Our first walk, and other assorted nonsense

So on Thursday, the kids, the dog and I took our first walk together. My thinking was simple: the weather was finally decent enough to take the children outside, we needed to break in our super amazing new stroller, and the dog needed to go for a walk. Plus, everyone at my old job had been asking when they would get to meet the babies. So the plan was to walk to the preschool and visit my old class, and then come home.

Now keep in mind that we live on the 4th floor of a walkup condo building. And imagine me, wearing my puffy winter coat, dressing the children in their puffy winter coats and hats, putting the dog on his leash, carrying both of the twins out the door while holding said (extremely excited) dog, managing to lock the door and navigating all 4 of us down the 4 flights of stairs. It was an adventure, let me tell you.

So we manage to get downstairs without dying. I put the kids on the floor for a moment so that I can get the stroller out and unfold it. The dog does not understand why we aren't just going outside already, so he's pulling at my arm. And then the twins start crying. I finally get the stroller set up, and try to put a child into it. after some finagling, I got both kids buckled in, and out the door we went. This was about a half an hour after we started the process. Boy oh boy has my life changed.

Here's what the kids looked like all bundled up in their stroller:


Naptime and bedtime continue to be the most difficult parts of our day. Once the kids fall asleep, they sleep very well, but getting them to fall asleep is another story. I turn everything off about half an hour before they are supposed to go to sleep. I sit them in the glider and read them stories as I rock them. After the stories, I sing them songs, give them kisses, and tuck them into their cribs. Then Isabel begins to scream. I don't want to get into the habit of picking her up every time she cries (and truly, this is the only time she cries during the day). I gently rub her head and talk quietly to her, but that doesn't seem to calm her. I'll often sit in the room with them, so that they know I'm there, and eventually they will go to sleep (most of the time). Hopefully soon we'll get into a good routine with sleep.

They always wake up happy, babbling and staring across the room at one another through the bars in their cribs. It's quite adorable. When I walk into the room (especially in the morning) they give the the biggest smiles and say "mamamamamamama". It's quite a nice way to start the day!