Monday, May 31, 2010

My little fishies.

Em and Zo have loved the water ever since they were very tiny. Bath time is their favorite time of day and they'd spend hours in the tub if I would let them. At home we have a tiny blow-up plastic kid's pool outside that we intend to upgrade to something larger as the girls get older. Pool time" has become a daily event at our house.
In the morning, Em will even go to the back door and stare longingly at her pool. Thier love of swimming is second only to their love of our cat, and that says a LOT. lol

The past weekend we visited my parents at their vacation home. My folks spoil the girls rotten and always have new toys and gifts when we visit. I'm not sure who enjoys it more, my folks or the girls.
This weekend they had gotten a much larger kid's pool and several bath tub toys for the girls and had everything set up for them before we arrived.
The look on the girls' faces were priceless! They were literally shaking with excitement at the sight of the big pool and all the toys floating in it.

This pictures sums it all up nicely... lol

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Question of the week

What is the craziest thing someone has ever said to you about your multiples and how did you respond?
 
It's something about seeing multiples that turns normally intelligent people into bumbling idiots.
It's hard to go anywhere without several people stopping us to talk about twins, share their personal stories about twins, give us advice ( my personal favorite- "rub cognac and sugar on her gums, it'll make teething easier..."), gawk at my girls, tell me about their uncle's cousin's nephew who's a twin, etc. Most days I take it in stride, smile and listen politely while they share their stories. *sigh*

The craziest comment is one I get pretty often- "Are they both yours?"
I still have yet to come up with a witty response to this because it usually follows, "Are they twins?" And then I'm left speechless.

Really? WTF people.... I could almost wrap my brain around this question if my girls were fraternal, but they're not. They're completely identical. Same height, same weight. Ditto. Copy and Paste.  If I just said "yes, they are twins", how could you wonder if they were both mine?
If you can think of a good response for me, I'd like to hear it.

I've also been asked some pretty personal questions, like "were they natural"? Depending on the situation I usually respond "yes, they were a totally unexpected surprise, too". But WTF, "natural"???...does this somehow make babies born after fertility treatments "unnatural"? How is this anyone's business? Especially a stranger at the mall...

I envy singleton moms.... on the rare occasions when Cody and I split up the girls and run errands with "just one baby", it's so peaceful. Maybe a sweet old lady will tell me how cute my girl is, or someone will ask how old my baby is... but that's it. No ridiculous questions, no feeling like a freak show... just a peaceful trip to the grocery store.

I can only imagine how crazy life is for mom with triplets or more.....

May 25th. Due Date.

Today, May 25th, should have been their "due date" last year. Instead they were born March 21st, minutes before midnight. I have no good memories of their birth. The entire experience was terrifying, heartbreaking and nightmarish haze. The 6 weeks they spent in the NICU was a rollercoaster of emotions. It still feels like a bad dream. But we all survived.
As I watch my little daredevil monkeys climbing the sofa and tottering about the living room it's almost impossible to imagine that these were my tiny, fragile preemies, born too soon, weighing only 2 1/2 lbs each.




So when I catch Emily climbing a 4 ft tall dresser.....







Or Zoey munching on a box of crackers her daddy left out...









It makes me smile.

And while I'll always be a little jealous of the mamas who had healthy newborns and left the hospital with their babies, I know my journey has taught me a lot about being grateful and enjoying every precious second with my girls.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Overtime and Underbudget! Project Playroom!

 We moved into a 1950's ranch-style house with faux wood laminate and wood paneling several years ago. Since then, Cody and I have done almost all the remodeling on our house. Immediately we set to work on the floors and kitchen, then the living room and bathroom. Eventually the nursery. Slowly but surely the whole house is coming together.
Sure it would have been faster and easier to just hire someone or *gasp* move into a newer house without the laundry list of repairs, but that's not our style. We loved the location and we liked the challenge. Our most recent project was turning the spare room into the girls' playroom. Originally we planned for a week to complete the girls' playroom remodel.... 3 weeks later, it's done. Finally. We allotted $500 for the renovation and came in $200 under budget! How awesome is that????
We tried to stick with "green" items- underlayment made from recycled bottled for the floor, low VOC paint, wood flooring made from renewable wood. My first choice was cork, we have used cork flooring in other rooms in the house and I love it, but this time it was nearly impossible to find cork flooring locally, so we chose a nice pine instead.
Removing the several layers of old floor... 
The Awful laminate
Pretty New Floor and lots of new storage!
In the end we decided to move the cribs in here too. The room had plenty of space for all their toys AND now we have their old nursery to turn into a real guest bedroom (yet another project *sigh*) I love the way their room turned out. It's bright and cheery and safe for babies to destroy play.  

Tuesday, May 4, 2010


I posted this on Facebook last week and now I'm adding it here in an attempt to keep all my recipes in one place for easy reference. Cody and the girls love this focaccia and I've tweaked the recipe in many different ways- sundried tomatoes, onions, cheese, whatever I'm in the mood for.


Roasted garlic, sea salt and rosemary Focaccia.

1 teaspoon white sugar
1 package active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 & 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 head of roasted garlic
fresh rosemary

In a small bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In the mixerl, combine the yeast mixture with flour. Add in additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all of the flour is absorbed. Knead briefly for about 1 minute. Remove from bowl.
Lightly oil the bowl, place the dough back in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F
Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface; knead briefly. Pat the dough into a sheet and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with seasalt and cover with mashed roasted garlic and rosemary.
# Bake focaccia in preheated oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on desired crispness. If you like it moist and fluffy, then you'll have to wait just about 10 minutes. If you like it crunchier and darker in the outside, you may have to wait 20 minutes.