JD found this today. Lets just say these things make it all the long days, nights and day-nights all worth it. Kids are just plain funny. I can totally see Lucy doing the same when she is 5. She LOVES mac n’ cheese (must be a genetically linked preference). 
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Note: This is more of a post geared toward other parents… but read on if you’re interested!
To save my sanity, I am trying to figure out if there is actually a routine or schedule that the twins seem to follow so life can become a bit more predictable. I learned with Lucy that schedules are not really important, its more of the pattern or routine the kid naturally follows. Plus, no matter what you do to change the pattern, it won’t so you might as well go with it! For example, after a nap, Lucy usually gets tired again 2 hrs. later. Now that Lucy is almost 1 1/2 yrs. old, her day is very , very predictable. Plus she’s always been easy to get to sleep and has needed a lot of sleep altogether. Zoey and Stella are a different story. I’ve been taking notes on what they do all day and when for two days now and I’m not sure there’s a pattern.
So, Stella seems to sleep more than Zoey and can sleep more soundly than Zoey. Stella sleeps for longer and can pretty much sleep anywhere. This all started with the issue that Zoey has a hard time falling asleep anywhere but the mechanical swing we have. So, I am trying to “train” her to nap in her crib during the day because lets face it, she won’t fit into that swing when she’s 1 and what do we do when we travel? Lug that swing with us? So, anyway, they share a room and Stella sleeps fine in her crib, but Zoey has a really hard time in there. When they are both in there and she wakes up, Stella eventually does too. Also, Zoey seems to wake up screaming every 20 min. or so. At this moment, I have Lucy in her room, Zoey in her crib and Stella in a portable crib in our room. Zoey is currently crying! Plus they seem to be on different schedules for when they want to play and sleep. I still feed them at the same times though. By the way, they go down fine for bed and sleep for about 6-7 hrs. straight (yay!). So, here are my questions:
What does a typical schedule for 3-4 month olds look like (I can’t remember!)?
How much sleep do they need?
How do I get Zoey used to her crib for napping in the daytime? (I am currently trying a combo of crying it out and going in and rocking her back to sleep, but don’t want to start any bad habits!)
If Zoey goes down fine and sleeps for 1/2 hr. and then wakes up screaming, do I let her cry it out to try and get her to learn how to get herself back to sleep or do I try to help her?
Will they ever get used to each other and be able to share a room?!
Detail of right sidelight
We finally took the plunge and took a look under the plywood panels above and to the side of our front door this weekend (with a very helpful hand from Missy’s dad). We weren’t very optimistic prior to the treasure hunt, since we figured who in their right mind would cover up sidelights and a transom with painted plywood. Thankfully we were wrong!
Underneath the plywood panels was a great condition transom (the part above the door) and two leaded-glass sidelights — the right one in very good condition and the left sidelight (facing to the street) needing some minor repairs. That must have been the reason for the plywood, since it looks like a baseball went through it and destroyed two of the panels. Looks to be easy to fix, however… so you have to wonder why the previous owners did not fix the panels. It could have added a couple thousand to the asking price, easily, as they look to be in pretty great condition and original - so like 80 years old.
Anyway, it made our weekend. Now we have to tempt fate again and see if the previous owner told the truth when they said the hardwoods under our carpets are in great condition. (Yeah, I know, don’t ask… we’ve found enough weird things in this house to not question anything any longer!)
Larger right sidelight
Transom above door
I should have known today was going to be a doozy after Zoey threw up, peed and pooped on herself at 6am and then continued to fuss off and on. This turned into wardrobe changes for all 3 by 8am due to the same issues. So the beat went on and I took it in stride, but now, after 9 straight hours of fussy babies and zero down time, not even to sit and eat breakfast with Lucy, I am starting to think today just might be, well, one of those days. I swear all the batteries in our house have it out for me today. How do all the batteries die at the same time? Even those fancy rechargables we got and put in 2 days ago? The silver lining is that Lucy went to a friend’s house today and had a GREAT time and didn’t have to deal with all the fussing while she was gone.
So, how to deal? Most of the time I laugh and sometimes, I admit, on rare occasions I go into the basement (when Lucy is sleeping) and curse to the high heavens for about 30 seconds! That seems to do it and then I think I probably should be conserving energy… So, other parents, friends, family, others- how do you deal with the days when it seems Murphy’s Law is stacking up against you? Trouble for me is that one side of my family are actually Murphys…
NOTE: My Mom’s side of the family (Murphy) doesn’t actually have disproportionate bad luck- I just thought it was a funny pun to make…
“Repeating the same thing slowly and loudly is not a kind of differentiated teaching method that works for kids that struggle more than others. We need to stop teaching the way we want to and start teaching the way our students learn.”
- Dr. Pedro Noguera, paraphrased from his Keynote Address, Our Promise for the Future: Meeting the Challenge, at the Governer’s Summit on Student Engagement and Dropout Prevention at Nazareth College, Rochester, Oct. 10. 2008. Dr. Noguera is a Professor at Steinhardt School of Education at New York University, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education Co-Director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings.
If you know us, you know we like to do our research. We also don’t like to buy things just to give our kids more “stuff”. With Christmas coming up, we are starting early, especially with me not working. Now that we have a very active 17 mo. old, does anyone have suggestions of the best toy or thing their 1 1/2 year old really enjoyed? Lucy loves music, dancing, filling/empyting and opening things and generally things you can do with your hands. For example, she spends endless hours with our tupperware. She also loves books and Elmo right now. We’d like to get her something that she (and ideally the twins) will all like and use for a while. Any ideas?
Plus, we are trying to think of cheap homemade matching/go together halloween costume ideas for the twins.. any suggestions there? I stress cheap or homemade!
We put together a list from our personal experiences with the twins over the last 3 months of “things” that are essential to daily life with these two cuties + Lucy! Many of these things also were essential with just one baby too. These are just things, but they have been lifesavers! I am also hoping to post on (more importantly) the top 10 “non-things” you need when raising 3 under 2 at some time in the future. Check it out and PLEASE leave your input/comments/advice/experiences in the comments! Read the rest of this entry »
I debated whether to post about this because I hate to spread the negative vibes. This is going to come off like venting, but hey that needs to happen sometimes too! Some of you parents with no twins will definitely be able to relate to this stuff too.. don’t tell me you don’t!
I really don’t mind the attention we garner out in public with our girls. Afterall, they are so cute, although I am biased and I certainly understand the fascination with twins. I come from a family with twins, so I get that and I actually don’t mind at all when people notice or ask, “Are they twins?”. I would be lying though if I didn’t acknowledge that it gets a little old, but seriously I don’t mind confirming the obvious!
I really don’t even mind the twin related misunderstandings, such as the belief that in order to be twins, they must look alike. I like talking about my babies and I like talking science (its kind of a can of worms). And, with Lucy, I got over the inevitable “what a beautiful boy(s)” comment. They could be dressed head to toe in pink outfits with “GIRL” written all over and just because they aren’t cutesy smiling 24/7 with flowing curls in pig tails they apparently look like boys. I get it. No big deal. However, it is fascinating how its mostly old men that do this! I am even getting used to the fact that it now takes us twice as long to do what we need to do in most public places because we get stopped often with comments or questions while our baby parade is out and about. Gone are the days where you can run in and out of the grocery store! However, this really starts to get to me when someone stops me to inquire while my babies are obviously having a meltdown. I have learned to sometimes just keep walking unfortunately. All of this is sometimes annoying but I usually let it go because hey, gotta pick your battles right? I mostly find people funny.
However, I have one small request I would like to get off my chest! (Here is the venting part) Read the rest of this entry »
Anyone know about hypersensitivity in infants? Zoey seems to have a hard time transitioning from sleeping to eating to sleeping again after some playing. She seems to cry a lot more than Stella and often, when she starts up, if you don’t just put her in her swing or down in a quiet place at her first frown she seems to escalate with the crying. Also, the more you do- rocking, talking to her, walking with her, etc. the more agitated she gets. There have been many times with substantial crying for the better part of an hour if you don’t get her right at the perfect time before she gets going. She seems to have a hard time shutting out things around her or at least dealing with things when she is tired and crying. It could be just that she is an active child too. Her arms and legs certainly go a mile a minute when she is playing and wide awake! I have also heard a theory about these really active infants that are sensitive ending up being ADHD kids, but that again is just an idea. Who knows? Any thoughts? Not sure if its bad enough to call the Dr. for thoughts just yet..
Hey everyone! Can’t believe I am blogging. I bet I have all of 5 minutes to update you all. I constantly have about 5 million things rattling around in my head to talk about, but I will start with a quick update off the top of my head.
The twins are getting huge! I can hardly lift them both at the same time anymore but they are holding their heads up pretty good now so its making it easier to shift them from here to there. They are both probably around 9-10 lbs. They say that 10 lbs. is the magic number for babies to start sleeping through the night- riiiiggggghhhhht. What happens if you have a 10 lb. baby? Anyway, they are still eating every 3-4 hrs. and went 5-6 hrs. between eating at night once so far. We were like- wow!…that won’t happen for another 2 months again!
They are doing all sorts of smiling and man is our Stella the charmer. She smiles like crazy! She smiles at us almost constantly, at Lucy, at the cat, at the blanket- at the light! Its so nice to see someone so genuinely excited to be alive. Zoey is our little thrill seeker. Don’t get me wrong, she smiles up a storm too, but her temperment is definitely on the active, lets-go side of things. She rolled over a few days ago and then did it over and over and over. She loves being rolled around by her arms too. She is very physical but definitely lets you know when enough is enough. She has a tendency to get worked up fast and its hard to get her calmed down sometimes so we are working on the transition thing with her. The swing is a lifesaver for her. She is certainly intense for a little one, but I am wondering if that will change. They say that twins can switch between characteristics over time. It will be fun to look back and see what happens.
The twins will be 8 weeks old tomorrow! Whoo hoo! This got me thinking of how we’ve adjusted the last 2 months to feel like we’ve finally got our feet under us in the last week or so. I live by weeks (maybe its the 40 week teaching year part of me) so this is how I think of our time since the twins were born. Here is a record and few snippets from each week about what we were feeling: Read the rest of this entry »
I have to share this! We made it for the second time tonight and it is simply amazing.
Ingredients:
1 (10-ounce) Italian cheese-flavored thin pizza crust (such as Boboli)
2/3 cup Wegman’s Memphis BBQ sauce
2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 2 breasts)
2/3 cup diced plum tomato
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded extra-sharp white cheddar cheese
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup Asiago cheese
The recipe was originally was from Cooking Light and called for Tomato Chutney instead of BBQ sauce. I lucked upon the sauce listed above, as it was the only BBQ sauce we had in the necessary quantity. I know Wegman’s isn’t every where, so you can substitute any sweet and smokey Memphis style sauce, although I do recommend the Wegman’s store brand if you have one near your area. Also, I added the asiago cheese since we had a little left over.
Here are the instructions:
Preheat oven to 450°.
Place crust on a baking sheet. Bake at 450° for 3 minutes. Remove from oven; spread chutney over crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border.
Top chutney with chicken. Sprinkle diced tomato, cheese, and green onions evenly over chicken. Bake at 450° for 9 minutes or until cheese melts. Cut pizza into 6 wedges.
Super easy and super good.
The girls have now been home a little over a month- which is incredible to think of how fast it seems to have gone. They turned 7 weeks on Friday and are both doing great too. We last visited the Dr. about a 2 1/2 weeks ago (1 month old visit) and Zoey was 6 lbs. 3oz. , Stella was 5 lbs. 10 oz. They should both be around 7-8 lbs. by now. Zoey was about 1 inch taller than Stella- both around 18 inches. Stella’s got the bigger, rounder noggin though! The Dr. said normal weight gain is minimum of 15 grams a day. Stella was gaining 25g a day & Zoey 40g a day! Great work ladies! They have also both been smiling away back at us, which is what you wait for after weeks of just watching their tired closed eyes! The eyes are opening and they are so much more interactive. Stella likes to do lots of little excited coos when she really gets going too. Yesterday, when I got Lucy out of her crib after a nap I had Zoey in the Moby baby carrier wrap and when her head popped out to greet a still drowsy Lucy, Lucy scrambled over to her and got so excited and Zoey smiled back at her. Nothing could touch that feeling of having your kids enjoy each other like that! Just incredible!
Okay… so Marge is bugging me for updates so now that I have a second to catch my breath, here is a little about what we’ve been up to the last week. This is sure to be scattered as my mind is slowly leaving me!
Zoey and Stella came home last Thursday night and the fun began. The rest is a blur…
Just kidding! But, we have been honing our sense of humor with these new additions. Life is truly crazier and, as it turns out, more funny, than anything that someone could make up! We are trying hard to laugh when we feel like crying, but I still cry a lot! It is so overwhelming at times.
The tough things have been just trying to meet everyone’s needs while trying to get some sleep and take it easy so I can still heal. Obviously, feeding them takes a lot of time since they eat about every 3-4 hrs. However, we’ve been able to keep them on the same schedule, eating at the same time or one right after the other. Stella is learning slower how to eat, so I worry about her, but I am hopeful she’ll pick up. I am even learning to nurse them simultaneously, which I am now convinced should be an olympic event! It boils down to the fact that the only way to conserve time is to try to cut the feeding time in half. When we feed them one at a time it takes well over an hour start to finish… then we start again in two hours or so.
They are still confusing night with day and are fussier at night, but the other night we topped them off with an extra bottle before bed to help them settle down as well as put them in the same crib at night. We were told to keep them in separate cribs when we are sleeping, but I swear they sleep better when they are at least in the same crib, even if at different ends! We may put their cribs right next to each other so they can see each other but not be in the same crib. Anyway, some nights are better than others, last night we slept great from about 10:30-1am and then the rest of the night was full of toddler temper tantrums and off and on baby crying tag teaming us! That was tough. We managed to squeeze in a small nap this morning for an hour or so before they woke up from napping to catch up a little. I am hoping tonight is better!
Its amazing how different the girls are too. Read the rest of this entry »
In addition to the swimmies picture, my aunt sent over these two great pictures:
Stella sleeping
Zoey wide awake!
Finally got approval to post some pics!
Mom and Zoey
Mom and Stella
Its amazing how fast life can change forever. The last 5 days since the babies were born have certainly been a roller coaster for all of us. I can already tell this will be a long post and probably a little personal and maybe sad at points since our experiences are so vivid, fresh and will definitely be life-changing for both of us. Jason has been running back and forth between home, work and me at the hospital. Lucy was not home since Thursday night and we got to visit with her briefly on Saturday. I was running back and forth between my room at the hospital and the NICU all day to feed the babies as much as possible, trying to rest and deal with the pain that comes with a natural and c-section delivery. Jason’s family has generously taken on Lucy for us 24/7- she’s a pretty active little lady so I know it was draining! It has been hard on everyone, but today things have changed.
I was finally able to come home last night. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m currently in the waiting room as Melisa gets her epidural. Seems like we’ve been doing a lot of waiting lately, but at least things are moving forward at a faster pace now. We fully expect to welcome the two ladies into the world this afternoon!
For keeping up on our progress, I’d recommend checking my Twitter page (twitter.com/endonend) for the most up-to-the-minute action. I’ll also post pictures to our Flickr page (see thumbnails below) as I can. Camera phone pics are easier to get up the quickest, so the better quality ones will most likely be updated over the weekend.
Stay tuned! The fun is just beginning.
The name guessing game sparked a lot of interest, both offline and online! Very cool. There have been a lot of guesses so far, with a handful of people getting both names correct and most getting at least one name. I have also been surprised by the reaction to the names. Not what I expected, as they have been overwhelmingly positive!
To help the remaining guessers, I’ll release two more clues - one for each name. Happy guessing!
- What name connects Will Ferrell, Douglas Adams, Jason Schwartzman and Janis Joplin?
- What name connects Nanny 911, Michael Ian Black, Bette Midler and two kinds of beer?
These will be the last clues I’ll be giving out, as they are getting easier and I have a feeling the babies will be with us soon!
Good luck.
How great is this! One of our faves from the North, Feist does Sesame Street!
After “what are you having?” and “when are you due?”, I’d say the next most common question we get asked is, “what are their names?” I wonder how many couples divulge the names prior to the birth? I can’t imagine many, or at least not in a wide spread manner. Maybe it’s just us though? I know we’re a little hesitant because we’re not sure what family and friends will think of the names. It’s easier to spring the name when the baby is born because they don’t have time to think about or judge the name - the cute baby is most important, so judging the name is an afterthought. Or at least that is what we tell our self!
With the twin’s arrival on the horizon, Melisa and I took to the task of narrowing down our name list to the final two selections last week. This time around was much harder than our first daughter for a number of reasons, mainly because we created a much larger pool of possible names to choose from in the beginning and that made agreeing to the final two much more difficult. We both had names we liked more than others, so it became more of a negotiation than the “yeah that’s it” moment we had with Lucy. I know Melisa will say we didn’t pick her name until she came out, but I don’t agree. We were very set on Lucy for a good portion of the pregnancy. Yeah we had backups, but I don’t think there was a doubt about Lucy. And the funny thing is, the backups aren’t the twin’s names either - so I guess we didn’t like them very much! (Although they were in consideration this time around.)
So, with all the questions I thought it might be fun to throw out some clues to see if anyone can guess the names of the twins. Entertaining for us, at least! Below you’ll find some clues, so do some research and come back to this post and submit your guess in the comments. They’ll be held in moderation, so we’ll leak out the guesses a little at a time in the lead up to the big day. Who knows, you might actually find out for reals before you get a chance to guess!
So here we go… the clues:
- Find what name connects Charlie Parker, Jerry Lewis, Interpol, Blanche DuBois, a U.S. coin, and the Beatles?
- What name connects a South American tribe, Juliana Hatfield, Pokemon, Doctor Who, M. Ward, and Britney Spears?
One clue for each name… sorry these had to be so hard. The interweb makes these kinds of things too easy. I’ll release two more clues in a few days…
Ready? Set? Go! Good luck.
A quick update: there is none! I am 34 1/2 weeks going on 35 this Saturday. Twins are born on average around 36 weeks (1 mo. early when compared to a normal 40 wk. single baby pregnancy). They are each about 5 lbs. or a little bigger now probably and twins average 5-6 lbs. at birth each. So by statistics we are getting close. I also feel like its almost time. I am having crazy baby dreams and contractions (painless) continue. My belly measures like a mom that is about 2-3 weeks overdue so I am pretty large! I feel like that too and have started that hardly sleeping thing (fun!). My hands are swollen and numb from pregnancy induced “carpal tunnel” so I am wearing wrist braces and look like a pro-bowler! The Dr. suggested cortizone shots in the wrists, but I declined being hopeful I would deliver soon. Anyway, things are packed and ready to go, now we just wait. The good news is that they are both healthy, growing equally and well and are in the best possible position for a natural delivery.
As for delivery, I am hoping for a natural delivery vs. a C-section because the recovery is so much easier. I know that I will labor in a regular room and then go to the operating room to deliver in case they have to do an emergency c-section in between the birth of the two. There are really 3 scenarios:
As posted earlier, I was going to try and create a stenciled effect in Lucy’s new room using DIY Wall Decals after browsing on Etsy and finding some very inspiring, but very expensive premade designs to buy. The original idea was to actually stencil or free hand draw the design like I did in her original room and paint it in with white paint, but in an effort to make things simpler Jason found a great link suggesting the use of contact paper. So off to target we went and picked up some regular white contact paper (also, make sure you call Target to make sure they have it before you go- only one Target (the giant one) had it around us). They even had “stainless steel” contact paper which was intriguing, but we passed on the urge to contact paper all our appliances! How much contact paper would that take?? That would probably look tacky though- anyone tried? Anyone tried the chalk board contact paper??
Anyway, it took me about 2-2.5 hrs. from start to finish to complete the design on two walls of her room. I will probably repeat the design under her second window later too. The pictures are below if you’d like to look. Here’s how I did it:
Yes! The solstice is finally here! I love this longest (or thereabouts) day of the year, speaking of hours of daylight of course. Its all down hill from here though! (Did you know that the Earth is technically farther from the Sun around this date than around the Winter Solstice? A LOT of people actually think summer happens because we are closer to the sun during the summer and the winter occurs because we are farther from the sun. I had to add that in- today was the NYS Earth Science Regents Exam!) So, this day always makes me think of Earth Science and one of our favorite (and outrageous) things to do on this weekend each year when we lived in Seattle. I hope someday we can take our girls to this!
On the other hand, many of you will be shocked to know that I started reading for leisure (thats how bored I’ve gotten- I’m not a “natural” reader!). I picked up Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer at the library, author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven, all of which I have read already and all I found fascinating. This book of his is a collection of mostly short essays he had written for magazines (he often writes for Outside and Smithsonian) and are about different aspects of mountaineering, climbing, bouldering and outside adventures. You could say I am living vicariously. However, he is the only author that I have read everything of his I can get my hands on- I love the true life stories he writes about and how gripping he tells the tales. He has great insight, a down to earth perspective and hails from the NW. So far, its very, very good and a fast read!
Its bugging me that our site name constantly reminds me of one of favorite places in Seattle: Six Arms! If you are ever in Seattle have a beer here! Also, if you are ever in Portland or just generally around the NW, check out one of the fine establishments owned by McMenamins, the organization behind Six Arms. They have created some truly unique pubs, hotels, music venues and even movie theaters. Damn we miss that place! Just had to get that out there!
Damn. Our house just got diagnosed with having brown bats who are likely to have babies June-August (hey, me too!). Work is estimated to cost over $1000. GREAT timing. Sucks that I think bats are so cute. Too bad they are incredible vectors. It seems habitat destruction is causing them to roost in houses more and more. I can appreciate that. However, too many babies in this house- bats have to go!
So, I’ve been home from work on “house arrest” since May 16th now- my 26th week of pregnancy. House arrest simply means that I need to be off my feet most of the day, not lift things (such as Lucy) and generally take it as easy as possible. Being home has been really different than teaching every day and pretty mundane, but not as hard as I thought it would be actually to not being doing much. I guess when your body tells you to slow down, you have no choice. I spend my days doing stuff on the computer, some light stuff around the house, watching ridiculously mind-numbing TV and finally, meeting JD at daycare to pick up Lucy together.
What is strange though is that I don’t have Lucy with me during the day and can’t fully care for her when we are alone. It is simply hard to get off the floor and get down onto the floor with her at this point, let alone changing her and lifting her in and out of her crib. I watch her leave with JD in the morning for daycare and wonder what she is doing with other people and kids all day- that is the hardest part. This morning, she crawled away from me to JD and called him Mama, giving him a hug, when she was sad. I was so sad. Due to me not being able to physically handle her, our relationship is definitely changing and she is relying on Dad more, which is sweet, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad sometimes about us losing some closeness. I try to maintain perspective that this has to happen and is a natural part of growing a family and is seen in all cultures, but still at 6:30am I want to be the “Mama”!
I’d like to think our kid is pretty comfortable in her own skin and the world around her. We go to daycare, she never cries when we drop her off and gets right into the mix, smiling and playing with the other kids like she never missed a beat. We visit friends and family and with the exception of a brief warm up period, she is smiling and opening up just like at home. She has always been this easy-going, happy and friendly baby that pretty much responded to all your stimulation in positive, geeful ways directed right toward mommy or daddy’s heart. Can our luck run out at some point- maybe with one or two new additions??
Then came her 1st birthday. She is no longer a baby! You can’t set her down in one spot anymore and expect her to be there for more than a millisecond- all she wants to do is walk, crawl, take things apart, put them together, repeat. In fact, you can’t even sit the child down to eat anymore without major protest!
Somehow with all the wiggling, refusing to be fed and throwing of food over the side of the high chair with a sneaky smile, she managed to gain 3 lbs. since April when she wasn’t eating last too! Feeding has to be a huge independence milestone because what could be more personal than determining what goes into your own body? I can certainly appreciate this and I am trying very, very hard to keep in perspective that the developmental need for her to make these decisions is actually more important than her nutrition at this point- at least that is what the experts tell me.
She is not hugely into feeding herself yet so I worry about her not getting enough food to power her little motor through the day doing all her “baby work”, as we call it. Before, we could give her a bunch of toys and some finger foods and she’d play with them all and let you feed her endless spoonfuls of mushy food while she was distracted. However, She wasn’t really into the texture of things and definitely didn’t like things that stuck to her hands as she picked them up (ok- that’s almost everything!). Now, in the last week, since trying the all so amazing chicken nugget and rice puff, she flat out almost completely refuses to let you feed her! She likes to try and scoop out the food herself with the spoon and get it to her mouth herself (still some bad aim!), but really won’t feed herself a lot…. and won’t let us feed her either! The only things she likes to feed herself are pretzels, graham crackers, rice puffs, cheerios, teething biscuits or other processed carbs! Not really interested in things normal people would call “healthy”. Again, mommy is having a coronary, but trying to keep perspective since turning what I view as an eating catastrophe into a power struggle could be the worst thing to happen at this point. Hmmmm… any suggestions wiser more experienced parents?
I am always fascinated with the vibrancy and deep passion people have when sharing stories involving their families, friends and extended family. This personal storytelling weaves together the inherent connections we all have when we bump up against others, different perspectives, life experiences and the daily ups and downs of everyday life. The shared experiences of others enrich and gently guide our own paths in this life and help us to grow.
The inspiration for this blog comes from how deeply I’ve been touched by the stories of others in my life and especially by our own personal story over the last years, and specifically in the last year, with our daughter. With the beginning of our family, a new set of experiences, reflections, future hopes and vivid “ah-ha” moments have surfaced. We have appreciated that in becoming parents, we have become beginners in this world again- seeing and making sense of our own experiences through new sets of eyes.
Our family is currently Melisa, Jason and Lucy, our 1 year old daughter. We will also be welcoming 2 more bundles of joy (twins!)- two more girls they tell us- in July or August. We will start writing from now, but first, a brief history of where this all started.
