Well, today's the day - two months ago at 3:43 and 3:44 in the PM we took our daughter and son from being wombmates to being roommates. A lot has changed since then, as you might imagine... if you can't imagine it, then just try to picture worrying about whatever you worry about, and then multiply that by perhaps 4, and then cut back on your sleep by about half, then cut back on your "free time" to about zero, then cut out any extracurricular activities you used to do and introduce yourself to diapers and formula.
So around the Little household, the lawn goes unmowed for most of the month. Weeds are thriving, although the I noticed last week that the shade trees in our backyard started dropping their leaves during a stiff breeze. That means fall is well on its way, and I'll soon have only a few mows left which doesn't bother me in the least. On the outside, aside from the loosely-maintained appearance of the house, things look relatively normal. On the inside... well, the landscape has certainly changed.
You may have noticed that the crib-cam is vacant most of the time - that's because it's technically not a crib-cam, rather, it's a pack-n-play cam, and right now, we aren't packing the kids around in it very much. So, the P&P sites in the living room and is more of a storage compartment for the sundry items used during multiple child care: bibs, binkies, burpies, blankets, bottles, books, etc. (wow, I didn't think I could get that many B items in that list!).
We have also undertooken to move our combi-office from the 3rd bedroom upstairs into the side bonus room downstairs, which suits me just fine. It is closer to my music instruments and will allow me to (finally) get my music studio integrated into the office. At the moment, my office is mostly in boxes stacked up outside the room. It is strange how, when boxed, any room seems to occupy nearly double the original space.
The plan is to change the former office into a playroom to hold kid-oriented items, and then will eventually become a bedroom for one of the kids when they are old enough to want separate rooms. That, and I think Steph just wanted a creative outlet. So, the theme for this room is "Under the Sea", and we're hand-drawing/painting all the art this time - no templates. The backdrop of ocean color is done, complete with a few thermoclines, and we are currently scribing the multitude of creatures onto the now-blue-and-green-and-uhhh-cerulean walls. Steph did most of the larger creatures as she had more free time: we have a whale, dolphin, octopus, sea turtle, seahorse, and some miscellaneous fish. I've been doing more detail work: sunken treasure chest with guardian moray eel, various coral reefs with fans, stag corals, tube sponges and anemones, grasses, kelp, shells, and some schools of fish. Our styles are certainly different enough - Steph is going for a more solid block style reminiscent of a Richard Scarry book, whereas I am doing more of a stylized detailing - my fish don't look like fish, but more like humanized faces on fish bodies. I think I'm also going to do a shark in there somewhere, although I'll have to hide it somewhat because Steph wants everything to be all happy-faced and what not, but I like to put some "real life" in there. In the previous bedroom, which is done in an African Safari style, I was responsible for painting clouds. Yep, that's it, just clouds, so I add a couple of thunderheads and a bit of a vortex on one. Steph was a bit miffed, but I smiled and told her that the kids need to know that the world ain't all smiling animals and puffy clouds. Sometime the animals will take a leg off, and sometimes it rains. So I'm keeping with that theme in the Under the Sea room - I'm going to do a happy, smiling shark with a couple of bones in his teeth. :) We'll see if Steph actually paints that in there...
I just heard Maya making noises in the crib, so I suspect I'll have to wrap this up shortly. We are currently "vacationing" in Florida with Steph's mom. I say vacation because I've been working half the time, and really, there is no vacation with twin infants. But the extra help is nice, and being able to hop out to the beach and enjoy the red tide is great (all kidding aside, the red tide during my one beach trip this year does most assuredly suck and blow). I suspect we'll remain here until sometime in the middle of next week, at which point we'll head back to the ATL and resume all our home activities in preparation for fall.
Oh, and one other tidbit... we came down with the whole family in tow (parents, kids, dogs) and that was truly an enlightening experience. Luckily the van proved its worth with the kids in the middle row, Steph in the back row and dogs interspersed throughout the cabin. We were able to switch drivers every so often, and stop every 3-4 hours for feedings and changings. So the trip was not unbearable, and we did the 600 miles in one whack. It took about 2 hours longer than normal, which is pretty amazing considering all the stops. Back to my tidbit: I had my laptop out with the GPS hooked up to track our progress. Not that the trip is difficult: out from the house, to I-75 south then go 575 miles. Pretty easy navigation-wise, but I was more interested in tracking our arrival time and checking the times we would be passing through various metros to make sure we avoid any rush-hour driving. So, the laptop was out on the front seat and then we stopped to get gas. One of the dogs decided they couldn't wait and hopped up on the seat and managed to remove 5 keys from the keyboard. So, I'm basically pressing rubber nipples whenever I'm typing a 1, 4, j, or pressing enter. The enter key is the worst. But apparently our IT department has an extra keyboard that's just missing an N, so I'm only on the rocks for a little while longer.
I just thought of something... as I'm sitting here trying to get people to understand what it's like with two infants (and believe me - parents of just one have no idea), I just remembered that I have the latest issue of MAKE sitting in my bag. I got it probably two weeks ago and haven't even cracked the cover. That's pretty sad. But cool too. I have two beautiful kids to show for it. :)
P.S. We have nicknames for Devin and Maya. Devin is known is Mr. Man, Nugget (derivatives such as Nuggies, Nuggleboy, Nuggs are ok), and Chunky Monkey. Maya goes by Butterfly or most recently, Honeybee.
Anyway it was pretty fun planning it out and putting it all together. Worst part of the job? Cementing CPVC together - it's altogether nasty stuff.
I've uploaded some more pictures of the Nuggets. Check 'em out here!
Apparently my domain was up for renewal and I didn't know it.... but we're back on track!
As long as I'm here: things are going well; kids are great, work is good.
