Leading the Double Life: sophie the giraffe

Chomp Chomp CHOMPERS!

Just when we thought that the girls were all set -- off of the apnea monitors, off of the reflux medication, sleeping through the night, rolling over, sitting up -- dun dun DUUUUNNNNN... enter TEETHING! Yes, that's right, our little ladies are trying to break their first teeth. And you know what that means...

A List of PARAPHERNALIA we are PASSIONATE about!

Jane and Emma are miserable. Absolutely miserable. Emma has adopted this gutterel, primal screech whenever she doesn't have something in her mouth. And Jane has all but fallen in love with her pointer and middle fingers on her left hand. I'm surprised they haven't turned into two little shriveled stumps at the end of her hand by now.

And the DROOL. Oh.Ma.GAH. So gross. All over. Strings of it. I've considered putting two bibs on them lately. Not kidding.

I started out by giving them Ibuprofen. That seemed to upset their little sensitive tummies, so we moved on to Tylenol. Lots and lots of Tylenol. Apparently that's frowned upon by the medical field, so we stopped that, too. My bad. Emma's mood did seem to improve when we stopped giving them the pain medicines, but we had to substitute SOMETHING in their place, because they still seem SO uncomfortable. Here's what we have had success with:

1. Mini bagels. We bought whole wheat ones and just stuck them in the freezer, and I gave them to the ladies tonight, and they LOVED THEM. Total success.

2. If I've said it once, I've said it a MILLION times. Sophie the Giraffe. Just suck it up and buy her. You won't be sorry.

3. Sassy Terry Teethers. Wet them with some filtered water, pop them in the freezer, then let the littles go to town on them. They occupy Jane and Emma for a good 15 minutes before they go into babyzilla meltdown mode.

4. Lamaze Logan the Lion or Mortimer the Moose Teethimals. It's a rattle. It's a teether. It's a cute and fluffy stuffed animal. So many ways to love this little slice of silence.

5. Green Sprouts Cool Hand Teether. Freezer. Done. Lots of ridges and bumps and different ways to hold this little hand-sized and shaped teether. The girls love them extra lots when their gums hurt extra lots because they freeze SOLID and are very hard, so they numb their gums. And they're little tiny hand-friendly.

And, finally, as you know, Emma and Jane's favorite thing for their little sore gummies are Munchkin Fresh Food Feeders. They looooved frozen blueberries, but their cheeks started to turn pink and I feared eczema (plus the blueberries were staining EVERYTHING in a 5 mile radius), so I switched to frozen peach slices. The twincesses love peaches. LOVE peaches. As in, they may actually love peaches more than they love me. 20 minutes GUARANTEED silence (with the occasional pause to pick up a feeder that has been launched across the kitchen). As soon as they are done with their dinners, I punt one of these into their hands and then Hershey and I can finish OUR dinner in peace, AND clean the kitchen before the girls graduate to bat-shit crazy meltdown mode.

Now, these are temporary fixes. According to our pediatrician, teething comes and goes here and there, and should not last for days on end. Some of the signs that Jane and Emma are having teething issues are drooling, hands in the mouth, whining, diarrhea, slight fever, and just general baby bitchiness. Sometimes they wake up in the night and I know that they're teething because when I try to give them their choopie, they turn it around and start gnawing on the sides (which makes these choopies great for teething because they HAVE gnaw-able sides). Putting things in the crib with them is not advised, but at least if they have a choopie that they can chew, they are usually content enough to go back to sleep.

When all else fails, bury them in tissue paper.

Do you have any tricks of the teething trade that you can share? Have you found any unique or interesting ways to help your babes through this painful rite of passage? Please share them in the comments below!

And as always, please don't forget to vote!

Have a great week! xoxo

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9:00 PM
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New Year, New...Ah, Who Am I Kidding?

exersaucer

Happy New Year! Man, life has been crazy. Between un-Christmas-tizing our apartment, finding nooks and crannies to tuck Emma and Jane's presents away in, and returning to work, my head is spinning! Lucky for us, we got a snow day today, so Hershey and I got to spend a bonus day with our girls AND finished cleaning the apartment. SCORE!

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what I wanted my first post of the new year to be about. I am not one to make New Year's resolutions, because I never keep them. I always vow to be more organized, more money-wise, get in shape, and keep my house clean, and by February I'm buried under piles of junk, eating ice cream and ordering stuff off of Etsy.

So instead of boring you with resolutions that you will see on a hundred other blogs (resolutions which I assure you I wouldn't keep anyway), I'll give you a quick round up of my favorite stuff from 2013.

10. Sophie the Giraffe. She's pricey, but she's worth every penny! The girls nommy-nom on all of her corners and nubs when their little teefies start bothering them, and she's super-cute, too!

9. BuyBuyBaby. As the sister company to BedBath&Beyond (my favorite wedding registry), BBB carries all of the best baby brands organized in a way that makes it easy to find exactly what you're looking for on the fly, and the customer service is exemplary. Plus they take those 20% and $5 off coupons that the company mails out on a daily basis, so you get to save a ton of money. Can't complain about that!

8. Munchkin Fresh Food Feeders. I purchased these thinking that they were used for teething, but hated them for that purpose. After hanging on to them for a few weeks, I had an epiphany and logged on to Baby Center to see what other moms have put in these handy feeders. They girls LOVE sucking away on frozen fruits, numbing their sore gums while providing them with sweets and nutrition.

7. Amazon Mom. O.M.G. Life made easier. When you sign up you get 3 months free and then it's $79/year after that. You get 20% off diapers and wipes AND free 2 day shipping with Amazon Prime. When you sign up for Subscribe & Save, you don't have to worry about running to the store to pick up diapers or wipes or any of the other things that you buy on a monthly basis. They just show up on your doorstep when you realize you're beginning to run out. Doesn't get much easier than that!

6. The way my daughters' chubby little hands look reaching out to grab something to explore. I could just eat them up!

5. Reading Workshop. It was not easy to start, and I'm not sure that everyone agrees with what I'm doing, but I can tell you that my students READ. They read more books than they probably ever have (with the exception of a few natural readers). When you pass by my classroom, kids are holding books, talking about books, and writing about books. And ENJOYING it. As difficult as it is to leave my babies every morning, I know that I'm walking into one of the most fulfilling jobs on the planet. Thank you, Penny Kittle.

4. The sound of the girls squealing with joy and laughter when they get the opportunity to hang out with other little kids. They are such social butterflies!

3. Exersaucers. Seriously, any exersaucer will do. I can stick the girls in their exersaucers and push them close together and they have the time of their LIVES talking to each other and playing with the toys (until they run out of steam, and then it's NAP TIME!).

2. Making home-cooked meals. I got my mo-jo back in the kitchen, and I had so much fun making meals for Hershey and I, and towards the end of the year, making meals for Jane and Emma, too! Find my favorite recipes here. I will, as always, continue to update the page.

1. MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE!!!! Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity DOG...when that song comes on, it's MAGIC! I even purchased the song on iTunes and play it when the shit hits the fan, and it somehow calms Jane and Emma down. Time stops when MMC comes on. I'm not kidding. If you don't believe me, take a look at this...

Or their reaction here:

There's got to be some science behind it, but whatever it is, I FULLY ENDORSE IT! Thank you Disney for creating MMC!!!!!

That's all for now! If you have any favorites you'd like to share, please leave me a comment!

And please don't forget to vote for us by simply clicking on the banners below!!

Cheers to a Happy and Healthy 2014! Time to make some new favorites! xoxo

10:01 PM
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You Mean I Have to Carry All of This Sh*t Around?

babies

It's been a while since I've written. I've been busy the last two weeks taming the ~~animals~~ kids at the zoo -- both the zoo at home AND the zoo at work. That's right, I went back to work full time this week, teaching freshmen and sophomore English, as well as a digital journalism class at New Milford High School. It's been quite the whirlwind.

Jane and Emma have been busy keeping Mama and Daddy busy. They are sleeping longer at night, but still eating about every 3 hours during the day. They hold their heads up and want to be held and entertained every moment that they are awake (which is much more frequently now!). Emma came off of her apnea monitor this week, and yesterday the girls turned four months old! I feel like it was just yesterday that they were born (read their birth story here). Time flies!

In honor of back to school and all of the kids who are packing their backpacks and heading off to school, I thought I would write all about what I pack in my diaper bag every time I head out the door with my twincesses. Here's my complete diaper bag inventory.

My diaper bag, by JJ Cole

Diapers and Wipes. I get ours off of Amazon Subscribe & Save (I talk about my love affair with Amazon Mom in this post). We use Huggies wipes and diapers, and if you sign up for an Amazon Mom account, you automatically are signed up for Amazon Prime (which means free 2 day shipping on ANYTHING you buy on the site that qualifies for it, including Subscribe & Save orders). Diapers and wipes shipped to your door for free. I can't think of anything better!

Diaper Rash Cream. We use Balmex every diaper change, but it's your choice. This is just what they used in the NICU. When the girls have diaper rash, we use either Triple Paste (crazy expensive) or Anti-Monkey Butt (I know, I know).

Saline Drops and a Nose Sucker. Don't knock the Nose Frieda til you've tried it. I thought it was gross, too, until someone told me to cut open a bulb nasal aspirator and look at all of the mold and boogers inside. Ew. (Disclaimer: I draw the line at the Windi.)

Stocking Hats. One for each kid.

Change of Clothes (including socks). One set of clothes for each kid. I just pack a onesie and some socks to save room, since I'm packing for 2.

Bibs. One for each kid.

Blankie. Just one, no matter how many kids you have. Put a blanket on each kid in the car seat over the buckle, and bring one extra in case of colossal pukage. We like these Aden + Anais blankies because they are light for a warm day, or you can fold them up and they keep the little ones quite warm.

Burp Cloths. Nice ones. One for each kid.

Wash Cloths. One for each kid.

A peek inside.

A view from the top.

Face and Choopie wipes.

Extra Choopies. We keep one extra for each kid in little choopie pods.

Hand Sanitizer. Bug Spray. Sunscreen.

A Reusable Bag and a few Ziplocs. One for dirty clothes and one for extremely shitty diapers.

Books/Toys. Anything to keep the little one busy at a moment's notice.

Sophie. First of all, she's damn adorable. Second, the kiddies love to nom nom on all of her parts when their teefies are hurting.

Sleep Sheep On the Go. This adorbs little noise machine goes EVERYWHERE with us. Good to drown out noise when you are trying to have a fun night (for both you AND the babes).