Carter’s New Ad Campaign
I work for a pretty special company Carter’s, we make clothes for babies and kids. But the special thing about this company is that they really actually love kids. The CEO has 6, as does the CFO. We get a half day on Halloween and they send an email to the whole company every time an employee has a baby.
In the wake of today’s third quarter results we had a company meeting where the CEO thanked everyone for their continued hard work. It’s always nice to get a pat on the back from the higher ups. Each quarter we have this meeting and hear the good, sometimes great news. Then they announce something, sometimes it’s bonuses all around, sometimes it’s 100% 401K match, sometimes it’s were all moving to a new office and today it was “we have a new ad campaign. Carters is launching a brand new ad campaign which will include television commercials, something the company hasn’t had in decades. But you can see it here first They start airing on TV Monday. If you want to see it live watch the Voice on Monday night. We saw it this morning in the meeting, the lights were dimmed and when they came up again I don’t think there was a mom in the room with a dry eye.
I’d love to know what you think.
And shop at carters! I’ll try to remember to keep my coupon updated, but if it’s not just email me and I’ll update it ASAP.
What I would do with free time
I use to have so much time, I would run errands and window shop just for fun, sew entire outfits for going out that evening, watch loads of TV. It’s the one thing about motherhood I just can’t wrap my head around, my time is gone, vanished, without a trace, without notice. I’m not complaining, I LOVE every moment I spend with Talia and Jordan, I wish I had more time to spend with them. But at the same time we have this cool house and I have access to DIY tutorials to fill years worth of time via the internet, I just don’t have the time. I imagine one day my girl swill be old enough to work with me on some projects, we will start slow with painting (as soon as they stop eating paint) and eventually they can help me build things. I try to keep a running list of projects for one day on my Pinterest boards, but adding too much gets me a little over whelmed. Plus, I view projects for the home the same way I view that new dress or pair of shoes I saw last week. If I’m still thinking about it when I get around to buying/making it then I really wanted it. If I’m not, it must not have been so important to begin with.
Here are a few of the projects I can’t stop thinking about for one day,
Simple, Fun, Beautiful art on the walls
Replace the blinds with sheers
1 – source unknown/2
build a bench for the foyer (and maybe a mirror too)
Too busy
I’ve been busy lately, sadly too busy to blog. I love seeing how many people visit my blog each day, but when I don’t post, not too many check it out, and why should they. I have lots of ideas of things I blog about, like beautiful rustic weddings,
the fun of using #hashtags, fall furniture market,
sippy cups, new fall fashions for tiny people, there just isn’t enough time. Not with my busy season still rolling on, a Pinterest worthy birthday bash to prepare for, in laws in town and a oh, right two small people to hang out with. So here’s a peek of what’s been going on, and eventually like everything else, it will get done in time, and if it doesn’t, that’s ok too, there will be new interesting things to tell you about.
This last picture, those are sprinkles cupcakes. I’d only heard about them from Hugh Heffners ex girlfriend Bridget, turns out they are really good, better than crumbs, better than magnolia. So if you find yourself in need of an afternoon pick me up in DC or LA or anywhere Sprinkles are, go a head and indulge, you won’t be disappointed.
Things I’m working on
Here are a few things I have been working on/collecting I preparation for he girls First birthday party.
A dresser to put the cake and deserts on, because every first birthday cake deserves a fancy piece of furniture to sit on before it gets smashed.
A little blue chair to add to “vintage” theme
Cake accessory
And this makes two
Remember this post from a few weeks back?
Miss Talia is still taking her three or four careful steps.
Meanwhile Miss Jordan has become a poster child of determination. Two nights ago she began the mission and several time a day she does her walking workout. Up, wobble, wobble, step, step, quick step, quick step, fall down. And repeat, about thirty times or until its time to eat or sleep.
I’m such a proud mama. It’s so fun to watch them so determined to learn new things. We both thought Talia would be he first to be a full fledged walker, but she is taking her sweet time, while Jordan is forging ahead. It’s not a competition, it doesn’t really matter who does what first, it’s just interesting to think about why one does things one way while the other has a different method, because, aside from their personalities, everything else about them is exactly the same.
I’m sure in a matter of weeks they will both be running in opposite directions.
Top ten worst pregnancy symptoms
(And weight gains not even on the list)In this order …
1)Bell’s palsy
2)Carpal tunnel
3)Puppps
5)Acid reflux
6)Morning sickness
7)Abdominal separation
8)Swelling
#1Bells Palsy
Bells Palsy is the diagnosis you receive when you have unexplained facial paralysis. Five days pp, my first morning back home with our newly expanded family I was eating a breakfast of cereal and strawberries with milk when I noticed my lips felt awkward as I took each bite. First I looked at my reflection in my spoon and saw that the right side of my face seemed to droop. I knew that a droopy face was a symptom of a stroke so I was scared, I asked my husband if he thought my face looked strange, he did. I ran to get clothes on and we got in the car to go back to the hospital, it was 8:45am. I wasn’t taking any chances, a stroke left untreated can cause permanent damage. The babies stayed home with the baby nurse we had staying with us for a few weeks.
On the way to the hospital I got in touch with my doctor who told me to go back to labor and delivery, there was a nurse waiting for me, she looked at my face and told me to go to the ER, we did, quickly. The doctor came and saw me quickly and eliminated the diagnosis of a stroke, and said it was most likely Bell’s palsy. The facial paralysis caused by this disorder make it impossible to smile with that side of your face or close your eye. I could still open my eye but not re-close it unless I did it manually, as in push my lid down with my finger. The cause of Bell’s palsy is mostly unknown but many people get it after childbirth, particularly C-sections or any trauma with high blood loss. Some say it’s brought on by stress, I had all three. They kept me for observation all day, until about 4pm. I was so frustrated, I wanted to be home feeding my babies. They did every test in the world and gave me a prescription for Prednisone. I was told to use eye drops to keep my eye moisturized since I was unable to blink, wear my glasses and wait. My mom had friends who had Bell’s palsy and had taken a round of Valtrex since Bell’s Palsy is in the same family, the next day I started this medication and I waited. Bells palsy is not painful, but the emotional toll it takes is indescribable. Not being able to smile when you feel happy only makes you sadder, not knowing when it will end is frustrating to say the least. I read online some facial exercises that some people say helped them and that taking vitamin b complex could help, I did both of these. I hated taking photos, I hated that I hated taking photos since these were my babies first days. I hated looking at the photos. I found a few online groups of people suffering from Bel’ls Palsy, some people just told their story and asked for encouragement, some gave suggestions, others told stories of recovery. It was uplifting to read stories of recovery. I just had to hope that like the carpal tunnel this too would reverse it’s self. Four weeks later I started to see improvement and after five weeks I was completely recovered, like nothing had ever happened. But that is a time that I will never forget. I don’t know what made it go away, some doctors say that the faster you start the medications after it’s onset the faster and more likely a complete recovery is, so if you or anyone you knows gets this get Prednisone, Valtrex and vitamin B-12 complex (available at health food stores ASAP).
Carpal tunnel is caused by the median nerve that runs through your wrist being constricted by swelling(see pregnancy symptom #9). It started out as a numbness in my pointer finger, around my fifth month. I could feel my finger but I couldn’t feel textures when I touched things, over a few days it spread to my thumb and middle finger. At night my hands would go numb, I would wake up from the pain. I was advised to wear wrist guards at night to help keep my wrists straight to keep the blood flowing. Some doctors recommend to wear the wrist guards all the time and some say only at night, wearing them during the day doesn’t help. I found that some days it help and some days they didn’t. The numb sensation tuned into more of hyper sensitivity to textures, brushing crumbs from a counter felt like sand paper, running my finger through my hair felt like scraping them across razors. Quickly the uncomfortableness in my fingers turned to throbbing pain in my hands, mostly my right, but eventually my left just as badly. Imagine your hand in a vice all day and all night. I found that holding frozen ice packs wrapped in a paper towel helped to relive the pain, I had about 10 that I would rotate throughout the day. At first I would alternate hands, but by my seventh month the pain was too much. I could no longer hold anything but ice packs, in both hands, all the time. I even slept with ice packs or frozen water bottles at night, I would wake up from the pain when they were no longer cold.After the girls were born the symptoms quickly started to reverse them selves. By the second day pp I no longer needed the ice packs, the pain subsided after about a week, and within two months all the normal sensation came back to my fingers. My hands and wrists still ache sometimes more than others but it is no more than sore shoulders or an achy back.
I was not one of those women who just loved being pregnant. Being pregnant was an uncomfortable nightmare. I even said to my sister that if I had to be pregnant for every kid I wanted two would be the limit. I didn’t forget all the aliments and pain as soon as the girls were born, I don’t think I ever will. But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat for my two little peanuts. I wonder what another pregnancy will be like, just as bad, I hope not. I just hope, if it is, I have twins again!
11 Months
Talia and Jordan yesterday you are now 11 months old. I’m not going to tell you how sentimental I feel about this being the last month of your first year I’ll save that sap for your birthday post. I just want to brag about all the new amazing things you two have learned in this last month.
First, You both learned how to suck the puréed fruit directly from the to go pouches in under a minute! I am sure that I am starting some terrible habit by giving you these pouches while we are grocery shopping, but one, I feel bad because it’s usually dinner time when we are at the grocery store and it’s fun to see you two race to finish them.
You tried so many new foods this month, hearts of palm, kidney beans, lettuce, mozzarella and baby bell cheese. You eat almost anything we give you, except Tilapia and eggs, you just don’t like them. And that’s ok, because you love chicken. You also had Brazilian food and Thai food this month, two of our new favorite week night dinner out options.
We got a new deck behind our house because the old one was small and not safe for small children. This one is like a giant playpen, complete with a gate, so you have been spending lots of time outside.
I have, since you were born, tried not to wish away time by thinking wont it be nice when they can sit up or hold their own bottle or crawl or walk. But I do look forward to very soon watching you chase each other around the tree on the deck on your little riding toys. When you were tiny I would imagine two little girls standing by my feet reaching up with their little hands for me to pick them both up at once, and while you still need to hold on with one of your hands, we are there, and I love that you two do this. I have mastered picking you both up and carrying you around the house or out to the stroller at the same time.
You both stand balanced for sometimes up to thirty seconds and each of you has taken one or two steps on your own at least once, that I have seen. I learned that with twins, I may not always see you accomplish your first. This morning while I was changing Talias diaper, I saw Jordan out of the corner of my eye, when I turned around she was mid step two feet from the couch, but quickly fell to the ground, I didn’t see it but I know she took a step or two from the couch to when she landed. Such a big girl!
Talia you have the whole mechanics of walking down pat. Your new favorite game is hold hands and walk, you can just go, go, go. Now you just need to get your balance and you will be good to go all on your own.
One of the best things that you two do now is fall asleep, like champs. I don’t know if you are totally pooped or you have learned that we are not coming back to play so you might as well sleep, but you go to sleep every night with no crying, maybe a little whine when we put you in your crib, but as soon as we walk out of your room, there is silence. Talia you still wake up at night, if you scream long and loud enough that I think you might wake up Jordan I just have to pick you up, give you your pacifier and rock you a little, sometimes I have to change a wet diaper, but you are usually settled back in your crib in a few minutes. Jordan, you pretty much sleep all night, on occasion you wake up and want a little attention too, but it’s rare.
You both wake up around 5:45, sometimes earlier, ouch. When you get a bit older we are getting you a mini fridge so you can get your own milk. But until then up before the sun means you didn’t sleep enough, so three days a week I put you in the stroller and off we go for about 45 around the neighborhood. It’s an interesting feeling to see the stars, in the morning, because the sun hasn’t come up yet. I love this time of year, the air is the perfect temperature. Not hot, not cold, just perfect. The most exciting part of our morning walks, we get to see all the kids get on the school bus at exactly 6:55am. Then we watch the sun come up on our way home. You usually sleep for most of the walk and for another 15 or 20 minutes once we are home. The extra hour of sleep really helps you guys make it through the morning. Then we come home and eat breakfast, when abba come to the kitchen I go get ready then abba leaves and I play with you until Yael arrives.
And the last new thing for my big girls is big girl car seats! That’s right, no more baby buckets. You each have two new cars eats. Yes that’s right, we have purchased four convertible cars eats in the last month. We were able to purchase one with baby store gift cards we received, that was a huge help. We got two Britax Marathons for Yaels car and two Britax Boulevards for my car. I would have preferred all Boulevards but we got the Marathons at a really good price and the only difference is the side head support. Since the girls will only be in Yaels car for short trips and in my car for longer road trips I waunted them to have more head support so that when they fall asleep they don’t strain their neck.
We have fun things planned to do every weekend this month, there are lots of outdoor fairs and festivals, we have a few birthday parties to go to and some very special visitors are coming to play and celebrate your birthday with you. Your abba and I are working hard to get things around the house ready and I am stealing every spare moment I can planning and preparing for a Birthday party you will never remember and that I will never forget. We love you, your pretty smiles, your silly giggles, the games you play with each other and the ways you show us how much you love us back. Happy 11 months baby girls, you are amazing in every way.
p.s. I wonder when the day will come again that you will sit next to each other and both smile at the camera at the same time like you did when you were tiny.
How much time does blogging take
People always say to me “when do you write your blog posts?” and “I don’t know how you have time to do it.” The truth is I don’t, but do you have time to journal, probably not, and if you do then it is always at the expense of another task. Same goes with blogging. Sometimes the clothes don’t get put away the same day they get cleaned, sometimes the dishes stay in the sink until the next day.
Usually I write at night, after the girls are in bed, and the kitchen has been cleaned up from dinner. Sometimes I write when I wake up from hearing the girls cry at night and can’t fall back to sleep right away and sometimes I write while we take our morning walk, if my husband joins us to push the stroller. I do most of my writing on my iPhone and since my phone goes with me everywhere I can write while I pump gas or wait in line for the grocery store.
But the time issue of blogging isn’t the writing, that’s the easy part. It’s the very long list and pinterest boards full of projects to tackle, then photograph, then edit the photographs, then insert the photographs into the writing and link back to relevant websites, that takes the most time. I try to multi task as much as possible, for example I’ll watch tv and write at the same time, I’ll write while I am organizing my photos, which I have found a great solution for saving time regarding photos. I’ll get to that in a minute.
Multitasking has become an Olympic sport in my life, I try to carry a hand full of things whenever I go from one room to another trying to keep things in their place. But without fail I always forget to put the scissors back and there is always a pile on the corner of the island that needs to go into a bedroom, basement or catch all room.
Back to how my new method of organizing photos saves me time. Dropbox! It’s an online file storing program. And the best part about it, it’s free! I love free! Another super helpful aspect of it is there is an app for the iPhone, so all the photos I save to my Dropbox folder on my computer are automatically available on my phone. I user my DSLR to take most of my photos of the girls and projects I do. Once they are loaded onto my computer I then organize them into folders which I then save on Dropbox so I can access them at any moment.
Another cool thing about Dropbox is that I can share the photos with family and friends. If you want to try out Drop box click this link, sign up for an account, you’ll get to see never before published photos of the girls and 2G of free storage and I will get a bonus of extra storage!
That’s how I blog, now, why do I blog? Simple answer is I love it! I love the possibilities that blogging holds, the connections you can make to people like you or completely different from you from anywhere in the world. I am a sharer, I have these two amazing girls, and while they are the most amazing people to me, plenty of people find them pretty interesting simply because fate made them twins. I love photos, I take a lot and would never see most of them again if I didn’t publish a good portion of them here. And lastly I blog because it’s the most effective way for me to create a baby book for my girls. I was told Blurb will convert my blog into a book when I am ready and since their first birthday is rapidly approaching, I’m almost there.
Anyway, they are so cute, the least they deserve is a website all about them
TGIF- again apparently
Clearly I was ready for the weekend. If you read all the way to the bottom of yesterdays post you saw my “happy Friday!” Ha! Well happy real Friday!
I walked this morning with the girls. I’m trying to go at least three mornings a week. It’s hard to get up and out, but I always feel good and proud of myself when I go.
This morning we got to the corner just as all the neighborhood kids where gathering to wait for the school bus. The girls love watching other children so we stopped to watch the school bus pull up, all the kids pile on and drive off. From a babies perspective I bet the while process was quite interesting.
We are going to make it a goal to see the kids at the bus stop every time we walk.
10 Months Old!
Jordan/Talia
Jordan/Talia
Jordan/Talia
Jordan/Talia
You’ve had some pretty big firsts this last month, your first passport stamp and trip to Israel and your first (and second) cold.
Talia/Jordan
Talia/Jordan
Talia/Jordan
Jordan/Talia
Jordan/Talia
Jordan you learned how to clap your hands and a few days ago your sister caught on too. You are talking up a storm and quickly learning what “NO” means and not to take it for an answer. Your baby sounds are so cute and fun to hear they are the perfect baby coos. You are such a sweet baby, you give the best hugs and kisses andget so excited when you see me after work or in the morning and you get really mad when I leave the room. You have such great confidence in everythng you do, you climb over anything in your way without a moments hesitation. You get so excited over everything and kick your legs to show it.
Talia you stood on your own for a few seconds, once. You said bye bye (i’m sure of it), once. You said mama (or so our frinds tell me as I walked away from you that day at the park), once. You seem to do these things by accident, but I am sure in no time you will do them again and they will quickly become routine. I’m in no rush, and you shouldn’t be either. You are definatly a daddy’s girl. You love your Abba so much. Your little face just lights up when he walks int eh room and you cry with such drama when he has to leave, it’s hard for him to go. You love music and dancing, you bob your whole body up and down and flap your arms when ever you are excited.
You two no longer wait patiently and stare adoringly into our eyes as we change your diaper. No, now you thrash and turn and kick to get away from us as quickly as possible. Often times resulting in a foot of poop and at least two people needing a wardrobe change.
There is so much I want to tell you about how much I love you two but there are no words to describe it. I love being your mom, I love that you have each other, I love that you are mine and we get spend forever playing and learning and creating together. Happy ten month birthday baby girls.
Talia/Jordan
Talia/Jordan
Now I have to start planning your birthday party!
