Let's Get Back to Art..

Let me begin by saying that I'm blessed, and love my family and truly enjoy romping and exploring with the twins. But, as winter drags on and we are still cohabitating with parents, I'm finding myself in serious need of escaping reality, and drug use and RPGs don't fit in with my lifestyle. My old standbys - reading and art - both take that precious thing that I don't have anymore: free time. Travel is expensive, and chocolate only goes so far. So basically if something takes between 5 and 10 minutes and can "take me away" (but not literally, and not completely) I'm up for suggestions. I would love to add some online comics to my beloved and oft-visited (but sadly, not regularly updated) favorites: achewood and Hark, A Vagrant! I have also recently been trolling interior design blogs and dreaming of the day I have a house (or apartment, or any personal space) to decorate: Houzz has a kajillion pics and you can make a virtual scrapbook of ideas you like for later. My other guilty pleasure is checking for fresh art on the Daily Painter's Blog. It's not all good, but it reminds me that it's important to do "excercises" every day, even if it means busting out small sketches or digital doodles. Someday when I have time again, I may come back to the ideas..I would LOVE comments directing me to similar websites, especially artists' blogs. I do love to read parenting blogs, and if you don't know about Babble, then I recommend checking it out - but it doesn't get me out of the here and now, so to speak. Other than that, I'm just really enjoying a good cup of tea these days... Side note: I do like "funny" sites, cheezburger et al,  but when I'm done spending 5 or 10 minutes on them I can't help but feel I've been wasting my time. I don't know why, but reading comics doesn't feel like a time waster - so really, any suggestions would be appreciated, and I hope I gave you guys some inspiration!

Travel with Twins - we're not crazy after all.

The Chicago trip was a great success, and give me hope that we will be able to take more ambitious (read: international) trips with the twins sooner than later. It's true, we haven't tackled airplane travel yet, but we did great with a 5-hour car ride. We had fresh diapers on and had just been nursed when we got in the car to leave, later than we normally would have left, but it coincided with the kids' morning nap. This worked out great, we had one stop in Funk's Grove (I think we always stop there partially because of the great name..) where we freshened up our diapers, stretched our legs a bit, and had some cheerios. I admit to about 20 minutes of crankiness total, but after this passed, they pretty much slept the rest of the ride.

Upon checking into our downtown hotel, they were still passed out, so Matt stayed with them in the car (we didn't want to park quite yet anyway...that's another long story.) while I went in to check in and make sure they had put two pack-n'-plays in our room as requested. They had not, and *claim* to have told me over the phone that they could not, due to fire code issues. Of course, English is my first language, and I am a good listener, and I KNOW she had told me that this would not be a problem - but, not one to make a fuss, I sent Matt upstairs with the extra pack-n'-play that we had brought, anticipating such SNAFUs. We jumped back in the car and headed for our first play date.

It was lovely seeing friends and being able to spend the bulk of our time inside their apartments, as it was really too cold and snowy to navigate the stroller outside, and the kids got to cruise and crawl about to their heart's content. I believe this helped mitigate fussiness, since we weren't really subjecting them to major stroller time or anything.

We did have to do a few restaurants, and the solution came in the form of these ingenious little roll-up placemats with suction cups on the bottoms - since they will fling a plate or bowl that isn't suckered down at this point, before this I had to put little finger-sized bites of food directly onto the table - which made even dirt-friendly me cringe a bit. They were champs at trying all the new foods, (they loved the vietnamese taro-coconut rice pudding!) but we brought cups of cheerios just in case. Yes, we left a mess under each table when we were done, but I try not to feel *too* guilty about it since the kids were quiet and good the whole time.

We did have much more traffic, and more car seat time, than normal - this was handled by again planning trips during naps as closely as possible, and worked like a charm. Even hanging out with single friends who didn't "get" that we had a new, much earlier bedtime was okay with the babies, since car rides=longer naps=staying up slightly later. We packed light, but still decanted into a smaller "daytime" diaper bag that was less bulky. Carrying the food mill allowed me to smush up whatever we were eating to give them some, and that worked quite well.

Our last stop, as requested by Matt's mom, was to Ikea - I wish all stores were this kid friendly!! Not only did they have shopping carts, but also mini shopping "strollers" which allowed matt to push one and me to push one without having two bulky carts. There was a play area, Smalland, which the kids aren't quite old enough to use yet, (can't wait for that!) but when we were ready to go, we had dinner in the quite bargain-priced restaurant, then to the family restroom where we comfortably changed into our pajamas, changed diapers, even nursed! When we got in the car at their normal bedtime, they slept like champs the entire ride home!!

So to recap: we were pretty flexible about the rules: foodwise, they ate what we ate, which wasn't always as baby-friendly as my home-prepared organic meals: they tried some spicy chili, some thai noodles, even things like truffle pate and cranberry-orange scones. But I did bring a couple of jars of "baby food" to make sure we got full if they really hated the food, as well as the ever-popular Cheerios, and they did get milk and poly-vi-sol. Naptimes happened during car rides mostly, and I nursed while at friend's houses, or they had bottles of formula if we were out. We switched to disposables for the week, and while I find them much more difficult to put on, they were very convenient, no leaks, and the vacation from laundry was nice. They met new people and saw lots of new things, but didn't seem to feel completely disoriented or cranky by the experience, because we tried to keep to their normal "rhythm." We skipped the bath a couple of nights, and went to bed about an hour later, but that seemed okay, too. Once we got back, we fell into the old routine and everyone is doing fine! Now let's start planning that trip to Europe...

The Joy of Travel

Ok, I haven't updated in awhile - as it turns out, I don't have as much free time as I anticipated - what a surprise. We've had some snowstorms and other interesting developments. The most important of these would be this: we finally got the babies into their own room, and kind of halfway sleeping through the night! Ok, they wake up twice, (which means I'm up four times) but it's at like midnight and 5:30 AM so it's better than it was. I'll take it!

We're slowly learning to self-soothe - no more bottles right before bed - the  pediatrician reminded me of what I already knew - if they think they need food in order to go to sleep, they will keep waking up and asking me for it instead of just putting themselves back to sleep. It's much more difficult than it sounds, though - we still end up nursing in the middle of the night, even though they are "technically old enough to not eat during the night."

Anyway, we've gotten some more teeth, and what appears to be our first colds- no doubt brought home by Daddy. Just some snotty noses and crankiness, though, not too bad so far. I'm just keeping them hydrated and sucking out their noses with the little squishy bulb thingie they give you at the hospital- they are not big fans of that, but it works.

The big news is - we have some vacation time that is "use it or lose it," so we're taking the big plunge and doing our first family vacation! Four days in Chicago - it's about a four hour drive, we'll be visiting friends (some with new babies!) and our favorite restaurants. I've been dreaming of the bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) at this little place near Lincoln Square called Nhu Lan...and of course we can't wait to visit Hot Doug's Encased Meat Emporium.

This will be our first venture anywhere so far, so there are a lot of things to consider. I know the babies aren't at an age where they understand or appreciate the concept of "travel," so to them it will be the inconvenience of an interrupted routine. I'm going to try to make things easier by making a couple stops along the way to get out and stretch our legs, as well as time the trip so that we leave during the first naptime - we might get an hour or two of sleeping that way.

Then, when we arrive, staying in the same place and setting it up to be sort of familiar will be key. I'll have to update to tell you how it went, so for now I'm nervous and excited about it. We're switching to paper diapers for the whole time, and I guess I'll bring the food mill and a whole box of Cheerios - whoever invented those deserves every penny they get from them. I think Cheerios could keep them entertained and quiet indefinitely.. not sure if i should bring jarred baby food or not - at this point they are eating finger foods, and get kind of upset when presented with puree from a jar (can't say that I blame them...they are used to the taste of taste now) so we'll see how that goes. Also, the crying at night might stress me out if we're in a hotel - I am also nervous about being out and about in the snow, taking the L train, and a bunch of other things - any tips or advice on travel with twin babies is appreciated! I know it will be a learning experience, and I hope they do well...wish us luck!

The Lure of Comparison

Okay, I know you aren't supposed to compare kids to each other, and definitely never ever say out loud "why can't you be more like...." but, as these are my first kids, and they are exactly the same age, I DO find myself marveling at the developmental inequities between both my kids, and even their singleton cousin H, who was born a week later. (He was a week late, mine were a week early...I consider them all the same age.) I've heard there are differences between girls and boys at this age, and that girls are often a bit ahead...but Josie is almost literally running circles around August. She's got teeth numbers 5 and 6 popping through, (his 2nd looks like a little rice grain on his gums right now) and yesterday she *stood up* in the middle of the room - not holding on to anything - for a good 7 or 8 seconds, grinning wildly, before plopping down on her butt. She's practically walking! A is cruising, and pretty good with balance, but not really close to this. We just got a video this week of H starting to crawl, so that underlines the wide range at this age. She seems to do everything at lightning speed, whether it's sleeping through the night, (she's done it a couple times - he has never even come close.) smiling, rolling over, crawling, babbling, clapping, etc...and little man gets around to whatever it is in his own time, usually a couple weeks later. It's a bit sad because instead of enjoying the wonder of his development I'm always thinking to myself, "Ok...Josephine did it, now when are you going to do it?"  I know intellectually that he's not "slow" by any measure, it's just that having J around makes him "slowER." I wish I could help from comparing them at all! Are your twins or kids developing at vastly different rates? Does anyone have tricks to keep from comparing or worrying that one is slower?

Adventures in Baby Food

January 1st we decided to try our first batch of homemade baby food: I'm a huge fan of doing the most cost-effective and sustainable thing, and since I got a handy food mill for Christmas, I thought we'd try it out. So I spent a good two or three hours in the kitchen peeling, coring, roasting, steaming, pureeing, sterilizing, filling and freezing. We did peas, organic carrots, squash, pear-apple-blackberry, mixed veggie with organic potato, and "pasta dinner," which the kids loved, the recipe is below. Almost twenty little jars (reused, of course) full, and it lasted....a week. I cannot deny the letdown when I realized how very little the payoff was. The jarred organic food is 15¢ an ounce and readily available..pretty doable.  I had been so committed to this! Not to be daunted, I decided to try again. This week, we made a list and a special trip to the store, and yesterday was another puree-fest. We got broccoli, plums, organic blueberries, pears, apples, beets, sweet potatoes and delicious little delicata squash. Also, sweet peas, lima beans, and black-eyed peas, a little greek yogurt, bananas and avocados, and some baby oatmeal and wheat. After doing the work and the math, I might have a different opinion, but for now the fresh stuff beats the jarred in taste hands-down! The first thing we tried for breakfast was a half a mashed banana with a handful of blueberries, about a tablespoon of oatmeal and a blop of yogurt...it was so good I kept stealing bites! Also, it was quite easy to roast a whole tray of veggies at once - oven at 350º, I scrubbed (but didn't peel) the beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, cut the squash in half, and threw an onion and a few cloves of garlic with a touch of olive oil on the skins, and left them in for a good 30 or 45 minutes, turning once. All the natural sugars rose to the surface and began to caramelize - by the time they were soft enough to puree, everything was really sweet and my kitchen smelled delicious!

"Pasta Dinner" Baby Food:
Half an onion
Half a green pepper
one stalk organic celery
one carrot, scrubbed or peeled
two tomatoes, quartered
one clove of garlic (if your babies like it..my Italian babies seem to)
one big handful whole wheat pasta (doesn't matter what shape; I used rotini)
a tablespoon of squash puree if you have it - optional.
Fresh or dried basil, parsley & oregano (we still had some frozen from the summer crop!)
organic, low-sodium chicken stock or filtered water

throw all the veggies in the steamer, or in a basket over boiling water with a tight-fitting lid. Check them in about 5 minutes, and grab the tomatoes with tongs - they need to be peeled, and the skins should come right off after having been steamed. Put the peeled tomatoes right in your blender, food mill, or food processor. Let the rest of the veggies steam for another 7 or 8 minutes - stick them with a fork to make sure they are soft. If you have enough boiling water left under the steamer basket, throw in the pasta. If not, boil some water for the pasta. Throw it all in the blender and puree with enough liquid to make it your desired consistency. Since there are herbs and spices, and my kids are 8 months, we made the consistency fairly thick - like sour cream.

A note about organics: we are VERY budget-conscious, but some fruits and veggies are so full of pesticides that it's worth the extra money ten times over... Matt has an app on his phone, but for the low-tech, just print out (or *gasp* hand-write) a list of the "dirty dozen" and the "clean 15" to keep ON YOUR PERSON so that when you are at the grocery store, you can reference it. Namely, potatoes, apples, greens, and thin-skinned fruits and berries we try to always buy organic. Also, animal products such as meat, milk, butter and eggs are a good switch from conventional if you can afford. We can't buy the same quantity of meat if we go organic, so we end up eating less meat - which is healthier for us in general. Win!

Twins: how does it even work??

Get them on a schedule. That's the first thing the well-meaning books and articles will tell the mother-of-twins-to-be. In my mind, we would be a well-oiled machine: double nursing, double burping, double diaper changes, and the all-important double nap.  The reason they advise you to get them on a schedule is that ideally, with two babies asleep for a length of time, you would be able to shower, or have a nap yourself - this is key, as the most challenging part of raising twins so far (in my case) has been that I'm just exhausted. More than likely I've been woken up many times during the night, and I'm just really low on energy. These guys take LOTS of energy. I would say my single greatest piece of advice to anyone having multiples is not about the schedule, though, it is this: GET HELP. Ask your relatives, if you are lucky enough to have them close. Ask your friends. You shouldn't have to, but ask your husband or partner over and over. If you are able to actually pay someone to help, I would say this is a wise investment. I'm not saying the schedule isn't important, but don't put too much pressure on yourself: the schedule will happen. We have more of a rhythm than a routine. We know what comes after what, but it doesn't have to be at the same time or in the same place every day. We don't do things simultaneously, mostly because I'm just one person. My particular babies did not enjoy double-nursing. It stressed them out, it stressed me out, and so I did it one at a time until about a month ago, when they were old enough to handle it. I actually enjoyed the one-on-one bonding. "But what did you do with the other one while one was nursing?" Great question. If someone else was around, they would be holding him/her. If not, they were in their crib, asleep or awake playing with toys, or on a blanket at my feet playing, or swinging in their swing - I'm not going to lie - often crying at me. These were the most challenging days. It sounds really rough, but moms of twins, back me up: there's just no avoiding the crying sometimes. They get their diapers changed one at a time, too, obviously, but always one right after the other so I don't have to try and remember who's wet and who's not. And the naps...well....we try to take them at roughly the same time, but it doesn't always work out that way. One in the morning, about an hour and a half after we get up (which these days is usually between 6:30 and 7:30 am.) If this one is incredibly short, we try another one around 11:30 am or noon. If both napped to my satisfaction in the morning, we just play and have lunch and wait until they are cranky, which is usually around 1:30 or 2 pm. Many times, one will go easily to dreamland and the other will be wide awake, at which point I must decide: let the child continue to play happily and get some alone time with mommy, or force it to nap - which involves lots of crying and patting. If it has not napped and it's getting on 3:00 pm, i will force it. If not, I usually let it be. (to avoid the batteries running out at like 5:30, which is too close to bedtime for a nap..) That being said, once Daddy is home it's easy to do the rest of the day in lockstep: dinner, bath, pajamas, stories, bottle, bed. A note about bathtime: before they could sit up by themselves, we did baths one at a time, in the sink. Bathing two by yourself is not a good idea. Even if you could pull it off, why take the risk?

Welcome!

   Hi, I'm J'aime - a fine art painter, world traveler, lover of all things food & cooking, and first-time stay-at-home mother of boy/girl twins, August & Josephine. My husband Matthew is a photographer, and we are starting out at our most humble. I hope to enrich your lives with intriguing glimpses into ours as we try to live the dream: raise thoughtful, cultured, ecologically-minded kids who become happy, self-sufficient adults while building a business we are really passionate about. 

Anyway, It's my first time being at home with kids and I figured I would try to "get a life" by blogging about it, and building relationships in the mom community - especially moms of multiples, who feel my pain. When I was pregnant and searching the web for twin blogs I wondered why there were very few, or they were just about older toddlers...now I know. You don't even have time to take a shower let alone sit down and write for ten minutes! Now that the kids are *sort of* on the same schedule (more on this later) I am able to snatch time for myself throughout the day, I could really use some "adult conversation."

Let me briefly introduce the twins: August and Josephine are 8 months old and as different as pie and cake. While they both got their father's big brown eyes, the similarities end there. August is a sensitive poet who sings heartfelt odes to his blocks and stuffed birdies and is delighted by all animals and jewelry. "Fussy Gussie" has a hare trigger, and can be either the sweetest little thing on God's green earth or a sobbing mass of pathos that must be held immediately. Josephine, the "alpha baby," takes her business quite seriously, which, as far as I can tell, includes grabbing objects, (especially objects her brother is mouthing,) raising them over her head with both hands, hitting them on the table two or three times, giving them a thoughtful chew, and then moving on to the next object. When she laughs out loud, which is rare, it sounds almost maniacal and seems to be for reasons known only to her. Things Josephine has found hilarious include: the stairs, her brother's hair, and my watch. In all seriousness, they are just starting to entertain each other a bit, which is how I have time to blog, and it's delightful to witness. I will try to catch it on video for you.