is weight loss during pregnancy dangerous | Toddler twin must haves 2yo to 3yo

is weight loss during pregnancy dangerous

Our toddlers are days away from turning three-years old which means it is time for another must-have list! :) What are the things that have made this past year with toddler twins just that much easier? I have found that as our twins get older, it is becoming much less about finding things that work for twins and more about finding things that work for having three children. Most of these things are applicable to making life easier with three young children, not twin specific.

Side note: I cant believe that my next must-have list will probably be for the youngest of four children-- newborn things again! This pregnancy is flying by; Im already in the third trimester!

1. The Aqueduck Faucet Extender

Without the Aqueduck, reaching for the water flow

With the Aqueduck, standing flat footed on the stool

Not sure what the silly face is for, but using the Aqueduck

This is seriously a parenting must-have, twins or not. I cant believe I didnt own this when our oldest was small. This makes washing little hands so.much.easier, even with a stool boosting them up. The Aqueduck moves the water flow closer to them and is easy to take on and off, which is useful when you have guests using the bathroom or if you want to bring it with you on a family vacation. I know this will be coming on our next timeshare trip.

2. Lunch containers

All these are from-- where else?-- Target

I dont have a specific lunch container that I highly recommend... Instead, this is much more about just having a lunch container that suits your needs. I love how these lunch containers from Target dont have fancy lids to open or lots of compartments to keep clean. I can take the lids off and let the boys finish their picnic lunches in their carseats. They are small enough to easily fit in their laps and hold the perfect portions for our almost three-year olds and five-year old. We pack a lot of lunches and so having containers for each of them is very useful. I also have water bottles that I refill for them and bring with us. Again, I dont have a brand that I am in love with. I tend to prefer water bottles that dont have a lot of small parts and no valves. Easy to clean is a must!

3. Thirty-One Picnic Thermal Tote

I do have a lunch pail that I absolutely love for heading out with all four of us-- me and the boys-- and the times when my husband goes out with us too: the Thirty-One Picnic Thermal Tote. I love this lunch pail. It fits us perfect for our park trips, afternoons out running errands, and when Im bringing snacks to our oldest sons little sports games. I use this thing almost every day. I can also fit my water bottle in here along with our lunches. This lunch pail is not too big and not too small. It is also soft so I can shove it underneath our stroller. The handle is adjustable so I can hang it over the handlebar of our stroller. I bought this lunch pail because I was out with one of my girlfriends and she had packed her lunch in it. I absolutely loved it and how well everything fit inside! I went home and told my Thirty-One consultant that I wanted one and promptly placed an order. :)

5. Croc-like shoes

Putting his Crocs on all by himself

Putting his Skechers on all by himself

I know what you are thinking: CROCS?! Yeah, Crocs. When you have three kids, it is really (really, really, really) annoying to help get three sets of shoes on six feet, tie six shoes, and then-- Lord forbid-- we go somewhere where they have to take their shoes off. Or their shoes get wet. So Crocs, or Croc like shoes, are just the ticket. The little boys can put their Crocs on and off by themselves. If they get wet while we are out, they dry quickly, unlike canvas sneakers. They breathe. They work like flip flops and protect their toes like sneakers. When we go to the spray park, they can wear their Crocs in the sprinklers. I let the Crocs dry and then they wear their Crocs over to the playground. Love a multi-purpose shoe! Their feet have grown again and it was time to buy shoes for this summer. A friend tipped me off to the Skechers Boys Guzman Seeperz. They have all the convenience of Crocs without that oh-so-stylish Crocs look. I loved the price tag-- I bought all 3 boys a pair at the outlet mall for just under $50 compared to one pair of Crocs at $29.99-- but for our oldest they have been a little disappointing. The shoes are still intact, but the white on the toes start chipping almost the same day we brought them home. Little kids are quite hard on play shoes, although they havent chipped near so bad for our toddlers.

6. Baby-sitter

In my blog post "0-2 year old twin must-haves," I said drop-in childcare and a baby-sitter were a must. Sadly we have moved from North Carolina to South Carolina and we no longer have a drop-in childcare place (believe me-- I have looked!). Being a military family, we move a lot. We are probably only going to be living in South Carolina for another year. When our oldest was a baby, I never had a baby-sitter I hired. I never even looked. I would ask my girlfriends in the FRG or I would reschedule whatever I had planned. My husband was always underway or working. I had a sling and our son went everywhere that I went. Having three kids with a fourth on the way changes that a little bit... I kind of need a baby-sitter for a lot of things, like my OBGyn has a no kids in the exam room policy. Actually, my last OBGyn had that policy when I was pregnant with our twins, but it was much easier to drag one fairly well-behaved toddler with me than a preschooler and two toddlers-- its slightly more distracting. Also, with three kids and our fourth on the way, we like getting out every now and then. My hubby and I want to use a baby-sitter to go birthday shopping for our toddlers. Not a very fancy date, but it sure is nice to get out without three kids in tow and chat as a couple. With a busy family, it is good for our marriage to take advantage of those little opportunities to get out by ourselves.

I know what a lot of my military wife readers are thinking, "But where do I find a baby-sitter?!" I dont really know. One of my best friends has found their baby-sitters (2 different duty stations) on sittercity.com. It is free for military families: Sittercity Military Program. My sister has even used a baby-sitting site like that, for her daughter and also to find a pet sitter for her cat. One of my really good girlfriends used to baby-sit for those sites before she had kids; I would definitely hire her to watch my kids (and I often do abandon my kids at her house-- haha!). I didnt have good luck finding a sitter on those sites when we first moved here. I get really nervous leaving our asthmatic toddler with people I dont know. Im going to have to give them a try again when we move next time; I dont know if well move somewhere with such an awesome neighborhood as we have here. I found our current sitter by word of mouth from my neighbors. I do know that I didnt just have a baby-sitter fall into our lap when we moved to South Carolina, away from our awesome baby-sitters in North Carolina. We found our baby-sitter here by asking people about baby-sitters. I messaged people. I posted jobs on baby-sitting sites. I met up with people. I actively searched for a baby-sitter and, after a couple weeks, I found the perfect match for us-- a fabulous Navy wife who also happens to have asthma (makes me much happier finding someone who understands asthma to watch our boys!). It takes patience. It is hard as a military family, moving to a new state and finding someone you trust to watch your kids, especially when you dont know anyone. Give it time. Keep looking. It can happen!

7. Our Baby Jogger City Select with a Second Seat

Well, you knew this would make the list. Read my previous blog posts about it here:

• "0-2 year old twin must-haves"
  This post includes pictures of our toddlers at two-years old using our stroller.
• "I love my stroller"
  The original post about our stroller.

Most of the time, now, I only put one seat in the stroller. There are still times when I put in both seats. Yesterday at the park I put in both seats because the boys played at the playground for an hour or two, ate lunch, and then played at the splash pad for another hour or two. I was very worried they would be tired on the way back to the car and wanted the toddlers to have somewhere to sit (at 28 weeks pregnant carrying two toddlers and all our gear isnt an option for me). A lot of times when I only have one seat in, one toddler will sit in the seat and the other toddler will sit on the foot rest. Not the best picture, but here is a picture of them doing that when we looked at Christmas lights this past December:

I put one seat in most of the time because only one of our toddlers really ever wants to ride in the stroller anymore. The other prefers walking. When baby #4 comes along, Im going to put our glider board back on our stroller. That way I will have the glider board for one toddler, a seat for the other toddler, and the infant car seat adapter for baby #4. For times when we are going to the park and hanging out for a long period of time, I love having the stroller with me to help carry all our stuff.

8. Responsibility

This is the age where our toddlers want to help with e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. They want to help unload the dishwasher, clean the bathtub, fold the laundry, pick up toys, carry in the groceries... but they dont really want to follow through with all of it or do any of it exceptionally well (well, the way I would do it if I didnt have "help"). Today when I cleaned the bathtub, I let one of our toddlers help me scrub. No need to worry; I used baking soda to clean the tub so it was entirely safe. I just gave him an extra scrub brush. (Read "Homemade household cleaners.") In my blog post "Domestic goddess," I talk about our cleaning schedule. They love helping me clean. I give them rags to dust with and dole out small tasks for them to help with. Today I gave one of our toddlers one piece of laundry at a time to put in the laundry hamper as I folded clothes. I like encouraging them to help because Ive seen how awesome it can be-- our five-year old is an exceptionally good help. Hes even started washing dishes lately! Yeah, awesome help. Encourage it while they are interested. :)

The other thing they love is having little things that they can do by themselves. Our boys love coloring. I put the crayons and the paper on a shelf that they can reach. This took time-- we didnt start out with the crayons within reach. They have learned that if they want the privilege of using the crayons whenever they want to, they need to use them at the table. They feel like big kids getting the crayons out whenever the urge to color strikes them. Having these little independent activities that they can do by themselves helps them start understanding responsibility and following instructions. These types of things are much easier when you are delegating to the youngest age. When we had these types of responsibilities for our oldest and our twins were around 18-months, we had to set him up in an area that wasnt accessible to his younger brothers who were not old enough to understand what he was doing and why they couldnt participate. Now that they are almost three, they understand when we tell them that their older brother is working in the office and they need to stay out. We can usually distract them with an activity of their own at the kitchen table. We have designated areas for all these types of activities/responsibilities. Our office is transitioned to a KNex/Lego workspace for our oldest (right now my hubby and our five-year old are building a 3D Star Wars puzzle in there). Most of our toddlers activities are at the kitchen table so we can keep a close eye on them and make sure they get properly cleaned up when they are finished.

9. Olivers Labels Safety Wristbands

This one is identical twin specific. We bought these wristbands when our twins were born. They were much too big for newborns, but we started using them after we found our first baby-sitters in North Carolina, before our sitters could tell our identical twins apart, or when we would drop them off in a childcare situation (drop-in childcare, church nursery, etc.). These are very useful when we have new baby-sitters (our new baby-sitter here in South Carolina now can tell our boys apart) or when we have friends/neighbors watching the boys. Now that weve been making all new friends, these have been quite useful again, especially since our toddlers dont like being called by the wrong name. "That not me! That my brother!" These are also super handy when you have a lot of extended family visiting or out of town guests that arent used to interacting with your twins. Our boys have such different personalities (and look different now that they are toddlers and not newborns) that it only takes people a little while to identify them. As I said, we bought each of our boys a pack when they were born. They are turning three in a few days and we are still using the same pack. When we had family in town for a couple days, I usually just kept the same wristband on them the whole weekend. These wristbands are very durable and did well through bath times and daily wear and tear for those long weekends.

(I am avoiding saying "knowing who is who" because I seriously do hate the "who is who" game. Read my blog post "Identical brothers.")

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weight loss during pregnancy due to morning sickness | Taking it easy while pregnant with baby 4

weight loss during pregnancy due to morning sickness

I hear this all the time lately, "Take it easy."

"Just be sure to take it easy."

"Take it as easy as you can."

"You just really need to take it easy."

I am just over 30 weeks pregnant. I stay at home with our 5 and a half year old, whom we homeschool in preschool, and our 3-year old toddler twins. We have a dog. My husband is in the Navy which, of course, means we live next door to my parents (not).

How do I take it easy?

We went through this when I was pregnant with our identical twins. I was on modified bedrest and had multiple ultrasound appointments and an OB appointment each week. It was exhausting. When I was pregnant with twins, we lived in a small apartment with one toddler; I left the housework to my hubby. It was a small amount of housework and got done whenever he got around to it. (Sometimes in a frustrating amount of time.) But it all worked out.

How did I stay at home and take care of a toddler by myself every day then?

1. Netflix Instant Queue
I never had to get up to change a DVD. I could add shows to our queue from my computer and either watch them on our laptop or from our Blu-Ray player.

2. Toddler Look and Find books
I know I say this all the time, but I seriously loved these. I could sit and do these with our toddlers while I was laid out on the couch and later when I was feeding 2 newborns. There is so much to talk about in these books, from finding his favorite Disney characters to making up stories about what they are doing. These were a huge source of entertainment to us.

3. Melissa and Doug box puzzles
I love these puzzles. There are 4 puzzles in one box. He would drag this puzzle over to me and we could sit and do 4 puzzles without having to get up. We could do the puzzle on the couch because you assemble the puzzle on the lid of the box. Fantastic. We bought several of these during my pregnancy and in the early "twinfant" stages.

Things are different this time around. I dont have one toddler bumming to go to the park when I need to be resting. I cant turn on a show and take a cat nap while he plays quietly on the family room floor. As I write this blog post, Im propped up on the couch enjoying Braxton Hicks while our 3 boys bounce wildly around the playroom. Our house is always loud. Someone is always getting hurt. One day of skipping tidying up and the toys start taking over all our living spaces (a bit hazardous for me since I can barely see my feet!). So what am I doing this time around?

First of all, we have a very different living situation this time around. We dont have a small, quiet apartment to take care of. My husband is working much longer hours and when hes home he takes care of the kids and does a few small chores. He doesnt have time to do all the housework. We dont have a housekeeper helping us out like we did in North Carolina. Instead, I rely a lot on doing small tasks each day. I dont have one big day of housecleaning. We tidy as we go and I accomplish one area of housecleaning earlier in the day when my energy is at its peak. (For our cleaning schedule, check out my blog post, "Domestic goddess.") I also prioritize our house chores. I dont waste my energy doing things that dont need to be done right then or dont need to be done by me. For instance, heavier kitchen appliances that go in awkward cabinets will sit on our kitchen counter all day until my husband gets home to put them away. When I make a huge Costco run, I stack things in my vehicle so when I get home I can unload the freezer/fridge items and leave the rest for when my husband gets home. There is no need to tire myself out doing things that dont have to get done right then. These are small examples, but they add up. Sometimes I look around the house and think, "Man, we need to sweep the floors!" But we dont have company coming over and I already cleaned the bathrooms that day, so I put it off until the following day. Or, lately, I ask our oldest son if he wants to do it. Surprisingly, 9 times out of 10 he enthusiastically says yes; he absolutely loves helping his momma, as he calls it. One of the hardest things for me to do, oddly enough, is pick up toys. The constant bending over to pick up toys from the floor really inflames my round ligaments, not to mention sometimes making me very lightheaded (the joys of pregnancy-- Im anemic too, of course). I never spend time picking up toys anymore. I have the boys pick up their toys throughout the day, but my husband has them clean everything up each night when he gets home. I posted as a Facebook status the other day, "How do you guys get it all done?" My favorite response: "I dont." That really is the answer. I dont get it all done; I dont try to and I dont pretend to. I do what I can.

The number and ages of our children are also different. I was pregnant with our twins when our oldest had just turned 2-years old and then was months shy of turning 3-years old when they were born. I have been pregnant this time with a 5-year old (now 5 and a half year old) and 2.5-years old, just turned 3-years old toddler twins-- 3 kids at busy ages! While we have to sometimes, our kids go nuts staying home all day. They want to ride bikes, play outside, run in circles, and experiment. Homeschooling has been a huge blessing because we are always looking for activities. As this pregnancy has progressed, Ive set guidelines for myself when scheduling our days. I dont do activities that require walking or standing around; I must be able to sit. I dont over schedule our days (well, I really try not to... I accidentally overbooked yesterday). I stick to one or two activities, including errands and bigger chores. I have fun things for our boys to do in our front and back yard. My husband makes sure our outdoor spaces are usable for us. Hes always picking up our back porch so I can sit out there with the boys and watch them play. He keeps our garage organized so all I have to do is open up the garage and pull out our nice, sturdy folding chairs and watch the boys play. I love being able to let them run wild right outside of our house. We have tons of outdoors toys-- a water table, bikes, chalk, hose, sprinkler, scooters, every ball and sport you can think of, bubbles... They love paint brushes and buckets of water; they "paint" everything in sight. This is nice too because they can run in the house and use the restroom and I can fill up my water without having to drag everyone off of play equipment while lugging around all our stuff, like when we go to the park. I do also utilize our neighborhood parks; we pack sand toys and picnic. Sometimes this is our days outing. For the days we have to stay at the house, we have lots of indoor toys and we make sure to pick them up between activities so they stay fun, even if they can reach a lot of these themselves. We have crayons, Play Doh, puzzles, crafts... I really try to do a couple focused activities with them a day, even just helping me make granola bars, so that they arent moving from down time to down time.

Here are some of the things I have loved so far during this pregnancy:

1. Finding a homeschool playdate group
Since we are homeschooling preschool this year and starting to homeschool kindergarten next year, finding a playdate group with fellow homeschoolers has been awesome! (If you arent a homeschooling family, maybe just a mommy playdate group?) Instead of me trying to fill our calendar with things to do, I have this group of moms who are always planning something. They are always posting park meet ups, picnics, bubble playdates, information on local happenings... I love it and my kids love it. I dont go to all the playdates and Ive had to leave early a couple times, but it sure is nice to have low-key playdates outside of our house to take the kids to on our calendar!

2. Brain Quest workbooks
This is for our 5-year old. For our 3-year olds, I am using a lot of the same things I used with their older brother when I was pregnant with them. We do Look and Finds; we watch Netflix. And they are entertained. For our 5-year old... he gets bored. He wants to do something. These have been a recent purchase and Im sooooo glad we got them. We have our homeschool activities (read "Homeschooling 5-year old preschool"), but this is not for homeschool. This is just for the times that he is bumming to play a game and I want to lay on the couch because his brothers are finally quiet. He sits next to me on the couch and works on his workbook. He loves the puzzles and games. These have been very entertaining for him.

3. Well-stocked pantry
While running out of groceries wasnt a huge deal when it was my husband and I feeding a toddler,  now that we are a family of 5, I cant feed our kids just by splitting my meal with them. Eating out gets expensive, not to mention it is very inconvenient at our current duty station. It is exceedingly convenient to be able to make our meals at home (read "Family diet and family budget"). For breakfast we had English muffins, strawberries, and hard boiled eggs. We spent some time outside, came home for lunch, and I let the boys play on the back porch while they ate sandwiches, pickles, and apples. For snack we turned on a movie and picnicked on our family room floor where they had chips, almonds, and dried apricots. Since today has been such a rough pregnant day for me, I threw some tortellini in boiling water and steamed a bag of frozen veggies for dinner. Not fancy, but super easy.

4. Games
Games have been ah-maze-ing this pregnancy. We play so many games. With our 5-year old, we play the obvious preschool games: Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land. We also enjoy playing with him:

• Share a Berry
• SpongeBob Square Pants Yahtzee Junior
• Farkle
• Sorry and Sorry Sliders
• Battleship
• ThinkFun Math Dice Jr
• Uno
• 3-in-1 Jumbo Checkers

We dont play as many games with our 3-year olds. We didnt really start playing a lot of games with our oldest, like seriously play games, until he was around 3.5/4-years old. Playing with all 3 of our kids is a little crazy. We usually can get in 2, maybe 3, rounds before the toddlers are bored and our 5-year old is frustrated. With them, we recently have started playing Uno Moo-- which is actually a lot of fun and our oldest will play with his brothers, even without an adult-- and Cooties. Cooties has been more fun for us to play with the age groups, either with our 5-year old or with our 3-year olds. Our oldest wants to follow every rule and our toddlers just want to build Cooties and make them dance. A game our 3-year olds really like is when we take out their deck of cards and shuffle and deal and pass cards around. There is no rhyme or reason to this game, just holding real playing cards (one of our old decks that is now missing many cards).

5. Let it be
To quote the Beatles, "There will be an answer; let it be." Sometimes I just let it be. The kids are behaving too wildly-- but happily-- in the playroom and Im having horrible round ligament pain? Let it be. Husband called to say he was on his way home when I made steamed veggies and tortellini for dinner? Let it be. Someone knocked on the front door when Im wearing my husbands PT gear and our kitchen counter is covered in dishes? Let it be. Some of this stuff just really doesnt matter that much in the scheme of things. My house is not going to look like how it did before I got pregnant with baby #4 (which isnt how it looked before I got pregnant with babies #2 and #3... which isnt how it looked before I got pregnant with baby #1... notice a trend?). Pregnancy is a temporary state; Im not going to be pregnant forever. Yes, I will be busy when baby #4 gets here and there will be sleepless nights, but I wont be dealing with all the wonderful side effects of pregnancy (note the sarcasm). I cant do it all right now and there is no reason to do it all right now. Our house is operating under a Priority Policy-- if it must get done it will; if not, it wont. The harder side of letting it be has really been saying no. Sometimes there are things I want to do, but I know that after a day with the kids and my hubbys schedule being what it is, that it would be too much for me to go, that I wouldnt have any energy or that I would really pay for it that night with Braxton Hicks. The biggest reason I say no to things is that I know would just be exhausting for me and not fun, like if I would have to spend too much time wrangling the kids. It is what it is. I cant change whats on my plate-- my husbands schedule, our active kids, the point Im at in this pregnancy-- and so I just need to put some thought into what I say yes and no to.

6. Sisters
Ah-- gotta love family. Since we dont live anywhere near family, my sister is going to fly down and stay with us for a month, during an especially busy time in my husbands schedule, when Im even further in the third trimester and having a hard time dealing with his long hours. Im so excited to have her come down and help with the kids and make us dinner and pick up around the house-- er, I mean, Im really looking forward to her company. ;) On some of these really busy days, it is so comforting to think, "Only a couple more weeks and my sister will be here!"

So that is how Ive been taking it easy so far this pregnancy. My definition of taking it easy has evolved with each pregnancy and again this pregnancy with each trimester. Now that Im 30 weeks (home stretch!), Ive really had to put more thought into how I can take it easy with 3 kids.

What are your tips for taking it easy when pregnant, especially if you have other children?

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metformin weight loss during pregnancy | Living on borrowed time

metformin weight loss during pregnancy

Picture taken by TwinBug Photography at twinbugphotography@yahoo.com

Isnt Navy life crazy?

We had some stress this past week when we found out we could not extend our lease because the homeowners plan to return to the property-- the house we are currently living in. (Check out my blog post "Murphys Law.") My hubby talked to his lieutenant and detailer and we were able to get orders for October. Even better, we have the orders PRINTED and IN HAND so we can set up our move in August before our lease expires. It all came together.

In all honesty, I had a bit of a freak out when I found out that we couldnt extend our lease. It really stressed me out. I kept thinking about how much money it would cost for us to move in-town, as well as the inconvenience. And this would be just weeks or months before we would be moving again! (Confused? Read that blog post I mentioned, "Murphys Law." It will fill you in.)

Not that I freaked out that much-- it was nothing a good cry and a Bones marathon couldnt solve-- but it really made me nervous. I didnt sleep well and I started convincing myself coffee has more nutrients than it really does. I also started fretting about whether or not our oldest would be able to do his 5-year old preschool class next year at his preschool-- if we moved locally, would we be close enough? Would we actually get orders and move out of state? I fretted about the summer camps I already signed him up for and paid for. Should I be seeking refunds? I started thinking about the plans we have already made this summer. Should we let people know we might be cancelling? Will we be cancelling? If we move in-town, could we still do these trips, financially or time-wise?

Okay, maybe I did freak out a lot more than I thought. My mind just started going in a million directions. When I took D to preschool, I would roll down the windows and let the warm spring air roll in. I would turn up the radio... but those thoughts would still creep back in. "Maybe you should keep a look out for houses for rent. Maybe you should contact your realtor. Maybe you should warn D he might not be going to school here in the fall. Maybe you shouldnt have told him he would be going there in the first place."

Living in limbo is so hard. I dont know why it is so hard. I kept telling myself to let it go, that it will all work out, that everything will come together, give it some time... I prayed about it and did my best to hand it over to God. I would feel peace for the rest of the afternoon, but that night as I lay in bed, I would be praying and handing it over to God again!

And then we got our orders-- thank you, God! (Thank you, Navy!) Relief flooded in. I really dont know why living in limbo is so hard. Everything did work out and come together-- perfectly, in fact. We have a plan. I am going to pull our oldest from his 5-year old preschool class here in North Carolina next fall. We are going to start homeschooling then instead. Ive spent the afternoon updating our move notebook. Ive been reading some blogs about what power school will be like. We started re-working our summer plans that were interrupted with the upcoming move. This week Im going to set up our HHG move.

It came together so perfectly that I wish I played it cool like my husband and really handed things over to God. I think I tell myself this every time we move (this is our 3rd PCS), but next time Im not going to stress out so much.

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weight loss during pregnancy due to sickness | Family diet and family budget

weight loss during pregnancy due to sickness

As a larger family, our grocery budget can be a little intense, especially as we have really tried to cut the crap out of our diet. Ive written before about how we cut out hydrogenated oils and aspartame ("The first step") and how we really try to eat at home ("Dinnertime"). Over two years has passed since I wrote those blog posts and I wanted to do a follow up. How are we doing now that we have two busy toddlers, a homeschooling preschooler, and another on the way? And, since I wrote those original posts, weve moved twice ("Across town move" and "PCS to South Carolina") and my hubby started power school--a lot has changed since we decided to undertake a new family diet!

Im happy to report that our family diet is going even better than we had anticipated! Not only have we cut out hydrogenated oils and aspartame, but weve also cut out food coloring and fast food. We stick to foods that have ingredients we can pronounce or that we know the origin/purpose of. For the processed foods we buy, we try to stick to under 10 ingredients, preferably under 5, bonus points if they are made out of ingredients we have in our own pantry (take, for instance, Cape Cod chips).

Getting to this point has required a significant shift in how we do things. I pack a lunch or snack almost every time I leave the house with the boys. This has many added bonuses. My husband would say that first and foremost this saves us money. Im not driving through Chick Fil A to pick up 3 kids meals at just over $3 each plus my meal, equaling about $20 for one meal that wont even be finished by the kids. I like it because I can control what is in the lunches I pack for our boys. I can also pack more of what I know theyll eat (fruits and veggies) and pick a protein I know theyll like more than chicken nuggets (like yogurt or peanut butter). It has been a shift because it does require preparation before we leave the house. If we are going to be out of the house for a longer amount of time, I need lunch and a snack. If I think well only be out of the house for a short while, but home for lunch, I often pack a snack anyways that keeps well (apple slices and string cheese with an ice pack). This works great because if it takes me longer than expected to get home, I have something on hand and Im not tempted to drive through anywhere on our way home. Plus, when we do get home the boys have something on their tummies so they arent fussing and whining while I pull together lunch. In my blog post "Toddler twin must haves (2yo to 3yo)," I list what we use to pack the boys lunches and my favorite lunch pail to use for me and the boys.

Packing lunches has also required that we have more food on hand at home which means staying on top of our grocery shopping. I miss how convenient it was for us to do online grocery shopping at Harris Teeter in North Carolina, but we live here in South Carolina now and dont have that luxury close by. Instead I do the bulk of our shopping at Costco and a real life grocery store. That has been another big shift for us because the entire time we lived in North Carolina, I did the bulk of our shopping online. Suddenly I find myself in South Carolina with a preschooler and toddler twins and Im figuring out how to make grocery shopping work with our hoard! We are in the groove of it now. (Though it has really made me appreciate the convenience of online grocery shopping and made me miss our old Harris Teeter even more.) To accommodate our family and cut down on the frequency of our grocery trips, the extra side-by-side fridge/freezer in our garage has really come in handy. With the aid of our extra fridge/freezer, I can pretty much limit our grocery shopping to every 2 weeks. That means that when we run to Costco, I buy the 7.5 dozen box of eggs, 3-4 gallons of milk, and 2-3 cartons of heavy cream every 2 weeks. I missed my last Costco run so my hubby actually had to pick up a carton of 18 eggs at the commissary and we have been rationing them over the past couple days. (Yes, eggs are our favorite protein!)

 

Costco is an integral part in our family grocery shopping. There are so many things that I buy there that would cost a fortune buying in smaller portions at a grocery store, even the commissary, such as nuts, dried fruits, tubs of yogurt (we buy the large tubs and then portion out from there), eggs, milk, butter, organic ground beef, fancy cheeses, and a lot of the fresh produce we buy there. I wrote before about how Costco has a lot of great organic options for a better price than grocery stores, but, even there, a lot of times I still cant squeeze it into our family budget (read "Organics vs family budget"). Ive found that the longer we stick with our family diet, the more we have been able to make room for things, like insisting on real maple syrup and not table syrup (we buy Costcos organic maple syrup).

 

And to make more room in our family grocery budget, Ive started making a lot more things from scratch. I thought that I made a lot of things before, but weve really started incorporating homemade items into our regular day to day family life. This has been a slow shift because it puts a lot more on my plate that Ive had to make room for. Yet, it all fits in, especially since we are homeschooling. We are home and I can talk to the boys while I make granola bars or have them help cook, especially our oldest who is very interested in the happenings of our kitchen. My husband and I love that we are controlling what goes into our food. Some things I started making homemade out of necessity. The cost of granola bars was becoming a substantial portion of our grocery budget. Because we cut so much of the junk out of our family diet, buying granola bars that made the grade was a much larger expense. If you read the back of the boxes of granola bars, most of them are essentially candy bars. My husband loves to bring a granola bar in his lunch for power school and I love having them as snacks for our boys or myself when Im feeling like I need a boost (oh, the joys of pregnancy!). The granola bar recipe I used to make granola bars for the kids wasnt filling enough for my hubby and Clif Bars were becoming too expensive. I found this Hearty, Homemade Granola Bar Recipe posted by Mens Health that I modify based on what is my cupboard, usually switching up what nuts I use or the dried fruits I mix in, which also gives them variety.

 

But Ive taken over making a lot of things from scratch, like pasta sauce. I have a food processor that I love (shout out to Cuisinart!) and make the Best Marinara Sauce Yet courtesy of AllRecipes.com. Ive also been making our pie crusts more and more instead of using the Trader Joe frozen pie crust like I did almost the entire first 2-years of our twins lives. Putting that food processor to use again, Ive loved Pams Pie Crust from the Pioneer Woman. We also love the Pioneer Womans Applesauce Recipe, another food processor favorite. My family is absolutely crazed for Alton Browns "Instant" Pancake Mix Recipe. Weve used a variety of mix-ins for the pancake mix; well never be buying pancake mix from the store again with a recipe that tasty (and easy)! The Pioneer Woman has so many amazing recipes on her website that whipping something up from scratch isnt intimidating anymore. For instance, this is one of my favorite oh-crap-it-is-dinnertime recipes, her Bowtie Chicken Alfredo. The other night I threw a couple frozen chicken breasts in warm water for a few minutes before dicing the mostly frozen breasts and tossing them in pan for that recipe--easy and homemade in under half an hour. I cannot recommend her cookbooks or her 16-minute meals tab on her blog enough. Her cookbooks are totally worth the money and her 16-minute meals tab is well worth the time to peruse. I own The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl and The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from my Frontier. Tonight I made her Mini Meatball Sandwiches. However, Ive made the recipe many times before and my pregnant self knew all I wanted was meatballs in sauce. I whipped up the meatballs in my Kitchen Aid mixer and made my marinara sauce in my food processor to pour over the top of them. We ate them with broccoli sprinkled with Parmesan. Hands down, my favorite Pioneer Woman recipe is her Comfort Meatballs. I dont know what it is about these meatballs that I just love.They really do just taste comforting. My husbands favorite recipe is her Chicken Pot Pie. We havent bought store bought chicken pot pies or meatballs in over 3 years because of the Pioneer Woman.

 

We eat the majority of our meals at home. Much like packing lunches, this takes preparation as well. I freeze most of our meat. I stock up on meat at Costco and freeze it in portions that work for most of our recipes. It is so convenient having a well-stocked meat freezer. I can flip open my cookbook and decide what sounds good-- flank steak? pork chops? chicken? I try to cook portions that will last for a family dinner and lunch the next day, both for my husband and for myself and the kids. Right now for our family of five-- a 5-year old and 2 3-year olds-- that means cooking for 6-8 people. Because buying organic, free-range meat is so expensive, I try to do several meatless recipes a week or really cut down on the amount of meat in a recipe I cook. My family never notices when I almost cut the meat in half in a lot of our regular recipes. Another one of my favorite tricks from the Pioneer Woman is to cook a large portion of meat-- like a brisket-- and then break it up into several different dishes, like what she did on her "Bulk Buys" episode of The Pioneer Woman.

 

I also utilize tricks to make things quicker for me, especially breakfast. For instance, when we make pancakes, we make big batches that will have plenty of leftovers. The last batch of pancakes we made lasted us 2 days after we made them. I just microwaved pancakes in the morning. Most mornings we have eggs or oatmeal for breakfast. I make the eggs fresh each morning, throwing some toast in and giving the boys a banana while the eggs cook. Since we dont buy instant oatmeal, I give them a banana and a glass of milk while I cook their oatmeal. When I make oatmeal, I make a huge pot. I get the water boiling first thing when I wake up (well, second after my cup of coffee). I store the leftovers in a container in the fridge. The following mornings I scoop the boys portions into their bowls, splash a little water on top, and microwave the bowls 1 or 2 at a time. I stir it up before mixing in their toppings. I either do a little sugar and milk or brown sugar and mashed banana. Sometimes Ill do strawberry spread with chopped nuts or granola on top. We also like doing "pizza toast." I toast some bread and spread yogurt on top. I chop up strawberries or bananas and lay them like "pepperonis" on the pizza. Sometimes Ill sprinkle some sort of spice on this, like ginger or cinnamon, or drizzle honey over the top. Sometimes I drop berries over the top of this. I buy the big tubs of plain Greek yogurt at Costco instead of individual cups; I use this for the yogurt I spread on their toast and to eat with mix-ins. Of all the fancy ways I mix up my yogurt, our kids prefer it drizzled with honey. And as much as they love fruit, they dont like when I drop fruit in their yogurt, just on the side of their bowls.

 

 

For us, eating healthy is not about a calorie count; it is about balance. We eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. I use my Pampered Chef Apple Wedger almost everyday. We snack on fruits and veggies; we eat them raw with breakfast and lunch everyday. I actually cut them up for dinner a lot too, especially if the one dish meal I made isnt heavy in veggies. I care much more about the ingredients list than the calories to fat. We believe in moderation, portion size, and a healthy, active lifestyle. We spend a lot of time playing outside-- a lot of time. We like going to the park, taking walks, and playing around our house. When I say our family diet is much more a lifestyle, I really mean that it seeps into all aspects of our life. We dont believe in a life dependent on technology for ourselves or our kids (read "Toddler technology"). Our kids are often bored and we like it that way. Today while they were bored, our oldest took it upon himself to pull out our large coloring sheets and teach his brothers their colors. They spent 45 minutes coloring together and working together as a team; they also spent a large portion of the day playing on our back patio in costumes and doing various imaginative play throughout our house. We read them books-- real life, bound books. We try to make the best choices that we can for our family.

 

Part of that has also been shifting to making our household cleaners (read "Homemade household cleaners"). This has also been one of those decisions that has really been a blessing both to our lifestyle and our family budget. I love being able to mix up refill cleaners in my laundry room instead of having to make a trip to the store. I love that they are non-toxic. My husband absolutely loves how affordable they are. Our kids can help us clean house without worry about the chemicals they are handling.

 

We are really happy with the changes we have made as a family. When we first made this shift, I never would have believed all the things that slowly would have made their way onto my plate, like making household cleaners or all these different things from scratch all the time. There are other staples in our family diet that I would like to shift to homemade, like our bread. I have a bread maker, but every time I make bread in there, my son calls it "ugly bread." I think I may try having the bread maker knead it up and let it rise, then pour it into a bread pan and bake it in the oven. Maybe that will help make it more attractive. Id love to get rid of store bought bread. We consume so much bread and there are so many ingredients in store bought bread that I would like to cut out.

 

Something that I touched on in my blog post "Organics vs family budget" is that sometimes what we want to buy doesnt always line up with what we can afford to buy each month. I feel that we are taking steps in the right direction and that we are much further towards that right direction than I would have expected us to be when we originally started down this path. I would love for us to buy all organic, free-range meat, but that doesnt mean that we can suddenly afford that. So we buy the next best thing. I would love if we could afford to buy all organic dairy products, but, man, we cannot afford that. I would love if we could afford organic eggs again, but we are buying the 7.5 dozen box practically every 2 weeks. We would either need to cut down drastically on our egg consumption or start a special egg savings account. I do my best to avoid GMOs, but, honestly, my attempt is spotty at best. I have found that trying to buy products with recognizable ingredients has cut out a lot of the red-flag GMO products (bye-bye processed cereal!).

 

When I look at where we are now compared with when I wrote my first blog post on our family diet in October 2011, it is night and day. In another 2 years, where will be then? My mom called me the other day and told me that someone gave her a bunch of eggs from the chickens they raise. She said it reminded her of me. I would seriously love if we had fresh eggs-- not sure how military housing at each of our duty stations would feel about us throwing a chicken coup out back. (Maybe when my hubby retires...) Tonight my hubby and I were looking up peanut butter recipes for our food processor. My love of cooking has grown. I love that my husband loves the granola bars I make him and that my kids get excited when I tell them what Im making for dinner. I love when Ive had a really stressful day and I make Clodagh McKennas risotto to unwind. I cannot even begin to describe how much I love watching our oldest help his daddy make pancakes for breakfast; they are such an adorable pair! We absolutely love when our kids get excited over "real" food. We like the direction this is going in. We like the food weve been making. We like turning raw ingredients into something delicious and we love gathering together as a family to enjoy them. It was a scary first step to take, but we havent ever looked back.

 

END NOTE:

 

I do want to make a note here that we have made a very conscious effort to not be confrontational about any of our changes in our family diet. We never turn down what is offered us when we go to dinner somewhere. We do not judge other peoples choices for their family diets. We do not expect our families to conform to our diet or buy anything special for us. We have eaten the candy given to us at holidays and never make it a big deal to our kids; we even have a sweets bin in our pantry. We have tried to be very practical about these changes. I wish that it was more mainstream to eat this way; Im totally on board with Jamie Olivers Food Revolution. But we understand that not everyone feels this way or eats this way and so we have been very careful and thoughtful in our friendships and day to day life to make sure we dont isolate people with our diet changes. Im writing this blog post on something that has been a big shift for us as a family and how we made those steps.?

Do you find information about weight loss during pregnancy due to sickness are you looking for? If not, below may help you find more information about the weight loss during pregnancy due to sickness. Thank you for visiting, have a great day.

mother weight loss during pregnancy | 0 2 years old twin must haves

mother weight loss during pregnancy

Whenever I look at must-have lists on the Internet, Im usually surprised to find that I own little of what is on them. So consider this Kimbers Must Have list. What is something that makes it a Must Have for me? For one the cost must not outweigh the amount of time we will use it. I have always wanted a Nap Nanny (like, really, really, really wanted a Nap Nanny... well, two Nap Nannies...), but I could never justify the cost of something that is so easily outgrown that costs over $100 a piece, plus the cost of additional covers-- not to mention the later recall of the product. As long as the cost isnt just totally over the moon, I dont mind an expensive product that is worth the investment, especially when I can use it from 0-2 years. I heart convenience.

Many of the products on this list are overlapped with my past lists. Here are the links to my previous must-have lists:

• My all-time most viewed post, "I love my stroller," posted when the twins were 1-year old
• "One and one and one is three" (the twins were 8-weeks old)
• "My daily plan" (the twins were 4-months old)
• "6-month old twins must-haves"
• "Baby products" (the twins were 13-months old)
• "Cant buy me love" (the twins were 14-months old)
• And Kimbers Navy Family "Resource" tab

If you are into lists, you will find those links interesting. Here we are approaching the toddlers 2nd birthday and we still have baby products that we absolutely love-- great investments. Other things didnt pan out liked I hoped they would (such as the Bright Stars Play Yard mentioned later). Save for my stroller, I dont think that all of these are the end-all-be-all worlds best baby products. If you are wondering what baby products you should buy that will last or be a good investment, these are my tips. There are similar products (some even better-- those Fisher Price Rock and Plays look awesome and I wish I had them!) that will do the job just as well. This ought to just give you the gist of things.

You know Im going to start with my stroller, so here we go.

1. Baby Jogger City Select with Second Seat

If you are looking for a versatile double stroller, I highly recommend reading my blog post "I love my stroller." I have yet to see a stroller that does what this stroller does. For starters, it can be a single or a double stroller. I love this feature. When I go to the pediatrician with one baby, I can bring in the stroller with one seat. Fabulous. Go to drop-in childcare and pick up the other baby and use it as a double when we go into Target. Even more fabulous. I have used this stroller almost daily from the newborn days to their second birthday. I mean, seriously. Great investment. I dont want to do the same gushing that I did in my previous blog post, but I can take this stroller everywhere: bark dust, dirt paths, grass, up hill, down hill, the Metro, the book store, the grocery store... It isnt a bulky, wide double. It is a double stroller with the mind of a single stroller. (Can you tell that Im still in love with this stroller?)

I took some pictures of the boys in the stroller to give you a feel for how it works with 2-year old twins using it. I do have other accessories for it, not pictured. I have the glider board and the trays for the seats. I dont use the glider board as often now, though I did from the time the twins were newborn to about 18-months. Our oldest weighs a little over 45 lbs now and our toddlers weigh about 26 lbs each... combined, thats a lot of weight for a Momma with a bad back to push, even on a fabulous stroller. I do keep the glider board in the mini van for the times I may want it, such as a Target trip where I put the shopping basket on the glider board instead of using a cart, or if we are doing a long day of walking and Im worried our oldest might give up halfway through, like a zoo trip. The trays were super handy before, especially to just drop the babies in without strapping them in (I know, shame on me). Now their feeding schedule is the same as ours (breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner), so I never need to do quick stroller feeds or anything. I am glad I have them because they were great from the time the babies started using the seats (versus the infant carrier adapters)  to about 15-months. I rarely use them now, but when I do, they are super convenient for keeping toys or giving "please stay happy just 5 minutes longer" snacks when we are out. :)

The accessories and all the attachments are a breeze to take on and off, once you have the trick down. When we first got the stroller, I didnt know exactly where to begin. Now I can pop the wheels on and off, take on and off the glider board, and whip that thing into the back of my mini van after outings.

And, to clear up some confusion, this is not a jogging stroller. Baby Jogger brand does make jogging strollers, but their City strollers are not designed for jogging.

This is how I usually use the stroller, with the boys both facing forward and the foot rests down at a slightly angled position:

I seat them like this when Im doing shopping trips (usually at the mall) because it gives me more room under the stroller to put shopping bags and underneath is easily accessible. I have the foot rests up some in this picture. This is how I put the foot rests when they are holding their blankets. It keeps the blankets on:

When we are going through a crowd, I drop the foot rest down in the front. It makes the stroller much smaller, comparable to a single stroller. I have the handle extended back to its highest position (because Im tall), but I drop it down when squeezing into elevators or parking it at the childrens museum:

I used to push them like this a lot and I sometimes still do. Sometimes I find that the toddler looking at me starts getting bored and demanding up because he sees me, so looking out is nice to keep them busy:

These wonderful hoods have kept my babes dry and the sun off their faces on more than one occasion  They even have these nifty flaps to peek in and see how they are doing:

The seats fully reclined. There is a middle recline in between the upright (shown in all the pictures above) and the fully reclined (shown below):

Here it is as a single stroller (in one of the many possible positions it can be in):

And here are pictures of the stroller collapsed, just to show you what the pieces look like separately:

2. Bumbo

I still have the un-safe pre-recall Bumbos. These are much more of a "fun" item now when they were a useful item before. I was given these Bumbos around the time the boys turned 6-months old (read "6-month old twins must-haves"). These things came with us as portable high chairs, room to room entertainment ("Wow! We are watching Momma do laundry!" "Wow! We are watching Momma make the bed!" "Wow! We are watching Momma make dinner!"). With two babies, they were fabulous for giving wobbly sitters a different view of the world. I loved them so much I recommended them to my sister, but she didnt like the Bumbo as much as I did. She sold it before her daughter turned one. So, Im not sure if they are just super wonderful for moms of multiples, but I absolutely loved our Bumbos. Now, the boys love the Bumbos. Our four-year old uses a Bumbo as a high chair for Buzz Lightyear and our toddlers love playing in them. The Bumbos are still a hot commodity in our playroom.

North Carolina March 2013

3. Step 2 Choo Choo wagon

Want to know why you will find this wagon raved about by moms of multiples? Because it is perfect for multiples. This wagon keeps the kids separate and seat belted in their own private wagon, complete with cup holders. The curved handle makes it easy to pull, even know that my boys weigh 26+ lbs each. I bought this second hand from a mom of multiples who was selling it. When the twins were about 15- or 16- months, I started bringing this to the pediatrician with us for the well-baby check-ups. I take them to those long back-to-back appointments by myself and this was the perfect way to keep them entertained and contained while still being able to easily get them in and out for weight checks. The seat belts also make me feel comfortable letting their older brother pull them around (a favorite driveway game with all the boys). There is a compartment under the seat where I keep spare diapers and wipes for park trips and walks.

North Carolina March 2013

4. Thirty-One Organizing Utility Tote

This is a new find for me. We live in the south and Thirty-One, a brand I had not heard of before, is all the rage down here. Being a Navy wife, I like to do my best to blend in with the locals... and find any excuse for shopping! :) This bag is really popular in our twin group and I know why: portable cup holders! I dont know about you, but Im always lugging around leaky sippy cups and reluctantly trying to balance them upright in my Coach totes (cringe). This bag has been the answer for times when you dont have cup holders, like pulling the wagon or playing at the park. There are two pockets on the outside of one side and three on the other. Im not sure my pediatrician will be happy to find Ive discovered new ways to smuggle in sippy cups, but whatever. I like that this bag is structured enough to stand upright and wipes clean. Today I dropped my empty Starbucks caramel frappuccino light cup inside the bag without thinking about it. It was a sticky mess by the time I got home. I used a Clorox wipe and cleaned the whole thing up good as new. The tote is also the perfect size to drop your purse into for a quick dash into Target if you are going sans stroller.

5. Amazon Prime or Amazon Mom with Prime

Im still crazy about Amazon. This is where we buy our diapers, wipes, Diaper Genie refills, baby products, dog food, and books. We buy even more than that from Amazon. Seriously, its the best. Amazon Prime gives you free 2-day shipping and sometimes discounts on products. Amazon Mom gives you an extra 20% off products like diapers and a free 3-month Prime membership. They also have a deal called "Subscribe and Save" that gives you additional savings on staple products, like diapers. We get our Diaper Genie refills through Subscribe and Save; they are shipped at regular intervals (I think we have it set to every 3 months?) and they are shipped right to our door. A friend of mine tipped me off that if you want to get the Subscribe and Save price on, say, a box of diapers, but not sign up for regular shipping, sign up for the service, have one box shipped, and then cancel that Subscribe and Save order. The thing I love most about Amazon is that it saves me from making those annoying little trips for one item. For instance, dog food. I dont have to go the pet store just to get the brand of dog food my dog uses (not carried by Target). The other day I had my favorite disposable fountain pens shipped to me. It is a one-stop-shop that delivers to your door. Amen to that.

6. Ikea High Chairs

There was a lot of debate over which style of high chair we wanted to buy. I hate those big cumbersome high  chairs that take up half of the dining space. At the time, we were in a small apartment and didnt have much space to begin with. There were lots of compact wooden high chairs in style, but they were well out of our price range. So we bought the Ikea ones. I thought the toddlers would outgrow them quickly. However, they are 2-years old and still fit in them! We bought the support cushion to give them stability when they were wobbly sitters. Now they dont use the support cushion and we actually took the trays off and pushed them up to the table around 18-months. These things are really easy to clean and much more compact than the Graco numbers Ive come across. Just say no to cleaning plastic high chair cushions! (Read "Baby products.")

7. Drop-in childcare and a baby-sitter

What is drop-in childcare? Drop-in childcare is a wonderful concept for moms of multiples (or, really, moms). It differs from daycare because you dont have a tuition or certain number of hours you need to attend each month. You pay by the hour and only for the hours you use. You can buy hours in bulk at a discounted rate and most offer a sibling discount. Some drop-in childcare places dont accept infants; some do. If they do accept infants, you might need to make a reservation or call ahead to see if they have room. How do you make the most of drop-in childcare, especially as a stay-at-home mom? I use drop-in childcare when I have a doctor appointment for myself or when the kids have individual appointments. I find that it is easiest to take an age group with me, like take the toddlers to their appointment or take our four-year old to his appointment. Ive also used drop-in childcare to get one on one time with each of the toddlers while our oldest is at preschool, like taking him to an art class or running an errand with him. My boys love going and they love playing with the other kids there. It has been a great resource for me. I know that many areas do not have drop-in childcare; do a Google search to see if there is somewhere near you. Baby-sitters are a fairly new concept for us. While I grew up baby-sitting, I never left our oldest with a baby-sitter until our twins were born. I dont know what the reason was; it wasnt really a thought of "Im not leaving him with anyone." Really, it just never crossed our minds to go out. My husband was gone so much with the Navy and we moved so much, that when he was home we did family things, like going to a friends house for a game night (packnplay in tow) or watching a movie together after he went to bed. Now that we have a baby-sitter that we love, I dont know what we would do without her (well, them-- they are sisters). I love having her come over and the boys love having her over. The drop-in childcare is great during the day when it is just me and the boys. The baby-sitter is wonderful in the evening or early in the morning before drop-in childcare opens, letting the boys wake up on the their own time, nap on their own time, and go to bed on their own time. Childcare is expensive-- especially with multiples. To us, it has found a place in our budget because of the sanity it offers. My hubbys schedule picked up so much these past couple semesters and that has put a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, balancing all these different schedules. Having someone come over that the kids love to play with with them, feed them, bathe them, and put them to bed while I go out has made all the difference in the world. I always look forward to the days shes coming because some "me time" allows me to take a breath and feel like a person again, instead of a multi-tasking machine.

8. Housekeeper

While were on the subject of outsourcing, having someone help with the housecleaning is one of the biggest sanity savers you can invest in. My parents have been exceedingly generous and set us up with a housekeeper after the twins were born. My mom says, "Coming home to a clean house after a stressful day will make you feel so much better." So true. My husband was skeptical at first as to whether this one was worth it or purely a luxury item. After having her coming for almost two years now, it is firmly in the worth it category. Why? Our house is not tidy. We have mail piled on our desk, my papers piled up on our work station, books on every horizontal surface, and toys in every corner. I pick up toys all.day.long. I step on toys all.day.long. We have a designated room for toys, yet they seep into every nook and cranny, invade our bedroom (nothing like crawling in bed to lay on a Lego), and threaten to spill out into the yard. With the constant picking up and the laundry and cooking and carpooling and playing, yeah, the housekeeper has given me time. As a direct result, my family does better. All of us benefit from picking everything up every two weeks to make the house (our definition of) tidy. All of us benefit from clean bathrooms and clean showers and a clean kitchen. I still have to vacuum every couple days and clean the kitchen almost every night (the surfaces), but I dont have to scrub the microwave or our showers. The cleaning Im responsible for now is all surface cleaning. So, while our house may not be perfect or tidy, our carpets our vacuumed, our floors are clean, and there is a delicious smell of "clean" in the air. When my hubby was underway all the time and it was just me and our oldest at home, then a toddler, I had a chore chart that I wrote up for myself. Every day I did a small chore so that by the end of the week, I had cleaned the house from top to bottom. I would vacuum one day, clean the hard floors the next day, do the bathrooms the next day, dust the following day, etc. When I think of that schedule and my life now, I am so grateful for this housekeeper. I cant imagine trying to do it all at this point in time and my husband isnt even gone; hes home every night. I feel like I dont get things done now. I find it hard to put into words what my day looks like and what rests on my shoulders. My life isnt compartmentalized  When I try to designate a day to accomplish something, one of the toddlers gets sick or wont cooperate and things just dont get done. So when your family asks what you need after the twins are born, tell them a housekeeper. 

9. Graco PacknPlay

If you go the Graco website, we have the on-the-go play yards. This item is actually mentioned in my very first must-have post as well (read "One and one and one is three"). Ive tried three different types of packnplays or play yards since Ive had kids: the Bright Stars Play Yard, the Graco PacknPlay, and the Baby Bjorn Travel Light Crib. Our Bright Stars Play Yard cost us around $70-$80, I believe. Our Graco PacknPlay was like $120. The Baby Bjorn Travel Light Crib retails at $300. Let me tell you, that Baby Bjorn travel crib is stinkin awesome. It is super compact when folded, super easy to assemble and take down, super comfortable, and super expensive! We actually have three PacknPlays, two at our house and one at my parents. If we went with Baby Bjorn, that would be $900 in PacknPlays-- yikes! Since I want one (I would settle for two) so badly, I will defend them by saying they are exceedingly convenient. I can only dream of packing two packnplays in one duffel bag; that would be sweet! Instead I have a Bright Stars and a Graco. The Graco is great. It works fine. It is easy enough to put up and down. It is comfortable enough, especially with a packnplay sheet. That Bright Stars play yard was supposed to be a money saver. I thought, "There cant be that much of a difference." I did no research and just bought the less expensive packnplay. It seriously feels like a piece of cardboard set on top of steel pipes, which isnt far from the truth. It is annoying as all get out to set up and take down. I swear more at that thing than I do to at the baby socks in the laundry. I dislike it so strongly that I have considered many times buying yet another packnplay, this time a Graco, to replace it, and our toddlers are two.

10. Sleep schedule

Want to know what pays off more than having the best baby products? A full nights sleep. In all honesty, I dont think that there is "the one perfect baby sleep book" out there that trumps all other baby sleep books. I think it is much more about finding the perfect sleep schedule for your family. For us, the perfect sleep book was 12 Hours Sleep by 12 Weeks Old: A Step-by-Step Plan for Baby Sleep Success by Suzy Giordano. If you are interested in this book, you should check out my blog post, "Sleeping through the night" where I talk a lot more about this book and how it helped set our family schedule. I do think that a schedule is key when it comes to raising multiples. We would have struggled much more that first year if we werent getting sleep. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving. The kids are rested and we have a set bedtime to look forward to after a crazy day chasing two toddlers.

Here are a couple tips when it comes to buying for twins from zero to two. I think everyone thinks, "Two of everything!" when it comes to twins. Family starts buying matching outfits or two of every baby item. Even now well get two of items we 1. dont want or 2. dont need. Keep the receipt or find out where it was bought. Most stores dont require a receipt anymore for gifts. Be very specific that it was a gift and that you do not want it going back on the original card when you return for store credit (we had that happen with a wedding present-- oops!). We ourselves have bought two of items that we later realized we absolutely did not need two of. Since then, we learned a couple tricks about the "two of everything" dilemma. The first tip is to buy similar items. For instance, we had two Excersaucers, but they were different. They had different toys on them, so when they tired of one Excersaucer, we could just switch Excersaucers. This wouldnt have worked if we had two of the same item. This concept has carried over into toddlerhood. Some of the larger or expensive toys are nice to have two different kinds to keep them interesting.

North Carolina September 2011

The second tip is simple: wait. We bought one swing and ended up needing two. We bought one Fisher Price Lawn Mower and ended up needing two. We have one Bouncing Tigger. We have one big Tonka dump truck. We have one child sized arm chair. We either already only had one of an item or we only bought one but this technique has worked for us. I know we will need more big Tonka dump trucks later, but we dont need them now (and dont have the room now). I know we will not need another Tigger. One is enough. I know we will not need another chair, though I do have an idea how I want to decorate their room in South Carolina after we move to big boy beds... :) So just wait or you will find your house is full of double the junk.

North Carolina August 2012

These are the "big things." Im working on a blog post with smaller baby products I like, such as toys and sippy cups. What things have worked for you from zero to two?

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