The first year of a child's life is FULL of excitement as your baby explores the world around them.  I'm lucky enough to have twice the enchantment as Jane and Emma bobble around, grabbing, touching, tasting, hearing, and seeing everything around them for the very first time.  

When the girls were born, they had a 6 week stay in the NICU.  The hospital that we stayed in used Pampers Swaddlers, the favorite first diaper of so many mommies.  Being a BRAND NEW mommy, I didn't know the difference between any brand of diapers, but I was thankful that they had such small and soft diapers to cover their little heinies!
That's why, when Double Duty Divas asked mommy bloggers to create a post all about their baby's firsts along with a review of Swaddlers diapers, I jumped right on the bandwagon.  The thing that I love most about Pampers Swaddlers is that they are soft AND impossibly thin.  My girls NEVER have badonkadonks when they where Swaddlers!



Swaddlers make it easy to forget about leaks and drips and explosions when you're trying to focus on all of your baby's firsts.  Jane and Emma have already had so many great firsts, from SMILING, to LAUGHING, to ROLLING OVER and EATING!

Here Janey rolls over for the first time.  I love the look of pride on her face as she realizes that she's now facing a totally different way than she started!



In this video, Emma uses a spoon for the first time.  She literally just grabbed it out of my hand and started feeding herself like a big girl!



As Jane and Emma grow and start to move around independently, Swaddlers now grow with them.  The diapers are available through size 5, which means that they get to wear the softest diapers made by Pampers through their first year of life.  And to celebrate Swaddlers sizes 4 & 5, Pampers has 30 days of incredible giveaways and a grand prize of FREE Swaddlers diapers & wipes for a year. Join the celebration and enter the 30 days of sweeps on the Pampers Facebook page where you can win daily prize bundles, plus the grand prize of free Swaddlers diapers & wipes for one year! 



Also, please join me for a #SwaddlersFirsts Twitter Party on Thursday, December 5 at 9:00 p.m. EST where we can all gush and boast about our babies' firsts!  Please RSVP using this link.  Put the kids to bed and come out to play with other mommies like you and me!  Prizes that night will include:

• Baby’s First Friend Plush Doll
• Baby’s First Tooth and First Curl Treasure Box
• Baby’s First Words Book
• Baby’s First Steps Push Toy
• $50 Shutterfly Gift Card to celebrate all “firsts” moments
• Baby’s First Bath Robe
• Pampers Swaddlers
• Grand Prize: Canon EOS Rebel T3 DSLR camera worth $450!

Thanksgiving used to be my favorite holiday.  I mean, I love eating (check!), I love parties (check!), I love spending time with loved ones (check, check!), and I love eating (double-check!).  

Last year, Thanksgiving was ruined for me because I was newly pregnant and SICK as a dog.  It was fun, because Thanksgiving was when we announced we were pregnant to our family.  Well, Hershey did, in his most debonair way (Hey Aunt Nancy, I'm having twins! -- to which everyone looked at him funny and I had to swoop in and save him with, "Well, I'M pregnant with twins.").  But I couldn't eat much of anything, couldn't drink any wine, and was getting morning sickness at around 7:00 pm, at which point I had the privilege of playing DD and taking us home early.  Poop.


This year, our day went like this:

We got up and fed the girls at 6:00 a.m. after a full night of letting them CIO (at the suggestion of our pediatrician).  They then stayed awake ALLLLLLL day.  We packed half of our apartment, spent 20 minutes loading the car and dressing them, and drove the 20 minute ride to Hershey's aunt's house.  


When we got there, Emma immediately threw a temper tantrum, and about 13 minutes later I was stripping both girls of their adorable outfits that I had spent months picking out and trying to get them settled in their pack n' play for a nap.

Which went great.

Emma screamed bloody murder and Jane smiled and kicked her legs for 10 minutes.  

We spent the rest of the night feeding them their first turkey/mashed potatoes and listening to them howl as our VERY patient moms (aka the Grandma Squad) rocked them and walked them and tried to feed them bottles and let them sleep on their shoulders.  Hershey and I got to eat cold turkey and smelled like spit up from about 29 minutes into the night.  And we never even got a family picture.


I feel like for the last year we have been saying, "Just think, this time next year it will be better."  I'm ready for it to be better.  I hate to wish their babyhood away, but something's gotta give!

Amidst all of the hullabaloo, I did find some time to be thankful and to cook some noms.  

Here are the things that I am thankful for this year:

My husband.  His unending patience and fortitude have gotten me through this last year in times when I thought I would literally die.  It sounds cliche, but, without him, I'm not sure what I would do (besides probably cry a LOT).

My daughters.  They are a light at the end of this tunnel called life.  Even when they are cranky, screaming, drooling messes with diapers full of disgusting, they are the best thing that I have ever done in my life, and I am thankful that they are such happy, healthy little babies.

Family.  Even though we don't always see eye-to-eye and we don't always get along, I wouldn't be the person I am today without their love and support, and for that I am grateful.

Teaching.  There are days when I wonder how I will make it through, but my students breathe life and energy into me even when I feel like I have nothing left to give.

You all.  Thank you for continuing to read, comment, share, and encourage me in my journey.  The comments that I get from everyone keep me going, and I draw strength from knowing that there are others alongside me on this path, even if I can't reach out and physically touch you!

And here is a list of NOMS that I made:

For the grown-ups, I made homemade cranberry sauce.  Find the recipe here.

For the kiddies, I made sweet potatoes/broccoli, corn, corn/carrots, carrots, and cinnamon apple sauce.  I'll create a post later detailing how I make the girls their favorite baby foods.

How do you celebrate the kick off of the holiday season?  What do you find most fabulous/frustrating about this time of year?  I'd love to hear from you!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and found some time to slow down and be thankful.    See you next time! 

In our quest for the perfect sleep cycle, we have purchased lavender everything.  Lavender shampoo.  Lavender lotion.  Lavender bubble bath.  Lavender washcloths.  If I could have dyed Jane and Emma's hair lavender, I would have.

So I was beside myself when a good friend of mine (let's call her Carol) emailed me to tell me that her pediatrician had STRONGLY warned against using anything with lavender in it.  Apparently, lavender brings on early puberty.  I rushed to the medicine cabinet and ripped out anything purple and stowed it away, pending a full investigation.  That was 2 months (aka many sleepless nights) ago.

Last night I finally got around to doing some research.  Turns out, Carol's pediatrician was half right.  According to WebMD, products containing tea tree or lavender oils may cause a condition called "gynecomastia" in boys.  The article defines gynecomastia as "overdevelopment of the male breast".  I can hear what you're thinking.  "Whaaaa the fuuuuuh????"  My thoughts exactly.

So I delved further, and I found this post on BabyCenter (which, if you remember, is one of my FAVE mommy sites).  I followed the comments, and they lead me to the SAFbaby website, which gave various case studies and testimonials from experts.  Blah blah blah.

Basically, here's what I've discovered:  The lavender and early-puberty link is INCONCLUSIVE in girls.  There is no evidence to suggest that lavender sends our little ladies hurtling towards puberty at a faster rate.  Furthermore, there are conflicting ideologies when it comes to the causes of the development of "breast buds" in little boys.

So where do we go from here?  IMHO, you find the products that make YOU feel the most comfortable for YOUR family, and invest in those.  Because there are no such things as "safe things" in baby world.  I mean it.  Just read the tags!

Hope this sheds some light on a foggy subject!  Have a GREAT Thanksgiving everyone!

I know I promised this last week, but between grades and lesson plans being due, parent meetings, Jane and Emma teething, and the holidays approaching, time ran away from me! So here's an Extra Special Big Fat Weekly Round Up. 

When we decide to become parents, we subconsciously sign up for a whole slew of bad stuff.  Don't get me wrong, there are all of these amazing, wonderful moments that make being a parent the best job in the world.  However, every once in a while, something happens that makes you wonder if you are strong enough to handle this journey.

When I was 20 weeks pregnant, Hershey and I went in for a routine anatomy scan.  We found out that we were having a little Jane and a little Emma, and after an extremely long consultation with the doctor, the technician returned with the doctor to deliver some other news to us:  Our little Janey was presenting with something called a "double-bubble".  Basically, it looked like there was some kind of blockage preventing Jane from fully digesting the amniotic fluid that she was swallowing in utero.   



The doctor then went on to explain that there were many reasons why this must be happening.  The first possibility that she noted was "she may have Down Syndrome."  That was all I heard before I went into shock and started crying hysterically.  Luckily, my husband is very level-headed and asked all of the right questions, because I wasn't hearing anything else this doctor was saying.

When the girls were born, I had to wait in recovery for about an hour before having my hospital bed wheeled into the NICU so that I could hold them for the very first time.  As the neonatologist approached my bedside, the only words that I could muster were, "Is Jane ok?"  

"She's perfect."




I don't think I'll ever forget that moment for as long as I live.  I'm crying as I'm writing this.  The overwhelming sense of relief and joy is something that only a parent who hears that their child is healthy after worrying for 4 months that they are not would understand.

It turned out that Jane's pancreas had wrapped around her intestine and fused it shut.  Two days after she was born, I wheeled myself alongside her little incubator and sent her into surgery, the second scariest moment of my life.  Those four hours until the doctors came to my recovery room to tell me that they fixed the issue and that she was going to be alright were unbelievably difficult.  

I then had the heartache of watching her recover, looking up at us through the tubes and wires that were keeping her "comfortable" as if to say, "Mommy, why is this happening?  Why can't you just pick me up and hold me and tell me I'm going to be ok?"  There's nothing like feeling so helpless while your child is suffering.




Of course she's now a happy, healthy six-month old (who LOOOVES carrots!), but I remember feeling back then like this nightmare would never end.


When we brought the girls home, they had to remain on apnea monitors.  Because they were born so early, they sometimes forgot to breathe, and their heart rates would slow.  The monitors alerted us to when this was happening so that we would be able to revive them.  Hearing those alarms go off in the middle of the night, knowing that your child is not breathing...waiting for them to take a big breath...absolutely terrifying.




The girls came off of the monitors for good in October.  We were finally out of the woods!  Until this past Friday night.

We decided to give the girls a bath together.  They are very independent now, and love splashing in the bathtub.  Jane sat in a sling, as Emma stood up on a foam mat with me holding on to her.  She wiggled and splashed, and managed to swallow a little bit of water.  Hershey whisked her out of the tub and brought her into the nursery as I finished up with Jane.  I heard Emma crying, and figured she was just giving my husband a hard time (as the girls like to do on the changing table now). 

As I walked into the nursery with Jane, I realized that something was not right.  Hershey said that it was like she couldn't breathe, so I quickly grabbed the Nose Frida, handed Jane off to Hershey, and worked to clear out Emma's air passage.  Her lips began to turn blue, and her frantic, hysterical cries got caught in her throat.  I screamed for Hershey to call 9-11 as I stripped her jammies from her little body and blew into her face.  

By the time the police arrived, Emma's cries were dying down, and she was turning from bluish-purple to white, her eyes were slowly closing, and her hands, feet and cheeks were all cold.  The police officer gave her some oxygen, and she slowly came back around, smiling at the officer and looking curiously at the crowd of emergency responders gathering.

Her vitals were checked and she was back to normal, so we opted out of going to the hospital.  Hershey called the pediatrician, and we learned that "some kids just do that."  It's called a cyanotic breath-holding spell, and it can happen when a child becomes frustrated, upset, angry, or scared.  They cry and hold their breath until they pass out.  And Emma now does this.  Awesome.

Needless to say, we watched Emma like a hawk for the rest of the night.  As soon as we put her in her crib, I broke down and started crying.  I thought I was watching my child die on her changing table, as my other child looked on from under the teddy bear hood of her towel.  

I'm not telling these stories because I want you to feel bad for me.  I'm telling these stories today because I want other mommies (or daddies!) out there to know that you are not alone.  These terrifying moments will happen, and you will question your strength and fortitude.  But looking in your child's face, you will know that it is worth it.  1,000%.

What moments have you had to overcome as a parent?  When did you first realize that you're stronger than you could have ever imagined?

I hope that you all had a great weekend!  I promise that I will write our Weekly Wrap Up as soon as I can catch my breath.



And PLEASE click below to vote for us.  All you have to do is click!  

Hershey and I are chronic offenders.  If anything (and I mean ANYTHING) doesn't go our way in the course of our day, we order in.  

It all started when I was pregnant.  I lost my sense of taste, and everything made me nauseous.  So I stopped wanting to cook.  I distinctly remember one night early in my pregnancy when I was trying to cook a meal for us.  I realized that nothing tasted right, and I put WAYYY too much garlic salt on my green beans.  That was the breaking point.  I stood in the kitchen, crying, holding my bamboo spatula, screaming, "I CAN'T EVEN COOOOOOOOK!!"

Now, if you know me at all, you know I love to cook.  Cook, bake, you name it, I'm in the kitchen doing it.  Therefore, this moment in my pregnancy was quite traumatic for me, and from that point on, we ordered in.  

Fast forward to the birth of the little ladies.  Since we spent 6 weeks running to and from the NICU, who had TIME to cook?!  My mom, inlaws, and family members brought us tons and tons of food, and thank goodness for them!  But whenever we didn't have food dropped off, we had it delivered.  I mean, we are definitely putting some delivery guy's kid through college based on our delivery tips alone.

When I worked in Newark, I tried making us a weekly menu.  I sat down on Sunday nights, and I typed up the menu for the week.  Here's what it looked like:



B-T-Dubs, we are currently #1 in the Twins/Multiples category on Top Mommy Blogs!  Thank you all so much!  Please keep clicking to show us some loooove!