Terrible twos already?

Carter and Aidan are almost 3 years apart, and I guess that 3 years has been enough for me to forget what having a small toddler is like. I could swear that Aidan is the most active and curious of my children so far. For months now I have spent most of my time chasing after him, trying to keep him from killing himself or the baby, and cleaning up disaster after disaster. He's at such a fun age, but is so much work! I've spent so much energy hoping that he grows out of this troublemaking stage soon that I completely forget what looms ahead. I know from experience that the terrible twos really start around 18 months, but boy did it take me by surprise when I got my first taste of it today!

I have to take full responsibility, because I chose to delay Aidan's nap just a little so that I could take the kids to the library. I put the baby in the Moby wrap and thought that I could hold Aidan's hand instead of making him sit in a stroller - I really want him to have some freedom now that he's getting older and thinks he's one of the big kids. I knew pretty much immediately that I'd made a mistake. The only thing Aidan was interested in was running away from me - out the automatic doors, behind the librarian's desk, anywhere he shouldn't be. If I tried to take his hand to guide him, he immediately turned to jello and dropped to the ground. With a baby strapped to my chest, it was very difficult to chase him, and even harder to try to carry him. But I had two kids who were choosing books, and then we had to wait a few minutes for the librarian to fix a mistake on our account. One of the nice librarians actually tried to help me, but there's not much you can do with a screaming child who is screaming hysterically and drops to the ground on contact. Luckily, I'm far past feeling embarrassed by my kids' behavior in public, but I was so frustrated that I was nearly in tears by the time we got out of there. Terrible twos, here we come!

I'm so grateful that when one child is being terrible, at least one child tries to be super good. We came home and put the baby in bed and I introduced the kids to the wonder of the Olympics. (I know, shame on me for not watching it with them sooner.) Sitting with Katie in the recliner while feeding the baby, with Carter playing next to us, we all cheered on our pick in the ski-cross competition. I sure love my kids and I'm beyond grateful to be home with them, but sometimes the challenges are almost too much for me.

More Home Improvements (why, oh, why?)

What on earth would possess a couple with a newborn and 4 other demanding children to take on a home improvement project? I could only guess that it's pure insanity (actually, for my part it's definitely insanity, but that's another story). John had Friday off, as well as Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so we thought it would be a good time to tackle Katie's bedroom. Her room was actually in o.k. shape, but in dire need of a paint job, and new carpet, since the previous owners decided to spray-paint the walls and not bother to cover up the carpet. Her old carpet was in beautiful shaped except for the white paint around the edges.

We got a carpet remnant for a "smokin' deal," to quote the salesman, and in this case it actually was. And now that John has become an expert carpet installer, the whole thing was pretty cheap. We had to buy paint, the carpet, baseboards, miscellaneous hardware (light switch and outlet covers, new light fixture, a doorknob, nails) and we paid to rent a knee kicker for the carpet installation ($11 for the rental). It did take us the entire long weekend to complete the project, but it was actually our quickest project to date. Still, we're glad to have it done.

Here's what the room looked like before:

Here's what it looked like last night before we moved the bed and dresser back in:

I guess maybe it looks like we're moving backwards, but believe me, it's much improved. The carpet is thick and soft, and the colors are neutral and soothing. And I love the new carpet/fresh paint smell when I go in there. Katie lost the top of her bunk bed to Carter and will be gaining a new roommate - we'll be putting a crib in there for Baby Zach. I've got some fun decorating ideas that I'm excited to get going on, so I'll wait to post more pictures until there's something cute to show. (So expect more pictures sometime in 2012.)

In the meantime, I've been feeling guilty about never posting pictures of my completed bedroom. I've been holding off because I haven't done my window treatment yet, and I can't seem to figure out what to put on my dresser. But for now, I'll show you the most exciting part for me, which is my beautiful bed:

I absolutely adore it and its 11 pillows, about which I have to hear constant complaining from my husband. That's probably because they spend so much time on the floor, I'm ashamed to admit. But from what I hear, all husbands with multiple pillows on their beds like to complain about them. It's worth it to me.

Guess that's it for now. I'm working on restoring order to the rest of our house, since it was badly neglected while we worked on Katie's room this weekend. The chaos just about led to a total emotional breakdown, but I think I'm feeling better now that I've had some time to clean. Of course there's always more to do, and a baby to feed. So, ta-ta for now!

Dying to write

I really need to get back to blogging. I miss reading others' blogs and leaving comments, and having an outlet for my thoughts, with the possibility of feedback and understanding. I really need that connection right now. I'm stuck in that post-partum period of trying to find a rhythm to life with a new baby, and I'm feeling pretty isolated. One of my goals this year is to take better care of myself, which involves a lot of things, one of which is blogging more. Here's to hoping that I can make it happen. And here are some reasons that I feel guilty taking the time to blog:

• My kitchen sink is always overflowing and my kitchen floor is in constant need of sweeping and a good scrubbing
• Someone is almost always crying
• There is almost always a diaper to be changed or a mouth in need of feeding
• The last time I cleaned my bathrooms I was still pregnant
• I'm barely keeping the laundry under control - so far no one's run out of underwear, at least I don't think so...

Obviously I haven't quite figured out this new stage of life yet. It's getting better. But I've got two babies. I call them Big Baby and Little Baby. I love them both to death, but they both require a lot of work. Big Baby is teething, so he wakes up 2 or 3 times a night. He's the busiest toddler I've had yet, and he's too smart, so he spends his day trying to destroy the computer, the Wii, the PS3, or anything else expensive he can get his hands on. Thank goodness for naps! Little Baby eats every few hours and has a lot of gas, so he seems to cry whenever I'm trying to cook dinner or do the dishes. I don't think he cries all that much, but with my time being limited already, I feel like I can't get a thing done. So I've borrowed my sister's Moby wrap and I've taken to carrying him around on my chest in the evenings and trying to accomplish something.

To put an end to my ramblings..........I spend my nights going back and forth between feeding Little Baby and soothing a crying Big Baby. I'm not really sleeping much at all. The days are spent taking Katie to school and picking her up, then picking Tanner up from wrestling or play practice. Twice a week I get to drag the whole gang to Tanner's wrestling meets. Sprinkle in doctor and orthodontist appointments and grocery shopping and other errands, and things are pretty busy.

Wish me luck! I'm hoping I'll get the hang of all of this pretty soon. And hopefully I'll be back to blogging even sooner......