Our jeep

The girls and I went on a walk in their Jeep Stroller. They are finally big enough to sit in it. Izzie is on the left and Maddie is on the right.

Video

I'm not sure why the sound didn't work... Maddie is on the left and Izzie is on the right.

Baby 101

I just noticed on one of the tickers I have that the girls are 101 days old today! Thought that was neat. In Korea there is a big celebration when the baby is 101 days old. I don't think they are named until that day.

Playing is exhausting

This morning the girls woke up really happy and wanted to play. Izzie was laying in her crib watching herself in the mirror and watching the mobile and rattling her keys. Don't say my daughter isn't talented! But, of course all of that is very tiring, so here she is napping with the keys. Maddie spent about 30 min this morning laying on the mat playing and kicking. She ended up falling asleep in the swing.

This afternoon while John was playing D&D with the guys, I went to lunch with Mom and the girls. Then we went to her house and watched Georgia Rule. A movie I would not recommend. On the way home from Mom's I ran into Stephanie and Mike walking the twins. It was their first outing. Steph is looking great!

The little toot

I put the girls down for their nap about an hour ago. Izzie fell right asleep, like she usually does. Maddie is still awake. I'm not complaining, because she usually just lays there sucking on her paci. Well I went in their room to check on them because Maddie was grunting like she lost her paci. I bent over the crib and told Maddie she needed to go night night. She gave me the biggest grin in the whole world. Like, "Momma, ain't I CUTE? I don't have to go night night!" The little toot.

Nap time is a good time

The girls and I had a pretty fun day. We didn't do much, but we did get lots of cuddles in. After their lunch time feeding we went on a pretty long walk. That wore them out and they slept pretty hard. Then Robby came by for a visit. (He left without me getting a picture!!!) Arg. He wasn't here for very long, it was a whirl wind visit. And I had to feed the girls while he was here. (He went and played on the computer so we could have privacy.) After Rob left, I tried putting the girls down for their afternoon "official" nap. I want to transition them to the nursery for naptime, so they get used to it for when we put them in there at night. Izzie went down without too much fuss, but Maddie wasn't having any of it! I had to rock her to sleep a couple of times before she went down. Now both girls are sleeping.

Mom and Chris are coming over to babysit tonight and John and I are going out to eat and to look at cameras for me. I want a new digital camera. I've narrowed it down to a few possibilities and now need to see them in person.

Changing of the guard

For the past few days Izzie has done nothing but slept and Maddie has been wide awake. I was starting to get worried thinking Izzie was sleeping too much, but she slept great at night and seemed like she really needed the sleep. While on the other hand I was thinking Maddie must not be getting enough sleep. Well today was the changing of the guard. Izzie has been wide awake and happy this morning and Maddie wanted to go back to bed. I guess their little bodies do know what is best for them. I just go with the flow, and it seems to be working out pretty well. So Izzie and I had play time this morning. And she helped me while I was designing the new header for the top of the blog.

After lunch I'm taking the girls out to run some errands. It looks like it is going to rain, but the forecast says only a 10% chance. I sure hope that is true. I don't want to get caught in rain with the girls.

later... I ended up having a fun day! I spontaneously called mom to see if she wanted to go shopping with me. We ended up going to a Greek Cafe for lunch, called Zorba's. It was seriously the best Greek food I've ever had. Their pita's were homemade and fresh. I'm glad we decided to stop there! The only frustrating thing was, we got the stroller out, got the girls out, walked into the restaurant and the guy said that they didn't have room for the stroller. So, we had to get the girls out, I had to fold up the stroller. They had these carseat slings for us to put their car seats in. And then he seated us. There was plenty of room for a stroller, they just weren't creative thinkers. Oh well. Then we went to Avenue to pick out some new clothes for Mom. She bought me the most gorgeous skirt. It might as well had a sign above it that said: "Skirt designed for Amanda Dittlinger." It is SO me. I also made her buy some cute shoes for herself. Navigating the stroller around Avenue was pretty tough. By this time the girls were sound asleep. I still needed to run into Babies 'R Us for something, so I had mom wait in the car with the girls while I ran in. It was a busy afternoon. We made it home just for the girls next feeding. Whew!

The whole time all of this was going on, poor Ripley was at the vet. We had to sedate him to get his nails cut back. The quicks had grown out too long for the people at Petco to trim them. The nails were so long he was walking on them funny. We try and take him every 3-4 weeks but his nails grow so fast! So we got them cut way back. He's on pain meds right now and is sleeping it off. Poor pug dog! He gets some extra peanut butter tonight. That's his treat of choice.

Tuesday plans

Look at those feet! Identical. Maddie is left, Izzie is right.

Here it is 11am and I'm just now getting to making plans for the day! Lets just say the girls and I took the morning off. We just chilled. Well, we did have a photo shoot! I put them in some adorable outfits! (I wish I remembered who gave them to me, but they are cute!!) We spent some time cuddling on the couch and I read Entertainment Weekly outloud to them. They were very interested in what was going to happen on Grey's Anatomy in the last 5 episodes. Now they are taking a cat nap before their next feeding.

Anyway, as for the plans, Mom is coming over to hang out and have "twin" time this afternoon. Hopefully I'll be able to slip away to visit Stephanie and her two boys. Tonight is PAMOM's mom's night out, and I was thinking about going, but I forgot to RSVP so now I think it's too late. Maybe not, I'll email the coordinator and see. Ah... baby fussing... gotta go!

later...
Well I'm kinda bummed. I didn't get to go over to Stephanie's house today. She decided she didn't want any visitors for the boys yet as they are so young. I understand, I just wish she'd have said that yesterday when I was setting it up. Oh well, I did drop off the Shepard's Pie I made her. And as for going out with the PAMOM ladies, I didn't get coordinated enough to RSVP. I kind of want to stay in anyway tonight. I did go to the used kid's store this afternoon after John got home and bought a second Baby Bjorn for cheap. John and I both want to wear one at the same time. My wrap is awesome, but if you move around in it too much the baby starts to sink in it.

Nothing exciting

Yesterday absolutely wiped John and I out. We couldn't figure out why we were so exhausted, I mean, when we were hanging out at his parent's house it's not like we were doing much except visiting. But we were so tired last night! After we got home, we pretty much were zombies. But the girls feeding schedule had them eating at 10. So we decided to stay up for that. I ended up taking the girls over to moms house at 7:30. If I hung around our house, I would have fallen asleep. Chris and I got in the hot tub and mom stayed inside and cuddled with the girls and watched tv. I came home in time for the 10:00 feeding. We fed the girls, bathed them and got in bed. Luckily they were tired too, and we all fell asleep in a blink. They slept 7 hours again last night! And we slept in until 8 am.

Today I've been working on my uncles website. I took Izzie to Walmart (John's home today) and we bought the stuff to make a Shepard's Pie for Stephanie who is home from the hospital with her boys. The girls are sleeping right now. Earlier I had Maddie on her play mat and she was dancing to the music. It was so cute! She was pumping her legs up and down and waving her arms all around. They've learned a new cry. I can't describe it, but it's a 'I'm bored cry.' Their vocal cords are getting stronger and now they "talk." John and I ask each other if it was a 'happy' noise or a disgruntled sound. Sometimes it's hard to tell lately!

Happy Easter

It's the girls first Easter. John and I took the girls to church with the family this morning. That took a lot of planning because we were planning on coming over to his parents house for the rest of the day after church. Yesterday I had to make a list of everything I needed and pack up the diapy bag. Then last night we set the alarm clock for 3:30 am to feed them so we could feed at 6:30am. I didn't expect them to make it to 3:30, but didn't want them to go past it either. Well surprise surprise! The alarm went off and I had to WAKE the girls up at 3:30! They slept for 7 hours and were still going strong. Then John and I woke up at 6am to get ready ourselves. I just got dressed and then fed the girls. We made it in the car by 6:59. We were impressed since we had wanted to leave at 7am. I did have to put my make-up on in the car, but that was in the PLAN.

The girls slept during church. Which was nice since we were worried they might cry. After church we went to the country club for a yummy breakfast. We gave the girls a breastmilk bottle. Now we are all hanging out at Jackie and Tom's house. The girls are hopefully down for their nap. We are going to have Easter dinner in a couple of hours. The weather is pretty cool. I was trying to talk someone into going in the hot tub with me, but no takers so far. Julie and Chris should be over soon with Sammy. He went home for a nap. I think Dana and Cody are playing Nintendo, John is watching tv. and Jackie and Tom are talking to Grandma about medical bills. Just a normal day, hanging out.

More good news

I just found out that my friend Stephanie delivered her twin boys on March 18th. Max Michael was born at 1:26 pm, weighing in at 5 lbs 8 oz. and 17" long. At 1:38pm Nicholas Robert was born, he weighed 5 lbs 3 oz. and was 17 1/4" long at birth. Congrats Stephanie!!! I can't wait to meet the two handsome boys. They are just two days shy of 3 months younger than my girls.

Speaking of the girls, they woke up in very good spirits today. John is home today, he has Good Friday off, and he spent the morning holding Izzie, while Maddie and I watched some tv. Maddie was all smiles this morning. Too cute!

Now, they are taking a morning nap and I was playing around on the computer. I decided to put a link up to my portfolio website. I designed it a few months ago. Right now it is on my free web space I get with Verizon, so the website name is long. I'm looking into buying a domain name and more web space. For the moment you can check out my portfolio using the link I have on the right side of my blog under Blogs and Links.

Later... The girls, their dad, and I just got back from Home Depot. Next time we need to think ahead a bit better about what we want to buy! I ended up riding home with a fertilizer spreader in my lap, which wasn't comfortable. We got a mail-in-rebate for a free one with the purchase of fertilizer. With that, the fertilizer, the plants, the stroller and two carseats with twins in them, there wasn't any space for me! We managed to get home though. When the girls go down for their nap, I'm going to go play in my front flower bed. Today is another gorgeous day out.

3 months old today!

The girls are three months old today! I can hardly believe it. The time has just flown by. But looking back at their pictures, it's amazing how much they've already grown in that amount of time. Right now, they are taking their mid-morning nap, but hopefully I'll get some cute pictures of them today. Their "friends" Sebastian and Cambry are coming over again today for a visit. They should be here soon.

Izzie was really fussy this morning after we woke up and I realized she wasn't ready to wake up. I re-wrapped her (we still swaddle the girls at night) and she immediately calmed down and went back to sleep. I was right with her! If it wasn't for Maddie being wide awake and bushy tailed I think I would have joined Izzie in bed! Oh the joys of having two. They say sleep when the baby sleeps, but who can get two babies to sleep at the same time?

Actually we have implemented an "official" afternoon nap that seems to be working well. (Hope I didn't just jinx it!) But I've been using that time to catch up on laundry and projects around the house. Yesterday I used the time to start my herb garden for the summer. The day before I was hanging pictures in the girls nursery. Sometimes I use that time to cook dinner so that later that evening all I have to do is reheat it. I sure don't have time to sleep! It wouldn't be a problem if the girls were sleeping better at night. They had been. They were excellent sleepers at night, but the last 4-5 nights have been rough and the lack of sleep on my part is starting to show. I'm getting tired. But, I can't take naps during the day anyway. My mind stays too busy. Hopefully soon, they'll go back to sleeping good at night. That was ideal.

Sebastain, Amanda, Izzie, Maddie and Cambry

Lunch with Nana and Popo

The girls and I went to lunch with Nana and Popo today. They did really good. It was good to get out. After all the rain we had yesterday, today is bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky. It's a little too windy for a walk, so getting out to lunch was nice. We went for soup and sandwiches. When I got home, I had a package in the mail. I love packages! Well, actually the girls got a package. They got these adorable bibs and burpies from their great-Aunt Tonya and second cousins Madison and Taylor. I didn't know until I had picked out Maddie's name already, that Madison's middle name is also Elizabeth. So my Grandma Bettie has a grandchild named Madison Elizabeth and a great-grandchild named Madeline Elizabeth! Anyway, the bibs and burpies are precious. Here's a picture.

The girls Aunt Rhonda came over tonight for a visit. We had a good time sitting around, holding babies.

Gardening in the rain

Or at least talking about gardening while it is raining! Today I had a consultation with a landscaper. About a year ago John and I had a had a landscape artist come out and draw up a plan for our backyard that uses all native plants. We were really excited about it. A year later we've built the deck, but haven't started any of the other plants. So we decided to price having a landscaper install our plan. So Maribeth Flowers (yes, her last name is Flowers!) came this morning to look at my plan. We are going to do the yard in stages since it'll cost more than what we have set aside for the project. But we always figured we'd have to do it in parts. The project might cost more in labor, but that is partially offset by the fact that she can buy plants wholesale. And with the twins, it's just going to be hard to find the time to do a big project by ourselves. I'm really excited though, it sounds like we'll be able to get a big chunk of the yard done at the end of April.

John came home a bit early because of all the rain. He was worried he wouldn't be able to get home if he stayed at work too much longer. Sure enough they had some of the streets blocked off due to flooding. He had to come home a really weird way.




Cookin' Corner

Shepherd's Pie
Today seemed like a Shepherd's Pie sort of day. On a rainy day like this, you need a big, heavy, warm-you-up kind of meal. This version is Weight Watchers friendly. While not low points, you get a lot of food for the 9 points per serving.

mashed potato top:
6 medium russet potatoes
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp margarine
beef broth to thin potatoes if needed
salt & pepper

meat mixture:
1.25 lbs of ground turkey
2 medium carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup peas
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp fennel
1 bay leaf
Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp tarragon
3 tbsp flour
approx 1 cup of beef broth

Make mashed potatoes using ingredients listed above if you want to stick to a 9 point WW meal. Otherwise make your own mashed potatoes or in a pinch use instant.
Saute in a big skillet: chopped onions, celery, carrots & garlic. When vegetables are almost tender add ground turkey. (Again, this is lower points, beef is delicious too!) Add seasonings: fennel, bay leaf, tarragon, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper. When meat is cooked through sprinkle with flour. Stir flour in. Once it is incorporated, add beef broth. Stir in peas and parsley. Pour mixture in a casserole dish. Remove bay leaf. (If you forget to remove the bay leaf, then whoever gets it on their plate does the dishes!) Top with mashed potatoes and bake for 30-45 minutes. Serves a generous 4.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

This picture is pretty much all I've accomplished today. That and a 15 min walk with the girls. They've been a handful today.

Izzie, Momma and Maddie all decked out in Irish Green.

Another day of D&D

John's got the guys over for Dungeons and Dragons. Maddie's sleeping and Izzie is helping me to type. The girls' Grandma is heading over. She has been watching Ripley. We were planning on being in College Station this weekend visiting Mema and Pepaw, but they have been sick, so we stayed home. So, Grandma is bringing Ripley back over and so she can see the girls. Later this afternoon I'm going to head to my Mom's house and this evening we are having hamburgers on the grill. Just a fun laid back Sunday.

Productivity

Today was a day of productivity. This morning we tackled the monster that is our garage. We didn't finish organizing it, but we did make a dent. The girls helped by supervising. I had them in the stroller. John and I started a few piles. Trash, keep and garage sale. We were mostly focused on trash this time around. There was a lot of junk in our garage. Mostly big boxes that we were able to recycle. Next we need to put up some shelves or other organization methods. Right now everything is on the floor, which doesn't make for ease of use. Afterwards the girls and I took a walk as they were already in their stroller. Then John helped me pick up some clutter that was around the house. And I went to the store to buy some pet food. Then I even had time to cook a fun dinner of homemade raviolis. I love homemade raviolis, but they are normally very time consuming. With my handy dandy pasta roller machine, they didn't take near as long! Of course I didn't have the ravioli attachment for my handy dandy pasta machine, so I did have to laboriously hand form the raviolis.

Cookin' Corner
Homemade meat & cheese raviolis
pasta:
2 1/4 cups of flour
3 eggs
filling:
1/2 lb lean hamburger meat
1 cup of grated cheeses (I used a parmesan mix)
1 egg
italian seasonings
sauce:
okay... I used a jarred sauce (sue me!)

Cook the hamburger meat and let cool. Add cheese,egg and italian seasoning.
In food processor mix the flour and egg. Pulse until dough comes together. Then pulse a bunch more. It'll look like a bunch of crumbles. Poor onto counter and knead until shiny and smooth. It's magic. Let dough rest for 25-30 minutes under plastic wrap. I put half of it in a zippy bag for use another time. Roll out pasta using a rolling pin (This takes forever, but it is worth the effort!) OR use a handy dandy pasta machine. Form raviolis using about a tablespoon of mix in each one. I made big raviolis. Cook raviolis in boiling water for about 4-5 minutes in batches, unless you have a really big pot. Serve with your favorite spaghetti sauce. This makes about 20 large raviolis.

Shopping

Today Izzie, Maddie and I went to the mall. Firewheel mall close to my house is an outdoor style mall. Where every store had an outside door. The weather was perfect, so it was a great day to visit the mall. I went to Charlie's Subs. I was very impressed with myself (not with Charlie's Subs) because I was able to get the stroller in the store all by myself! I wasn't sure how I was going to manage that. This is the second time I visited Charlie's Subs and I think I'm going to mark it off my list. It just isn't that spectacular. Although, their french fries were pretty good. Anyway, I ordered my food to go, and so the girls and I had a picnic near the fountain. They loved feeling the warm breeze over their little toes. Then we just spent the rest of the time window shopping. They got lots of looks and lots of ohhs and awws. All in all, it was a good trip. I was glad to just get out of the house for a bit.

Cookin' Corner
Oven Fried Fish -This seriously couldn't get any easier.

Fish fillets (I used tilapia) did you know that tilapia is the common name for over 100 species of fish?
Dijon mustard
Italian style breadcrumbs

Pat the fish dry with a paper towel. Spread the dijon mustard on one side of the fish pretty thick. Dredge it in the breadcrumbs. Repeat for the other side. Spray fish with cooking spray. Place the fish on a sheet pan. Set the broiler to HI. Broil about 5-7 min per side depending on the size of your fish. I served mine with steamed broccoli and a baked potato.

Milk on tap

I debated whether or not to post about breastfeeding. The thing is, it's almost taboo to talk about in public. Just like a lot of women get dirty looks if they feed their babies in public. But it is a very fundamental natural thing. And, as I am turning my blog into a memory book in a year, I want to have memories of my experience of breastfeeding my girls. So since I haven't mentioned it yet, this will probably be a long post. In the parenting world, breastfeeding is the kind of hot topic like religion and politics are to the rest of the world. You just don't go there if you don't want to start a debate! My personal stance is that breastfeeding is the most natural thing for you and baby. What I don't agree with is the people who say they wanted to breastfeed and couldn't. (There are some medical exceptions, but in most cases the women, in my opinion, just didn't get the right support.) I believe that if you want to give your baby formula, then state that, and don't feel guilty for not using breastmilk. Otherwise, breastfeed! I also think there isn't enough real life discussions out there on breastfeeding. That's why I wanted to share my adventure so far.

First off I'd like to say that nursing twins is hard, but it's also easy. Basically no matter what, feeding twins is hard. That's the thing that people don't realize. Unless there are two adults at all times, anytime one person tries to feed two babies that are hungry at the same time, it's hard. There are two scenarios. You feed one baby at a time, or you feed both babies at once. If you do one at a time, you have to put up with another baby crying. I couldn't deal with that emotionally. If you feed both at the same time you juggle the babies and have problems with just physically holding two babies at once! So, like I said it's hard, but it's also easy. It's easy because there is no bottles to wash afterwards. It's always available, doesn't take time to warm up and best of all it's free. It's hard because you are the only one who can feed your babies and it is a physical commitment. I do have some stored, pumped breastmilk, but that is like liquid gold and used sparingly. Pumping is a whole other topic and it is also very hard.

My experience. Now, at two and half months, I can say I love nursing my girls. It was a hard journey to get to that statement! While I have never hated it, sometimes I just wanted to cry when it was time to feed. I suffered through engorgement, clogged ducts and thrush. All these things are some of the most painful things I have ever experienced in my life. I had ice packs on my breasts to try and relieve the pain. The thrush felt like someone was electrocuting my breasts. I also had to learn how to use something called a nipple shield since my preemies couldn't latch properly. But even in the very beginning, knowing that I was continuing to be the full support for my babies, it made the separation from giving birth easier. I've heard from a lot of women that they miss being pregnant after the give birth. By breastfeeding I am continuing the growth of my babies outside of the womb. I love the satisfied looks on their faces when they are full too.

In the beginning. My girls had to be on formula for 3 days in the hospital. They were born at a low birth weight and they didn't have enough fat stores to cope with the weight loss that all babies go through after being born until mom's milk comes in fully. The docs said that if I didn't supplement with formula they would have to go to NICU. I sure didn't want that, so we did use the formula. Even though I didn't want to use it, I'm grateful that formula was an option for those few days to give my body time to work out the fact that I was trying to feed two babies. I started pumping immediately. I soon was making enough milk to feed 3-4 babies! Luckily breastmilk can be frozen, so we just kept putting it away. Finally I realized I needed to wean away from the pump. That is when the pain started. I tried weaning from the pump too quickly. It's a very slow process. My body had to catch up to the fact that I wanted to make less milk. About the time I was pump free, Maddie and I got thrush. Thrush is just a yeast infection. The docs say that for babies it isn't painful, maybe a bit uncomfortable. For the mom, it's very painful. Antibiotics cleared it up. Not all women get it.

Also in the beginning, the girls, being preemies, didn't have the energy to suck on my breast enough to get full. So I didn't start tandem feeding right away. I'd nurse one girl and John would bottle feed the other girl pumped milk. When they were still preemies and didn't have the energy to fill up at my breast we let the girl I had "practice" at the breast for 20 minutes, then let her fill up on a bottle. At the next feeding we switched girls. This lasted until they were strong enough to nurse at every feeding. I tried doing them one at a time for a few feedings, but I couldn't stand the other baby crying, so I learned how to tandem feed out of necessity. Feeding the girls is a time consuming activity. They eat every 3 hours and in the beginning it took a little over an hour to feed and
change them. This left a little less than 2 hours between all of the feedings. Now we are all more efficient, I feed them in about 45 minutes. They still go 3 hours during the day, but at night we usually get 5 or 6 hour stretches.

The process. When I'm by myself, I strip both girls down to their diapers. (They are very messy eaters!) I lay one girl on my loveseat. Then I put on my nursing pillow, which straps onto me. I have to make sure I have water, a burpie cloth and my nipple shields all near me. Then I pick up the second girl and sit down. I lean over and pick up the first girl. Then I get ready to nurse. Sometimes I have to go back and forth between each girl several times. They'll latch on, and then let go. After nursing, I carry both of them together to the nursery where I change their diapers one by one. Then I get them redressed. Just in the past day or two they've started eating neater and I don't have to get them undressed. This is a big help!!

My favorite part. My favorite part has been since the girls started opening their eyes and looking at me while they nurse. I just get so happy! Sometimes there is a look on their face like they are eating the best chocolate ice cream in the world. I love their little satisfied grunts while they are nursing too. I play a game and try to figure out what style of eating they are doing at each feeding. Last night Izzie kept eating for just a few sucks and then would fall off. I was getting very frustrated until I realized she must be eating at a Dim Sum restaurant. Sometimes they go for fast food. That's when they finish nursing in 8 min. and I can't get them to take more. Maddie usually likes casual dining. She sprawls her arms out and just totally relaxes while she nurses. Izzie tends to lean more towards fine dining and she takes her time to get her money's worth.

My success. I was successful due to a few things. Dedication and determination are high on the list. Support is the third essential element. John and my Mom were lifesavers in those first few weeks. John was right there with me for each and every feeding. Including the night feedings. It took more than one person to feed these girls. That is super important and I think it's the key that most people miss. Just because I was the one making the milk, it took more than myself to nurse in the beginning. Sometimes he'd massage my shoulders and talk me through the pain. Sometimes he talked to keep me awake. He did most of the diaper changes in the beginning. My Mom was also a great coach. She brought a womans perspective. Without them, I would have been lost.

The future. The girls are 12 weeks today. I read somewhere while I was pregnant that it takes about 3 months to get a rhythm with breastfeeding and the most satisfaction comes after the third month. Too bad a lot of mom's don't make it that far. My plans are to breastfeed for at least a year. Soon, the girls will outgrow my breastfeeding pillow. When they do, we'll just have to invent new methods. The adventure continues....

Fun day continued

I had so much fun today when Kim came by with her kids. Sebastian and Cambry are 14 weeks old, my girls will be 12 weeks tomorrow. It was neat having 4 babies in the house, but I don't know how mom's of quads don't go insane. I think there was a baby fussing at almost all times today. Mostly we just had a good chance to visit and compare notes. "What do you do when..." kind of thing. I made Chicken Tortilla Soup for lunch and Kim brought a peach cobbler for us to eat for dessert. Eating was just like it normally is though. Eat a few bites and then soothe a fussy baby. I was wearing Izzie in the baby wrap for most of the morning. I was impressed with the way that she was able to feed her kids. Like me, she said she just had to find a way to feed them both at the same time. It's just impossible to feed one while one is crying at the top of their lungs. I learned how to tandem breastfeed, she learned how to tandem bottle feed! They say that mothers of multiples are some of the most creative parents, and this is just one of the many examples.

Kim, Cambry and Maddie

Kim feeding Sebastian and Cambry her 14 week old twins.

P is for playdate

Today is the girls first playdate. Okay, I KNOW they are too young to play and it's really more about the mom's getting together to visit, but still, it's fun to call it that! My friend Kim is coming over with her twins Cambry and Sebastian. They are about 2 weeks older than my girls. I'm so excited to be able to visit with another twin mom. I've talked to her and Ashley (another twin mom) on the phone, but the conversations are usually cut short by a crying baby on one side or the other.

Last night I went to my monthly PAMOM (Plano Area Mom's of Multiples) meeting. The guest speaker was phenomenal. She was talking about all sorts of fun activities you can do with your 2-4 year olds. I know that's a few years away for me, but I still like hearing the ideas. Referring back to my title, she says teaching A is for Apple is not age appropriate for 2-3 year olds. She said you can do it, and it teaches memorization, but it doesn't teach them reading. Not until they are closer to first grade. Instead she suggested all sorts of activities that teach reading skills and other skills too. And that the kids don't know they are learning. She's a big fan of Sensory Tubs. Where you fill a tub up with rice and measuring cups, or cornstarch and water (Makes Goo), or playdoh and cookie cutters. Then you let the kids just play and explore. She said that the messier it is, then the more educational it probably is! I know I'm going to have fun when my girls are that age. I'm not afraid of a mess.

Well, Kim should be here soon. I hope all the kids are in good spirits today!

News

Today was a day of fun news. My friend Nicole Tucker just announced that she is going to run for Sachse City Council. So if you live in Sachse, vote for her!! And then I got some other news from another good friend, but at the moment I can't disclose said good news, until said person has told the news themselves to the people said person wants to share with. Ahhhh! I'm no good with secrets. I'll update as soon as I get permission to do so. Until then, I'm tight lipped.

Other than that, today was a day of normalcy. I like days like this sometimes. Most of the times I like to do stuff or go places. But today was just me and my girls hangin' out. Izzie actually slept for most of the day, Maddie wanted to be cuddled for a good portion of it. I did some chores in between cuddles. When John got home both of the girls let him know that they wanted to spend time with him! He didn't even get a chance to relax before they started crying. I think they must have heard his voice and wanted to be held. So we spent some time playing with them and holding them. Now, it's after dinner, the girls are laying down again, John is playing on the computer and I'm doing my normal evening dance. I can't focus on one thing for too long, so I go between cleaning, playing on the computer, checking on the girls, watching tv and various other activities. Well enough computer time, I have a bathtub I want to re-caulk.

Baptism

The girls were baptized today. This is a very important ceremony for Catholics. John asked his sisters Julie and Dana to be Godmothers and his Dad and best friend John Chenault to be Godfathers. Dana and Chenault are godparents to Madeline and Tom and Julie are Godparents to Isabelle. During the ceremony Maddie was very quiet, just looking around, but Izzie just wanted her socks off and her paci in her mouth. Overall it went very smoothly. Afterwards we had a small get together at John's Grandma's house.

Fruit Party Tray
I don't want to forget how I made this fruit dip, since it is so delicious!! I kept "tasting" it to make sure the flavors were right. I think that any dip you can eat straight up is good. Also, I got the idea for the pretzels when browsing the internet for fruit dip ideas. I thought it looked cute, so I had to try it out. This tray is for the girls baptism party this afternoon.

1 container of Honey Nut Flavored Cream Cheese
1 container of Vanilla Yogurt
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of heavy cream (or just enough to thin dip to consistency you want.)
Combine all ingredients. Very tasty!

Coo-coo

The girls have started cooing this week!! It's so cute. I love hearing noises come out of them that don't mean the are upset about something. Izzie started first, and Maddie followed close behind. Izzie will just look at you and smile and start "talking." I love it! By the way, cooing is such a strange word, but I guess it's onomatopoeia; as their noises sound like a coo.

Here's a picture of John holding Maddie up in the air and Izzie in the baby bjorn. I went to Kohl's today to buy a new dress to wear to tomorrow's baptism. When I came home, John said the girls had been a bit fussy! Here he was trying to calm them down. Poor guy! I told him to hold on ONE more second because I had to take a picture. He looks so cute! As do my girls who are dressed in their Aggie wear today.

I've been busy today. Earlier this week I went to Williams-Sonoma and bought a pasta machine and today I made homemade pasta. It's the old fashioned kind that little Italian Grandma's used. Or at least that's what the package said! I made my pasta, not like little Italian Grandma's, but in my mixer. It does the hard part for you, so you don't have to knead as long. Extruding the pasta through the machine was fun. It really wasn't hard at all. I didn't dry it correctly so when I went to cook the pasta, some of it lumped together, but overall it worked out okay and tasted great.

Divide and conquer

I've noticed a pattern that John and I have developed. Mostly in the evenings. We tend to pick a girl and that is "our girl" for the evening. There isn't any rhyme or reason to who we get each night. We might get the same girl several nights in a row, sometimes it switches off each night. So when "my" baby fusses, I take care of her and vise versa. It really works out. It isn't set in stone. Like if either one of us needs to go take a shower or while I'm cooking dinner, then of course the other person watches both girls. The other pattern we've fallen into is "taking" turns. If both girls are sleeping or swinging and we hear one fuss we take turns going in and soothing them. My turn, your turn. We really do make an excellent team. I think it really helps our sanity to team up the way we do. I really couldn't have asked for a better dad for my girls. John is awesome. It's not like Mema's generation where the woman raised the kids and the dad played with them. John and I are pulling equal duty with these girls.

Along the divide and conquer theme, today while he was working from home, I needed to go to Sam's Club. He couldn't really watch both girls and work at the same time so I took Maddie to Sam's and Izzie stayed home with Daddy. This is the first time we've separated them like that! It really worked out great though. I had a fun time shopping with her. Everyone wants to know why I picked Maddie. Well, she was awake and Izzie was asleep when I was ready to go. In the future, who knows. I mean, we want to keep things fair between the girls, but we aren't the type to obsess about keeping everything exactly equal. As long as we love both girls with all of our heart, then the rest will just work out.

Better late than never

We all woke up to a winter wonderland. There was a lot snow on the ground this morning! It's the fluffy type of snow too, not the icy snow. It'd make good snowballs if I was brave enough to go out in the cold and play. There's enough snow to make a mini snowman too.

John throwing a snowball. Brrr! Lucky me, I captured the shot and dodged the snowball!

I worked so hard to save these plants this winter, thought the freezing weather was over, and forgot about them last night.

Me in my jammies sitting on the couch with Maddie.

Fake out

So much for snow. Most of Dallas got lots of snow. My sister-in-law up in Muenster got 9 inches of snow. We got a few flurries if you squinted your eyes right. We did get a lot of sleet and rain. Which is turning into ice. By morning it'll be nice and icy. John is working from home tomorrow.

Picture of Ripley in front of his fire.

More snow

Yesterday I was out walking with the girls. It was 68 degrees. Today it's 37 and dropping. We are supposed to have snow by this evening. I just enjoyed a hot chocolate. Since today was definitely a stay indoors and stay warm day, the girls and I had a photo shoot. I think they are feeling much better today. They've been very happy. They are 11 weeks old today (but who's still counting?) John came home early from work hoping to miss any ice on the roads. He brought his laptop home in case it's too treacherous to venture out tomorrow too. I had him stop by Target on the way home for provisions. (Okay, we were out of cat litter). I think in a little while we are going to curl up on the bed or couch and watch a movie with the girls. Ripley has his fireplace going and we are all snuggly warm.

Cookin' Corner
Another soup. I love homemade soup.
Ham & Bean Soup
2 cans of white beans
package of diced ham
large onion
2 stalks of celery
3 small potatoes
3 cloves of garlic
1-2 carrots
1 box of chicken broth
thyme, s&p

Chop onions, garlic, celery and carrots. Saute them until the onions get translucent. Add ham. Add one can of beans. Add chicken broth. Puree the second can of beans (I used my magic bullet!). Add to pan. Dice up potato and add that. Simmer for as long as you'd like or at least until potato is cooked through. Serve with parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

Blogging revolution

I've started a blogging revolution. It's cool to think my blog has started many others. But I've had several people tell me that I've inspired them to start their own blog. Now, I wish I could remember who told me to give it a try. I think Margaret told me back when I was pregnant that I should do a blog to keep everyone updated. I'm so glad I did. It's so much fun to have something that I can post pictures to and write about the day to day goings on. The coolest part is that I found a website www.blurb.com that will turn my blog into a book. So, I'll have these memories forever. I visited someone else's blog and they had a slide show that was a bit cooler than mine! I had to figure out how to get that on my page. Of course the slide shows and movies (if I ever get around to posting any) won't end up in my book, but there will be plenty of pictures!

Out and about

Today the girls and I went to Babies R Us and to Williams-Sonoma. John got a gift card to Williams-Sonoma from his work at the Christmas Party way back in December and I've been itching to use it ever since! I love that store. Of course, mostly I love browsing that store since everything is so expensive. I figured I could get some kitchen gadgets or such, since it was a $50 card. But after browsing, I realized that $50 doesn't get very far at WS. I found an ice cream scoop for $22. I wonder how much ice cream you'd have to eat to justify that? Hum... I do love the gadget wall though. I wouldn't buy half of the stuff even if I was Martha Stewart and I had a place to store it all. Seriously, who needs a cherry-pitter? How about a corn-zipper? And I know everyone needs a fish-lifter. Maybe I'm secretly envious of anyone who has a kitchen that is big enough and organized enough to have these items. Knowing my luck, I'd reach for my corn-zipper and couldn't remember where I put it. So, I left the gadget wall and decided to buy a pasta maker. I love homemade pasta (who doesn't?). I guess you could say it's a gadget too...

At Babies R Us, I was going to buy a Kidco PeaPod Plus. I found it online. They don't carry it in the store, so I'm thinking about ordering it. It's cool. It's like a bed/tent for babies/young children. I don't think a pack n' play is very practical for twins, as they'd outgrow it so fast, but this thing is big enough for the two of them for a while and then one of them later on. It folds up super small and only weighs 8 lbs. I've found that with twins, things are much more valuable if they weigh less and take up as little space as possible. Anyway, this PeaPod would be useful for out of town trips, or just hanging out in the backyard.

The girls were awesome on the whole trip. They slept the whole time. Izzie cracked her eyes open a few times, but I think they enjoyed the car ride and the stroller ride. Of course they got a few ahhs. But they are adorable, aren't they?

Other than that (and it is funny how a short shopping trip comprises my whole day now) we just hung out in the house. I thought it was going to be cold, because there was a lot of snow on the ground this morning, but the sun came out and it was actually a very nice day.

Icky cold wet day

Well the forecast calls for snow today. We shall see. I'd believe it. It rained for most of the night. We had a pretty spectacular thunderstorm. And now the temperature is dropping. The low is supposed to be 27 today. I've got the girls in their "snow" suits. It's little sleepers with the feet that has snowflakes all over. They look all snuggly. I've got the heating pad out for the kitties and the fireplace on for Ripley and I.

Now, lets hope we can stay all bundled up and not have to go out today. But I have a call into the doctor. The girls haven't been feeling well since their vaccinations on Wed. They've had a lot of dirty diapers. I'll leave it at that. They aren't running a fever but they do seem to be extra fussy. I don't think they are feeling good. We'll see what the doc has to say.

Just got off the phone with the nurse. She says that Izzie probably caught a little stomach bug, and then gave it to Maddie. That it can last 7-10 days. Ick! But as long as they aren't running a fever and not showing any signs of dehydration then to just keep on doing what we are doing. My poor little munchkins, they just don't feel so good.

Maddie and Izzie in their "snow" suits

Maddie and Izzie - Tummy Time!

Maddie

Izzie

Fifth anniversary

Us on our 5th anniversary posing in front of our wedding photo.

Eating at Melting Pot for our anniversary.

Izzie and Maddie spending the evening at Grandma and Grandpa's house while Mom and Dad went to the Melting Pot to celebrate their anniversary.