a few of my favorite things: part 1

These are a few things that have helped me survive my recent arrival in Twindom. If you're having two, you need these things. If you're having one, just get one of each. ; )

1. The Stroller of All Strollers

You've heard me talk about my stroller and how much I love it. It's like a 5th member {oops...6th member} of our family. {Sorry, Howie.} I really only researched two things while I was pregnant: cloth diapers and strollers. You'd think there would be a few more things to worry about. And there probably were but we've survived surpsisingly well. The Baby Jogger City Select Double Stroller  is expensive but it is worth it. It's one of the only things that was bought brand new. A bunch of family and close friends went in on it together.

People stop me all the time to ask about it and to ooh and ahh over the basket space. The basket underneath can fit my humongous diaper bag plus a day's worth of shopping bags. Or a Howard. Other twin moms are jealous. Other moms in general are jealous. If you have twins, it's wonderful. You just use the car seat attachments and keep them right in their seats. They can both face forward or backward or face each other. When they outgrow their car seats, you just put two seats on the stroller.

Sadly, it comes without that studly man right there. I'm just lucky like that.  

If you have one baby, it's great with one. And then, when you have your next, you can use one seat and one car seat attachment to stroll them both around town. I really loved that this stroller wasn't side-by-side. It fits in pretty much all store aisles without having to blaze its own trail. Except for at Forever 21. That place is disorganized and it stresses me right out. For carrying so much, it's surprisingly smooth and turns on a dime. Overall, this was a great investment and it's still one of my favorite things. It gets me out of the house.

Just look at all these different seat combinations! And, apparently, there is a glider attachment as well that makes it possible to stroll three kids. Now that is just nuts.

2. The Boppy
The girls spent A LOT of time in their boppys the first few months. Those things are expensive though. The two we have were bought at a consignment sale and my mom's cousin Marti (who I strive to be like when I grow up) made new covers for them.

3. The Brestfriend
When my friend Erica found out I was expecting twins she promptly sent me a picture and link to the My Brest Friend Twin Nursing Pillow. I literally laughed right out loud. It just looked ridiculous. And the name itself is hilarious. But, it really has become my best friend. {Sad? Yes. But true.}  It's made my nursing life {which was pretty much my whole life until the last couple weeks} much easier and more time efficient. The platform is so big and sturdy that I can do other things while I sit there and nurse...like put on my make up or blog or knit. {I wish about the knitting thing. I don't know how but, if I did, I could totally do that while nursing. Totally.} I can't vouch for the single nursing pillow but I'm sure it's wonderful too.

NOT me. Not my babies. But I do have the pillow.

My sister modeling the brest friend when we were working on the nursery back in the day.

And the Boppys are useful once again. They keep the babes in a 'holding pattern' when I'm home alone and want to nurse them at the same time.

4.Tinted Moisturizer
Which brings me to my fourth favorite thing...my Mary Kay Tinted Moisturizer. I love this stuff. I may spend a good majority of my days in yoga pants (although I've been MUCH better about putting on real clothes lately) but that doesn't mean I need to scare the UPS guy when he comes to the door. This stuff has just enough tint to even everything out and it goes on smooth and creamy. If I actually go out and want to look more "done up" I'll put mineral powder over it. And it has an SPF 20. I like that. Get it now. Just do it. You'll love it, too. {By the way, I have the best Mary Kay girl ever who also hooked me up with some pretty rad purple and gray eyeshadow. Love it.}

And now it's 10:45 at night and I haven't even begun my 20 page dissertation on the best twin diaper bag and bassinets. Doesn't that sound exciting?!? There's always tomorrow.

three months

Flashback: 3 months...

 Charleigh-moose

 

Logi-bear

 

 

 

one month

two months

 {Not sure how those nicknames came to be. You end up saying/singing some pretty weird things when you're a parent.}

lemon kale pasta and chicken salad

What I Ate Wednesday...

I've been meaning to share these lunches for a couple weeks. They're just so darn good and easy. I made a slightly different version of the pasta for P-dubs for dinner a few nights later and he didn't believe me that I made it without a recipe. {Shows how much faith he has in my cooking skills.}

Anyways...I give you...

Lemon Kale Pasta

• Sauté kale and mushrooms with olive oil and a little garlic.
• Toast pine nuts for a few minutes at 350 until they are just a little brown.
• Add the kale, mushrooms, and pine nuts to some whole wheat spaghetti.
• Add diced tomatoes and a handful of Parmesan cheese.
• Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the pasta and mix well.
• Thank your lucky stars for pine nuts. They make this meal.

Chicken Salad

For some reason I always forget about chicken salad. It's so easy and yummy and better than eating cereal for lunch. I used some leftover chicken and added a little olive oil mayonnaise, Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing, diced apple, and chopped almonds. Put it all in a pita (or bun or croissant) and you have a meal of champions. Or at least busy people who really appreciate food that's not poured from a small cardboard box. The secret ingredient here is the Newman's Own dressing. Not only does it make this taste great and cut the amount of mayo you need to use, it is seriously one of my all time favorite dressings for pretty much everything. Salad, bruschetta, dipping pizza crusts, pasta...you name it. Go get some. It will change your life. Or at least your chicken salad.

The good stuff

The weekend was pretty low key around here. P-dubs has been working his little booty off on the weekends and, as much as I would love for him to flit about with all of us girls doing absolutely nothing, I'm so thankful he's willing to put in extra hours to provide for this little family. He gets to work from home,though. Which is nice. I distract him with babies too much for sure. But how can I not?

Disclaimer: You'll notice a lack of green on this post because, let's be real, most days I don't even know which day of the week it is. And those repeat every 7 days. St. Patrick's day is just once a year. The chances of me remembering it were slim to none. And none it was. You know I love holidays and their traditions. I really do. It's just that without having to write the day of the week and date on a white board every morning, I barely knew it was March. {Plus, it feels like July around here. So you can understand my confusion. Or maybe not.} 


But, this weekend, somebody did get a hair cut. 

You can't really tell in the pictures but his bandana has skulls and crossbones on it. Because he's tough like that. {We promised him that his new 'do didn't make his crooked teeth more noticeable. But it really does.} 

And we did go for a walk. 

Somebody got all tuckered out and had to ride back home.

I wasn't trying to hide the girls from the world...just from the evil wasps that are everywhere right now. 

Me: Get your naked little self out of there and walk.
Howard: But mom, I'm sooo tired. Fifteen minutes is my limit!!

I was also very domestic this weekend and made homemade banana bread. It tasted good but it didn't really rise or something. Don't ask P-dubs how much of the loaf I ate. He will lie to you and say three-quarters. When I easily at nine-tenths. 

And I made homemade KIND bars. {Because who can pay $2 a pop for one bar. Not this girl. And certainly not this girl. But they are gluten free and delicious, so I set out to make some for the sister to whom I often owe my sanity. I use the term 'make' loosely here since all I really did was find a recipe and follow my sister around the kitchen while wearing Sweet C and telling her how much of each ingredient she needed. {As opposed to the flat banana bread that I really did make.} 

Overall, a great weekend. Even without corned beef and cabbage. 

almond butter

Man cannot live on bread alone...but how about on almond butter? Because that's pretty much all I've eaten today. Almond butter on toast, on crackers, on apples, on bananas, by the spoonful, on chocolate. {What?! Shamefully, yes, thats true.} Pretty much the only thing I didn't eat it on today was a black bean burger (cause that would be gross, right?) and on cantaloupe (because I was at an alumni thing at Amelie's and didn't have my almond butter with me. By the way, in case you're wondering, Charlotte has an impressive amount of Taylor alumns. Which I love.) 

So you need to stop reading this right now and run out and get your sweet self some maple syrup, molasses, and almonds and get busy making the best almond butter you'll ever have. I promise- making nut butter is easier than you probably imagine. {Hello. If I can do it, anyone can.} And it's more cost efficient than buying a jar at the store. {At least I think it is if you get the almonds in bulk at some place like BJ's, Costco, or Aldi's.) Go here (remember her from my post about oatmeal?) for the recipe for pumpkin spiced almond butter and love your life. Or come by and hold a baby and I'll give you some. Even better.

You can tell Sweet C is mine for sure because she can camouflage with the white door. 'Atta girl. Just like your mom.

this is...

...how we read around here. We're very serious about education.

two months

Flashback: 2 months...

 Charleigh Girl

8 pounds 8 ounces

(8th percentile...at least we're in the positives)

21 and 1/2 inches

    

Lolly Pop

7 pounds 5 ounces 

(-3 percentile...come on now, girl...)

21 inches 

one month