Mess, Mess, Mess

My realtor think that our kitchen looks like this.

It actually looks more like this.... 

...on a good day.

The final clean is going along slowly. I'm focusing mostly on the conspicuous cleaning- ie, putting stuff away, so that this place can be picture-ready by the end of the week. We will be listing on Sunday, then we will not start showing until the following Sunday, so I've got a little while to get the finer details, like inside the cupboards and fridge. With these girls, though, it's sort of 2 steps forward, 1.95 steps back. They seem to follow right behind me messing up as I tidy.

 Natalie went to the dentist and did great. The kid dentist here is so amazing- their office resembles a children's museum, with a giant pirate ship and video game controllers and screens hanging off the walls everywhere, amazing murals in all of the rooms and hallways and well-planned space for maneuvering a stroller. She loved the cool sunglasses that they gave her when turning on the light to look in her mouth and she was proud to show that the Jake and the Neverland Pirates toothbrush that they gave her matched her pullup. She insisted on pulling down her shorts to show the hygenist, who giggled heartily. All the folks working there were so nice and friendly. I wish they took adult patients! Here is what Natalie chose from the prize wall.

 And here she is on time-out, where she is sent several times a day, usually for crimes of roughness against her sister.

But it's hard, because sometimes her sister eggs her on. They will be having fun and I keep telling Natalie to be gentle, but Angela just shrieks and laughs and plays along.... until she's hysterically crying and bleeding from some part of her face. I actually have this new off-white shirt that I bought and every single time I wear it, Angela gets hurt and bleeds from the mouth, getting the blood on my left shoulder. I'm almost afraid to wear the shirt, like it will curse Angela to hurt her mouth.

Anyway, when she's not roughhousing or being super clingy and crying for me to hold her, she's pretty cute. Unfortunately, both of those conditions are rarely met unless she is mischievously getting into something.

Sometimes, after listening to the two of them alternately crying all afternoon long, I just tie them down and shove a Popsicle in their fists. It usually gives me about 3-4 minutes of peace.

 Angela loves screens. She doesn't care that much about shows, but she will easily chillax, sprawled out in front of the tv, when the dvd menu is left on and the screen image starts floating around in a pattern.