21/52
Talia
Jordan
Today Talia and Jordan are 591 days old. New words are coming faster than I can count. They are learning patience by having to wait for food, drink or just for their turn, they are learning that some things are non-negotiable, like a clean diaper or bed time. Brushing before bed is an activity to look forward to and the warm days are perfect for backyard splash parks, which so far, and hopefully never gets old. 
Happy Memorial Day everyone. While we are celebrating by spending time with our families and friends please remember the meaning of this holiday and give thanks to all the men and women who have and do serve to protect our country.
Life According to Instagram
Most of the pictures I take of the girls are in either pj’s or diapers because that’s what they are wearing during the hours I am home. Except on the weekends, my two favorite days of the week. If it were up to me we would go go go, do do do for a full 48 hours, to pack in a weeks worth of fun into these two precious days. But it’s not up to me, it’s up to two sweet toddlers who like their routine, naps, and couldn’t care less if we are at Disney World or in our own backyard. Since the day they were born I have felt rushed, rushed to get things ready, rushed to get things done, rushed to make memories and rushed to give them every possible experience. The problem is that rushing never works, especially with kids, especially with babies and especially with twins. I’m learning slowly that there is time, time to do all the things I want to do with my family, later, in the months and years to come. And I am learning that if we don’t get to every single thing that’s ok, because what is more important is to enjoy what you are doing now, make time to rest so you can enjoy what’s coming next and save some of the fun for a rainy day. I know I will never stop wanting to do more, make more and photograph more but I am learning to find the right balance, the mix of me time, us time and family time.
Toddler Activity – shucking corn
I found a great link on Pinterest of about 1000 things to do with your toddler, I didn’t pin the actual link so now I can’t find it, but there are so many out there maybe you will find another cool list. Of the 1000 on the list I saw, some are obvious, some are too messy, and a lot are really similar but there was one that I thought sounded like so much fun.Corn Shucking! I loved shucking corn when I was a kid,, I still do, although now I do it as fast as possible at the grocery store to get it done and get out of there. But when I read on this list, that corn shucking is fun for toddlers I left the whole ear in tact and brought it home. It took some explaining and demonstration but the girls go really good at it, and they were very meticulous with the little hairs on the inside. The only part that I couldn’t get them to understand was that it needs to be cooked before eaten. Than bunch of corn all had little bite marks when it was served with dinner.
Top Baby Blogs reset there voting scores so everyone gets a fresh start. I am currently #53 so please vote from as many devices as you can to help get me back to page 1. I really liked my #11 spot.
Click here to vote. Thanks!
20/52
Jordan
Talia
The weeks are flying by. Posting these weekly photos and marking them with the passing time makes days gone and never to return very real. They are a good reminder to cherish every day and moment and experience with your children and the people you love.
This weeks pictures are what my girls look like when they have head colds, or allergies, I can’t tell one from the other. But the poor things, they don’t sleep well so they wake up early and are tired all day. They can’t breath through their little noses and don’t know how to blow yet, so they end up drooling all over. I say blow your nose and hold the tissue and they blow a big puff of air out of their mouths. Yeah, that’s not gonna work. Any tips on teaching your little one’s how to blow their noses? We give them allergy medicine before nap or bed, and they get the Hylands homeopathic cold tablets during the day to help, maybe they do a little, maybe not, I don’t know, but they like them and it makes me feel like am I doing something to help them feel better. They get juice and a vapor rub on their chests, warm baths and plenty of time outside. Other than that there’s not much you can do but wait. Colds seem to last forever, even though it’s only a week maybe a few days longer, and then as quickly as the runny nose started, it’s gone and everybody is back to themselves, still not sleeping till 7 am like they should be but I’ll take 6:30 over 5:15 any day.
Have a happy weekend.
Evey, enjoy the video.
I’ve been a little absent lately …
The story of now
Right now in our little family world the same story is playing out day after day, often several times in a single day.
A seemingly purposeless object catches Jordan’s eye. She takes it in her hand, turns it, inspects it. Within moments Talia notices the object. She tries to take it by reaching, Jordan knows this is coming and turns her body away from Talia in an effort not to have to let it go. The situation becomes a screaming match, then, depending on weather or not Talia took the object someone lays down on the floor to kick and cry in protest.
Luckily these tantrums are easily diffused by diverting their attention to a new toy or activity, bubbles is a quick and always popular one.
It pretty hilarious that they show such conviction for something, anything, one second and couldn’t care less about it the next. From what I’ve heard this is very common in both toddlers and teenage girls, awesome. Can’t wait for that when they actually have words to go with the tantrums.
19/52
Talia
She Loves avacado. She eats it straight up then licks the shell clean.
Jordan
The queen of highchair naps. She won’t close her eyes if she thinks she’ll miss something interesting. On our walk that morning of Mother’s day she stayed wide eyed the entire time, Talia on the other hand slept at least half the way. Jordan made up for the missed sleep at dinner.
DIY Simple Toddler Game
I know I’ve mentioned before the attention span of a one year old before, it’s about two minutes. As the months have passed the girls attention span has grown slightly, to about five minutes. They will sit and color a page , a little longer if I sit and color with them. But I can’t always be sitting with them. In the mornings while getting ready for work they play in my room. The toys in our house are rotated from room to room and in and out of storage to keep things interesting and not too cluttered and I always keep a few toys in my room for this time of the day. But sometimes no existing toy is more interesting than my attention, so I have to create a new one, on the spot and fast. This one is called toothbrush tunnel. it’s simple , save the empty toilet paper rolls and hand each toddler one roll and their toothbrush,
show them how to drop the toothbrush through the middle.
Talia in Purple.
This silly little game teaches all kinds of lessons – hand eye coordination, cause and effect. If you are lucky they will play with it long enough to finish you hair or make up. Oh, if you don’t have an empty toilet paper roll, you toddler can empty a full roll in about a minute.
A portrait a week will be here on Monday. Have a great weekend
Crib Placement in the Nursery
If you don’t have a little one yet you probably haven’t given much though to where in your future nursery you would place the crib. If you are pregnant you probably thought about it for a bit, decided and are happy with your decision. That’s what I did, remember this post from way back when I was deciding where to place the cribs. I took into account things like the air vent, the curtains and blinds and how the two cribs looked in the space. What I did not consider was the loud banging of little feet kicking the wall for fifteen minutes or longer every night. Until this started happening about four months ago I never understood why someone would place the crib in the middle of a room, it’s a pretty unrealistic arrangement is most peoples homes.
I particularly like the giant windows on at least two sides in this nursery, that is very conducive for a sleeping baby. And why do cribs need a solid back or sides?
I now understand. If a little one can’t get their tiny feet through the slats of the crib then they can’t kick the wall for fifteen minutes. Mystery solved. Maybe that’s why there are so many new cribs out there like these with solid clear panels.
Too bad the cost of a peaceful evening is around $3000 with these Lucite beauties. While space is probably most to-be parents biggest factor in crib placement, keep in mind that there will be a lot more to keep in mind down the road. And while we probably won’t get a new crib if and when another baby comes along, nor will we have the luxury of an over sized nursery to place the crib in the middle of, at least I can warn my sweet readers of this lesson learned.
A summer time sneak peak
The weather here is Georgia can’t make up its mind. A couple of weeks ago it was warm and sunny and we spent the whole weekend outside barefoot and coated in sunscreen. Now it’s chilly and rainy and really windy and has been for too long. I moved to Georgia from New York for the weather. No really I did, that and to be closer to my family. When I first moved to Georgia it NEVER rained, really, never. People joked about it but it was actually quite scary. It was the middle of a three year drought. The past three years have been a very different story, Atlanta is now ranked as one of the rainiest cities in the US. Even still the weather is better than in the North. For the most part our winters are mild, spring is beautiful and warm, fall is the same and the summers are sweltering, which I love. We spend our days outside every chance we get.
When it did finally warm up enough to play outside I found a great new toddler activity, ICE!
I emptied the ice from the catcher into a large bowl and set it out on the deck. The girls played for ever, until the ice was melted at least. When in does warm up again we will be playing the bowl of ice game again and again.
