They don't work like they used to...

There are so many things that have made our lives, as the parents of twins, a hell of a lot easier. From the car walker to the baby cage to the boppy to the twin stroller. But one of the most useful items that we've used multiple times a day for the last TEN months is the bouncy seat. And, we have two of them. They are wonderful. You see, when you have twins, you have to be a bit creative when you're trying to figure out how to manage both of these little beings at the same time. In the beginning, the bouncy chairs were great places for Gavin and Vivian to sleep, eat, and just sit. They are comfortable and secure. These days, we mostly use them when one of us needs to feed both babes at once or when one of us needs to take a shower (we just put them in the seats on the bathroom floor and give them a toy), but G & V will still sleep in one if the time is right. These bouncy seats have saved our lives on numerous occasions. We just hook them in and do whatever it is that we need to do. It's glorious. Well, they just don't work as well as they used to.

Just the other day, I was putting the kids to bed with their bedtime bottles. I had each babe in a bouncy seat and I was sitting in the middle shhh-ing and lightly bouncing them. Viv fell asleep immediately. Then, Gavin slowly drifted off to sleep. Once they're both asleep, I usually put them to bed individually. I picked up Viv and started to carry her to her room. I got a few feet away and Gavin (our amazing sleeper) woke up for no apparent reason and started screaming. So that Viv wasn't woken up, I quickly ran upstairs with her away from Gavin. I placed her in her crib, shhh-ed her some more and then left the room. Meanwhile, Gavin was screaming the entire time. When I got back downstairs (where the lights were already really dim), Gavin was not where I left him! Crap! I didn't even notice that the bouncy chair wasn't where I left it either. I looked everywhere for a few seconds and couldn't find him, even though he was SCREAMING. I tried to focus in on the crying and then- I- saw- him. He had leaned over in the bouncy seat, gotten on all fours (still strapped into the seat), crawled around with the bouncy seat on his back, and was now stuck in the corner of the room. All I could see was the bottom of the bouncy seat; he was underneath. Don't worry, he was fine.

The next day, he got out of the bouncy seat by flipping it over (while still being strapped in) 2 more times. I guess they just don't work like they used to.