Not Enough Minutes in the Day

Just in case it isn't already obvious to my 4 followers (thanks for sticking with me!), I just can't seem to find the time to post on this blog on a regular basis. Maybe I'll come back to it some time. But, for now, I'm just going to stick to posting on our family blog, The Cranley's Blog. I'll post baby/kids finds on that blog when I come across good ones.

Thanks!

Sippies!

We're not in full sippy mode, but we're getting there. Max drinks all his bottles from the Nuby sippy cup (with the super spout) which I love, but only laying down. Neither Max nor Tessa has quite figured out that they have to tip it. Tessa will drink water from all different types of sippy cups, but won't drink her bottle from one. So far we've tried Playtex and Tommee Tippie. Any suggestions on some other sippy cups that work well for transition from bottle to cup?

Diaper Problem Solved!

We took a trip to BRU this weekend and I was on the hunt for some solution for our leaky diaper issue and I saw these and decided to give them a try. Select Kids Diaper Booster Pads. Basically, it's a maxi-pad for babies that goes right into any kind of diaper. But, it totally works! We've had dry babies/beds every morning since we started to try them. One pack of 30 was around $4.00, but on the BRU website, they have 180 count packs for $19.99. If you are having a leaking diaper problem like we were, I would highly recommend trying these.

Diaper Help!

Max (aka Meaty) is in need of some serious diaper help. He has been wetting through his diaper every night and I don't know what else to try. We've tried bigger diapers, night time diapers, all the different brands and he still manages to get soaked. Anyone else have this problem and/or have suggestions on what to try?

Movin On Up

Our Max, I refer to him as being a little meaty, is ready for the next size up car seat and I have no clue what to get. We're going to buy seats for both Max and Tessa at the same time even though she's not ready thanks to a nice coupon from BRU. But, I need some advice on which convertible car seats are real winners. I am thinking about the Graco 65 or Evenflo Symphony 65. Any advice?

More Party Sites!

My friend Alison, who planned the Giraffe Baby Shower I posted about a while ago, just sent me some more party planning blogs and she knows how to throw a good party, so I know these sites are great. I just took a quick look at pulled these pics.

http://www.pisforparty.blogspot.com/
http://www.birthdaygirlblog.com/
http://katelandersevents.blogspot.com/
http://tomkatstudio.blogspot.com/

Celebrate Earth Day with Cool Mom Picks

I have been meaning to post about this blog. Cool Mom Picks is a great source for information on the newest and best baby items. Today, they have several great posts about Earth Day and living green. I'm especially interested in this book, Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World.

Happy Earth Day!

Dont' Be Tardy for the Party

Yes, I did just admit by the title of this post that I watch Real Housewives. Guilty!

But, this is not a post about those bit*hes! It's about party planning! I love a good party with lots of fun pretty details so I am regularly looking at event blogs. But, lately I have been thinking about what to do for the Max and Tessa's bday in August. Yes, I do know that it is four months away, but I'm a planner. So, I thought I would post my favorite sources for the best creative party ideas/details. Here goes:

The Party Dress
Hostess with the Mostess
Creative Hostess
Kara's Party Ideas

The above pics are from parties highlighted on these blogs. There are a ton on the web, but these are my favorites. Know of any other good ones?

Tourance

I actually bought two of the Tourance hooded towels when they were on sale at mamabargains before my twins were born and I am so glad I did. These towels are awesome. Can a towel be awesome? They are much more substantial than the ones you will find at target or BRU, bigger and they are beautiful! They are really nice to have and would be a perfect baby gift.

They also have swaddles, blankets, burp cloths, bibs and children's apparel. Check them out!

Nannies in the City

It's been a while since I posted...not sure if anyone is even still checking this! But, I'll try and get back on track with some regular posts.

I thought I would start with a post for my fellow Chicago Moms and share a recommendation for a parents network recommended to me by my pediatrician. It's Neighborhood Parents Network of Chicago (NPN). It's really a wonderful network with a number of discussion boards and tons of ways to get involved and meet other moms/families. They even have multiples events! They have educational sessions, music events, health events and the list goes on.

I think the most valuable aspect of the network is the childcare resources. I joined a few weeks ago because we were looking for a new nanny. Last time I used Sitterycity.com and I was not very happy with the service. We received an overwhelming number of applicants and it was too hard to weed through them to find good people.

The NPN discussion board is full of families recommending nannies. It's a lot of mom's that decide to stay home an no longer need their nannies or the family is moving. The love their nannies and want to help them find another job. So, you are now dealing with a much smaller number of candidates, but it's a much better group to choose from.

Through this site, I also found Amy Weber. She runs Sitter Savvy Chicago, a service to help you find the right nanny. She has put together a network of nannies and she will recommend potential candidates to you by sending you a few resumes. You can either contact them yourself or she will make all the interview arrangements for a small fee. Her only other fee is $45 if you hire one of her candidates. We found our new nanny through her service and we can't wait for her to start next week!

We survived our first vacation...barely!

We're back from our vacation and while I will say it was nice to be in sunny weather for a week and to see our families, it was not really a vacation. It was more of a stressful learning experience.

Lesson #1:
Don't take your kids for a well baby visit right before you go on vacation. They will get sick. Max and Tessa caught colds (their first colds) and ended up with RSV. We figured out it was RSV after an ER visit in Florida.

Lesson #2:
Dr. knows best...what? You thought your family and friends had a lot of different opinions. Well, don't expect all doctor's to have the same advice even for the basic cold. Take this medicine, don't take this medicine, cool mist, warm vapor, the list goes on. I have been very surprised that there is such a difference in philosophy from doctor to doctor. It's kind of frustrating, but I guess it's just the beginning of situations where we'll get more than one opinion tossed our way. I will say that I LOVE our pediatrician and feel very comfortable trusting her advice. Oh, there's even different school's of thought on sun tan lotion. Use the highest SPF vs. anything higher than 30 SPF will result in a rash.

Lesson #3:
Don't try to put your umbrella strollers in their travel bags right before you gate check them. It's a hassle and not smart since when you get off the plane you don't want to have to remove them from the bags right away. I'm sure a few other traveling parents got a laugh out of watching us try to put them in the bags.

Lesson #4:
You can spend all the time in the world researching just the right travel seat to use for the babies when you go out to eat or just don't have a high chair and none of them will be perfect. After more than 10 minutes in any type of chair for a seven month old is too much and you will have to hold them on your lap. I bought the totseat and while everyone else was impressed with the seat, I thought it was just ok.

Lesson #5:
Dreams of lounging at the pool...Ha! I spent so much time worrying about the plane ride that I didn't think about what it would be like once we got there. I had visions of happy babies in the sunshine and naps on the beach chair. Naive, I know. I basically had to pack a suitcase just to go to the pool and then spent the majority of the time there doing laps around the pool with the strollers so the babies would nap or not fuss. I also felt like my family ended up helping most of the time which cut into their relaxation. I know that bothered me more than them, but still.

Lesson #6:
It's all worth it just for the few minutes I got to see my babies kick their feet in the water and LOVE it! They splashed, kicked and laughed just with their little piggies in the water. It was also pretty cute seeing them in their shades and beach cover-ups.

Would I do it again? Absolutely!

My New Best Friend

I have finally excepted that my post baby body is different. Any other moms out there will know what I mean by different. I'm still trying to loose the baby weight, but even after I do that, I know my body will still be a different body.

I was kind of upset about it until I met my new best friend. Victoria's Secret Shapewear! I ended up with the brief and She's amazing and very supportive! I was never a spanx person before, so this is a whole new world to me and I'm very excited about it.

My new friend helped me fit into some of my old summer clothes for our recent vacation and I was very thankful I did not have to buy a whole new wardrobe. The best part is, she's cheap! She only cost me $30.00!

Baby Showers

I recently hosted a baby shower and so did my friend Alison. I thought I would share some of the pretty details from both showers. Of course I wasn't ready when everyone arrived so I didn't get pics before with all the food set up. I know some of my friends think I went over the top with the decorations, but I promise it was all pretty easy and manageable. I am a big fan of small pretty thoughtful details so it was fun for me. It was an alphabet themed shower using turquoise, pink and yellow. Alison did a beautiful job with her giraffe themed shower thrown for her sister. I love the giraffe themed diaper cake. See the photos of her shower here.

If you are looking for party ideas, here are some great sites to get inspiration:

http://www.hostessblog.com/
http://www.thepartydress.net/?cat=71
http://www.tastefullyentertaining.com/

Happy party planning!

Making Baby Food

I have been making baby food for the twins for the past several weeks and thought I would share the two books I bought on the topic if you are interested. It has been super easy so far. Now, they aren't eating a lot quite yet, but it has been pretty simple to make large quantities of a few different items and freeze them. The consistency is definitely different than jarred baby food. My apples and peas did not go over well with the babies, but I'm going to try them again. I did test some jarred food with them because I wanted to see the consistency and I think we are going to use jarred food when we go on vacation next month. I used Earth's Best baby food. I really like this brand. Our rice cereal and oatmeal is also Earth's Best. Apparently Eath's Best peas are WAY better than mom's peas!

Baby Eczema

Poor Max has baby Eczema as confirmed by our pedi last visit. We were having the worst time with him scratching up his head (even when I trimmed the nails) until we started to turn him into Mr. Sockhands! We put socks on his hands during nap time and bedtime and we also lather him up with Aquaphor. These pics are right after we started Mr. Sockhands, so his head is still a little scratched up.

Those two things seem to be managing it ok, but it's still there and I wish there was something else I could do to make it completely go away (besides lotions/detergents/etc.). The doctor said he would just outgrow it, but I'd like to ask some more questions and do some more research on the topic.

Any of you have poor itchy scratchy babies out there? Anything work for you besides the usual things?

Working on My Fitness

Thought I would provide and update on my effort to shed a some (read many) lbs. The pounds aren't flying off like they did in my head when I envisioned my workout effort. And, I've had a couple set-backs, but overall it feels really good to get back to working out. One big set-back was the fact that I stopped breastfeeding. As soon as I started cutting out feedings I turned into a fat magnet. FAT MAGNET. I'm also still struggling with my appetite. For the second half of my pregnancy and while I was breastfeeding, I had a pretty healthy appetite. Well, pregnancy - over, breastfeeding - over, appetite - not following the pattern. I've realized that snacking is my biggest problem. Is there some magic pill I can take that will make my milk come back in? I want to breastfeed two babies again and burn a million calories a day!!

I tried Zumba at the gym. I feel like I'm supposed to say that I loved this class, but I hated it. Now, I have always loved to dance and thought this class would come naturally to me, but it didn't. I felt very awkward and I just kept watching the instructor thinking that it does not matter how hard I try, my ass will never move like that, at that speed and look sexy all at the same time. It just did not feel like a good workout at all. Maybe I'll save all the classes for after I loose the weight. Right now I need bootcamp. I need some scary person yelling at me like they do on the biggest loser. The cute Zumba instructor wasn't cutting it.

Oh, also, My dear old Aunt Flow came for a visit. It's been quite a while since she was in town. So long, that I forgot what a nasty old woman she is and how unpleasant it is when she stays with us for the week. Someone should really tell her to stop being such a bitch!

I did have one victory the other day. I reluctantly pulled out the plastic bin housing all my old jeans. The voice inside my head kept saying, "don't do this. it's too soon. this is a bad idea." BUT, I got my butt into a pair of my old jeans! Now, in the interest of full disclosure, while I did get them on, I had some SERIOUS muffin top going on. It was actually more like a really big souffle! Baggy shirts are in, right? I'll just wear those for a while until the souffle looses some more air.

First Plane Trip Scheduled....I'm scared!

When I was a kid, we went to visit my grandparents in Florida almost every year and I have such fond memories of those trips. I really wanted to do the same for our children and lucky for us my husband's parents bought a place in the same town that my grandparents live in FL. Now the babies can visit grandparents and great grandparents all in one trip!

We went last winter while I was pregnant and we just received plane tickets to FL in March from my parents at Christmas!! So, our first plane trip with the babies is on the books. And...I'm a little scared. Are they going to scream? Will one (or both!) of them have a big giant poopy diaper right when we take off and can't get out of our seats so everyone has to smell it??? Will Tessa projectile vomit? Or, will they fall to sleep during take-off and wake up during landing like perfect little angels (probably not, right?)?

Lots to think about before our big trip. One thing I'm researching now is what travel booster seats to purchase. I don't want to spend a lot because we have to purchase two, but more importantly it has to be able to travel well. We can't carry two babies, diaper bag and two giant seats into a restaurant. Here are the contenders. The Phil & Ted Lobster looks awesome, but it doesn't come out until March. Does anyone have any of these?

Phil & Ted Lobster - comes out in March
Phil & Ted Travel - $54.99
Totseat - $34.99
My Little Seat - $19.99 at Target
Inglesina - $49.99
Eddie Bauer - $29.99
Chicco - $49.99
First Years - $20.99

Beautiful Alphabet Pendant Lamp

I just found this pendant lamp on a great website/blog, At Home with Kim Vallee. The pendant is from Land and Lass and Etsy seller. I'm OBSESSED!

They also have a beautiful Alphabet print. I tried to make my own before the babies are born and didn't get very far. I wish I would have seen this one then.

Play Time

We have a new toy in the house for the babies. I had been looking for one of those entertainer seats for the babies, but couldn't decide which one to get (there are a million on the market). Obviously when you have twins, you have lots and lots of baby stuff! Well, combine lots and lots of baby stuff with a relatively small condo and you will not be surprised that my number one requirement was a seat that was smaller scale.

This Fisher-Price Bounce and Spin Frog toy was the winner for us and after having it for about a week, it was definitely a good purchase. It doesn't have as many bells and whistles as some of the larger entertainers, but it has plenty to keep the babies busy. As they grow, they can spin in the seat and when their little short legs get long enough, they can bounce up and down. Here's a pic of the chair from Target and of the babies enjoying their new toy.

How Do They Know?

What I would like to know is how do the babies know when I sit down to eat? Seriously, is it some sixth sense? Did the doctor's implant some chip in them when they were born? It never fails. EVERY time I sit down to eat they start fussing. I will have fed them, changed them, soothed them and they're quiet so I try to sneak in some food. Just as the first bite is entering my mouth someone starts crying.

Maybe they read my post on loosing the baby weight and it's their way of telling me, "Don't eat that" or "Mom remember, a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips!"

Either way, I want to know...how do they know????

je t'aime Sophie!

I love you Sophie! I knew it as soon as I saw her. I had read about Sophie online, but never mentioned to anyone that I wanted her for the babies. So, imagine my surprise when my 80 year old Grandmother (Granny) gave us Sophie for Christmas. Granny's a pretty stylish lady and we've always shared a love for purses and shoes. But, who knew she was on top of what's hot in baby toys??

We all have tons of baby toys that we get as gifts. But, baby toys that are actually beautifully designed and aesthetically pleasing are few and far between. This teething toy is really pretty and very well designed. It was designed in 1961 in France. It's made from natural rubber and food-grade paint. Here's Sophie's story.

The babies really do like Sophie. We just might need to get a second Sophie so they each have one. If you're looking for a good baby gift, Sophie is it!

The New Glow Worm

Remember the Glow Worm??? I loved the Glow Worm. This Christmas, I was so excited to open the new and improved toy by Glow Worm, the Seahorse. It is super cute, plays some nice songs and has two volume settings. They help our babies fall asleep every night.