For the Smiles

Shout Out!

Question of the Week Results

Did you drink caffeinated coffee during your pregnancy?

Be sure to check out the current Question of the Week in the right-hand column!

Question of the Week Results

How old was your baby the first time you left them with a babysitter?

Be sure to check out the current Question of the Week in the right-hand column!

For the Smiles

Said No Twin Mom Ever

Source

Things I Never Thought I'd Say

Source

"You need to take your cow out of your mouth if you want more bananas."

Context: Lily was chewing on her cow teething rattle while I gave a bite of bananas to Aubrey but was complaining like she wanted another bite, too.

Btw - Add that cow rattle to the 'products I love' category. It's called Bright Stars Dancing Teether Friends and it's rated 3+ months.

Products I Love

Foscam

We have a generic baby monitor - audio only - which is great during the night. No video needed! However, during the day, like right now when I am up and don't want to be listening to white noise for two hours, I will use our video monitor only. Our Foscam FI8910W Pan & Tilt IP/Network Camera with Two-Way Audio and Night Vision (Black) isn't a baby monitoring product. The company manufactures wireless IP cameras. I can pull up the camera feed on my laptop, PC, or smartphone.

We have this model and one other

This camera hangs from the ceiling, which is great because we need a wider view to see both babies. This model (shown above) offers the following features:

• high quality video and audio
• wireless N connectivity
• pan/tilt
• remote internet viewing
• motion detection
• night-vision
• embedded IR-Cut filter
• built in network video recording system
• smartphone compatible (Iphone, Android & Blackberry)
• viewable over the internet using standard web-browsers

Source

Check out more products that I love here.

How Lucky am I?

My Beautiful Girls

 

 

Lily and Aubrey (respectively) at 3.5 months old

Make It!

Baby Food Edition

Pureed Chicken

Prep time: 10 minutes
Yields: approximately 8 ounces

This weekend marked my first attempt at pureed meats and it was a huge success! I am amazed how different a chicken breast can look with just a few simple steps.

Lately, I've been getting surprising reactions from people who discover that I make my own baby food. I think people just don't realize how easy it is!

Here's how:

Heat about an inch of water in a saute pan

Remove any fat from the chicken breast

Cut chicken into 1" cubes

Place chicken cubes into pan of simmering water - cook for approximately 3 minutes

Flip chicken pieces over to cook evenly - approximately 3 more minutes - until cooked through

Place chicken pieces in food processor and let cool. I cover the container and place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours

Once the chicken has cooled, pulse in the food processor until crumbly in texture

Here's another view of the chicken

Next, add milk or water to reach desired consistency. I use quite a bit of breast milk because my girls are still getting use to the idea of solid foods and prefer smoother textures

Distribute into containers. I use OXO Tot baby blocks

..and serve! Lily approves :)

Edit: I love that my husband just called me at work asking how to make this pureed chicken because we ran out of the current stash. I just sent him this link! We're a good baby-food making team :)

Equipment: Get the same Cuisinart Food Processor and baby spoons I use!

I Support You

You Can't Please Everyone

I came across this article today (via Reddit) and thought it was awesome. I'm very opinionated about how and what I feed my girls but I also accept this as a personal choice. Before I had kids, I was probably a lot more judgmental. Now, my only hope for all parents is that they do what is right for their family and what is going to make them the best parent for their kiddos. For example, if a mother feels overwhelmed trying to figure out breastfeeding and pumping is too painful, formula is a great option for her to mitigate the stress and thank goodness for that!

The more you love your decisions, the less you need others to love them.

Peaceful Parenting 101

This is a repost from a former blog I had last year pre-pregnancy.

The phrase 'peaceful parenting' was somewhat misleading to me at first, as if the alternative is complete warfare and misery. Instead, I think of it as respectful parenting.

What is peaceful parenting? To me, it's all about respecting your children's needs and wants. Tim, my husband, offered this great tool for measuring whether or not you're doing the right thing. Think ahead to when your child is 18 years old. Will the 18 year old version look back on each decision you made and agree that you had their best interest in mind? Will they be glad you were the one making decisions for them? Would they have preferred someone else raise them instead? An example would be, instead of ordering your child to head to bed right at 7:30 p.m., establish a fun routine they look forward to. If your objective is asleep by 7:30 or 8:00, try heading to their room 30 minutes ahead of time to read books with your kid. This is a ritual they'll look forward to and as a bonus, these moments are precious ones you and your child will remember forever.

I think it's interesting to explore this notion with your own childhood. I think back to decisions my parents made, and don't always feel they made the right ones. I've discovered that some mom's and dad's take this way of looking at things very personally. They get offended easily, but I think it's just because they feel guilty for some of the decisions they made or are currently making. More on that in a future post, guaranteed.

Want some more information on Peaceful Parenting? Check out this guy, Stefan Molyneux. He has a website (Freedomain Radio) with tons of free content and also posts great videos on YouTube, like this one on Peaceful Parenting during the toddler years:

 

Don't have 15 minutes to watch the video above? Here are the main points:

• Q: How do you avoid force when your child is resisting, such as when your child does not want to brush their teeth or when refusing to sit in the car seat?
• A: In rare cases, restraint is necessary. For example, your child probably doesn't like to have their diaper changed, but it is necessary. You have to use restraint to facilitate this process.

Restraint is appropriate when your child is acting against their best interests. Be mindful, restraint may be necessary, but never violence. This principle is universal; for both children and adults.

Wrapping up with Journey Enjoyment

The top three things I'm currently enjoying along the journey.

• Gardening: As I mentioned in my first post, we bought a new house in May of last year, and I am having a great time working in the yard! (Gross, that reeks of something my mom would say. Help me!) This year, I've been mowing more, and even learned to weed-eat! Tim is busy with a full time job, and school and clinics in his free time! It feels nice to be able to take some of the load off his shoulders so he can fully focus on everything else. A couple of weekends ago, we also installed new flower beds, lined with brick, around the trees in our front yard. My dad and Tim helped a bit, but I'm proud to say I did a majority of the work!
• Reality TV: Don't judge; this has been a tough week having to say my final bye's to the Housewives from Wistera Lane! I had to turn somewhere with all my grief. This item seemed more than appropriate, as the new season of the Bachelorette just aired on ABC this week! I go through phases of being interested in this series, but right now, I'm totally into it!
• Me Time: With all the alone time, I get to fully embrace hobbies and laziness. Lately, I started reading the Hunger Games trilogy and started this blog. Tim thinks I'm stressed, so maybe I can work some of that out through writing. I've long thought writing a book would be an awesome achievement, but that's fairly daunting, so I'll stick with the blog for now!

Anyone else an avid reader? Recommend some books! I think my next read might just have to be 50 Shades of Grey.

For the Smiles

My New Obsession

Convos With My 2-Yr Old (YouTube channel)

Twins Top Ten

Newborn

Here are the top ten things I couldn't live without when my girls were first born (once we got home from the hospital).

1. Side-car crib setup
2. Receiving blankets
3. White noise
4. Breast pump
5. BabyCenter app
6. Alarm clock
7. Moby wrap
8. Pacifiers
9. Newborn hats
10. My husband (Couldn't have done it without him!!)

Help - My Child Won't Sleep!

My husband was recently a guest on a popular call-in show, Freedomain Radio with host Stefan Molyneux.

Check it out here:

Newborn Photo Shoots

Lessons Learned

Wait, newborn babies don't just sleep all of the time?

For some reason, and maybe I'm the only one, I thought newborn babies slept all of the time! Aubrey, my 'youngest,' was a major expection (she's on the right.) From the second she was born, she's been wide-eyed and alert. Sleeping was not a top priority for her. (Neither was eating, but that's a story for another day.)

Lily (left) and Aubrey (right)

The picture above was made possible by a combination of sheer talent by our photographer and some last minute scrambling to ensure we had two sleepy babies. Here's what I wish I had known:

Tip #1: Food. Feed your newborn a full bottle, as much as they'll eat, just before the photoshoot to ensure they have a full tummy. This will be one less thing to stand in the way of your baby sleeping like a little angel during their shoot.

Tip #2: White noise. Our girls' eye lids seem to grow heavy the second they hear white noise. Make sure you have a speaker so you can crank it, too!

Tip #3: Pre-plan outfits. Why did I think newborn photographers would have props and clothing? This seemed logical to me but my photographer didn't even have newborn hats, so we had to purchase some ahead of time. Maybe some photographers are better equipped. Check ahead of time! (to give her some credit, she did have wraps and blankets)

Tip #4: Crank the heat. If you have a space heater, that's perfect. If not, crank the heat in your house temporarily so your babies will stay comfy and cozy while they're unswaddled.

Tip #5: Burp rags. Keep some burp rags on hand. You did just feed your baby a full bottle, after all!

For the Smiles

Source

Amazon Mom

How to Optimize Your Subscription

As a mom of twins, you can imagine we go through a lot of diapers and wipes. With our many time constraints, we don't always make it to the grocery story as often as we'd like. Amazon Mom to the rescue!

Each month, I get a huge box of diapers and wipes (and various other things) delivered straight to my front door for a fraction of the price you'd pay at your local grocery store.

Subscription Perks

• Amazon Prime benefits
• Free 2-day shipping
• Prime instant video
• Kindle owners' lending library
• 20% off diapers and wipes (with subscribe and save)
• 20% off other family essential items (when ordering 5 or more items in any given month via subscribe and save)
• If you have less than 5 items, you still get 5% off!

Learn more about Amazon Mom here.

...all of this for only $79 a year! According to my Amazon account, I've already placed 51 orders in the last 6 months. If I had paid shipping for all of this, it would have easily been well over $80. And let's not forget the 5-20% savings I get on all diapers, wipes, and household items. Hello!! This is a no-brainer, people!!

So what do I buy?

My Subscribe and Save Items

• Pampers Baby Dry Economy Plus Pack
• Pampers Baby Fresh Wipes
• Lansinoh Disposable Nursing Pads
• OxiClean
• Bounce Dryer Sheets
• Finish Jet Dry Rinse Aid
• Whirlpool PUR Push Button Side-by-Side Refrigerator Water Filter
• Palmolive Ultra Baby Dish Wash Liquid (3-pack)

....basically, if I can anticipate how often I'll need an item and it's available via subscribe and save for a lower price than what I can find in the store, then I add it to my list! You just can't beat the convenience. If they had Similac formula in the appropriate quantities, that'd be on the list, as well!

Pro Tip

Baby Bottles

Being a total noob to parenting, I made sure to buy an assortment of 4 ounce and 8 ounce bottles. In retrospect, I wish I had bought all 8 ounce bottles.

At some point, your little ones are going to need way more than four ounces and you won't have a use for those tiny bottles any more!

Baby Food

Adventures in Homemade Baby Food Making

Bananas and Sweet Potatoes

The girls hit six months old at the end of July. For us, this meant starting SOLIDS!! I swear it feels like I've been waiting years for this day. Pushy relatives hoped we'd start solids much sooner and wondered allowed if our girls were eating enough. GRRRR. Being my stubborn self, this motivated me to wait until they were exactly six months to start solids.

Side note: EXCLUSIVE consumption of breast milk is awesome for your babies until as late as 9 months of age. The practice of starting solids at 6 months is solely to introduce the idea; not for nutritional value.

I digress... After much research, we decided to skip the rice cereal and go straight to solid food (fruits and veggies). This decision was made based on the fact that rice cereal offers no health benefits and is usually just a 'filler' food. Ain't nobody got time for that! In an attempt to hype up my husband, I asked him what he wanted their first solids to be. He chose bananas.

Another side note: Most experts say to introduce vegetables before fruits but I am picking my battles and I don't think the girls are suffering too much for this oversight.

Bananas are simple enough. You mash, mix in some breast milk (or formula, as the case may be), and serve. One of my girls loved it... the other did what we like to call the 'full body shudder.' 1 out of 2 ain't bad!

A few days later, it was time to try out the next food. I carefully planned a full month's worth of offerings to introduce a healthy balance of fruits and vegetables, then meats and legumes. See bottom of post for sample calendar. (yes... I'm super type-A)

Food #2 was a veggie: sweet potatoes. Considering this was my first real adventure in baby food making, I'll give myself a B+. There are things I'll do differently in the future, but it went okay. To begin, I cooked the sweet potato on the stove until soft (in the future, I'll cook a little longer). Once done, I peeled off the skin (surprisingly very easy to do!), cut into cubes, and throw into the food processor. Pulse the potatoes until fully 'processed.' Adding liquids will help with this process. If using breast milk, you may want to wait until the potatoes have cooled a bit, so as not to disrupt the makeup of the breast milk.

Tip: Breast milk will keep in the fridge for up to five days. Here are some options:

• Use up whatever baby food you've premixed with the breast milk in five days.
• Immediately freeze anything you won't use.
• Wait to incorporate any breast milk until you're ready to serve the baby food to your infant (if possible.)

This is our first month of solids - feel free to use and adapt this schedule.

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
July 28 Pureed bananas	29	30 Pureed sweet potato	31	1	2 Pureed pears	3
4	5 Pureed avocado	6	7	8 Applesauce	9	10
11 Pureed carrots	12	13	14 Pureed chicken	15	16	17 Pureed black beans
18	19	20 Pureed squash	21	22	23 Pureed peaches	24
25	26 Pureed beef	27	28	29 Pureed chickpeas	30	31

Ombre

What the Heck is Ombre?

I recently jumped on the latest fashion bandwaggon and had the bottom half of my hair 'stripped' of color to create the ombre effect. Trust me... it's what all the cool people are doing.

This got me thinking. Where did the name 'ombre' come from? If you've Googled, you may have come across the Spanish translation, which is 'man' or the name of a popular three-handed card game.  A little further investigating and I discovered this word is actually of French origin and means 'having colors or tones that shade into each other - used especially of fabric in which the color is graudated from light to dark.'

...and now you know.

In case you're wondering if Ombre is still 'in,' according to Cosmo, it's all about the REDs this season. Looks like I will stay a step behind in the fashion world! Hopefully one day my daughters will help me be less of a lost cause. Until then, I plan to embarass the hell out of them at ever opportunity.

Btw - for those brave enough to try dying your hair Ombre at home, the trick is to TEASE the hair before you apply the color. This will create the 'blended' look between light and dark.