Dr. Suess Thing 1 and Thing 2 Birthday Party

In honor of Dr. Suess's Birthday this week (which is on March 2nd in case you didn't know) I thought I would show you my boys Thing 1 and Thing 2 party that we had for them on New Years Day. The theme was perfect for my boys who can tear up a house fast these days.

This is the invitation we used. Obviously that black dot was not on the original invitation, I used that to cover up our personal information. We got these from the etsy seller thepartyshoppe.

In case you couldn't tell in the invitation we used their one year pictures we had taken eating their cake. These were taken by Cole Photography. The cakes were made by my awesome friend Jessica. The shirts were made by the etsy seller snugglesoflove.

This was the sign in table. I had everyone sign the Dr. Suess book Happy Birthday to You! with well wishes for the boys. I also wrote a letter in there for them. I think I will do this every year at their party with a book that fits the birthday theme.

This is the sign that let everyone know to sign the book. I got this idea from Michelle at So Wonderful, So Marvelous. Doesn't she have the cutest ideas?

My boys birthday is on December 26th and I had their party on New Years, so my christmas tree was still up so I just made it a birthday tree. I bought some ornaments in blue (I already had the red ones) and also had some handmade ornaments. I made them using the pages out of a old Cat in the Hat book, some Dr. Suess stickers I found in the Target dollar spot and of course my trusty Silhouette.

This is the cake table. I had cut out some red felt into circles and I forgot to put them on the table. I think that would have made it pop a little more. The banner is pictures I took of the boys every month in their glider with a teddy bear(my teddy bear I had as a child). I also had pictures from their one year photo shoot on the table.

Their smash cakes and cupcakes were also made by my friend Jessica.

The boys loved digging into their cakes. They wore their One Fish, Two Fish bibs for the occasion. I made the banners for their highchairs using red and blue cardstock and again I used the old Cat In the Hat book to make the letters.

The boys with all their loot. Can you say spoiled?

First I should say this is pretty much how every family picture turns out, always one trying to escape. I got our Thing 1 and Thing 2 and Mom of Things shirts from the etsy seller dzns4ubyme. They were hand painted. Now before you ask where my husbands Dad of Things shirt is, I knew he wouldn't wear it so I figured I wouldn't even waste the money.

The sign that told everyone to take a cookie as a favor. We decided to do this in lieu of goody bags because we had mostly adults and babies.

My cousin Cathryn and I stayed up late working on these sugar cookies. Thanks Cathryn!

Hope you enjoyed our party! Happy Birthday Dr. Suess and my sweet nephew Brandon who also has a birthday on the 2nd! Now go read a Dr. Suess book in honor of him. My personal favorite is Horton Hatches the Egg.

Our Favorite Books

My favorite to read to my little guys is If I Could Keep You Little. It reminds me that as much as I would like to keep them little, I have to let them them grow up and experience things. One of the lines in the book is "If I could keep you little, I'd keep you close to me. But then I'd miss you growing into who you're meant to be."

They love for me to read them The Little Engine That Could. I think they like the sound effects I make the most. I hope they learn the lessons this book has to teach too.

My favorite childhood books were the Amelia Bedelia books. I can't wait until the boys are old enough to understand the humor in these books.

Go check out what books are the favorites of other Moms of Multiples. Happy Reading!



Losing It!

No I am not losing my mind, I am losing weight (WooHoo)!

For those that don't know me, I never really struggled with weight until I had my boys, so this has been quite the challenge for me. Maybe because I thought it would come off in just a few months, boy was I wrong because here we are 14 months later and I am still not to my pre-preggo weight. 

So before I get into what I weigh now, let us take a little trip down memory lane shall we?

This is me in Summer 2008. A little less than a year before I got pregnant weighing around 115.

This is me at 10 weeks. At my first doctor appt. I weighed 120. This is me at 10 weeks and I weighed 119. Since I spent everyday over a toilet throwing up I lost a pound but still managed to grow a little pooch.

Me and my grandpa comparing bellies. I am 23 weeks here. I had just found out I was having twins a couple weeks before this.

This was at one of my showers. I was 25 weeks. Look how high my belly was!!!

This was on my birthday which was also Thanksgiving Day. I even cooked dinner (looks like I ate the whole turkey). I was 32 weeks pregnant.

At 34 weeks, I had went into labor once and they stopped it. I got put on modified bed rest and my mom came over to help me put the finishing touches on the nursery. Notice the belly hanging out? I loved to wear my old t-shirts to sleep in even if they were way small.

I didn't know it at the time but I would deliver the boys just hours later. I was 36 weeks and my belly measured 52 weeks. So for those of you that haven't had twins just imagine having to go 12 more weeks after you were full term. For the record, even with a stomach this big I had no stretch marks on it. Now before you want to slap me, I did get stretch marks on my calves of all places from all the swelling that occurred 3 days before I delivered. Thankfully even those are very faint now. When I got to the hospital, they weighed me even though I was in pretty intense labor. I weighed 178. At the doctors office the week before I weighed 169, so either I ate a lot of Christmas dinner or it was the swelling. I am going with the latter.

Leaving the hospital, I was 3 days postpartum. What I wasn't prepared for was all the swelling in my legs and feet that I would still have 2 weeks postpartum. I weighed around 160 when I checked out of the hospital. My boys weighed 5lbs 10oz and 5lbs 15 oz.

By two months postpartum I weighed 145. I was nursing and then my supply gradually dropped no matter what I tried so I had to stop nursing because pumping 2 oz every four hours is nothing when your babies combined are eating 12 oz every three hours and it was taking time away from snuggling with my loves. When the nursing stopped the pounds stopped coming off too.

So fast forward to 14 months post partum and I now weigh...

( posted a picture cause it is kinda hard to lie about your weight when you have a picture of you on the scale...not that I would EVER lie about my weight or anything haha)

So as far as diets go I am not that good at them. I LOVE food way too much. So I.....

-eat smaller portions (most of the time)

- eat bigger breakfast and lunch

-if I eat dinner, I try to eat before 5ish

- drink lots of crystal light and water when I am home (hate the water at restaurants)

I try to get some form of exercising in each day. Whether it be....

 -  going on jogs around the neighborhood when the weather is nice. We jog for 2 miles.

-  doing the Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred workout video.

-Or Jillian Michaels: No More Trouble Zones workout video (this one is my fave).
- And the one that will for sure get you into shape if nothing else will....

Insanity was my last resort and you have to want it bad to get through 60 days of this.

-And the best workout of all....chasing after two toddlers. What's that? You don't have two toddlers? No fear, I will let you borrow mine for an hour ;)

Here I am now, 10 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight.

(sorry for the bad quality pic)

So now I want to know how are you losing it?

I still have 10 lbs to go but honestly I don't care if I lose all 10 as long as I have a flatter stomach.

TIDWTFT

So for those that don't know TIDWTFT stands for Things I Don't Want To Forget Thursday.

Gabe:
-I taught him how to say "mmmm" after each bite and now he says it after each bite and giggles.

Grant:
-He comes up to me when I am sitting on the floor and pats my back and says "mama". Now he has been saying mama for awhile now so that is not new but he finally gets that I am mama. Its not just another babbling sound he makes. Such an awesome feeling and what a proud mama I am of both my boys.

Both:
-They have this new thing where they like to trade cheerios when I have their highchairs placed close enough to one another. I even caught it on video. Excuse the bad quality, I really need to start using my video camera for videos insead of my still camera.

Way Back When-sday

This is the slideshow I made to commemerate their first year of life and since I wasn't blogging then I thought I would show it to you all. WARNING: IT IS VERY LONG AND MAY BRING YOU TO TEARS.  I may or may not have watched this video a hundred times and cried every time. It is just so crazy to see how much they grow and learn in that first year.

Totally Organized Tuesdays- The Laundry Edition

I thought I would start this as I have been asked a lot recently about how I organize my home. Now one would think that having twins would have sent my house into complete chaos but quite the opposite is true. My motto is " a place for everything and everything in its place". Now if only my husband would get on board with this motto.

So today I will show you a few things I have done in my laundry room to make it more efficient. Unfortunately none of these tips will make the laundry do itself, but if you have figured that out please let me know ;)

This is my laundry sorting system: Towels, Whites, Colors, Jeans. I also have a hamper in the master bedroom and one in the boy's room. I bring those hampers in the laundry room and then sort the clothes. I made these by cutting out vinyl on my Silhouette.

I made this "tip jar" because there is a lot of money that circulates through our laundry from my husband's pockets. So I figured he can't remember to empty his pockets, I will just tip myself for emptying them. If you are reading this hunny, I prefer money to the ink pens you have been known to leave in your pockets and then get washed and turn all the clothes blue...just saying. This was also made with vinyl cut by my silhouette.

Lost socks are a big issue in our house. I finally found out why though, my sweet little Gabe has been hoarding socks behind his bed. He doesn't take off both though just one so that explains why I have a whole bin full of socks with no match. I started buying socks from old navy that just come in navy, white, and gray. They match everything and are easier to find a match. One good thing about spring and summer in Texas is no socks needed. I made this using scrapbook paper and my silhouette. I didn't realize this bin  was so much smaller than my others, I could have made the label smaller.

I hope someone finds this post helpful!