Sardines

Happy Easter!!!


Logan spent the past week on a much needed vacation to Grammy and Grampy's house. It was fabulous for all of us. Logan got some one-on-one attention that he has been sorely lacking since the girls' arrival. The girls were able to roll around on the floor without fear of being kicked in the head or body slammed. Steven and I actually slept in a few mornings and found ourselves doing crazy impulsive things like leaving the bathroom door open and *gasp* throwing our keys onto the kitchen table with no fear of a certain curious 2 year old getting into everything. Hell, even Gus was enjoying himself since he spent the week out amongst us instead of hiding in our closet until Logan's bedtime.

The theme for the week around Chez Maynard was relaxation. We moved the girls out of our bedroom and into Logan's bedroom for the week. And it was bliss. Steven converted Logan's toddler bed back into a crib and for the first time ever Molly and Emma actually had enough room to sleep and roll over without being on top of each other. You see, and this may be sort of shameful, they are still using a portacrib. There just isn't a lot of room in our bedroom and up until now the portacrib has been fine. Things are starting to get a little cramped now though. And after seeing how well they slept all week in a "real" crib, we can hardly wait to move them into one permanently. We were going to bring the crib my parents have at their house back up with us today but, sadly, it would not fit in our minivan - 3 kids in car seats plus all their crap does not leave room for things like cribs and mattresses. Darn.

I have just spent the past hour trying to get them to settle down in their portacrib and stop rolling and kicking each other. They have been howling for an hour straight. Clearly, they do not approve of this downgrade. Luckily, my parents have offered to drive up with the crib sometime this week. Thank god for my mom and dad!! To the rescue, AGAIN!

Sorry I've been out of touch for so long. I started back to work in the middle of December and things have been sort of crazy since then. Everyone's fine but we're all tired and a little cranky and the holidays damn near killed us all. It was hard enough to adjust to our new routine of me going to work and Steven caring for all three kids solo during the day, but then a 4 day trip to my parents' house for Christmas really threw things off kilter. There were endless visitors and parties and missed naps and I felt like I had to be up Logan's butt 24/7 to make sure he didn't break anything or set anyone's house on fire. Or steal anyone's keys. Or eat the plastic decorative fruit. Or chug-a-lug someone's abandoned cocktail. Or climb someone's Christmas tree. Or jump on someone's glass table. Or hug-tackle any of the other children. Or manhandle all the bowls of nuts/candy/eggnog.

Christmas was stressful this year.

And then, with Christmas almost over and visions of piling everyone and everything into the minivan and taking off for New Hampshire dancing in our heads, Logan had to fall on the stairs and bust open his lip. A split lip makes a lot of blood. And an overtired and oversugared little boy who has just split his lip makes a lot of noise. But the bleeding stopped fairly quickly and something shiny or furry or bouncy caught Logan's attention and he was fine again. Of course, I nervously retraced his steps and wiped up the bloody fingerprints he left on my aunt's walls and floors. And then I think I had a glass of wine to calm myself and in that amount of time Logan managed to completely drench himself by sitting in the bathroom sink and turning on the water full force. Yes. He is such a buzzkill.

So, we changed him into dry clothes and threw all our loot and all our kids into the minivan and headed out on our long trek home. I insisted we use my phone's GPS to get us home - and I will never use that goddamn thing ever again. It took us through the heart of Boston and we did not get home until midnight. We left at eight. It should take about an hour and half . . . you do the math. Yeah. Steven was LOVING me and my crappy GPS while we were sitting at a standstill in Boston for two hours on Christmas night. Good times, good times. Logan cried and screamed. Emma cried and screamed. Molly cried and screamed. Steven peed in an old Dasani bottle. I quietly wept in the front seat.

Isn't Christmas magical?

Silly Girls

Christmas! New and Improved!!

I have no idea how much lead it takes to harm a small child. And would owning half a dozen toys decorated with lead paint be enough to seriously hurt Logan? I don't know. Maybe. But the more I think about it, the less time I spend pondering the Chinese toy-making debacle and the more time I spend considering how refreshing it would be to simply avoid all the brightly colored plastic and opt for something a little more rustic and a lot better made.

This Christmas we are spurning Toys R Us and Wal-Mart in favor of small, non-chain retailers. We are lucky that Logan doesn't watch TV (he's just not interested) and is not yet infatuated with Elmo or Diego. He isn't asking for the latest and greatest toys - he probably still won't even understand Christmas. I know for many parents this would be next to impossible and I'm certainly not criticizing anyone for their choices. I have to admit though, that it does warm my heart to think that I'm supporting mom and pop retailers (many of them local, too) and thumbing my nose at the corrupt big businesses while simultaneously purchasing some really beautifully made toys for my kids. And these toys will last. There aren't a million small pieces to lose in the sofa cushions. They're not cheap plastic that breaks the first time mommy trips over a carelessly strewn toy on her way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

The only downside is that they're more expensive - and rightly so - the materials are top notch and they're handmade in America (some are from Europe), so we had to pick only a couple of things. Lately, I've come to the realization that I'd rather have a few really nice things than hundreds of pieces of crap. I hope little boys feel the same way. I know the twins don't care just as long as I keep shoving my boobs at them every 3 hours or so.

So, here's what we got:



The stacking rings will be for the twins and the jumbo lacing beads and the work bench will be for Logan.

Logan's really into vehicles right now and I think he'll have a blast with this school bus and the little people inside it.

I found these blocks for Logan that I LOVE. They're like Legos, only they're wooden and they're made by the residents of Camphill Village.

Emma and Molly are each getting one of these wooden bowl and spoon sets - I'm trying to move away from the plastic bowls we used for Logan.

They're also each getting a maple teether.

Oh, and this parachute toy for Logan. I remember playing with an el cheapo plastic version when I was a kid and loving it.

I also bought him a SIGG water bottle for taking in the car and to the park. We had been using a Nalgene bottle until we read how dangerous they might be.

And of course, everyone's getting pajamas and clothes and other boring things like hats and socks.

I know what you're thinking, and no I haven't become some sort of tree hugging hippie, but I have to say, it makes me feel really good to be buying quality products for my kids instead of mass produced pieces of junk. And I'm sure the time will come when they will be begging for some heinously crappy Made in China doo-dad, but this Christmas I'm going to enjoy simplicity.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Steven is going to kill me for posting a video where his naked gut is resting on the counter for the majority of the time, but this is too hilarious for me not to share it with all of you. Maybe my dad was right and we should have stopped by the nearest tattoo parlor on the way home from the hospital and had the girls' names permanently etched on their bums.

* Special thanks to Steven for blocking me from the camera. While his belly was propped up on the counter, mine was gently sweeping the floor. I might be down 40 pounds since giving birth, but my saggy stomach skin is like warm salt water taffy. Mmmmmm.

Introducing . . .

Molly Susan, 5 lbs. 15 oz., 18 1/4 in. at 9:53 AM
and
Emma Barbara, 6 lbs. 2 oz., 18 1/2 in. at 9:54 AM