"Mom Has No Hands"

The title of this post, inspired by Brandan's quote below, is my excuse for falling behind in my posts.  I'm so thankful that Siobhan has captured our sweetest pictures and memories this past month.  Adjusting to life with twins has been a challenge to say the least.  Friends and strangers alike warned me that "I'd have my hands full," but they didn't tell me I'd lose them altogether. I must say that my dear family has pulled together beautifully and learned to serve in countless ways.  Siobhan has run my kitchen, Ethan has painted our house, and Aidan has coordinated creative play for the younger ones so I can nurse babies around the clock.  In the midst of so many adjustments and brutal sleep deprivation, I have never been more grateful for the gift of laughter which my children bless me with every single day...

Yesterday Brandan asked my mom, "Grandma, do you have any hands because Mommy doesn't."  When I was puzzling over this statement, I realized how many times the kids have come to me for help while I'm tandem nursing the twins.  Brandan will even carry a full gallon of milk to plop in my lap, expecting me to pour him a drink from the rocking chair.  It must look to him like I'm just relaxing  and am available to meet all of his needs.  My standard reply is "No, Brandan.  I don't have any hands right now.  Go find someone with hands!" :)

Recently he has used this as an excuse for not obeying.  If I ask him to find something, he'll often say, "Sorry, I don't have any hands..."

When I was planning Brandan's birthday menu, I offered to make macaroni and cheese for dinner (one of his favorite meals).  Brandan replied, "That would be DISGUSTING!"

Ethan scolded Brandan for opening too many packages of crayons.  He retorted, "Ethan, you're just prejudiced!"

Ever since we came home from the hospital, Brandan has asked a staggering number of questions.  Many of them are quite thoughtful, but some are downright ridiculous.  His Grandma Z. gets a huge kick out of this and fires them right back at him.  It has become their little joke to come up with the silliest questions to ask each other, pretending that they genuinely don't know the answers.  The other day Brandan asked my mom what Elim was holding.  When Grandma told him that it was Elim's phone, he replied, "No, Grandma.  That's Elim's Ipod!"

When I ask Brandan if he knows which baby he is kissing, he answers, "Umm, that baby is LIKE CADE." And if I can only manage to carry one crying baby, he'll announce, "Mom!  You missed a baby!"  Instead of asking which twin I'm holding, he'll say, "What kind of baby is THAT?"

Brandan carelessly threw a toy, bumping Cade on the leg and making him cry.  When I told him he needed to be more careful with the twins, he pointed to Baxter and reassured me by saying, "Well, THAT baby isn't hurt!"
 

Frustrated by his lack of success on the potty chair, Brandan decided to fill his seat with spit instead of pee.  : /  He likes to tap his feet on floor while he is waiting to go and informs me that, "This is what PBS kids do when they are on the potty."
 

When I was bathing him, Brandan asked, "Mom, is it cool to have you in here?"

Yesterday I was reminded of the importance of prioritizing the emotional needs of my littlest ones.  It amazes me that they can always detect when they do not have my focused attention.  After a day of projects at the computer, when I was only physically present in our home, Brandan came up to me for some snuggles and said, "Mom, I MISS YOU."

Brandan asked if we could make "chocolate chip flapjacks."  When I looked confused, Shaila explained that "flapjacks are just short for pancakes."


When Brandan notices that I've been crying, he will announce, "Mom!  You have drops on your face!"  Then he will offer to sing "Baa Baa Black Sheep."  When he gets to the part about "The Little Boy Who Lives Down the Lane," his eyes light up and he sings "The Little Boy Who Lives Under the Toilet Tank" and roars with laughter at his own joke.  That makes everything feel okay again.  :)

The other day I presented the kids with cherry-scented play-dough.  Connor, the skeptic, asked, "Mom, is this the poisonous, addictive scented stuff?"

Connor observed about our neighbors, "Mom there are just 4 ladies over there with no kids and no men.  I don't even want to know what goes on over there, AND they SMOKE!"  I gave him a mild scolding, reminding him that we shouldn't judge our neighbors, and  suggesting that they might just be sisters.  Not buying it, he responded, "Mom, they have NO similarities!  At least we have different genders in our house..."

"Mom, can you pasteurize those babies' hands?!"

When Connor heard how Siobhan used to plan our anniversary meals when she was a little girl, his response was, "So HOW LONG has Siobhan been in charge around here?"

Connor, who is incredibly sensitive to my feelings, felt the need to apologize that he had a dream that made me look especially silly.  "Mom, I really didn't mean to have that dream about you.  I wanted to dream about a snake!"

The boys are thoroughly enjoying our study of flying creatures.  The other day Connor announced that he spotted something like a passenger pigeon in our front yard!


Shaila informed us that "The Waltons lived in the Middle Ages when there weren't any seat belts."
On our way to church, she was studying the twins' responses to our CD of upbeat praise songs.  Her conclusion was, "That baby in the blue seat likes rock music, and the one in the green seat doesn't."

For Shaila's sixth birthday, my mom gave her a soft mama kitty and told her that she had to take extra good care of it because she was going to have a baby soon.  Shaila announced this to everyone in breathless anticipation, and set up the kitty in a special basket with blankets.  When she woke up the next morning, sure enough there was a new baby kitty (placed there in the night by Grandma's helper, Siobhan :)!  Shaila and Brandan like to lead their kitties around on leashes.  The other day, Brandan was coaxing his along, saying, "Come with Auntie Brandan!"

As much as she still loves imaginary play, Shaila enjoys following in her teenage sister's footsteps and dressing up in sophisticated clothes.  The other day she met me in a trendy sweater dress and announced, "Mom!  I'm a business woman with mascara!"

"Mom, it's annoying how in Barbie and I Love Lucy, their lip gloss never comes off when they eat."

Shaila commented at lunch time that we "made our macaroni for free."  Her indignant brothers, who just had their first introduction to economics, protested, "Haven't you been listening to any of our book?!  There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!"

Shaila asked Ethan, "Hey, how are you going to pee when you're on crutches?"  When I asked her if she really wanted an answer to that question, she got a look of panic and answered, "Ummm, NO!"

Brandan is certain that "Frosty the Snowman is made of Marshmallows."

He also says, "Our babies look like OCTAGONS!"

Every now and then Brandan will give me a sly look and say that he "wants a new BLACK mother."

We are wrapping up our summer projects, and I am more determined than ever to have our home systems in good order before we add school to the mix.  This morning Stephen said, "So this is your quietest day of the week, right?"  I agreed and told him that "all I had to do was go for a run, clean up the mess from last night's 6 haircuts, bathe Brandan, run 5 loads of laundry, catch up on e-mails, freeze a huge pot of spaghetti sauce, whip up 2 cheeseburger pies, visit the Farmer's Market, type up 2 months of meal plans, order groceries for Hannaford pick up, and spend a few hours nursing the twins..."  It sounded kind of funny when I said it out loud and realized that this was my "day off."  I have enjoyed learning a new organization system called Homeschool Planet and have spent every spare moment creating a detailed account for each of my students.  When I pulled up everyone's schedules at once, the entire program froze up and had an electronic "nervous breakdown."  Perhaps it's a bad sign that a state of the art computer program can't process all that we're trying to accomplish in this home...