Kids Easter Baskets: Bring on the Candy!

  I'm annoyed with the trend where parents are omitting sweets from holidays. No chocolate bunnies on Easter, no candy hearts on Valentines, and no candy canes on Christmas. Instead they load Easter baskets with plastic toys and concoct gluten free carrot "cakes" dressed with organic coconut flakes. I feel for the parents of diabetic children. My family is riddled with type 2 diabetes and I feel so sorry for people born with type 1. It is a miserable and nerve wracking disease that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Luckily, the girls and I are healthy individuals who partake of sugar on a regular basis. GASP! Sugar before one year old!?! Many parents brag about their child's lips NEVER touching sugar until their first Birthday cake. First of all keeping sugar completely out of your kids mouth would be extremely hard. Fruits contain sugar so I guess you're not feeding your baby applesauce or juice. "But that's natural sugar, so it's ok." Sugar is sugar is sugar. Some is white, some is brown, and some claims to be organic all natural GMO gluten free but in the end your body does the same thing with it. Either your body burns the sugar for energy or it turns it into fat. I know I'm oversimplifying the process but many people over complicate food to the point that everyone's afraid to eat anything.
  So let me share my secret to enjoying sugar without becoming fat, diabetic, hyperactive, or [insert new bad sugar claim here]. Moderation. Oh, heaven help us someone is asking you to control yourself. Refusing your child any sugar is much easier than giving them the occasional treat. The first time I fed my girls chocolate ice cream you could see their faces light up. Unfortunately, this also became the girls first taste of disappointment. Once the small bowel was empty those little eyes filled with tears and a 20min tantrum ensued. If I refilled the bowl with more ice cream then I could have easily stopped the tantrum but I didn't want the girls to miss out on this important life lesson. Sometimes you can't have what you want. With every new treat the girls had to experience the disappointment of the treat running out. Every time I would show them the empty container, shrug my shoulders, and say "all gone."  Soon the tantrums stopped and now the girls enjoy shrugging their shoulders along with me when the bowel is empty. You can tell that they still really enjoy the sugar but it doesn't seem to have the same hold on them as it did in the beginning. Most of the girls treats consist of fresh or pureed fruit but occasionally we'll all share a piece of cake or chocolate pudding. I love the ritual of sharing dessert with my girls. We all giggle and smile after every bite. Everyone gets just enough to satisfy their sweet tooth but not so much as to cause a belly ache.
  I have seen the result of both letting your child overindulge in sweets and completely cutting them off from them. The child who has complete access to a kitchen full of Oreos is usually the token fat kid in class or will eventually grow up to become fat when they're not burning calories on the playground anymore. The child that is forbidden sugar will probably rebel the first chance they are given. It is human nature to want what we can't have and if the child has never been taught to manage their instinct to overindulge then they will go crazy when their parents aren't around to stop them. Ever see that kid at the Halloween party covered in melted chocolate and rubbing their belly while moaning for more candy? He had no idea how to handle himself around sweets. You can not shield your child from the world. The world is full of fattening fast food, sugar, and numerous temptations. They need to have the tools to take care of themselves when you're not around to hold their hands.

Enjoying a sugary popsicle.

  Tonight is Cookie and Peanut's one year Birthday party. They will be eating lemon flavored cake with strawberry filling topped with buttercream icing. Easter is next week and we will all share a Cadbury egg and enjoy a handful of jelly beans. I hope they enjoy every bite.

Why I don't like teething jewelry: Teaching a child "no".

  Peanut looks up at me with her big brown eyes, sticks out her bottom lip in an adorable pout, and reaches her tiny hands in the air for me to pick her up. Awe....I swoon. My baby wants to cuddle with me! I pick her up and hold her to my chest for a good hug. Then I feel a tug on my neck and a pinch. She has popped my necklace into her mouth and is chewing vigorously. Apparently, she spotted my shiny prized Tiffany locket from the floor and knew exactly how to get her mouth on it. This has been an ongoing struggle between the girls and I. They have broken one necklace and nearly swallowed a couple more. Some days I chose not to wear jewelry because I knew they'd scratch at my neck to get at it. I also thought about ordering some teething jewelry I had seen advertised online. "Look stylish without having your jewelry ruined by baby!"  

The Face

  One day while picking the girls up from my mother-in-laws (MIL) house Peanut started towards a ceramic mouse sitting on a shelf. My MIL says, "No, no. That's Grandma's." Peanut looks back at her grandmother then to the mouse. She turns away from the shelf and crawls towards a toy nearby instead. My jaw dropped. "They know 'no' already?" I asked. My MIL had been practicing "no" all day and the girls had caught on fast. She simply would repeat this phrase and gently pull the girl's hand away from the forbidden object. Eventually they got the message. I picked up Cookie and she immediately grabbed for my necklace. I gently pulled her hand away and said, "No, no. That's mamma's." She looked up at me with understanding and left my necklace alone. This opened so many doors for us. Now we didn't need to cover up the DVD case or close bathroom doors to avoid toilet paper mishaps. Why hadn't I thought of teaching "no" sooner? I thought they were too young to learn such an advanced concept but I had seriously underestimated their capabilities.

  We have created a culture of quick fixes. It would have been easy to buy that rubber jewelry rather than telling my girls no every time they reached for my necklace. People would rather buy child locks, close doors, and hide all their breakables than to watch their child closely and teach them to respect their environment. If your kid can handle a home without child proofing than it's much easier when you visit other people's homes. Not everyone will have a special toilet seat lock or a child proof door handle. Now I'm not saying you should leave your sewing needles out from your resent craft project or leave doors that lead to pools unlocked. Babies are fast and twins are twice as hard to juggle. I'm just saying you shouldn't rearrange your whole living situation when it's more logical to help the child adapt to how your home really is. If they respect your television at home than it is less likely for them to climb grandpa's television and get hurt. Children are capable of much more than we give them credit for.

Bottles, Binkies, Lovies, and Walkies

  My girls have only formed attachments to people and my dog. I have seen too many kids with a full set of teeth and a pacify in their mouth. I see children that can walk on their own but have a bottle dangling from their clenched teeth. There has also been a big stroller movement where kids that have far exceeded the weight limit on strollers are still being pushed around. If your kids knees are touching their ears so they can avoid their feet from dragging on the floor then they are too big for a stroller! If your kids teeth are biting holes through pacifiers and bottle nipples then it's time to take them away. I knew a kid who fell asleep at night with a bottle in his mouth. His teeth were so rotted that a dentist had to manually pull all his baby teeth out rather than let them fall out naturally.

  My girls are about to hit one year old and they have two bottles a day. One before nap time and one at bedtime. They don't seem particularly attached to their bottles but like the warm formula to nod off to. We introduced sippy cups at 6 months and have phased out bottles little by little. To keep the girls from becoming attached to the bottle we have followed a few rules. Once the baby has finished her bottle we take it away. We don't let them carry it around the room, we don't leave it with them at night or during naps, and we don't let them play with it. This has caused the bottle to become a bit boring in their eyes. Sippy cups and adult cups are much more interesting. They contain different flavors than the bottle and the girls like mimicking the older daycare children. Many parents complain that the bottle has become a big comfort for when the child is feeling insecure. When my kids are feeling insecure I hold them and comfort them myself. In daycare they usually attach to the main caregiver for security. Don't pop a binky in your child's mouth every time they cry and don't shove a bottle at your baby when they are being fussy. "But the hospital popped a pacifier in my baby's mouth and now we can't get rid of it." The NICU did the same thing to my girls to stave off hunger or to administer sugar water. Peanut had a heart condition that required a two day fast due to medicine requirements and the sugar water helped to keep the girls heart rate down when they became too manic. Once we got home I put the pacifiers away only to be used in emergencies like when we were stuck in traffic and couldn't give the baby a bottle. I threw all our pacifiers away at three months old.

NICU Pacifier

  To keep anyone from becoming attached to one toy or blanket I have been rotating everything when they become used to it. Why not let the baby get attached to a dolly or a blanket? I want the girls to develop their own coping mechanisms. I want them to be adaptable for inevitable changes in life. Dolly got chewed up by the dog? Oh, well. It's sad but it's not the end of the world. Grandma needs to take care of the babies because mommy has a major stomach flu? No big deal. Grandma doesn't have the same bottles, formula, or toys that are given at home but the girls are used to changing equipment. The girls feel secure at grandma's house because grandma makes them feel secure. We have even practiced separating the girls from each other so that they can cope with being apart. Cookie has more doctor's appointment because of her torticollis which leaves Peanut by herself at daycare. You can tell that Peanut is not being as brave about exploring the play area like she usually does but she isn't having a complete melt down about her sister's absence.

  I also don't like how long parents are keeping their kids in strollers now a days. Strollers have become such a crutch for parents to lean on. They all say it's because the child gets tired too quickly and needs to rest. If your child has been walking for a long time and needs a break than why not take a break? You sit down on a bench and people watch or have a snack. Walking is so important for a child's development and health. If you take your kid out to walk often then they will build the stamina to keep up with you later. In the end I think strollers for older kids is just pure laziness on the parents part. If your kid is in a stroller then you don't have to worry about them running off somewhere. You don't have to watch them as closely or teach them not to run out into traffic. Give the kid an iPad, strap them into a stroller, and forget about them for the next few hours. A lazy parent breeds a lazy child. Now parents can't figure out why their kids are all obese. Well if they don't walk anywhere themselves and you shove goldfish crackers in their mouths all day then what did you think would happen?

  Let your child grow up. Sometimes it's the parent that is attached to things and not the child. Keeping a pacifier in your kid's mouth will not slow down the aging process. Enjoy each stage of life and celebrate each milestone. You are not doing your baby any favors by holding on to every childhood habit. I personally can't wait to throw away our last diaper!

Twin Baby Girl's Do Disney World: Magic Kingdom Fun!

  We live in Florida and I love theme parks! It had been a while since I was able to go so we planned a Halloween Disney trip. I decided to buy tickets for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom and booked a night at Disney's Port Orleans Resort.  The girls were only nine months old and I thought a shorter evening event would be better than a whole day at Disney. I also booked a night at the Port Orleans hotel so we could crash nearby rather than drive back home late at night. We dressed the girls as Minnie Mouse, I was Miss Piggy, and my husband was a Ghostbuster (boo Universal not Disney!). Here are some things that did and did not work for us on the trip.  All in all we had a blast but there are some things I'll take note of for our next trip.

Cookie Loved Minnie Mouse!

1. Disney dining is a good chance to practice baby restaurant etiquette. Disney dining staff is used to serving young children and there is a lot to keep them occupied during dinner service. We ate at the Liberty Tree Tavern which serves a family style meal that reminded me a lot of Thanksgiving. Peanut ended up eating a ton of food and fell asleep for the next two hours! 
2. Take the babies on rides. I was surprised about how many rides babies could participate on. Peanut slept though most of the rides but Cookie loved The Little Mermaid attraction. My only mistake was taking the girls on Dumbo. It had been so long since I rode on it that I didn't realize how fast it went. Peanut finally woke up on this ride but she pooped herself out of shock. No one cried but you could tell it was too much for them.
3. Enjoy the food but be careful because it's all so rich. I fed Cookie too much dessert at dinner and we paid for it the next day. I thought she'd never get it all out!
4. Park at Epcot and ride the Monorail to Magic Kingdom. We drove to Magic Kingdom from our hotel to avoid the bus transfer which can be tough with a stroller and can be slow. You have to take the extremely crowded boat or monorail back to the parking area of Magic Kingdom to get to your car but the Monorail to Epcot is practically empty. Once at Epcot you can walk to your parking spot and never stand in a line. This was the worst part of our trip. We waited an hour just to board the boat which seemed less crowded than the monorail but the girls were exhausted and cranky.      
5. We prefer the side by side stroller for theme parks or outdoor activities and the front/behind stroller for indoor activities. The side by side stroller worked well for the crowded Disney streets. It kept the girls close to us where as the front/behind stroller sticks one girl out too far into the crowd causing people to bump into her. We found the front/behind worked well for indoor shopping because it was more narrow and could fit between sales racks easier.
6. Take advantage of the Baby Center areas. They have high chairs, a tv playing movies, a kitchen, a quiet nursing room, and a changing room. It was a nice place to help the girls unwind from the sensory overload.
7. I was surprised at how much the girls enjoyed the hotel. Our room had a big king bed with fluffy bedding and the girls loved to roll all over it. We also enjoyed walking around the property which had some nice nature paths to meander through. We got a good deal by booking online with a Florida Resident/Fall discount. Off season hotel stays can be pretty reasonable so keep checking their website for deals.

(Universal Orlando tips coming soon.)

How to make life easier and more enjoyable with twin girls.

  No singleton parent will be able to complain to me about how hard it was having one infant in the house. You worry if they've had enough milk after throwing it up all over themselves (do I give her more now?). You worry if you've spent more time with one compared to the other. When did she poop? Is she breathing? Did I just give Cookie two bottles? Did I remember to feed the dog yesterday? Luckily I have a very patient husband who can handle high levels of stress on very little sleep. We devised a schedule that helped us through the tough baby sleep patterns (read STTN) but once everyone was getting enough sleep I had trouble getting out of newborn survival mode. Below are my top tips that made things easier for everyone.

1. Let it go.
   So it's Independence Day and I just got everyone all dressed up to see the family. The girls were wearing red and blue outfits with white ruffled butts. I special ordered the outfits from Etsy and probably spent too much on them. Just as we were walking out the door Peanut spit up all over the front of her outfit. I was in tears. We were running late and now we had to strip her, wash her, and find new clothes all while her sister became increasingly cranky at being ignored. Everyone showed up to the party a bit miffed. After this scenario repeating itself over and over again I've learned to let go of what we can't control. This is so hard for me because I'm a complete control freak. I just take a breath and tell myself, "Your going to be late, they'll get over it, and tomorrow this will be funny." 
2. Don't be a perfectionist.
   After getting the girls home from the NICU I was very concerned with keeping everything neat and tidy. I wanted the girls to always look cute in case visitors stopped by, I didn't want my gray hair to show, and I wanted my house presentable. This literally nearly drove me insane. After breaking down and crying because my husband left a t-shirt on the floor we decided I needed an intervention. I was terrified of becoming a sloppy dumpy mother with a house that looked like a playpen. I had seen many pictures of high school friends on Facebook who fell into that lifestyle so easily that I thought it must be a trap. My husband reassured me that letting the dirty dishes sit for a while would not turn me into a fat slob and people would find Peanut cute even if I had missed a button on her onesie. I learned to not be so hard on myself and to slow down a bit.
3. Slow down!
   I had become the master of multitasking. I could juggle cooking dinner, packing lunches, mixing bottles, and cleaning the kitchen all while dancing a jig to entertain the girls. By the 8pm bath time I was beat. One night while wiping down high chairs at around 7:30pm I looked over at my husband dancing with Cookie and realized that I hadn't actually spent any time playing with my babies that day. I had barely spoke to my husband. In fact, the only time I was spending with my family was the nightly bottle right before everyone fell asleep. I had become so concerned with knocking out everything on my to-do list that I was becoming an estranged mom. After this depressing realization I decided to have more takeout nights to free up my evening schedule. I also handed some tasks off to my husband and allowed the high chairs to become a little sticky. I even traded in my lunch time gym workout for an afternoon walk in the park. Slowing down my obsessive routine made me a happier and more gentle person. 
4. Laugh about it.
   Cookie pulled out some moldy bread from the trash can and fed it to Peanut. Disgusting? Yes. Funny? Also yes. My mom didn't realize that I had poured used peanut oil from a turkey fry into an empty juice container and filled the girls sippy cups with it. Disturbing and worrisome? Yes. Funny? After looking up the health effects of drinking a bit of watered down peanut oil and learning that the girls intestines would not explode, yes. They had gross smelling turkey sweat for days though. Peanut pulled her newly pierced earring out with a sippy cup mid car drive home. After finding it caught in the ruffles on her butt and cleaning off all the blood I poked the earring right back in. Heck if we were going through another piercing session! I guess this is highly frowned on so please talk to the piercing place about what to do when this happens. One week later Peanut got her other earring out and we still haven't found it. Funny? Not yet but maybe it will be some day. Laughing about crazy situations relieves stress and can help you to move on. I have a tendency to dwell on problems but laughing it off is a good way for me to let it go (see #1).   

Good Eaters: Twins Eat Everything

  I was branded a picky eater at a young age by my family and friends. It took years of food therapy and building a better relationship with food before I shook the name "Nikki Picky". I'm now only branded a sugar fiend so I guess that's progress. After what I went through and seeing this new generation of obese yet picky eaters I was determined to make sure my babies had a good diet foundation. I guess we have succeeded as far as my views on diets is concerned. Daycare workers tell us that our girls are the best eaters in class. Our physicians claim the girls are developing nicely and are right on track with their weight. People gawk at us in restaurants as our tiny 10 month old girls sit quietly in their high chairs eating broccoli and fish off my plate. Are we just blessed with well behaved healthy eaters? Are baby behaviors determined on a lottery system? No.

  When people ask us how the girls have become such good eaters my husband likes to ask, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" Practice....Practice...Practice...and with babies patience helps. This is how we've mastered restaurants as well. I love eating out and thrive on big family dinners. The sooner I could get the girls accustomed to this the better. At around six months we started with rice cereal and baby food. No big surprise here but we also would occasionally offer a taste of whatever we were eating. I got the girls in high chairs as soon as they could hold their heads up on their own. We used the high chairs for every meal and I tried to extend meal times little by little. Some days the girls would only sit for a few minutes while other days lasted 15 minutes until they became comfortable with our eating pace (my husband and I eat slow and talk a lot during meals).

  We didn't entertain them during meal times because I didn't want this to be associated with playtime. I think that's how you get kids running around restaurants like rabid animals. Once some teeth came in we offered the girls bites of what we were eating. Soon they were eyeing our plates and eagerly opening their mouth for whatever we stuck in. Did they like everything we stuck in their mouths? NO! Cookie gagged at the taste of plantains and Peanut spit out strawberries. The next day I would offer Peanut strawberries again. She spit them out again. For the next two months I randomly offered her strawberries and she usually just gave me a raspberry. Then one random day she just started eating them and now she eats them all the time. Through this method the girls have acquired a taste for many things they first turned down. They also love trying new things. We have made sure to praise trying new food and have never allowed consequences for refusing food. If Cookie spits out her green beans then we just leave them on the plate and move on to the rest of the meal. We don't frown, we don't chastise her, and we don't force her to eat more. I also don't offer a load of alternatives to the green beans though. If I make green beans, chicken, rolls, and a dessert then that's what we all eat. If Cookie doesn't want her green beans tonight then she'll probably eat the rest of her meal. If she didn't eat much at all that night then she will be hungrier in the morning for breakfast. That will be a good opportunity for me to feed her a few new things because she is hungry and more willing to eat healthy food.

  Breakfast was also a great start to our restaurant training. Babies are usually in a better mood at the start of the day and more patient. I always bring Cheerios just in case service is slow and maybe some teething rings. The girls ended up really enthralled with the waiters, people sitting around them, and all the noise. We also aimed for family restaurants at first because they're already loud. Now at 12 months old we can take the girls just about anywhere. They've ate at buffets, pizzerias, ice cream parlors, and nice sit down dinners. Dinner seems to be the hardest to handle for them. They aren't as hungry in the evening and are usually tired so we try to keep it short. We have yet to have a melt down and need to leave the restaurant. My only problem is that we do leave a mess by the end of the meal. Not all food makes it into their mouths at this age. Peanut will bring food up to her mouth but let go too early. I guess that will also come with practice.

Sisterly Love? The Twin Bond

So after all the media hype over twins being born while holding hands or hugging I was anxious to see my girls special twin bond. Unfortunately, the media has lied to me yet again.

Twin Sister Bond Experiment #1: After getting both girls home I excitedly placed them next to each other to watch the magic unfold. Within seconds Peanut grabbed her sisters arm and tried to nurse! Cookie screamed, I unlatched Peanut, and then she started crying too. Experiment fail.

What I learned: Newborn infants do not play well together. They will scratch, lick, latch onto, and kick whatever is within reach.

Twin Sister Bond Experiment #2: For Christmas I got the girls beautiful (and expensive) French made dolls. The dolls were the same shape and design but with different colored outfits on. They both adored their tiny dolls and spent minutes (that's forever in baby attention span time) tracing the doll's face and chewing on the fingers. I thought they could bond over their shared love of their dolls and put them each in a Bumbo facing one another. I gave each girl her own doll and watched. Cookie started chewing on her doll's hat while Peanut bounced her doll up and down. Then Cookie noticed Peanut's doll bouncing up and down. Witchcraft! How is sister's doll doing this?!? Cookie flung her doll to the side and grabbed for Peanut's doll. She managed to grab the dolls hat and started pulling. After realizing her doll was being kidnapped, Peanut squealed at her sister and grabbed the dolls foot. I decided to stop the baby tug of war and gave Peanut her doll then gave Cookie her own. Cookie screamed in anger at me giving her sister a clearly superior doll and Peanut was still crying from the tug of war. No one wants to play with their dolls anymore. Experiment fail.

What I learned: Babies do not instinctively share things very well. They are selfish little things who are very fickle. They also lack empathy. The first time Peanut laughed at Cookie crying I thought that I must have little meanies on my hands. Now I sort of miss those empathetic days where only one baby cried at a time. At around 8 months old if one girl started crying the other will drop what she's doing to join in. My hearing will never be the same.

Twin Sister Bond Experiment #3: Now that the girls are crawling and playing independently I am able to place them in a playpen without needing to entertain them. One day as they played quietly I decided to get some dishes washed. I could see the girls from the sink so they'd still be supervised. After about 5 minutes of washing I heard a high pitched yell followed by angry crying. I could see little eyes peering over the playpen at me. I rushed over to see Cookie standing on Peanuts head. She was  using her sister's head as a sort of step so she could see over the playpen. They had to be separated the rest of the day because Peanut squealed anytime Cookie looked at her. She was so mad! Experiment fail.

What I learned: A lot of baby shenanigans can happen in just 5 minutes.

Twin Sister Bond Experiment #4: One day I was running late getting dinner ready. The girls are used to eating at 6pm and it was 7pm (that is three days in baby time). I put them in their baby walkers with some teething rings while I got everything ready.  They both started fussing and ramming their walkers into my shins. After throwing dinner in the oven I realized that it was way too quiet in this twin baby home. Both girls were near the trash can randomly giggling and Peanut was chewing on something. Cookie had gotten her little hand into the top of the trash can and found some moldy bread I had thrown away. She was tearing off pieces of bread and putting it in her sisters mouth. Both girls found this hilarious! After gagging a little I rushed over and gathered up all the moldy bread to throw away again. Both girls cried in protest of me ruining their fun game. In the coming weeks Cookie makes a game of shoving a whole slew of things in Peanuts mouth including her own fingers, string, dog toys, Ziploc bags, leaves, and dirty socks. Peanut giggles, gags, and giggles even louder. Sisterly twin love has been found!

What I learned: Babies are gross.