Wasteing Time

I have been thinking about this a lot recently. Time goes by so fast. And I don't feel I have anytime to spare. SO why do I feel like I waste it, like I can relive the moments I may have missed.
What made me think about this? Since the babies were born, I spend a lot of time at the computer. It is in the center of the house, the chair is comfortable, so I end up nursing there. And with one free arm, I can get onto the computer. With 2 babies, I am nursing a lot. So I spend a lot of time in front of the computer. Even when I am done and I get up, I seem to gravitate to it. Do I have an email? Who's posted on facebook. Is it my turn on scrabble? I was having a hard time breaking this cycle. Even when I was noticing it, I couldn't help it. Then on Sunday, someone in church mentioned using time wisely. No. I can't say that I do. I realized I miss out on a lot that goes on here. I have projects I want to accomplish. I am falling behind on my house. I can keep it clean, but man, that clutter is building up. I loathe clutter. I dislike the tops of flat spaces covered in things. The top of my fridge seems to collect odds and ends, as well as the back of my kitchen.
So, I turned it off. I let myself get on in the morning, before the kids get up, and do everything that needs my attention. Then I will turn it off. The best thing about it? I haven't even missed it. I haven't gotten much more than I usually do, done, but I am starting to notice things around my house that need attention. I am caught up on my laundry, and it's put away. DOn't get me wrong, I still have to get on to do my banking, or look something up, or pay bills. But I can do it with out zoning out on the computer for an hr, that felt like 5 minutes.
My goal this year is to use my time, especially with my kids, more wisely.

Summer Daze

I can't believe School starts next week. I have mixed feelings about this. Part of me is excited to be down to 4 kids during the day. But, part of me is a little sad. The older kids are such a huge help with the littler kids. Someone can hold a baby while I get things done. I'm not sure it's going to get any easier with less kids here. This summer has kind of been a summer of survival. I haven't done anything more than keep up. No projects done, no major trips taken, really, nothing. Just keeping up on household things. Laundry, dishes, bathrooms. I have spent A LOT of time feeding babies. The biggest feat.... getting the babies from sleeping 2-3 hr stretches, to 7-8 hr stretches. And onto a decent schedule. I am absolutely not looking forward to cold season.
We have also managed to have only 2 kids in diapers. 6 of 8 is officially potty trained. The first week was over, and we hadn't made any progress, so I put her back in diapers. Then she started taking her diapers off and using the potty. This week we went 3 days with out an accident. Then last night we had a family dinner, and she was drinking any cup left out, and Trent nor I were able to keep our eye on her. There were quite a few problems. But, I think that's to be expected at this point in the game. The experts all say that the first sign of being ready to train, is waking up dry at night. She's been doing this since 18 months. But she was not ready. It did however make it so we don't have to put her back in diapers at night. Which is something we have had to do with all of our other kids.

Sadly, we spent a lot of time this summer doing this. They have watched a lot of movies. I just haven't been able to take them on a lot of adventures. We have a nice routine at home, but it's still too hard to go anywhere. The zoo isn't too bad, and I am thinking we may try the dinosaur park this week. But usually I can go shopping, and running errands. And I can't do that yet. So, there have been no school clothes bought grocery shopping has been hit and miss. I feel behind.
I certainly don't want to rush these babies growing up, but life will be a little bit easier when they are a little older.
We were able to take them camping, and we have a few more trips planned for this season. The kids are excited to go to a new school, I am not excited about the amount of homework we will be trying to cram in. Life is busy.

Same Kid

I have had kids that look similar at birth, to one of their siblings. 6 of 8 looked just like 2 of 8. Now, not at all. 5 of 8 looked a lot like 3 of 8. Not at all anymore. But, 8 of 8 and 1 of 8, look exactly a like. From the shape of their head, to their expression on their face. From their big round eyes, to their pointy little ears. It's uncanny. I couldn't even tell them apart in their pictures, except for the clothes I know one wore, the other didn't. I am excited to see if that continues.

My babies

I can never get him with out a goofy look on his face. I would just say he was goofy looking, but he doesnt look like that in real life. And she always just looks worried. Always seems to be saying 'help me'.

New Doo

I'm not quite sure why blogger picked this order to upload these pictures. I had something different in mind. Here are a few before and after pictures, in no particular order. Or maybe it is a particular order. And I am just not privy to it.

Difference

I always thought that the fun of having twins, was the likeness of them. I wanted them to look the same, to dress the same, you know, have 2 of the same. The older these two get, the more I marvel at the differences.
To start with, he is a whole lb bigger. He is vocal and was the first to smile. He is harder to soothe, louder when mad, and sleeps less. He will talk to you to get you to look at him and have a conversation with you if you will give him the time. He was the first to hold his head up, and coo. He's my little man.
She is little. She's patient and quiet. Her cry is soft, and less frequent. She is my good sleeper. she'll take a binky if you need to hold off feeding for a few minutes, or if you want her to sleep for a little longer, it will put her back to sleep. She is about 2 weeks behind him developmentally. She will look into your eyes, to talk to you. I adore this little girl. If she is tired, I can just pick her up and hug her, and she will fall asleep.
They both ended up having really high jaundice levels. But, they had 2 different kinds of jaundice. really, they are 2 opposite kids. What they do have in common, is that they are mild, easy kids. I am so grateful for that.

The Things We Do For Our Kids

We decided since summer break was almost over for most of our kids (it was over for 4 of 8 she started on Tuesday) we would take our yearly vacation. We decided to take them on a camping trip and stay sort of close to home. We were going to go from the 21st of July to the 25th.
We hurried and found the perfect camper trailer. We had talked about it for years, and finally decided this year was the year. I was not excited about taking 2 new babies on a tent camping trip. It was a good decision. It was so much easier to put them to bed, in a bed. And it sleeps all of us, while they are little. And the older kids have their own tents, which they later used.
We got out of the house on the 22nd at about 7. The camper wasnt as easy to find as we had hoped. Registration took longer than expected, and we kind of knew the family that sold us the camper (they moved out of our ward, the same month we moved in, and knew all of our friends. And he is the cousin of the bishop that married us) so we ended up talking to them for hrs. Delaying the preparation process.
We went out to South Willow, set up camp, and went to bed. 6 of 8 screamed for an hr and About 1 in the morning, we woke up to 3 of 8 puking. When we woke up in the morning, none of could stand to even stand next to the poor kid, and there were no showers and he felt miserable. So we decided to come home. We slept in Sunday morning, missed church, so we decided to take the already packed and newly cleaned traier back up and finish our vacation. This time we went to Smith Moorehouse reseviour. It was beautiful there. We just finished dinner when 4 of 8 started crying about wanting to go home. Very unlike her. Then she threw up. We hemmed and hawed about coming home, then decided we better be at home if she was going to be sick. After we broke camp, 5 of 8 started puking. SO glad we packed up. It was getting dark by this time. We got home, after getting sick in the car a few times, 5 of 8 getting it in the bucket, 4 of 8.... not. Got the car cleaned laundry started, and kids in bed.
Monday Trent took all but me, the babies, and 4 of 8, (who started school the next day) to GMA's annual 24th of July party. She lives right by Liberty Park, so she has front row seats for the fireworks.
We planned on going back up to finish camping if the kids were done getting sick, on Friday. Luckily the bug only lasted 18-24 hrs. SO it made its way through the house in a few days. We packed up on Thursday, picked 4 of 8 up from school early and went back up to Smith and Moorehouse. But, it was full, so we went to the otherside and drove Mirror Lake HWY until we found a camp spot. I will just say right now. 6 of 8 is a crappy camper, and 4 of 8 is miserable to sleep next to. 6 of 8, will not go to sleep. then she is grumpy and screams the next day. We had to get in the car and drive to finally get her to take a nap, because we could no longer stand the kid. 4 of 8 sleeps indian style. So you get her all tucked in, then she moves into a sitting Indian style hunched over position, uncovering everyone in her way. Then she gets cold. Then she throws herself around. If you have ever slept in a pop up, you know that everytime anyone moved, everyone feels it. Not too bad, but if you are already awake with a baby, it's annoying. We were up less with 2 babies, than with 4 and 6 of 8. So between all of this. Trent and I didn't sleep well.
Gma and Gmpa came up on Friday morning and GMA stayed with me at the camp with the little kids and GMPA and trent took the older kids fishing. (guess what we are having for dinner tonight) We did wake up this morning with moose in our camp. It was fun, until they came toward us. They are big, and a little scary. And as we were packing up, we ran into the Loertchers.
It was kind of funny because I asked a mom waking down the road if her daughters were twins, and noticed she was wearing a Buddy Walk shirt, too. Apparently her sister is the chapter president for Davis county. I have been out of the UDSF for so long I didn't even know they had a new president. But it's kind of a small world.
We are now home showered and ready for Sunday.