Wednesday, November 24, 2010

We're 10 Months Old!

Yes, I realize this is late, and that they were, in fact, 10 months old on November 8th. But, cut me some slack! I need help nowadays to get this shot, as you can clearly see. And yes, it just gets harder to do these every month. Whew! I almost can't wait for them to be a year old and we'll quit taking the monthly pics. (I said "almost")

And, I not not kidding - how is it that I am mommy to the absolutely cutest babies in the entire world, and this is all they give me for these pics? Is this really the best they can do? Ummmm, yes. And you'll see why by the outtakes at the bottom. Enjoy!








Thursday, November 18, 2010

Laundry Basket Fun

Isn't it amazing the fun they can have on the strangest things? Who knew a household chore would provide such entertainment. Why am I spending money on toys?










10 Months- Update on the Babes



10 Months Old!

I cannot believe I am writing this post. How are my infant babies on the verge of toddler-ism? What in the world?

Feedings: We are still doing good here. They are now taking three bottles a day and one sippy cup. I am really now to the point of "not sure of the weaning process". Do I give them a full bottle along with food? Do we need to focus more of food, less on milk? I'm just not sure how that goes. We dropped the last bottle of the day, just due to them not really wanting it. Instead I give them a sippy cup after their baths, before they go to bed. My milk supply, though, has decreased significantly due to my Paris trip. I went to pumping maybe two times a day instead of my normal 3-4, and it has suffered. I know I can do many things to get it back up: power pumping, fenugreek, etc. But, to be honest, I really don't care anymore. I don't need the extra milk to store, and they really aren't drinking as much anymore either. So, I think I am just going to wait it out. This way, it will be easier and less painful for me to stop BF at 12 months. B/c of my shortage, I can go really long periods of time before needing to pump, and no longer get engorged anymore. Which, granted, sucks if you really need the milk, but I am fine with it now.

We (as in mommy) have been encouraging more and more finger foods. Eventually we want them to just be able to eat off our plates, so we are working on that. I get frustrated at times, b/c I spend much more time fixing these "finger foods", only to have them not want them. Finger food we have tried and actually "liked" are cut up bananas, cut up string cheese, cut up sweet potatoes, cut up pumpkin, cheerios (of course), avocado, cut up plums, ditalini pasta, bites of tofu (sometimes), cut up apples, cut up pears, and cut up mango, cut up cherry tomatoes, and bites of toast. Finger foods that we have NOT liked are little bites of chicken, carrots, broccoli, and cut up fettuccine noodles. Its an uphill battle sometimes. Hopefully it will get better. We also tried to do eggs as a finger food this month (egg yolk only) but it was not a good finger food and it was real crumbly. Josh is particular about his finger foods, as he does not like to get his fingers slimy. So, he actually does not like to eat the ditalini pasts with his hands.

Literally I spend way more time fixing their dinners than I do ours. Which especially gets frustrating when they refuse to eat it. The good thing is there is always a back up plan, lol. For example, last night I made them a pasta dish consisting of organic tomatoes pureed into a sauce, organic mushrooms, but up fettuccine noodles, and "soy" ground beef. I seasoned it with some garlic power, black pepper and oregano. They would not touch it and cried and cried. What to do? Why, put it all in the food processor and there you go. They love it that way. We also did this when I baked them organic chicken bites rolled in rice cereal with garlic and basil. HATED it. Into the magic bullet it went. Roll the mixture into some ditalini pasta, and voila!

The problem I foresee happening is the difference between what Jake and I eat, and what I want them to eat. They eat fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, and proteins with no salt or preservatives, etc. Jake and I eat waaaaayyyy worse than that, sad to say. And we are picky eaters, and there are many a time where Jake is feeding them something he would sooner die that eat himself. So, there in lies a future problem that I'm not quite sure how to fix. How do you moms feed them when you go out to a restaurant, for example? Good grief, restaurant foods are loaded with fat and salt. Thats what makes it taste so good, lol!

Waketime/Napping: Our waketime is now around 2hrs, 15 minutes. I am going to try and lengthen them to 2.5 hours for a standard waketime in the next month. We no longer take an afternoon nap. They now take 2 naps, and they average around 1.5 hours - sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. Usually we don't have two long naps. One is usually long, and one shorter.


Nightime: We had some adjustments doe to the oh so lovely daylight savings time. But, now we are good. Still going down at 7:30 and getting up around 7. Some mornings, then start to stir around 6:45, but today, we had to wake both of them up at 7:15, so it depends.


Our Schedule:

7:00- wake/feed 6.5oz each for Josh & Jules then solids fruit and cereal.

9:15 - nap (hopefully at least 1.5 hours)
11:30 - feed - 6oz each bottle, then they get a "snack" of cheerios and some type of veggie, usually avocado and yogurt (their new favorite food, hands down)

1:00 - nap (usually wake at 2:30)
3:00 - feed 6.5oz for each + solids. This is a veggie and a protein
6:30/6:45 - solids. This is a combo of mashed up food and finger foods as well. We are doing a starch (pasta or toast or potato) a veggie, fruit and a protein. Usually the fruit is the finger food, unless I fix them a combo pasta with veggies and protein in it they can eat with their hands.

7:00 - baths, then a sippy cup of milk
7:30 - story/bedtime


Outing/Events: Our nanny still takes them to storytime at the library on Wednesdays. They have also been to Cheekwood gardens, and to the park a few times. They also rode in the front of a shopping cart at Target for the first time, and LOVED it. I put one in the Bjorn carrier, and the other one got to ride. Of course, they both wanted to ride and it caused quite a ruckus. We also went back up to Knoxville for the UT/Ole Miss game. What a disaster that drive was. There was a wreck and we did not move on the interstate for 2 hours. So, that is now a 5.5 hour drive, and with two 10 month old babies, it was miserable. They were SO upset. I cannot wait until they can face forwards and we can watch videos!!


Diet: I have decided I may get a gym membership. I can get a discount through work. I have decided I am going to have to do something. It's not that I need to lose weight, but I need to exercise just to feel "healthy", and I just can't do that with twins. So, I figure if I can do the gym, I can take them with me and they can play in the playroom daycare for an hour. We'll see...


Milestones: They are still EVERYWHERE, but still no walking yet. They are both crawling everywhere and getting into everything. Jules can stand independently on her own, and Josh is close. They love music and Jules can get up on her knees and dance, which is hysterical. She also loves books and can turn the pages, and loves to do so. She wants 100% attention from you during book time. If Josh even comes over and wants to read too, she will throw a fit. they are babbling like crazy. However, they were doing mamamama, and dadadada much more a month ago than they are now, which is weird. Josh can do "Bye Bye", and wave his hand. So, now that he can do that, and we're proud of him, that now is all he says, ALL the time. Jules thinks she can do it too, but she just wiggles her fingers, lol. Jules can "clap her hands". I put that in quotes, because she has her own way of clapping her hands. Instead of actually clapping, she does her hands like you would wipe your hands - vertically instead of horizon ally. I have no idea where she got that, but its so funny. They like their walkers, don't love them, because they can't turn in them, which frustrates them. They still love the cats, and squeal with delight when they see them. they are not climbing the stairs yet, which is good. They love the refrigerator, and come running (crawling) when I open it. It sfunny, they used to be able to sit and play in the family room while I am fixing dinner (the kitchen overlooks the family room). But, now ehn they know I am in there, they want to be right there, too. So, I give them mixing cups and spoons and they play and play.They also (yay) know how to open drawers and cabinet doors. As much as I am so excited for them to start walking....am I really??

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Approaching Christmas....

Well, here we are. It is now almost mid-November (gasp!). How is it that I have blinked, and not only are the babes now TEN months old, but that just yesterday I was anticipating their arrival? And don't even get me started to how quickly everything is going on a day-to-day basis. A baby's first year is a magical journey of every day happenings: be it sitting on their own, first laughs, first smiles, first crawl, first bites of food, first stand, first steps, first words, etc. You get the drift. This all just adds to how fast it all goes, especially the first year. And while you're at it, go ahead and add another baby into the mix. I can now understand how those other MoM's (Moms of Multiples) used to tell me that you won't rememeber the first year. Some woudl say way back when "Oh, you won't remember the first three months", when I was currently in the "first three months". And I would laugh. "How crazy you are!", I would say. "How would I not remember these days?". Oh, but see, those MoMs have been there, done that. And all I can say is thank God for cameras, and the hundreds of pictures I have taken.

Well, now here we are and its now mid-November. Its sad when I look back to a year ago on this blog, which has become such a wonderful thing I got to preserve. I love that I started it way back when. Its going to be great to look back on things. It was literally a year ago when I had my maternity pictures done. I didn't know for sure when it was, but I started to get sad as I saw teh leaves changing, b/c I remembered we were right in the middle of fall when we got them done last year. I can't believe that was an entire year ago! And then fall leads us to winter, which makes me even sadder, because my babies were born in the winter. I had to stay home last Christmas, because I was so close to my delivery date. And then two weeks later-two babies!

So, now with all the crazy people out there that started decorating for Christmas on Halloween, please stop! Its making me an insane person. That means its Christmas, and WINTER, and that means my teeny tiny babies won't be babies anymore - they'll be TODDLERS!!!!!!

Ya know, its funny with blogging. I started this post intending on blogging about an entirely different thing. But once I started writing, it changed :)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Day in the life...

Hmmmm, its a good thing I have two legs!! One for each babe!







Friday, November 5, 2010

Peekaboo Playtown

Yesterday I took the babes to Peekaboo Playtown. They are a bunch of these popping up around town. They are basically an indoor play area for kids. You can have parties, etc there as well. There are toys and tot areas galore. The reason I like it is because they have an area for kids 2 and under, which is good for us. It only costs $7 for both, so its not bad. Its a genius idea really. There were tons of moms there on playdates. The cool thing about this place, (and what they advertise heavily) is that they stop and clean every 15 minutes. And they were! There were people cleaning constantly while I was there. And it has been getting colder and colder here, so our outside time as become a bit limited. (apologize for the pictures. I took them with my crappy camera phone)

On little scooters! One for each!


Jules relaxing in the balls

They look like little dogs here


We love the balls!!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Happy Halloween!!!

I mean, I dare you to find cuter babies. Why is everything cuter with twins?? Look at my sweet bears!!! Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!


Our favorite things - 9 Months

Here is our update on our favorite things at 9 months old!


As far as favorite books for the moment, this has become way more fun. All of a sudden we have FINALLY decided we love books, which this momma couldn't be more overjoyed with. As in love books, I mean actually love to be around books and look at them, instead of using them as a chew toy. YAY!! I am so excited about this. Jules is also very good at turning pages. Books they love at the moment are still Baby Einstein's Mirror Me book, any of the small mini-me Dr. Seuss books. They also love Bright Baby Animals , because its small and its easy to turn the pages and its very bright and colorful. Other favorites are the Southwestern books. For those who are not aware, Southwestern is one of those companies that sends college kids door-to-door during summers to sell books. I could not imagine in my life a more miserable job. However, this young girl came by last summer and was selling these great books for a low, low price of $8Yes, Jake was not happy with me, because I apparently will buy anything and can't say no to anyone, especially poor girls that come door-to-door. But, the good news is that I LOVE these books! They are so awesome. They are bright, very colorful and really educational. And they come with pull out posters for later. And the babes love them. They literally start bouncing up and down when I get them out.




Songs are still The Itsy Bitsy Spider, with Wheels on the Bus as a close second. They have also come to love music videos, but only certain ones, which is funny. I have started turning it on music videos in the morning and when we are reading or something and I have it on in the background. We watch country music when we do, b/c mostly there are no videos on MTV, and plus I don't want there to be anything questionable. So, therefore, its country. So, their FAVORITE songs for now are Mine, by Taylor Swift, Stuck Like Glue, by Sugarland, and If I Die Young, by The Band Perry. Yes, weird, I know. However, they bounce and dance around when When I Die Young comes on. They can see the lead singer from across the room and crawl as fast as they can towards the TV. So funny.


They are still loving Their "scooter" Now I even have to hide it sometimes on they are big enough now they try to crawl up on it themselves, which has led to bumps on the head.

Favorite toys are the ever classic ring-stack, toy piano and this Mickey Mouse driving dashboard I bought on consignment. And still the Ronald toys. Crazy. We still love Baby Einstein videos, but our favorites are still the freebie video's in Comcast's On Demand section for babies called Baby Genius. They are about 8 minutes long and sing along songs.

Our new climbing gym is what is formerly known as our bumpos. What was once a nice little seat for the babes who could not sit on their own has now become quite the fun toy. They like to pull themselves up on them, and crawl around in them. They also like to sit in in every which way except the way you are supposed to, in which they sometimes they get stuck. Silly babes. (please ignore the cords, I am a good mom-promise. The bumpos are hidden in a corner where we have the laptop plugged up. Jules and Josh always still find them anyway)