Things I can do one handed

I'm exhausted everyday. I wake up exhausted. I go to sleep exhausted. The only thing that keeps me going is that I know it will get better...well, that and I have no other choice!

Cooking, laundry, general cleaning along with caring for the twins (read: poopy diapers, spit-up, feeding them) can be downright somedays impossible. At least impossible to do it all to my former satisfaction of just one child. It's definitely a balancing act with the addition of the twins, and I have to re-learn how to do many things while almost always having a baby in my arms.

Which is where the idea of this post came from.

So without further adieu, here are the things that I can do one handed AND carrying a baby (even big old 14 lb. henry!):

• Cut Vegetables/Fruit
• Clean the Toilet & Sink (can't do the Tub yet!)
• Brush my Teeth
• Iron
• Make the Bed
• Talk on the phone (duh! Nothing can stop that!!)
• Wash (some) dishes
• Heat up a baby bottle
• Use the bathroom (tmi - sorry, but I was proud of this!)
• Collect the trash to be taken out
• Arrange flowers in a vase
• Write (short) emails
• Hang laundry to dry (yup, that's right! We don't have a dryer...very common in DE)
• Get Emma dressed
• Put my pants on
• Hold ANOTHER baby
• Give nose spray to another baby (and said baby already in arms)
• Dust

So, pretty cool eh?? I know what you're thinking, "Wow Jenn, you lead such a glamourous life in Europe!". Um, yeah.

But I have learned to feel accomplished in smaller things lately because I have also realized that nothing can take your self esteem to Zero faster than two screaming babies.

When they get going together and are both either tired, hungry, or just plain fussy and don't want to be calmed I begin to doubt my entire self-worth. And then perhaps another 15 minutes later and they are quiet again (hopefully!) and things begin to look up again.

It's a vicious circle, so yes. I take my victories in smaller quantities these days, but they definitely mean more to me than ever!

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign

The changing of the movie title is the funniest because I normally know the real name, and seeing the new version is so strange because I question why they don't just keep the real name to the movie??!! We don't change the name of International Films, sometimes we translate, but we don't change the entirety of the name. Oh silly Frenchies...

For example:

Very Bad Trip 2?? Why can't you just call this Hangover 2??

If it's because people don't know what a "hangover" is,

don't you think they would've figured it out with "Very Bad Trip 1"??

Seriously.

If you really need this sign to stop you from continuing to drive,

then do us all a favor and keep driving.

Saying my final goodbyes

I brought my Mom's ashes with me on this trip. Christian and I had planned a special trip to Paris to be able to spread her ashes. By special trip, I mean a total of 2.5 hours because the Grandparents were watching all 3 kids and since I'm still nursing twins I couldn't be gone long!

My Mom had spent a few years in France and loved every moment of it, she was a definite Francophile. I had originally wanted to spread them in Paris & Bombay (now Mumbai) where she spent her Peace Corps years; however decided against it because I didn't want to separate her (in one or another sense of the word).

It was harder than I thought to let them go. I thought for a split second about keeping them, but then just realized it was only a box I would be keeping, not my Mom or her memories.

I took a breath, and just did it.

Sam and I chose a beautiful spot where we agreed she would be happy. It was a beautiful, sunny day in Paris that she would've loved. I think we gave her a nice view, too.

Miss you, Mom.

Rest in peace & tranquility

French Flea Market-ing!

I loves me a good flea market...especially French ones. No, not because my taste ranges in French antiques....but because they have super cool things for dirt cheap!

The French countryside from July through August rages every weekend with at least one, if not three or four different Flea Markets. It was so much fun! I got Emma a cool light projector for nighttime, some ice cream dishes, a baby so-that-Mama's-hand-doesn't-fall-off-from-holding-a-baby-the-whole-time bath seat, and Henry a bunch of cool clothes (since we don't really have any boy clothing!) for under 6 euro!!

Oh, I also got a bowling pin set where the pins are stuffed animals. It was brand new! I asked how much it was (in FRENCH, mind you!) and she told me and I promptly handed over 2 euro without even bargaining because it was so cute - and she looked at it and said, "well, okay I will also take 2 euro". Um, opps....she had originally said 3 euro, but I understood 2 - oh well, it was a great bargaining method after all! :)

Um, hello Thomas Edison, did you lose your phone?

It's here at this Flea market.

Is this for bad babies???

Emma on the bath seat on the street.

France in Pictures

We spent the last 3 weeks in France with Christian's parents, here are a few special moments that don't need too much explanation...

Zoo Time!

We decided spontaneously one holiday day here (May has 5 separate public holidays!) to go to the Zoo.

Emma absolutely adores animals and can correctly make the sounds of almost any you name...except things like badgers, hedgehogs, and other types that mama has no idea what they sound like so she always does the rabbit noise...opps!

She had a great time and saw so many great beasts o' nature, and I think it's still really important that she feels we do things for her and not just the babies. Obviously they are so time-consuming and although she handles it beautifully, she still needs to know she is a top priority for us as well.

Shocking. Emma's trying to break IN to the giraffe habitat.

"He's boring, Mama!"

In your face, sucka!

Ahhhh, my delicate, little Rosebud...

Tschuess, Zoo!! Bis spaeter!!