Diaper Rinsing

They make shower sprayers and are specifically made to hook up to your toilet and rinse out poopy diapers. The problem is that they all cost around $40.00. We've searched for cheaper prices but no luck.

My husband rigged this up. It's just a regular old sink sprayer. We're not sure if it saves that much or if it's worth the trouble, but it does do it's job.

The Foods We Eat!

My big boys solution to that whole learning to drink out of a cup thing. They are getting better at drinking out of cups. I've just been giving them barely a little swallow in a cup at meal time- whenever I remember to.



I post about food a lot it seems, but I'm really struggling right now. The boys were pretty good eaters but they get pickier everyday. If anyone has some ideas of foods I can try please send them my way. I'll post what seems to work and what ends up on the floor at our house.



Successes!

-Applesauce mixed with graham crackers or vanilla pudding and cinnamon
-Olives with ranch
-Beans of any kind -Especially pork and beans with mustard and brown sugar mixed in the sauce
-Oatmeal with brown sugar
-Poptarts
-Raisins
-Those noodles made out of vegetables
-Fruit Snacks
-PB&J sandwiches- they were really fond of PB and honey, but then I learned that they aren't supposed to have honey until they are two. Oops!
-Cereals like fruit loops, golden grahams and trix.
-Fruit smoothies



It's OK
These are all foods that they will eat off and on.

-Green Beans
-Mandarin Oranges
-Bananas
-Peas
-Animal Crackers
-Cereal like Kix and Cheerios
-Ramen noodles or chicken noodle soup with the broth drained.
-Watermelon
-Grapes
-Chicken nuggets

Ends Up on the Floor

-Cheese sandwiches and Cheese tortillas
-Lunch meat
-Avocados
-Goldfish

The worst is what they eat changes daily. One day they will eat it clean gone. The next day it will end up all over the floor. I need some fresh new ideas. I hardly know what to buy at the store anymore, and I feel like giving them candy all the time just so I don't have to sweep so much.

P.S. I did think of a way to try and get them to take cold milk. We give it to them cold, let them drink what they will and then we warm it up and see if they will take anymore.

I Just Need a Moment!

*Warning! Emotional Pregnancy Break Down!*

A few months ago, when I learned we were expecting another boy, I came to terms with the fact that I may be a mom of just boys. I was fine and happy about it. And almost convinced myself that I didn't need to have a girl. But the truth is I want a girl!

I want to give her that perfect name I have picked out. I want my husband to have his "Daddy's Girl". I want to find and make her cute hair pieces and frilly tutus. I want to watch her get dressed up for prom, and I want to see her on her wedding day. People joke about adoption, but I want my girl. I want to know what my girl will look like.

I think some people are under the impression that me wanting a girl means I don't want my boys. I love my boys, and nothing compares to a mother/son relationship. They're my babies. My little princes. It isn't about being a mom to just boys. It's about coming to terms with the fact that I may never be a mom to a girl of my own.

They say there are other pregnancies. I can try again, but do you know how exhausting that sounds when you are in the 8th month of pregnancy?

I wouldn't trade my boys for anything. And me and my husband both love and adore them. But we know a little girl would hold a different place in both our hearts, and I just would really love to have that.

*Sorry for my emotional spew! Thanks to those who read!*

Shout Out to My Hubby!

I have to say my husband is pretty amazing! He is the one I give credit to for making it look like I can handle twins. More then once I've heard "He changes their diapers?"

Well not only does he change their diapers but he also rinses out the poopy pre-folds. I mean, that's pretty amazing right?

Anyway. . .I was looking at my friends blog- she's done a lot more research than I have, and has a lot of good info- and I was introduced to this site.

It has these great diapers I want to try.

They're kind of expensive. I have to say the prices of cloth diapers can be shocking at first. We have been able to find some good deals on KSL and ebay. But for some reason the best deals are on pocket diapers, so we've bought a lot of those.

If anyone knows a good place to buy one size diaper covers at a decent price let me know. I have pre-folds and I want to use them.

We've Gone Cloth!

With the changes we've made around here some might think we've jumped on the green band wagon. Truth is we're just trying to save money by finding ways to cut back that work for our family.



I have a friend who started cloth diapering and she made it sound so doable- when I first had the boys it sounded so overwhelming- I thought maybe I should give it a try. After all, I don't mind washing out poop. In fact most of my employment has led to some poop washing here and there. It also occurred to me that we didn't have to use cloth exclusively. We still use disposables at night, and sometimes when we go out- though with a wet bag it's not that much harder to use cloth while out for the day.

Anyway. . .I asked my husband what he thought and he was on board so we started buying supplies. We found that there are a lot of new ideas out there that make it surprisingly convenient. And I didn't find the transition hard at all. We had a few overstuffed diapers and one day of leaky disasters, but aside from that we've gotten along pretty well.

Aside from saving us money, don't those little cloth diapered bums look so cute?



Can you see his little muffin top?



Our favorite style of cloth is the pre-folds that have a cover to go over them. We've tried pocket diapers, but I'm not a big fan. They are more expensive and you have to change the whole diaper every time- though I can see how this style would work well for some. With the pre-folds you can leave the liner and just change the pre-fold.

One nice thing is that the diapers can snap down into smaller sizes, so one cover can fit newborn up to 35 lbs.

Along with cloth diapering we bought a clothes line. And I was told by my mother-in-law that clothes lines and cloth diapers go well together because the sun will keep down the stains. So far so good. The clothes line has worked well for us, and I love having extra help with the stains on some of the other articles of clothing we own.



Right now we have:

-14 diaper covers total
-1 washable diaper pale liner
-I don't even know how many pre-folds. I'd guess around 30 or 40 and. . .
-1 wet bag

I'd would like a few more covers and pre-folds, and another diaper pail and liner would be nice. But with what we have we can get through about 4-5 days with using cloth- and disposables only at night. When we are out I just take the now full diaper pail liner and throw everything in the wash, including the wet bag.

I used to rinse out all my diapers before throwing them in the pail, but my mom said she only washed out the poopy ones. This, of course leads, to a smellier diaper pail, but I just throw some baking soda in if it gets real bad.

Now usually I tend to rebel a little, especially against generic parenting advice,- I prefer the advice of friends and family- but I did not start cloth diapering to start up some sort of stink rebellious stand. But it appears there is some opposition out there. People can get defensive when you tell them you use cloth. I honestly am not on a cloth soap box. I have nothing against disposable. And I can perfectly understand why a person would not want to use cloth diapers. It really is just something that I know I can do and handle. If others don't feel they can I'm not going to go on endlessly about it and try to bring them over to the cloth side.

To put some minds at ease:

- The cloth diapers will not keep the wetness away from you child's bum like disposables do. This can lead to more diaper rash, but I've heard people say that they have very little problems with rash when it comes to using cloth and the fact that your baby will feel wet, and maybe uncomfortable, will make it easier to potty train them.

- I've heard some claim it can be unsanitary with all the stains, but bleach can take care of those, or a clothes line like we have. I also keep a can of disinfectant spray around my diaper pail, and I spray it down once every few days and always on wash day.

-Some people worry that the stress of having to wash will be too much. And they will find themselves without a diaper because they are all dirty. This is why I plan to always have disposables on hand, but I have to say it hasn't been hard to anticipate when I need to wash. Even with our small supply.

If anyone is interested I'm more then happy to oblige. Happy diapering to all!

I Quit!

It was just one of those days. . .



The boys were up all night, and we couldn't find the cause. Then we had to get up early and go to the doctor- luckily I recruited my mom to help. At the doctors they had to get 6 shots each, and I came home to find we were out of Tylenol. The misery continued to ensue.

Upstairs wasn't a good play area because we have been painting some furniture. So I took the boys downstairs and decided it was a good time to finally vacuum down there. Of course, to get to the floors I had to rearrange and reorganize my craft/family room/second kitchen. And of course that meant that I found all the dusty dirty messes that have come from neglecting to clean this room due to the fact that it is so unorganized. Then the boys had to make messes of their own. One of those messes being in the laundry room with the dog's food and water.

I finally sat down to change the boys' diapers. While I changed one the other went upstairs and got into the paint we had failed to clean up the night before(see photo above).

While trying not to cry I continued to clear the floor of boxes and food storage so I could vacuum. The boys were now playing happily in their playroom thank goodness. But that just left the mayhem causing to the dog who was now peeing on both the floor and a package of disposable diaper inserts. The dog got thrown outside, and I cleaned up the pee. Then my little boy smelled a little like the dog pee I had just cleaned up, so I picked him up to change his diaper and found he had pooped AGAIN! And when I say pooped I mean pooped.

1 pee spot, 2 sets of clothes, 3 diaper changes and a whole lot of mess cleaning and furniture moving and I still have not been able to vacuum.

I then take the boys up for lunch, and I head back downstairs to try and vacuum what I can. The boys, however, want to cry instead of eat lunch. I try so hard to get it all together. I prayed for strength to make it through, but I just wanted to break down and cry. My husband was clear up in Salt Lake at school, and, even though school was out, he had to make a 2 hour bus trip home. My mom was at work, and I didn't want to bother her, but I really needed some help.

I ended up loosing it. Most of the boys food ended up on the floor, and it mostly got there thanks to me. I finally said to myself, "You have to throw in the towel. Following the schedule is not going to work today. It's too far out of your control now, so you have to just go with the flow."

So I threw the boys in the tub in hopes that it would help their legs and when i got them out I wrapped them in a towel and we all sat on the bed and ate otter pops. The towels, and my quilt might have some red stains on them, but I made it to nap time and that is all that matters. I finally found some baby ibuprofen and the boys slept so soundly it was like Heaven.

Is There a Difference?

The pictures aren't the best representation, but it's all I've got

About 31 weeks pregnant with twins. Look how swollen I was. I was definitely more swollen with twins then with one.




About 31 weeks pregnant with 1. Having cute kids in the pictures helps a great deal.




As far as size goes I hardly feel big at all. I only notice my size during those moments when it feels like my belly is right in my lap on account of the baby sitting so low. But as far as carrying extra weight and feeling awkward I can't say I have many complaints.

So far I've noticed when it comes to being pregnant there are just things that come with the package regardless of how many babies you have.

- The sore hips
- The heartburn
- The bladder issues
- The random painful pains (mostly caused by gas)
- The hemorrhoids and constipation
- The exhaustion

Strangely most of these symptoms are worse with the one baby. I didn't have to deal with hemorrhoids or constipation until after I had the boys. The heartburn I had with the boys doesn't even compare to how awful it is this time around. And surprisingly I didn't have to go to the bathroom a lot with the twin pregnancy. The doctor says there's really no explanation for it. He said if the baby was a different gender he'd blame it on that, but all he can offer me is that this baby may have a lot of hair.

The biggest issue with having twins is the size. It's what seems to make the whole thing awful. I'm at 32 and a half weeks right now, and I can sleep peacefully through the night. By this time with the boys sleeping was hardly worth the trouble, and I would usually wake up in pain from pressure points. I have a little bit of an advantage this time though. I learned how to prop myself up with pillows after my c-section, and that has been a great help with this pregnancy. I don't know if it would have helped with the twins.

I also have to note how nice it is to not be carrying high and low at the same time. To have one baby in your ribs, making it hard to breath, while the other is in your hips, making your back sore, is not something I miss. It felt so good when the twins dropped and I could breath and bend over again.

Another big difference is movement. A single baby's movements are much stronger, and a little more painful. I was hoping I would enjoy the movements more with just one. I thought that maybe since I had twins the movements were harder to define and so I didn't really attach to them. I've been waiting and waiting to be able to say, "I feel his hand," or, "I feel his foot." But here I am at the beginning of my 8th month and it all just feels like rumblings in my tummy. I think I have a good reason why though. A doctor told me at the end of the twin pregnancy that I have a tilted uterus. I didn't think anything of it, and he really didn't say much about it, but then I heard on one of those "I didn't know I was pregnant" shows that a tilted uterus can make the baby's movements more subtle and harder to feel. I guess they are pushing more into your organs. It made me feel so good to know that I may not actually be feeling the same thing everyone else is.

A Sense of Security

I really want my boys to have a security item. That one thing that you forgot to put in the crib so now they won't fall asleep. That thing you make sure to take on every trip. At times I feel I should enjoy the fact that they don't have security items, but I really wish I had that one little thing that always worked for comfort.

My friend told me to take a stuffed animal and put it in their crib every night. So we selected some. My Big Boy loves stuffed animals period *and it is absolutely adorable I have to say. I can't tell you how many times I've enjoyed watching him pick up an animal, hug it tight and snuggle his little nose into it.* so it wasn't hard to pick one for him. We selected a little brown bear I had given my husband for Christmas.

My little boy was trickier. We tried a couple things that didn't work. Then one day I saw him carrying around this dog stuffed animal. We had found it, when I was pregnant with the twins, in a parking lot and decided to give it a loving home. I was so happy to see him attach to something I knew I had to make it his security item.

Well then my big boy put on a rather cute display.



*Ruby is the name of our family dog*

I thought, "Well now I have to give him the dog. He obviously likes it."

Well that night I presented my little boy with both the dog and the bear, and he turned his head up to both. So I gave both to my big boy and decided my little boy just wouldn't be a security item baby.

Well a few days later a totally soaked diaper led to the bear being thrown in the wash. We continued to give the dog to my big boy, but he was loosing interest and we found out he called every toy animal "Ruby." I wasn't sure what to do about security items now.

Then the bear came out of the wash. Oh how overjoyed was my big boy to have his "Ruby" again. And then how great was my little boys joy to be given back his "Ruby"- the stuffed dog toy.

I didn't even see that they had already connected to these animals. Yet, now they hardly put them down. I guess my friends plan worked after all.

Just a Thought and a Few Ramblings

A thought came to me last night as to why we might be struggling around here. Recently my husband and I have talked about changing the twins schedule so that they take only one nap instead of two. I thought this would be an easy task, but perhaps it is going to be as tricky as getting them on their first schedule was.

I'm sure you've heard me mention that the 3-6 month age was the hardest for me. First we had to get on a schedule. We had to work out feedings- how much and when. Then we had to work out naps and bed times- lots and lots of crying. It really was a lot of work, but I thought it was worth it. Especially when things ran as smoothly as they did after the boys got used to going to sleep at certain times, waking up at certain times and eating at certain times.

The biggest hardship of the schedule was that we could hardly tweak it at all. I'd try to give myself an hour of breathing room- they are supposed to go down at noon, but if we need more time we can put them down at 1:00. But this hour was all we could really do and even then it would mess up our day, and night, horribly. So for three months the boys and I did very little but stay at home and stay on a schedule. At 6 months breathing room was more of a reality and it took us a while to get used to that idea.

Of course, then we had to face the fact that our children weren't used to riding and sleeping in a car. 20 minute road trips were brutal, and mom and babies would both be crying by the end. We just had to help them get used to it, and we had to get used to packing snacks, drinks and toys when we went in the car.

Now we are on the dawn of a new schedule. And I don't know why I didn't think about the effort it might take to get this one to work. The boys don't go to sleep at 12:00 anymore. If we try to put them down they stay up for at least an hour. Then when they wake up they are whiny grumps for the rest of the day. Our 5:00 nap time rolls around and I can't wait to get them into bed, but guess who won't go to sleep at all?

Our new schedule will hopefully go like this. Wake up at 9:00, eat at 10:00, play till 1:00, eat lunch, nap at 2:00 and then bed at 9:00. I'm hoping to get them to sleep for at least 3 hours at nap time. My big boy is cooperating but my little boy is only giving me two hours. The nice part about this schedule is that we can get them into bed an hour earlier. Though for now they are just sitting in there playing until 10:00 or 10:30. I guess at least they are not crying.

It also occurred to me that my boys may be a little sick. My little boy has been falling a lot lately. Not just normal baby clumsiness. And we discovered that they both may be having some gas issues. Well at least now we know, and at least there is a medicine to help.


It's funny but I now pick jewelery based on how well it goes with my outfit and how well it will entertain the boys.

I had to share this really quick. I got my boy out of his bed, and realized there was an overload of blankets.



"Why did we give him so many blankets?" I thought to myself.



Then I noticed the basket of clean laundry by his bed. He had pulled all the blankets from that into his crib.

The Playardigans!

I couldn't take it anymore. We haven't hit the walking phase,- in fact they still crawl most the time- so I don't know why I feel like things are so out of control.

Every time you open the door to step outside the two boys come running. And getting them back inside is no piece of cake. They are getting into everything they are not supposed to, and then fighting over it. And it's getting steadily harder to keep the house clean. So I finally told my husband I wanted a play yard. He said to just put them in their room, but their room is still under construction so they still have means of escape.

I once again told him I wanted a play yard. I got frustrated, we had a tiny argument and then he said, "Well do you think you could find on on KSL?"

I did a little search and there it was. The only one of it's kind, and it's owner was going to be making a trip through our hometown that night. I think I was meant to own that play yard.



Our first experience with it went really well. The boys enjoyed their new toy. However, all the times after that they cried. So we bribed them with food, and left the room until they got distracted by toys and now they are really good about playing in their play yard.

It works so nice. I put them in after breakfast, clean up, get them changed and all without them making messes or making bigger messes with existing messes. And it's so nice to be able to walk in and out of the front door freely. Of course, I try to take them outside at least once a day, so they don't spend all their time trapped in a small space, but I still love having it to put them in when necessary