Shadow Shot Sunday

My Shadow Shot for the week is another from the archives dating back to Janury 2009.  Hugo and I were visiting my sister Millie and her family at their home in Oceanside, California.  It was a marvelous trip.  Warm, warm sunshine and fresh fruit straight off the trees.  I remember being so sad that Cesar wasn't with us to share in all the beauty, warmth, and fun.  Anyhoo, this picture is of my niece Miss Emry who was lost in play amongst the shadows of the orange grove.

Please join in the Shadow Shot fun and pop on over to Hey Harriet's blog here.

Escapees

I took the kitchen trash out to the can while I made pumpkin soup and had my own french bread baking in the oven.  Good multi-tasking I thought until... I spied me some escapees of the short and wobbly kind!  I suppose that I didn't shut the door all the way due to the fact that my trip outdoors was going to be so short and also because it was a balmy 54 degrees out.  I should have known better though, the girls don't miss a beat as to my whereabouts.  Goodness, outside the sun was beaming down and it felt glorious and I stood there, next to the trash can, soaking it into my congested body.  Coming around the corner of the house I stopped short in my tracks as I spied our two girls standing side by side in the half open door way.  They looked so cute!  And strange.  We've spent so little time outdoors, the girls and I, that it doesn't seem natural to see them in this setting.  A few more weeks, some size 4 rubber boots, and I'll be singing a new outdoor tune!

Sabine & Marlo

The Tummy Game

 

Hugo has had a fascination with stuffing things into his shirt, and jammies, for a long, long time.  Slowly, he forgot about the tummy game, but recently, it has reappeared in our lives.

How to Play the Tummy Game instructions by Hugo

You have to put stuffed animals, you can't put hard animals in your shirt, if you do that it will hurt your tummy so you have to take it out.  And some animals you always have to put soft animals in your shirt because they're so soft, that's why you have to put them in your shirt.  When it's night, I put them in my sweaters and I like them better in my jammies.  You have to play sisters not brothers you pretend that you are an animal and you eat meat animals.  And you have to play that game and if you don't play that game then I'm not playing the tummy game for a hundred or four days!  You have to put the brown blanket first then the green blanket on top and when it's morning then the other blankets on top of the green blanket.

After preschool the girls generally fall asleep in their car seats as we drive home.  After I've carried them one by one up to their cribs, Hugo and I have lunch.  Lunch for Hugo is either a peanut butter with honey sandwich (Hugo asked me last night as I stoked the fire why Papa calls me Honey), or a ham and cheese sandwich.  Hugo would like to eat 3 - 4 peanut butter & honey sandwiches a day.  After lunch I like to crash on the couch while Hugo plays Lego Star Wars.  Once the girls are up, the TV is turned off and Hugo plays with his cowboys or wrestles with the girls or sneaks up to his room to play the tummy game.  I have grown to like the tummy game because in no time, I hear silence from up above.  Tip toeing up the stairs I push open his bedroom door to discover him with a tummy full of stuffed animals and crashed out cold on either his bed or the floor.  Lots of times, he has even covered himself up with his green blanket.  It is part of the game you know.

And every now and then, I play the tummy game too.  This makes Hugo super happy!

House Of Sickness

I dressed the girls today, not Hugo or myself, so here's to day 3 in my jammies.  And yes, all three of my kids are being mesmerized by the amazing, mesmerizing powers of Nihao Kia Lan on the TV in the above photo.  I needed to make dinner, please don't judge.  Actually, I was shocked that the girls remained on the couch as long as they did!  So far from TV land, only the Backyardigans theme song has captured their attention.  The girls are now sleeping  for the night and in 9 minutes, so will Hugo.  Nighty, night!

Shadow Shot Sunday

We are all sick today.  No fun is happening here.  Our pockets are stuffed with tissues, our throats are dry and scratchy while layered with goopy Vicks, and we have dark circles under our eyeballs.  But, this photo make me happy!

Happy Shadow Shot Sunday to you!  Follow along here to see more shadows over at Hey Harriet's blog.

Sick Kiddos

The kids and I are all sick.  Boo hoo hoo for us!  I think I have yucky sinus issues and I'm thinking the kids do also.  We're talking noses which run like open faucets and for the girls, goopy eyes with crusty lashes and bedhead hair stuck to cheeks, eyelids, and foreheads with globs of dried and smeared snot.  Trouble is, the girls can't take any medicine to help dry out their noses and ease their scratchy throats, they're beginning to bark like baby seals.  Their moods swing back and forth by the half hour between happy selves and clingy, grumpy monster babies.  This is a hard time being a Momma to twins.  I cried on the couch for a good 20 minutes this afternoon while Marlo and Sabine each through fits because they didn't want to share me.  It just plain sucked. 

Last night Marlo woke up at 1:30am crying.  I sleep shuffled into the room to cover her up and insert a shoosh into her mouth.  This would have been the normal routine, but something was different, her breathing was labored and scratchy sounding and sorta all over the place.  I held her and tried to sooth her to no avail, I said a little prayer.  I was fully awake now and growing a little scared.  Did I need to take her to the hospital?  Cesar was out of town, should I call him?  Who would I call to stay with Sabine and Hugo if I left with Marlo?  Then the thought of hot, moist air came into my mind and I brought her into the bathroom for a little steam with me.  I was surprised how welcoming the steam was to my own lungs and throat.  We sat and sat together upon the covered toilet seat.  She cuddled into me and only opened her eyes to peep up at me every so often as she sucked upon her shoosha. 

The night before, I went into the girls room to cover them up one last time before I climbed between my own sheets.  I went first to Marlo's crib to settle her.  I am always filled with a beautiful, peaceful feeling as I gaze down at her chubby, little figure.  I want so to scoop her up and kiss her, but I refrain.  Then, a noise.  It came from Sabine's crib.  As I turned my love filled eyes away from Miss Marlo I spied Sabine rising to a sitting up position in the middle of her crib, and then, she barfed and then blink, blink, blinked at me and then started to cry and paw at stinky her mouth.  Poor thing. 

Hugo has been fine until late this afternoon.  His voice is off and he's a wee bit sniffly.  What, o what, I wonder will happen tonight?  Hopefully a whole lot of Zzzzzzzzzzzs, from all 5 of us!

Tonight Stunk

It began stinking around 4:30pm and got stinkyer and stinkyer right on up to the girls bedtime of 7pm.  I'm not sure what happened.  I can tell you, that it began with Miss Marlo.  She was awesome all day and then, and then, I just don't know what happened.  Down hill fast I tell ya.  Midway through dinner, Sabine joined in the fussiness parade which escalated to full on freak out quite quickly.  The time now is 8:34pm and thank heavens, I can almost laugh about it all.

The hardest part about the two baby meltdown is that my arms just aren't long enough.  I'm not so coordinated to successfully have both girls on my lap with an arm around each and be able to pat them in a soothing manner at the same time.  My patting rhythm gets all thrown off and wonky and then before I know it my left hands quits while my right hand keeps on going.  Then I feel awful.  Does my subconscious mind love one girl over the other so that it messes with my hand patting rhythm?  Could this be?  Golly I hope not.  While one girl was doing her best to snuggle into my chest as she sat on my lap, the other was trying to climb me while resting her head on my shoulder, I will not name names as to which was which, for fear of future blame upon my mothering ways from the girls.  And my glider, which was such a treasure during Hugo's infancy right on up to the point where my pregnant belly would no longer allow room on my lap for his skinny person, is of no use anymore.  1 Momma + 2 Girls + a book = no room on a glider rocking chair.  So sad.

In the meantime, Hugo was pestering me with questions a mile a minute.  Usually, I pride myself on my ability to keep up with his never ending stream on questions mixed with nonsense, but tonight I was bordering on zero.  Tapped out.  So, I think I muttered something about his possibly not talking for, like forever.  No!  Really it wasn't that bad.  Maybe I asked him to not talk for at least 30 minutes.  No!  Just kidding!  It did boil down to his realizing I was a fried Momma and then he started talking about how it's really hard having two baby sisters.  How sometimes he wishes that Heavenly Father only sent us one girl.  This woke me up.  I told Hugo as simply as possible, that no matter how hard two babies can be at times, I would never, ever wish for one of our girls to not be here.  Hugo said, "Mom, when you get the wood and I play with the girls, it's really hard when one baby goes up the stairs and the other baby goes down the stairs!"  I told him that I agreed. 

Ending on a positive note, the girlies are saying Momma.  Well, babyish versions of Momma.

Miracle of Miracles

As I gave Evie the Cat the boot out the door this morning, I heard a flock of birds singing.  Really, it was like a bird chorus out there.  I think my husband might be right, spring finally is around the corner.

P.S.  Marlo says "sha" for her shoosha and she says "sock".  Marlo also makes a spider for the Itsy Bitsy Spider song.  Sabine is stuck on "uh-oh".

Sunday Morning

Cesar let me sleep in this morning which was nice, but then we missed the first hour of church.  Hugo informed me that he was "not going to church and I'm serious Mom."  I answered that he was going and I was serious too!  He told me that, "Sacrament is too long.  There are too many songs and it's boring."  I said, "Well, isn't it your lucky Sunday then.  We are missing Sacrament right now, but get dressed because you are going to Primary!"  It was a miracle that he didn't fight me about getting dressed.  It was actually smooth sailing all the way fast forward to the end of third hour.  Today was the Relief Society Visiting Teaching Conference and our meeting was nearly through when into the room burst Hugo looking for me.  He quickly handed off an item his teacher had given him to me so he could run, hands free as a bird, through the halls.  Reverence in the Chapel is not a virtue Hugo is in possession of.

Shadow Shot Sunday

This photo was taken last year at the start of spring.  I must admit that I can't wait to see the yellow blooms of the forsythia once more.  Spring, oh spring.... I'm right here waiting for you!

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Dressed In White

It snowed, again.  I hadn't kept up with the weather this week and as I opened the curtains in the nursery this morning, I was a bit shocked.  More snow!  I asked Hugo if he'd looked outside yet.  His response was of great annoyance as he muttered how he wants it to be warm when he plays outside.  He like the part about there being no school.  I felt bad for him.  He really hasn't had much fun in the snow this year.  It has been too deep for his short person and I have been stuck inside with the girls.  I could have made it more fun.  I really could have.  Next year will be the year of family fun in the snow.  Promise.  I just hope it will snow!  Next year that is, we really could use a break for the rest of the season.  I am worried where all this snow melt will go this coming spring.

Bathtub Watch Dogs

A sad story was told to me about a local woman whose baby drowned in the the bathtub a few weeks ago.  Supposedly, the mother left her child to answer the telephone.  I don't know more than this, nor do I care to fill my head with any more details of this tragedy.  But, I have thought of the poor mother.  And I've thought about how lucky I am to be a momma to three beautiful, bright children.  The thought of my girls in the bathtub brings a smile to my face because there is no way on God's green earth that Marlo and Sabine would even consider the slightest possibility of my leaving the bathroom while they are in the tub.  If I even make for the direction of the bathroom door, no matter how engrossed they are with bubbles and toys, they'll both jump, bolt up right and bellow at the top of their lungs while clinging to the side of the cast iron tub in dreadful fear of my leaving the room.  They don't act this way in any other room in the house.  Ever.  Only while they are in the bathtub and only if I seem to make for the doorway.  They're my bathtub watch dogs, not gonna allow their Momma to make a mistake.  I'm glad someone is watching out for me.