Evidently I am a bad parent. Another weekend with no photos. I did bring the camera today, but left it in the car when we went to the playground - and since we had to park a quarter mile down the street, it wasn't an option to run and get it. Oh well.

Friday was a great night. The boys went to bed easily and Leanne and I sat on the couch, ate homemade chili, and watched all of our tv shows from Thursday night (The Office, Grey's Anatomy, and ER.) Then we fell asleep early. :) Gray was up once, took a long drink of water, and put his head back on his pillow. Niiiiiiice.

Saturday I was up at 5:30am so I could shop at the Montgomery County Parents of Multiples group. If you volunteer, you get to shop at 7am. I was up, dressed, had stopped at Panera for a mocha and bagel, and was on the beltway by 6:15. Crazy. I got a lot of khakis, jeans, sweaters, fleece jackets, and a down coat (for playing/walking outside this winter.) Plus some wooden puzzles, balls for our ball pit, a gate/fence to put around a Christmas tree (can you imagine them around a Christmas tree???? OH MY!) Not a bad haul at all. After I shopped, I started my volunteering shift. It was like working at Buy Buy Baby or Great Beginnings. I talked to a lot of pregnant moms about the various features of swings/strollers/highchairs/breast pumps. What works. What doesn't. What to look for. It was actually a lot of fun.

Poor Leanne was home with a couple of boys who would not nap. Carter finally did for 45 minutes but Gray flat out refused. We met for lunch at Chipotle and then ran a couple of errands. Of course they both fell asleep en route home, so rather than waking them up, we drove to the Annapolis Mall to get their feet measured for fall shoes and to let them play in the play area. They love playing in the play area. LOVE IT. But you really have to watch them like a hawk. First, because there are a ton of bigger kids (who really exceed the height limit) and nearly trample the toddlers (while their parents sit on the benches texting/talking on their cell/totally zoned out) and secondly, because on two occasions we found our kids OUTSIDE the play area, venturing into the mall. Leanne and I ended up splitting up - Leanne covering the entrance/exit to capture the escapees and me in the back. Keeping up with them is like a game of charades. We were constantly making eye contact/gesturing/pointing to keep up with our two since one minute I'd be watching Gray and then (seemingly) instantaneously he was out of my eyesight and in Leanne's domain. Thankfully, we left with the same 2 kids we started with. :)

Last night, Gray was up A LOT. Almost like newborn alot. He woke at 2 and got himself back to sleep. Then I was up with him from 3:15-4:30 at which point Leanne took over and was up with him till 5:30. Ok, so not as much as a newborn - but we are tired today. He didn't want to come to our bed. He was content lying in his bed, but he would just lie there moaning/crying/whining. Teething? In any case Carter was up and ready to go at 7. Zzzzzzzzzzz

The plan this morning was for Leanne to go to the store while I put the boys down for a nap, did a bit of cleaning, and got ready for the day. HA. I spent 90 minutes trying to get Grayson down for a nap. I pulled out every trick I knew, but finally had to given in and get him up. Carter slept for 2 hours. Go figure. In the afternoon, we headed back to Clemyjontri park and then to see Hutch who is here working as a consultant until January (or possibly April!) We are so excited! It was the first time he met the boys (which was probably the worst day since Gray slept a whopping 20 minutes in the car and was whiny as hell.) OH GOD. The whining. That is going to drive me insane. It is like nails on a chalkboard to my ears.

We ate at Arties (where we used to eat all the time with him before Hutch moved to Florida.) As we were driving away, Leanne commented how different our lives are now versus when we used to dine with him just a couple of years ago. No more dinners to linger over. No interrupted stories. Now we spent the meal trying to entertain the kids, keeping knives/glasses/plates away from them/keeping up conversation/and trying to keep Carter from screeching. Hutch said he was tired just watching us. And that was only after being with us for 2 hours!

Needless to say we are exhausted tonight. The boys passed out immediately and God help us - we need a good nights sleep.