Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you here in the U.S. We're staying home this year, so I decided to go all out.

Our Menu:
Turkey (duh)
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Rolls
Stuffing (Stove Top)
My Gumma's sweet potato casserole
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Green Bean Casserole (my sister's request)
Corn
Brownies
Rocky Road Fudge Bars
Apple Pie (w/ice cream of course!)

Mmmm....Leftovers!

One of My Favorite Things

Call me Oprah now! There are a few items that I absolutely love and have been so helpful with the babies. The Juss Tin Case nursing cover is definitely one of my favorites!

When it became clear that Cora was going to be a Professional Nurser (I'm constantly amazed when she REFUSES a bottle!), I did an online search for nursing tops. While looking at tops, I came across a nursing cover. Best. Idea. Ever. That new search led me to the Juss Tin Case covers. There are so many choices out there, but Juss Tin Case has one special feature that set them apart: a pocket that the cover folds into! That was my selling point. It folds neatly into the pocket, and takes up very little space in my diaper bag. It's not bigger than a wallet, but thinner, when folded. It comes in a bunch of different fabrics to choose from, and Julie updates them frequently. It's also larger than most, so it covers not only my front, but the sides as well. It has a flexible neckline so I can easily look into Cora while staying covered. Finally, it's nice and thin so Cora never overheats like she would under a heavy blanket. My Juss Tin Case nursing cover lives in my diaper bag so it's always there whenever I need it, but it doesn't get in the way at all. I've been using it for months now, and absolutely love it!

Juss Tin Case was founded by a mom, which I love. Julie has a hand in everything. I received a personal email from her within hours of my purchase letting me know that it had already shipped! I placed my order Friday afternoon and received it early the following week (Tuesday or Wednesday, can't remember exactly).

I emailed Julie to let her know how thrilled I am with my nursing cover and that I'd be writing this post, and she generously offered to giver everyone 15% off her covers if you use the links on my blog. Not only that, but all her nursing covers over $35 are currently $10 off! You get 15% off on top of that! This would make a terrific gift for the pregnant ladies, or those with nursing babies, in your life. Happy Holidays!

I'm so proud!

One of my pictures was chosen as the Image of the Day at Parentdish!

Both babies are cutting their bottom 2 teeth right now. Kill me now. I noticed 2 white spots under their gums a few days ago, and Cora's in full-on meltdown mode today because they're starting to pop through. That explains our crazy night last night.

Christmas Card Pictures

NaBloPoMo is a total bust for me! Oh well. I will try to post more often at least.

A few days ago, I found some really cute Christmas pj's for all 3 girls so I decided to attempt a Christmas card photo. After 3 days, I finally got the winner! Over the next few days, I'll be posting outtakes from the last few days. You can find a TON of them here. I still have a bunch more to post later!

Both girls just rolled over for the first time! Cora rolled first, and Emma followed. Pictures here.

I added a TON of pictures (2.5 pages worth!), including a bunch from Halloween. Finally. There are some you won't see if you're not one of my flickr contacts because they show Abby with her friends.

Day 7: Aloha Friday

I'm totally cheating today, but I've seen this on a couple of my friends' blogs and thought it was a fun idea.

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and sign the linky thing at An Island Life, the creator of Aloha Friday. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

Today’s question is:

Do you twitter? What's your twitter name so I can follow you?

Yes, that's actually two questions, but they're easy! I've become obsessed with twitter since I got my iPhone. I love being able to post a quick update, and reading what everyone else is doing throughout the day. You can find my latest tweets in the sidebar. I'm Brandi_B if you want to follow me.

P.S. Cora's doing just fine in the crib by herself. She slept from 9:15 to 7:45 the first night and 9-6:45 last night. Emma's doing great on her own too. She woke up once at 4 the first night, and slept from 9 to 6:15 last night! I got 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night! We'll see if she keeps it up; if separating them was the answer to her sleeping through the night. I bought this crib at Target this week. It's not black like it looks in the picture, but a dark brown. They call it espresso. It was one of my favorites, and the cheapest by far. I didn't want to spend too much since we'll only use it until they outgrow it as a toddler bed.

Day 6: Laundry Binge

It started innocently enough yesterday. The shirt I wanted to wear was dirty and the babies were running out of their thick fleece sleepers, so it was time to do some laundry. That ended up being 2 loads of our laundry (Damon, Abby, and me) and 3 loads of baby laundry. Then Cora spit up on my comforter while I was doing laundry, and I decided to wash the crib bedding that has been on the unused crib for 3 months. 2 more loads. Since I was washing that bedding, it was also time to wash the extra crib sheets so they're ready once Cora spits up in the crib. Finally, I decided it was time to purge the babies' 3-month clothes, and get out Abby's old 3-6 month clothes out of the garage. That, coupled with random items that didn't make it to the wash earlier or got spit-up on throughout the day, ended up being another 2 loads yesterday. And 2 more today! I have at least 2 more loads (towels and the rest of my bedding) to wash today, then I hope to never see laundry again. That's 13 loads of laundry in 2 days!

Damon jokingly accused me of trying to break our machines so I can get a front-load set.

While it's unusual for me to do this much laundry in one shot, I do end up with 4 or 5 loads when I do laundry. I know I should do a load or two a day, but some days are just too busy. And draining. I typically do laundry 2 or 3 times a week, but with 2 babies who spit up, not only on themselves but on whoever is holding them too, we go through a lot of clothes!

Those of you with twin babies, do you get rid of everything in one size when one has outgrown it, or do you mix sizes? Between Abby's old clothes, what we've received as gifts, and my obsessive shopping, the girls have a TON of clothes. I feel like they won't get to wear a lot of it if I don't move them both up at once. Cora tends to outgrow everything first since she's longer, but I typically wait until Emma starts outgrowing things to get rid of everything in their current size and move them both up. If I don't, then Cora ends up wearing clothes that are way too tight because we tend to keep everything but "going out" and bedtime clothes in some of these canvas bins in my room and in the basement. It's so much easier than having to go to their closet all the time when one (Cora) or both of them spit up or have a blow-out and need a new outfit. This also means that Emma ends up wearing clothes that are too big for her for a while.

I'm thrilled my friend, Kim, had her first girl two weeks ago. The timing is perfect because I've been able to give her the babies' outgrown clothes right when she could use the next size. I have 3 trash bags full of clothes to give her, and there's still one load in the dryer and one in the washer that's bound to have more. Sadly, I found some really cute 3-month outfits mixed in with Abby's 3-6 month stuff and a bunch of those thin receiving blankets we don't use anymore. I also found a bunch of clothes that were so stained I can't believe I kept them! Onesies and those snap shirts mostly. What was I thinking?

Day 5: 3 Months Old

Not even a week in and I've already missed a day. Oops! Oh well.

I meant to post a long update on the girls since they're 3 months old today, but it's not happening today. For about a week, neither girl has napped more than a half hour at a time. On a good day, they'll have one 2 hour nap, but it's often at different times. Today hasn't been a good day. I've had maybe an hour total since 6am where I haven't been holding a baby, and that was spent cleaning the kitchen (definitely overdue) and doing laundry. I'm on my 8th load, none of which has been put away. Oh, we did go to Target (again!) and both girls were very good (but awake) while there. That's been my break for the day.

Cora goes to the nursery tonight. Happy birthday Cora; as a present, you're getting kicked out!

Day 3, Way too tired so this will be all over the place

So adjusting to the time change didn't go as smoothly as I'd originally thought. The worst of the colic seems to be behind us, but the last couple days have been tough. Emma woke up at 2:30 and 4:45, Abby woke up at 6, and Cora woke up at 7.

Since Cora really took off breastfeeding, she became "my" baby. The only problem is that now she's only happy with me. She screams when anyone else tries to hold her. Cora has this extremely high pitch she hits when she gets really mad. She doesn't just cry, she screams like she's auditioning for a horror movie. It's so funny to hear. She's getting better about letting others hold her, but I'm the only one that works when she's upset. She's definitely more high-maintenance than Emma. Although, Emma's been a handful lately too. I feel guilty for not spending as much time with her as I do with Cora. Emma's finally decided it's ok to breastfeed again, so that helps. We're still supplementing with formula for both of them because I just don't make enough milk, even breastfeeding two babies hasn't increased my milk supply much. I keep meaning to buy some fenugreek, which helped some with Abby, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Does anyone know if Whole Foods sells it or Mother's Milk tea? If not, I'll have to order it online.

It's definitely time for bed. I hope this makes some sense...

NaBloPoMo, Day 2

The time change didn't seem to affect us too badly. Emma only woke up once, at 3:45am (new time), so their 7am wakeup wasn't too bad. Besides, we forgot to change the clocks last night, so it was 8am for us!

The co-sleeper is getting to be too small for both girls to sleep in, so we've decided to move Cora to the crib in the nursery soon. She started sleeping for 6 hours at night at one month old, and has been sleeping 8-10 hours for over a month now, so it makes sense to move her to the crib and keep Emma in the co-sleeper for a while longer. We're going to have to go crib shopping soon since we only have Abby's old crib right now. If any of you have a crib that eventually converts to a full-size crib, buy the rails to convert it right away! Abby's convertible crib turned out to be a waste because I couldn't find the rails anywhere when we were ready to convert it about 3 years after we originally bought it. Her crib style was discontinued, so no one has the rails anymore.

NaBloPoMo

Since I'm horrible about updating regularly, I've decided to join NaBloPoMo: National Blog Posting Month. Basically, it's a challenge where you post every day for a month. It's a great way to get into better blogging habits, so hopefully it'll get me posting more often. Any bets on how long I'll last?