Adventures in Babysitting

On Friday, I received a message from an old co-worker asking if I’d be free Saturday night to babysit his 15 month old twins.  I was very excited since it’s been awhile since I had the chance to babysit!  I jumped at the chance, and asked Josh to come along with me – it was twins after all, wasn’t going to attempt that by myself!  We love kids and we want one (or two) of own some day (just not at this exact moment).

We left early so we could make it to their place before 6 pm and because it was raining like crazy.  The rain followed us the whole way there and there were rushing rivers all over the roads!  I’m really glad Josh was driving, because my car would not have handled the rapids well at all.  Once we found Joe’s place, we parked the car and went inside.  I got to meet the twins for the first time, as I’d left the company before they were born and had missed day visits to the office.  They are precious.

We took a tour of their adorable home and went upstairs to check out the nursery.  The twins, J & R, were in great spirits and kept pulling out toys and books to play with.  As Joe and his wife slipped out, there was a tiny bit of fuss, but they quickly forgot that their parents left them with two people they didn’t recognize. 🙂

We played, talked (well, made noises), and danced to the Pandora kid music station.  J & R were happy babies.  This was easy, twins aren’t scary!

Josh and the twins were fast friends

When it came time to make up the bottles, R squealed with excitement and laughter, the kind that’s infectious to the point you can’t help but laugh and smile along with.  The twins took their last bottle of the day like champs.  We kept them up to burp up anything that came with the bottle, and about 30-40 minutes later, we could tell they were getting sleepy, so we tried rocking them to sleep.  R knocked out in my arms rather quickly, but as I went to put him in his crib he woke up and started screaming.  I picked up him and tried again, while Josh tried his luck with J.  She fell asleep, but as he took the blanket she was clutching to out of her hand, she woke up and started crying.  We weren’t sure if we should let them cry it out, since they’re not ours, so we tried to sooth them.

J started screaming, so I switched with Josh and handed him R so I could check J’s diaper.  In the process, R started screaming and then we heard a little coughing.  Shortly thereafter I heard what sounded like a wet burp, and then I heard Josh say, “Amy, I need some help.”  Before I could make it over to the chair, I heard the noise again.  R had managed to throw up his entire bottle onto Josh’s shorts, leg, the chair and floor.  I quickly put J back into her crib and ran to try and rescue Josh and clean up what I could.  It took everything in me to keep from laughing, Josh didn’t (and still doesn’t) find it funny.  I’m sure he will in a few days though, at least I hope!

I changed R’s pajamas and diaper and tried calming him down, he wasn’t having it, so we turned the music on hoping it’d help, and it worked, but it was clear they were fighting going to sleep.  An hour after our initial attempt to get them to bed, they were slightly fussy, but obviously sleepy (and no longer screaming or crying) we put them in their cribs and quickly exited the room.  There was a little bit of noise after we walked out, but they quickly fell asleep.  I have to say, video monitors are the coolest thing ever.

The twins nodded off to sleep, so Josh and I turned on the TV and watched a bit of the Braves game in silence until Josh cheered up a little.  After we started watching, the game went downhill – definitely not a fun one to watch.

Needless to say Josh and I got a small taste of what it’d be like to have kids.  I found it enjoyable and definitely not boring.  I also know being thrown up on by a kid is a little different when they’re your own, I just have to keep reminding Josh of that.

Overall, we had a great time and hope they’ll let us watch the kiddos again! 🙂

[#17 or #52]