Weekly Update

This week at preschool Tenley is learning about the letter 'B' and she came home with this adorable Corduroy the Bear to add to our board:

 I had this conversation with Tenley after school:

Me: Tenley, did you make some new friends today?

Tenley: Yeah! Yeah, I did.

Me: You did! What are their names?

Tenley: The boys.

Dear Lord, this girl is going to be so much trouble.

After telling me all about her friends and singing the Teddy Bear song for me, she got into the Fall spirit by reading one of her favorite books, 'Five Little Pumpkins'; which she somehow managed to always count six pumpkins:

All the kids still have colds, but the twins have it the worst and Ev slept the entire day away:

My stuffy babes were up super early Tuesday morning and kept busy by trying to rip books off the bookshelves. They were cracking me up because all of their movements were in sync:

Ev never naps longer than 20 minutes during the day so I knew she wasn't feeling well when she was napping so well two days in a row:

Tenley put her Tinkerbell and Periwinkle wings on the twins. I know the days of dressing Wes up have just begun, but at least Tenley is conscious of his masculinity and put the blue wings on him. I've gotta say, he sure can pull off some fairy wings:

I must've ran over a screw because Ed noticed my tire was flat when he got home from work. Boooo! So while he took my tire to get patched, the twins helped me give sissy a bath:

They love bath time so much that they can hardly wait to get in the tub when they hear the water running:

The twins were up at 5, again, on Wednesday and were ready to play:

While sissy was at school Wes slept, while Ev was back to her cat-nap loving self:

Wes was so exhausted (and sick) that I transferred him into the car to pick Tenley up and managed to transfer him back to his crib after picking Tenley up (even with Tenley kicking his seat and screaming, "STOP DRIVING!! I NO GO HOME, MOMMY!! STOP!!"):

Tenley has been a total nightmare, to put it mildly. This was by far the most challenging week I've ever had as a mother. As I look back at my week through pictures I think, "Oh, maybe it wasn't so bad?" Then I got to these pictures:

Sweet, right?! Yes, but we put that awesome wagon from my in-laws together in the hopes of passing time before bed because we couldn't take another tantrum of Tenley's; which were lasting from around 3pm to whenever she went to bed. She has been refusing to nap for about a month and a half. I have tried everything. Nothing works. Nothing tires her out. If Disneyland can't tire her out, there's nothing I could do at home to tire her more. We thought she was just done with naps, but as more days passed the more angry she got and the more aggressive she got. She would literally wake up yawning in the morning with huge dark circles under her eyes, but when I'd lay with her to nap she'd be jumping up and down. SO. FRUSTRATING. To make it worse, I feel extremely guilty because I feel like all of my time was being spent disciplining her because she's either having a tantrum or doing something crazy rather than having fun and enjoying our new life as a family of 5. It's hard not getting time with the twins and never, ever getting quality one on one time with them. It's a constant struggle as a twin mom. I've just been feeling run down recently. 4 broken hours of sleep every night just isn't cutting it. Anyways, enough of my complaining for the day because after all, they are totally worth it and when the tantrums subside and everyone is napping and sleeping peacefully I'm going to be missing this craziness (maybe?).

I mean, look at these faces...they do have a way of making everything all better:

We try to get the twins to eat solids every night for two reasons 1) to get them to sleep longer and 2) to give my body a little break, but they just are NOT having it. They seem disgusted by everything (except puffs) and if they do happen to like it they will take two nibbles, then turn their heads like they are full. I made a yummy bed time snack of pureed organic mangos and raw organic oats mixed with breast milk. At first they weren't having it, but then they liked it for the typical two bites. I probably should've just given them cupcakes and cookies:

Princess Tenley wouldn't let the twins in the wagon Thursday morning. She insisted on trying to get them to push her:

Karina and I were both feeling overwhelmed with our sick kids and loads of housework so we said screw it and got together for a germ-infested play date because that's what friends do when they need a shoulder to cry on:

Since my girls never nap, they loved on each other and were silly together:

I was running out of things to do with Tenley in the house since she was being such a crank yanker so we played "mermaid" since it's the only thing that seems to keep her happy. She loves to sit on the edge of the tub "likey Na May", sing, and sway her hair back and forth in the water:

Wes is a horrible night sleeper and always takes an early nap. Luckily he always wakes up happy after his first nap of the day:

We spent the entire day riding in the wagon on Friday:

I was determined to get Tenley to nap on Friday so we could have one good night so I barricaded the twins in the play room so I could focus all of my attention on her and lay in bed with her. After rubbing her back, playing with her hair and shushing her I finally got her to sleep, even with the twins crying in the play room:

Tenley was back to being silly when she woke up:

Since she was a good girl and took a nap, she got rewarded by going to the Halloween Store; which she had been looking forward to. She was so excited to see the "Bad Guys". Girlfriend was not scared of the decorations one bit (total opposite of her Mommy): 

She picked out her costume as Buzz Lightyear and said the babies were going to be Woody and Jesse. So cute, right? Well, when we got home she said, "I no like Buzz Lightrear. I saw him. He was mean to me." So I guess the search continues!

Tenley napped again on Saturday so I finally got some time to play with the twins:

When T woke up from her nap she was so happy and was practically unrecognizable:

Moose Man helped me with the dishes Sunday morning:

We went shopping for some new boy toys so the kids played with their new and old toys when we got home:

While the kiddos played, I decorated for Halloween and cooked chili:

Some weeks being a stay at home mom feels like such a thankless job, but I do know that my family does love and appreciate me. I'm so thankful that this week turned into a good one after all.

Until next week! :)