Cowboy Boots & Flip Flops

So a few weeks back it was my birthday. I turned thirty something...of course I shouldn't tell my age for privacy reasons on the internet. Yeah, that's why. Anyway, my parents were in town and watching the boys for a few days for me. It was really nice having them here. They were taking us out for my birthday dinner. I decided to get dressed up a bit. Since I work from home my wardrobe is pretty much jeans and whatever shirt I can find. Makeup is optional. Since I've had the boys usually there is a bit of spit up somewhere on my attire. My footwear is pretty much cowboy boots and flip flops. I used to wear heels all the time, not kidding, everyday. Even my flip flops would have some sort of heel. Every year I have one pair of black boots with a thick heel. They pretty much had become a staple of my wardrobe. When I was pregnant I wore my black boots to the Dr. and was told that I should not be wearing heels of any sort while pregnant, esp with twins. Great, so I just became very short and very round. My cute black boots sat by the back door for at least a month looking very lonely. They then got moved to the closet. They sat there for many months. So on my birthday I was getting all fancied up and decided to pull the black boots out of retirement. I slid one on thinking about how much skinner I was going to look with that inch or so added to my height. I slid the other one on and my toe stopped at something in the toe of the boot. I jerked out my foot and didn't want to but had to turn the boot upside down to see what fell out. A DEAD MOUSE!!! I shrieked, jumped around a little bit and then ran in the next room to tell my parents and husband my horrible discovery. My husband took away the corpse.
How did that mouse get into my boot you ask? You see, my lovely cat, little Miss Daisy has been bringing up mice from the basement and letting them go upstairs. I guess she just likes to have something to play with or giving the dog something to play with. Trust me we have had much unwanted entertainment chasing mice up here. I've decided that it's really a form of entertainment for the cat. When she is not getting enough love or is just bored she probably thinks "I'll bring a mouse up to shake things up a bit." Although it really didn't bother me at first now with the babies, it's driving me crazy. So crazy that the poor mice in the basement are going to have to go elsewhere, we are having an exterminator come today.

I think my parents and husband still get a chuckle every time they think about it. I still get chills when thinking about it. Unfortunately the boots didn’t make it either. There was a bit of a stink in them so they have been thrown away. Back to the cowboy boots and flip flops...they are much more my speed these days anyway.

Mother's Day

Sunday was my very first Mother's Day. It was a good day, nothing too exciting. Little J was not feeling well so we stayed in all weekend and just got things done around the house. Erik made me breakfast and then gave me a gift that has been getting me out of the house every Monday night for the past three weeks and a couple more weeks to come. I will write more about that at a later date.
Motherhood has been everything I thought it would be and more. I look at my two beautiful healthy little boys and thank God every day. Every single day. People always say, "I don't know how you do it with two". I really can't imagine my life without two. I sometimes think how easy it would be with just one but would NEVER trade my twins for anything. I get everything double. Double smiles, double excitement when reach a new milestone, double the love and eventually I have no doubt double the trouble. Bring it on my boys, bring-it-on.
I have to say that watching my husband with them makes me love him more. He tries so hard and is so hands on with them that I find myself loving him in a way I hadn't before. It's amazing how that happens. How these two little beings have made such a profound impact on my life. They say "kids change everything", isn't that the truth!

I look at my life and feel so blessed. I look around and just feel overwhelming happiness. I've never felt such a quiet in my life where I'm just at peace.

Does this mean we're country?

Erik and I are both from large cities.  He was raised in a Chicago suburb and I was raised in a St. Louis suburb.  We are both city mice with country mice hearts.  I think because of living in the city we are both a little bit jaded.  I mean just watch the first five minutes of the news in any large city for a few years and crime just becomes another day in the life.  We live outside a small town now, population 20,000 (that's small for us).  We're on five acres but close to a local highway. 

Last night around 2am someone came a knockin' at our door.  The dogs went crazy and woke us up.  Erik and I (after watching too much 48 Hours Mystery, Criminal Minds, and Dateline) know that nothing good can be knocking at your door at 2am.  I think the parental instinct of protecting our young kicked in for both of us.  I stayed in our bedroom with the boys (they sleep in a bassinet next to the bed) and Erik loaded his shot gun. At that moment I felt country. 

It turns out it was a young girl who was on her way home and wrecked her car at the bottom of the hill next to our house.  Her cell phone was dead so she needed a phone to call her parents.  Even after her story we thought it could be some sort of scam.  See...jaded.  I mean after all haven't I gotten an email about this sort of thing before?  Erik walked out with the dog and saw that the parents got to their daughter okay and could see where the car went off the road.  Poor girl was so shaken from the accident and then has to knock on the door of a strangers house at 2am. Then to have it answered by a guy with a shot gun.  I thank God it was our house and not someone who may have done her harm.  I think about that poor mother who received a phone call at 2am from an unknown number while her daughter is out and can't imagine what went through her head.  We called a bit later to follow up and were told all was okay. 

As for me, I will be cutting back on the amount crime shows that I watch.  I don't think this will cure me because I believe I will always be jaded but as long as we have the shot gun can I just call it being country?

Spring Scrimmage

Last weekend we took a family trip to Columbia, MO and went to Mizzou's spring football scrimmage.  It was a gorgeous day and there was quite a turnout.  The boys are turning into quite the little travelers.  I think it's easier to take them places at this age because they are not mobile yet so they are fine being strapped to Mom & Dad.  As long as they get fed and their diapers changed, they are happy campers.  Who says there is no life after twins?!?!?  Erik and I have decided that we are not going to push football (his love) and horses (my love) on the boys.  We will support whatever their interests are...but I think we both hope they have an interest in our loves.  It's such a big part of our lives that they will be surrounded by both.  I have noticed lately that Erik puts on ESPN when there are old college games on.  He sometimes watches it with them but also leaves this on when the boys are sleeping in the living room and we are not in the room.  I think it's a good thing to have in the background for them because TV is so crazy these days that it's a safe choice.  I do think he may have an ulterior motive though, I tease him that he is using osmosis on the boys.  It will be interesting to see if this little trick pays off.

Adorable

We have received some pretty amazing baby gifts.  Some of my favorites are from my very dear cousins in Florida.  Simply adorable. Erik's brother is getting married in June so I already have plans for these outfits.

I would have never thought of these and think they are so cute and clever. I know they will get a lot of wear.

 My cousin also gave me this wonderful book.

 I've only read a little bit of it but can't wait to pick it up and read more.  There are so many wonderful tips in there.  I plan on asking Erik to read it also because I have connected with everything I've read so far and feel that it offers amazing philosophies and tools to raising kids.  One of my favorite things so far is the five principles of raising your kids and one of them is based on the quote from Maya Angelou who I believe is one of the most wise people of our time.  The quote is "The past is the past and the future is perfect".  I love, love, love this.  I've already been thinking of what I can get this engraved/painted/etched on.  Something for the kitchen, the kid's room, or just something where we can be reminded of this on a daily basis.  It will be now on the side of my blog for a reminder for all.

First Family Hike

We went on our first family hike this past weekend. We were going to go the horse races in Hot Springs, AR as we used to love to do pre-babies. We decided that it would be a lot of time and expense and if one or both of the boys was having a rough day, so we decided to go hiking instead. We went to the highest point in MO at Taum Sauk State Park. That was not much of a hike. There is a waterfall that we would have liked to see but it was a three mile hike and with the boys and the dogs we decided that since this was our first time out with everyone it would be our trial run and not to push it. We then went to Elephant Rocks State Park and walked around. That was a mile trail but you can walk on the rocks so it can take awhile. It's a really cool place. I think Erik is very excited for the day where he will be able to climb and play on the rocks with the boys. We had a great time and everyone did really well, including the crazy dog Buckeye. The dogs were so excited to go with us and they were completely worn out when we got home. I think Sebastian was smiling the whole day, you can see his smile in the picture below. Unfortunately it was too crowded to let him go off leash something we did frequently on the isolated trails in AR. I think he was still pretty happy though. Sunday, we just got things done around the house. This is my last week of maternity leave so I'm trying to do my best to get organized. It seems there is always something. I'm excited for next weekend when I plan on planting our garden and some flowers in the front.

Birds of A Feather

My parents brought a bird feeder down with them when they visited in February.  We set it up and can't seem to keep the bird feed in it.  It's wonderful when it's full.  There will be almost a dozen birds on there at a time.  One will fly away and another will come, perch and eat.  I love it because I can see the feeder from the kitchen window and while I'm sitting in the couch in the living room.  While cleaning the dishes and/or bottles (there seems there is always a bottle to be cleaned in this house now) I can completely zone out while watching the birds.  I remember as a child my parents had a bird feeder outside our kitchen window and they had a bird book.  Whenever there was a new bird or something they had not seen before they would look it up.  I saw the most unusual bird the other day.  It was so pretty it was black with a red and yellow stripe down its wing.  I've never seen a bird like this.  We don't have a bird book but of course we do have the internet so I looked it up and it was a Red-winged Blackbird.  He came back the other day, I get so excited when I see he is so pretty.  I really hope he makes our house a regular stop.