Naptime Chaos

Well it's happened. I knew the honeymoon couldn't last forever, but still. Max is slowly pushing back on his morning nap, so his afternoon nap is later, and doesn't line up with Karol and Patrick's anymore.

On top of that, Karol's almost ready to give up the nap altogether.

*sigh*

I was hoping to stretch that one out 'til she was 5 or 6 at least! She's such a good sleeper, when she actually naps.

And on top of the schedule change, school is starting again soon, which means Max and I will be trekking down to the school when he should be taking his afternoon nap. I guess he'll just have to get good at sleeping in the carrier or stroller.

Nap Time Cold War

So I just laid Maximilian down for his mid-day nap, basically wide awake.

This is unusual for us since he normally is out cold just from nursing, but recently he seems to have been outgrowing nursing himself to sleep. He's gotten very good at sleeping in his crib, he seems to 'get' it.

I know he's tired, and he knows he's tired...but he's not falling asleep. I laid him in his crib and stood next to him for a bit, waiting to see if he would wail, but he didn't. He just started looking around. Then he started to play coy, making a funny noise and then smiling. He's deliberately trying to make me laugh, the little imp! So I decided to just leave.

I shut the door behind me and waited right outside. Nothing. Now I'm sitting at the table, monitor close by, listening to him wiggle around. Why he isn't crying, I'm not sure. If feels like there's a weird tension, as if we're both waiting for the other to make a move.

Chances are, he'll pull himself up to standing and get stuck there, then call for me...we'll see...

Mommy vs. Circumstance: A Mommy Win

So my plan for St. Valentine's Day was to make cupcakes - as close to Georgetown's red velvets with cream cheese frosting as possible - as a surprise for Matt. Oh yeah, and I mean from SCRATCH, from the cake, to the frosting. And I've never done it before. It was going to be tricky to make it all happen, but if everything happened right on schedule...

I got an email from a client wanting to meet at 1pm, right in the middle of the day. But that's okay, I was expecting it, I could still make everything work.

Then, just as Max and I were getting ready to head to the grocery to pick up some necessary items for the cupcakes, I got a call from the school. "Your son's ears might be bleeding." What? Bleeding? "Um....I guess I'll pick him up then." So to the subway, rather than the grocery, we went.

I called the doctor on the way and set up an appointment for a couple of hours later. Pick up Patrick - oh, and of course Karol wants to come to the doctor's office, too - and drag all three babies from Chelsea to the Upper West Side via subway.

At the doctor's office: "Yeah...he's just really ear-waxy." As I suspected. Neither kid wants to go back to school, so we taxi back home. But it was such a nice day, I decided to take them to the supermarket and get those cupcake supplies anyway. 10 blocks there and 10 blocks back. Whew!

Now it's 1:30pm and everyone's hungry and tired. PB&J's and naptime.

It's 2:30, and dinner HAS to get made, so I start there. And somehow, wonder of wonders, I manage to make brown sugar meatloaf, red velvet cupcakes, homemade cream cheese frosting AND chocolate ganache, and do all the dishes from the day before and all the cooking....while all three kids napped. Whew.

Suck it, Murphy's Law, I win!

Saturday with Mommy

Well Matt is getting the keys and moving the first few boxes into the Manhattan apartment today! That means I'm home with the kiddies - of course it's a free-for-all while Daddy's away!

Actually, I've done a fairly good job keeping a schedule, of sorts, today. Karol sneaked into my room a little after 7, and Patrick was just waking up in his crib at the same time, so we started the morning a little earlier than normal. But that was just as well, since the farmer's market starts at 7 and all the best stuff goes early.

The kids were dressed, fed and ready to go by 8am! But they decided they wanted to do a puzzle first. After a scuffle over piggy banks (don't ask) I managed to convince them they wanted to go for a walk to the farmer's market.

Rather than stroll, I strapped on their monkey and doggie backpacks and they walked with me. Luckily it's only one block away. We checked out all the different foods, but they were most entertained just sitting in the grass picking wildflowers and clovers.

We even got to pet a couple of dogs while we were out!

We started heading back home around 9, and Patrick demanded we stop at the courtyard for some rock pile action. Of course, they ended up completely soaked, but they had a blast.

I let them pick a flower from the landscaping in exchange for going inside and changing. Since they were already wet, I decided it was a fantastic time to brush teeth (forgot to do it this morning). Then they stripped off the wet clothes and decided to do puzzles again.

Snack time rolled around and they actually wanted cold oatmeal as their snack. My kids are weird.

After snacks, we threw in another load of laundry together.

I knew I needed to burn some time and some energy for a successful nap time, so I took the kids up to the pool all by myself. Until now, there's no way I would ever feel comfortable taking more than one kid to a pool without some back up. But I devised a strategy and I felt pretty confident I could do it. It helps that there's always a lifeguard on duty, and it's a 4-foot pool, so I can just stand.

We suited up - Coast Guard approved life jackets, sunblock and all - in the apartment. I didn't want to be stuck snapping Karol's jacket while Pat wondered off to the pool. After a pep talk about staying right next to Mommy all the time, we headed up to the pool deck. And I couldn't be more thankful we did. The water was perfect, and the kids both did a great job of holding onto Mommy, the wall, or a combination of the two. The jackets give the kids a lot of buoyancy and Karol was able to keep herself upright really well. Her big thing at the pool is propelling herself around the edge, so we did that a lot while I bounced Patrick on my hip.

The only real issue was actually the other children at the pool. There was a group of three sisters - two 8 year olds and a 5 year old - that took an interest in Karol and therefore were in my way a bit. And they were annoying. The 5 year old would take Karol's hand and inevitably she'd get a mouthful of water from losing her balance. Meanwhile, Patrick was already tired and cranky, so we needed to leave. This was simple enough, because I told Karol that we could go inside and watch Caillou. She was ready to go instantly.

Getting out of the pool was easier than I anticipated, but still no picnic. The kids were easy - I just sat them up on the edge and they walked over to our pool bag. I didn't want to be more than arms-length away for very long though, so I 'hopped' out of the pool up onto the side instead of taking the ladder, as best a 7 month pregnant lady can. I was shocked at my own ability to do it, but it couldn't have been pretty to watch.

Karol and Patrick sunbathed for a couple of minutes while I loaded up all the swimming supplies, and then we headed back to the apartment.

Caillou gave me enough time to make lunch - mac & cheese and peas - and then those kids just sat and ate. They must have been hungry because they both had two helpings of mac & cheese and most of their peas, and they didn't even talk or goof around, they were so intent on eating.

Next we caught Grandpa Shaw on Skype and then an episode of Wonderpets before stories and naps.

They are both sleeping like rocks now. Matt's already on the road back, so I'm hoping he makes it home in time to play with the kids before bedtime!