This is Life

A few months ago a had a friend come over to visit. It was one of those mornings where we were all still in our pajamas and the house was a mess. When she got here, I apologized for the condition that we were in, and she responded, "Oh Holly, this is life."

Then I had a little bit of a paradigm shift. Before having children, I couldn't handle our house being cluttered/dirty/messy. I mean, of course there were days that it was that way.. but I tried really hard to minimize that. But babies come with a lot of stuff. And I mean A LOT. Especially when you have two. And you live in a small apartment. In our living room we have an exersaucer, three baskets of toys, a bouncer, a bookshelf, and Charlie's large toys from the vision specialist. That's in addition to all our furniture/decor that was already there. Then add to the kitchen two swings, two high chairs, two bumbo's.. you get my point. There's no helping the clutter now. I still try to keep it clean, but my friend's comment made me realize that my life has changed. So now I'm trying to adjust to my new life and the mess that often accompanies it. But it's a beautiful and wonderful mess, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Sometimes I think people feel sorry for me. Like last week when I completely forgot that the twins had their 9 month checkup. I remembered just in time to get there, but not in time to find someone to come with me. Just a tip: never EVER take twins to get shots by yourself. Check-ups are doable. But shots? No. Bad bad bad idea. The first part of the appointment went fine. But by the end they were getting tired and hungry. And then getting shots.. one baby screams after their shots and I'm trying to comfort them while the other baby is crawling all over getting into everything on the floor. Then I put baby #1 down while baby #2 gets shots. Putting baby 1 down brings many many tears. Then I have two screaming babies. And the poor nurse just looks at me and says, "I'm sorry." I can see the look of pity in her eyes. And of course this is hard for me, but it's just life. I'm used to having two crying babies. But other people aren't used to seeing women with two crying babies. So I just shrug and say, "This is life." And then I try to clean up as quickly as possible, get my two babes dressed and get out of there before I get any more pitying stares.

So when things like that happen, I just take it in stride. When I'm at the grocery store and one baby (or both) is just so sad, I try to continue my shopping trip if at all possible. Because if I bagged it and came home every time one cried, I'd never make it to checkout. And when someone stops by for a quick visit and my house is a mess, I try not to let it bother me. Because I can only do so much. And I think most people understand that. This is life. My crazy, hectic, beautiful and wonderful life.