11 days

When I came to work on Monday Jan. 5, after 11 days in a row at home with my boys, I hung up my coat, plopped down in my chair, and thought, “Whew! Now I can relax.”

No kidding, even my toughest day at the office does not compare to the easiest day at home with L&L. They really keep me hopping! The weather was so frigid that only 2 of the days was it warm enough to take them outside. Then it took 1/2 hour--no joke--to get their gear on: hats, double layers, coats, shoes, gloves, etc. They didn't want to wait for me to get all MY gear on, so I let ‘em run out by themselves for 2 minutes while I quickly put my coat and boots on--BIG mistake, as I heard screaming when I went out the door and found Lm stuck in a small ditch near the cornfield where he had covered himself head to toe in mud.

You know those prairie women who used to go crazy living in the Plains in winter? I was nearing that point.

The second day I was able to take them outside, went a little better...

L&L built their first snowman!

Lm lost his glove...

It was a proud Mommy moment when we put in the raisin eyes and carrot nose, even though it ended up looking a little phallic.

I tried to schedule at least one "activity" per day to keep my guys busy. Grandma bought them Play-doh for their birthday they hadn't opened yet, so we got that out.

Lk preferred to just lump all the different colors together in a large pile...

Notice they had to have their new tractors in sight at all times. Lk has his tractor with him always, except the bathtub. He eats with his tractor on his tray, holds it in the car, and carries it everywhere.

On Tue the 30th, I convinced my mom to go with us to the Children's Museum. There was a line out the door and the place was packed. I'm claustrophobic and can’t stand to be anywhere that’s crowded, so it was a very stressful 3 hours for me. The nice thing is that the boys really did enjoy themselves, even though they had to wait to play with a lot of the activities. Lm got so excited that he was running and accidentally did a somersault on the floor.

My two pilots...

They had a TON of activities there and we must go back, when there are about a thousand less people there on the same day.

Grandma watches gamely in the background.

"Here, Gah-mah!" says Lk.

"Buh-bye!"

I stopped taking pics at the museum, but they played a long time on the play kitchen, taking pots and pans out and "cooking" many meals, putting bottles in drawers. They do this at home too of course, but this time they didn't have to hear me nagging them to quit. One of them spilled their milk all over my cellphone in the diaper bag so I had to buy a new one the next day! Mom and I were thoroughly exhausted after the museum day and lunch, but my guys were so pumped up they wouldn't take a nap. If only Valium were sold over the counter!

L&L must have enjoyed their holiday, because they were upset when Monday rolled around. Sunday night, Lm woke up three times crying. The next morning when I put my coat on, he sobbed and threw himself around my legs so I would not leave. Lk was so mad that he kept saying, “I want Gah-mah,” and wouldn’t acknowledge me.

Now they are happy and settled in to the old routine. Lm was so eager to leave the house today that he did a somersault down the steps. They are wooden and he has 2 goose eggs on his head, my poor baby! I just held and coddled him as long as I could, gave him some ibuprofin and an icepack for daycare to apply.