And no little dirty minded ones….not that Groove. The crazy toddler groove.

It seems like just when I finally get the groove of things they change. We were in a really good groove for the last 2 months. Did you catch the were in the last sentence. No more. Things are evolving and when things evolve around here it takes me awhile to get back into the new groove. And right when I get the new groove it is time for it to change again.

Our old schedule was awesome. The babies would wake at 7:00/15 and lay playing in their cribs until I got them up at 7:30. We would head to the park at 9:30 and burn off all of that toddler energy. Lunch at 11:00. Nap from 11:45 until 2ish. Even if they woke before 2 they would lay quietly in their cribs playing and waking up for at least 20 minutes. Errands or playdates in the afternoon. Dinner at 5:00. Upstairs for baths and milk. Dada comes home at 7:00. Wrestle, wrestle, play, play. Brush our teeth, read a book, sing some songs, and off to bed at 7:30.

Our new schedule not so awesome. The babies (mainly Heaten) wake anywhere from 5:15 to 6:15 (today he let me sleep in until 6:45 which was nice). There is no play/wake crib time, it is immediate screaming and crying until I go rushing in there to get him. It is already 90 degrees by 9:30 so the park is a rare treat. We instead do storytime, totnastics, and indoor playdates in the morning. Lunch and nap are still about the same. And then the afternoons hit. It is 105 or hotter most days so we are forced to stay indoors. NOT FUN. I really try my best to keep them entertained, but with 5 minute attention spans the afternoons seem to drag on and on and on and on. Our night routine is the same except instead of going peacefully to bed at 7:30 the babies have decided to rebel and are crying, asking for drinkie or snackie as a way to get out of bed. They sure learn quick don’t they. Two times we got them back up and let them play until 8:00 and WHAM! Nighttime chaos. Won’t make that mistake again.

Now before you say boo-hoo, poor Lesley, who still gets to sleep through the whole night and wake up refreshed. I KNOW that we have been very lucky on the sleep front. The babies both sleep through the entire night and if they do wake they can put themselves back to sleep 99.6% if the time. It is just that I need to get my groove back with our new schedule, but I’m finding myself getting very frustrated with the constant crying, whining, fighting, tantrums, and general toddler crazy.

Lately the tantrums have hit an all time high. The screaming is louder. The meltdowns are more frequent. Clingy baby x 2 is in full effect. The fighting is now two way since Heaten learned to hit back. Luckily no more biting (Eva, I’m crossing my fingers as I say this), but holy bejeezus. The crazy is making Mama crazy! It wouldn’t be so bad if there weren’t two having fits at the same time. And of course they refuse to share my lap so one is left crying while I tend to the other. This of course results in the first one crying again while I tend to the second one. I’m not sure if it is jealousy or just a new phase, but I’ll be glad when Clingy Mania is gone. Weirdly enough I don’t mind Clingy Mania when I have one on one time with them. We cuddle and lay together with no drama. It is nice and sweet and usually tantrum free. Then the second baby wakes up and all hell breaks loose.

So there you have it…I’m over here really trying to get my groove back and not finding it an easy task. I’m sure every mother reading is shaking her head in agreement that babies are just crazy and Mama’s need to stock up on the wine! Or in my case Vanilla Stoli and Coke since wine is like drinking sewer water.

And of course eating is still drama although it is getting better, slowly but surely.