Who are all these kids and why are they calling me Mom?

Having a big family has it's challenges (and lots of good stuff too, at least that's what I've heard), especially when half your brood is a set of 2 month old twins and you have a rambunctious 5 year old and a needy 2 year old to boot. Here's what I've learned so far...

When you have 4 young kids....

Costco is now your grocery store. There is no such thing as "grabbing a few little things from the store." No siree, we need the jumbo everything.

3 kids in diapers is expensive, and also disgusting. Our garage smells like a sewage plant and we had to upgrade our trash can to the ginormous size just to accommodate the mass amounts of diaps and wipes we go through. We are literally up to our eyeballs in poop.

Apparently it means that you are required to get those little white stickers for the back of your van/ suburban, you know, the ones that represent each person in your humongous family. We'd have to get one for Bailey too, can't forget our doggy. P.S. - don't tell anyone but I think they are kinda cute.

Speaking of vans and suburbans, that is the only car option for those of us that have a gazillion kids. In fact, the minivans were way too small. No cargo room for a double stroller and groceries for 6. And I use the back of our suburban to change diapers all the time, so a minivan wouldn't cut it for us.

When I give the kids their tubby and it's nail trimming night, I have 80, EIGHTY little fingers and toes to clip.

It means when you go out to eat you need a table for 6 (7 if Aaron is with us). We went out to a steak house in town with all the kids - yes, we are nuts, and when they called out "Todd, party of 6" he looked around the waiting area like "who the heck is crazy enough to have that many kids?" Then he realized he was that crazy person.

Someone is always crying, always, and sometimes that person is me. Todd and I were laughing the other night because both of us hear crying in our heads even during those rare times of semi-quiet. It's kind of like being on a boat all day and getting off, only to feel like you're still moving. Only this isn't near as much fun because, well, you haven't been on a boat all day, you've been listening to screaming kids all day.

We have so many baby monitors in our room that the white-noise emitted from them is loud enough to lull even the neighbors to sleep.

I'm sure I'll have more of these little tidbits in the future, and hopefully you know this is all tongue in cheek. We waited and prayed for this big, beautiful family forever and we are SO blessed and grateful. They really are the joy of my life...and the reason I'm going to need professional mental help in the future, probably sooner than later...

Prince of Wails

You'll have to go to the very bottom of my blog and pause or stop the music so you can hear these videos. I may be partial but I think Charlie has the cutest cry, what do you think? It takes him a second to really warm up...

He's even cuter when he's happy! I sound like a fool but his smiles and coos are worth my foolishness:-)

Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite

Just before I took this picture I was the unfortunate one smooshed between the twins

Apparently upgrading to a King sized bed was a good idea, seems like we have a lot of visitors these days. I actually look forward to our snuggle time in the morning and on weekends, but there is no way we could've all squeezed on to our old bed, not with 4 wriggling munchkins. The twins slept together in a little co-sleeper in our bed for the first couple of weeks but quickly grew out of it, so they have been in bassinets by my side of the bed since then, but every once in a while one will wind up back in bed with us if they are particularly fussy that night (still in the co-sleeper, I am a paranoid freak that we'd suffocate one of the babies), I seem to get a tad more sleep if I don't have to actually get out of bed every time that evening's stinker wakes up. I'll give you one wild guess who that usually is...

Baby Birds, How Tweet!

As if I wasn't busy enough feeding my own 2 babies, these little ones were added to the mix. Ella and Todd found some baby birds in the yard, apparently their nest had been knocked out of one of our trees. So I spent over an hour collecting ants, spiders, a grasshopper - and then I smashed them up, yes, that's right, I smooshed them into a pulp and fed these baby birds with a straw. Pathetic I know, but what was I supposed to do? Let them starve? Mommies don't let babies starve, not any babies, human or otherwise. So by the time afternoon rolled around we discovered their rightful Mommy was looking for them - we assumed that the bird that was dive bombing Todd's head was their Mom. So we put their new apartment (one of my clay pots) up into a tree and sure enough, their Mom found them and checked in on them. Phew, no more bug smashing for me and only one set of twins to feed. Aren't they cute though?! And for all you nature lovers out there, these are bonafide Cedar Waxwings.

2 babies + 2 months = 4ever since I slept through the night...

Mitchy looks scared to death

Typical scene around here

Ella said the phone was for Charlie....

Big Mitch and Baby Mitch

Papa and Charlie

My baby boys are 8 weeks old now and it amazes me how much they've changed in such a short time. I still can't believe they were in my tummy just 2 short months ago, and now they coo, and have been smiling for a couple of weeks now which totally melts my heart (Charlie smiled first, he added this to his arsenal of tricks to get Mommy to hold him), and know exactly what to do to get what they want. They spend a lot more time awake, which is so fun. I love them to pieces and even though I have loved them since the moment I knew of their tiny existence, I know them now and love them that much more. Here are some pictures of my little buddies, a mixture of the past month or so since I haven't had much time to post things as they happen.

Charlie is still the squeaky wheel around here and has absolutely no idea that he is a twin. He is completely flabbergasted that he can't be held 24/7, and when I put the boys together and he does open his eyes (it's hard to open your eyes when you're crying) long enough to see Mitch, it just makes him cry even harder. In general, he is disgruntled with life, at least the parts of life that don't exist in Mommy's arms. The funny thing is (I use the term "funny" loosely) he isn't colicky, he isn't uncomfortable, he isn't in pain, he is just completely convinced that he is meant to be held constantly. Charlie is still the talker of the bunch and lets us know what's on his mind by making the cutest sounds known to man, or of course as I've mentioned, by crying here and there:)

Mitch is a better sleeper so far and actually slept until 4 am TWICE this week, hallelujah! I suppose that would actually mean something if I wasn't up a zillion times during the night with his naughty little brother. Mitchy is still my little sweetie but he has definitely been taking some pointers from his brother on how to get his way, so he's testing this new found information by screaming until I pick him up. I don't know how the heck I was able to spoil them considering I have newborn twins and two other wild natives to wrestle with, but I've somehow managed to. The truth is I wouldn't have it any other way. After all , it's not their fault they are Rufflings #3 and 4, and gosh darnit they deserve just as much snuggle time as the other two more fortunate ones got.

Memory Box

Everyone knows I'm a sentimental sap. I have Rubbermaid boxes full of "memories." School memories, wedding memories, college memories, boxes of memories for my babies.... I'm so glad that I've held on to the little treasures that remind me of the people I love, the places I've been, and how blessed my life is. Lucky for me my Mom saved a lot of trinkets from my childhood, one of which is a box of some of my favorite clothes growing up. I got a bug to go through one of the totes in the garage last week and I'm so glad I did. I came across this dress, which I loved as a little girl, and it is the perfect size for Ella. My heart hurt a little to see her in it, the good kind of hurt. My baby girl is growing up, and how special to see her in something I used to love, something that used to be on my little 5 year old, blonde-haired self many moons ago. Funny too that the colors of this dress are still my favorite color combo to this day - turquoise and orange. Looking at all of the memories of the past reminds me to really soak in what's happening today, to remember the way the kids look when they are laughing in the tub, the way their hair smells, the sound of their voices (and cries...). It lasts a moment and then that moment is gone, never to be enjoyed again, heard again, felt again. As crazy busy and chaotic as my life is right now, I keep telling myself to slow down, breathe and just remember this - whatever this is at the moment...