Is it spring yet? I love the winter time because it means being fat and snuggly but I didn’t factor in that my slugworms might not have been walking this season and let me tell you it is not the easiest thing in the world to get out and about with 2 gigantic 15 month olds who can’t yet at least putter along next to me at a snail’s pace through the snow. To get out to any activity or errand means having to pile them in their stroller (which they have decided to protest lately in very dramatic fashion including adorable little movements like writhing around with spastic back arching and roundhouse kicking in an attempt to squiggle out of the straps) and try to push through mountains of ice and slush with Olivia thrown over my shoulder for good measure.

 

 

Way more physical activity than I’d prefer for these few months of hibernation weather. And at home it still means everything has to be done like an assembly line –  haul one up the stairs to change and lay down for nap, back down the stairs for the other and then up again, then back down again for the third and then back down again and then repeat the whole process backwards for when they inevitably refuse to do anything even slightly resembling sleep. They also all poop one after the other now, every day, within a span of minutes. Olivia thankfully has been super independent with bathroom duties for some time now so can be relied on to take herself to the potty and will just screech loudly when she is done and ready for a wipe. The only rule is that I am not allowed to look at her poop for some reason and she prefers if I close my eyes when I assist her wiping… whatever. Sure. Then she likes to take a good 15-17 minutes to wash her hands with copious amounts of soap and water and prefers “PRIVACY” for this activity. FINE.

 

 

Watching her developing independence has been the most hilarious and frustrating thing ever, which is weird because no one ever told me about toddler power struggles. KIDDING of course, we knew it was coming and therefore had a great offense in place of sense of humor ready to make this stage of parenting somewhat tolerable. And truly dealing with the sometimes insane tantrums and stubbornness is more fun with a friend so I look forward to the weeks when Gates isn’t traveling and weekends with a fervor. I’ve found the best way to manage such a large amount of rage in such a tiny person is to ignore her completely which is easier said than done but generally results in her eventually forgetting that she was mad and moving on to current favorite actives including: scribbling incredibly accurate pictures of our family:

 

 

stacking “snaps” (playing cards) or playing “Go Fish” with various dolls and Peppas,

spinning in tutus:

 

 

putting on “makeup”,

“cooking” with Play-doh,

continuing her career in medicine:

 

 

playing in the snow (inside or outside):

 

 

and shouting unintelligible commands to Alexa.

Speaking of Alexa, Olivia is really into music right now – or more accurately – she is very into a few very specific songs she has heard on the radio and then randomly latched on to them due to a word or phrase she picked up in the lyrics and then decided “that is our favorite song!”.  10 points each song you can identify based on these titles Olivia has given them:

Go to Bed Angry

Check Your Nails

Little CeCe

Memories Bring Back

Hate Your Friends 

Pee-Yew

Ice Ice BABYYYY (ok that one is a no brainer)

Yikes. I have to constantly explain things like “but we don’t say we hate people though” and I also have to loudly censor Lizzo’s Good As Hell because even the radio version says “good as hell” and so I yell “good as HECK” every time. So far so good.

This winter has also brought us more than our fair share of germs. I don’t think we’ve been without at least one drippy nose at any given time since before Thanksgiving. Hand Foot and Mouth was a fun one. Woof. Here’s to hoping the groundhog is right!

 

 

The babies are becoming harder and harder to contain, despite not walking. They LOVE to climb and will attempt to do so on just about anything. They also are starting to actually play with eachother and by play I mean steal whatever toy the other is holding and then get angry when their toy is stolen and then screech at eachother and claw/pinch/bite the other and/or throw themselves backwards on to the ground in anger. They also cannot bear to stand the other sitting on my lap and will attempt to also squeeze on top of me and dislodge the other. Darwin’s in action. Not a ton of words yet, a little mamamamamamama and dadadadaada, uh-oh, oops, baba… and that’s about all she wrote so far. Totally ok with it… because once they start walking and talking… I’m thinking we are going to have our work cut out for us.

 

 

None of the kids like to eat anything, and nobody likes to sleep, but they all like to giggle so I guess what more could you ask for?

Besides child rearing Gates and I have been trying to take mindful time to fill our own cups (literally, with delish seasonal craft brews) and figuratively with figuring out a schedule for us both to be able to exercise. We kept saying “as soon as they are sleeping on a schedule” we would be able to either get up earlier than them to work out or have time in evening to do so, but as the months went on and we still weren’t getting any sleep and one or more kid was consistently up before the first glitter of dawn on the horizon we finally just gave up on that dream and now we take turns with the kids to dip off to the basement (finally almost finished!!!!!!) on weekends and during the week we just have to summon the strength of a thousand weeping angels to surrender half an hour of what already is a criminal amount of lack of sleep to get the deed done. And I am thrilled to report that after a month of consistent work outs and healthy eating I have gained 1 lb and seen no results! But it’s true, exercise boosts energy. Blah blah blah I know you’ve heard it. But it’s true. So we are sleeping a little less but feeling a little tiny bit better. And I’m only a tiny bit fatter, vs the usual moderate amount of fatness this time of year tends to share with me. Right in the nick of time too because I’m about to bust out of this icy pit and jet off to the sunshine for a conference, and Gates is going to join for the weekend after I wrap up. Cannot wait. We did have a chance to sneak away for an overnight in December to the playoff game but as fun as that was, bopping around in a bikini will beat slothing around in snowpants with handwarmers stuffed down my shirt hands down. Although last time we took a hot trip together we came back with 2 little stowaways on board… better make sure to schedule his snip snip follow up ASAP because I’m not down to clown with anymore ducks in my flock. I’m holding on to that little last scrap of sanity pretty well, mustn’t test that.

And finally, the icing on the cake of this winter was I took a little tumble like a complete dodo bird and fractured my ankle. What kind of bad luck is that? Good news is it actually sounds worse than it is… doctor said 6-8 weeks of heal time, I am determined to have it done in 2. Mind over matter, right?

Hope your wintery wonderlands are all as magical as ours, and to all you stay at home moms during this fabulous season in the Midwest – I hope your coffee is strong and your will to keep chugging along is stronger as you try to make indoor child entertainment exist out of thin air.

 

Lastly:

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, as we head into the season of slush and mud and primaries, keep just one little thing in mind: