Memorial Day Weekend

It's been almost a week since I have updated everyone on our life!

Not much has happened as far as the boys, 

They are currently going through Another growth spurt! We go through these seems like once a month- i'm not sure how normal that is, but it's normal in this house!

All they want to do is sleep and eat.  But even their eating is very off right now.

One meal they will devour 10oz and the next meal they will eat 2 oz and want to stop so you have to take a 30minute break and they they suck down the last 6oz like they were never offered food !

Then after they eat, they just want to go back to sleeping- unfortunately for them, I keep them up for at least 2 hours :) Then they sleep for 2-3 hours! Crazy boys. 

I always look forward to these growth spurts to be over, they are always way happier and more content and it seems like while they sleep, they learn a new skill! So exciting!

Blake has been able to roll over in both directions a few times, but never seems to want to do it infront of an audience- we just walk in and he is on another side of his body :)

Eli has only rolled over twice, but he will get there- once he sees Blake doing it all the time, he will pick it up- i'm sure!

This weekend was WONDERFUL- Having Brad home for 4 days straight was simply amazing.  It makes me hate when he has to go back to work- and also makes me wonder how I manage every day by myself!

Brad had Friday off of work, so he happily gave me a full day off with no babies and no responsibility!

WOW did I have a fun day! But it was SOOO boring! I missed those boys like crazy.

I went and got a Pedicure (picked up Starbucks on the way!), went shopping, I had some free coupons at Victoria's Secret, went clothes shopping (which was very much needed!), bought myself some wonderful cupcakes (Took a break from baking!) and came home and ate a huge Panera Bread Salad while reading my Nook outside in the sun!- Then fell asleep on the couch.

Saturday, we got to spend ALL day with my momma! It was so so nice. We put together some patio chairs while Brad did a little work for her. Then once the boys woke up from their nap, we went Swimming!

We really thought they would enjoy kicking in the water because they LOVE bathtime.. but no.

They really didn't like it.  I will keep playing with them in the water so soon, they will love it!

Then we had a delicious cook out while the boys took their last cat-nap of the day. Such a great day relaxing and getting my tan on! haha.

Sunday, Brad and I stayed home and worked outside every chance we got (every nap time). We have been working extremely hard to get our backyard 'beautified'. We added dozens of plants around our deck and finally got the stone work layed around the flower bed, and mulched it all.
Whew.

Our bodies are exhausted.

Monday we spent the evening with Brad's family. Everyone came up to our house- which is always nice, traveling with the boys is not the easiest thing in the world ;).
We had an incredible grilled dinner! Enough food to feed our whole street! Steak, burgers, brats,dogs, potatoes,corn on the cob, beans, chips....Amazing. 

Once the boys went to bed, we all hung out on our deck and played corn hole!

Great fun, but would have been much better if Brad and I didn't get KILLED hahah!

I hope everyone else had a great long weekend!
Lots of love from all of us!



"MOM ENOUGH"

I have waited a while to talk about this, kind of waiting to gather my thoughts and feelings on the subject since being a new mom...

Honestly, I have ZERO problem with anyone who wants to breastfeed and for however long they want. They can breastfeed until their boobs fall off - it's a personal choice and no one else's business.

BUT, I would like to know who this writer at TIME Magazine is that thinks it's o.k. to ask                "Are You Mom Enough?"

Are you joking? If you carried a child 9-10 months, delivered that child and are keeping a happy and healthy child, you are already "Mom Enough". Who do they think they are criticizing someone's parenting techniques?

As a mom of Twins, I feel like I have been dealing with this scrutinization since day 1- with how Brad and I have decided to parent our children.

I'm sure that being a singleton mom has its difficulties, I'm not saying having 1 child is easy- at all! But, it seems like the singletons just don't seem to realize what I go through.

This new trend of 'attachment parenting' and being 'mom enough' to be an attachment parent is just crazy.  In my mind, it is way more difficult and shows that you are 'mom enough' to be the opposite of attached. - And it seems like I am constantly defending myself for being the complete opposite of attachment parenting.

With 2 babies;

* I am not able to pick up both babies at the same time to calm them down when crying.

* I am not able to change both diapers at the same time.

*I cannot play/entertain both babies simultaniously as much as a singleton mom

*I cannot allow my babies to take their naps in my arms or sleep in MY bed at night

*I cannot constantly hold my babies all day long for that snuggle time that every mom tells me they love

*I cannot allow my babies to 'feed on demand'

*I can't be o.k. with my babies waking up 2-3 times a night to feed

Not only am I constantly proving to strangers that I am a good mom, but also close family friends.  So, YES, I let my babies;

*Cry it out and am teaching them to self-soothe

*Learn that they have to have patience when mommy is with their brother

*Learn to entertain themselves, that they don't always need mommy or a grown up to have fun and learn.

*Learn to put themselves to sleep no matter if they are tired or not, because when we are in the crib, it's sleep time.

*Learn that there are special times for snuggle time

*know that mommy will always have food for them, but again patience is key

*know that sleep is the most imporant item while they are growing and mommy will always be there when they wake up in the morning- and a rested mommy is a better, happier mommy

Do these things and this way of parenting make me a bad mom? If anything, I think it makes me MORE 'mom enough'. 

Do you have any idea how hard it is to let your baby sit there and cry, because you know that if you pick one up, the other one sees you and starts crying too. Or how hard it is to know that they are hungry after only 2 hours, but in order to create a happier environment and sleep time, we need to wait longer before we eat.- Well, it's hard. And definitely not always fun.

But, I feel like because of this, I am making my children more strong, independent, they will not need others attention to make them happy, they will know how a happy family is and they will know what a healthy, happy marriage is- because Mommy and Daddy get their alone time in the evenings to keep their marriage alive and happy.

Ah, Well.  Enough ranting... I just hope that when people see this, they understand why I am such a stickler to my daily routines, and why when my babies wimper, I don't immediately run to pick them up... 

All we can do is hope we are doing what is best for our babies.

But I believe that every mother is "MOM ENOUGH".

**In lighter news, Eli rolled over in his crib for the first time last night!! At 16 weeks we have both boys rolling over :)

and

Blake has learned to roll both ways now! From tummy to back - back to tummy so when he flips in the middle of the night, he can now flip back to how he started !

It's so thrilling watching them grow and change everyday!!



Mom = More Responsible Adult?

Well it has almost been 4 months since the boys were born and I have been thinking recently that I still do not feel like a 'mom'.  I think I am still in the mindset that Moms are older and always say 'no'. HA!

I have noticed that I might not feel like a mom, but I do know that I have become a much more responsible adult.

-Cleaning the house, the dishes, the laundry, cooking dinner, keeping up with schedules, making sure the boys are eating enough and are going to bed on time etc...

The biggest thing I have noticed a change in myself is my energy!

I thought I would be exhausted ALL THE TIME, but it seems like I have more energy now, than I did before I ever got pregnant!!

The past few weeks once we put the boys to bed, we have been getting our outdoor work finished.  We: -rearranged our front flower beds

- fluffed up the mulch

-moved plants from the front to the back yard

-planted about a dozen plants around our deck

-planted our garden

I used to be the type that 'plants and forgets' about them. But along with my new-found responsibility, I have been taking care of everything almost as good as I have the boys! hehe.

The boys take their morning nap at 9am-- as soon as they are asleep I head outside and water EVERYTHING.  I'm trying to make sure everything can survive the heat of the crazy summer.

But I am most proud of our garden!  We were a lot smarter about how we are doing it this year, so I thought I would share some pictures of our hard work!

We decided to use already started plamts and transplant them (except for our green beans and squash of course!)



I'm so proud of our cute little green beans!!

ANYWAYS--

I really wanted to let everyone know my Dinner Project tonight!

I found it on Pinterest and they called it

Chicken Garbage Bread

*I made a homemade Pizza Dough

*Boiled 2 chicken breasts

*combined buffalo sauce and ranch for a sauce

New York Style Pizza Dough

1pkg Active-Dry Yeast

1 cup Warm Water (no hotter than 105degrees)

1/2 TBL Sugar

3 cups Bread Flour

2 TBL Olive Oil

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

Combine yeast, water and sugar in bowl, let sit about 10 mins until yeast has bloomed.

Add 1/2 of flour. Slowly mix.  Add in salt and olive oil. Add in more flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is pulling off the sides of the bowl, but is still slightly sticky/tacky.

Knead dough on high for at least 10 mins.

Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area for 1-2 hours.

Punch down and use as desired.

Then, I rolled it out super super thin;

I spread on the ranch/buffalo sauce mixture and threw on the boiled chicken, shredded cheese and some onion and bell pepper.

Then I started at one end, and rolled the whole thing up like a cinnamon roll.

I baked this beauty and BAM!  Pretty much a stromboli but with buffalo chicken!

YUM!

The boys and I are having a play-date tomorrow with some great friends and their daughter! Cannot wait to see them!

Good Night World!

What big boys you are!

 Eli has reached a new physical milestone and I couldn't be more proud!

He isn't rolling over like Blake yet, but unlike Blake, he is able to be on his tummy and prop himself up on his arms/elbows!

Now that he can see what's infront of him, i'm sure crawling will begin soon :)

So, Brad and I started this new thing and we decided that since we love this so much, that we should share it with everyone!

We jokingly call them "meat plates" ::

1 pound of hamburger that we put into a gallon size Ziplock bag.

Then we seal the bag and roll out the meat with a rolling pin until it is between 1/4" and 1/2" thick

We freeze the "meat plates" like this.

We found out that it is WAY faster to thaw meat when it is super thin like this- and if we only want to cook 1/2 a pound, then it is really easy to break off what you need/want to use!

We really wanted to make hamburgers- so to be like Wendy's, we scored the meat into 4 pieces and  broke them off -- which means we had Quarter Pounders

We let them thaw then grilled them!

SO good and way way easier than trying to press out meat into a patty shape!

Well, that's my Tip of the Day!

Hope everyone is having a happy weekend! Stay cool!

Squash and a Movie Night!

Since we have started the baby food this week (Pears), I suppose I should let you all in on my secret!

Since January (while I was 9-10 months preggo) I've been slowly producing my own baby food and storing it in the freezer!

As of right now I have

Bananas

Apples

Pears

 and, after today....Squash!

It might seem a little over-kill that I started before the boys were born, but honestly I had NO idea how much of a life or how much time I would have to make it once they were here

(Thankfully, I have had plenty of time to keep the supply going!)

Here is my secret weapon::

This is BabyCook by : BEABA

It is a steamer and a food processor all in one!

You cube up your produce, place it in the basket-  pour some water into the steamer and turn the button!

It takes about 15minutes to steam the food and you just pour the food from the strainer into the bottom processor! Voila!

So in about 17 Minutes, you have lots of baby food!

This is my just-made Squash.

I already had these pans on hand before I started making baby food- they are Silicone Mini Muffin pans.

Pour your baby food puree in and freeze them- then the food just pops right out!

It is so convenient not having to buy hundreds of jars of baby food!

** You can purchase the BabyCook by  BEABA at  William Sonoma**

I'm also pretty obsessed with BEABA's baby utensils!

Pretty lazy Friday for us- the boys and I went shopping. 

We are going to have a Movie date-night tonight once the boys are in bed, so I had to get some food for the fun :)

While shopping, a 90's boy band song came on in the store-- so I started singing...turns out the boys LOVE 90's boy bands just like me!!

Soo adorable-- they were laughing so hard at my singing!!

Happy Friday Everyone!



Fun Couple of Days

The past two days have been so exciting for the boys and me!

It seems like everyday they grow up more and more which makes it more and more fun to play with them!

So, it has been absolutely GORGEOUS outside so we have been building forts! :)

They have been loving it! Surprisingly able to play and be happy for 1 1/2 hours out there!

Tonight, once I put the boys to bed, I decided to make some delicious chocolatey dessert.

So, here it is::

The Best Cocoa Brownies

( Courtesy of Smitten Kitchen)

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks)  unsalted butter, melted

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, cold

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a bowl. Stir until the the mixture is smooth. (It looks fairly gritty at this point, but don’t fret — it smoothes out once the eggs and flour are added.)

Stir in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until just combined.

 Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.

Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

When the recipe says the Best Cocoa Brownies- they mean it!! Holy Ganache!!

TGIF Tomorrow! Looking forward to a relaxing, boring weekend with the hubby and boys!



Possibility of a Normal Life!

I figure after 3 1/2 months of babies ruling my life and my blog, I should probably show you all what else my life entails.

Throughout the entire pregnancy I had NO desire to cook or bake- which those of you who know me is extremely odd. Baking is usually my Life.  Now that the boys are here, I have gotten my energy back Plus More!

I will start working harder at taking pictures and keeping recipes I make so I can post more baking along with the boys ( Can't wait for them to be able to start helping me bake!)

This week I have made a few things::

Brioche Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

and

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Bread Pudding

( Courtesy of 'Joy of Baking' )

8 - 10 cups of bread cubes, cut into bite sized pieces

Note: Breads to use - French, Broiche, Challah, Croissant, Italian, and/or Panettone. The bread can be fresh or stale and crusts can be left on or removed. You can also use day old scones.

Fruit: (Optional)

1 large peeled and cored apple, diced

1 cup raisins

Custard:

4 large eggs

1 cup granulated white sugar

1 1 /2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

4 cups Milk

 Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Lightly grease with butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, a 9 x 13 x 2 inch (23 x 33 x 5 cm) heatproof baking dish. Place the baking dish into a larger roasting pan that has enough room around its sides to fill with water.

Place the bread cubes and fruit (if using) in the baking dish.

Custard: In an electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar on high speed until thick and lemon colored (about 4-5 minutes) (when beater is raised the batter will fall back into bowl in a slow ribbon). Beat in the vanilla extract and ground cinnamon. Then beat in the melted and cooled butter and half and half (light cream).

Assemble: Carefully pour (or ladle) the prepared custard over the bread cubes until completely covered. Press down the bread cubes so they are covered with the custard.

Prepare a water bath. (A water bath is used to provide temperature protection for the egg custard.) Carefully pour in enough hot water so that the water is halfway up sides of the 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Another way to judge whether the pudding is fully baked, is to gently press down on the center of the pudding. If any custard comes up to the top, the pudding needs to be baked a little longer. Remove the bread pudding from the water bath and cool slightly before serving.

 Caramel Sauce

Easiest Caramel sauce you will ever make::

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/4 cup 1% Milk

Take paper label off of can. Place in a saucepan. Cover entire can of milk with water.  Place of stove top and turn onto medium/ medium-high heat. Cover pot with lid.  Let water boil for 3 hours (I know it's a long time but worth it!) Just randomly check the pot to make sure the can of milk is still covered with water.

Allow can to cool before opening.--

Pour caramel into bowl, stir in 1% milk to smooth and thin out the caramel.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

(Courtesy of 'Freckles in April' [Adapted slightly from Mel's Kitchen Cafe])

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
10 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.

Beat butter, sugars, egg and vanilla till light colored and fluffy. Stir in dry ingredients until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Press into a greased 9×13 inch  pan and bake for 18-20 minutes until light golden brown.



I must say it is so much fun staying busy and still having time to try new recipes and eating delicious foods!

I Like To Eat Apples and Bananas.... Or Pears!

What a Big Big day for the boys!!

Well, I guess I should back track a little.  

I forgot to mention that at their Dr. Appt. at 3 months

Blake weighed 13lb. 10oz.

Eli weighed 13lb. 12oz.

I'm pretty impressed with how close their weights have stayed so far!

Yesterday was Mother's Day! My very first Mother's Day! Super exciting!

Saturday, we spent the day with my mom- we visited an Organic Dairy Farm! They boys' first "field trip" and what did they do??....SLEEP the entire time! They weren't the least bit excited about the little piggies or chickens. Ha!

We also went to a Nursery and bought our plants for our garden and Mom bought a few plants for herself and her mom.

That night we put the boys to bed (which was the Easiest ever since they were exhausted!) and we went out and planted our garden!!

We officially have 12 Tomato plants, 8 Bell Pepper plants, 4 Jalapeno plants, Celery, Onion,

Green Beans, and Yellow Squash!! Hopefully we get a TON of salsa made this summer/fall! YUM!

Sunday, we went down to the in-laws house. They have recently been adding on to their house and WOW it's incredible!  Spent the entire day/afternoon with them and it was wonderful!  The boys gave me a Mother's Day gift and took a 3 hour nap at their house so we were able to hang out with them with no kids for a bit!

That brings me to today (Monday).  Yesterday Blake ate 10oz of formula! And kept it all down.  We have been talking about how obviously hungry he is and liquid is just not enough to fill him up anymore. So this morning, we tried out our first adult foods!!

PEARS. 

(I  have been making my own baby food purees and freezing them so right now, I have a massive storage of the basic baby foods, pears,apples,bananas)

Eli took to the Pears great! He ate about 2tsp then took 6oz of Formula

Blake wasn't quite as happy about the switch - he ate 1 tsp of Pears and 7oz of Formula --Blake still seems to have the tongue reflex of pushing things out of his mouth- which is fine! We will just keep slowly working on the baby food :)

An exciting day and the day has just begun!

Happy Monday to All!

Meeting Some Milestones

Well, since turning 3 months, we have accompished a few milestones!

3 months + 1 week - Unfortunately, Mommy got sick. Which means that Blake and Eli were almost sure to get it.  And Yep! Blake started getting a fever on Sunday. Got up to 101 very sad and tired boy. It broke my heart.  Then Monday, Eli started getting a fever. His got up to 100.4 .  It took about 24 hours to break their fevers, after 3 days, they are just down to snotty noses- which I might say is just as yucky as a fever is..

You spend hours rocking, holding, kissing, and cooling off your baby when they are sick.  I never thought seeing them sick would be so hard for me.   I cried and cried.  Thank goodness they are better now!! Happy boys back on their daily schedule = a happy mommy!

Now, just yesterday (May 10th)- Blake woke up crying hard in the middle of the night. I went in to his room, calmed him down and he fell back asleep.  I swear, 15 minutes later, he was crying again! I went into the room again- Blake had totally flipped over onto his back! (we have them sleeping on their tummies).  He obviously didn't know what to do on his back or how to go back to sleep.  Then today, he flipped over again during his morning nap!

Clearly I am going to have to start training both boys to sleep on their backs just as well as they sleep on their tummies.  Otherwise we are looking at ZERO sleep in the upcoming months!

Now we are just waiting for Eli to start rolling over- but until then he is talking up a storm! Makes me smile non-stop!  He has even started pronouncing his 'goo'.   Love my little chatter box :)



Three Months and Survived!!

  Dropping in for an update! We officially made it to their 3 month stage!! I will say, this last week has been HELL getting them to their 3rd month.  

I had heard that the 3 month growth spurt was the worst in their entire first year, and man do I hope it is the worst!   These two boys wanted to be held non-stop (which is impossible with two babies!) they wanted to eat Non-stop and if they weren't eating, they just wanted to sleep!  Which means NO FUN for Mommy!!

So, they jumped up to eating 8-9 oz. at each meal and slept 2-3hours at all 3 naps during the day and were still sleeping all 12 hours straight at night! Crazy week! I'm so glad it's over.

Milestone Updates::



-- 2 months went up to Size 2 Diapers



-- 12 weeks we switched to 6 month clothes

Starting at 12 weeks, Blake started gurgling and blowing bubbles! It is the sweetest noise when I go in their room in the morning and he is cooing and ooing and buzzing his lips as he smiles at me!! :D

And at the same age, Eli started reaching out for toys and grabbing them to play with. He can clearly control his hand movements

Now we are at 13 weeks both are SO SO Close to rolling over! We put them on their bellies and they can almost turn onto their backs.. almost.

And both boys are getting really good at putting weight on their legs when I help them stand up :)

Well, Bed Time for mom!

Good night!