SUYL-Working Moms

Today I am linking up with Kelly's Korner on Show Us Your Life-Working Moms!

This is a category that I am fairly new to but one that has changed my life in so many ways! On July 13th of 2011 I officially became a working mom when I returned to work after 12 weeks of maternity leave. These last 7 months have been a great time of transition for our entire family. While there are many days (most) that I would love to be home with our twins I know this is the path God currently has laid out for our family. I work in Advertising for a great company and can see God's hand in the entire process as my job has changed over the last two years that accommodate for our new family. I would love to connect with other working mommas to encourage one another on this journey!

Kelly's Korner-SUYL Singles!

Today I am doing a quick link up to Kelly's Korner for your SUYL-Singles Addition.

I wanted to quickly tell you about my friend and nanny Staci.


She is 23, a huge Clemson fan and on her way to being a CPA. She is absolutely amazing! I trust hre to watch my precious twins while my husband and I are hard at work everyday. Jump on over to her blog so she can tell you a little more about herself!

9 Months-1.13.12

It seems every month I am getting later and later on writing these posts-I guess as the two of you grow life is getting busier and busier.

This was a huge month for you both. You got to celebrate your first Christmas (which I have yet to document) went on a 12 hour road trip, Jackson got his helmet off and Riggs started crawling.

This month we went to the doctor for your 9 month check up and you both are giants! You have gone from being barely on the growth chart to the top 25th percentile in everything. Luckily there were no shots this month but they did prick your finger to test your iron levels-you were both well above the normal range and did great. After they pricked them they put band-aides on and of course you fingers went right to your mouths. Needless to say we barely made it through your weight in before they had to be removed so you wouldn't eat them. Jackson you are still our little linebackers-you weighed 21.5 pounds (78 percentile), are 29.25" tall (83 percentile) and have a head circumfirence of 18.25" (86 percentile). Riggs you are catching up to your brother weighing in at 20 pounds (78 percentile), you are 28.25" tall (73 percentile) and have a head circumference of 17.5" (67 percentile). What happened to my little girl who was in the .06 percentile? You are both wearing 6-12 month clothes depending on what it is and size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 at night to try and prevent leakage.

First attempt at a twin shot.

A little better on the floor.

And little girl is done.

Jackson 

You are such a big boy but yet so gentle and sweet. You make the sweetest sounds and give the best smiles. This month you got your cranial helmet off and we couldn't be happier with the success of this treatment. You have the most perfect round head of RED hair. I love that it makes you unique and is just so stinkin' cute. This month you have learned to eat so much better. We dreaded feeding you because it would take so long, but now you are a champ and there are meals where we cannot feed you fast enough! Still no crawling which I think is causing you a little frustration since you want things out of your reach-but just like everything you will do it in your own time. You are starting to stand up to your sister more and when she takes a toy from you you try and take it back. So days I wish I could read your mind as you watched her be our crazy little Riggs! One of your best accomplishments of the month was starting to sleep through the night again. You have always done pretty well but you were getting up around 3 every morning for a bottle. Mommy and Daddy finally decided we were enabling this habit and you could sleep all night if we made you. After only one night of letting you fuss for an hour and a half you are sleeping 11-12 hours some nights. You are now up to 8 teeth-I think you might be ready for a steak soon. They are all come in without much of an event and we are so thankful for that. You still love the jump-a-roo and have the quads to prove it, they are huge but all muscle. This month was a little rough for you health wise. You started out with a cold and went on Amoxacillin, after a few days you developed pink eye (still not sure where that came from), you then started to get a rash which we attribute to the amox, and then finally had to go on Zithromax because your cold just would not clear up. I would hate to think if you were in day care around germs all the time. This month you have developed more personality and are so much fun. We love you more and more every day!

Riggs

You are still our crazy little girl. Your big accomplishment this month was learning to crawl right before Christmas. You are everywhere! I think you are loving this new sense of freedom. Your personality is so big and vibrant. It is a challenge to keep you still and quite which means your days of staying in church are over. I am not sure you mind since it means you get to go play in the nursery. You are a great sleeper and rarely get up at night. You steal things from your brother-little miss you better watch out because he is bigger and one day he will get you back. You seem to have no fear which is unsettling as you become more and more mobile. This along with your independent spirit is going to give us many grey hairs and sleepless nights. You feed yourself your bottle and don't want help-I love this but miss snuggling with you too. Your smile can make any day better. When daddy and I come in from a long day at work you immediately look at us and shoot us the biggest two tooth smile in the world-how can we help not smiling back. You love your dolly and have almost pulled off one of her legs-but your favorite toy is whatever brother is playing with at the moment. I have a feeling we are going to have to have a lot of talks about sharing. While you like to bully him you also love your brother to no end. Since day one you have always wanted to be close to him, I hope you always look at him this way. You have been such an easy baby-you rarely cry or get upset. You do not wear your bows as well as you used to but we are working on that because momma loves her baby girl in big bows! I can't wait to see what you are into next because once you decide you want to do something you do it perfectly! You melt your momma and daddy's hearts everyday and we love your more than we could have ever imagined.

Exciting Events!!

Over the last 24 hours we have had two very exciting events take place in our family

Miss Riggs after 3 or more weeks of rocking on her hands and knees is finally a crawler. Now we have to get the house baby proofed because once she figures something out there is no stopping her. She was already everywhere so I can't even imaging what she will be able to get into now.

This morning Jackson went for his final head scan for his cranial helmet. After almost 4 month of being a little helmet head our little boy is helmet free with a round little head! We started with his symmetry differential being around 20mm (severe) and today his scan was 5.6mm! The national average for all kids, those who do and don't have helmets, is 6mm. I can't wait to see my sweet boy and kiss his round head. He was such a trooper through the entire process and his mommy and daddy are so very proud of him.

Hey Santa!

This weekend we took the twins for their first trip to see Santa. We had battled if we wanted to pay for the pictures-I mean a minimum of $23 is kind of steap-but we knew if we didn't we would regret it in the years to come.

We ventured out to the mall around 11 on Saturday-our plan had been to leave by 9-to join the crazies at the mall. The experience was a little surreal. As we approached the exit off the highway there was no back up of cars. We quickly found a parking place and made our way in. We expected to get to Santa and wait for an hour at least. I had not dressed the twins in their outfits because I felt we would be waiting and did not want them to spoil their clothes. We got to Santa's village and there was only a few people in line. Aaron went over to make sure we were not missing a big line from the other direction. We could not believe this, so we quickly dressed the twins and got in the short line for their first Santa experience. Of course as soon as I got them dressed Riggs spit up her oatmeal on her pretty dress, luckily it wiped off well and she looked perfect for the pictures.

The twins were perfect. We did not get any huge giggly smiles but look at that cuteness. And NO we did not put their hands like this they did this on their own. Melt a Momma's Heart! By the way check out Jackson's shoes-they have tassels.

I loved our Santa he did such a great job holding the babies and thought he looked perfect. We did have a little beard grabber (Riggs) that I think threw him off for a minute especially since both hands were full, but luckily he did not throw them on the floor when that happened.

We were very pleased with our first of many Santa experiences and felt that it was worth every penny!

Baby Food

Two months ago we finally began feeding the twins solid foods. It has been an interesting experience. Riggs took to it pretty quickly and Jackson was a bit slower to the start as I would have guessed. Having a boy and a girl that are the exact same age is really interesting it proves the fact that girls do develop quicker.

Riggs' first attempt with green beans. It was a little tough but she loves them now.

Anyway back to the food. We started off with rice cereal and then quickly went to oatmeal-let's just say I got a taste of the rice one day and it left much to be desired in flavor. As they have gotten better with keeping the food in their mouth we have moved to vegetables. I was unsure in the beginning how I wanted to do this. I went back and forth on if I wanted to make their food I finally decided I would at least try and it has gone really well so far.

To make our food I just steam the veggies (I usually by frozen vegetables to reduce on prep work) and puree in the blender with some water and freeze into cubes. You can use ice cube trays-which I did for my first batch and was left frustrated. I bought these from amazon and love them-it is so easy to get the cubes out and I know exactly how much each one is.

So far this has worked really well for us and does not take very much time. I normally do a batch or two while I am making dinner since I am already in the kitchen making a mess cooking.

So far we have had peas, green beans, butternut squash (fresh & baked), carrots, sweet potatoes, pears, mango, bananas and apple sauce (I buy this premade). The only food concern we have had is with Jackson and sweet potatoes-he got a horrible diaper rash his bottom was raw.

I have not decided how I want to handle meat yet. I know they will need to protein at some point but pureed meat kind of makes my stomach turn.

There are two main reasons we have gone down the path of making their food. First off it saves so much money and with twins every penny counts double. I can get a bag of frozen carrots for about $1.25 and make a tray of food or I could buy 2 containers of premade carrots for $1. Secondly it just seems so much better. Store bought baby food is all the same consistency and just seems kind of gross to me. The homemade is vibrant in color and flavor. There are times though that the store bought is easier so they eat this as a matter of convenience.

This like anything else with parenting is something that is a personal preference. I don't think I am any better of a parent for making their food, nor do I think anyone else is not for buying their babies food-this is just what is working for us. I know I did not go into a lot of specifics but if you have any questions let me know and I can share from what I have experienced thus far. 

8 Months-December 13th, 2011

Well it looks like I have totally neglected our blog over the last month. Life has been busy with two crazy infants, lots has been going on with no time to document. I still need to get pictures but thought I would go ahead and post before I forgot what you did last month!

Last week you turned 8 months old. I am still in disbelief. I love to look back at pictures and see how much you have grown and changed. My teeny tiny babies are so big with so much personality.

We don't have official height and weight stats but if I had to guess I would say Jackson you are around 21 and Riggs 19 pounds. This makes for 2 very heavy carriers. We don't use them often outside of the car but sometimes that is still easiest especially when eating out.

You both have such infectious smiles and laughs you can always make your mommy and daddy smile. You are relatively easy babies-especially you Riggs. Jackson you are a bit more complicated but I blame that on your reflux and helmet. This month was a big month for teeth in our house. Riggs after months of drooling you finally popped through one little tooth on the bottom-snaggletooth! Jackson if there is one thing you have done ahead of schedule this is it. You have 6 teeth now. You like to cut in groups first it was your bottom two a few months ago and now your 4 top teeth. Soon enough you will have enough to eat a steak. Right now you are both eating two meals a day of homemade baby food (I still need to do a post on that). Normally for breakfast it is oatmeal and a fruit and for dinner you have 2 veggies. Riggs like so many other things you are a machine when it comes to eating so efficient and neat. Jackson you are the complete opposite-slow and messy-but everyday you get a little better. You both are wearing size 3 diapers and anywhere from 6-12 month clothes. This month you both became big sitters you both love to sit and play. It is amazing how quickly you went from slumping over to sitting big!

Jackson I feel like this month so many things have clicked for you. You are rolling over and moving so much more. I knew you could do it, but it had to be in your time. You are still not as mobile as you sister but it you want to you can. You still LOVE the jump-a-roo, it is your happy place. You jump all the time...while someone is holding you, on the floor, sitting up, probably even in your sleep. You are do so much better with going to bed. It still takes a little effort on our part but you are doing better. You love to "read" books-you will sit attentively and just laugh and smile at the book. You love to be entertained and have a bit of separation anxiety if you are left in a room alone-not to anyone in particular you just don't like to be alone. You are such a good snuggler and I have to admit there are some nights I don't mind when you cry so we can sit and rock together.

Riggs your personality is huge. You are everywhere. While you are not crawling quite yet if you wan to get somewhere you can. You favorite thing to do is tear the edges off the play-mat. I think you like to use them as a teether because you chew on them all the time. You are so sweet to even pull some off for your brother. We have to watch you closely, the other morning I was in the kitchen with J then came back to you in the living room and you were behind the Christmas tree. While you are such a good baby you don't like to sit still or be quite so you don't make it long in church any more-more weeks than not you end up in the nursery. You have become a great sleeper for naps and at night. However once you started sleeping through the night your brother stopped-boo for mommy and daddy. You are so independent you can play for hours by yourself and you hold your own bottle now, while I am excited for this milestone I miss my cuddle time with you during feedings.

While I have loved every day with both of you, this last month has to be my favorite. So much is clicking and you can do so much more. Mommy and Daddy love to play with you and also to just sit and watch you as you figure out the next big thing. Our life is so amazing because we have both of you in it!