Crap ... literally

You all know my precious baby boy Jack. He's a cute, cuddly little chunky monkey. And one of his new favorite things to do is smile and giggle. He does this often and it is aboslutely precious!

This sweet, heart-melting little boy has a yeast infection.

So, being the good mother that I am, allowed him to run around without a diaper on tonight after his bath. (You could call me brave...or stupid. But I will try things until I get burned.)

Me, being the bad mother that I am, was on the computer while the boys were finishing their bottles (yes, Jack is still naked).

Then it hits me - this horrible poopy smell. Then I see him - that bright smiling boy looking up at me cover and smothered in poop. And the grossest part about it: even his handsome smile was pooped covered.

Needless to say, I spent the next 45 minutes bathing (again) and trying to clean our rug. The tough part was actually finding all the poop as it seems our rug is the color of poop.

Hope I got it all!

This is My Life

When I was younger, I always had an idea in my head of what my life would be like when I "grew up."

But, sadly enough, those ideas were derived from television shows, things I saw other people doing, or things my mom did that I vowed never to do (haha...turns out when you become a mom, you kind of start understanding why your mom did certain things!).

Let's focus in on my ideas from television shows. Sure, we all know that those are fake, made up, ideally great looking lives. But I guess somewhere in that understanding, it never really clicked with me that it was also unrealistic and unachievable.

You see, I always wanted to be the mom who did everything (and did everything right). I wanted to be the mom who kept her shape post kids (that kind of went out the window after being pregnant with twins!), the mom who cooked dinner and had it ready when dad got home from work, the mom who always had laundry done and put away, the mom who didn't mind if someone just showed up at our house because it's always clean and presentable, the mom who was involved and made the cutest, most unique desserts for the school party, the mom who's cookies tasted the best, the mom who threw beautiful birthday parties for the kids, the mom who had endless amounts of patients with her children, the mom who did all the work at home and pampered her husband when he got home from work...oh my, I guess I could go on forever, but I think I have gotten my point across.

Anyway, that is the mom I have always wanted to be. The Perfect One.

Is it attainable? Is it even realistic?

Let's see...I have been trying to be that mom for over three years now and still do not feel like I am anywhere close.

What is realistic is that moms do run out of patients when the kids are screaming and whining all day, a mom cannot always keep a house spotless because there are kids (and husbands) going behind her dragging stuff out after she puts it up, who cannot always have dinner ready at 5:30 because she forgot an ingredient and has to come up with a new plan or has babies crying because they are starving, who runs out of energy to fold the laundry at the end of a busy day, and who doesn't have enough give in her to pamper her husband at the end of the way she would like.

But even though I know I can't be the ideal mom, I think I'll still try.

Our Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with our families! Our families live nearby so we were able to make Thanksgiving with my family and Jeremy's.

Seth had a wonderful time playing with his cousins, and Jack and Ian did great just hanging out. We have totally been blessed with great kids!

This year, we had Thanksgiving dinner with Jeremy's family. This meant that I got to help cook! My sister-in-law, mother-in-law and I made the dinner. Typically, I make something and take it to where ever we are going, so this was a fun treat!

Jeremy's parents and grandkids

Us :)

My grandparents' great grandchildren

Now for the sappy stuff.

I do feel like one of my strong points is being thankful and recognizing what I have to be thankful for. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to toot my horn - I have many not so great things about me! I have been very blessed and feel like it is important to recognize and thank God for all He has done. However, I do feel like Thanksgiving is a wonderful day to share things that we are thankful for and to also remember how our country started and what Thanksgiving is really all about!

So, for traditions sake, here is my tiny list of thankfuls:
God's grace and mercy, my husband, healthy and adorable and great children, our families, our friends, my fellow twin mommies who have helped me stay sane through pregnancy and twinfanthood, our church and Sunday school class, the computer that allows me to keep up with people (including blogging, message boards, facebook and email), our comfortable home, working vehicles, health, the time I have with my husband and children, dishwasher/washing maching/dryer that helps me keep a (somewhat) clean house (we all know how bad it is when one of those important appliances goes out!)...

The Case of the Disappearing Fish

Marlin was his name, and he was a fish.

Or is a fish. Either way, this may get confusing.

Marlin lived in a fish bowl in our bathroom. He was the only fish in the bowl.

One afternoon, Jeremy and I were in our bathroom and he asked me where Marlin was. He was no where to be found. The fish bowl is small with a receeding water line, and there was no way he could have jumped out.

I didn't touch him. Jeremy didn't touch him. We hadn't had any guests, and we do not have animals in our house.

That only left Seth.

Now surely (I tell myself), that I would have known if Seth had taken a fish from our bathroom. He is not a sneaky kid - surely he would have shown me his treasure, right?

Our son has a great imagination but typically tells the truth. The only problem is, his stories have changed each time he has told them.

Here is one version.