Back to Work...

Kristi went back to work...

sort of? Kristi started back to the UofA last week, once all the tears and anxiety passed, it has been miserable... The Grandmas stepped in for daycare, now others can share in the sheer joy and overwhelming chore of these two little (beautiful) monsters.


but the boys are living it up!




Grandma Emily bought the boys half the bookstore, we now enjoy at least an hour a day of storytime - Dr.. Seuss is amazing - seriously, those books are classics - we learned about Deforestation with "The Lorax", we learned how awful cats are as pets in "The Cat in the Hat", we learned that ninety-seven words rhyme with "blue" in "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and then we found out the pitfalls of feeding fish too much food in "Fish out of Water". Powerful life lessons.



Andy was in charge for one full day, and this is what happened:
Innocent and cute in the picture, but Ethan is now obsessed with the shiny box that projects images. he watches while he eats, he watches while we change the diaper, he watches even if it is not on, he knows bright colors come from the TV, its almost like he waits for them... needless to say, we have gone on a TV diet - Ethan's favorite shows are Project Runway, Blue's Clues, Sponge Bob, Big Brother and The Daily Show - we had hoped he would like NFL Live and Sportscenter - no dice. Our little couch commando scares us, to say the least.

Its sad but true, Andy loves to where the Bjorn, poor guy used to make fun of guys who wore the Bjorn, he might wear it to work if Kristi let him.

The boys are getting so big now, we have started to overwhelm them with bouncers and jumpers - nothing like setting a child within 26 neon colored, flashing lights, music, sound making devices. Ethan seemed to enjoy the toys much more than Shawn.


Poor Shawn is still battling his huge head, but its getting better. People wonder how Andy holds his head up, perhaps it takes time to adjust...

A day in the life......

The twins are 3 months old now, and Kristi has been moping around and pouting all week. She is depressed that next week she will return to work (3 days a week).

In order to commemorate her time with the boys, we will be doing a "day in the life" of Shawn and Ethan, toying with their mom, her patience and sanity...

How could this face cause any trouble?...

(oh my god, we are in trouble with this face)




5am
The boys usually wake, eat and then fall back to sleep within 20 minutes. Occasionally, Kristi is too tired to put them back in their cribs so they get to hang out in Mom and Dad's bed for awhile. As you will notice, after 5am, the bed gets a bit crowded. If the space left in the bed for Dad were represented by a pie chart for what to do with $1M, Andy would get the "donate to charity" piece. He and the dog are fighting for 4th place in the house right now... at least the dog has a bed on the floor.

6am
With Andy pouting and banging around getting ready for work, its playtime! They are in great moods and usually just hang out and talk to Frank and smile at him while Kristi sits there like a zombie wishing they would just go back to sleep for at least one more hour.

At this point our day goes one of two ways. As illustrated above, jekyl's way or Hyde's way - Ethan "crazy, high strung, uptight" on the left or Shawn "the water balloon" on the right. Shawn's way: the easy way, as they play for a few hours then BOTH go back to sleep, or Ethan's way as they refuse sleep so they don't miss anything, and insists on staying up. This would be fine, but they eventually get too tired and then are too crabby and still refuse to sleep!! Ironic they have our personalities already, it will be interesting to watch Ethan give Mom a taste of her own medicine. The entire Perkins/Turner family will laugh till they pee as Ethan develops the "but i has to" attitude, the battle of will has already begun. and they are only 3 months old...

8am
Breakfast Part II, and Kristi feeds them on her own with one in her lap and the other propped up on a pillow. Sometimes Grandma Phyllis comes by to help and then there is one person for each baby.
After eating the boys get dressed for the day then go hang out with Frank, and Kristi reads a book or two - bristo pays more attention to storytime than they do, but we are determined to fill those giant heads with knowledge.

Here they are listening to Mommy read them a book.

After story time, we go and do the hard work. Tummy time.....

Once they are done stretching their neck muscles they hang out with Kristi and talk some more.




Then it is off to the playmat
11am
At this point, they are usually tired and fussy and ready to go down for a nap. Shawn is our little egg timer, he is ready to eat every 3 hours, so in order to ensure at least 1 hour of sleep for them and breathing room for mom, we taper the stimulation and rely on our trusty swings, the only place they will sleep during the day.
We repeat this same cycle every 3 hours....Eventually, our favorite part of the day rolls around--Dad comes home.

Mom and Dad usually try to eat at some point, some nights we do, some nights we don't, and then we start the "bedtime routine". We give the boys their baths, dry em off, wrap em up, and give them a bottle then it is off to bed
And in closing, a public service announcement for all of those considering owning a restaurant. Be sure to have changing tables in the restrooms, if not, families will be forced to change their children's explosive diapers in your booths. And for our Tucson friends and families, just know that if you go to the Paradise Cafe on University, there is a good chance that you could be sitting in a pee soaked booth thanks to Ethan!!