First taste

Two X Two

My twincesses are two today. I cannot believe it. I will write more later, but needed to at least get it on here that it is a very special day, a very special birthday today when two little girls turn two. Love you, bebes!

A text I sent my DH an hour ago

I am grouchy!! :(
Not only did YOUR daughter decide to take off her diaper and smear the contents around HER crib - she gave it to her SISTER who decided to EAT some!!
So, 2 clean girls and no hot water later, I am going to start on the MESS of a crib. Wish me luck.
P.S. Our house stinks.
P.P.S. Guess which daughter was the diaperless one? HINT: I now have pics of ALL our kids with poop smeared all over them and their cribs. Does that make us bad parents?

Wordless Wednesday - Sunglasses

We do also have two twincesses at our house...

...in case you were wondering!


I know, I know... I always get them with dirty faces. But they're just SO ca-U-te!

Girlies moving

M made some videos of the twincesses the other night after their bath. There's not lots of action - but boy are they cute! :)

The New Reality at our House

They are both walking - K a little more steady on her feet then A. Enjoy the video!

The annoying voice in the background is a new website that R has found off of pbskids.org called EkkoWorld. It teaches kids all about the environment and being green. It is great, just the voice is ANNOYING as all get out. I am waiting now for R to start telling me how to conserve energy and be better to the environment though. I am hoping he has learned that he needs to shut off the water right away when he washes his hands - drives me crazy how he pulls the plug and lets the sink fill up!
M also made another video for his mother so she could see the girls and what they are up to - she lives in Mexico part of the year. Here is the link if you want to watch it too. I would've included it, but it is 10 minutes long. Oh, and yes, K does stand at the table for long periods of time when she is allowed. I was at a much needed massage while M was taping all this - and before you feel jealous - it was massage THERAPY, so painful, not relaxing. :( Gotta go back this week again - my neck and shoulder are killing me!

Cookies and Veggies

Yesterday R and I made cookies. I decided that I wanted to try to make the Chocolate Chickpea Cookies that my friend A had made before and enjoyed. Getting veggies and protein into the little people gets harder all the time. R really wanted "Black cookies" though, so I knew I would have to put cocoa or chocolate into the batter to change the color. They turned out really well- I am enjoying them so much (too much, maybe? :) The only regret I have is not getting a picture of R and I in process and afterward he didn't feel like eating any. The girls enjoyed them a lot though and we got some great pics of them eating their cookies.

"What choo talkin' 'bout, Mama?" (Love this face- think I'm going to REALLY love it in about 12 years!)

Always a smile from K-Bear!

K decided her cookie wasn't enough, let's eat R's that he didn't finish. Then, she thought it looked better ON than it tasted! :)In case you were wanting to try this recipe yourself, here it is. The cookies are SO delicious and very moist. I actually gave half a dozen to the neighbour girl when she stopped by today, because I was afraid of them going bad before we finished them.

Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies

Makes 24-26 cookies
Jessica warns: If using a standing mixer, partially cover the bowl with a dish towel to keep the chickpeas from flying out. I used a Tupperware measuring cup that has a splatter guard, so there was no problem.

• 1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup trans fat free soft tub margarine spread or butter
• 2 large egg whites (I used 1 egg)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 15oz/450g can chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 2 cups (12 Oz) semisweet chocolate chips (I used a mixture of chocolate and butterscotch chips as I was low on chocolate ones)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats (I used quick oats)
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (I halved this)
• (I added one melted chocolate square to get the darker color)
  

1. Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Line 2 baking trays with non stick parchment

2. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon or on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg whites or egg and vanilla, then the chickpeas and chocolate chips. Add the flour, oats, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until a thick dough forms.

3. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 11-13 minutes, do not over bake. Leave on cookie sheet to cool and then transfer onto wire rack until completely cool. Do try one in the process of cooling as the gooey chocolate is wonderful in the cookie.

4. Store in airtight container for up to 3 days.

By Jessica Seinfeld from Deceptively Delicious

Birthday Girls

It was their birthday on May 27, these were from the birthday party day on the 30th! Don't they look like the little twincesses they are? I love having girls!K

A

Wordless Wednesday

This was the first time they bathed together - just the two of them. They have been bathed before with R one at a time, but the regular way of "bathing" them is showering with a parent. They screamed at first, but settled into it and as you can see - loved it!

10 months old already!!

I cannot believe how quickly time goes by!

I love how they adore their big brother!

This is the photo on my desktop. It was taken in February and is the best pic of all three of them that is current that I have. I just love how K is staring all adoringly at R's face. If only I hadn't had my finger accidentally on the flash, it wouldn't been a really good picture!

Anyways... R is really interacting with the twincesses now. They are starting to be on the move now - K is rocking on her hands and knees while A is starting to do the snake thing to move - so he is now beginning to get that they are people. He is now entertaining them and calling to them to join him. I have to watch him a little more now, which isn't as much fun, but it is great to see them interact. I can't wait for the day when they are all running around together, playing make believe and getting into all sorts of trouble and fun!

One year ago today...

...we found out our lives would forever be changed with not just one addition to our family, but two. We have had quite the year. We put our house up for sale, then took it off the market. We renovated our house, I got as big as a house, I got high blood pressure and was in the hospital for 10 days, the girls came 5 weeks early and spent 2 weeks in the NICU at two different hospitals. We had people come an help us out after the girls were born (THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!) We took a vacation when the girls were 8 weeks old. R turned three! I started a new business and am working on that.
It's been hectic and at times I feel like I have bitten off WAY more than I can chew, but God has been faithful - I always manage. I have an amazing husband who really works with me with the kids and I know loves me and the children more than anything.
So I am thankful for the blessings God gave, the "bonus" that we got. Here they are today...

If you want to read the post from when we found out last year, you can go here. If you watch the video, turn the sound on... the song makes it all the better!

8 months already!!!

We had our 8 month appointment with Dr. Toye this morning. The girls are doing wonderfully!! Here are the latest stats for them. With each nurse length measurements are a little different, but this is what they got today.
A
12 lbs 14 oz
25 inches
16.6 inches head circumference
K
14 lbs 14 oz
26.8 inches
16.5 inches head circumference

Looking 100% better

Life is going oh, so much better in the past few days. I finally decided on Thursday that the girls were not going to get fed in the middle of the night anymore. I would feed them before I went to bed and then they could eat after 5 a.m. The first night was a little rough - between the two of them they cried between 3:20 and 5:30 off and on. But Friday, there was only about a half hour total of crying. Saturday was a little worse with A crying for 20 min every other hour. But, last night, last night made it all worth it! I fed them late because I'd gone to WalMart for the last of the Christmas gifts, and then had a quick shower when I got home. They ate around 12 a.m. and then slept straight through to 8:30 for A and 9:00 for K! Whoo hoo! I feel GOOD today! They have also been going longer between feedings during the day and sleeping better for naps. Hindsight is always 20-20, but I wish I'd done this sooner!
DH and I had a date on Saturday afternoon and he is going to be home on Wednesday afternoon until the 5th. I am looking forward to it.
Happy holidays people! I will hopefully be writing between now and Thursday, but just want everyone to have a great Christmas season... I pray it is filled with family, friends, love, laughter and thankfulness for the little Baby in a manger who gave so much up to come to this earth to save us 33 years later.

Just sharing some pics I got on their half birthday!

These are unedited - I want to play around and try some different things, but thought I'd share for now. Beautiful girls, my daughters... I pray that they will grow up and be just as beautiful on the inside.

I put R to bed and came down to find this...

(Though it looks like A was sleeping too, she was awake, just looking across the room.)

6 months old ALREADY!

My babies are now 6 months old! Time FLIES!!
We went for their 6 month appointment this morning and found the new stats to be...
A
11 lbs 13 oz
25 inches long
41.2 cm head circumference
K
13 lbs 10 oz
26 inches long
41 cm head circumference
I am planning to write a little tomorrow and to include some pics I took of the two of them today, but for now enjoy this pic of the two of them at 4 months.

Kissable!

I love the fact that when I look at K in profile her cheeks are so round that her little rosebud mouth isn't even visible. I love her cheeks - they make me want to kiss them all the time. Unfortunately then I wouldn't get anything done!

She did it!

So my youngest daughter just laughed at me. Glad to know that it starts out young!
No, really, I was tickling her tummy with my nose and she laughed! One of those "huh, huh, huh" deep belly laughs. Of course when I immediately tried to call my DH to have him hear, K stopped laughing and started talking away. Crazy kid!