Summertime Happiness

My kids are funny.  Seriously, they crack me up every day!  We are loving summer already.  And technically, it doesn't start until um... the summer solstice which is like June 21st but it's been warm here in VA since before Easter!  In fact, it was warmer here in March than it was in April!


OK, here we are a few weeks ago eating pizza on the outdoor mall.  Lauren did not have any pizza.  Addison had some pepperoni (also known as pep)  Maybe the pizza was too fancy, and they just prefer cheap pizza?  Maybe they were distracted, because people watching is apparently fun at all ages.  Maybe, Lauren just thinks she is too cool, getting to sit in a real chair instead of a booster or high chair.  Too big for her britches at just under two?  Maybe.

Here are the girls blowing bubbles.  Sortof.  We blew bubbles for Ainsley and Evelyn, and their family who have been heavy on my heart for a while now.  We have only played around with bubbles once or twice, so the girls were super excited about it!  But... did you know if you only pay $1 for a bottle of bubbles, you might NOT get a wand inside?  haha!  Yep, so there was a wand battle amongst these pictures.  I think they turned out awesome, given that I was a referee!  Multi-tasker? 

So, clearly Addison is trying to figure out how it works.

In the mouth?  Ewwww!  No!

Ahhhh, here ya go!

They look cute here, don't they?  I assure you, they were mentally cussing one another over that wand!  Haha!  I've since brought home my wand collection from my classroom of about 25 wands.   I won't say we have mastered blowing bubbles, but they were seriously entertained for about an hour the other night, so that is progress!

We got a water table last weekend.  I taught preschool about 10 years ago, and when I think of water tables, I think of a tub with some water and maybe some toys in it.  But, as my friend would say... "oh lawsey!"   Water tables have come a long way.   (I have no idea what lawsey means, but it's hilarious when she says it!) This thing is called a Tropical Resort.  It's from Step 2, I think.  There are cabanas, and diving boards, and a waterfall, and a boat lagoon thing... 

It looked like a tsunami went through after they were done playing.  People were floating face down in the water, and the wreckage was vast. 

I like to have a glass of wine while they play. 

And here they were today with daddy at the splash bit of our park.  Addison is JUST NOW starting to warm up with it.  Lauren's expression was kind of McCauley Caulken circa Home Alone the entire time.  I hope they get used to it soon, because that is part of my plan for cheap entertainment for this summer!

How is your summer shaping up so far?

Summer Bucket List

This post is totally inspired by Katie, at Once Upon a Time!  Her list is awesomesauce!

So, I work usually Monday through Friday, leaving the house at 7AM, returning at around 5PM.  I teach, so I'm with kids and it's noisy and I hardly ever get to sit down.  And that's ok, because it's my life and I love it and I'm pretty stinking passionate about what I do but... boy and I ready for my summer off!!!  There's a teaching assistant in my school that always wears a paper that is attached to her back with a pin, that has a countdown number on it.  And so tomorrow, she'll have a "20" on her back.  We have a month left.

Last summer was hard.  The girls had JUST started standing at a year old.  So they were in that awkward pulling up, cruising, and falling down all of the time stage.  I wanted to pad the walls and every item in our home!  They had also just started eating finger foods and, they hardly ate anything.  I was still feeding them baby food to get them to eat.  It was messy and frustrating. They also didn't have much of a vocabulary, and weren't signing that much.  Oh, and also they napped two times a day, so that made it hard to get out between their nap schedule.  They are SO different now!  And rightfully so, they are almost two!  

So, I found myself at home a LOT last summer.  It was kind of a monumental task to go out with them by myself.  And I probably should have just done it more, but I didn't.  So this summer, I am determined to get out with them a lot more.  I'm also determined to do a lot more home projects and other things for myself.

And since I am a type B person who needs a schedule to keep her on task... I think I'm going to make my own schedule - one that includes NO grocery shopping or chores on the weekend so that I can enjoy that time with my husband.  Lofty goals?  Probably.  But better to aim high, right?

Ok, I've tried three times to save this under the right orientation.  Ugh, Blogger!

So...

For the girls:

Spray park.
Water Table
Sidewalk Chalk
Bubbles
Ice Cream
Play area at the mall
Bouncy Kid Place
Petting Zoo
Crafts
Morning Walks
Farmer's Market
Swim Lessons
Sandbox
Outdoor Mall
Library
Wading Pool
Children's Museum
Coloring



For me:

Morning Walks!
Gardening
Paint bedroom (One wall a day during naptime?)
Paint front porch
Rehab Dining Room Table and Sideboard
Organize!  Organize!  Organize!
Read
Trip to grandparents
Take naps
Appointments 


I'm going to get so much done!  I can't wait!


What's on your summer bucket list?

 






    

DIY Hairbow Holder

So, we've accumlated a lot of bows and clips in our house.  I had them all strung on one ribbon which was attached to a basket, and hung from the shelf above the changing table.  It was CLASSY!  Let me tell you!

So... naturally I looked up "clip holder" on Pinterest and got some ideas.  The one I found had a painted canvas, but I decided it would be sweet if I could reuse one of the 5,000 recieving blankets that have been sitting in our closet.  

So, this is what I came up with.  I just had to buy a canvas and a roll of ribbon.  I stapled all of it together.    Addison said, "preeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" when she saw it!!! 

ROYGBIV!!!

Love the little butterfly from the blanket!

Preeeeeeeeeeeee Foooooouwahs (Pretty Flowers)

"Hey Goooorwen (Lauren),  just LOOK at all of the fooouwahhhs (flowers) there are!!!  They are so preeeeeeeeee (pretty!)"

Haha!  My kids are hilarious!  And cute!

Other cute things...

In the middle of the grocery store, Lauren shouts out at the top of her amazingly lungs, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, Nooooooooooooooooo"!!! 
 And really, nothing was the matter, we just think it's funny when she says that, so she says it a LOT!

This morning Lauren was crying and Addison brought her 1 passie, 2 blankets, and 4 stuffed animals.

Giddy Up, Giant Purple Dinosaur!

 And today I took Lauren to Target and when I put some hair clip/bows in the cart she said, "ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh".  When we got home, they both proceeded to root through my Target bags because they have officially taken over the dog's job of inspecting new things that enter the house.*  When Addison discovered the bows, she quickly ran to show her dad and said five thousand million times, "preeeeeeeeeeeeee" (pretty)!  She demanded that he put them in her hair, but she was redirected to me - because part of my job as a twin girl mom is hair.  :)

Dear Lord, please help me when they want to do their own hair and pick their own clothes, because I so LOVE decorating them!  Call me shallow.

So, this week we recovered from what I guess was a series of colds, and ended with Croup.  Last Friday I worked all day, ran to the grocery store, ran to the babysitters, freaked out because Lauren was coughing like an 80 year old chain smoker and her breathing sounded like Darth Vader.  I then came home and threw the food in the fridge and rushed the girls to the pedi. 

The pedi did prescribe some steroids that supposedly helped her breathing, and we took him up on the advice of using the humidifier which seemed to help.

I miss the good old days when they would throw some antibiotics at you and send you on your merry way.
I mean, I totally "get" the whole overuse/superbug thing.  I am just impatient and I hate waiting out a virus.  But that is what we did, and last weekend was kind of miserable.  Both girls were sick and whiny. I guess that's why I appreciate them so much this weekend, because they are FINALLY back to their funny toddlerish selves.  I feel like it's been since Easter, almost.

Life is good.  

*Seriously, they help me unpack the groceries now!  It's kind of awesome.

**I LOVE this blog called She Does Hair, by the way.  




 

National Infertility Week

Today I went to have my blood drawn to check my thyroid hormone levels.  I have hypothyroidism and have basically blown off treating it since I had the girls.  I know, shame on me.  But I have NO energy lately, so off to the Endocrinologist I go.  And so ends my boycot of medical professionals.

First, I went to the same building where my R.E. is, because the hospital has a lab there.  Floods of memories... as I haven't been there since about November of 2009 when we "graduated" to the OBGYN.  I thought about those women who are still in the midst of struggling to get pregnant.  And I do, I think of them fairly regularly.  I still read infertility blogs, and I'm always on the sidelines cheering them on.  I'd feel a traitor if I did anything less, and truthfully, I wish I were more of an advocate.

Then I rediscovered that my primary insurance is crappy.  I think I've mentioned this before...  and that I had to go to the crappy Walmart of labs to get my blood drawn instead.  I've been there 1,000 times also.  So, as I sat there, I thought about all of the times my arm has been pricked and how many times someone has commented about how scarred my veins are from all of the draws.  I thought about having my recurrent pregnancy loss bloodwork, which I think was about nine vials of blood.

The phlobotomist said he'd be really gentle, and had I'd been in a talking mood, I'd have told him... 5 IVF attempts and a twin pregnancy, I can handle a little blood draw!  haha!

Anyway...  it's National Infertility Awareness Week.  The facebook posts of my IF buddies say, I'm 1 in 8. 

Part of me wonders why people don't talk about infertility that much.  But then, I don't really WANT to discuss it with people myself.  Luckily, not that many people ask the dreaded question, "are they natural?" about my girls.  Which to me is just ignorant and offensive.  Natural?  As opposed to, "fake"???  No, my girls aren't fake!  But I also don't volunteer that we did IVF because, well... it's my business.  Or also, I reserve that for the Internet. :)  But I then also feel a little guilty because I'm probably adding to the problem by not raising awareness.  People need to know that it's very COMMON and normal to have infertility issues.  I mean seriously, people look at it the same way they look at cosmetic surgery.  They see it as "elective", which is just ridiculous. It still makes me very bitter that insurance does not cover most IF procedures. The trickle down effects of our money decisions that we made to have our IVF are still impacting our finances in a harsh way. 

So what are your thoughts?  Do you share?  Do you feel obligated to share? 

Adventures in Feeding Toddlers: Version 21 Months

First, I want to say... I've calmed down a smidgen since yesterday's angry post.  Sortof.  Although, I did kind of gripe about it today to my coworkers and my babysitter.  Yep, pretty much anyone who would listen.  Haha...  sigh.

Anyway, I have a pile of ridiculous but required tests  papers to grade so.... I think I'll do another post.  :) 


Kimalli1 asked:

I think I can remember you doing this in the past, but can you do an updated post about what your girls eat on a regular basis? My daughter is 17 months and seems much like your girls. I feel like she lives on PB&J and fruit. Those are about the only consistent things in her diet, and even those have their moments of getting thrown to the dog. So frustrating!

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I found some gray hairs peeking through my roots the other night.  Each one came from a stressful mealtime.  I expect more to emerge...

smirk.

Actually, I guess they have gotten a little better - but it's still ridiculous sometimes.

Generally, if WE are eating something, it is MUCH MORE desirable.  It is amazing what they will eat if we are eating it, as opposed to what you just give them in their high chairs.  Seriously, last night I made taco salad and it had Chalula hot sauce in it - Lauren ate like 6-8 bites!

Breakfast

We still usually do whole milk yogurt with baby cereal mixed in.  We used to buy tubs of Stoneyfield Farms, but now we buy Pure by Dannon (it's cheaper and is flavored in Strawberry or Blueberry).  The cereal is just Gerber's Oatmeal banana.  We also do fruit - whatever we have.  Lately it's been a lot of strawberries.  We go through a LOT of strawberries in my house!  I always offer a sippy with whole milk.  They rarely drink the entire sippy in the mornings.  I don't know why.

I made a smoothie the other day with one of those premade baggies that you can buy in the frozen fruit section.  I think it was Yoplait, berry-pomegranate.  They liked it.  I just made it super thin so they could drink it through the sippy cup.

They also like home fries, either homemade or storebought.  They like my bisquick pancakes, and I add chocolate chips.  Bagels and cream cheese.

Snacks (AM and PM)

One day I bought Fruit Loops to teach my students non-standard units of measurement.  You know, math is always more fun when you can eat your manipulatives!  Well... I brought the leftovers home and the girls devoured them.  I know... too much sugar...

Cut up Nutri-grain bars.

Fruit.  Thank God they love fruit.  Blackberries are their all time fave.  Followed by... strawberries "bearberries", blueberries, apples, mandarin oranges (canned), peaches, pineapple, apricots, "nananas" bananas... 

Cheese-its.  The Scrabble kind, because... mama is big on letter recognition.

Ritz-bits with peanut butter.

Teddy Grahams, and also a new thing is those Teddy Grahams PAWS, which are kind of cake-like.

Mild cheddar cheese slices.  Sometimes.

Melted cheese and nachos.  I love nachos - they are MY children!
Hummus and pita chips.  They have recently decided they like dips.

Water mixed with 1/2 cup of juice twice a day.

Lunch

We get a big fat fail for lunch.  You're going to cringe.

At the babysitter's they eat Chefboyardee 5 days a week.  I kid you not.  Mini ABC's, Mini Ravioli, Mini O's. 

And some sort of veggie.  Whatever she gives them.  I don't know...

And any of the aforementioned fruits.

At home, we sometimes do grilled cheese, which sometimes works and sometimes results in tantrums. 

Sometimes we do PB&J.  My husband toasts the bread, for some reason. 

Plus some of the veggies I'll mention for dinner...

Milk with lunch.

Dinner

Again, you'll cringe...

A LOT of the time we do Tyson Chicken Nuggets  with Ranch dressing (which, according to my dad is a horrible, awful, no-good thing to serve children).  BUT... it's protein and they EAT it.  And we worry so much that they will go to bed hungry.

Also, they are getting pretty proficient at using a fork to eat the chicken nuggets with.  We still cut them into pieces.

We LOVE the Steamer veggies that you can buy in the frozen food section.  We get the SINGLES packs, which are perfect for feeding two children.  The girls will eat peas and corn.  I may press my luck and try brussel sprouts next week.  We add some Brummel and Brown (yogurt based butter).  Addison usually somehow gets the butter in her hair - without fail.  :)

Addison loves fresh steamed "broc" (broccoli).  I cut the "trees" off, add a little water, nuke it for 30 seconds, and drain the water.  I add Ranch dressing.  She devours it.

I also confess that about once a week we either do McDonald's or order pizza, and they eat what we eat.  I have to order them EACH a cheeseburger and I have to HIDE the fries, lest they eat the fries and forgo the cheeseburger.

Milk with dinner.


I try something new just about every week.  I would REALLY love to expand their palate of things they will consistently eat.  I've gotten better at not showing that I'm stressed if they don't eat.

They still occasionally throw food or spoons "poons" on the floor.  It gives me gray hairs.

The sitter has used booster seats with them since last September, but we have yet to make the switch.  We have spacesaver high chairs.  I think we'll keep using the spacesavers for a while because of the mess containment factor.  We forgot the trays over our trip, and I didn't like not having them!  Plus, they thought it was fun to put their feet on the table!

That's the latest.  I LOVE food getting ideas, so suggest away! 

Easter and Spring Break = Stress? Totally Angry Post.

Yep.  I hate to be kind of bitchy and complainy about it, but it's kind of been a stressful week!  I took the girls with me to my parent's house for my Spring Break, which included Easter.  It's about a 4 hour drive.  My parents drove to my house last Wednesday, babysat for me last Thursday (because my sitter took the day off).  They brought their dogs, which are two little shitzu (yep, I know that's not how it's spelled but wait until you hear the rest of the story!).  One of the dogs (HIS name is Bubbles.  I kid you not!) is new and it was our first time meeting it, or rather it meeting us.  Then we all drove back to their house.  Addison CLUNG to me all 5 days because Bubbles made her extremely nervous - especially when it barked.  His bark was jarring and growly, and he just did not warm up to me at all - which is unusual because I'm a dog person.  Addison wailed whenever he was near.  She wailed in the high chair several times for the entire meal, I don't know... just because he was near.  She was totally fine with the other dog.  So, mainly that is how it was stressful.  Plus, my dad told me about a gazillion times that I was spoiling her rotten.  You know, because holding your child when she is scared is apparently bad parenting. 

Also, my dad says that Tyson chicken nuggets (which are just about the only meat my girls will eat) are the DEVIL.  Also, corn and whole milk yogurt are apparently really horrible things to feed children.  AND, they need to drink more milk.  ALSO, why aren't they still on formula???  They fed me formula until I was (?three?), and "just because everyone else doesn't do formula that long, doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do".  Also he probably thinks I am the devil because I didn't breast feed LIKE THE REST OF THE FREAKING WORLD probably also thinks, but just doesn't say so, on account of being polite.  BTW... my body is an asshole and I wasn't PHYSICALLY able to breastfeed.  And no, I don't have any harsh feelings or bitterness about that.  Haha.... 

Oh, also apparently I need to start disciplining them and doing lots of time outs.  I am apparently a total failure as a parent.

Also, when Lauren puts her feet on the table because dad forgot the trays for the portable high chairs, it was HILARIOUS to my dad that I kept telling her "no", and it was especially funny and "not nice" when I pushed her whole chair away from the table for the remainder of the meal. 

Peek a boo! 

Easter dresses, $4.50 each at the consignment shop!  How cute are they?

They were both definitely NOT themselves and definitely out of their element.  Most of the time they are awesome, aside from the occasional almost two year old tantrum and the rough and tumbleness that is likely inherent in twins.

We came home yesterday.  When daddy came home from work, I took off and went to get a haircut (first one since November!), and went to my fave bookstore and got a new novel and coffee.  I needed a break.

And today?  They have been AWESOME.  Cozy at home this morning, and then a trip to daddy's work to visit and have lunch.  And now, back home and taking a long nap. 

They did have an awesome time hunting eggs on Sunday!  I wasn't sure how much they would "get" it, but they did!  I actually didn't fill the eggs with candy, because I thought, "they don't need any more sugar, they are already having cupcakes and peeps".  And so...  haha...  my girls totally were looking inside the eggs and I just KNOW they were thinking, "what is wrong with my mom, not putting anything in these eggs"!  Ha!  Oh well...  the hunt was a lot of fun.  :)

Here's to being home and NOT being told how to parent by your parents!!!