... Elizabeth/Lizzie/Eliza...

"What's my name?  What's my name?"  Nope, not a Beyonce song.  It's from Disney's "The Descendants."  Get with the program.

Lizzie is into names right now, especially hers.  She likes that she can be Elizabeth or Lizzie.  Sometimes, when she's feeling fancy, she prefers Eliza.  Don't worry if she doesn't answer you when you call her, just keep calling different variations of her name until she responds.

Elizabeth/Lizzie/Eliza has turned into Ms. Independent, preferring to do things on her own, and work at them until she figures it out, or burns it all down out of frustration.  There's no in between for this one:  Completely passionately absorbed in something, or as disinterested and disengaged as possible.

That's not a criticism of her.  She wants to master things on the first try.  She's working on understanding that mistakes are good, that making mistakes is how you learn, and that mistakes are not failures.  It's a deep thing to try to understand at 6, but if she does get it, my little Wonder Woman is going to be unstoppable.

She loves her Barbies, animals, drawing, and tells me that she wants to be a doctor one day so that she can help people.  But it's not all seriousness with this one.  If I were to classify Lizzie, she's a total jazz musician.  Improvisation is totally her thing.  Ask Jamie and Chelsie about the song she made up at Violet's baptism!  It was the first of many hilarious songs, all stream-of-consciousness, songs detailing the moment that she's in.  She got it from her Momma.

RMH  6/10/18

... Neil “Armstrong” Henderson...

Neil might just be the most social person I know.  Seriously.  The kid channels Grandma Vi.  He knows everyone, he loves everyone, and he can tell you everything about everyone he knows.  Case in point:  

We took a trip to Anaheim this past October for a wedding (Hi, Lindz!), and did the two and two split for the plane rides - one adult with one kid in one row, and the other adult and other kid directly behind.  The kids usually ended up in the middle seat once they got tired of looking out the window.  Neil spent most of each flight talking to the person sitting with him.  Not Scott.  The other person.  He offered them gum, asked them where they were from, and told them ALL about us, our trip, and where we live.  Guess we need to work a little more on that Stranger Danger thing, eh? ;)

We landed back in Pittsburgh, and my dad picked us up at the airport.  He asked the kids if they had fun on the planes, and I casually mentioned that Neil made friends with the people he sat beside.  He looked at me, and matter-of-factly stated, "Mommy, her name was Karen, and she was very nice."  We all cracked up, and I apologized for not remembering her name.

That's Neil.  The first person to talk to someone, and make a new friend.  He tells me that he'll be a baseball player when he grows up, but now that I think about it, maybe he'll be a biographer one day.  

He's very interested in the "why" and "how" of things.  Why do we get summer off from school?  Why are there negative (he called them megative at first) numbers?  How can I explain the skips?  How does the catapult work?  And he doesn't want a simple answer.  He wants an answer that will make him think, and ask another question.

He says that his nickname is Armstrong.  Once he found out that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, he got his space books out and jumped right into them.  He even took his binoculars outside to look at the moon.  He wants to go there one day, but with the stipulation that I go with him.  Maybe by the time he gets there we'll be able to FaceTime between Earth and the Moon...

Current likes:  Batman, the Beatles, baseball, dancing to "My House" by Flo Rida, reading, riding bikes, playing with legos, coloring, Saturday trips to the barber shop with Scott, and writing stories.

Current dislikes:  most vegetables, any movie that I suggest we watch, cleaning up, and mac and cheese.  

RMH 5/29/18

... Welcome Back...

My last writing started by saying that it’s been “WAY too long since my last post.”  I think I just set a new record.  It’s not that life has been uninteresting over the last three years. It has!  And hectic! Let me catch you up:

Survived threenagers, potty training almost broke us, kids went into Pre-Kindergarten, DON'T SING MOMMY, little artists, soccer, Batman, Barbie, horses, cows, dress up, dress up, Neil Armstrong, dress up, Kindergarten registration, SING MOMMY, Pre-Kindergarten graduation, Mommy cried like a baby, sold the house in Crafton, moved into an apartment for 6 months, first day of Kindergarten, Mommy cried like a baby again, minor head injury, Mommy kept it together, first airplane ride to California, moved into the new house, 7 school days left until summer vacation.

Whew!  That was a quick overview!  To get back into the swing of things, my next two posts will focus on each of the kids.  Please don't look too closely at who is first - it has no bearing on which child is my favorite...yet.  It's 10:25 PM, and everyone (including Scott) is asleep.  Therefore, everyone is Mommy's favorite.  By the time the next post is up, who knows!  Also, don't expect the individual posts about each kid to be up tonight.  10:25 PM, remember? In the meantime, enjoy this picture from Mustache Day at school.  Also, someone remind me to write about the last 26 days of school...if I survive it!

Lizzie "The Scoundrel" and Neil "The Scholar" Henderson

RMH 5/22/18

...Threenagers...

I realized today that it's been WAY too long since my last post.  To be fair, the last one was really funny, and is probably going to be really hard to beat.

Here we are: Neil and Lizzie are three, and potty training....well let's just say it's been an adventure.

 Current status:  we love our big kid underwear, we will pee on the potty, but don't even THINK about asking us to poop on that thing!  And if you have the audacity to suggest such a horrible thing, you had better come prepared with a bribe. Current acceptable bribes include five marshmallows for one poop, or a horse.  A real one.  

It's full-on Threenagers at our house.  The other day Neil asked to wear his red shirt.  I got it out for him, he screamed bloody murder when I tried to put it on him.  "No!  Not this shirt!  The red shirt!"  So, I asked him to point out which shirt he wanted, because I was holding his only red shirt and he was insisting that it wasn't the right red shirt.  He grabbed a blue shirt, insisted that he didn't want the red one, and he wanted the blue one, but don't put the blue one on me because, psych, I want that red one that you just put away when I insisted that red was blue.  And while we're on the subject of your shortcomings in meeting my demands, mother, where's my soccer ball?  I must have this ball within 2 inches of my self at all times.  Get it, now, before  I go all Bruce Banner on your ass.  Hulk want soccer ball!  Hulk want red/blue/red/blue/let's settle on yellow shirt!  And goldfish!

Mommy wants a drink.

So, we try to reason with them.  "Yes, I know you want to break mommy's glasses, but she needs them to see, so you'll have to settle for breaking your own sunglasses instead. Oh, I know, you're upset. This feeling is called anger.  When things don't go our way, we get upset and angry.  But don't worry, the anger will go away when you remember that you haven't tried to eat the candles when I'm not looking."

Until my next post, enjoy this image of the twins on the "time out wall," because we want the sprinkler on, but don't want to get wet, but keep the water running or we'll scream like you're pulling our finger nails out with pliers.

RMH 6/7/15

...What's That Saying About Good Intentions...

Two words.  Potty Training.  Let's make it three words.  Potty Training Twins.

Are you laughing at me yet?  If not, you will be after I describe Take 1 (yeah, there will be multiple takes of this...multiples seem to be our thing):

Scott and I have been reading up about different ways to potty train toddlers, especially ways to potty train toddler twins.  It seems that there are basically two schools of thought on potty training.  You're either going to take your time and ease your children into using the potty or you're going to be hard-core and get it done between 1-3 days (depending on the level of insanity that you're willing to impose on your children).  As far as the differences between singletons and twins, everything that we read said to avoid doing anything that will visualize their differences, like sticker charts.

So, Scott and I decided to try the three day potty training method.  On day 1 you are supposed to remove their diaper as soon as they wake up, refrain from putting pants on them, and basically stalk them with a potty waiting for them to pee or poop.  No pants, no diapers (except for naps and night time), no leaving the house.  Every time they get something in the potty it counts as a hit.  After around 12 hits they should understand the purpose of the potty.  Day two is the same, but you should plan a one-hour outing for the kids.  Have them use the potty before leaving the house, and put loose bottoms on them.  Day three is the same, but you should have two one-hour outings.  From then on, the kids shouldn't wear underwear for approximately three months, since they feel similar to diapers.

Here's how day 1 went:

Neil and Lizzie woke up around 8:00.  I went in, removed diapers, and had them both sit on the potty.  Nothing.  Scott and I put shirts on them, rolled up the rug in the living room, and took them and their potties downstairs.  Scott grabbed towels and cleaning supplies.  We gave the kids breakfast, and stared at them.  Nothing.  I gave them a second drink, and they ran around and played while we continued to stare at them and stalk them with their potties.  Nothing.  We kept asking them if they wanted to sit on the potty, or would put them on the potty, but still...nothing.

So here we are, stressing about rogue pee-ers.  Scott is so nervous that he's either pacing, or walking two inches behind a kid with a potty aimed at butt-level.  I'm trying to reman calm, but I keep asking the poor kids if they need to pee, or want to sit on the potty.  If someone was doing that to me, I'd probably knock them out!  Poor kids.

At 9:30 Lizzie peed a little bit... on the floor.  Scott swore, and put her on the potty.  Nothing.  As he grabbed a towel to clean up Neil peed...in the corner of the fireplace.  Thank goodness we didn't have anything in there!  About ten minutes later they both peed...on opposite ends of the dining room.  That time, I swore.  We kept trying to get them to get a hit in the potty.  Lizzie did get one hit, but I'm pretty sure that it was from the pee running down her leg.  Around 10:30 Neil sat on the potty for about 5 minutes, then got up and peed on the baby gate by the kitchen.  I put them both on the potty, and Neil actually peed in his!  Lizzie screamed "Ouch!  Ouch!  Ouch!" while literally no one was touching her.  At this point, I'm getting flustered, sweaty, and I realize that I need to pee!  As I tried to calm Lizzie down Neil got off of the potty, walked over to play with his cars and pooped on the floor.  We both swore at that one, cleaned him up, and he ran over to the exact same spot and did it again.

So here we are, not even three hours into this, and we're dealing with Lizzie, who is flat out refusing to sit on the potty, and Neil, who has diarrhea.  Now you can see why I called this Take 1.

Back to diapers for a few days...

RMH 6/18/14

...Conversations

Here's a typical conversation with Lizzie:
Me:  Hi Lizzie!
Lizzie: 'Lo
Me:  What's going on?
Lizzie:  (Giggles, runs away for a few minutes, then comes back over)  Ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-soog-soog-soog-cookie.
Me:  Uh...you want a cookie?
Lizzie:  Okay!

Did she really want a cookie?  No.  But she said the word cookie, and I repeated it to her, so NOW she wants a cookie.

Here's a typical conversation with Neil:
Neil:  A...B...C...
Me:  (repeating letters)
Neil:  ...D...E...F...G...H...I
Me:  (still repeating letters)
Neil:  One!
Me:  I thought you were doing your letters.
Neil:  ONE!
Me:  Okay!  One.
Neil:  2...3...4...5...(each number shouted angrily...don't know why)
Me:  (repeating numbers until the cat walks past)
Neil:  Hey!  Cow!
Me:  Cat, Neil.  Cat.  T-t-t.
Neil:  Yow.  Go-Go.
Me:  Yep, that's Go-Go.  (Off he goes to chase the cat)

What can I say?  He's a man of few words, but many letters and numbers.  With both of them, these are successful conversations.  No tantrums, no tears, and we had a conversation...I guess.

...The Twins Turn Two...

I'm going to bed in a few minutes. Yes, it's 8:00 on a Saturday night and I'm going to bed, don't judge. ;)  in fact, early nights are a regular occurrence here.  What's different tonight is that when I wake up Neil and Lizzie will be two.

I know that everyone says that the changed that occur over the first year are amazing, but the changes that happen between one and two really blew my mind.  Neil and Lizzie went from these crawling, cooing babies to toddlers that can talk, walk, run, fight, kiss, tease, and play, each with their own personality.  I don't know how else to explain it, but I'm starting to see the people that they may become.

I wonder what the next year will bring.  Please let it involve successfully potty training both kids.

RMH 2/8/14

...Developmental Doldrums...

Since the twins were born premature, and with a low birth weight, we qualified for a bunch of services from WIC (supplemental food for low birth weight multiples is provided to families regardless of their income) to regular developmental screenings.  By the time we found out about WIC the twins no longer qualified, but we have taken advantage of the developmental screenings through The Alliance.  

The screenings are generally fun.  A wonderful woman named Mary Alice comes to the house and basically plays with the kids while asking me questions about their abilities.  The activities gauge their gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem solving skills, and personal-social skills.  At first, the twins were being screened monthly ( at both their adjusted age and their actual age), but now they are screened every few months.  In between screenings I am sent a questionnaire to complete called the Ages and Stages Questionnaire.

As I looked at the latest questionnaire, I got overwhelmed.  For the first time there were more questions that I couldn't answer right away than ones that I could, mainly because I hadn't tried these activities with the twins.  Here are the questions that I didn't have answers for:

Gross Motor:

5.  Does your child jump with both feet leaving the floor at the same time?

Fine Motor:

2.  Does your child stack six small blocks or toys on top of each other by himself/herself?  (You could also use spools of thread, small boxes, or toys that are about 1 inch in size.)

3.  Does your child use a turning motion with his/her hand while trying to turn doorknobs, wind up toys, twist tops, or screw lids on and off jars?

6.  Can your child string small items such as beads, macaroni, or pasta "wagon wheels" onto a string or shoelace?

Problem Solving:

2.  While your child watches, line up four objects like blocks or cars in a row.  Does your child copy or imitate you and line up at least two blocks side by side?   (You could also use spools of thread, small boxes, or other small toys.)

4.  After watching you draw a line from the top of the paper to the bottom with a crayon (or pencil or pen), does your child copy you by drawing a single line on the paper in any direction?

6.  If you give your child a bottle, spoon, or pencil upside down, does he/she turn it right side up so that he/she can use it properly?

Personal-Social:

4.  Does your child drink from a cup or glass, putting it down again with little spilling?

Ugh!  Don't they know that I have twins and I don't have the time, or mental fortitude, to experiment with small objects being strung onto a string???  Do you know what that would turn into?  The twins throwing said small objects at each other while simultaneously attempting to whip their strings around like Terrible Towels.  No thanks.  And drink from a cup without spilling???  Who in their right mind wants to test that one out?  Maybe we can try that in the tub...

So here I am, in the Developmental Doldrums because I have to answer these questions, and because I'm disappointed that I don't know the answers to these questions.  Not knowing makes me feel like I'm not doing my Mom-job.  In my defense, no one ever mentioned freaking spools of thread, beads, or one inch toys as GOOD things to have around toddlers.  They're usually classified as choking hazards...

RMH 1/9/14

...(insert blank stare here)...

Thank God for the calendar on my phone.  Connected to both my email account AND Scott's, it's basically our personal assistant.  It even reminds me to clean, because, let's face it, I hate cleaning and I'll forget to do it if my phone doesn't remind me to do it.

I don't think that I was ever completely disorganized.  Yes, my bedroom was not the neatest place, but you could generally walk in there barefoot.  So why do I feel so disorganized and behind the game now?  I know it's all part of the territory with kids, especially multiples, but it still gets to me sometimes.  I wanted to be the crafty and creative mom, but that's obviously not where I'm at right now.  Instead of celebrating my inner Craftista, I'm celebrating the fact that I 1.  got home and everyone had pants on, 2. the kids ate something other than peanut butter and honey for dinner, and 3. no one peed on the carpet after bath time.

So, obviously the answer to your question is no, I am not on Pinterest.  Wait, I don't know the correct lingo here.  Is it supposed to be I don't DO Pinterest?  I don't pin?  I don't know!  I don't have an Instagram either(is that the way you say it?).  I don't have the time!  Honestly, I have a monthly reminder in my phone to set aside 30 minutes each month to "blog."  I use the term loosely.  As you can see, November's post didn't happen.  Someone recently asked me if we did Elf on the Shelf.  I stared at them blankly for a good minute before I burst out laughing.  I didn't even know what Elf on the Shelf WAS until last year.  And that was only because of Facebook posts.  Believe me, I was very confused as to why everyone had toy elves in their cereal boxes.

How do people have the time to do this stuff?  To be crafty, and organized, and bake, and have their Christmas cards created, addressed, and mailed before Thanksgiving?  I literally just did mine tonight...on Shutterfly...because I had a coupon.  It took me 45 minutes to do it, and I swore at the site the whole time.  Oh, and the cards are expected to arrive between December 20th and December 24th, so I'm really glad that they say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.  Hopefully I'll get them mailed before 2014.


Maybe the craftiness and inventiveness and creativity will come as the kids get older.  Or maybe each year I'll be swearing at Shutterfly...

RMH
12/10/13

...How Did He Do It???

I just received a text from Scott:  "Both asleep."  Seems pretty innocuous, right?  WRONG!  I. AM. PISSED.

Let me go back a week.  Lizzie managed to climb out of her crib a few times.  Knowing full well that Neil would soon follow (and that he'd go head first), we switched the cribs to toddler beds last Friday.  Being the practical person that I am (or so I thought), I decided that we needed to do the switch for bedtime so that they would get used to them easily since they would be tired.  Cuteness ensued as we showed them their new beds, and they ran around like free-range chickens with their heads cut off.  Finally, they fell asleep, and stayed asleep in their beds for the entire night.

The next morning they got up and started playing.  No major issues.  "Awesome," I thought.  This is going to be an easy transition for them.  Then nap time came....and went...without a nap from Lizzie, and with a very late and short nap from Neil.  Short/No naps make for cranky kids, and an even crankier me.

Long story short, there hasn't been a nap in our house for almost a week...until today, apparently.  So, now the questions:  How the hell did he get them to go to sleep???  Why wasn't I able to get them to sleep???  WTF???  Is there a family conspiracy against me??? ;)

I can't wait to get the answers to these questions, so that I can figure out how he did it, and get us back into our routine again.  Mommy needs a nap too, apparently!!!

RMH 10/9/13

...Teething Bites.

Literally.  I know that Neil and Lizzie are 19 months now, and that dealing with teething should be a piece of cake by now, but it still bites.  The two constants that we have are drool and usually a slight fever.  We're fortunate in the fact that neither of the kids scream for hours on end when they are cutting teeth, so I'll try not to complain too much (someone ALWAYS has it worse), but this time around seems to be particularly taxing for all of us.

So far, we've had pretty decent fevers (maxing at 102), major drool, and some added gnawing.  We can handle all of that, thanks to Tylenol.  What's different is a huge drop in their appetites.  My kids are picky eaters to begin with, so getting them to eat can be a struggle sometimes.  This makes me overly sensitive to their eating habits, I guess.  But when they refuse to eat their favorites ( thank God for pb&j)...UGH!

Stressful is the first word that comes to mind, but even that word understates the feeling of helplessness that you feel when your kids refuse to eat.  Add the misery of a bone slowly making its way through their gums, and, well...teething bites.

I just keep thinking, "Only about six more teeth each..."

RMH 9/9/13

...Time Flies When You're...Falling Off Of Stuff.

Another jump.  Neil and Lizzie are already 18 months old.  How did that happen?  We've reached the climbing stage.  End tables seem to be their favorite.  So far the big ones involved Neil knocking the wind our of himself, a few bloody lips, and a pretty hard bang on the head for Lizzie, and lots of tears.  Most of them belonged to the kids...only a few were mine.

The best/worst part of this stage is that you can't turn your back on them.  For example,I was upstairs, in the middle of changing Neil's diaper, and I heard a loud crash.  There was a 5 second period where I waited for the appropriate scream to follow from Lizzie.  Nothing came.  I scooped up Neil and ran downstairs, sure that Lizzie had knocked herself unconscious.  Nope.  She figured out how to get into her high chair, and pushed the tray onto the floor (the bang) so that she had more room to move around in the chair.  I just stared at her.  Neil and Lizzie laughed.

This is not my favorite stage.  They want to do so much, but they're not quite coordinated to pull it off, and they don't understand how dangerous some of their climbing adventures are.  It's a learning process for them.  It's another gray hair every day for me.

Beyond that, I worry that they're going to permanently injure themselves.  So far I've imagined broken bones, brain damage, worse...the paranoid thoughts of a first time mom, I'm sure, but scary nonetheless.  Sometimes it's hard to remain calm and rational when your kid takes a big fall.  One day they'll get it.  Until then, I think I'm just going to wrap everything (including them) in bubble wrap!

RMH 8/20/13

...The March for Babies.

After experiencing a month in the NICU, and (still) learning about what being parents of preemies entails, we decided to become involved with the March of Dimes.  Okay, by WE I really mean I.  ("The royal We," right, Lewbowski fans?)  I felt compelled to do something to help MOD, so I created a family team and decided that we were going to participate in the MOD's annual March for Babies this year.  I invited family and friends to join our team, and even came up with a clever name for our team:  The HenderTwins.  It's part play on The Wonder Twins, and part tribute to my students who have decided that everything in my classrooms and life should start with "Hender."

I'm really excited for the walk next weekend, and I'm hoping that it can become an annual event for our family.  Who knows...maybe the HenderTwins will become some sort of epic MOD fundraising machine!  HenderTwin powers activate!

RMH 5/24/13

...Uh...Now What?

Mother's Day was yesterday.  After a full day of playing with the kids, going shopping, and having dinner with my parents Scott and I ended up sitting next to each other at 7:30 with two sleeping kids and nothing to do.

Nothing.

Eventually, after deciding that cleaning was overrated, we settled on watching a movie, which is fun, but we do that all of the time.  Watching movies is becoming repetitive, and boring.  We just end up sitting, and not really talking or doing anything.  We need a hobby.

I need suggestions.  Stuff that we can do at home while the kids are sleeping that doesn't involve yet another movie, or video games.  Ready?  Set?  Go!

RMH 5/13/13

...Use Your Noodle.

Pasta.  Probably my favorite thing to eat ever.  As my ever-expanding ass shows, I can't turn down a noodle in any form.  Ever.  So why can't I get my kids to eat pasta?

My kids have willingly tolerated trying most foods as we keep moving from baby food to table food, but put a noodle in front of them and all hell breaks loose!  We've tried them with sauce, with cheese, with butter, with nothing.  I've over-cooked them. I've under-cooked them.  Nada.  It's like something out of Green Eggs and Ham...they won't even touch them.  Instead, they scream bloody murder at the sight of them.  I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what we're doing to them.  Not to worry.  We're just trying to get our kids to freaking eat a noodle.

At this point we're either going to give up completely on the idea of giving them pasta, or we're going to have to get creative.  Who has an idea for me?

RMH 4/17/13

"At first I was afraid. I was petrified..."

Not gonna lie, this first year has been more hectic, emotional, difficult, amazing, fun, hard, rewarding, exhausting, and everything else than I ever thought possible. And I wouldn't change a minute of it.

Happy 1st birthday, Neil and Lizzie. We love you!

RMH 2/9/13

The Great Balancing Act...Part 2...

Eleven months, 3 weeks, and 3 days. How the hell did that happen? Neil and Lizzie have gone from being these tiny things to these large, drooling, teething, silly, cruising, and grooving kids. It's amazing...and scary!

The balancing act this time isn't mine, it's theirs. Watching them teeter as they try to stand independently, and holding their hands as they try to walk...they look like tiny drunk people! It's funny, but it's also terrifying. Every wobbly step makes me so proud of their achievements, but every tumble and fall breaks my heart.

Okay, maybe that's dramatic (I have a flair for it), but it's nerve wracking. I keep choking back gasps as they fall, trying not to make the fall worse for them. I sound ridiculous! Ai know that with each tumble, bump, and fall that they are becoming more confident. I just wish that I could wrap them in bubble wrap until they can walk!

RMH 2/4/13

...Making Food From Scratch

I love food.  And it loves me.  So much so that it sticks around in places that I don't want it to (read:  hips, thighs, stomach).  I enjoy making the food almost as much as I enjoy eating it.  So I figured that making baby food for the twins would be a logical move for me.  I wasn't thinking about the cost at first, but let me just say that the savings are worth every minute I spend making baby food!

First, here's the basic method:  Clean, quarter, steam, puree, cool, freeze.  The whole process works for most fruits and vegetables, and generally takes less that an hour.  If you really need a more specific recipe, here's the one for apples:

5 sweet firm apples (Gala, Pink Lady, Honeycrisp), cleaned and quartered (skins on)

Step 1:  Place steamer basket into a pot with 1 inch of water (or use steamer if you have one)
Step 2:  Place apples in steamer basket
Step 3:  Turn heat on high, cover pot and steam apples until soft (anywhere from 15-30 minutes)
Step 4:  Turn off heat, transfer apples to a bowl and cool to the point that you can touch them
Step 5:  Remove skins (they should peel right off) and place in blender
Step 6:  Puree apples, adding some of the steaming liquid, breast milk, or formula to thin the puree as needed
Step 7:  Transfer puree into an air-tight container to keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze in an ice cube tray (each well is 1 ounce) for up to 3 months.

You can substitute pears, carrots, butternut squash, peas, zucchini, or pretty much anything else that you want for the apples and do the exact same process.  A word of warning:  the peas came out much more concentrated than everything else, so I thin those out with some formula when I feed them to the twins.  The zucchini was very watery, so I mix that with rice cereal to get a consistency that stays on the spoon.

Some vegetables require a little more time.  For beets and yams/sweet potatoes clean the vegetable (leave the skins on), prick with holes, and roast at 350 degrees for an hour or until soft.  You could do this with the carrots and squash too.  Roasting sweetens the vegetables slightly. 

I haven't attempted to puree my own meat.  The thought of making "meat paste" doesn't really appeal to me, so I'm using jarred food until the kids can eat the same food that I make for dinner. (Based on how fast the teeth are coming in, I don't think I'll have to endure this cost for too long!)  However, Momtastic's Wholesome baby Food site has some basic recipes for purees if you're interested.  (http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/MeatRecipes.htm)

Happy puree-ing!!!

RMH 9/18/12

...Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This...

I don't want to give the wrong impression about having twins. It's freaking hard. But Neil and Lizzie are pretty easy-going babies and for that I say, "Thank you, Jesus!" However, we've had our moments over the last few months. Here's an email (edited to delete some profanity that slipped out in my moment of stress and now including a few details that I was too frazzled to email at the time) that I sent to Scott about one of those moments. I hope you find the humor in it like we did...once it was over!

So, I start feeding Lizzie and Neil flips out on me big time. So I put Lizzie in a bouncer, grab Neil, and feed him on my lap while I feed her in the bouncer. Lizzie gets disinterested in eating so I stop feeding her and concentrate on Neil who starts slowing down and falling asleep. I decide to switch their spots to see if Lizzie wants more to eat. Nope! She poops all over my leg. I have to grab her, hold my pant leg to keep the poo-glob from falling on the rug, and get upstairs. Once there, I take off my poo pants and change Lizzie without any pants on! I get her cleaned up, she's laughing at me by now of course, get my leg cleaned up and start taking the laundry to the basement...completely forgetting that I don't have any pants on until I hit the kitchen! I run back upstairs and put pants on, then run back downstairs to get laundry started. So, now I have a second load of laundry going and both babies are mad at me because their feeding time was hectic! It's only 12:30!!!

RMH 7/10/12

..."That Was Easy."

One of the questions that you get asked repeatedly when you tell people that you're pregnant with multiples or that you have multiples is, "When did you find out?"  Since I've been writing about having the twins I may as well write about finding out that we were pregnant with twins.  Cue the cheesy blurring effects....we're going back in time.


(...Eleven months earlier...)

I never liked the phrase "We're trying" when it comes to pregnancy.  To me it always seemed like you were announcing to everyone that you and your partner are having sex like bunnies. What if I need to call you?  I don't want to interrupt you while "you're trying."  Ick! I'm kidding, but I really am not fond of the phrase.  I think I was successful in avoiding it.  My brother and sister-in-law like the phrase "Pull the goalie."  I'll stick with that one.  We pulled the goalie and hoped for the best.

That July we went to Galveston with Scott's family for vacation.  I knew that there was a possibility of scoring an empty netter (to stick with the hockey theme, I guess.) so I brought an early detection test with me.  It was positive.  Scott was still asleep because it was early in the morning.  Gotta use that "strong pee," right?  (Eew.  No one wants to think of their pee as being strong.)  I woke him up to tell him the good news.  His response?  "That was easy."  The he promptly rolled over and went back to sleep.  I, on the other hand, was wide awake.

Telling our families that I was pregnant was fun.  We both started reading about pregnancy online and started to think about registry items.  We even started to plan out the nursery.  Then, about six weeks in, I started to spot.  Half of what I read online was, "Oh, it's fine.  Most women spot."  The other half was, "FREAK OUT AND GET TO THE DOCTOR!"  I went right down the middle and calmly called the doctor.  He said to come in to the office.  That's when I started to get nervous.

My doctor asked what was wrong, and did a brief exam.  He then asked me if I wanted to get an ultrasound done.  Thinking that I had the option, I said no.  I wanted Scott to be there for the first ultrasound, and he was stuck at work.  My doctor clarified by telling me that I really had no choice and what he should have asked me was when could I get to the hospital for the ultrasound.  Crap.  Now I'm really nervous.

I called Scott to tell him what was happening.  I then called my mom and asked her to meet me there.  We walked into the ultrasound room and I got on the table.  By the way, nothing says Mother-Daughter Bonding Moment like having a transvaginal ultrasound...especially when the tech asks you to insert the wand.  The tech started looking around and we saw two dark spots.  She laughed and said that everything was fine.  She then proceeded to tell me that there were two babies.  This is where accounts of the next few minutes differ.

My mom's version:
Tech:  Everything is fine.  There are two sacs.  Here's Baby A and here's Baby B.
Me:  WHAT????????????
Mom:  YES!!!  Haha! 
Tech:  You're having twins.  Let's look closer.
Me:  Are you sure there's only two?
Tech:  You're not going to throw up are you?  I had someone do that last week.
Mom:  HAHAHAHAHAA!
Me:   Holy shit.  Twins?

My version:
Tech:  Everything is fine.  There are two sacs.  Here's Baby A and here's Baby B.
Me:  WHAT?????????????
Mom:  (insert manic laughter)
Tech:  You're having twins.  Let's look closer.
Me:  Omigodomigodomigod.  Seriously?
Tech:  You're not going to throw up are you?  I had someone do that last week.
Mom:  (insert even more manic laughter and a comment about a sweet potato)
Me:  (insert nervous laughter)  Scott's going to lose his mind.

So after seeing both sacs, two little heartbeats, and being told that they would be fraternal twins I was able to get dressed.  The tech printed me out my first pictures of the babies and we were able to leave.  I was shaking.  Now I had to tell Scott.  "That was easy," he had originally said.  He'll never live those words down.

During the whole ultrasound Scott had been sending text messages to my mom trying to find out if everything was okay.  She wasn't responding because we were both staring at two babies on a screen.  As we walked out she told me to call Scott.  Quick decision:  tell him now or make him wait?  If I tell him now he's going to flip out at work.  If I say everything's fine and try to wait he'll know that something is up and pester me.  So I told him.

"Everything is fine," I said.  "But, well, uh...we're having twins."  Dead silence.  Then he said,"Stop it.  Your mother put you up to that.  She's with you, and is screwing around."  I told him that we weren't messing with him and that it was true.  I even had photographic evidence.  He asked me if I was serious.  I said yes.  He said he had to get back to work.  I asked him if he was okay.  We were both trying to remain calm.  Whoever made that famous quote about the best laid plans is a jerk.

When Scott was done working he called to say that he was coming out to my parents' place.  He then called his dad, who was in Rotterdam.  According to Scott the conversation went like this:
Scott:  Dad, Becky's pregnant with twins.
Scott's Dad:  (insert 45 minutes of laughter while Scott tries not to panic)

We obviously botlh calmed down, but we definitely had a hard time wrapping our heads around what was happening to us. The 19 week ultrasound was great, and helped us both feel better about everything.  We saw both babies moving around.  At that point they could show both of them in one shot.  That was the last time it would happen!

One of Scott's co-workers gave him an idea to reveal the genders of the babies.  We would have two cakes made, and the inside icing would be dyed according to the gender of each baby.  The outside would be done in neutral colors so that when we cut into the cakes everyone would find out at once.  That meant that we had to wait to find out with everyone else.

We took the idea to the bakery.  As we were describing what we wanted the baker said, "Oh!  You want sex cakes!"  Naturally I burst out laughing, thinking of how silly the term sex cake sounded.  Since Scott's family was going to be in town for Thanksgiving we planned a little party for the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I was pretty sure that this was going to be the most highly anticipated cake cutting in the history of the world.

RMH