My Two Handsome Guys

If there was a picture that could sum up the boys' personalities at this moment in their lives it would be this one:

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I was just trying to get a cute picture of the two of them together for the background on my phone. After several attempts this was the best I could get. And it is hilarious!

Cam is teething right now, but not enough that we can actually feel anything. Just enough that it bugs the crap out of him and he wants to gnaw on everything. AJ appears to be looking at Cam all "Dude, what is up with you?" and Cam is all "MY MOUTH! MY TEETH! NEED TO CHEW! NOM NOM NOM!"

I love it. Just looking at it makes me laugh. My mellow AJ who is happy as long as he has a full belly and some snuggle time and my Cam who wants to be held then not held then lay on his back then maybe his tummy this time and OW MY MOUTH!

I love them so.

"Say, 'Good night, Gracie!'"

Once upon a time Boy met Girl. Boy thought he was in love with Another Girl (AG) so he decided to just be friends with Girl.

While AG broke Boy's heart, Girl was there with a shoulder to lean on and DVD sets of Season 1 and 2 of The Office.

Boy and Girl watched the show and laughed and Girl thought, "We have something in common with that Jim and Pam."

Girl made Boy a Jell-O with a stapler in it for his 30th birthday. Boy fell a little in love with her and spent the weeks before her birthday making her an Essential Music collection by copying Cd's and filling a 30 disc holder with some great tunes.

They watched Jim and Pam finally get together at the end of Season 3. Right around that time Boy decided AG wasn't all that great. It turns out Girl was pretty awesome. Awesome like Pam. And he was awesome like Jim. So maybe they could be awesome together.

And they were. And they watched this couple grow together, get married and have children.

And they did the same.

The Office will always have a special place in Girl's heart. Even when the show turned into a craptacular mess, Girl gave it a shot. She laughed every now and then. She remembered the characters she used to love.

Tonight is the series finale of The Office. And Boy and Girl will watch it together. And remember what it was like to be squished onto his tiny couch cuddling as close as two people can. Girl will remember how her hurt heart for Pam who had to watch Jim date someone else. And she'll remember how she cried when she saw their wedding.

Maybe it's not M.A.S.H. or Seinfeld or The Sopranos. But The Office touched Boy and Girl. And tonight there will no doubt be some tears as they say good-bye.

The End

Thanks, Mrs. B!

I am not a teacher.

But I know some pretty awesome ones.

In fact, I think I know the best teacher in the whole wide world. That would be my sister.

My sister is a special education teacher. She started out working in a high school, moved to the elementary school and is now back in the high school running the Special Ed Department. Unfortunately, she's not so hip on running the department. In her words, "I just want to help the kids, not deal with the stupid paperwork!" So next year, she'll be back to just teaching. Which, really, is best for everyone involved.

Because, Mrs. B. is a kick-ass teacher.

She has dreams of setting up a post high school program that not only helps people with special needs but also the environment.

My sister brings her work home with her. She takes the time to learn about her students and she loses a little piece of her heart as each student grows and moves on. She works for a lower income school district so she also fights for a better home life for her students. That lady, I am telling you, gives and gives and gives. I am in awe of her strength, her sense of humor, and her hopefulness. We need people like her out in the world, teaching our kids, teaching them how to make their world a better place. She is a warrior and will protect those who cannot protect themselves as best as she can.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day, Mrs. B!

Oh yeah, and on top of all that? She's a really kick-ass auntie!

One vs. Two

 I have not had the boys long enough nor taken them out enough to get the full feeling of this, but I have hit the tip of this iceberg so let me just say this.

Having two children very close in age is not the same as having twins.

There, I said it.

 Of course I have no idea what it's like to have two children very close in age. And the thought of having a toddler and a newborn at the same time makes me want to weep because DUDE I didn't sleep for the first month, how can people do that AND chase after toddlers and deal with meltdowns and nap times and watching "Dora"? You people, you people who do that, you are amazing.

 Alright, so my newborn experience is slightly skewed since I had two newborns at the same time. I know those moms, the ones holding a newborn and chasing after a toddler look at me and think DUDE I could never have two newborns at the same time!

 Right, so the whole two close in age thing...not the same. Let me just get that out of the way.

 And now here is my lovely example of how having two instead of one can be TOUGH (by the way, this isn't really a tough thing. I'm just putting that out into the Universe so Karma doesn't kick my butt. I am posting this in a joking kinda way, OK Universe? Don't be mean to me!)

 Today Cam and AJ had their 18 Week photo session (by photo session I mean me with the iPad trying to take a picture of them next to a hand drawn sign). Here are the results:

My favorite one, although Cam's hands are hiding his adorable smile. AJ is thinking "screw it, it's too early to smile"

Getting distracted by Grammy. Cam "Hi grammy!" AJ "I think I might cry right now"

Grammy tried distracting them behind the camera. Cam "Hi Grammy!" AJ "Wait, where did Grammy go?

Both boys "Why is Grammy standing behind mom squeaking that yummy chewy giraffe?"

I gave up trying to take a picture where they would both smile at me. And then of course both of them smiled at me. Kids.

Lost my cool

Dear Cam,
  I'm sorry I told you to shut up in a terrible whispery/hissy voice because I was afraid you were going to wake your brother up. You were just telling me you were done with your nap and I was not listening and insisting you still needed to nap. It hurts my heart to think about saying that to you, especially since not two seconds later you hit me with one of your smiles, the kind that lights up a room, shoot, the kind that lights up the entire Eastern Seaboard. As long as you keep smiling those smiles no one will have to worry about power outages anytime soon.
  Sometimes moms lose their cool. I wasn't even that stressed out... ok maybe I was a little bit, as I had planned on being at work, but Nana got sick and Dad had a DEADLINE so I had to call in. Also, Mama wore her contacts one too many times and is currently sporting a sexy and sore and RED right eyeball.  And maybe that stress rubbed me the wrong way because, really, you'd already slept for forty minutes it wasn't that bad. So, I'm sorry, kiddo. I'm sorry that I lost my shit. I know you still love me (see: Cam's smiles above) and I want you to know I still love you. I always love you, even when I'm mad.

Love,
 Mama

A little light-heartedness for your day

This morning AJ woke up at the ungodly hour of six am. He normally will take a bottle and go back to sleep but not today. No worries, I had some time to kill before I got ready for work so we hung out. Cam was snoozing with his dad so we had some AJ and mom time.

Eventually I had to actually get ready for work so I put AJ in his excersaucer and started getting myself ready. He's really been into it these last few days so it was nice to see his face light up when I put him in there.

After a couple of minutes I heard one of the buttons, the cow, make noise. I was impressed as he hadn't quite figured out how to push buttons yet. On this particular excersaucer if you keep hitting the same button it starts off by making the animal noise, identifying the animal in English, then in Spanish and finally playing some music. The cow went through those steps then started again. I was all proud thinking, "look at AJ go, figuring out how to push those buttons!" I popped my head into the room to see how he was.

And the poor little guy was asleep with his head pressed into the buttons. I didn't think to take a picture, I was just laughing too hard.

Knowledge is power

What I Have Learned In Four Months of Motherhood
(Also know as: I Have No Clue What I Am Doing)
(AKA: Flying By the Seat of Your Pants)

-It is possible to survive on little to no sleep. People will ask you if you are tired and you won't be. At least you won't be tired until about seven o'clock at night and then your body will say "hey, remember how you only slept for two hours last night? GO TO SLEEP!"

-It is very difficult to resist punching people in the face when they ask you the following questions:
1. Are they sleeping through the night?
and
2. Are you going to have any more kids?

The answers to these questions are:
1. Seriously?!?! They're three weeks old. Of course they aren't sleeping through the night.
2. No. Never. Never ever ever ever. And why would you ask a mother of NEWBORN TWINS that very stupid question? My husband isn't even allowed to look at me in a sexy way I am that afraid of getting pregnant.

-Babies do not hold grudges and will not remember that time when they were two weeks old and the crying oh the crying that you couldn't handle and how you almost threw them at your husband and left the room to stare blankly at HGTV for five blessed minutes with none of THE CRYING.

-You will, of course, remember those moments and be riddled with Mommy Guilt. No worries, there will be plenty of future instances to indulge in Mommy Guilt. Just wait.

-When your babies smile at you for the first time it is glorious. And funny enough, all other smiles after that, even the ones at 4am when you really want the stinker to go to sleep, they are still glorious.

-In the age old tradition of "if I can't see you, you can't see me" if I didn't notice the spit-up on my clothes before I went out then it's not really there.

-It is possible to shower while being the only adult home with newborn babies. They like hanging out in the bathroom in their bouncy seats.

-The television is not evil. It is awesome!

-Have that glass of wine. Seriously, drink it. Your breast milk will not be contaminated for the rest of your life, I promise!

-When your babies finally sleep through the night you will not as you will be waking up constantly to check on them.

-Boys pee when you take their diapers off. Plan accordingly!

-Babies splashing in the tub= awesomeness!

-You will neglect your dog. Eventually you'll get in a routine and she'll get some attention again.

-IT IS OK TO ASK FOR HELP. IT IS OK TO ACCEPT HELP.

-Eating cold cereal for dinner for a week straight does not make you a bad person. You did it in college and survived that, right?