the crib tents are up!

It was Sunday afternoon, about a half hour after I had put the boys down for their nap and I was lying on the bed just dozing off for a sweet, much needed nap myself, when all of a sudden I heard a loud THUMP, followed by crying and a door opening and footsteps running down the hall into my room. Ryan had fallen out of his crib again. I guess the first time he did it, it didn't resonate in his memory long enough to prevent him from doing it again, or it just knocked all sense out of him. Zachy has watched Ryan spill over the side of his crib twice now. It's funny to see his expression of concern for his crying brother and when I ask him, what happened? he leans over his crib and points to the ground. I think he has learned not to attempt the trick himself, but just in case, they both get a crib tent to keep them where they are supposed to be. I'm not even close to even thinking about big boy beds......Oh the terror that would bring to my life! So for now, I put them to bed and zip up the flap making it impossible for them to crawl out. It does feel a little weird zipping them up like little prisoners but I have peace of mind now, knowing Ryan won't give himself a concussion falling out of his crib again. In fact, they amusingly like it now. Sometimes when I go in to get them up from a nap they protest me unzipping their tent. They have to be "ready" I guess. It's a delicate balance between going in too early and too late! There is a "sweet spot" of time where I can get them up and they will be happy and fun, but if I miss it, oh the misery and crying and clinging to mommy for the rest of the day! Crazy!

There are times throughout the day when I wish I could zip them up in a tent. There seems to be a natural law that exists that states if you turn your back on the boys for more than 30 seconds they will turn into a Tasmanian devil and make a room in the house look like a tornado tore through it! Case in point, yesterday I turned my back on the boys to put a Shirley Temple movie on for Brooklyn (she is so into Shirley Temple movies right now! Very cute) and I sat down for some cuddle time with my favorite girl. The next thing I know is that my entire kitchen/dining area is covered in paper napkins, there wasn't an inch of floor to be seen. They emptied an entire Costco bag of napkins all over the floor! I should have learned by now that laughing boys = big mess for mommy to clean. Their next stop was an old favorite place of destruction for them called the mud room, where they managed to pull everything off the desk and counters, empty the shoe baskets, and pull down all the coats. I should have grabbed the camera because you can't even imagine the mess, but I was just to tired to find the humor in the moment. All I could think of was how do I stop them from creating another mess, so I can clean up these messes? Seriously, sometimes I think about strapping them in their car seats with a movie to entertain them, but that could be borderline abuse/neglect. But in a frantic state it seems quite reasonable! I could just picture someone stopping by and asking where are the boys? and I casually say, Oh their out in the car watching a movie, you know, just until I get these messes cleaned up.