Eatting out

Well, how do you deal with eating out with kids? I have yet to figure this out. The boys are getting to that age where they are interested in anything and everything on our plates. I hate giving the boys cheerios or anything like that on the table in restaurants because you never know how clean they are. I spend half of my time sitting there sticking cheerios in their mouths so then i barely get to eat. I can't imagine what I am going to do once they really start eating table food. I saw this cool thing someone had in a restaurant that was a rubber place mat thing that you stuck on the table then it also had a little cupped thing to catch the food that drops between the table and your child's mouth. I wish i knew where they had gotten it. How do you encourage your child to make the healthy kids meal choices when all of their friends are eatting fries and drinking pop? I know I don't really have to worry about this yet, but it's still something to think about. I have decided it's pretty nice to have twins because they can split things while they are little. They can share a Happy Meal because what one or two year old needs to eat a whole hamburger and fries. They can also share jars of baby food so instead of having one jar of fruit or veggie at lunch they can each have a half a jar of fruit and a half a jar of veggie.

Life with twins

Well, for the first time today I got a little taste of what life with twins is about to be like. The boys were playing on the living room floor today and they both started rolling around. They kept rolling in opposite directions and then they would get stuck in a corner or just up against something. (They couldn't understand why the wall wouldn't move when they rolled into it and wanted to keep going in that same direction.) Matt actually made his way out of the living room and a little way down the hallway before I went and caught him. They seemed to take turns crying and getting stuck. I was running around like crazy after one and then the other. I haven't really experienced that yet because they always stayed pretty close to each other. I now know what is coming yet it will only get worse as they start to move faster. What will I do when they start to run???

Traveling with babies

WOW!!! Traveling with babies is hard work. We went back home for Easter and just got back last night. The trip is five hours drive time, but of course with kids it makes it more like six or six and a half hours which really isn't bad, but it is long with 10 month olds. When we first made the trip with the boys they were 3 months old. The trip wasn't bad because they slept the whole time and we stopped once to feed them and other than that they were perfect. Now that they are getting older it is getting harder to travel. First of all, they don't sleep all the time like they use too and they want to be entertained or out moving around when they aren't asleep. Of course it's not safe to have them out of their car seats, moving around the car when we're traveling.

The boys were pretty good on the trip down. We didn't leave until 5:00 and I hadn't let the boys take an afternoon nap so they were ready to go to sleep for a little while. They slept for an hour or so then we stopped to feed them. When we got back in the car I sat in the back of the van so I could read to them, sing to them, and play with them in their seats. They were ready to go to sleep for the night after about and hour and a half. The only problem came when we did get to my mom's because we had to wake them up to get them out of the car, but I nursed them and they went right back to sleep for the night.

The trip back was much harder because we were traveling earlier in the day. The boys took their afternoon nap as soon as we got in the car. Then they were awake for the rest of the trip except for the last half hour when they fell asleep. I spent the trip in the back seat trying to two the peace, but all they wanted to do was get out of their seats. I had to try and feed them their baby food on the road which was interesting, and a little hard, but I got it done without too much of a mess.

Some tips for making it through a long car trip. Have new toys (or toys your kids haven't seen in a while that will seem like new) ready to keep them entertained. Have snack foods that aren't messy ready to grab. Make stops every hour of so (if the kids are awake) and get the kids out of the car to stretch just like you do as an adult. Try and find out about your route before hand and find some parks or rest areas that have room to run. Depending on the age and ability of the kids try running some races along the sidewalk, playing a quick game of tag, or playing with a ball (make sure you are far enough away from the parking area that your ball won't roll out in front of cars). You can play lots of games in the car while you travel too. You can play eye spy (finding something in the car and give a clue about it and let the others guess what it is...like dad's shirt, the car radio, a car seat, the window, or some of the toys you have along). You can also go on a color scavenger hunt (look out the window and try and find things that are all the different colors and call out what you find as you pass by). This is a game that can encourage kids to look at the world around them and the scenery in a whole new way. Look for green grass, brown trees, brown rocks, the blue sky, white or gray clouds, the yellow sun, or the color of cars driving by. Just a few ideas, I'll include more as we get closer to summer and the big travel season.

So BIG!!!

I can't believe how big the boys are getting now. I just got them dressed for the day and they now fit into the 12 month size clothes, well, almost. The 12 month size shirts fit them just fine, but the pants are all still too long for them to wear. That is making it really hard to find outfits for them because I can't buy two piece outfits for right now. I hope this stage doesn't last for very long. Their legs need to catch up to the top half of their bodies.

Religion

Well today sucked. I haven't been feeling well today. I don't know any mom does it, taking care of her children when she is sick. I got to feeling better as the day went on, but I really don't know how I would have made it through the day if I had been really sick (like I thought I was going to be).

I can't wait for Easter. We're going back to Wichita to be with my family for Easter. I can't wait. Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. I don't like it for the bunnies and candy , but I love it for the religious aspects of the holiday. I love Holy Week! It is such a wonderful inspiration of faith and reminder of how we should be living our lives everyday. I once heard a quote and I don't remember where it was from but it said, "Do you believe that had you been the only person on earth that Jesus still would have died just for you?" I had never really thought about it like that before, but I really think he would have done that. I don't think that I would deserve that kind of treatment. I wish I could say that I lived my life so that I deserved to be saved by Jesus should I be the only person on earth. I am reminded of this every year and I try to live my life a little better every year so I don't feel so guilty the next year. It is occurring to me as I write this that this year that it is no longer just my eternal well being that is in my hands, but also the well being of my sons. I have thought that I have some responsibility for Corey's eternal life since we met, but at the same time I have always figured well he's an adult and it's his business were he ends up for eternity. But at the same time being joined as one in marriage means that we are both responsible for each other. Corey was never raised in a very Catholic home. He never really learned anything religious where as I had 13 years of Catholic eduction and I have been no better at living a good Catholic lifestyle than he has. Is it wrong for me to only be waiting to be a better Catholic because of my children? I know that being a good Catholic and having a good Catholic role model is very important for my children and maybe God knew that is what it would take for me to come back to the Church. Anyway, enough religious rambling for now.

There's always room for jello

Happy St. Patty's Day! We had my favorite thing in the whole wide world for dinner tonight...lime jello with pears. I gave the boys a little bit to eat/play with. Andy tried it and seemed to like it, but then he spit it all back out (in the form of a raspberry). Matt would not try it at all. I just put put some on his highchair and he touched it then shot me this look that could only say, "what the heck is this stuff?" It was so cute. Andy didn't really play with it but every time he'd try and pick it up to eat it the jello just fell through his fingers and confused him.

I can't believe how many new foods the boys are eating now. They had graham crackers for the first time tonight. They love cheese and yogurt. They eat a lot of crackers, cheerios, and the Gerber puffs. I gave them a couple of bites of my blueberry waffle this morning which they seemed to like. I have to be careful what all I give them because Matt only has two teeth and can't chew a lot of things, but Andy can chew more because he has 5 teeth. I don't really want to give Andy new foods and not Matt so I am taking it slow. I know they are only 9 months old so they shouldn't really be eating a ton of table food, but the more table food I can give them the less I have to spend on baby food. I've tried the whole making my own baby food and have decided I should just give up. It really isn't all that hard or anything, but the boys just don't eat it that well. Maybe I just don't puree it enough or something, but it doesn't doesn't work out like I think it should in the end. Oh well only a couple more months of mostly baby food and then it will be just a little baby food and mostly table food.

Life is funny sometimes

Life is crazy. One day it seems to be going sooooo fast and the next day life is dragging on forever. I started thinking about the boys turning one in two and a half months. I was thinking about what kind of birthday party we're going to have for them. I started to realize that they are almost one and it seems like only yesterday that we brought them home from the hospital. I can't believe how big they are getting. Now, today the day won't end. It's Friday and I want so bad for Corey to get home and our weekend as a family to start, but every 2 minutes feels like 2 hours.

Why won't babies nap on a consistent basis? They sleep every night until 7 in the morning no matter what time they went to bed. Why is it that one day they will take two two hour naps and the next day it's two half hour naps? Of course it's always the days that I want to take a nap that they take the half hour naps.

We went to the park again yesterday. This time we went to a park that had swings so the boys got to try out the swings. They went down the slide again and played in the sand. Andy loves to play with the sand and feel it in his hands. He sat there for 15 minutes running his hands through it and letting it run through his hands. Matt wasn't as impressed with the sand this time. He just had this look like "yeah I've seen this before." They are so cute and so different. I can totally see their individual personalities already. With my experience in daycare I knew they would be developing their personalities already, but they are so different I can't believe they both came from Corey and I. Matt (who looks the most like Corey) totally has his laid back personality. Andy (who looks like me) has my I gotta go and always need attention personality. I guess both of our mothers got what they wished for when we were little when they said "I hope someday you have a child just like you." I guess you get what you wish for (maybe just not at the time you want it).