Food!

So since we've started food things have been interesting around here.

So far they have tried
Homemade
avocados
bananas
Store bought 
rice cereal
bananas

And also store bought bananas with cereal and homemade bananas with cereal.

Xander was into avocados. The both seem to really enjoy my homemade bananas, both alone and with cereal. They did not like the store bought bananas with or without cereal.

I have made and frozen the following puress
plums
figs
blueberries
avocados
bananas
apples
turkey

I still need to make and freeze
zuchini
squash
butternut squash
more apples
pears
apricots
chicken
more avocados
sweet potatoes

I also made
fresh blueberry juice
and prune juice.

I think we are going to be stocked up on things for a while! I changed my commenting format. Hope it makes it easier? If not I will change things back.

I have eaters!!! 18 week update

I know, I know they're only four months old. But for the past couple of weeks I have felt that they were ready. And I was right. They tried avocados on Monday and did great! We did avocados for a few days and tonight they tried bananas. Xander likes the avocados better I think. Max loves the bananas. Like he "screams if you don't give him the spoon quick enough" loves them. Today we are going to try rice cereal. Finally learned how to make them take naps in their own rooms. A) keep them up for hours, maybe take them somewhere and offer lots of stimulation. B) after they are very very worn out feed them. C) swaddle them D) close the windows and turn off lights in the nursery D) enjoy them napping longer than 15 minutes. Our naptime is now from 1:30 ish- 4:40 ish. Yay!

The boys had their four month appointment yesterday. The were about in the 5-10th percentile for everything (except weight, max was 10-25th) Max weighed 12.13 and Xander weighed 12.5. My little guys is catching up with the chubby boy. They still fit in some newborn clothes believe it or not.  They got shots :-( But today they seem no worse for the wear.

Xander

Smiling Xander

Xander, Friend Noah, and MAx

watching a little tv

Max

Xander

Max

Xander

sweet boys

Xander trying tummy time

Max trying tummy time

Max

Xander

smiley Max

It has been a busy week, full of park playdates, new experiences, and new places. I think we are all worn out.

Yay, new items in my etsy shop!

Check them out New stuff!!!

Twin must haves: 2-4 month list

I believe it is time for another "must-have" list of items that I wouldn't want to be without.

First would for sure be swaddling blankets. I know I know, we still swaddle them? YES! If we didn't they would stay up allll night, as it is they sleep 8-10 hours straight. I'll swaddle them as long as they need it. I do give them a chance ever week or two without it to see how they do, and their verdict is always keep swaddling. Because regular receiving blankets dont work for us anymore, we wrap them in  large stretchy blankets, made from some jersey bedsheets fomr our king size bed. Then, they get wrapped in some home-made miracle blankets, made from the same sheets. And after that I just roll them up in one more stretchy blanket that we have been using since they were born. The three layers keep their little arms in, and keep them warm.

Next is Colic Calm. You can buy this product form Amazon, but I also found it at my local CVS. The boys have tummy issues and this stuff fixes them right up, no mater what the tummy trouble. It's all natural and homeopathic. However, it does have vegetable charcoal in it, which can stain clothes and makes their bowel movements really dark.


We still love everything from our last list. Except the breast pump (because we had to switch to formula) Formula is not as much work as exclusively pumping, but it is time consuming. Our favorite formula items are a 2 gallon pitcher and an immersion blender. That way I can mix the formula all in one big batch. Much much better than shaking individual bottles until your arms almost fall off!

Our new favorite bottles are the DR. Browns bottles. Max won't eat from anything else. Xander isn't as picky, so we still use our Avent and playtex dropins. Dr Browns bottles do not travel well. I love the playtex dropins for travel. I just fill a bottle with warm-hot water and then when it is time for them to eat pour in a premeasured amount of formula from our formula dispenser.

Carseats have become my best friends. I used to feed the boys on a boppy, but they don't fit in it together anymore. So I set them in their carseats, which still have infant head rests in them, and *wal-lah* a perfect posture for feeding. I just set them next to each other and feed.  That's not the only reason I love their carseats. The bases make putting them in the van super simple, and fit great with our tandem stroller.

The boys really enjoy playtime, and these mats from Sams are wonderful. We have 16 squares for now, but plan to buy another 16 when the boys get mobile.

The boys bouncers are Fisher Price infant to Toddler rockers. We move them all over the house so the boys can be with us. They love the vibrating feature and also the toy attachments. I also hung links on the toy bar, which the boys like to grab and put in their mouths.

The bonnets I made are perfect for keeping sun out of their little eyes. You can purchase them here. 

The last thing on the list is their room. They LOVE their room, and I think it's pretty awesome too. The pictures are fun to look at. The curtains block out light, and they are very fond of the rocketship pattern. The lava lamp and ipod (stocked with 11 hours of waves and rain sounds) make the perfect soothers. The Motoral  video monitor that is above where the picture was taken from gives us a visual of what's going on. The breathable bumpers and toy bars on the rails of the cribs are also nice features. Since we have so little space, under the cribs are a great place to store boppys and blankets. And our little bookshelf houses a great library of children's books that we enjoy reading together.

So there it is, our list of must haves for months 2-4. What do you HAVE to have for your little one?

17 weeks,!!!!!!!! 4months!!!!!

So Friday was the babies 16 week old anniversary and today they are 4 months old. 4 months. I have 4 month old twins. Life is crazy. And totally wonderful. They are getting too yummy for words, smiling and laughing and talking. They freaking love me. I never knew it was possible to be so loved. It's wonderfully intoxicating. They track my every move and refuse to take naps if I'm anywhere in sight. They just want to hang out and play. Their second favorite person is now definitely daddy. They give him big grins and just talk at him. And they have finally starting interacting with each other more socially. (They have always been very physically oriented to each other, needing to be touching if they are close enough.) But this week they started getting so jealous of each other getting mommy time. And on Wednesday we had them sitting up looking at each other and they actually started to babble back and forth and laugh at each other :-) They are more interested in toys now. They totally love their little chain link things, and this little light up musical radio piano thing. They like to chew on things and grab toys. The best is when they put toys in their mouths. They now hate the car. Especially at stop lights. Driving with them screaming at the top of their lungs is pretty maddening. They tried water for the first time today. Not all that thrilled, but they didn't hate it either. Seemed to help their tummies. I also bought some sippee cup trainers for them. The kind that you can put a bottle nipple on, but has handles and can transition to the more spout like nipple things. I think I'll just let them play with them for a few weeks to get them interested before we  start trying to practice actually drinking from them. And I finally bought the rest of the materials for my beach buggy. It is going to be a lot like a deluxe radio flyer wagon, only with all terrain tires and a way sturdier canopy that detaches to become a beach shade. And the canopy will be water proof. I'm happy with how it's turning out so far. Can't wait to get my babies to the beach. I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time there this summer :-) I've got to get them used to going out more, they have been HORRIBLE the last three times we've driven anywhere. They try to stay awake to see everything and then get overtired, plus there's the whole hating the car issue. If it's even possible their sleep has gotten better at night. They go to bed around ten. Today I made DJ wake them up at 9:30 am. Hoping we skip that whole "4 month wakeful period" thing. Although, I think I might have it. At night after everyone goes to bed I stay up for hours, and admittedly it is a struggle for me not to go and wake them up to play with them or just hold them. I LOVE spending time with them and there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. I'm sure it will be even worse when I go back to work. Which I am doing, in only a few weeks. Miss my big boys, but I think I'll miss my sweet little boys even more. Only three mornings per week though, so hopefully the separation won't be too bad. Still plenty of time to enjoy the summer with them. It's almost 3, which means it getting close to this mommy's bed time. So I'll close with my goodnight words to the boys (admittedly from SKIPPYJOHN Jones- one of the cutest books ever) "I'll wrap you, and roll you and bundle you tight, and check you for cooties and kiss you goodnight" :-) Goodnight!

Happy to Announce

My Etsy shop is up
CrossmyHeart creations by pookiedoo87

16 weeks old!

Xander helping Mom on the computer

The boys looking out the window while I sew

sweet boys modeling mama-made onesies

Xander peeking from beneath his dino bonnet at his cousin

four generations. Me with Max, my grandma, and my mom with Xander

It's been too long since I've posted, but boy has our life been busy!!! I am finally feeling much less depressed so I have been doing the evenings without help much of the time. That leave 3 feeds, two playtimes, bathtime and bedtime to do by myself every night. Most of the time if we stick to our routine everything goes great. They will take a short cat nap or two in between their 3 feeds so I can get things done, like dishes and cleaning up a little. I've even been able to put them in thier bouncies and sew or cook while doing a ridiculous one woman silly singing and making faces show. It's exhausting and they love it. I still just give them baths out of a basin with a wet washcloth 3-4 nights per week and I used to wait until I had help to do tub baths. However, I figured out how to bathe them both in the tub at the same time and it works out quite well for us. I roll up towels like the little head supports in infant carseat and put them at the end of the tub. Then I fill the tub with a few inches of water and bubbles and put them in with their heads on top of their towel pillows. this keeps their ears out of the water and also doesnt allow them to turn their heads to drink the bathwater (something they'd love to do if I would let them) I bath them with a baby soap bar and shampoo and splash them and talk to them, and they eat it up, grinning and talking right back. Until I let the water out of the tub..... I cover them with wet rags so they wont get too cold, but obviously I have to let the water out before I get anyone out. I cant leave a three month old unattended in a tub of water. And then the yelling starts. They HATE getiting out. Pretty sure it's because they don't like being cold. Then it's a mad dash for lotion and jammies and a night bottle, which they SUCK down so fast. And then I read to them, pray with them, swaddle them and put them in bed. They have a lava lamp night light and my ipod set to 11 hours of rain and ocean waves. I tell them goodnight and shut the door. Usually Max stares at the ceiling fan and Xander talks to the curtains for 5 or so minutes before falling asleep (between 10 and 11) and we don't hear from them again (unless Max escapes his swaddle and wakes himself) until 7 or 8 in the morning. They LOVE their room and are so good to go down at night. Very proud of them. Xander is starting to get tow little teeth, which makes him pretty fussy and they are both trying to hold their bottles by themselves (they usually just pull it out of their mouths though) They've just started to really enjoy of few toys. They like to hold onto linkies and watch rattles and little animal chime. They will track the rattles and chimes if I move them. Xander like to chew on the linkies if he can figure out how to get them in his mouth. Poor Max loves to scratch his head. He has bad cradle cap despite my doing everything I can think of. Sometimes when I go check on him, he's unswaddled himself and is scratching at his head. No matter how often I cut his nails he always make himself bleed. And he shakes his arms until those little mittens fly off. Any ideas to discourage this? He only hurts himself at night, like I said when he unswaddles himself. They are beginning to strongly dislike their carseats and if we aren't taking a fast walk, or driving without stopping at stop lights, they will scream about being in them. Quite nervewracking at rush hour. Cloth diapers are still going fine. No diaper rash, but rinsing out poopies is getting old for me. At least they only poop once per day. They eat 5x per day, about 5-6 ounces each time. DJ is going back to school next week, so that will leave me home alone with the boys all day monday-thursday and 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday. I'll miss him but it will be so nice to have him done with school in December. I am returning to work in June. My mom will watch the boys one day, his mom one day and DJ one day. I'm only working 15 hours per week, but it seems like more to me. I am going to miss them so much. Which is why I've decided to do this weekend alone without help. DJ works from 3pm on Friday-11pm on Sunday and so I am a single parent this weekend. So far so good. I love having the boys to myself. I'm trying to enjoiy every moment of "Max, Xander, and Mommy time" I can before I have to return to work. That's our life right now. Sorry for the ridiculously long update. There will be a post VERY soon about a new blog and a link to my etsy site. I will even be hosting a giveaway, so keep reading.

Coming soon

I will be starting a creative blog soon along with opening an Etsy shop as soon as I can fill it with a few custom creations. To kick off the shop opening there will be a giveaway on this blog with first and second prizes going to random commenters, as well as a facebook photo contest which will be linked here. Keep checking back, fun baby fashion is in store!