...(insert blank stare here)...

Thank God for the calendar on my phone.  Connected to both my email account AND Scott's, it's basically our personal assistant.  It even reminds me to clean, because, let's face it, I hate cleaning and I'll forget to do it if my phone doesn't remind me to do it.

I don't think that I was ever completely disorganized.  Yes, my bedroom was not the neatest place, but you could generally walk in there barefoot.  So why do I feel so disorganized and behind the game now?  I know it's all part of the territory with kids, especially multiples, but it still gets to me sometimes.  I wanted to be the crafty and creative mom, but that's obviously not where I'm at right now.  Instead of celebrating my inner Craftista, I'm celebrating the fact that I 1.  got home and everyone had pants on, 2. the kids ate something other than peanut butter and honey for dinner, and 3. no one peed on the carpet after bath time.

So, obviously the answer to your question is no, I am not on Pinterest.  Wait, I don't know the correct lingo here.  Is it supposed to be I don't DO Pinterest?  I don't pin?  I don't know!  I don't have an Instagram either(is that the way you say it?).  I don't have the time!  Honestly, I have a monthly reminder in my phone to set aside 30 minutes each month to "blog."  I use the term loosely.  As you can see, November's post didn't happen.  Someone recently asked me if we did Elf on the Shelf.  I stared at them blankly for a good minute before I burst out laughing.  I didn't even know what Elf on the Shelf WAS until last year.  And that was only because of Facebook posts.  Believe me, I was very confused as to why everyone had toy elves in their cereal boxes.

How do people have the time to do this stuff?  To be crafty, and organized, and bake, and have their Christmas cards created, addressed, and mailed before Thanksgiving?  I literally just did mine tonight...on Shutterfly...because I had a coupon.  It took me 45 minutes to do it, and I swore at the site the whole time.  Oh, and the cards are expected to arrive between December 20th and December 24th, so I'm really glad that they say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.  Hopefully I'll get them mailed before 2014.


Maybe the craftiness and inventiveness and creativity will come as the kids get older.  Or maybe each year I'll be swearing at Shutterfly...

RMH
12/10/13

...How Did He Do It???

I just received a text from Scott:  "Both asleep."  Seems pretty innocuous, right?  WRONG!  I. AM. PISSED.

Let me go back a week.  Lizzie managed to climb out of her crib a few times.  Knowing full well that Neil would soon follow (and that he'd go head first), we switched the cribs to toddler beds last Friday.  Being the practical person that I am (or so I thought), I decided that we needed to do the switch for bedtime so that they would get used to them easily since they would be tired.  Cuteness ensued as we showed them their new beds, and they ran around like free-range chickens with their heads cut off.  Finally, they fell asleep, and stayed asleep in their beds for the entire night.

The next morning they got up and started playing.  No major issues.  "Awesome," I thought.  This is going to be an easy transition for them.  Then nap time came....and went...without a nap from Lizzie, and with a very late and short nap from Neil.  Short/No naps make for cranky kids, and an even crankier me.

Long story short, there hasn't been a nap in our house for almost a week...until today, apparently.  So, now the questions:  How the hell did he get them to go to sleep???  Why wasn't I able to get them to sleep???  WTF???  Is there a family conspiracy against me??? ;)

I can't wait to get the answers to these questions, so that I can figure out how he did it, and get us back into our routine again.  Mommy needs a nap too, apparently!!!

RMH 10/9/13

...Teething Bites.

Literally.  I know that Neil and Lizzie are 19 months now, and that dealing with teething should be a piece of cake by now, but it still bites.  The two constants that we have are drool and usually a slight fever.  We're fortunate in the fact that neither of the kids scream for hours on end when they are cutting teeth, so I'll try not to complain too much (someone ALWAYS has it worse), but this time around seems to be particularly taxing for all of us.

So far, we've had pretty decent fevers (maxing at 102), major drool, and some added gnawing.  We can handle all of that, thanks to Tylenol.  What's different is a huge drop in their appetites.  My kids are picky eaters to begin with, so getting them to eat can be a struggle sometimes.  This makes me overly sensitive to their eating habits, I guess.  But when they refuse to eat their favorites ( thank God for pb&j)...UGH!

Stressful is the first word that comes to mind, but even that word understates the feeling of helplessness that you feel when your kids refuse to eat.  Add the misery of a bone slowly making its way through their gums, and, well...teething bites.

I just keep thinking, "Only about six more teeth each..."

RMH 9/9/13

...Time Flies When You're...Falling Off Of Stuff.

Another jump.  Neil and Lizzie are already 18 months old.  How did that happen?  We've reached the climbing stage.  End tables seem to be their favorite.  So far the big ones involved Neil knocking the wind our of himself, a few bloody lips, and a pretty hard bang on the head for Lizzie, and lots of tears.  Most of them belonged to the kids...only a few were mine.

The best/worst part of this stage is that you can't turn your back on them.  For example,I was upstairs, in the middle of changing Neil's diaper, and I heard a loud crash.  There was a 5 second period where I waited for the appropriate scream to follow from Lizzie.  Nothing came.  I scooped up Neil and ran downstairs, sure that Lizzie had knocked herself unconscious.  Nope.  She figured out how to get into her high chair, and pushed the tray onto the floor (the bang) so that she had more room to move around in the chair.  I just stared at her.  Neil and Lizzie laughed.

This is not my favorite stage.  They want to do so much, but they're not quite coordinated to pull it off, and they don't understand how dangerous some of their climbing adventures are.  It's a learning process for them.  It's another gray hair every day for me.

Beyond that, I worry that they're going to permanently injure themselves.  So far I've imagined broken bones, brain damage, worse...the paranoid thoughts of a first time mom, I'm sure, but scary nonetheless.  Sometimes it's hard to remain calm and rational when your kid takes a big fall.  One day they'll get it.  Until then, I think I'm just going to wrap everything (including them) in bubble wrap!

RMH 8/20/13

...The March for Babies.

After experiencing a month in the NICU, and (still) learning about what being parents of preemies entails, we decided to become involved with the March of Dimes.  Okay, by WE I really mean I.  ("The royal We," right, Lewbowski fans?)  I felt compelled to do something to help MOD, so I created a family team and decided that we were going to participate in the MOD's annual March for Babies this year.  I invited family and friends to join our team, and even came up with a clever name for our team:  The HenderTwins.  It's part play on The Wonder Twins, and part tribute to my students who have decided that everything in my classrooms and life should start with "Hender."

I'm really excited for the walk next weekend, and I'm hoping that it can become an annual event for our family.  Who knows...maybe the HenderTwins will become some sort of epic MOD fundraising machine!  HenderTwin powers activate!

RMH 5/24/13

...Uh...Now What?

Mother's Day was yesterday.  After a full day of playing with the kids, going shopping, and having dinner with my parents Scott and I ended up sitting next to each other at 7:30 with two sleeping kids and nothing to do.

Nothing.

Eventually, after deciding that cleaning was overrated, we settled on watching a movie, which is fun, but we do that all of the time.  Watching movies is becoming repetitive, and boring.  We just end up sitting, and not really talking or doing anything.  We need a hobby.

I need suggestions.  Stuff that we can do at home while the kids are sleeping that doesn't involve yet another movie, or video games.  Ready?  Set?  Go!

RMH 5/13/13

...Use Your Noodle.

Pasta.  Probably my favorite thing to eat ever.  As my ever-expanding ass shows, I can't turn down a noodle in any form.  Ever.  So why can't I get my kids to eat pasta?

My kids have willingly tolerated trying most foods as we keep moving from baby food to table food, but put a noodle in front of them and all hell breaks loose!  We've tried them with sauce, with cheese, with butter, with nothing.  I've over-cooked them. I've under-cooked them.  Nada.  It's like something out of Green Eggs and Ham...they won't even touch them.  Instead, they scream bloody murder at the sight of them.  I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what we're doing to them.  Not to worry.  We're just trying to get our kids to freaking eat a noodle.

At this point we're either going to give up completely on the idea of giving them pasta, or we're going to have to get creative.  Who has an idea for me?

RMH 4/17/13

"At first I was afraid. I was petrified..."

Not gonna lie, this first year has been more hectic, emotional, difficult, amazing, fun, hard, rewarding, exhausting, and everything else than I ever thought possible. And I wouldn't change a minute of it.

Happy 1st birthday, Neil and Lizzie. We love you!

RMH 2/9/13

The Great Balancing Act...Part 2...

Eleven months, 3 weeks, and 3 days. How the hell did that happen? Neil and Lizzie have gone from being these tiny things to these large, drooling, teething, silly, cruising, and grooving kids. It's amazing...and scary!

The balancing act this time isn't mine, it's theirs. Watching them teeter as they try to stand independently, and holding their hands as they try to walk...they look like tiny drunk people! It's funny, but it's also terrifying. Every wobbly step makes me so proud of their achievements, but every tumble and fall breaks my heart.

Okay, maybe that's dramatic (I have a flair for it), but it's nerve wracking. I keep choking back gasps as they fall, trying not to make the fall worse for them. I sound ridiculous! Ai know that with each tumble, bump, and fall that they are becoming more confident. I just wish that I could wrap them in bubble wrap until they can walk!

RMH 2/4/13