Aug
13
2010Last week I went thrift store shopping. I was looking for some tops for me and maybe even a dress to refashion. However, pushing a stroller through crowded aisles, with no one to talk to, and with a bizillion racks of clothing filled with random items… well, it gets old fast. I did however spot one adorable grown up gauzy spaghetti strapped tank that I just had to have. I knew I wouldn’t wear it (I don’t even own a strapless bra that fits!), but I knew two little girls who might just look good in the yumminess of that tank’s fabric. I also grabbed a 1x sized t-shirt to make pants to match.
And here is the result of that shopping spree: The Bumble Gum Tops and The Big Butt Baby Pants
The tops are a modified version of my Grow Up Together Dress. I love the sheerness and floaty quality that the fabric has. Aeralind loves grabbing her top and swinging it around. Mommy loves that they’ll be equally as cute over a long sleeve top on a dreary winter day. Sorry about the photo quality 😉 Getting these girls to sit still these days is like hog tying an angry elephant!
Unfortunately my 1x pink t-shirt only had enough fabric to make one pair of Big Butt Baby Pants. I was testing this pattern for Rae and I can’t tell you how perfect the pattern is! If you have a cloth diapered baby and your sick and tired of their diapers hanging out of ill fitting pants then you need this pattern. My head is swimming with the possibilities: crawler skirts, bloomers, shorts, ruffly pants, and maybe even faux jeans: all that fit over my girls’ huge diapers but don’t slide off because they are big everywhere else!
So what do you think? Much improved over this, huh?
Aug
12
2010
11 Months… there are precisely 30 days left until these girls have been terrorizing with us for a year. We’ve almost survived 😉
10 Months has been challenging. Teeth are sprouting left and right (Aeralind has 2. Bronwyn has 3 and another that should pop any day now). Nap times have been erratic. And, my goodness, these girls can move! Hardly 20 seconds will pass after you enter a room before they are twined around your ankles. Oh the madness!
However, 10 month may also bring some of my favorite times so far. Clapping and hugging. High fives and squealing. Pushing one another on the tractor. Beating each other up and laughing hysterically. I think my daughters are the best 🙂
Aeralind Grace
Thankfully, your fearlessness has subsided some. You’re still all about moving about on your own terms, but you’ve begun to understand limits. Maybe nose diving off the bed and landing between the bed frame and nightstand had something to do with that… However, you’re constantly making the above “rawr”ing face and you squeal and growl in response to us or your sister. You look quite fierce!
This month your snuggly side has been exposed. You love to give hugs. You snuggle right up wrap your arms around us and just soak it all in. You’ll also walk right up to one of us sitting on the floor (your sister included) and tackle us. Not to be mean, but just so you can enjoy that physical connection. Fortunately, your sister thinks being tackled is the funniest thing ever. It always gets her to laugh (even when we can’t).
You’ve developed particular opinions on how your food should be served. Any pureed meal like chicken and pasta must be heated. I may not stick food in your mouth unless using a spoon or unless we’re not at the table. Anything deemed too hot will be spit out. If I’m unloading the dishwasher and you run out of food shrieking ensues. If you see me slicing up fruit, you’re immediately done eating everything else (even if you like it). And by all means if you hold out your little hand during a meal, I had better hurry up and kiss it or give you gooey high fives!
Aeralind, I hope you continue to be so snuggly. I love your affection. I love how tenderhearted you are. If I have to discipline you one time is enough because it upsets you so much. If your sister or a little friend is crying, you stop what you’re doing to make sure they’re alright. I love your happy squealing morning self. I love your head shaking at the table self. I love your oooh mommy said walk excited self. I really just love you!
Bronwyn Hope
For awhile there, I honestly thought your sister was going to be my strong willed child. Now I’m pretty sure I was wrong. You are so much more strong willed than I am sometimes. You’ll start yanking books off the shelves or crawling onto the top of your picnic table or up the stairs and I’ll tell you no. You know what I’m saying. Yet you grin at me slyly and lift your hand to continue you at it. If I discipline you, you scrounge up your nose, growl at me, and repeat your action. We’ve gone through the discipline cycle 4-5 times on the same offense recently. You do not surrender easily!
I think the positive of your strong will is that you are so meticulous. Meticulous about testing my limits, obviously, but also about everything you do. You’ve mastered crawling up the stairs and over, under and around your picnic table. Each move is calculated and precise. You’ve even managed to sit down on the table’s bench all on your own and you can get down too, which is pretty impressive considering your legs just dangle over the bench.
Your meticulous nature extends to how you play too. While your sister is flitting around from toy to toy, you just sit and study one thing. We just got one of these as an early birthday present and you will sit for 20-30 minutes and just move the beads around or open the little door or move the animals on top. Or you’ll crawl under the futon and occupy yourself with the computer cords. Or you’ll stand next to something and bounce up and down while grinning at us.
Bronwyn, with your strong will, I’m going to have to remind myself daily that you thrive on praise and slapstick humor. A cry of “Good Girl!” has you beaming and squealing more than anything else. But at the same time, you’re a sucker for slapstick humor. Recently I’ve taken to cleaning your sister off after meals first. I drop her over the gate which she promptly pulls up on and then after you’re clean dangle you over her making ‘rawring’ noises. You practically collapse in giggles. Tonight Derek and I had you in the pool and we’re playing ‘Kung Fu’ babies. Every time you were smashed into your sister you grinned so big that we could see your huge tooth that’s about to pop through. And then you’d giggle and shriek with glee over and over. I can’t get enough of that happy giggle.
Aug
02
2010660-672
Thunderstorms prayed for
Mom’s of Multiples Club
Ripe tomatoes
Orange Juice
Walking a park with Derek and girls
Little girls drowsing off on the way home and going right to their cribs quietly
Our chore chart: Yep, we’re paying ourselves allowance to do chores. Even grown-ups need motivation
Reading Dare to Disciple (which inspired our chore chart) and was good for us
Chicken Parmesan
Feeding little ‘vultures’ stuffing with a fork
Aeralind squealing first thing in the morning
Snuggling with a gassy Bronwyn in the dark
A pretty feather seen when hanging diapers
Jul
27
2010For us breastfeeding has pretty much been getting easier since the 12-14 mark.
However, there was a really rough patch at about 6 months when they decided they wanted to eat every 2-3 hours in the middle of the night, but we stopped that as soon as we realized they didn’t need the extra intake.
There was also another little rough patch at about 7 months when I realized how exhausted I was from feeding them 6-7 times a day. Soon after I started offering the breast less often, and today I’m attempting to get them down to 3 feedings (altough that seams impossible most days…)
Right now we’re going through another rough patch that I think is related to teething. Bronwyn has 2 bottom teeth and Aeralind has 1. They’re both about to pop another one I think. However, when they nurse they’re doing this crazy latch on/latch off cycle almost the whole time. They’re not distracted from nursing because they howl in hunger (or teething pain) while they’re latched off. Bronwyn started this cycle last week and Aeralind started this week. I’ve tried disciplining them for it and that just results in more howling. And I’ve tried holding their heads still so they can’t latch off (or at least not violently…ow), but even that has varied results. I’m frustrated and sore. Hopefully, the painful teeth will pop soon! But this is definitely making me feel like a year can’t come soon enough!
On other breastfeeding news, we gave them cow’s milk yogurt. The results: mommy is now having dairy again after nearly 8 months of going without! However, my whole dairy perspective has changed: it’s no longer a necessity in my mind and more of a splurge item in the grocery budget.
I truly believe they did have a diary sensitivity in the beginning. I can remember (even in my sleep deprived state!) how much they changed from fussy reflux-y babies to happy little girls when I quit eating dairy. I am, however, not sure when they outgrew the sensitivity. At 4 months when I trialed dairy, it was horrible. At 7 and 8 months when I trialed it, they were both gassy and fussy but at that point it was hard to tell if it was solids, over tired/stimulated, or milk in my breast milk that caused the reaction. At 9 months, I decided we’d just put the dairy in their system directly to know for sure. And neither baby seems to be suffering from it! Even Bronwyn’s eczema is holding steady. I’m still hesitant about straight milk (especially the nasty homogenized/ultrapasteurized grocery store variety), but cheese and yogurt are back in all three of our diets!
