Random Thoughts for the Day

Or maybe this should say random vents for the day? I am aware this may tick some people off but oh well its my blog and I can say what I want.

1. It really irritates me that some people leave their children every weekend because they need a break or to go party. If you need a break every weekend, I don't think you were ready to have children. Yes there are times when I could use a break and there are times when my parents will give me a break and watch the boys (thanks nana, papa g, mimi, and scooter). But in the grand scheme of things when the boys are eighteen and headed off to college will I sit and think I wish I would have spent more time relaxing? No! Will I wish I would have spent more time with my kids? ABSOLUTELY! These years are precious, soon they will be in school (sniff, sniff) and not want to spend time with their momma. I am so blessed to be able to stay home with them and soak it all in.

2. Onto the next rant, it also irritates me when people call me TELLING ME what I am going to do. Excuse me I think I am a grown woman and I will TELL YOU what I will be doing. And because me and my husband are Gabe and Grant's parents and have their best interest at heart, we will be calling the shots for them too. Afterall,  that is why they call US mama and dada.

3. On to better news, my wonderful husband gutted the whole master bath today. Woohoo! A week before the boys birthday party we had noticed wet carpet in the living room and found out it was coming from the shower in the master bath. Of course I was freaking out because their party was at our house and I was invisioning the smell of mildewed carpet throughout our house but once we stopped using the shower and used some fans to dry the carpet everything was a-okay. Our only option was to take the shower out so that we could fix the pipe so we figured we might as well remodel the bathroom because we had been wanting to do that anyways. We have been taking a shower in the guest bathroom which I also hate, so I will be glad when all of this is done. I wish I would have taken a before picture before it was gutted out, maybe I can find some from when we bought the house.

4. While he was being productive working on that I taped off the walls so I can paint the trim in the boys room. Sadly we never got around to doing the trim after we painted their room. It is now even harder to find time to do it because normally we work on stuff while they are sleeping but we couldn't for this project because of course they sleep in their room. I am also redecorating their room in a vintage cars theme. I wanted to do this while I was pregnant but I couldn't find any crib bedding so we went with a jungle theme. If I only knew what I know now, baby bedding is such a WASTE. You can't use the baby bumpers for the majority of the time because they could suffocate and because it is a pain to change the sheets with bumpers on, you can't use the quilt again because they can suffocate, the bed skirt has to go when you move the crib down to the lowest level. The only part you use is the sheets, so what's the point of it all?

Anyways, I doubt anyone is still reading but if you are God bless you! I will be keeping you updated on all our little projects.

All things LOVE-ly

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Ours was filled with all things sweet and snuggly.

I had my funny valentine...

And my sweet valentine.

Mommy made us some chocolate lollipops for the occasion.

We gave our "girlfriends" some banana puffs.

Mommy made us some grilled cheese sandwiches, strawberries, and rasberries for lunch....

The strawberries and rasberries were a BAD idea.

After lunch we went down for a nap or so Mommy thought but apparently they ordered me flowers and goodies.

After naptime we got more goodies from Nana. She came over to watch us while Mommy and Daddy went on a date. She gave us cards, cookies with our names on them, and some stacking cups.

Mimi and Scooter gave us these snuggly bears yesterday and we love them.

Momma's boys

Then mommy and daddy went out to dinner and bought us some stuff for our new big boy room decor. We had fun playing with Nana and when Mom and Dad came back Gabe decided he would give up on crawling and started walking.

Now that Valentine's Day is over I guess it is time to start planning/ decorating for Spring and Easter.

A Day in the Life of Us

Instead of doing the normal Thing I Don't Want to Forget post, I thought I would post a day in the life of us because I don't want to forget the day to day stuff. Ever since we brought them home, I have always said it will get easier when they can ____ (insert: sleep through the night, hold their own bottle, sit up, feed themselves solids, walk) but the truth is it never gets easier, it just changes. With every change there is good and bad but I wouldn't change any of it. Well enough of that on to our day.....

How blessed am I that I get to wake up to this....

And this. When I walk in the room they are literally jumping up and down as if they were saying "Pick Me, Pick Me first"

In order to be able to change them without them flopping all over the place I have to give them something to hold.

And they are dressed. Don't you just love Gabe's cheesy smile?

Then we have some cheerios and milk for breakfast...

while we watch our pals Regis and Kelly

I usually unload the dishwasher and do some laundry while they eat. I found this rubber duck in the washing machine, guess they thought rubber ducky needed to go for a swim.

Once they are done with breakfast we would normally go for a walk. It was a little to chilly for a walk this morning.

So we played with Lucy...

And dreamed about warmer weather where we could play outside...

Then they took turns pushing each other around in their cars.

Such a man, always gotta do things the hard way. Grant climbing up the slide.

All that hard work, made us hungry. So we hopped in the car and drove to Sonic to get us some lunch. Normally we would eat leftovers but we had steaks last night and didn't have any leftovers.

While they ate their chicken and tatertots, I made some heart shaped jello jigglers for them to have at snack.

After lunch, it is naptime. Unfortunately it is for the boys not me.

Meet my BFF Jillian. Ok so she isn't really my BFF, I HATE HER! But if she gets rid of these last few pre pregnancy pounds, we will be the best of friends.

Ok so after busting my booty doing that, I get everything prepped for dinner.

While digging in my pantry for stuff for dinner, I realize I never put the new liner I bought on my pantry shelves. Does this happen to anyone else, go in a room for one thing and find something else that needs to be done?

Remember the heart shaped jello I made for the boys? Well it was a HUGE FAIL!!

The boys woke up from their nap and they ate it anyways.

While they were eating jello I started dinner. We had Cajun Chicken Pasta.

The boys played while we ate dinner. Then they had their sippy cups of milk and we all watched American Idol..

And we had story time. They read their own books and then I read them If I Could Keep You Little. This is the sweetest book, it has a line in the book that says "If I could keep you little I'd keep you close to me, but then I'd miss you growing into who your meant to be." I will have to keep reminding myself that as they grow up.

Now it is time to get ready for baths and teethbrushing. They hate to have their teeth brushed and I have to sing the most ridiculous made up song to get their minds off it.

Grant-man crying because he doesn't want to go to bed. He is very obviously tired in this picture though, he always pulls on his ears when he is sleepy.

Well the boys day is over, but mine doesn't end until usually 1 AM. There is more laundry to do, stuff to organize, and stuff to craft. Oh well, I guess I can sleep when my kids are grown.

Wordless Wednesday

No words needed. This picture speaks for itself!

TIDWTFT

I can't believe another week has passed and it is already February. For those that don't know TIDWTFT stands for Things I Don't Want To Forget Thursday.

Gabe:
 He puts his hand up to his ear and starts babbling like he is talking on the phone.

He loves to get in the laundry basket. He will stay in there for thirty minutes just playing with the clothes, not even trying to get out.

Grant:
Started officially walking. He is no longer just taking a couple steps here and there.

Now that he can walk he has started to turn in circles. It makes me dizzy just to look at him.

Both:

We started practicing eating with a fork. They still need some assistance but they are doing very well for their age.

We are on Day 2 of no bottles. Those who aren't around us much probably don't think this is such a big deal. If you knew how much we struggled to find a sippy cup they would take( like I have two of every sippy cup ever made) you would understand how awesome this is.

They love to open and close doors and play peek-a-boo with each other by doing this. For example, Gabe will go in the laundry room and Grant will shut the door almost all the way and then fling it back open and they will laugh and laugh.

If one baby cries because he gets hurt by falling down or smashing his fingers in a drawer, the other baby will cry too. It is neat to see the special bond they have being twins.

TIDWTFT

So if you don't know what TIDWTFT means, it is Things I Don't Want To Forget Thursday. Every Thursday I am going to try and write something that the boys have done in the past week that I don't want to forget.

Gabe:

-He loves to stand on his head and look between his legs. So silly!
-If I feed him by fork or spoon, he will take the food out of his mouth look at it and put it back.
- He started saying bear last night. It comes out more like "air" but I know what he is saying.

Grant:
-He finally decided he would say dada. Before he would shake his head no if Kevin tried to get him to say it.
-He calls Gabe "GaGa" or "Bubba"

Things I Couldn't Live Without

Since the boys are one year old I decided I would compile a list of all the things I couldn't have survived without that first year. Ok so maybe I could have survived without these things but I wouldn't be sane.
The boppy was something we used everyday not only when I was nursing but for bottle feeding too. Pretty much every three hours you could find me on the floor leaned up against my recliner with a bottle in each hand feeding the boys on their boppys. Even when they could hold their own bottles we still used the boppys to prop them up on.

The sterilizer is the item that has probably got the most use. I used this to sanitize all the bottles before the boys were born and still use it now that the boys are one. It also works great for breast pump parts and pacifiers.

This is the Halo Sleepsack with the swaddler, it was the best swaddling blanket we found and I used it until the boys were around 5 months. A lot of people called this the straight jacket but after seeing how much it calmed them, they knew why I put the boys in it. My boys were the kind that like their feet to be free but their arms still needed to be swaddled because they would fling them in their sleep and wake theirselves up. Another good thing about the sleepsack is that it zips from the bottom up so you can change that diaper without undoing the swaddle.

This is great if your baby has colic, gas, or hiccups. The good thing is it is all natural. Gripe Water always worked better than Mylicon for my boys.

I always loved Trumpette socks because they are so cute, but they also serve another great purpose. THEY STAY ON THEIR FEET!!! You can ask anybody that came to my house when the boys were newborns, we had socks EVERYWHERE because they kept falling  off their feet until we found Trumpette. They come in many different styles. Of course now my boys purposefully take off their socks.

We had a mobile when the boys were in the same crib but when the boys moved to seperate cribs we used this  Fisher Price Ocean Wonders music projector. Have you ever tried to sync two mobiles together? It is impossible, it just sounds like a jumbled mess. That is when we switched to this and both boys can see and hear it from their individual cribs. Don't have twins? I would still reccomend this just because it is cheaper and will last longer (you should not have a mobile once your child is old enough to grab it).

The Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo was worth every penny. We got it for the boys when they were around 4 months. At first they just sat in it and played then when they realized they could jump they didn't stop and provided a lot of entertainment for mom and dad also.

I ordered this shopping cart cover from Peanut's Boutique on Etsy. There are many places that sell these but I picked this one because it doesn't have the cushioning that most have which makes it very bulky. Since I have to carry two of them in my diaper bag the last thing I want is to have something that takes up a lot of space. To be honest though, I don't use this much as a shopping cart cover ( I would if I just had one baby though, we have to use the stroller everywhere we go). However it gets a lot of use as a high chair cover when we go to restraunts. The toy loop is another good feature, so you aren't fetching toys all through out dinner.

If you like to eat out, this is another MUST HAVE! Your waiter will thank you. Does your child see a plate/bowl of food and the first thing he does is swipe it off the table or dump all the food out? Well this placemat will help with this. It suctions to the table and has a catch-all that will get all those pieces that missed your little ones mouth. It also folds up very compact.

My secret to a sucessful shopping trip? Snack trap with a endless supply of treats(ex cheerios and puffs). The snack trap has slits that they can fit their chubby finger in but they aren't big enough they can take a whole handful and if they drop it no clean up. People always compliment on the boys behavior when we are out and about with our snack trap.

Our favortie bibs are the Bumkins bibs. They catch all the food that misses their mouth, machine washable or you can wipe them down with a wet cloth. What more could you want?


I was not paid for any of my opinions in this post. I just love these products and hope this list can help someone else out.