Funny little story...

So, yesterday as I was changing one of the boys, Lexi came in.  After he had been cleaned up she looks between his legs and says "Mama!  Him have a BIG poopy in there!"  He did not.  We knew she'd notice eventually...

Stripey Shirts

The other day the boys wore their fancy polo shirts that Gramma bought in Seattle and I took these pictures.

Today they wore them again because we had company. Lexi made some fun observations about Benjamin in his orange striped shirt and sang him the following...

"Look at you in your orange stripey-shirt. You are so cute. Do you know Mommy has an orange stripey shirt? You are a dressed like a pretty girl, just like Mommy in her orange stripey shirt, etc."

Our daughter is going to be so confused one day when she starts to sort this all out, hehehe.

This Morning

I was running late to work this morning because I slept in, because the boys had been extra awake between midnight and 5am. Anyhow, it meant that I was still home when Lexi got up. Well actually, I was walking out the door while listening to her cry out on the monitor, and then Angela ran out to tell me that Lexi really wanted to say goodbye.

I go back into the house and Lexi leaps into my arms, apologizing that she really wanted to say good-bye. So we had a little snuggle, and then Angela asked if she wanted a hard boiled egg for breakfast. Lexi said yes, and then asked how she could help. Angela said she could put the eggs in the pot. Then Lexi asked how mommy could help. I said I would go to work and earn money, and that's how I would help. Lexi said, "But we don't buy eggs at the bank!!!"

Then she decided that she was good and ready to say good-bye. So she pushes me at the door so she can start waving.

"Bye Mommy, having fun working in the sun."
"Bye Mommy, see you later, have a good day."
"Mama, say have a good day to Mommy."

Chicky cupcakes

Cupcakes baked with Amma

So when my mom came to visit this past weekend, she brought a baking project - chick cupcakes.  She and Lexi baked a dozen cupcakes, but then Lexi was overtired and grumpy, and the next morning mom was sick, so they never quite got finished.   Today Lexi and  I decorated them...

Decorated in pink, green, and blue, with lime green coconut, chocolate chips, and a carrot nose

Yum yum

Now I'm just wondering when she's going to decide to eat them!

Monthly cooking menu

Alright thanks to some help from a bunch of you, I've finalized the menu for this coming month.  Beef roasts are on sale at Price Chopper, and my folks brought us some yummy venison, so this will be a beef & venison-heavy month.  The ones with the * are not cooked ahead, since not everything freezes well!  Also because of how my calendar works out, I'm cooking for 5 weeks instead of 4.   Here's what I'm doing:

Vegetarian: (13)
Mac & Cheese (x2)
Eggplant Lasagna
Veggie Chili (x2)
Lentil Stew (x2)
Beans & rice (x2)
Strata
Cheese tortellini & cannellini bean sauce
Curried chickpeas (x2)

Beef: (12)
Beef green curry (x2)
Beef stew (x2)
Beef quesadillas (x2)
Red Enchiladas with beef
Venison steaks with baked potatoes & asparagus*
Spaghetti with venison sausage (x2)
Spaghetti with meatballs (x2)

Pork: (4)
mustard green & bacon quiche (x2)
Grandma's pork chops*
Cantonese pork & pineapple


Misc: (5)
Pizza* (x5)


Now, to start the grocery list!

What a rear-facing 3 year old looks like.

OK, Lexi is not technically 3 yet, but she is 2years, 10 months, and bigger than most 3 year olds.  Here she is rear-facing in the middle row of our Honda Odyssey with her brothers.  She weighs approximately 35lbs, and is about 38" tall.  She rides in a Safety 1st Complete Air Carseat (with a 40lb RF limit)

Growing little boys

Angela and I weighed the boys two nights ago, and Mr. Ed came in at 13 lbs 4 oz, and Big Ben came in at 13 lbs 14 oz. They are staying right at 8-10 oz apart, and they are averaging just under 1 oz a day.

For any of you who don't know our color coding, Ed is in green, and Ben is in blue.

Stupid cold weather

Reminded of how much she liked to play outside last week, she has wanted to everyday since. Unfortunately, the weather has been cold, rainy, windy and snowy. But a few days ago she was desperate, right around 6pm, which is when Angela and I generally start cleaning and getting ready for bed. She agreed to get bundled up and play outside by herself, knowing she could look inside and see someone in the kitchen. Lexi always wants us to leave the backdoor open like do starting in about June. So Ang spends about 15 minutes loading her up with boots, sweater, coat, hat, gloves, etc. so she can go play in her sand table. Sadly, we were approaching dusk, and it was therefore starting to get darker. Not dark, mind you, just darker. Well Lexi has recently become rather afraid of the dark and of the prospect of being left alone in the dark. So after maybe 5 minutes outside she rushes up the stairs of the deck to the back door and is pounding on the glass, frantic to be let inside.

Shivering, with tears running down her bright red cheeks, she clings to Angela and cries, "that was not so much fun."

Help me brainstorm my menu for the month!

OK, we're coming up to monthly cooking time soon (actually Apr 2 is cooking day, but there's a fair bit of planning before that!)  My goal for this month is to have two meatless entrees per week.  This is actually at Kelly-the-Carnivore's request!!  So, I need 8-10 meatless meal ideas.  And probably 15-20 meat meals.  I'm especially looking for tips for the meatless ones, I don't have very many in my recipe box and this month's pasta primavera was not very good. I like having extra meat recipes too, that way I can plan a menu heavy on whatever kinds of meat are on sale this month. 

Here's my thoughts so far

Beef/Venison:
Spaghetti with meatballs (x2)
Meatloaf (x2)
Beef Stew (x2)

Chicken/Turkey:
Chicken pesto casserole (x2)
Turkey sausages w peppers& onions
Chicken Corn & Blackbean stew

Pork:
Cantonese Pork & Pineapple
Enchiladas

Vegetarian:
Veggie Lasagna
Veggie Chili
Eggplant Parmesan
Lentil Soup

Any suggestions?

Soapbox time! Keep your kids rearfacing!

The AAP just came out with new guidelines suggesting what car-seat safety folks have known for a long time - kids should be rear facing in the car for as long as they are within the limits of their rearfacing convertible carseats - not turning forward facing until they are at LEAST 2 years old. 

Those who ride in my car may know that Lexi is still rearfacing.  She is 2years, 10 months old, and weighs 35lbs.  Her seat will keep her rear facing until she weighs 40 lbs.  The way she's been growing this past year (SLOWLY) she may make it to 4!  (Or not, if she has a growth spurt.)  

Ideally, kids would stay RF until they are 4-6 years old.  That's when the spine finishes hardening and the neck becomes more capable of handling a whiplash situation.   Realistically, there are MANY seats out there that will keep kids rear-facing until they weigh 35 or 40 lbs (and one that goes to 45 lbs).   

Here's what everyone looks like in our car!  Lexi was not in there (she was too busy on her swing) so we just have the two boys to demonstrate.  Three carseats, all rearfacing in the middle row of our van (a 2007 Honda Odyssey.  Hey, there's room for three more kids in there!  I'll get a pic of Lexi rear facing soon.  Yes, her legs are bent, but she finds places to put them and has always been very comfortable.  Trust me, this kid will complain if she's not comfortable!

 

Sleep, glorious sleep...

So we've had a lot of sleep challenges these past week.  We flew home on a red-eye (zero sleep for me, only like 2hrs for Kelly), the boys were sick, Lexi was sick, I was sick.  Plus through ALL of this (for over a week) the boys have been waking up screaming every hour, refusing to eat, screaming for a bit, before finally accepting an ounce of bottle, then passing back out, only to repeat in 30-45 minutes.  Fun, let me tell you.  We're not sure what was going on, maybe they were sick, maybe it was reflux (they have reflux, it's just never affected sleep before), could be 4-month sleep regression, teething, growing pains....  

2 nights ago, Edward went back to his regular sleep schedule (one waking between 9pm and 5am).  Kelly got a good night's sleep.  Unfortunately I had Benjamin that night, so I was out of luck.

Last night BOTH BOYS SLEPT.   Edward was the first to wake, at 2am.  Then they slept until 5am.  It's amazing how good sleep will make you feel!!!

Chocolate Milk Fiasco

Our daughter often seems older than her age of nearly three.  Then there are the other days.  Like this morning.  Lexi was sitting on the counter chair in the kitchen, watching TV, drinking a happy meal sized bottle of chocolate milk.  She props the bottle on her seat in between her feet, where it of course spills a moment later.  The nearly full bottle is now on the chair and on the floor.  Angela and I are watching from the other room, curious what she will do.  At first she hollers that she spilled and she needs more, but she quickly gets distracted by splashing her feer in the puddle on the chair, and by styling her hair with it.  A few moments later she comes into the living room, rather disturbed by the fact that for some indeterminate reason, her hair has become yucky.  Now in order to come into the living room, she left a little brown trail of chocolate milk foot prints on the floor.

chocolate milk feet

chocolate milk hair

Cloth Diapering Twins!!

How can you tell it's spring around here?  I have diapers on the line!  Yay!!!!

So many people  told me there was no way I'd be able to cloth diaper twins, but we're doing it, and loving the fluffy diapers. :-D  Here's what we use.  I wash diapers 3x/wk.  

Prefolds are the workhorse of our diapering system.  We use Snappi's to hold them on the boys.  No pins here!  I have about 48 small prefolds and about 30 large ones.  I may need a few more larger ones once they outgrow the smalls. 30 of each was plenty for one baby!

 Blueberry Coveralls snap covers.  My personal favorites of the moment.  They're one-size, so they should last from about 10lbs to potty training.  I hope!!  I have 7 of these.   The pink one is a Lexi hand-me-down, and yes, we do still use it. :-D

Thirsties Small covers.  These used to be my favorite, but we prefer snaps to velcro these days.  And I really prefer the one-size covers so I don't have to keep sizing up!  I have 4 of these, though, and they're still great covers.

My travel wetbag.  It's to  put dirty diapers in when out and about.  It lives in my diaper bag.

My regular wetbag.  This goes in a trashpail with lid by the change table.  I have two so that one can be in the trashcan while the other is being washed.    

Pocket diaper.  This is a BumGenius diaper, and I'm not a huge fan.  It's a Lexi leftover too.  We use them occasionally.  I prefer FuzziBunz for pockets, but don't have any in the smaller sizes.  

And thanks to Lexi for her help in hanging laundry and taking pictures!!

A beautiful near spring day

Last Thursday was a beautiful day- 50's and sunny and we all took advantage of it. Lexi was thrilled to be able to swing, she has been wanting to all winter, and we had to explain that her seat was frozen. This day she was so excited, "now me can swing and my hiney won't get wet!!"

Flower Administrator Details

I know we have already posted pictures of our amazing flower girl, but I thought you all needed to hear about how much Lexi rocked it last weekend!!

During the rehearsal, she and I practiced going down the aisle several times, throwing her little paper petals on the floor and picking them back up to try again. I was a little nervous. We were practicing on a short aisle because not all the chairs were out, the final decision was to have her walk by herself, and I had no idea how she'd handle all the strangers staring at her.

Well, me of little faith... shortly before the ceremony we left her in the basement waiting room with the rest of the bridal party (a.k.a. Turkjenistan's cabinet) and she didn't even notice us leaving. She walked up the stairs with the maid of honor (Chief of Staff) who got her to walk down the aisle with only a little encouragement. All by her little self shw walked down with her basket throwing handfuls of petals on the floor. Angela, the boys, and I were sitting near the front, and when she reached us, we tried to get her to sit with us. Lexi refused, saying loudly, "I'm not finished!" as she continued to fish the last few petals out of the basket. Finally the official herded her over to us, while she declared loudly that she wanted to do it again.

She definitely stole the show (no offense Jennie). So now we are contemplating offering her flower girl services on craigslist or ebay.

The Security adventure continues

So the other morning I was making my way through security, and who was on duty but by favorite security guard (you know, the one who suggested I buy another pump.) Now I had kept this whole misadventure from my first day back in the plant, but apparently his fellow security guards had not. Word made its way back to the security supervisors, who coached him, and then proceeded to include the event in their training program under "what not to do."

Anyhow, he thought it was pretty funny as he was telling me this story while performing the required inspection of my breast pump. "You and me are famous together now," he says.

Lovely.

I always wanted to be well known at work courtesy of my breast pump.

A stomach bug visits... part 2

So Angela's post talked about her and Lexi, but I thought I would add some details from my night...

I had to leave an awake and distraught Ben alone on the bed at 10:30 last night in order to help give Lexi a bath! He continued to cry as Lexi puked all over the clean towels and Angela and the hallway floor, and while I was the one cleaning the floor.

I finally moved him to the other bed next to Ed in order to completely remake the bed and remove the puke smell, and then he fell asleep.

However, both boys have had a rough time of it the last couple night, and this was no exception. Between 11pm and 5am at least one of them was up every hour. So even though Angela was taking care of Lexi, I wasn't getting any sleep either.

This morning I was a bit of an exhausted wreck. Too tired to even make a decision about calling in sick to work or not. Angela decided for me that I should call in, and only go in later for an interview I had scheduled. This was an excellent idea.

When I got home from work, Lexi was asleep on her couch in the living room, and the puke bowl was hiding in the kitchen. I asked why it wasn't on the ground next to Lexi, and apparently its because it made her mad to see it.

A stomach bug visits in the night...

Warning:  If you have a sensitive stomach, I recommend skipping this post.  It includes graphic description of what my life is like when the kids have stomach bugs. 

Sooo, last night was a doozy.  The boys have both had a bug for a day or so now, plus we just got back from Seattle on Monday, so we were behind on both sleep and laundry going into this.  It didn't get any better.  Here's how it all went down:


8pm - Lexi climbs in bed with Kelly while I get myself and Edward ready for bed.  Lexi is complaining that her back hurts, which is odd.  We were thinking maybe a growth spurt. 

8:15pm - Lexi passes out while Kelly reads her a story.  This has never happened before and shocks us, but we roll with it.

8:30pm - Edward and I go to bed, I scoot Lexi aside so Kelly & Benjamin can sleep on the other side of her.

10:30pm - Lexi wakes and cries out for me.  I leave Edward (totally asleep) and go to snuggle her - this is not uncommon.  As I do, I notice she smells bad.  Awful.  Like puke.  I wonder if she got a little something on her clothes.  Which I now notice are damp.  So I start picking her up to go change her shirt.  Kelly turns on the light to see if there's any other damage...and oh there is.  Puke everywhere. The bed, Lexi's clothes, the pillows, my shirt.  Puke everywhere. 

Sooo, Kelly gets up and puts Ben in the little bed with Edward while she tries to change the sheets.  I strip off my shirt and take puke-bucket Lexi to the bathroom and start trying to clean her up with washcloths.  Somehow she is not smelling better no matter what I do.  Then she turns her head.  There are chunks of vomit in her hair.  At this point I nearly lose my dinner, and I have a strong stomach.  I start stripping Lexi for a bath, which she does not want. 

10:45pm - Kelly has finished stripping the bed and started making it up again, Ben is crying, Lexi is crying and stinky, and the bathtub is running when the lights suddenly go out.   The bathroom, guest room, and bedroom all go dark.  Damn circuit.  I go downstairs, topless, to flip the breaker - it won't flip.  The short is still active.  I run back upstairs and turn off everything I can think of on that circuit, and run down to the tune of sobbing children to try again.  No dice.  Kelly is bathing Lexi at this point, and she points out that she was making the bed at the time and there's a sketchy outlet behind the bed.  So I unplug the alarm clock from the sketchy outlet, run down, and flip the breaker.  Success!! We have light!!!

Kelly has Lexi cleaned up at this point, so I get her out of the tub, dried off, and into her Dora pajamas.  She is apologizing continuously, in spite of my reassurances that it is NOT her fault that she is sick.  I get out some towels to put on the bed.  Then Lexi pukes again.  On the towels I just pulled from the closet.  And on me.

11pm - More cleanup ensues, I start a load of laundry (we're nearly out of towels) and we all manage to get into bed.  Lexi is very upset that I took away her Dora shirt (casualty of the second puke incident) but to exhausted to protest very hard.  We all crawl back into bed.  I bring a bowl in hopes of catching future incidents. 

11pm - midnight.  Lexi is up 6 more times.  Not much left to come up, thankfully, but still, a miserable little girl. 

Midnight - 2am - Lexi is up 3-4 more times.  Is begging for water, but can't keep it down.  Continues to apologize frequently.

2am - 5am - Now we're just waking for water, which stays down as long as she only sips at it.  Better.  Except for the once where I fall asleep and she guzzles half a sippy.  That one comes back up. 

5am - I get up with Kelly and the boys.  Lexi stays, pretty much passed out.  I'm hoping the worst is over, at least for her. 

and now I'm stuck in that place where I feel fine (albeit tired) but know that I'll probably be puking myself within the next day or so. I'm taking vitamins, washing hands, etc, but it still feels kind of inevitable....

Lexi as the Flower Administrator

Seattle Pics!!

Lexi riding the carosel with Auntie Katie

Meeting Cousin Ashley

Meeting the new babies!!  Edward is in the middle. Ethan is on the left, and Gabriel on the right (I think. Correct me if I'm wrong, Katie!)

How many babies can we feed at once?

Grandma and her grandbabies (well, some of them)!!  Benjamin is on the left, Edward on the right.

Meeting cousin Leslie - Lexi is totally tuckered out from the rehearsal dinner.

Kelly and the boys in their wedding attire!

Flying with babies! and no stroller!

So, we just got back from our first flight with all three kids.  It actually went great!!  I wish I would have taken a picture of us schlepping through the airport, but it went really well anyhow. 

We had intended to bring a single stroller (we borrowed a double from Katie when we got there) but I forgot it, which I think turned out to be a good thing.  We had 3 checked bags, 3 backpacks, a diaper bag, and one carseat which was strapped to a luggage cart.  To get into the airport (with our checked bags), Lexi walked and carried her backpack (a tiny one with toys for her), Kelly and I each wore a baby on front and a backpack, the diaper bag sat on one of the big suitcases, and Kelly pulled 2 suitcases while I pulled 1 suitcase and Lexi in her carseat. After we checked the bags we had to go through security.

Security was by FAR the hardest part.  We had to take both babies off, unwrap the wraps to send them through the scanner, and Kelly had to get a pat-down.  We also had to take off the babies shoes.  And they had to test every bottle of water (though they were all sealed) that we had brought for formula mixing.  While Kelly was getting patted down, I had Lexi to keep track off, two boys to hold onto, no wrap to put anyone in, and a bazillion little things coming out of the scanner to try to deal with.  It was super fun....

After that it was pretty easy.  We each wore a baby, Lexi either rode in her seat or walked, we each wore a backpack, and someone carried the diaper bag (or it rode in Lexi's seat).  

On the plane, we had 3 seats, window-middle in one row, and then the window seat in the next row up.  Only one lap baby is allowed per row, so that was how it had to happen.  Lexi rode in the window seat in her carseat and had a lot of fun.  She really liked her headphones and watched Dora on the little JetBlue TV's.  She was a bit annoyed that you can't pause them (at home we only watch videos) but otherwise, she was pretty good.  The boys each rode in one of our laps,  and pretty much slept and ate, slept and ate.  Edward spent some time charming the flight attendants.   Toward the end of the long flight, Lexi got really antsy, so she came up front with me and literally climbed the walls, while Kelly stuck one of the boys in her carseat and held the other.

When we got to seattle, we realized that we had to actually take a bus to our rental car.  That was fun...  Then Katie met us there with carseats for the boys, and after an hour or so I finally got them all installed, the boys fed, and the rental van loaded - we were so happy to be done travelling!!

We're Back!

We've been crazy busy or out of town for the last two weeks - but we're back now and hopefully we can start posting again!  I know Kelly has a great update on her pump story.  Lexi was a super flower girl (and I have pics!) and the boys got to fly for the first time.  Plus everyone got to meet the new cousins (yay!)  So look for some new posts in the next few days!  I'm uploading pics today!

And a quick baby update - the boys now weigh 13lb 15oz (Edward) and 14lb 10oz (Benjamin). That puts them at 25th-50th percentile for their actual birth age and at 50th-75th percentile for their adjusted age.