thursday we had a delightful time at Costco and the twins didn't nap until 1:00 pm!! I was feeling good...until yesterday. Friday. They were up early (6 am) and by 9 am they were done and done. I wanted to make it to 11 am so I tried to pull out all the stops to keep them entertained.

Recently I found this AMAZING blog (she also has a facebook page). One of the ideas on her blog was to make these:

I got all the items at a dollar store, ziploc bag, clear hair gel and rubber fishies. Some of you may already see where this is going, unfortunately I did not. Here they are exploring the fun new toy we assembled together. Elizabeth had a hard time separating with the fish and putting them in the bag:

Hence the reason why the first thing she did when she got her hands on it was try to open it, unsuccessfully thank goodness (although with more time I'm sure she would've gotten it):

The first thing Mark did was try to bite it:

Guessed where this is going yet? Right after taking the above picture I walked the camera back to the kitchen counter and came right back in to see Mark. I was gone maybe 8 seconds and in that time he got the bag opened and spilled the contents all over himself, the window and the floor! I was trying really hard not to be upset with him because as we can all see this is all my fault and clearly a REALLY BAD IDEA!!!! What did I expect them to do?! Of course they would want the fish back! Not the most age appropriate toy apparently.

After stripping him down we moved on to snack time in which he then proceeded to stuff food down his diaper:

After that fun clean up, Annie woke up and Mark had a meltdown, total and complete meltdown. I quickly fed her and then decided to get us all outside and for a walk. He cried the entire time and if I disappeared from his sight it got worse! So we get walking and he stops crying and falls asleep, crap. But wait, it gets better...Annie spits up all over me and herself in the Ergo!! We made it 1 block before having to come back! The good news is we made it to 11 am for that nap, the bad news...I picked Friday to start dieting and had no chocolate to drown my stress in!

6 weeks old!

Annie is 6 weeks old (as of yesterday, we had an interesting day, explanation to come)!!!! She is such a good baby, I say that all the time but really she is! She has even started doing some 5-6 hour stretches of sleep at night, I LOVE HER!!!!!! She smiles all the time, only fusses when she's hungry or tired or in the car or when the twins attack her and she still has all her hair with no bald spots yet, haha!!! In fact her hair is getting pretty long and she still loves it when I play with it.

I had a successful 6 week follow up and I am SO GRATEFUL I HAD A VBAC!!!!! My recovery time was amazing, I feel so great and I can't wait to dust off my running shoes, update my play list and get back to working out. I need to be able to keep up with these 3 kids and then some!! The best news is that I am already only 9 pounds away from my pre pregnancy weight, turns out losing weight with just one is much faster than two! BUT......that pre pregnancy weight still had weight from the twins...so I still have a long road ahead to get back to my pre pre pregnancy weight, does that make any sense?! Basically 3 kids in 23 months = a body that's a hot mess!

Anyways, back to the cute business at hand, Annie makes some hilarious faces:

Independence!

I'm having a great time watching Mark and Elizabeth exploring their independence. It's like we're watching their self esteems grow right before our eyes every time they figure out that they can do something all by themselves! The latest one: Oatmeal. I make it to the perfect consistency so that it is the easiest thing to get on their spoon and in their mouths with minimal spillage and they LOVE doing it, Elizabeth is so pleased with herself:

We also bought them their own chairs for the family room and when they woke up in the morning and saw them they were so happy! First of all there is one for each of them (which has resulted in little fighting so far) and they can pick them up and move them wherever they want! I could tell by looking at their faces that they felt pretty grown up having a chair of their own! Best $10 I have spent lately! They had a great time seeing what they could do with these chairs, like sitting on backwards:

Dragging around the room:

Or over the head (no throwing has occured yet):

Elizabeth had to take a break to try and put on Mark's shorts she found. They love to find any piece of clothing and try to put it on like a shirt, they think everything is a shirt or a hat. The other day Elizabeth was so proud of herself for getting a pant leg on her arm!

And finally, the right use of the chair! It's funny to watch them slowly back up to the chair and sit. This morning Mark was reading one of his favorite books in his chair, it was so precious (couldn't get to camera fast enough, darn!):

Firsts for Annie!

Yesterday we went to church for the 1st time since Annie was born! She and the twins did really well!

Here she is in all her glory:

We tried to get pictures of her on the couch but she kept trying to sit up! Crazy girl! Or maybe it's just the weight of her cheeks propelling her forward, that's sure what it looks like in this picture, haha!!!

And finally some smiles captured on film! She has been smiling so good now since last week but every time we brought out the camera she would stop! This is one of my favorites:

Sometimes she doesn't know what to do with her tongue when she smiles, it's so funny!

Awww, I know that's what you're saying to the computer screen right now! She was 5 weeks old on Friday and over the weekend has finally started cooing at us too. She is such a great baby! I was commenting to Mark the other day about how I've left the house without her at least 3 times now...that is something I was not able to do with the twins for months! At first I felt guilty but then I realized this is one of those 'normal' things I missed out on the first time around, haha! Ok, I'll try to stop with all the twin/singleton comparisons, it's just so hard because it's all I know. We love this little girl so much!!!

My first outing!

I ventured out with all 3 kids by myself for the first time last week and it was a success!!!!! All 3 of them did well, phew! I'm used to getting lots of comments with the twins and now the latest one that I hear when we go out is...' I bet you're so happy you only had one this time around!' Yes people, we are.

It has been so cold and rainy here, we had 2 nice days over the weekend and now today we are back to more clouds and rain. I keep seeing summer every where else in the country and I'm convinced it has decided to skip us this year!

Dirt anyone?

We head outside almost every day to let the kids play in the dirt and rocks. Elizabeth still won't get her hands in the dirt, but she loves to dig and move it around with her shovel:

Unless you're a newbie to this blog you know that Mark LOVES his dirt and rocks!!!!

He even tries to bury his leg in dirt at the end of this video:

These two...

Are enjoying making messes:

Elizabeth has become a climber and thinks she's hilarious:

This is what she does when you tell her to smile for the camera...she flinches her eyes waiting for the flash to go off!

And this is what Mark did when we asked him to smile for the camera:

He got his 1st real boy haircut this past weekend! I have been wanting to cut his hair for so long and I have cut it a little here and there but it was in need of some clippers. As soon as I found them after the move we got him in the chair! Here is the before:

During:

And we forgot to take an after because he was freakin out when I started cutting Daddy's hair..but here the twins are after Church playing peek a boo on the chair:

We had french toast for dinner last night and this is what half a piece of bread stuffed in Little Mark's mouth looks like. Sometimes he spits some of out but this time he finished it, I am still amazed at how much food he can fit in that mouth!

Elizabeth is determined to master the fork stab! Both are learning and trying really hard to use their utensils.