Makes My Monday: Super Daddy and Super Auntie!

This weekend, my Mother of Twins Club had their Spring tag sale and I was a seller for the second time. I didn't have too much but was eager to rid of some baby items as well as a plethora of plastic toys that my parents dump on me with each of their weekly visits. The sale is quite the undertaking and sellers have to set up Friday night and work from 6am Saturday morning until about 3pm that afternoon. In my absence, Daddy and Auntie Kim stepped in to look after the kiddos - Kim in charge of Matteo and Daddy with Sebastian and Collette.

Daddy took the kids to the mall and reported back that they behaved PERFECTLY! He braved the Rain Forest Cafe where they politely ate their whole lunch and, as a special surprise for me, got their picture taken with the Easter Bunny! Apparently, they loved him and each gave him a hug before saying good-bye. Figures, right? But I'm glad they are good for him because then he'll take them out solo more often.

Auntie Kim was stuck with Matteo. I say "stuck with" because, contrary to what I thought, he is just not that into his new sippy cup. I was able to nurse him right before I left in the morning but he still nurses every two hours so he had a hard time going down for his nap without me. When he woke up, Kim brought him down to the sale (thank goodness it's just down the street from my house!) and I filled up his little tank. Then she decided to show him off and met up with a friend of hers at a cafe in Davis Square. With a full belly, he behaved like the little angel he is.

Meanwhile, I had a great time at the sale. Saw all my big stuff go off to new homes and hopefully a lot of my little stuff sold, too. I donated everything that didn't sell because Billy would've divorced me if I came back with anything. I also picked up some new things for the kids - summer clothes, rain coats, a T-ball set, sand and water table, toy lawn motor (to match the one they already have and CONSTANTLY fight over), a few books and a toy car ramp. All in all, I know I made out on the plus side by quite a lot. Definitely a success all around.

Also, to propel myself back to regular postings, I am going to commit, here and now, to an overdue post for Matteo (he's 8 months old now!!!) and a Flat Twins post - all this week. Some of you know where the Flat Twins are but for those of you who don't, stay tuned! I have some very cute pics coming :)

I didn't want to jinx it

That's at least one reason why my Valentine's Day post is 2 days late. The other being that I am a bad blogger.

Valentine's Day was pretty uneventful this year. No exchanging of gifts. Just a nice dinner out with me and Billy. Cards to one another. Flowers. The kids did some crafts:

Collette's Valentine to Daddy

But it was Sebastian who made this a special Valentine's Day. He gave me the gift of going a whole day without crying. To be honest, I'm not sure if that was the first time or not. But it was the first day that I ever noticed that he didn't cry. So, either way, it was a big deal for me. Maybe he is turning some sort of corner, developmentally. His language is doing much better but he is still progressing at his own, slow pace. Or maybe it's just his age. In which case, I hope this is more of a permanent shift and not just one of those phases. I can deal with crying every so often but everyday, multiple times a day crying fits over (seemingly) meaningless things is hard on me. Oh ya, and him.

By the way, yesterday was also a no-cry day. He almost lost it over a new car puzzle during our EI session but held it together. We'll see how today goes. So far, so good.

***

On a separate note, thanks for your input on the preschool thing. More on that later.

ES Pics - Por Fin!

Blame it on Christmas, El Salvador and the iPad

It has been over a month since I have updated here - definitely my longest stretch to date. I have no good excuses but my lame excuses are that I had too much to do for Christmas, I was in El Salvador for 2 weeks and I have been playing with my new iPad non-stop. (I know I can blog on my iPad but my typing skills are already horrible and only get worse when using the iPad.)

I have so much to write about that I'm not sure where to begin. It was Matteo's first Christmas. It was the first Christmas where the twins understood that they had gifts and knew to unwrap them. Hopefully next year they will know not to unwrap other people's gifts. We began 2 new Christmas traditions: Christmas pajamas (on Christmas Eve) and Christmas croissants baked by yours truly. It was my first time making croissants (used the bread machine to make the dough) and they came out OK: A- for taste, C for looks.

Three days after Christmas, we got on a plane (and then another) to head to El Salvador. I was really anxious leading up to this trip - I am pretty comfortable being outnumbered by my kids when I'm at home or out and about in familiar places but running through airports to make connections, not so much. In the end, the trip was fine. Sebastian and Collette were great, mostly thanks to copious amounts of snacks and the potable DVD players. Matteo did well but didn't nap as much as I would have liked. He did poop though, which may not seem weird but he only poops once a week. And he saved it for the plane. And then he did same thing on the way home. Figures.

Being in El Salvador was great. Billy has all the pictures on his iPhone and we haven't been home long enough to upload them all to my computer but I'll be sharing them soon enough. With so many adult hand around, it truly was a vacation. Next year will be even better since I won't be nursing a baby every two hours. The beach was so much more fun now that the twins are a year older. Last year they didn't even know how to play in the sand. This time, they could have done it for hours! The ocean was a bit overwhelming for them, even though it didn't have waves, but it's just as well. One less thing to worry about.

And now, we're back home, covered in 2 new feet of snow. Leading up to Christmas and New Years I had been very exasperated with life. But our vacation did its job and feel renewed and energetic. Lord knows I need it!

Craftiness: Silhouette Portraits

Every so often, my crafty side makes its way to the surface. Lately, it came around to help with Christmas. It knows I need it.

Specifically, I needed help getting a cute gift for the grandparents that wasn't a typical picture of the kids is some picture frame that says "LOVE" or "FAMILY" on top. Luckily, a week or so ago, I saw on the Zimmer Zoo a post about silhouette portraits. There is a very talented local artists who does them free-hand (ya, amazing, I know). She was in town but I didn't have my act together to make an appointment. Shocking, right? But I still loved the idea as something a little different but just as nice to give to as a gift. So, I was on a quest to do it myself.

My Google search for how to do it resulted in a lot of professionals, which would require time and money, two things I don't have lots of. But, I found another blog (I would link but for the life of me, I can't find it now...) that showed how to do it yourself. She used Photoshop. I don't have Photoshop so I had to improvise. If you, like me, are short on time, money and Photoshop, here is how you can still do your very own silhouette portraits:

Step 1

Take a picture of your child in profile. Catch them while they are watching TV or something else interesting. You may already have a photo that works - check your albums.

Step 2

Using whatever software you have (I use Picasa), crop your picture so that you can zoom in just on the head. Then, to save on color ink, switch it to black and white or grayscale.


Step 3

Using MS Powerpoint (or MS Word, but I prefer PP), insert your photo onto the page and adjust it (keeping the ratio intact) to your desired size. The first ones I did were as big as possible and now will barely fit into an 8X10 frame. Learn from my mistakes and do them a bit smaller. You could also fit two on one Powerpoint slide and that will give you portraits appropriate for a 5X7 frame.

Step 4

Print out the slide. With a pen or pencil, trace along the outline of the head and face. Then cut out very careful along your line. Be especially careful around the nose and mouth as those areas will really tell you whose portrait it is.

Step 5

Take your cut out and trace it onto very nice black paper. I found this paper at a craft store. Its much heavier than regular card stock but regular card stock would work just fine. Just don't use construction paper - it's not a very dark black and won't look as nice in the end. Cut out along your lines, again very carefully, especially on the face.

Step 6

Now you can mount your portrait. I sued the same kind of paper for my mount (not shown in the picture below) in an off-white color to give it an antique-y look.


Step 7

Place in your frame of choice, wrap and give to Grandma.

Mini NaBloPoMo - Day 1

It's been really difficult for me to devote time to blogging lately (reading, commenting and especially writing) that I was looking forward to NaBloPoMo as a way to motivate myself. But naturally, November 1st came and went (along with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th) so I can't honestly participate this year. However, I have a plan to do a half-NaBloPoMo. Think of it like a half marathon. Except way easier.

I am starting today because today marks Day 1 of a 15-day solo parenting spree. That's right - me and my 3 under 2 gang are all alone for 15 straight days as Billy is on a business trip to Asia. I told him how jealous I was that he gets to go on this exotic trip and he looked at me like I was crazy. He knows that flying across the world so that you can work 12+ hour days is not a fun, exotic trip. He kept going on and on about how much he didn't want to go and how he'd miss us. Grass is always greener, and all that shit.

Since I'll be posting every day for the next two weeks, I will be piggybacking on some memes out there. I haven't done a Halloween post (I'll save that for later!), so I'll participate in LauraC's Show me the Mommy! with a little sneak preview:

Me and Tater at our Twin's Club Halloween party that I co-organized

Stay tuned to keep me honest with my mini-NaBloPoMp!

A Father's Day Project

For Father's Day this year, I figured the kids should make their own father's day gifts now that they have some motor skills. Finger painting seemed as good an idea as any and I was lucky enough to have Auntie Kim over yesterday to help out. Both Sebastian and Collette enjoyed this new activity in their own way, both staying true to their budding personalities.

"You want me to get my fingers dirty??"

"Yay! I'm making a colorful mess and no one is yelling at me!"

"OK, I'm liking this but I'll just use my fingertips."

"This paint feels so gooey ALL OVER MY HANDS!!!"

This is definitely a project we will have to repeat. They were pissed when I took the paints away but bedtime was calling and the paper was getting pretty soaked and I feared for my dining room table.

Any other "mediums" you suggest for 18 month old artists?? We tried stickers but, apparently, they look too much like snacks. Ditto for crayons.

Anniversary Celebration

Yesterday, Billy and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. Fun that it fell on a Friday and we were able to see each other and go out. I made reservations at an all-too fancy and all-too pricey French restaurant in Boston but it was totally worth it. We used to go out to somewhat fancy dinners a few times a month back in our DINK days. I guess once a year is OK now. :)

Naturally, we had no one to take our picture and I felt weird asking someone at the restaurant to do it - not that kind of place, IMO. Anyway, we got a decent shot of ourselves and a preggo picture of me in my slightly scandalous, no bra (yikes!) dress.

So proud of myself for rocking the stilettos at 34 weeks!

PS - I forgot to mention I had a glass of wine. My first this pregnancy, haha!

New Year's, El Salvador Style

First off, let me just confess: I did not make it until midnight on New Year's Eve. Sun and beach and two 13-month olds will wear you out, no doubt, and add to that all the energy my body is expending trying to sustain yet another life and I need me my eight hours of sleep!

But still, it was a very enjoyable New Year's. We got to the beach on the 29th and left on the 1st - a nice chunk of time to spend sans TV, computer or phones. The kids had a great time although they definitely preferred the kiddie pool to the Pacific.

We did lots of relaxing, naturally. And Billy tried to get the kids to join in, too, but they only have two speeds: full and off. However, he did manage to read them half a story in the hammock before they started wiggling around like little piglets.

The high lights of New Year's Eve were watching the sunset while we were in the ocean with the kids (last sunset of 2009!) and the food. That night, a cousin of our friends made a huge and delicious paella, with seafood that was mostly caught that morning from the town we were in. Here's a peak:

A lovely minivacation indeed. And to clarify from my last post (FavAuntie!), we will not go to El Salvador every Christmas - just every New Year's. And every other year, we will go for both. It's the best time to go because it's their "summer" - not because they are in the Southern Hemisphere (they aren't) but because they consider summer to be the dry season (although it's cooler) and the wet season is winter (although it's hotter). I don't try to make sense of it, I just go with flow. And enjoy the sunshine every day.

I'm Back, Biatch!

Yes, I'm back. Back to reality and freezing temperatures and a painful 1:2 adult:child ratio. 15 days in El Salvador truly spoiled all of us. After 2 days there, I was almost in tears at the thought of coming home - sorry Mom!! Life down there is just so much easier. No cooking or cleaning or laundry. All the beans and rice a pregnant girl could want. Beautiful weather. But when the 15 days were up, most of me was ready to come home. I missed Lola. I missed my family. I missed speaking 100% in English. And now that we are back, I realize it's not so bad. We all fell right back into our lovely routine as if we had never left and things just feel right.

I have so much to write about the trip and plenty of pictures to go with it. My new camera is great and I will be able to upload all my photos tonight when I install all the software. Without any pictures for this post, I will just share with some quick highlights/interesting things from our vacation:

• Collette learned to walk. I know I said she has been taking steps but by Christmas, she was walking full time. Sebastian is just now showing signs that he is ready, taking more steps by himself to get to his favorite toys.
• In Spanish, they have a special word for "to hold" when you are talking about holding a baby/person. I think it's because they do it so often. Seriously, it's amazing Collette learned to walk considering how much time she spent in someone's arms.
• I found out that kids in El Salvador start preschool (they call it "kinder") at about 18 months old, some even younger! And its 5 days a week, 8-12!! I won't even tell you how little it costs. Lucky bastards.
• In El Salvador, it seems that they don't know what ear infections are. I was quite worried Collette had an ear infection because she had a very bad runny nose, fever and was just so cranky - very unlike her. When I mentioned my hypothesis to Billy, he thought it was his fault because she dunked her head underwater in the bath while he was washing her. When I mentioned it to someone else, they looked at me strangely and asked when Collette had gone swimming. The only ear infection they are familiar with is "swimmers ear", not the inner ear infection I was referring to. Weird, right?
• The beach was a complete disaster. Well, the sand, anyway. How do people take their kids to the beach at this age? The sand-eating and sand-in-the-eyes caused a complete meltdown for poor Sebastian. Collette didn't seemed to mind as she just kept eating the sand, non-stop. She also eats dirt. Is it considered pica when it's a baby doing it?
• My kids are totally bilingual!! Well, you know, in receptive language. They're not talking just yet. But they understand so much in both languages, I was so amazed. I think it really helped to have so many people around them talking and interacting. Another reason I was scared to come home - they are all alone here.

All in all, we had a wonderful time and will probably go back at that time each year. Which means next year we will have 2 two-year olds and a 5 month old. Yikes!

El Salvador or Bust!

We are leaving in less than 20 hours for the airport to get on a flight to Miami, to then get on another flight to San Salvador. And, even though I started packing over the weekend, there is still so much to do. Mostly we are worried about how to keep the twins entertained and well fed on the flights. We get to the airport so early that I'm not sure any shops will be open to buy last minute snacks. And even if they were, I doubt we would have time. Also, our Miami layover is only 90 minutes so if we are late getting in, we won't have much time to stop and eat either. I guess I should ask if a mini-fridge is allowed as a carry-on.

But in all honesty, I'm very excited for our trip - definitely more excited than worried. Once you are on the plane, there is no turning back, no matter how bad it gets. So, if/when it does get bad, you just grin and bear it and think about how sweet it will be to have doting family and friends for two whole weeks. With 80 degree temperatures. And beach houses. And lake houses. And mountain houses. Have I mentioned that I love El Salvador?

Also, Billy got me a new camera for Christmas. Its a Nikon Coolpix and I think will be able to get some better shots of my ever-moving targets (Sebastian, Collette) than my Sony Cybershot. I will try and post as much as I can from El Salvador. Especially pictures of their insane birthday party and of Christmas. And of them in the swimming pool, because who doesn't like to see a baby in a pool?

So, I'm off to pack and pack some more and run errands and try not to pass out from exhaustion (thanks baby #3). Wish us luck!!

Bah Humbug

A couple weeks ago, Billy and I decided that we would not be having a Christmas tree this year. Which officially makes me feel like a scrooge. But I have at least 2 very good reasons why a Christmas tree is just not in the cards for us this season.

Obviously, reasons 1 and 2 are Sebastian and Collette, not necessarily in that order. I know that there are lots of ways to "child-proof" a tree. We can anchor it to the wall. We can buy a superyard and put this around the tree (because Christmas isn't expensive enough already). But honestly, none of that will keep them from doing naughty things. Mostly, I am worried about them eating pine needles. Maybe that's not a big deal but I really don't want to find out.

Also, we are going to El Salvador for Christmas. We are leaving on December 18th. So, if we had put the tree up right after Thanksgiving (which is what we usually do) we would have the tree for about 3 weeks. And when we got home, we would have a dried out tree with a huge pine needle mess. No thanks.

Even decorating is posing a challenge. I can't hang the stockings with care because the twins will most definitely rip them down within seconds. I can't put up any of the garland I use around the doors and banisters for the same reason. Ditto the Christmas tablecloth. Sheesh. This is what I get for having an open floor plan...

Needless to say, my house is not feeling very festive. I miss the holiday spirit that comes with decorating but know this just a one time deal. Now I just need to focus my brain on shopping and wrapping - that should bring some Christmas cheer my way!!

Did anyone else have to pass on the decorations for a year when your kids were a certain age?

Thursday Theater: Scary Parenting

For our children's first Halloween, we made sure that neither the camera nor the video camera had a charged battery. So, all photos/videos from Halloween are from my 3-year old, free-with-two-year-subscription cell phone. On the upside, we did have lovely weather Saturday and hung out at the farmer's market with all the other costumed families. And then we let Sebastian try to develop a nasty habit:










Another fine parenting moment.

Halloween Weekend

I haven't posted in a while because I have been quite busy doing things other than parenting twins, cleaning and cooking.  This year, I volunteered to organize our Mother of Twins club annual Halloween Party and we finally had it this past Saturday! 

The party was a big success, as far as I could tell.  I was freaking out a little bit because we had approximately double the number of RSVPs compared to last year and I was was sure we would break some sort of fire code.  But, with so many small people, 200 guests didn't really seem like that many and I'm sure we had a lot of no-shows.  The entertainment was great - we hired Joyce with Wiggles and Giggles and she did a fantastic job getting the kids singing and dancing.  For those of you in the area, she does do smaller events, like birthday parties and such, so check out her site if you're looking for a fun, non-clown, non-magician entertainer for your little ones.  And, as always, the bounce house was HUGE hit. 

Of course, I have no pictures because I was so busy running around playing hostess.  Billy got a few good ones on his phone so I'll have to steal those later.  In the meantime, Zimmer Zoo has some shots of her nuggets at the party - check 'em out here!

Now that this is behind us, I have to start planning the twins' first birthday party.  Would it be totally white trash of me to have the party at Chuck E Cheese, considering my kids won't even be walking, let alone playing games?  *Sigh*

Finally, they like TV

Ya, I know most responsible parents would love to have their kids grow up in a world with no TV.  So, color me irresponsible.  I grew up on TV - cartoons, sitcoms, bad movies (think Weekend at Bernie's followed by Problem Child), and eventually reality TV.  And I love it.  I'm not ashamed.  I also played sports and had jobs and friends and got (very) good grades.  I guess in my opinion, its just not the end of the world.  And if it means my kids will be meltdown-free for their usual fussy times (right before nap/bedtime) - then what's wrong with a little TV??  Nuttin'!!

Anyway, a while back, through the mommy grapevine, I heard of the show Backyardigans.  All the moms reading this know what I'm talking about.  Maybe even some aunties/uncles/grandparents out there do, too.  To those who have yet to be indoctrinated in the world of all things baby/kid, Backyardigans is just some musical cartoon where they have imaginary adventures and sing their way through each episode.  Every mom I know SWEARS by their magical power to captivate audiences of all ages, but namely those from 0-5 years old.  Maybe older, I'll let you know when we get there.  So, when Sebastian and Collette went through a very fussy period at 5/6 months, I tried to exorcise their infant demons with the Backyardigans. No dice.  They "watched" for about 4 minutes and they were all like, whatever Mom, this sucks.  Apparently, my kids were immune.

But today, it dawned on me that I hadn't tried it since then.  Now that they are 10 months old, I assume they see the world (and the TV) a lot differently.  They have their favorite commercials (on the shows I watch) - mostly an Amica commercial and the one for Bernie and Phyls.  Go figure.  Anyway, I figured if they like commercials, maybe they are ready to step it up and enjoy an actual cartoon.  I had a bunch of epsiodes taped from way back when and put one on - it was about ancient Greece (is that a good one???)  And whaddya know - they liked it!  Not glued to the TV as I imagined they might be but definitely interested.  Now, I didn't really need to get anything done - this was more of an experiment.  But now I know that if I do need to get something done, like prep their meal, run their bath, get their bottles ready, etc., they have something in addition to mountains of toys to entertain them. 

And because I know the real reason you come here is to see some cute pics, here is some season-appropriate attire to get the kids in the holiday spirit.

He's getting a little ahead of himself...

Sebastian, ever the optimist:

Sorry buddy, but Christmas is a LONG way away.  Until then, we'll have to distract you with Halloween, your birthday and Thanksgiving.  Think you can make it?

I proved you wrong, Daddy!

Although we are thoroughly enjoying parenthood, Billy and I feel like sometimes these infant days/weeks/months just drag. Little milestones and accomplishments seem to take forever. They start to do one thing (sleep through the night, roll over, sit up, etc.) and then it's a month later before they do the next thing. S...l...o...w.

Billy decided a while ago that they will simply never walk, talk or have teeth. Well, he was wrong on that last one. My little boy was gnawing on my finger this morning (lovely!) and I suddenly felt something sharp, Holy crap, a tooth!! Billy almost got me believing in a toothless, wordless future that I had forgotten to expect them. You can just barely see it peeking through so I can't take a picture and even if I did you wouldn't be able to see because I still haven't fixed my camera cord/computer feud.

And, in other milestone news, both Sebastian and Collette are pulling up. The other day, I caught Collette standing up in her crib (that just days before we had moved down - thank goodness!!!) while I was getting Sebastian downstairs. When I saw her, it almost scared me, like some creepy stranger had broken into the house for the sole purpose of standing her up in her crib and freaking me out. But alas, no crazy people. Just a baby girl getting less baby and more toddler every day. Sebastian, not to be outdone, has evolved from pushing up on low pieces of furniture to pulling up using taller pieces, He especially like to pull up on the bouncy seat, the part where the toys hang from - it's sturdier than it sounds and is the perfect height and shape.

Lastly, Collette is CRAWLING!! She kind of started over the weekend but yesterday was the day she really got her sheez together and covered some distance. And now, it's like old news. She does it all the time and I'm all, whatevs, you did that yesterday. But seriously, I am excited about this. She can now get to and from different toys whereas before she would just whine and we would have to change things up for her. Of course, the babies get up in each other's business more often now which results in more toy fights. And I realize this is only the beginning but I'm welcoming these changes. I don't think I will be one of those moms who mourns babyhood. I enjoy forward progress and even way back when I was just a mom-to-be, I only ever dreamed of doing fun toddler/kid things. I honestly never thought about baby things, mostly because I never knew any babies. So, bring it toddlerhood!! I'm ready! :)

And here are a couple pictures that I lifted from my cousin's FB page - thanks Brett!! We were enjoying a Labor Day BBQ - I'll post on that tomorrow now that I have lots of pics to steal.

Way Back When-esday: Fourth of July

My cousin's girlfriend, Rachel, is a freelance photographer and got to take lots of pictures of the babies (and mommy and daddy!) at our family's 4th of July cook out.

This outing actually went VERY well, compared to our memorial Day cook out which was a disaster for us. Amazing what a difference a month in age and a little experience for mom and dad can make! Due to their happy dispositions, we got a lot of great baby/family shots and here a few of the best ones:

Not sure what we are going to do about this binkie habit...

Her perfect little curious face

Colie looks pissed and of course the dog isn't cooperating but I'm so glad to have a nice picture of all 5 of us!

More flashbacks can be found at Twinfatuation!