Growth #13 - Forget Me Not

First, stop what you're doing. STOP EVERYTHING.  Go. Now. Go to this link:

http://babyshotsphotography.blogspot.com/2012/06/boygirl-twins-scottsdale-baby.html

Now, come back. Are you DYING yet? Yeah, those babies are pretty much perfection.  And they're OURS!

I love love love our photographer. And I love that she plugged my blogging! :)

Those are just the sneak peek, we haven't seen the full gallery yet. Cannot wait.

Ok, back to growth month.  Today's another Mommy and Daddy growth post...because, well, we're new at all this madness.  And we need to grow, too.  Key example of a growth opportunity popped up this afternoon.

I lost my glasses. Yes, I lost them.  I put them down somewhere and they've vanished forever (to be found immediately upon paying for my new pair of glasses, I'm sure).  So I planned on stopping into the glasses store today on my lunch break.  Until, of course, I had no lunch break.  Nor did I have any break at all. I was back-to-back every single hour of the day today, leaving me to shovel a salad into my mouth on a walk from one meeting to the other. Pretty.

So, at around 4:02, two minutes past when I promised Ben I'd be leaving every day, I sent him a quick note asking if he'd mind coming along just to pick up a new pair of glasses, couldn't be more than 15 minutes to pick them out and get them ordered.  Well, being the wonderful, understanding husband that he is, he agreed.  An hour and 15 minutes later, we left the glasses store after an entire eye screening had to take place because my perscription had expired.   

We're both upset that the babies have been waiting all this time and that we haven't had a chance to see them yet.  So we race to the daycare to go pick them up, listen to how wonderful they are and how much everyone loves them, pack everything into the car and head to the pharmacy to pick up some cold medicine for Ben...yeah, he's coming down with something now... and some rubbing alcohol to clean Caleb's helmet.  We were so excited that Ben remembered the rubbing alcohol!  After I ran in to pick up our items, we hit the road for home, nearly two hours later than we usually do. We drove for a bit, discussing how we were going to handle tonight without much time to get the babies ready for bed before they start to get really mad and with so much to do tonight with the new helmet routine on top of it being bath night.  About 30 seconds before we got on the freeway, I rememberd that we didn't grab Caleb's antibiotics from daycare and he needed a dose tonight. So we had to turn around and go back to daycare to pick them up. Finally, feeling like we'd remembered everything, we hit the road once again when Ben remembered that we never bought more probiotics for Caleb (doctor recommended since he's been on so many antibiotics recently).  So we had to go BACK to the pharmacy.  This time I picked up the nearly $30 box of probiotics and some candy to keep me from going completely insane.

At this point, Grace had fallen asleep in the back seat and Caleb was starting to yell.  By the time we got home, it was almost 6:30 and past the time we usually have them nearly in bed.  We went straight into bedtime mode, cleaned the helmet, gave baths, administered all kinds of medication, put together the new humidifier because our old one just died, and fed both babies.  Caleb cried almost the entire time, including in the tub, and Grace decided that her nice long nap while we drove all over town was enough to hold her over for a while- bed wasn't in her plans for quite some time. 

I finally got her sleepy enough to put her down and then got to sit for a minute to relax.  I turned on So You Think Yo.u Can. Dance because who doesn't turn on SYTYCD when they have five free minutes and took my sweet time to unwind and exhale this ridiculous day.  Four minutes later, it was time to roll again.  I've got bottles to wash, new bottles to make, blogs to write, work to finish, and dinner to get on the table (or the ottoman in our house).  Thank God Ben is making steak tonight on the grill and has agreed to take baby duty tonight again because I've got a really big day at work tomorrow as well. 

What I'm getting at, if you hadn't picked up on it yet, is that we're still learning.  There's so much on our constant parental to-do list and still so much on our professional to-do lists, it feels like we just can't keep up.  I can say at the end of the day that our babies are happy, they're clean, fed, and at least fairly healthy. I can also say that we've both got jobs, good ones at that, that we're not totally screwing up.  But I can't say in any right mind that the peripheral is anywhere near in line yet.  Will we ever remember all of the stuff we need to pick up, all of the medications we need to give right when we're supposed to give them, all of the chores that need to get done?  Will we ever be on top of any of this or is it going to be a constant state of catching up that we live in? 

I guess that when I truly step back and look at it, I'd much rather feel behind in to-do's and ahead in life.  And man, do I have it made or what?  Did you see those pictures?  That's my world.  That's my life.  It's a beautiful, beautiful thing, this mess we're living in.

Why does this helmet make me squint like a pirate?

Finally sitting down after a long day...baby still in hand :)

I had to post this because in my missed aim I accidentally captured the overflowing mound of laundry that is waiting to be washed... we'll get to it at some point. That's all I can guarantee.

Baby girl, you're supposed to be sleeeeeeping right now.