The Morning Rush

**Note: I wrote this post 3 weeks ago. The week before the time change provided us with a week of extra early mornings. This new level of exhaustion prevented me from getting a picture of the boys in the stroller in the morning until a few days ago.**


On those HGTV shows when people are looking for a new house, they often point out a nice patio or deck off the master bedroom and make the following comment – “That would be such a nice place to sit and enjoy our morning coffee and read the paper.” Really? Are there people waking up extra early in the morning to allow time for this? And are they reading by lantern, because it is still dark when I get up.

Mornings at our house definitely don’t allow such a calming start to the day. Although I set my alarm clock each night, it rarely has the opportunity to wake me in the morning. My day starts earlier than I want when I am jolted awake by 1 or more little people demanding attention.

Depending on the time, I may feed the baby who is awake and get them to go back to sleep, or at least chill in a bouncy seat, so I can hop in the shower before anyone else wakes up. Then the other baby needs to eat, all 3 children need to be dressed and Juliana have breakfast – she doesn’t like to eat right after she wakes up, so breakfast is a struggle. Juliana – brush hair and teeth. We pick out Juliana’s clothes at night and if she wakes up in a good mood, she will get herself dressed. If she is tired or otherwise uncooperative, she decides to debate the clothing choice she made and insist that I get her dressed.

Bottles, breakfast, and extra clothes and bibs for the boys are packed in their bag. Miscellaneous forms/ permissions slips collected. Shoes, jacket, backpack for Juliana. At this point hopefully neither baby has spit-up all over their clothes or filled their diaper requiring a return to the changing table. Jackets and hats on boys, put them in the stroller, cover them with blanket(s) depending on the temperature. Push the stroller around the block, get the boys settled in their room, stuff put away for the day, take Juliana to her room and hope there isn’t any goodbye drama that morning. Walk home and sit down at my computer to work.

All of this before 8:00 am.

My Morning Baby

Ruslan is exceedingly happy when he wakes in the morning. I am awakened each morning by the sounds of him screeching, babbling, cooing and blowing bubbles. Although I prefer this to being jolted awake by crying, I wish it weren't so early. He would happily play in his crib if I left him there, but I don't because the happy sounds get loud and wake the other sleeping children. Wyatt and Juliana do not wake up in such a happy playful mood - they are both much more demanding first thing in the morning.

So most mornings I come downstairs with Ruslan and we have some quality time while the rest of the house is quiet, and I am allowed to slowly wake-up. His happiness is contagious especially since his babbling sounds a lot like ma-ma-ma-ma; even a very sleepy Mommy can't help but smile around this happy baby.

Halloween 2009

Juliana went through many costume options during the week.  She went to a Halloween party as Snow White.  Most days she came home from school and was Tinkerbell for the rest of the evening.  For the preschool party on Friday, she wore her Jasmine costume from last Halloween which fit perfectly this year.   She ended up wearing the outfit we purchased for Halloween to trick-or-treat.  It was a blue dress with fiber optic lights in the skirt (very cool at night) - she picked it out in the store and deemed it a Cinderella dress and wouldn't consider anything else.

I purchased the costumes for the boys last year on clearance when I knew we were having twins but didn't know boys/girls.  I couldn't pass up $2 costumes and they ended up working out great for the chilly evening.  Ruslan thought the costume was fun for a little while, I think that the bow tie and beak kept him entertained.  Wyatt was not thrilled about the whole thing and Juliana dubbed him "the angry chicken".  He didn't cry, he just wasn't happy.

We all walked on our street so the neighbors could see the boys - someone gave them peanut butter cups - Ruslan was very interested in his, Wyatt was checked out and ready for bed at this point.  I took the boys home and Juliana teamed up with the little girl next door and they set off with their Daddies for the next block.