It started as 4 under 4

This is not photoshopped. We really did this. Even Darth Vadar...

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:26:00 -0400

This is not photoshopped. We really did this. Even Darth Vadar was there.

Going Urban

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:51:59 -0400

I have always lived in the Northwest. Not always in the rain necessarily. Pullman during the college years and Central Oregon for the past nine are certainly different than our hometown alma maters: Seattle (me) and Portland (Jon). Central Oregonians refer to all areas west of the Cascades as “The Valley.” We are Valley kids at our core. Translation: Very used to the gray and the moist (hate that word, moist, but whatever).

BUT, one thing I love about being a Northwesterner, especially a “Valley” kid, is when the sun comes out, everything drops and you absolutely “carpe diem” (“seize the day”). We had no idea when we planned to go to Seattle that the sun would decide to shine on us and we would be able to “carpe diem” to it’s fll capacity!

I visited Seattle for a weekend a month or so ago when I was solo from my family (and went a little overboard on the happy hours), but my time there made me long to go back with the whole fam damnly. It’d been over a year since my husband, my children and I have made it back to my hometown roots of Seattle. I missed it, and the people there. Yes, I know we have had an unusual amount of insanity going on. Yes, we have too many children to smoothly make a voyage like this, but that’s no excuse! People we love have never met our baby boys, aunts and uncles and grandparents need to see the bigger kids and hear their cute little voices before the become teenagers. Regardless of the hassle, we don’t want our family’s size/ages to get in the way of living life. At least not ALL of the time.

So we decided to come to Seattle for Mother’s Day. My mom (aka “Tutu”) was going to be up here with her other children (I know, amazing she has other kids—we sort of “hog” her right now). The biggest hurdle to coming up for a weekend these days is we are too damn big to just crash at someone’s house anymore. My kids would overrun anywhere we’d stay and I wouldn’t want to put anyone I love through that. We have officially graduated: We now need to get a hotel (with a pool of course!) when we go on vacation.

Now, parents who have tried to do the hotel thing with young kids, it’s hard. Can suck actually. When your kids nap, your trapped in your room, trying to be quiet and still with the heavy hotel room blackening curtains drawn. Same deal at night—your kids go to bed at 7 or 8pm, and again, you’re trapped. You all have to sleep in one room, so when one is up in the middle of the night or at 5am, everyone is up. Plus you have no kitchen so you end up doing all meals out, which is a pain in the butt with littles. Not to mention expensive.

How to combat this: Well, Jon and I are almost at the point where we don’t care about being trapped in a dark room in the middle of the day or early in the evening because we are so frickin tired ourselves. We want to sleep too! We’ve learned to sleep babies in the closet (or bathroom) so they don’t wake everyone else up. We are up at 5 or 6am anyway. And we pack all our own food and snacks so kids are pretty much taken care of on stuff they’ll actually eat. Then we just get to treat ourselves. Still, to make it more pleasant for all, we booked two adjoining hotel rooms—my mom in one, our fam in the other. We put a twin in each of the closets, Sam shared a bed with me, Alice with Jon, a grandma next door to help if it gets nuts—perfect. Plus you can put kids to bed and have another room to hang out it. Or even sneak down to the hot tub with my husband once kids are asleep (leaving them with Tutu of course, thanks Mom!). It’s not a bad set up, and worth the money, especially if it has a pool.

As you can imagine growing up in Seattle in a big family myself (four kids), I have never stayed downtown. Well, my wedding night I guess. But really never had to stay in the heart of the city. I had no idea where to start. Can I just say how amazing the Internet is?! Went to Hotwire, plunked in my specifications (area we wanna be in, pool, not one star, etc) and how much I wanted to pay, and “go”. Tada!! Here’s your hotel: Warwick Hotel in downtown Seattle.

Generally, we are pretty simple—like a Motel 6 kinda caliber, what with all of the kids, and so forth. Well it turns out to be a WAY nicer hotel than my family should really be in. This hotel was in Belltown, a pretty upscale part of Seattle right near the Seattle Center and Space Needle. It’s right in the heart of downtown. We really had no right to be there.

Example: My mom, who drove her own car up with Alice, and chose to do valet (I know, valet, so not our league). So as I am checking us in, the bellhop rolls in the cart with the luggage from her car and on it are two port-a-cribs, two Bumbo baby seats, a bright green suitcase that looks like a dinosaur, and a pink plastic Leap Frog toy picnic basket that sings when you open it. Oh, and her water wing floaty was hanging from the coat rack rail. Wow. We are not the typical cliental for an upscale downtown hotel. But hey, they have a pool, so fair game.

Jon of course was too cheap to pay the bellhop, so I rolled up our double stroller packed with kids carrying a baby in a front lack of course, and Jon hauled up our gear, including a cooler. Yes, we brought a cooler to a 3-star hotel. We make our way to the 14th floor with our campout gear and turns out we have a stellar view! Out our window is the Space Needle in all it’s glory! What a life: We drank Coors Light from the market across the street and dolled out string cheese and juice cups and/or bottles to our kids as we enjoy our million-dollar view for $85/night. Classy, eh? You go Hotwire!

People stared at us everywhere we went. I can only imagine that a man wearing a baby standing next to a woman slso wearing a baby and pushing two other relatively small people is sort of out of the ordinary on the urban sidewalks of downtown Seattle. People like us are out there in the world, but we are more likely to be at a Costco in the Burbs, not sightseeing at Pike Place Market. But it was fun! It kinda makes me smile inside to see people starring at us and counting on their hands, or saying, “are these all yours!?”

Probably the highlight for me was meeting up with my family on Saturday at the Greenlake. We decided to meet at Spuds, a greasy 50s-style fish joint my family loved, especially my dad. Nice and kid-friendly.

Here’s what was so cool—four generations were represented. We were a big group, 15 of us! From our 8-mos old twins to my almost 90-year-old grandfather (my dad’s dad and my children’s only living great grandparent left), and lots of aunts and uncles and siblings in between. Even my pseudo grandmother Blanche who can’t hear so well, but cuddled our babies with such sweetness. It’s amazing how babies can bring so much joy, and it was such a mother’s day gift to me to see my four children brighten the faces of four generations of people I love very much. As I looked around that family gathering on an unexpectedly beautiful Seattle day out at Greenlake, a mountain of fried fish in front of us, people laughing and smiling and commenting about which kid looks like which relative, aunts and great aunts and uncles and great uncles talking with each other and playing with my kids, I actually started to well up a bit: “My dad would have so been here today, and he would have loved this,” I thought. “I wish he was here, dammit.”

All in all, it was the perfect Mother’s Day gift for me—a fantastic weekend. Yes, there hard moments like walking down 4th avenue with a screaming Max Ergo-d to my back (an Ergo is a baby carrier, FYI). Or Sam getting scratched a bit by my sister’s cat (hey, a good lesson to think twice before wrestle-petting a kitty). Or locking all four kids in the suburban and Jon and myself out at our gas stop on the way home (thank you Lord it was a warm enough day that Jon’s window was down). But there were great moments too, like our twins sleeping in closets and closing them up for the night (aka shutting the closet door). Like all four kids in swimsuits (and three in swim diapers!) with their floaties and waterwings and animal towels in the hotel elevator of our swanky hotel. Like my four-year-old exercising his first pick-up line on the playground (“Uhh, do you like Empire Strikes Back”? he says to an older girl who starred at him, then turned and ran away).

I still think a successful vacation at this stage of life is a vacation that is more fun moments than hard moments, and this short weekend trip fit that description. Even with all of the stares.

More Seattle trip pics. This is what we look like as we travel...

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:24:00 -0400

More Seattle trip pics. This is what we look like as we travel these days.

View from our hotel room!

Mon, 14 May 2012 08:25:00 -0400

View from our hotel room!

My mom just sent me this: My dad (who passed away in 2007) with...

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:13:00 -0400

My mom just sent me this: My dad (who passed away in 2007) with my sister, toddler Anna-Lisa (or as my kids call her, “Auntie Lisa”). It’s probably 1983 (love the red Osh Kosh) and my Dad’s hauling my baby sis in the trusty red wagon.

And yes my dad is too cool for school. Hilarious. Are we gonna look this funny to our kids 30 years after the fact? Yes, yes we are. The fact that my dad is almost exactly my age in this photo is crazy. While I don’t have a leather coat on today with a popped collar, I’m sure my kids will someday make fun of the silver sparkly Tom’s I bought yesterday (although right now they think they’re AWESOME, so there!).

Yeah little ole wagon. I remember you so well. Mine is plastic, not wood, but same concept: It contains!

This is as cute if not cuter in person than in a photo.

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:16:26 -0400

This is as cute if not cuter in person than in a photo.

The Wagon Container

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:14:00 -0400

It’s May. Can you believe it? I cannot. But when I think about it, it does feel like we’ve had a lot of rain, a lot of cold, a lot of sweaters…shouldn’t it be spring already? And like a turtle emerging from its shell, like a bear coming out of hibernation from a long winter, like a mom of infants beginning to come out of the fog, we are beginning to re-enter the world again. Beginning! And it’s a slow, timid sort of reentry. But it’s spring. The sunshine is helping the transition. Warmer weather. No coats to put on your kids before they go outside. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sorta.

I am a full believer in the one year rule: It may have only taken you nine months to make that baby (babies, whatever), nine months to go from your normal self to a giant house with legs (or in a bed as it was for me), but I am a firm believer that it takes you at LEAST a year to sort of become a normal human again. We are not there yet. My babies are only 8 months. We still got some time. Do not be fooled by the teeth.

Yes, the twins have teeth now and two babies teething is really really horrible actually. Like dueling banjos moaning throughout the night. It’s sad. But also harder to be sympathetic at 2:39am, and 3:14am, and 3:45am, etc. We have also been hit by a cold bug—eyes crusted shut upon wake up for all four kids, one after another. And may I say, being a mom of four kids is really hard, but being a mom of four SICK kids with teething twins mixed in is remarkably harder.

Regardless, it is May, and we are trying to get out here and there. I have been in the house far more than is good for Kristin’as spirits (I am a go-go girl extrovert and like to be OUT). Too much Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse & Nate Berkus Show gets to me. Time to get out.

Now, getting out with four 4 and under is not easy. I can’t do very many things alone. One of the things I CAN do by myself is the McDonalds playground 1 mile from my house. Well, sorta. It’s contained, they can’t run away like at a park or mall or something. But I can’t very well help my 2-year-old when she gets stuck in a slide way up there while leaving my babies on a dirty disgusting floor. So even that is a little challenging depending on if Alice is having an independent 2-year-old day or a “I need Mommy” 2-year-old day.

Simply getting in the car is a feat of strength. Buckling the two big kids into their carseats in the back, then hefting up the two infant car seats into the captain chair seats in the middle. 8 mos olds are heavy, especially in a carseat, and especially with two. Who needs a gym.

Because of the move, we haven’t been able to park the suburban in the garage. Now, we didn’t have a garage in Sisters (we converted our garage into the playroom). And then in our rental our garage was filled with boxes (and was down two flights of stairs in the split level). Blah. So I have lived without a garage for a long while. Thought it’d be no big deal. Well, it’s a big deal. Getting the kids into the car with clothes in the rain and getting them belted was like a half hour project. Something needed to change as it’s now spring, now time to emerge. Didn’t help that the people who lived in our new home somehow lived WITHOUT AN AUTOMATIC GARAGE DOOR OPENER! What the heck?!?! So we have a garage, it’s actually not filled with boxes BUT we were having to manually open the door. Not gonna work.

So my wonderful husband went and bought an automatic garage door opener and installed it himself. Can you believe it?!? I was so proud. We pushed all of the trikes and bikes (with training wheels) and scooters and ride-in cars etc to the side and got ‘er it. Jon helped me build two shoe cubbies to line the wall, each that holds 15 shoes (we have a lot of kids so need a lot of cubbies) and we put about 30 hooks on the wall for all of the coats. I tell ya, running around to 3 kids rooms to find matching shoes and a coat/sweatshirt that will somewhat match for 4 kids was killing me. Then heave that damn garage door open.

Well now we’re golden. The shoes are all nestled so snug in their beds while visions of coats we can find danced in Mom’s head. It’s a beautiful thing. I am a sucker for the Container Store (although IKEA’s a little more my price range).

And that automatic door opener is my FAVORITE thing in the world! Pressing that button, seeing the door rise on my command…?! I cannot explain to you how life changing and wonderful this is to me. And a clean garage with a car in it. I think I can make it another day.

Because we are so organized (ha), and because it’s spring (time to begin to get out), I decided to sign up for the spring bible study at our new church. I need to meet some women. They have childcare provided (that right there is motivation to go). I would go even if its just so I can go to the bathroom by myself! But two hours with other women talking about life and God while my kids get tired enough to take stellar naps…um, please, sign me up.

The first time I went was three weeks ago, and because I have not gone very many places by myself, I had a bit of a crisis. So as I was loading the car I paused to think: How the heck am I gonna get all four of these kids across a parking lot and into their classes by myself? When we’ve been to church on Sundays, Jon’s been with me. Twice the amount of hands, arms and fingers to grab with. When we’ve gone to the store, often someone is with me and/or I have a shopping cart in which to contain the kids. Now, I have a double stroller WITH a glider board, but I tell ya, it takes me like ten minutes to load that thing! (each twin out of infant seat, strap one twin on my body, one in stroller on one side, Alice on the other side, Sam on the glider board, locked & loaded). So it is doable, but kinda a pain when all I have to do is get in the building to deliver them to their appropriate class. Because I am cheap, I never bought a stroller that two car seats can clip on. One more giant expense I did not want to make seeing as these kids are our last (yes, we are done, at least if we have anything to say about it).

So how to organize the children? How to contain them? What aisle of the Container Store has a container to get a mom and four kids some place smoothly by 9:30am? Then as if a bolt of lightning hit my head, I had an epiphany…

My mom had four kids. Slightly more spread out (oldest and youngest were about 7 years apart, but still). What did she do? But I remembered that she occasionally would put the red wooden wagon in the back of her suburban and use that to haul us all around (especially remember this when we went to the fair). It worked great. Whatever kid was tired or lazy could sit in there whereas with a stroller, there’s a lot more straps and buckles. What if I used our Radio Flyer wagon to haul the kids into Bible Study?

So three weeks ago, I tried it out. Worked awesome. I put one car seat with the sleeping infant in the wagon, Alice sat on the other half, I strapped on a baby, and Sam helped me pull. Genius. Kids loved it. Two days later had a doc appointment for twins, realized I can stick BOTH car seats in the wagon! Works like a charm! And people think it’s cute. Got many compliments at the pediatric office. Why didn’t I think of this sooner!?!?

So thus it has become our transportation when I don’t wanna take a quarter of an hour load up the stroller—when we don’t need to “stroll” but basically just need to get from Point A to Point B. Took the big kids to swim at the pool and put two Bumbo seats in the wagon (yes, two Bumbos also fit in there) and sat the twins in there so they could see everything. Kids wanna ride bikes in the street and need Mom’s watching eye? Not a problem! Plop twins in wagon and chase the bigger kids around on their wheels. Drop a bunch of toys in there. They loved. It’s frickin adorable (as you can see above).

So yesterday, it’s Tuesday, it’s May, we’re getting out, getting ready to go to Bible Study. Our one big Mommy solo outing for the week. I have jewelry on because this is the only thing I am gonna do this week, hence let’s celebrate! Put a necklace on!

I’ll close with this: Loading up the wagon to get to the church (dream of the 1890s is alive in Portland), and my bigger children run into the room. They’ve been surprisingly quiet as I have been getting ready for our outing…

Well, see below: Apparently the devil made me do it. And I think the devil would really be Sam, dressing up his sisters as a devil. I didn’t even know we had a devil costume! Darth Vadar and She-Devil are ready to hop in the wagon to go to Bible Study. Evil children. Evil frickin cute kids.

Darth & She Devil before Bible Study. Lovely.

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Darth & She Devil before Bible Study. Lovely.

Random Acts of Twinness (click photo to see more pics). So a...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:43:00 -0400

Random Acts of Twinness (click photo to see more pics).

So a friend is at St. Charles hospital. Just had a baby (congrats!). But she is seeing a ton of the nurses I know! So thought I would upload some pics from the past month or two.

Just to be reminded:

Charlie (baby on left with Daddy Rocks bib) was Baby A (our little guy, bottom bunk, 4 lbs 4 oz).

Max (baby on right with Mommy Rockstar bib) was Baby B (big boy, top bunk 5 lbs 8 oz).

I think they are in the neighborhood of 16/17 lbs now and drink over a gallon of milk a day. Breast milk (although I do have to supplement a bit these days to keep up). Dear Lord, can I be done yet?! (don’t tell the Lactation Nazis I said that). Shhhh….

Hi to all of those nurses!

Kristina

We got the mask BTW. The real mask. And a lightsaver....

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

We got the mask BTW. The real mask. And a lightsaver. Don’t need to use the plate and a rug remnant anymore. We are official.

Princess Leia & Darth Vadar. Mixing metaphors a bit by...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:02:00 -0400

Princess Leia & Darth Vadar.

Mixing metaphors a bit by throwing in the Superman shirt, but whatever. Ah, to be a mom of boys.

Imperial Kids

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:01:00 -0400

It’s Thursday, it’s rainy rainy rainy today. Alice has an ear infection. The twins have snot everywhere and are getting shots this afternoon. The throws of four kids under four. So we are at home, bringing out garbs of toys. I have a compulsive impulse to try and organize them rather than play with them, but I am trying my hardest to actually stop and just PLAY with my kids.

American children have too many toys. At least ours do, but I would guess that’s a pretty common problem in most households in the United States. I think what happens is your child gets really enamored with whatever “it” is at the moment, and as a parent, you want to see them totally light up and believe the magic. So you buy the toy. And the Internet doesn’t make it any better! Suddenly when you’re kid gets REALLY into something, you can quickly go online and order whatever “that thing” is, with 2-day shipping none the less. Disney has obviously made an empire of this.

Speaking of empire, I mentioned that while I was gone in Seattle a few weeks back that Jon went through a very ceremonial rite of passage with his first-born son—he exposed him to the Star Wars Trilogy.

Now, he’s only 4. Four-and-a-half to be exact. I agree, a little young, and yet I am reminded of that memorable commercial from last year’s Superbowl—VW’s ”The Force” commercial. If you’ve forgotten, here’s the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0. Although we don’t see the boy’s face, judging by his size and dimensions, he’s gotta be 4, maybe 5. So I shoudn’t feel too guilty about bringing The Force into our life early, right? (these movies are rated PG for the record).

This commercial is a visual of my new life. Sam is in his room right now humming the “Imperial March” (aka Darth Vadar theme). Apparently our kids inherited a bit of my love for theatrics, Sam especially. He’s been in that cape 24-7 for the past week trying to use The Force on the washer, the dog and his sister (aka Princess Leia, see photo). And while we don’t have a Darth mask, we do have a plastic plate shaped like Vadar’s head, so that will have to do for now.

I think it’s interesting that he’s decided that he is Darth, the one who fell to the Dark side. When we were into pirates and Peter Pan, Sam was always Captain Hook. Should I be worried that my child likes to be the villain? Is there some deeper meaning to this? Nah. The evil ones usually have a cooler costume. Maybe that’s it.

So what do you do on a rainy Thursday in Portland with four kids four and under, when you’re buried in snot and fevers, laundry and toys? Break out the capes and gowns, put your daughter’s hair in the double buns, make red and blue lightsavers out carpet remnants, and turn on the “Imperial March” (aka infamous Darth Vadar theme music). Oh, and all while being Luke Skywalker (that’s me apparently). I asked Sam if the twins were the Ewoks. He said, “no, Banjo (our dog) is an Ewok. Max and Charlie are Storm Troopers.” Oh really.

I did succumb to consumerism yet again. We should have a real Darth Vadar helmet arriving via amazon today (yeah, 2-day shipping). Don’t know if I am proud of that, or embarrassed. And people say I don’t have any time on my hands (and I don’t really), but apparently enough time to order a mask and download the theme music. It’s a sickness. The sickness of the stay-at-home mom.

Oh man, heard someone at the door. I think the USP man is here. May the Force be with you.

Coulter Family, Easter 2012 We think it’s pretty amazing...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:42:00 -0400

Coulter Family, Easter 2012

We think it’s pretty amazing that we all have clothes on.

Jon, holding Charlie, Kristina holding Max, Alice getting her groove on and Sam in his SWEET red blazer that matches his new Radio Flyer scooter. Easter success.

To see all Easter photos, here’s the link: http://flickr.com/gp/23818043@N06/8f7527/

Easter Success

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:37:00 -0400

Easter: A success. All dressed. Made it to church with only one clothes change on the way (Sam threw up on himself in the car, but luckily I had a change of clothes). We were only 20 minutes late and didn’t get paged out of the service to save the children’s workers from our kids.

Alice wore the same dress two Easters in a row, which is pretty awesome (see photos of last years Easter below). Yes, Sam had a seer sucker suit last year—a recycle from his Uncle Tim’s wedding. I can’t wait til the twins fit in that—I actually have two because Sam and his cousin both had one, so we can pass to Max and Charlie someday, won’t that be an amazing photo op. Sam actually wore that suit two Easters in a row, so sad it didn’t fit a third. BUT check out the AMAZING red blazer we found in his closet the night before Easter! That was my brother’s when they were little. Forgot we had it, but so glad we found it, and so glad he didn’t throw up on that.

Managed to get Glen all spiffed up while ALL FOUR took an awesome nap. I forgot how nice it is to have a clean house! Fantastic family gathering (13 adults & 9 kids!). We actually did our egg hunts OUTSIDE because the sun decided to show his face in Portland! So much food and drink and merriment. We even busted out the outdoor firepit.

All in all, a Easter success!

Easter last year. Sans twins.

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:35:00 -0400

Easter last year. Sans twins.

Runny Nose Audible

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 01:08:47 -0400

Well it’s Easter weekend. For the past six years I was on staff with a church so I always worked my tail off leading up to Sunday. Not only that but Jon was often in charge of music. Often a Good Friday evening service then Sunday service or services (plural) too which usually meant being at the church by like 7am and not getting home until well after lunch Easter Sunday.

Then we had twins. And all bets are off now. Yes, we moved too, but really the twins have pushed us into another world. Its the world of the audible—a tactic used by quarterbacks to change the play at the line of scrimmage (wikipedia’s definition, not mine). Such is our life, always in flux and changing the plan on the fly. There is no way in the world we could commit to being responsible to anything like that at this point in our life.

Instead, this year’s Easter festivities:

Friday.
Planned on going to Good Friday Service, 6:30pm. Even planned on meeting Jon’s folks and going with my mom. 5:30pm, things were not going well. Primarily Sam’s nose was running. In our home, this can pretty much derail an entire evening. Doesn’t help that we think he suffers from allergies like his Daddy. Tricky to explain to a little boy who loves flowers that they make his nose sick. S thr runny nose fiascos: It’s lovely—he cries because his nose is running and the crying makes his nose run more. And repeat. Well last night, we couldn’t break the cycle. Suddenly the idea of trying to coax this child to his Sunday school class at night sounded awful. I mean, I know Good Friday’s sorta an important day, Jesus sacrificing His life in our place and all, but this year we just can’t get our butts in gear to commemorate this amazing event. And ya know what? I am sure of all people, Jesus understands.

Instead I ended up priming my bathroom to be painted. Jon watched Star Wars with Sam for the first time. Me getting high on paint fumes in grubbies, Sam awed by his dad’s knowledge of the Force, and my mom cooked dinner—a Good Friday indeed. Sure beats the heck out of having a full out family war trying to get to church to celebrate God’s grace.

Saturday.
Decided last minute to do our egg hunt today. Spent the morning dyeing eggs (would NOT have done this if my mom weren’t around), stuffed plastic eggs while the kids watched a show, then quickly hide them and threw together an Easter basket for them. “Surprise, the Easter Bunny came to our house kids!” And it was great. For us, doing bunny and egg things on Sunday is hard, and sort of confusing—running around finding eggs, then throwing on the nicest clothes in our closet and running to church to talk about Jesus raising from the dead, then going to a giant family dinner with massive amounts of food. Too much, especially with littles. So Saturday is our egg/bunny/basket day. We kept it lowkey today, and it was awesome. Then the rest of this sunny Saturday was spent hedging, raking, and mowing the lawn, all with babies in backpacks (one on Jon’s back and one on mine). Managed to bathe all of the children this evening (miracle) so they will only be somewhat scuzzy for tomorrow (breakfast always derails my clean up efforts, on my house and my kids—yogurt in hair, etc).

But all in all, a very good Saturday too. We even got to go on a “date” this evening which was a walk down to the Williamette River from our house after our kids were in bed. Just me, Jon, and the dog. Felt amazing to (a) have it be clear enough in Portland where we could actually take a walk like this, (b) be out after dark, and (c) walk without carrying someone. Win, win, win. A good Saturday.

Tomorrow we will hopefully not have another runny nose inspired audible. And we do have multiple church service times to choose from, so that should help us actually make it. No promises. Easter dinner here with fam, so get ready troops, it’s time to clean up Glen! Wish us luck.

Seattle Recap

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:17:12 -0400

One week ago I was sitting on the train on my way to Seattle for the first hours by myself in a long while. I love that it has taken me one full week to actually get another moment alone to actually capture my thoughts. Who knows how long this quiet will last, but here goes.

A couple of friends have asked me, “How did you’re weekend in Seattle go?!?!?” It’s so funny because while wonderful, I don’t know if things ended up being what I expected. Please don’t hear that as bad, not at all! It was great! But as life goes, things are sorta never what you pictured.

For instance, I was riding the train up. Doesn’t that sound romantic and wonderful? A 3 1/2 hour train ride all by myself up the I-5 corridor—just me and my computer, book/journal, coffee and iPod. I literally cannot remember the last time I loaded my iPod with songs that aren’t from Yo Gabba Gabba. I painstakingly sifted through my iTunes of what I wanted to listen to preparing myself for my travels north.

However when I navigated myself to my seat, I realized, “wow, this train is very full.” I guess that happens when gas is $4/gallon. Everyone decides, “hey, wouldn’t it be great to ride the train for spring break?” I had an assigned seat. Blast. And as it turns out I was put in a booth seat (you know, a table with the chairs facing one another) with a mom and her twin middle school boys. Seriously.

So here I am on my Nicholas Sparks train-ride sitting next twin 13-year-olds and their mom heading to Comicon, the Comic Book Festival. Is this a vision of my future or what!? (Lord, help me)

Now I could have been rude, put my sunglasses over my eyes, my earbuds in my ears and ignored this family starring me in the face. But then the mom said it, “I noticed it says “Young Life” on your laptop bag. Are you involved? I hear great things about that organization.” Crap. Now I gotta be nice. This woman knows I am associated with a Christian youth organization that works with teenagers—I guess it would be wrong to totally ignore her and her awkward boys.

We get talking and it comes out that I also have twins. Boys. Of course this launches us into a long conversation with the mom—“twin talk” as we call it. “Twin Talk” are all of the questions you get asked when you have twins (are they identical? were you surprised when you found out? what week did you deliver, etc. etc.). Not at all bad. Lovely conversation. Just not me and my coffee looking out the window listening to Indigo Girls and pontificating life.

It was weird watching these comic book crazed teenagers. 8th grade. So awkward. Cute that this mom was really pressing in and doing a fun little getaway with her hormonal boys. So strange to think of that phase of life. And watching these boys—they could not have been more different! One was totally ADD. Bouncing off the walls, class-clown material, couldn’t hold a conversation unless it included a fart joke. The other, 180 degrees different. This kid clearly was the deep, artistic type. At least that was what he was striving to be I think. This kid toggled between reading and drawing and talking my ear off about the meaning of life. Again, sweet. I mean come on, Jon and I work with kids and pray that they will want to talk about “real life” so to see a kid who wants to pontificate and talk about life and God and the world and injustice should be great, right? Well, yes, but not when you’re on a first weekend getaway by yourself. I felt bad. This kid picked up that I was a Christian and wanted to spar with me about whether Christianity is real and what is wrong with the world, etc, etc. I just didn’t have it in me. He’s still an idealist and really he just wanted to pretend to be an adult. To wax eloquence. He didn’t want to really talk about it, he just wanted to argue with me and sorry sweetie, I argue with little people all day long, I just don’t have any steam left. His sweet mom kept trying to protect me from long philosophical discussions and steer the conversation elsewhere, but as 13-year-olds would go, he was a little too clueless to pick up on traditional social cues. So I listened, and listened, and listened.

So that was my train ride. I hope I was polite. It did bum me out a bit to not get to be totally self-indulgent (which for me right now just means for it to be QUIET).

The remainder of the weekend was totally fantastic. My sister took me all over the city to hip cool things that I don’t get to do in my real life. I am so not a hipster. But she is. And it was fun to pretend to be one for a day or two.

Friday we went to a girls-night-out cooking party with a bunch of her friends. They were all super cool and hip too. Her friend who is a professor and loves to cook hosted. We did eight courses with the “egg” as our central ingredient and I kid you not, she actually made a syllabus for our dinner party. It was amazing! I learned all sorts of wonderful things about the incredible edible egg. I actually went to bed at 2am by choice if you can believe it!

Saturday I got to go to a gianormous baby sale with a friend who is expecting (it’s actually the sale put on by mothers of multiples in Seattle which is just kinda interesting), then had a 90 minute lunch with her and her husband. 90 minutes! It was glorious! We even had to wait 25 minutes to get into the restaurant but I didn’t care because no one was hanging off me! I hit multiple thrift stores and didn’t have to unload anyone out of a carseat—not that I wanna wish my life away but that will be SO NICE someday—and I did find two pairs of Seven jeans for $25 for the pair! Amazing. Lunch and shopping for clothes for myself and by myself is a serious luxury. I do admit I bought some clothes and toys for my kids while away. Why? I don’t know, but I did.

Saturday evening was really a series of cool places to eat and drink: “Oh, ya know who has a good happy hour?” “Oh, our friends are at this place…” “This place has amazing ribs…” Etc. It was an awesome night. I felt like a college kid again. I also felt like a college kid the following morning.

Ah, the hangover. Haven’t had one of these in a long while. LONG WHILE. And they stink.

I admit it: Alcohol was probably too big a player in our weekend festivities. People knew I was on my solo mission without my pile-o-kids and were sending celebratory drinks my direction all evening. Very sweet. But at 4am when I was feeling completely disgusting I thought about how it was April 1st and I am going to swear off alcohol for this month (which one week later has not happened). But definitely how I felt about it when driving the porcelain bus. It was a brief tour with the bus, but still, we did do a bit of driving.

So a great weekend. I thought maybe I would read my book, maybe finish my shutterfly scrapbooks, go for a run…nah. Just eat and drank and laughed. I got to pretend to be 21 again. And I got to listen to Indigo Girls on the way home. So it was a success.

A friend asked “How was your weekend?” And when I responded “it so good that I felt not so great the next morning,” she responded: “That’s so terrible, awesome and funny. I would do the same thing on a kid free get away.” Glad to know I am not alone.

Go Away

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:11:00 -0400

Do you wanna know what love is? Right now, it’s Sunday morning, it’s 11:32am and I am sitting in Seattle with a cup of coffee…without my kids and without my husband.

When I say “this is love”, it does NOT mean I am in love with being in my robe without my family (although there is some of that). What I really mean is my amazing husband is the one who is with the kids and I am not. He actually told me to “go away.” He put me on a train, not against my will but against my plans, that’s for sure. He’s championing the house, the kids, the meals, the laundry so I can have a little time away. “Go away.” Now that’s love.

How did this come about you ask… Well Jon travels quite a bit for his job (remember my friend the sister wife? remember moving into camp Grandma and Grandpa?). When he came back from his trip to Colorado a few weeks back he came home to a wife who probably look like she’d put herself through the washing machine. But if you can believe it, it wasn’t the visual of coming home to a washing-machine wife that made him think “this woman probably needs a break.” When he got home he told me he had already called my sister in Seattle and was putting me on a train all alone to go see her at the end of the month.

My mouth dropped. “How is that gonna work?” He informed me that HE was going to watch the kids for the weekend. He also said he might ask his mom to move in with him, but STILL! Can I shout it from the rooftops—“MY HUSBAND IS SUPER DAD.” And super husband! I don’t know a lot of men who would go solo with a four-year-old, a two-year-old and twin 7-mos-olds for few hours so their wife could run to the grocery store, let alone 48+ hours! I am so impressed. So in awe. So amazed.

I left Friday around noon. My sweet little family loaded up in the car, me with MY one rolling bag, MY computer, MY iPod and MY coffee. Can I just say packing for only myself was kind of amazing. Only one bag to pack? And I don’t need to think about anyone’s butt my own (no bringing diapers, wipes or a change of clothes in case). Weird.

They drove me downtown to the train station, I hopped out, waved to the kids through the tinted windows, then did what seemed very counter-intuitive: I walked away. I have not talked to Jon in the past 48 hours, or the kids. I have no idea how it’s going. But maybe that’s good. I am trying to remember what it feels like to just be me.

I think the bedrest of last summer really changed him, not that he was a clueless guy/dad before by any means. But being Mr. Mom to Sam and Alice while Mommy was MIA for those eight weeks made him profoundly aware that sometimes the Primary Care Giver needs a break. And it’s the hardest thing in the world to ask for a break. It would feel absolutely wrong for me to insist that I get a weekend away while we still have infants up at night, bigger kids who need so much love and care still. It would feel selfish. I know it’s not, but it would feel that way. I mean seriously, who can watch our kids? I can barely watch our kids WITH my husband and family and friend’s help. It’s really frickin hard! And I would never want to impose that on anyone right now and insist I need a break. But the reality is, I probably DO need a break. And that’s not selfish. So someone giving me permission to step away from the madness for a bit is the only way I could allow myself to mentally check out of my position as Mother. So that’s true love: “Go away babe. I got this.”

Right now I am eating a porched egg on an english muffin, drinking coffee and a smoothie that I did not make (thanks Mike, my brother-in-law). I am listening to “Homeward Bound” by Simon & Garfunkel crackling on vinyl cuddled under a blanket. And I will be homeward bound soon. I will hopefully get more time this week to process what my alone time has looked like/felt like. I had visions of blogging on the train ride up (which were thwarted, more on that later). Or maybe blogging in a coffee shop while here in Seatown (also thwarted). May take me a week to ask the question: What does a mom of four do when she’s alone? The answer is: I don’t remember. Still will have to stop to remember how I spent my hours away. And it will certainly be interesting to see what I get to walk into when I get home today.

All that to say stay tuned. I am sure there will be some interesting stories to share.

When did this happen?!

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:18:24 -0400

When did this happen?!

Food Chain

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:06:00 -0400

Can you believe this is happening at my house? Seriously, high chairs? What?!

Just so we can see where we’ve been, I thought I’d put together a little timeline. I mean, if Facebook is into this timeline thing I can be too. And they do say a picture if worth a thousand words. So here is a little progression of the evolution of the food chain at my house (see photos below).

When I say food chain I don’t mean it so much as the peking order of species, but in some cases when you have a string of kids, let’s be honest, there are definite moments hierarchy. And as much as we love our twins, sometimes they are toward the bottom of the food chain. Translation, the other kids are needier and sometimes get more attentio. You know the saying, “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water”? Well there’s some definite truth to that—you bathe the baby(s) last because the other kids are dirtier, so don’t forget to keep the baby(s) when you toss the water. Maybe just easier to not bathe baby(s) at all. That’s sorta how we roll.

So the high chairs…yes, doc said it’s time for rice cereal. I can’t believe it. What happened to the little babies who needed feeding tubes to eat (see photo below). Now they need a spoon? What?

I am honestly not excited about graduating to the “mom feed me” phase. Granted, I have been feeding them, but not really. As mentioned before I surrendered actually breast feeding these babies. Couldn’t sit down long enough to make it happen. So Bernard and I whip up the meals (or drinks rather) and then anyone can feed the little men. “Bartender, another round please!”

Somehow, for the last six months, we have managed to limp along with the Basket Nanny often holding the boys bottles (see photo). We also were turned on to these things called Podees. I don’t know if I ever mentioned these but they are bottles hooked to a long tube. The selling point of this style bottles is they can sit up and eat a bottle, which means Mommy doesn’t need to hold the bottle for them. I will say they are strange to look at (see photo). I was at Doernbecker one day for a simple heart appointment for Max and a woman asked “if everything was okay with my baby”. She thought he was on a breathing tube or feeding tube or something at quick glance. I laughed. “No, he’s totally healthy. He just likes to eat without hands”.

So the progression: feeding tubes, then 2 ounce bottles, then 4 ounce bottles and cuddled up with Basket Nanny, the Podee feeding tubes, then 6 and 8 ounce bottles, and now this…mush and spoons and high chairs. Not to mention they have also gone from sleeping in the space ship cribs in the NICU, to car beds, to car seats, to baskets and swings and even suitcase beds, to sharing a crib, and now to their own cribs! Also sleeping 24-7 to wakefulness to being worn in a carrier to rolling over to now almost sitting up by themselves. They are officially real babies.

In all reality, I don’t know if I am going to be able to find time to strap the boys in their chairs when they are in good-enough spirits to actual attempt eating, make rice cereal, sit down with a spoon and “eeny meany miny mo/tag, you’re it” feed these kids back and forth. No worry about germs in our house. If you have the same chromosomes, then you can share germs and a spoon. It’s that plain and simple.

I guess I do have a helper: Miss Alice. Little girls really are different than little boys. The maternal instinct is there, even at two. She thinks this whole feeding the babies thing is pretty cool.

Favorite moment of last week: Boys are sitting in chairs (see photo), spoon is on table, I was out of the room for about half a second and come back to Alice dipping the spoon in my coffee and giving it to Max. Lovely.

Second favorite moment of last week: Alice eating HER applesauce at the table, I run to the bathroom and come back to her hovering over Charlie (who was happily on the floor) with a spoon. I look at Charlie’s sweet little face completely “sauced”. Well, at least it was applesauce. I mean could have been coffee or something…oh wait…been there done that.

It is really amazing most babies survive infancy and childhood and certainly adolescence and actually make it to adulthood. I mean, really.