Wednesday, March 25, 2009

WFMW version 1.0

I found the idea on other blogs called "Works For Me Wednesday" and I'll attempt to do this as a weekly thing. Consider it as my feeble attempt to pass along wisdom the 4 Webbs have gained and actually used to raise our twins. I'll get back to that in a bit, but for now i'll continue sharing from our adventures over the past weekend.

Easton and Layla were dressed up in their church clothes on Sunday morning and they both look like little people instead of babies more every day. Don't bother asking when Layla will get her ears pierced... Daddy is absolutely not ready to even begin thinking about that.


Layla is always excited to visit the church nursery. She wobbles over to the nursery ladies and makes friends with everyone around. However, Easton starts crying as soon as we walk into the church lobby. Then he continues to cry for the next hour through the service until we get our number flashing across the TV screens on the platform. During the last two weeks we figured out a strategy that seems to be working. We check-in Layla and keep Easton with us for the first 10-15 minutes of church. He digs the music... Once he gets a feel for the surroundings I go to the nursery and let him see inside where Layla is happily playing. Then i hand him over and he does fine for the whole morning! Some kids don't do well with transitions, but Easton appears to only have issues with going into the nursery. For all the other transitions throughout the week he does fine. Every day is new challenge so who knows what will be required next week?

Anyway, Sunday afternoon we were blessed to have our friend, Gene, spend a few hours with us. We went to Subway to eat and get duck bread. Then we took Gene out to our favorite park for another round of flying the kite, feeding the ducks, and swinging. Here's a picture of Gene hanging out with the twins as they snack on goldfish crackers:


When the 4 Webbs are together it is rare to have a third adult around to take a picture so I was thrilled to have Gene be the camera man for a moment. I'll have to dig through our pictures, but I can't remember the last time all 4 Webbs were in the same picture...


After feeding the ducks and doing our best to keep the twins from munching on the stale bread, we stopped by the swings for one last hoorah before heading home. I saw another picture somewhere with twins sitting back to back in a swing. If only I had a better camera or more skill to capture the moment with a clearer picture...


I'll try to fiddle with my camera and take this again next time because the picture that inspired this one turned out really well so I know it's possible.

OK, so now on to the new section called WFMW. One of the best purchases we made recently was the snack trap. You can see them in the picture above where the twins are sitting in front of Gene. Those plastic things they have are the snack holders. The top is a rubber trap that allows kids to put their hands into the cup and get snacks, but doesn't allow the contents to spill out if it is tipped over. The back seat of our car was covered with goldfish crackers and cheerios so Kendra hunted down these little jewels as a way to keep it clean.

What does it mean to be a stay-at-home mom? Having a child or two or more is something that can't be explained, it can only be experienced. However, one observation I have from watching Kendra is that "full time mom" is deceiving. There are part-time jobs, full-time jobs, and then there's being a stay-at-home mom. A part-time job is something you do on the side; A few hours here and there, maybe on the weekend. A full-time job is something you do 40 or 50 hours a week, but you still have certain hours you are on the clock and then when the whistle blows you can shut your brain off and concentrate on less important things like a favorite TV show or a hobby.

That is nothing like what I see Kendra doing. Her mind and focus is always on Easton and Layla. Every second of every day with no union breaks or paid vacation. Even at night she has some subconscious process running while she sleeps where her motherly radar actively listens for the slightest cough or cry coming from down the hall. I'm amazed at the sensitivity of her hearing. Almost daily she says, "did you hear that?" and my usual response is, "no, I have no idea what you're talking about". It turns out to be one of the twins moving or whimpering in their crib, but it certainly doesn't show up on my radar! This is why I'm more than happy for Kendra to play soccer or go shopping or see a movie. I'm looking forward to taking Kendra away for a day or even a few days so she can have some true down time. Since the time the twins were born until now (almost 14 months) she has never been away from them for more than a couple of hours. I call that more than a full-time job...

One of the many reasons I married Kendra is her mothering skills. I knew even back in our dating days she would be a great mom for our children. lucky me. :)

See you soon!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Me want snack trap. Where did ya find it? joanie

The Four Webbs said...

Kendra says ours is the Munchkin brand and she bought it at Target, but the official snack-track is actually much better and that's avaialble at Babies R' Us here:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2404578

good luck