Craigslist For Dummies.

Brad and I have periodically purchased items off of craigslist before- mostly for ourselves- but now that we have 2 babies to buy things for it's like a whole new world of cheap items for us!

Last night I bought 2 items from 2 different people- which means that I drove all over hendricks co. haha. But, totally worth it!

First I bought a Baby Genius Jumper-- We already had 1 which was very generously given to us at our baby shower! But, once we realized just how much the boys love it and how nice it is when our hands are full, we decided we really needed to have another one!

These things take up SO much space.. but wow do they entertain! You can hang all of those colorful rings from all of the loops and it rises up 4 different height stages so they should be able to use these for another year!   They usually run around $80-$90..I got mine for $40!!

Had to sanitize the junk out of it.. but worth it :)

The next item I bought, was a Bumbo seat! I'm sure almost everyone has heard about these seats.. I NEVER thought I would purchase one of these seats...EVER.   If you don't know, these seats run   $40-$50 depending on what store you go to, and these dumb seats are made of FOAM...  i'm guessing they are making about a 200% profit on these things..

Outrageous.

So last night I found one on Craigslist for $20..WITH the tray (which is usually an extra $10).

I know many people are not fans of craigslist becasue of the dirty,used, who-knows-where-they've-been  items..  since i've had the boys I have become a Sanitizing FREAK.

I used Lysol disinfecting wipes all over these new purchases and then I sprayed

Clorox Disinfecting Leave-on Spray. 

Just thought I would promote craigslist and the Used Items you can purchase and save a ton of money!

I made a new 'treat' this afternoon during the boys' nap.

Breaded Mushrooms

So easy, way healthier than fried!

Button Mushrooms

2 eggs, beaten

Italian Breadcrumbs

Grated Parmesan Cheese

Roll the mushrooms in the egg. Then roll in the breadcrumb/cheese mixed together.

Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400degrees for about 15 mins.

Dip in Ranch!

Good little snack/appetizer! Quick and easy  :)

 A Little Tip::  To clean mushrooms, do not wash Mushrooms with water. To clean, use a dry papertowel and wipe off.  That's the best way to keep the mushrooms from getting soggy and gross.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

P.S.  Eli's first tooth has pushed through!! It's very tiny still, but we can see it :)

HAPPY 5 MONTH BIRTHDAY to my boys!!!!





Ten Thousand Spoons... When all you need is.....

......One that Works!!!

Baby utensils are CRAZY. 

Everyone promises this brand works, don't use this brand it's bad for the baby, this one hurts the baby's gums, this one is good for reaching into the jars..ect...

Well, as a mom of twins, most of the spoons single babies can use, don't work as well. This might sound really crazy, a baby is a baby..even if there is 2, right?... WRONG.

Trying to feed TWO babies at the same time, messy pureed baby food is NOT easy.

So, since we have been feeding the boys solids for almost 2 months now, here are a few tricks I have found:

1. BEABA Spoons are Wonderful! (for every baby!)

I have found these spoons at Williams Sonoma and Target..I'm sure they are available many other places.  

*When starting solids, I tried a few types of spoons and the boys took to this spoon instantly!

2.  BOON SPOON. 

This little Gem....It might look Crazy.

But when you are trying to feed 2 kids at one time, it's so so hard (not impossible, because I did it for a month!) to dip the spoon in the food and feed one kid, then quickly dip the spoon in the food and feed the other kid, it's like you are running in circles, for little reward..

So, this Boon Spoon holds about 3oz. of baby food in the handle!-- It's a soft rubbery material. You just screw the spoon part onto the handle, and you can easily slowly squeeze the food onto the spoon base!

So holding two of these at once (and becoming ambidextrous) is amazingly easy! I will tell you that the spoon base is NOT the soft rubber like the BEABA spoons..it is a harder plastic, but my boys don't seem to mind too much, as long as they get food! :)

This weekend was incredibly busy, but so much fun!!

My mom and I had a garage sale friday, so the boys and I hung out with her and I was so proud of Blake and Eli! They didn't freak out at all, they played nice and quietly in the garage with their toys, they were such little gems!

Then Saturday Suz and Kenny added to the garage sale, so we got to spend ALL day with them!!! I've missed them so much.

You don't realize how similar you are to your sister until you hang out all day with her! I love her and kenny and I can't wait till we all get to hang out again! 

It makes me smile so much, when I watch how much she Loves her nephews!! <3

We even went swimming !! **The boys still hate swimming, hopefully if we keep working on it, the will learn to love it :)

And, in other big news...   Eli is Sitting up on his own! Not for long periods of time, of course,  but long enough that we are able to take a bunch of pictures!!  Not even 5 months old and my little boy is sitting!!--He's getting really good at holding his own bottle now too..which makes me job easier and easier :)

These past few weeks have been pretty odd here... they boys have been taking 2 naps a day, each nap is 3 hours long! It's unreal.  Do you know how much I can get done in 3 hours! Then I have the second nap to read or take a nap myself! 

But just this weekend they started waking up after just 2 hours, they are playing so much more , talking so much more, and they are all around happier now!

We did have a little 'cat nap' that they took at 5pm, but this past week we have been able to lay them on the floor, cover them with a blanket and turn off the overhead light.. they don't fall asleep but they have been calming down and having 'quiet time'.  It makes them feel so much better just to calm down and take all of the stimulation away..and they are able to make it 2 more hours before bedtime!

My little guys are growing up!!

Have a wonderful week and stay cool! It supposed to get super close to 100 degrees this week here!

20 Weeks...Already?!?

It's Unreal how fast these weeks go by!- I can't even believe it's been almost a week since I wrote my last post on here!

The boys turn 20 weeks old this week! It's so crazy!

So what's new::

*The boys are able to stand up on their own while they hold on the something (chair,bar...).

* Holding their hands, they are taking steps!! (I can only imagine how quick the day will come when they are walking on their own!)

*They are CONSTANTLY rolling over..so basically we stopped trying to prevent in at night. They are FINALLY o.k. with sleeping on either their tummy or back

This past week has been a little rough-- SUPER fussy, SUPER tired and their appetite is back to 10oz bottles again! Which means more feedings of solid foods, and longer naps and LOTS of Baby Orajel.

For new parent or parents who haven't had to go through teething..I HIGHLY reccomend getting a tube of this miracle goop.

*There have been some reports on the dangers of using Orajel.. I have read a lot about what the warnings are about..
Apparently, if the Gel gets down into the baby's throat, they numbing will cause them to stop breathing... SCARY.     So, Please Please be careful when using this.. Only use a tiny tiny amount..run it in good and get all the 'chunks' that are floating around- out of their mouth. *

I will say even after reading all of the horror stories, I will still praise the gel and continue to use it.. Without it, I would probably be crying all day long.

So, I'm expecting teeth any day now! :D

A lot of people have been asking me how the world I have gotten my twin boys on the same schedule and how they are sleeping 12 hours every night.

Well, I have talked breifly about it before, but I Swear by the book

"The Baby Sleep Solution" (12hours of Sleep by 12 weeks old)

by, Suzy Giordano

You really need to read and almost take notes on it as you read, to fully understand the concept.

For starters, you need to believe in the 'Pause'.

If your baby is crying at night, WAIT/PAUSE. Watch the clock for 5 minutes.

If after 5 minutes he is still screaming, go in (don't pick him up) calm him down-- the book gives methods of calming down.

Follow this process each night, once he learns to calm in 5 mins, each night gets easier and easier and he will cry less and less.

Once the baby learns to 'self-soothe' then you can start trying to slowly take away his night time feedings.

In a quick overview, you take away 1/2 oz. at each night time feed. When you take the 1/2oz away, you need to give that 1/2oz to him during the day so he is still getting all of the calories he needs in a 24hr period.

ONCE you take the 1/2oz away at night, you NEVER give him more than that amount.. after 3 days of this new-less- amount, you drop it another 1/2oz- remembering to again add  that to one of his day time feeds...until you are down to No more feeds at night!

Also, it depends GREATLY on a daytime routine. The baby needs to be eating every 4 hours.

My schedule:: (This has been altered from the book for what works for my boys)

Wake ------6:30-7am

Feed -----7am-7:30ish

Play -----7:30-8:30am

Nap -----8:30-11ish

Wake -----11-11:30am

Feed ------11-11:30am

Play ------11:30-1pm

Nap -----1pm-3pm

Wake -----3-3:30ish

Feed -----3-3:30pm

Play -----3:30-6pm

Bath (every other night)----- 6pm-6:30

Feed (with cereal)----- 6:30

Bed -----7pm

**A 'Cat-nap' usually happens around 4:30-5pm- -only lasts about 1/2hr- 45 mins (depending on the boys' moods)**

Again, this is just a quick overview, this book was my bible for about 2-3 weeks while we got the boys on this schedule and took away the night feeds.

 Happy Monday!

Here is a great picture of how teething is treating us::





What's Cookin' Good Lookin'

I'm Obsessed with Garage Sales!

Ever since we found out we were pregnant (and with twins), we knew we would have to bargain hunt for clothes,toys,books...etc...

Well between my sister and I, we officially have enough clothing for the boys to get us through 2years old!! HOLY COW- never thought we would get this lucky!

We sorted all of the clothing- 12month box, 18months, 24 months.

We have been so fortunate between clothing and diapers that we haven't had to spend a penny on either so far! And now it looks like we won't have to worry about clothes for a long long time.

THANKS SUZ!!

So, for those of you who don't know, Brad's job requires him to be in a vehicle and outdoors ALL day long. Which means his lunches consist of no hot meals and no cold meals..So we try to be as creative as possible with healthy and quick meals -we also come up with some fun breakfast-to-go ideas!

We started making Breakfast Burritos.

We make a big batch at a time then freeze them all so he just has to grab one- pop it in the microwave and he's out the door.

   We Have:
~Tortilla Wraps (Last time I used the large 10inch shells, this time I am using the 6inch shells)
 ~Shredded Cheese
~ 1lb. Breakfast Sausage
~8 eggs, scrambled

*You can see in the pictures that I have the eggs on paper towels to suck out any liquid, and the sausage in a strainer to get rid of any grease.

Any extra liquid will make your tortilla wraps soggy!

I think everyone knows how to make a burrito..but you know, pile it on the shell and wrap them up!

I place them all on a cookie sheet and pop them in the freezer.  I will leave them to freeze for at least 4 hours. Then You can put them in a large ziplock baggie. 



This is 20 Burritos--so with 5work days a week, this is 4 weeks of breakfasts for Brad!

Total Cost::

about $6.50 for these 20 burritos = $0.30 a day for breakfast!! Cheapest Breakfast you can get! :)

Play Date

 We are officially 19 weeks old!

We had our first 'Real' playdate this weekend! I was so impressed with the boys. Sunday morning we woke up and fed them, left right at their nap time to drive about an hour away.

Got to Brad's parents house and they wanted to go back down for a nap. So they slept 2 hours- woke up and ate.

We then headed to a friend's house for lunch and a playdate. They played so well with all of the toys and we had such a great time with miss maylee.

The boys took another 2 hour nap- all while we played with maylee before her nap :)

Maylee is such a big girl! Starting to walk and eating big girl foods--

I cannot WAIT for our boys to be so active and feeding themselves. I know we will be on the run a lot more, but it will take a lot more stress off of me during the days with them helping themselves more.

After the boys woke up they ate and we left for a graduation party!

It was so great seeing everyone this weekend- but mostly I cannot believe how amazing the boys were- calm, on schedule, active and happy boys! It made me such a proud mommy to see that each day gets better and better :)

Clearly my boys were THRILLED to be taking picture after picture! haha.

I can't wait to get this week started! Father's day is coming up which means Brad will be home all weekend!

"Healthiest Twins in Town!"

The title of this post "Healthiest Twins in Town" is a quote from our Pediatrician today at our 4month appointment! She was so thrilled with how healthy and physically advanced our boys are!

I was so worried she would be upset that we started solid foods at 3months old, but she wasn't, and infact agreed with me that they needed to be eating something more substantial.

Eli is 15lb. 13oz.

Blake is 15lb. 11oz

Both are 25" long

So they are still almost identical in size!

The boys 'wowed' her as they stood up strong, layed on their bellies with their head held high  and grabbed for toys and faces! 

Eli

Blake

Well, I found this interesting "Letter to All Parents" -Written by a Non-Parent::

I feel like there are a few people in my life that need to read this and try to understand what we as parents go through.:::

I just finished babysitting your baby today.

I have salmon stuck on my neck and in the crease under my left breast.
My eardrum is damaged due to high frequency screaming.
I had to hold her while I was peeing because from her perspective it seemed like Satan himself would rape and kill her slowly if I put her down thus I did not get the chance to wipe myself properly…

…no matter though as I am covered in a thick layer of sweat from pushing the stroller up the hill so a bit more wet between the legs even things out.
I washed my hair this morning but all of a sudden it looks like a stringy bag of shit pile.

I haven’t had a chance to eat anything except snatching a few cold peas from her snack pack and my head is pounding.
I watched her draw on her vulva with sidewalk chalk and I didn’t bother to read the ingredients to see if it was non-toxic.
I fed her a pizza crust to keep her occupied and I know you want her to be gluten-free.
I felt her shit herself and then I left her in her shitty diaper for when you get home.
My entire body is an exhausted heap of jangled muscles and burnt out nerves.
You were only gone for 3 hours.

I am sorry.
For judging you because your style went down the tubes.
For being annoyed when you forget to call me back.
For thinking you are not being a very good friend anymore.
For saying “I’ll lose all my baby weight, I’ll make the time.”
For telling my partner “we’ll be much sooooooo more relaxed about parenting than they are.”
For wondering why you don’t mind leaving the house looking like a drunk homeless 10-year-old.
For assuming you must be a hoarder now with your piles of clothes and teetering books and dirty plates

and gummed on toys strewn all over the house.

For calling your life chaotic.
For thinking that I will do it better and it will be easier.
For secretly considering your parenting techniques to be kinda’ weird.


For agreeing that I won’t lose my creative focus when I have a kid.
For being frustrated when I watch you forget your keys every goddamn time you leave the house.
For wishing you could just feed him and talk to me about my next career move at the same time.
For not getting it. Any of it. At all.

You are a superhuman and I bow down to your grace and patience towards friends like me.
When I have a baby, I hope we get to hang out more. Maybe you can wipe my crotch for me before he cracks his head on the bathroom tile. Maybe I will have a chance to make you a cup of tea before she spills it all over the floor.
Let’s smell the top of their heads together.

And we won’t care what our childless friends think of us because we both know that we know nothing now.
We have nothing left to prove.

It is truely hard to understand what someone is going through until you walk a mile in their shoes.  I wouldn't give my life up for the world- I just need some people to be by my side even if they do not want to walk in my shoes right now  :)

Happy Thursday!

4 Months Old......and Teething??

HAPPY 4 MONTHS!!

CAN THEY GET ANY MORE ADORABLE?!

I have just 1 question...

Since humans have been alive for how many years... why do we STILL not have better answers, clearer resolutions, or even basic Yes or No answers to help our babies?!

Everything the comes with having a baby is trial and error! And it SUCKS.

WHY do we have to wait and see if something hurts their belly.

WHY do we have to wait at least 3 days to see if they will get an allergy

WHY can't we get a definite answer if they are teething

WHY can't anyone tell us ANYTHING!

As a Mom, I just want to help my babies feel 100%- and when they are super fussy and unhappy, that is obviously not happening-- but no one knows what is wrong.

I have a strong strong feeling that the boys have started the teething process this week.

Reasons Why I think this::

-They have been incredibly fussy

-They used to eat 10oz, then all of the sudden they are only taking 5-6 oz.

-They have been pulling on their ears a lot- (no, it's not an ear infection)

-Don't get me started on the drool.. it's like a waterfall pouring out of their mouths!- changing outfits 4 times a day because they are soaking wet!

But can anyone tell me a definite yes or no if they are teething?- NO......So what if the formula is really hurting their belly? Or what if it is just a growth spurt? What if something bigger is wrong and that's why they aren't eating.

Obviously I know there isn't something that serious- I'm almost positive it's teething. I really just wish babies came into the world knowing Sign Language- then you have 9-10 months to practice your own Sign Language! Ha!   :D

Well, Besides this teething issues, the boys are simply perfect. I have never been so happy as I am when I can make them smile just from talking to Brad and they hear my voice. Or just by kissing their cheek.  They melt me every day and night.



They are turning 18 weeks this week!!

4 Month doctor appointment on Thursday, which means second round of shots :(

Gotta keep them babies safe!  <3