Toddler Food

So it seems I've fallen into the rut of serving my girls the exact.same.meals.again.and.again. I'm getting bored with them, so I know the girls must be. I try my best to feed them healthy foods, but since they tend to not like to eat green vegetables, I've sorta given up on making them, and instead giving them our go to vegetable serving. They happen to love pureed vegetables they can suck out of a pouch, even though I have assured them many times that cooked, whole vegetables taste much better. And let's be honest, I've been scarfing down one too many PB and J sandwiches lately, as well. So I'm attempting to feed all 3 of my babies some healthier food this week. I thought these recipes looked easy enough, and seemed to make vegetables look way more appealing. And best of all, it looks like you can make them in bulk and freeze (yay!).

Spinach Ricotta Bites

Broccoli Cheddar Nuggets

This blog seems to have lots of good toddler food ideas, as well. I'll be trying more if these go over well.

xoxo

Kisses and Play Doh

These crazy girls are giving me a run for my money these days. On top of them weathering the ups and downs of cold and flu season, Sophie having a double ear infection, Campbell teething, adjusting to a new nap schedule, it's been a rough last few weeks to say the least. My pregnancy-induced small amount of patience has been tested to the limits, and I've certainly been in a less than desirable mood when Kyle walks through the door in the evenings. The girls have also decided to choose this last week to seriously increase the amount of cat fighting. They have started to fight over everything. I knew this was an inevitable situation we would run into someday, but I had no idea that someday would be this soon. They fight over our iPhones, toys, sippy cups, snacks, you name it. Sometimes it doesn't even matter if they both have the same toy, one of them (and it's usually my feisty little red head, Sophie) will inevitably just want what the other has for the heck of it, and will usually resort to "form tackling" (as Kyle calls it) to get what she wants. This wears me thin. We are currently talking about what "sharing" means and have had some great breakthroughs in the sharing department, which is always followed by tremendous steps backwards, but at least we are making some progress. :)
That being said, they are also at an incredibly funny age right now. Thank goodness for these sweet/hilarious moments that always seem to come at the time I need them most. Since my girls are impossible to photograph these days, I'll have to resort to more videos.

This video pretty much sums up their personalities perfectly. Campbell, my little rule follower, and Sophie, my little red headed rebel (notice how Campbell attempts to put the play doh in her mouth but stops herself without me asking ;).

Oh boy. For every fight we have in our house, we have a kissing fest that follows. These girls do love to be sweet to each other...sometimes. And please disregard Campbell's mis-matched outfit that Daddy picked out. 

xoxo

The Big Debate

I feel like the biggest blog groupie ever, and some of you are probably sick of me constantly sharing her posts on here, but she is just spot on with so many of her thoughts that I feel such a huge need to let everyone know about her. I get so excited to read her next post and wish that I was able to write as eloquently as she does on so many topics. I think every mom has many things to say about the great debate of being a stay-at-home mom vs. a working mom, and I'm no different.
Before I was a mom, and even as early as first grade (not exaggerating), I knew without a doubt that I would someday be a stay-at-home mom. My mom stayed at home with my sisters and I, so really I didn't know any different. I knew I loved coming home to my mom who would frequently have a snack for me and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood turned on ready for me to watch. Somedays we would get off the school bus to see her power-walking around the neighborhood with our neighbors (other stay at home moms). I just couldn't have imagined going to day care after school or coming home to an empty house.
Now that I am a mom, I do in fact stay at home with my girls. Wish granted. With that being said, I know without a doubt that any preconceived notions I had about what it meant to stay at home have pretty much flown out the window. It's not the charmed life I had always envisioned, I don't live a blissful, stress free life everyday, I don't believe my children are "better off" than so and so's children that go to child care everyday, and more days than not, I dream of what it would be like to have my old life of a woman with a career back. To wake up everyday with a plan, a purpose, a schedule, a boss, wearing pants that button. That's not to say I don't find it enjoyable being home with my girls. And although I've repeated the phrase "the grass is always greener" in my head a million times, I know that being a working mom would be equally, if not more, exhausting.
And I also believe that no matter which path I chose, that "mommy guilt" would be whispering in my ear on a regular basis. It's unavoidable.
I also love that she addressed the issue of what it means to be a woman, and how so many women these days thrive on beating each other up and criticizing. Every woman has dealt with this at one point or another, and I'm reminded of my friend Ashley, who always says she wishes more of us women would just "stick together" and quit ganging up on each other. I agree whole heartedly.

So please do yourself a favor and read her post on this issue HERE. There are lots of great articles out there on the issue (and I think Dr. Phil even did a show on it).

Until then, let us moms resolve to try our very hardest to find peace with our decisions and lend a helping hand to the ones around us.

xoxo

Because I'm pregnant...

...and because it's frowned upon to drink beer while in such a state, I will be making THIS...

...very soon.

Oh, and generously drizzling each piece with butter and honey. 

Dontcha wish you were pregnant so you could eat a whole loaf of guilt-free carbs, too? It's one of the few perks of growing a child inside you.

Carb-e Diem!

xoxo

MDO

Well, this past week the girls started their schooling adventure in the form of Mother's Day Out at New Covenant. Actually, they call it Children's Day Out at their school, which I have to disagree with since I believe the person getting the most enjoyment out of these days of the week is, indeed, me. However, I have come to see that the girls very much enjoy their time there, as well (minus those first few minutes they think I have abandoned them and are never coming back). Like all parents, I was very nervous about the first day. How will they react? Will I have to come pick them up early? What if they never adjust to school? Will we have to homeschool them? Will they be the "weird twins" that have a secret language and don't play well with other children? They cry the entire time they are in the church nursery for 45 minutes, there is no way they'll make it a full day. All of these thoughts and questions ran through my head; but as it turns out, they really loved it. I couldn't have been more shocked when their sweet teachers raved about how great they did, how well they played with everyone, napped, ate, etc.  Whew. Looks like we won't have to homeschool them after all. Everyone kept saying they would do great because "they have each other." Which is a great idea, in theory, but never seems to matter at home, church, or anywhere else they become cranky and only want their mama. However, Miss Jennifer told me on the first day when I came to pick them up, that right before nap time, they sat against the wall together for a few minutes and held hands. I know, precious right? I was a little sad I missed that sweet moment and also wondered why they are never that sweet to each other at home. It was definitely one of those moments where I realized how blessed they are to be twins, and how forever lucky they truly are to be able to go through all of life's tough situations together. Wouldn't we all love to have a built in buddy on those scary first days of school?

Being the great mom I am, this was the only picture I captured of their first day of school. Let's hope I do better on the first day of Kindergarten. 

This morning I was reading my new favorite blog, and I was so deeply touched by her post today. Specifically, this segment of it. Although my girls are several years away from starting real school, I sincerely hope I can somehow convey this thought to them one day before they do start. I can see how it can be so easy as parents to get caught up in wanting our kid to be the best, the teacher's favorite, the most popular, smartest, etc. But I hope with all of my heart that my kids know that this is what we really care about.

Chase – We do not care if you are the smartest or fastest or coolest or funniest. There will be lots of contests at school, and we don’t care if you win a single one of them. We don’t care if you get straight As. We don’t care if the girls think you’re cute or whether you’re picked first or last for kickball at recess. We don’t care if you are your teacher’s favorite or not. We don’t care if you have the best clothes or most Pokemon cards or coolest gadgets. We just don’t care.

 We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.

We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.

Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.

Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.

 Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.

Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.

xoxo

Our Life in Video Lately...

A few videos of our funny girls...

I'm not really sure the exact purpose for baby sign language, but in our house it's used mostly for our own amusement...

Wrestling is a near daily occurence for these two. I hope their friends at school love it as much as they do. If not, I'm sure I'll hear about it in the form of, "So we've noticed your girls enjoy tackling the other children and forcing them to roll around on the ground with them against their will..."

Practicing kissing on their soon-to-be baby brother or sister. We'll have to work on that throwing on the ground thing.

Granola Energy Balls

I discovered THESE on Pinterest not too long ago and decided to give them a whirl yesterday. And let me tell you, you should too. They are delicious, healthy, filling, sweet, and everything you want in a snack. I was getting sick of the same ole' go-to, most of the time unhealthy snacks. And since I'm in the second trimester of a pregnancy, snacks are unavoidable. Kyle went bananas over them, too. I only made half the recipe to make sure we liked them before making a bunch, and I will be making batch #2 very soon! They have lots of healthy, good stuff in them, yet taste like a yummier version of no-bake cookies. We also substituted butterscotch chips for the chocolate per Kyle's request. I also cut up one to give to the girls for a snack yesterday and they went crazy over them. The best part is you just keep them in a tupperware in the fridge so they are easy to grab and go. 

Hope you enjoy!