One four-year-old + potato salad = a big mess

On the kids' birthday, we had a picnic lunch outside.

We had some potato salad and the children didn't want to wear bibs since they're now "big kids".

Can you guess what happened?

Yes... a big mess on her lovely Naartjie top.

look at the mayonnaise stains

First we tried washing it (and by we, I mean Nanny S) in the normal way, hoping that the stain removal would work with the oily mayonnaise stains.

They didn't come out :(

But then I read the Vanish booklet, followed the instructions exactly for mustard, and lo and behold, the stain disappeared, much to my relief.

out! bad picture but I can assure you they're all out

I really love this top, you see, as I think Kendra looks gorgeous in it :)

Next time the babies eat potato salad, you can be sure they'll be wearing their bibs!

 my new "taking pics at night" skills :)

Am I the only one out there who still makes her kids wear bibs? 

PS Vanish sent me the product to review for this post.

Seven Sunday Snippets ;)

1. I've just made Kendra a ring and she is over-the-moon delighted with it. Old beads (I'm still decluttering) plus some wire I bought at our plastics shop (similar to Westpack) = 3-year-old happiness.

That was my attempt to bring some happy back. I haven't had the best day in the world. I was already screaming this morning...

2. Thought it would be fine once I got to church but there I heard that one of our pastors' wives died last night. These things are always kind-of glossed over as in "she's with Jesus now" and yes, she is, but I heard NOTHING of the message after that. Nothing.This woman was 36 with two little kids. I don't know what happened but I keep thinking about him and the kids.

Which reminds me - don't wait to do anything. Just do it - we all don't know how much time we have left.

3. I had some fantastic news yesterday though... and I think Connor is kind-of perceptive because he very randomly asked me about this person yesterday morning and then I got a phone call from her about an hour later!

4. My kids flat-out refused my soup yesterday which is very strange - they love soup - so they went to bed hungry (or maybe not since it was after the party).

Today I asked them, "what was wrong with the soup? Why didn't you want it?" Kendra says, "it was too yellow. We only like brown soup" which means the ratio of butternut was too high???

I dumped all the little soup portions into a big pot, added some Worcestershire sauce and a can of tomato and it was brown enough. They both gobbled up a big bowl tonight. Success.
 


5. I'm in a weird place at the moment in that I feel totally caught up with life. Isn't that weird? Usually I can list about 20 things I want to do on the weekends and at the start of this weekend, i battled to think of things beyond the usual errands...

That's good (I lay reading for a couple of hours this afternoon) but it also makes me feel like there's some Big Thing I've forgotten to do. I'm even caught up with photos. About an hour or two on the zoo pics and I'll be totally caught up!

6. I'm noticing a lot of usage of the word "ain't" on the blogs. Now call me a language prude but I cringe a little every time I read it :) What's the deal with "ain't" for the South Africans? Is this part of some twitter speak or some other pop culture I'm not aware of??? :) (I mean no disrespect if you use that word!)



7. OH, I have a soup recipe for you. This is recipe 11 in the 25 recipes in 2013 project.

It's a Weigh-Less one.

The portion size is 80 g sweet potato (1 complex carb), 200 g butternut (2 veg), 45g low fat feta cheese (1.5 proteins)  and whatever soup spices you like.

I put garlic and coriander in everything so that's what I added and I also made enough for about 7 portions (just because that's how the butternut quantities worked out).

I didn't add the cheese to the soup; only just before serving because I want to be sure I get the right amount of protein.

Delicious! I also add some chilli flakes as a garnish - yum!


I have it just like that and D has some bread with his.

How was your Sunday? Better than mine, I hope?

Any new recipes for me? I'm looking for easy chicken recipes and remember I only buy chicken breasts - deboned, no skin, etc :)

PS playing with pics for Superhero Photo

Ways in which I'm a strict mother - food

Source: thecraftingchicks.com via Marcia on Pinterest

I loved the comments from all of you where you said you're stricter than I am.

Love!

So I thought we should discuss them in a little more detail so I can catch some tips :)

Let's talk food.

We are still using The Notebook and, quite honestly, I think we're going to use it til my kids go to school :)

I started The Notebook because once Kendra came home, all ___ broke loose and my memory was shot from sleep deprivation and the craziness of newborn, prem twins.

I needed to regain a little bit of control and at least if anyone asked me anything I could refer to the book and answer with relative confidence. Instead of saying, "I have no idea what time her last bottle was or how much she had" (yes, it was that bad).

We love having the notebook for notes between V and us, and I can see when things change in their learning.

We adapted the categories over the two years and now keep track of times they eat and drink, and what that is, sleep times during the day and activities.

This is where D and I often have a chuckle in the evening when we see V writing "learning the alphabet" and "sang songs", etc. Too cute. It helps us feel a little more involved in their days.

We also seem like rock star parents when the kids go see the doctor or paed. When I took Connor the other week, I could tell her exactly when he started feeling out of sorts because V had a note that said, "Connor cried a lot today" LOL

Anyway, so we have some set things we feed the kids for each meal:

breakfast - weetbix, pronutro, oats (in winter)/ muesli (they had their first muesli on Spring Day - I thought they deserved something fun to celebrate the warm weather)/ maltabella (also in winter), toast with jam (C)/ cottage cheese (K), fruit and/ or yoghurt

lunch - bread/ toast with something protein (peanut butter/ cheese/ cottage cheese/ egg), and tomato/ cucumber/ etc. My children don't like their veggie part on the sandwich - they want it separate. In winter they also have soup most days. If they didn't want yoghurt after breakfast, they have it now.

snack - about a week ago, we had to move supper an hour later because they started waking at 4:30 am demanding milk (C) so we give them a fruit around 3:30.

supper - whatever we had the previous night, except curries - chicken a la King, spaghetti bolognaise, chicken and broccoli, kidney bean and tomato sauce on rice/ pasta/ baked potatoes, etc. Today they're having penne with a bolognaise sauce :)

My kids LOVE veggies. It's very weird but we're not complaining. We have to say, "eat your chicken and rice, and then you can get veggies". No jokes. And we hide the peas away til they've finished their food. No food, no veggies.

Also, have you ever heard a cute little boy say, "please Mummy have veggies" - it is TOO adorable. I must see if I can get it on video.


Notes

1. I don't allow snacks in between meals. I like them nice and hungry so they eat well. This tactic seems to have worked because I have very good eaters. Matter of fact, I'm still waiting for my toddlers to eat like toddlers so I can save some money :) When I went to ToddlerSense last year, the woman said toddlers typically eat two bites of a sandwich, a grape, one bite of a banana and that's it. Um, not mine. But I'm not complaining because when they display less than stellar eating habits (when sick) it is not fun and I stress that they're not getting enough food. But I never show them my fear :)
   
2. These are the options - my food or bread with peanut butter. Most times they eat my food but sometimes they opt for the bread.
3. I try to remember to write in The Notebook what they need to have the next day but if I forget, V knows and will feed them appropriately. I also have a special section in the freezer for the babies' extra meals (for when we have curries) so V knows to take their meals from there.
4. They have plain yoghurt 85% of the time because on Sundays I send those 100 ml tubs of yoghurt in their church lunch bag with a muffin each.
   
5. We only let them eat in the highchairs - I don't allow running through the house with food because I don't want clean-up to be any more difficult than it has to be. That said, they don't eat as well when we go out... but I'm prepared for the fussiness 5% of the time.
   
6. We also have a rule which they both know - "no bib, no food" - so if they take off their bibs, I say, "oh, have you finished eating?" and either it's yes, or they put those bibs back on.
   
7. If lunch is light (we've run out of fruit), then I'll allow a muffin each. I always have muffins in the freezer. I bake the ones for the kids with almost no sugar and at least half a cup of veg (pumpkin/ butternut). They love it and now that they've "twigged", they "steal" from the freezer.

Me Kendra, what are you eating?

K Muffin

Me Where did you get it, Baby?

K Freezer (with absolutely no hint that she's doing something wrong)

They do get about 50 - 75 ml of juice a day, diluted 1:3/ 1:4, depending on the juice. Orange is not as sweet as tropical fruit.

I don't allow sweets at all but now and again, I'll give them a wine gum each. I'll allow chocolate sooner than sweets after discussions with my work friend who has an ADHD boy and keeps very careful track of the E numbers and whatnot.

Now and again they'll get a cupcake (without icing).

I know I'm very strict on the food - I would rate myself a 9 here :)

How do you fare?

Also, what kinds of food do your kids eat?

PS if this is not your thing, here's a gorgeous blog I found today.

Frustration with meds and eating, and ME time while camera shopping

I was standing near the end of the queue when God was handing out patience and so I have already had enough of sick, crabby kids.

Yes, already.

They cry at the slightest thing which normally doesn't bother me but they are also not eating.

And that is freaking me out.

All the medication says "with food" so as a result, today Connor got his morning meds at ..............11:20!

Speaking of Connor, he has now decided that he does not like to take medicine.

We have to administer it two by two, one person holding him and another forcing his mouth open and squeezing the syringe.

As a result, K is doing much better and is eating a tiny bit again although my fridge is full of half-eaten meals (no, I don't just throw it out - I try again).

Because of this no-eating thing, we have broken all our rules:

• I caught myself bribing Connor earlier (I'll take you in the car if you'll finish your food - he was not swayed one bit)
• D gave him a Provita in his cot (a big no-no)
• Offering everything under the sun (about 6 different choices) just in case something appeals. Apparently only raisins, peas and pasta cooked but with no sauces on it will do.

Hopefully it will not be hard to get back to normal when they're well.

Do you have kids who hate taking medicine? How do you do it? Seriously - I need tips!

As a result of that, I had to escape the madness after lunch when they had a nap.

(Hey, that's one good thing - they go to sleep easily, even during the day)

This week, I did a couple of things for my own self-care:

1) put the kids in children's church last weekend (I need to post on that) and went to big church
2) cancelled a supper with a friend so I could finish my work and take care of myself (I had some sniffles but I needed to be 100% well the next day for the work function)
3) spent some time last night organising my desk and doing some paper crafts
4) today I went to do grocery shopping by myself (D normally does it but is sick). While I was at the mall, I picked up some paint swatches (I am in love with the idea of painted furniture after reading one too many home and decor blogs - I want the chest of drawers in my bedroom painted a lovely light olive green and another piece a bright turquoise... let's see if I'm brave enough) and went to look at some cameras.

Talking more about the cameras...

I've decided that cameras are very expensive and it's even more difficult to choose what to get. So I'm stuck between getting a bridge camera (had never heard of these before today) and an SLR.

I like the Samsung NX10 and the Canon 500 D (both R6300 and they come with an assortment of things - either lenses, memory card, bag, whatnot).

Any tips on camera shopping?

P.S. Wherever I go, I will not go to the one store because the girl was VERY condescending. That's another post because I've had some shocking customer service experiences lately.

A successful lunch

Thank you for your fantastic comments and the emails on the s*x post. I laughed so loud at some of them and wow - some of you are doing very well at 3 X a week (tell your partners how lucky they are!!!)

******************

On Sunday after church we whizzed all the way to The Flowerspot to see if they had some things to pretty up my life.

I came out with 4 rolls of satin ribbon and 2 packs of brown paper bags. I just can’t seem to resist brown paper bags.

They’re just so useful as a quick gift bag and if you add a nice bright ribbon, they look very pretty.

D and I decided on the way over that we’d eat lunch out since it would be 1 pm and my kids are very punctual with the eating and sleeping (they impose it on us, not the other way around).

It would be cute if it weren’t so annoying sometimes. Kendra comes to us and signs that she’s hungry and then Connor follows suit. On the bright side, at least they sign and don’t just scream, right?

So we went to the Mugg and Bean and I’d organised the high chairs and ordered their meals before D and Kendra even got to the table :)

They had a meal called a Funny Face which is French toast in the shape of a circle, a sausage (for the smile) and bits of grated cheese for the hair.

Connor polished off his food and then started on mine.

Kendra also ate most of hers (about 90%) and then we gave the remainders to Connor.

D and I were incredulous (someone said to me the other day, “who says incredulous?” I said, “I DO!”) at how well-behaved they were.

We’d stopped taking them out for about 2 months after a disastrous lunch at Nino’s where they literally FLUNG pizza off their high chairs. D hates being embarrassed and it was BAD.

I don’t enjoy the bad behaviour but I do know I don’t have the naughtiest kids around so I'm quite relaxed about it.

We discussed our definition for success eating out as a family and came up with these three things:

· The children don’t whine and moan
· They eat at least 80% of their food
· Quick service

Isn't it amazing how low your expectations go?

What are your definitions for successful eating out?

P.S. Go read this fantastic post on eating out with twins. This was us for so long it's laughable only because we seem to be coming out of it. I wanted to link it as the blog post of the week on the multiples blog but that weekend they had some other link party.

So, the paediatric dietician and Big, Hairy, Travel dreams

We had the appointment with the dietician yesterday to discuss the children's eating and weight "issues".

I only made one appointment because I am cheap and practical - I reasoned that anything she said I would be applying to both of them anyway.

Right?

D was not so sure about my frugality (hey - I have a bond to settle this year :)) so I texted the lady and said, "which baby should I bring? the smaller one or the one who has lost the most weight?"

She said as long as I have their growth charts, I don't need to bring either of them.

But we took Connor since he is the baby who lost the most weight and has never, up until now, had an issue.

Kendra has been a skinny little thing from the get go.

She was lovely (I will tell you later how she is my favourite person at the moment) and set us at ease.

I'll admit to having a bit of a chip on my shoulder going in.... I am nothing if not self-aware.

Anyway, we discussed their eating habits, what times they eat, and how much, and the variety of foods, etc, etc. (I brought two of the notebooks with me to help jog my memory) and how much milk, what kind they drink, etc.

Therein lies the problem.

They are apparently drinking too little milk! They have 250 - 300 ml a day. Plus another 125 - 150 ml in cereal when they don't have oats.

And she said they probably should have stayed on formula past the 12-month mark. They are on full cream cow's milk.

I am not even thinking about how all these experts differ in opinion as I do NOTHING without Dr S's say-so.

Moving along.

She wants them on 500 ml of milk daily. But... Pediasure or Nutrigen (sp?) Junior, not cow's milk.

That's when I was pleased I didn't bring baby 2 for a second consultation fee :)

Then onto their eating.

Well... their eating is perfect.

Surprisingly so for toddlers.

And then she said the thing which makes her my current favourite person.

"You should write a book"

We both laughed.

"I'm absolutely serious," she said, "your kids eat really well and you're clearly doing things in a really good way"

Oh, I beamed.

Hopefully she doesn't say that to all the moms.

Also, she's also a mom of twins (4-year-old girls) but like you, Cat, a singleton and then twins.

She said at the end of the appointment that this is still a really hard stage - apparently from 3, it's all sunshine and roses :)

I, of course, said, "NOTHING could ever EVER be as bad as the newborn stage"

Oh, by the way, Connor has gained a lot of weight this month already - he is now exactly 11 kg. Up from 10.63 kg on 7 Jan.

We see her again in 3 months time at which point I am certain we will be back on the growth curve track.... right?

*******************

These pics are still from the beach shoot. I like to look at things that make me happy and the beach makes me happy.

One of my Mondo dreams is to live on the beach for a month... right on the beach, no faffing around with cars and sand in cars (hate!) ... I said to MandyH I would have to take V or rent a nanny to make it truly relaxing :)

To make it a true BHAD, I would go to Thailand.... mmmmm.

What is just ONE of your Big, Hairy, Audacious TRAVEL Dreams?

P.S. To see some Thailand pics, go look at my travel blog header - francoisfamily dot blogspot dot com :)

Something I never thought I'd ever be writing about

I'd totally not even thought about de-worming until the first comments came through on yesterday's post...

and then I went "duh"

I remember when I went to the Toddlersense Seminar (which I still haven't written about 3 months later) the lady mentioned that once babies start crawling and playing outside, they should be de-wormed every 6 months.

My kids were 14 months at the time so were well overdue and I made a note in the manual.

However, that doesn't help if you don't take out the manual to look through it again, something I am particularly bad at, and which is why blogging is so good for me as it helps me process and work through my notes.

So yesterday afternoon I went to buy the de-worming medicine and started my kids on it.

La la la la la - that's me not thinking about worms as I get gooseflesh just from thinking about it!

From the other comments (go read them all - they are fantastic - in fact, the best writing is often in the comments, if you don't normally read them), I gather that this de-worming thing is mostly South African.

Who knew?!

I will definitely ask both Sr Carla and Dr S about it next time I see them, just for interest's sake.

So the de-worming is happening, I think I'm going to avoid the Pediasure for now (I've googled it after Rachel's comment) and take them back after a month.

My kids do eat more oils than we do - full fat everything, avocados, oily fish, etc.

I will also make the appt with the paediatric nutritionist, just in case. But I really hope it's just worms as they are really happy and healthy and I don't want to create other eating issues because of this!

So many people (blog comments and people in real life, like my English colleague) have told me that South African medical staff are unduly obsessed with the weight charts and, after this, I tend to agree.

90-day goal for the babies - get this weight thing sorted out

What are your 90-day goals for your babies/ kids?

Expert vs mother's instinct?

So, on Friday my beautiful babies turned 18 months.

I was changing the toys around and they thought it would be fun to jump in (C) and on her brother (K)

We had their vaccinations scheduled (I like things done exactly on the day, if at all possible) with my wonderful Sister Carla and if we're not seeing our paed Dr S, I always get a wellness check done too.

He only wants to see them again at 21 months (6 months out from the 15-month check-up) so that's what we had done.

Kendra
Weight 8.258 kg
Height 76 cm
Head circum 46.6

Connor
Weight 10.630 kg
Height 82 cm
Head circum 48.8

When she weighed Kendra, she double-checked her scale because K has lost weight. There is a funny moment though as she said, "I think it may be wise to have her seen by a paediatric nutritionist" and K's eyes popped wide open as did her mouth as if she knew what was being said. Funny little girl!

Sr Carla is very level-headed and totally practical and normal so that gave me pause!

Connor has also lost weight and that's where I start to doubt myself.

I could have SWORN they are both a kilo heavier (they certainly feel that way, esp. K) and even though I looked at the scale myself, I can't believe it.

They both eat like horses except for those 3 days K was a vegetarian on holiday (but then she still ate cereals, yoghurts, breads, etc.). My mother even said, "gee, these children eat a LOT" - they really do.

So, I know beyond a shadow of doubt we're not starving them - they are eating all they want to because they tell us "more, more" when they're still hungry or just want more of things they like (mealies/ corn, carrots, peas).

Here's K signing more (I can't remember for what, but obviously not for food. Maybe kisses?)

I told her they're VERY active but she said still, they should be gaining very, very slightly, or even staying the same, but not losing weight.

Back to Kendra
12 months - Sr Carla - 8.293
15 months - Dr S - 8.04 (at the time he said there must be something wrong with her scale :))
18 months - Sr Carla - 8.258 (even though a gain from 15 months on Dr S's scale, still a 35 g drop in 3 months with a 1cm increase in height)

and back to Connor
12 months - Sr Carla - 10.936
15 months - Dr S - 10.8 (consistent with K's measurements so def could be scale :))
18 months - Sr Carla - 10.630 (he's lost weight on both Dr S's scale, and Sr Carla's scale with a 4.5 cm increase in height)

Now here's the thing - I am not about to start feeding them oily, sugary food just to make them gain weight as that just goes against everything I believe in, AND it will set them up for bad eating habits in life.

I have already started feeding them supper-type meals for both lunch and supper (usually they have a sandwich for lunch with fruit) and that's as far as I'm prepared to go, for now.

We got a referral to a paediatric nutritionist but I'm leaning towards trying this for a month, then going back to weigh them at Sr Carla's and then only going to see this other lady.

I honestly, HONESTLY don't think there's a thing wrong with them. In fact, I think they're perfect :) In my view, they eat lots of good, nutritious food, enough milks, etc. and I really just think we've caught them at a growth spurt.

D has always been worried about our little K and his natural instinct is to rush to this nutritionist but he's agreed to go with my way for a month. He thinks we should maybe even make the appt now as you do tend to wait to see specialists.

But what do you think? Should I worry? Have you experienced anything like this?

So let's talk about food and eating issues

Julia, if you're reading - no email address came through on your comment so I couldn't send you the link. Email me on marcia @ the123blog dot com and I'll sort you out :)

******************************

There are two parts to this post - my views on the eating thing and then how these views seem to offend 90% of the population.

Let's start with my views, shall we?

I have very clear ideas (no kidding!) about what my kids can and can't eat.

• No sugar
• No added salt
• No sweets - will allow the very occasional biscuit (cookie), cake (without icing) or muffin
• No chocolates
• No cooldrinks - juices diluted 1:3 and only about 100 ml a day. Water the rest of the time. (K actually flings the juice away - yes, we're working on the manners - because she prefers water like I do)
  

I know they technically can eat these things from a year onwards (and some people do even before that) but I'm of the opinion that if they don't know what they're missing, why mess with that?!

They're perfectly happy living in their sugar-free lives and I am living proof that sugar is very addictive. Once you start, it's hard to stop.

And God has provided lots of natural sugar in fruits. I still maintain there is nothing quite as good as a Granny Smith apple - seriously. Yummy! Or a juicy orange, mango or pineapple. Yum! And they eat plenty of fruits and raisins as snacks.

I also am not going to be a short-order cook whipping up many different meals so I have a rule for the babies - you can eat what I provide (and there are always choices within that meal - like carbs, protein, vegetables and fruit) or have a dry Provita.

Life is about choices, after all.

Sometimes they choose the Provita and happily eat carrots and some Provita instead of my (lovingly cooked) meal, which is fine with me. Honestly. There are some nights I also only want a slice of toast with a cup of soup, so I get it.

Also, you all know there is an obesity problem the world over due to overeating/ eating incorrect foods and lack of exercise. There is also a rise in childhood obesity and I just don't think that current trends of bad eating will help that problem go away.

I'm not entirely happy about my weight (those last 3 kg have to go next year - watch this space!) but mostly it doesn't define who I am - I know that that's about 5% of who Marcia is. And I don't talk about weight in front of the kids or much in front of D either. I don't think I have issues in this area besides the "who wouldn't love thinner thighs?" thing. LOL

Besides all that, a you just feel better when you eat better. Again, I'm living proof of that. I was on weigh-less in 2006 to lose a few kgs and never felt better. I still eat mostly the same (except for the odd cake now and again) and when we're away and are eating more junk than usual, I feel more sluggish and blah. That's why I tell everyone, go to Thailand for a holiday - the food is fantastic, healthy and you will look and feel great.

So that's all the background.

I'm fully aware that I'm unusual being so vigilant about what my babies eat and that 90% of those reading probably disagree with me. Have at it!

But I'm their mother and I honestly know this is best for them.

So I get really ticked off when...

• people sneak "fun" food to the kids thinking it's cute
• go on and on and on about how "deprived" the kids are
• give me The Look and shake their heads
  

I do make different choices from a lot of people for my life and I don't tell them, "what you're doing is wrong for your life or kids" so why do they feel the need to tell me how wrong I am to feed my kids only healthy, nutrititious food.

I don't rip that sweet from your child's hand and give them an apple slice instead. Don't sneak chips and sweets to my kids.

Maybe it's that they think I'm depriving the kids of fun?

In the writing of this post, I just realised that I now have good answers ready when people ask me food questions or give me The Look.

"Don't say "shame" - they eat healthy, nutritious food 99% of the time. They are BLESSED!" :)

I realise I'm extreme but I'm very comfortable living on the edge of normal. But where on the spectrum do you fall?

17 months

I am so bad at these updates. I guess because I mainly blog about the mother stuff rather than the baby stuff.

Anyway, here goes:

Kendra

1. has gotten really tall in the last couple of weeks, so much so that her jeans are now above her ankles :)
2. Still wearing 6 - 12 month clothes but is finally in size 2 shoes.
3. The nappies thing is mainly solved by Huggies 4. When this bag is finished though, I'm going to try Pampers 4 because it's just softer on their bums.
4. Her hair is also growing and looks crazy most of the time because the minute we brush it she takes her hands and messes up the hair. She calls it brushing her hair. Although we've tried to do teeny-tiny little ponytails and those stayed in for about 10 minutes on Saturday, so we're getting there. 10 seconds to 10 minutes is a huge jump.
5. Not walking unaided yet. I wondered how to judge what proper walking was until I saw the video on MandyH's blog, I thought, "aaah, now that's walking". She will still take 5 steps towards us but is very scared to go it alone if one of us is not there. Poor thing. Maybe it's just her personality?
6. Says the following words - Daddy, there, (they tell me) Mummy (I've never heard it), Connor (nono), hello (to everyone in the street when we go for walks), bye-bye, no no no (!), go go go (this is from me - I say "let's go, let's go, let's go" then she says go go go :), down, light, ball, door, toes, shoes, knee, bag, cat, tweet-tweet, quack-quack, tor-tor (tortoise), more, car, star, hair, shhhh (when Connor's sleeping - I first said to her "shhh, Connor's sleeping" and now she shushes us if anyone's sleeping), thank you (very rarely) and then others that only we know she's saying those words - elbow, balloon, belly button (all sounds like bo-bo but the intonation is different and she points so you know what she's saying). She also says "good girl". 30 words!
7. She is very affectionate and I love it. Wants kisses ALL the time and gives everybody (incl all the stuffed animals) hugs all the time. She hugs my leg while I'm talking to D or V, and then if I start patting her back, she pats my leg. Very cute.
8. Oh, and she can sing "baa baa black sheep" - it's all baa baa baa baa, but the music is correct :) I just say, "Kendra, sing" and off she goes.
9. We think her love language is words of affirmation because she LOVES it (beams) when we say, "good girl" (and of course, repeats it) or "clever girl". Too sweet!

Connor

1. Also getting VERY tall. When he's all stretched out in his cot at night, he looks about 3. One morning I went into their room and he suddenly looked like a big boy. I love them learning new things but I do want to keep them this cute stage forever.
2. He mainly wears 12 - 18 months on top and still wears some 6 - 12 months pants because he's gotten THIN. At 15 months he'd lost 160 g from 12 months and he's slimmed down some more because he's so active. It is very sad that he's starting to lose his babyness. At least he still has the gorgeous baby arms and hands.
3. Still in Pampers 4+. No problems with his nappies.
4. Also not walking unaided much. But he is brave and fearless and LOVES to walk while holding onto a finger. He will come to us over and over (poor thing) but his favourite thing is walking to Daddy. He squeals with delight when D grabs him and they laugh and have a good old time. Truth be told, I'm getting a little jealous because in the last few days, Daddy is Connor's favourite person on the planet. Everything is "Daddy, Daddy" and when I call him D, Connor and Kendra both repeat "D". Again, very cute.
5. Connor's words - Daddy, Mummy (again, I never hear him but I have to trust D and V), Nenna (for Kendra), no no no no no (our boy has very firm boundaries - Connor, can Kendra play with ______ now? NO NO NO NO NO. Okay then!), go go go (ALLLLLLL the time, he goes to the pram and says go go go, that means, "it's time for our walk" or in the mornings from his cot "go go go " which means "dress me, it's time to play"), tweet-tweet, quack-quack, there, star, car, door, hello, bub-bye (he loves saying bub-bye - it is so sweet in the mornings). They love "there" - they get it from me because I'll pick them up out of the cot/ high chair/ car seat, etc. and put them down and say, "there" and now they started doing it too. 13 words!
6. He loves the outside - the MINUTE I open the back door in the mornings he stands at the security gate and looks for birds, aeroplanes, etc. I must admit it's a trick I do when they start throwing a tantrum. I say, "shhh, can you hear the birds? Listen." They're forced to be quiet and listen and sometimes the birds oblige and tweet-tweet.
7. This boy's love language is quality time! We don't have to do anything with him - he plays next to me on the bed or in the study and is happy as a clam. He's been fussing trying to go to bed for a few nights and tonight I took him from his cot, we went to the lounge and just sat and chatted for a bit (5 mins) and then when I said, "okay, baby, time to go to bed now" he went to bed without a murmur.

They have lots of teeth too - 4 molars are out for each baby but not the incisors?

Sleeping is still good (I'm almost scared to write that after reading Cat's post today) but with summer here and it getting lighter earlier, they've been waking closer to the 5:30 mark than the 6:00 one. Then again, we are just so happy about them sleeping we don't CARE!

They are getting very independent with the eating. They'll have some food with us feeding and then they want to feed themselves.

On Sunday they had bread with peanut butter for supper followed by carrots for dessert (I'm not joking - our kids pop carrots like sweets! We go through 1 kg of carrots a week, just for them - see what happens when they learn the word "more"). They ate about half as finger food and then started fussing. I had a brainwave and cut the bread into tiny bits and used plastic baby forks to spear them. They LOVED it and happily ate the rest like that. I'm being kept on my toes!

Anyway, that's enough for an update. I still have a professional blog to write too.

This is why one should update every month instead of every 2 - 3 months as I seem to do. Sorry I'm a slacker!

Also, I thought Connor had like 3 words and now I see he's on track for his 18 months as Dr S said 5 - 10 words by 18 months. Kendra is a big old chatterbox

What's news on your side of the world?

P.S. Tomorrow I want to write about "perfect" mothers.

P.P.S. Hayley, yes, I'm from PE.

(In all the excitement about the triplets yesterday, I forgot it was the 2-year anniversary of me triggering at Rod Stewart's concert. Good times!)

The babies have super powers

I honestly think the babies have super powers.

Yesterday at the Toddler Sense seminar they spoke about feeding & sleeping problems, behaviour issues, etc. The babies clearly knew about the topics under discussion because they decided to test me this weekend.

As an aside, I went to visit a friend straight afterwards (the one we had the baby shower for) and her beautiful little boy.

How do some people manage to look utterly gorgeous two weeks after having a new baby?! The house was spotless, baby was sleeping through all our talking and all you could hear were the birds chirping ("tweet tweet" as Kendra would say) :)

When I got home, I was not feeling well at all as I had an upset tummy. I think it was something I ate.

Anyway, so I lay on the couch while the babies whizzed around the lounge, crawling, standing, cruising, coming to poke me and then off again. They like one of us to just BE there even if we're not actively doing anything with them.

I'd changed into shorts since it was 31.5 degrees (89 degrees Fahrenheit - I know, I felt like I was dying of the heat) and suddenly Kendra leans in and gives me a big bite on the thigh. I yelped and honestly, my first instinct was to bite her back.

"Oh gosh, what did the lady say about biting again????!!!"

So I grabbed her, lifted her so our faces were level and I said, "no, Kendra, no biting. We don't bite". I put her down gently and walked away to calm down.

After a few minutes, I was back on the couch.

As an aside, I can't remember the last time I just LAY on the couch, without doing a thing, no reading, no nothing.

So Kendra loves kissing.

I take all the blame because I taught the babies to kiss. Kissing is a very important part of our household :)

She usually kisses me, then kisses D, and if Connor's around, she leans in for a kiss with him too. Incidentally, he is only compliant with her kissing him, nobody else.

This time she leaned in for a kiss with Connor, he moved away because he didn't want to kiss (very unusual) and then she got cross so she leaned in and bit him on his lovely fleshy forearm.

Connor cried out and looked at me like, "are you going to LET her get away with that?!"

Oh no, I'm not.

So I tried the Toddler Sense thing again - this time I said NO to her and turned to Connor, making sure he's alright and gave him some extra kisses :)

That was yesterday.

Today both babies decided that eating is for the birds, Kendra more so than Connor.

She'd have a spoon or two and then shake her head vigorously when we approached with spoon 3. Connor ate about half what he normally does.

I was VERY Zen about it as I remembered the lady said toddlers can eat a bite of a sandwich, one grape, a bite of cheese and consider that a meal. Also it is VERY hot and while I'm not one of those people who loses their appetite when it's hot (as you can clearly see), I know some do. Who knows? Maybe my kids are like that?

I was like, "clearly you two aren't hungry" and started packing up the food.

D was so worried about them not eating enough that he peeled a carrot, sliced it into rounds and cooked it for Kendra. Kendra's favourite food is carrots. She probably has one every night with her supper. I also think it's weird but it's been happening for about 2 months now.

She ate about half the carrot and that was that.

So we wait and see. What will they try tomorrow?

This should be an interesting week. My study will be painted "whispering green" tomorrow - can't wait! I am basically up to date at work again so can finalise holiday plans! I also have some other work news.

What are you looking forward to this week?

Feeding toddlers

The second most expensive sandwich ever

Here's the most expensive sandwich :)

I’ve been asked about food by three people lately so I thought I’d do a post.

First, to answer Mandy’s question on yesterday’s post, when we go out, we only order one meal for the kids to share.

This is one of the best things about having twins – no wasted food!!!

I usually order a toasted cheese sandwich (I think some of you call it grilled cheese) which comes with a small portion of chips (French fries) and they share all of that.

It’s fantastic!

Finger food takes them longer to eat so we can actually eat our meal in relative peace.

On Saturday, they’d just had lunch at home when we left for the shopping centre so they weren’t starving and I only ordered extra toast with my meal for them. In retrospect, they polished it off and I had to order MORE extra toast so I may as well have ordered for them. Hmmm.

My goal with the babies has always been to have them eating the same type of things as we do.

We have cereals in the morning, sandwiches for lunch and a cooked meal for supper.

So they have cereals in the morning – these days maltabella (Purity babies’ version), oats, pronutro and yesterday we tried Weetbix.

I aim for sandwiches for lunch – toasted cheese, toast with avo, toast with cottage cheese, toast with peanut butter and since it’s been winter, homemade soup (my favourite, lentil and vegetable) and toast.

When I don’t have anything to put on the toast (sometimes I’m bad with making the shopping list), then they have cooked lunches and suppers.

And I also try any new food at lunch since I don’t want screaming kids at supper time!!!

I’m cooking more and more of their suppers the same as ours, except for curries as I’m not brave enough to give them anything spicy yet.

What I typically do is cook the meal, dish theirs out and then if I want to season some more, I’ll add more spices afterwards.

Things they’re loving at the moment are:

1. Chicken, butternut and rice

2. Lentils, butternut and rice (surprisingly, they absolutely LOVE this meal – I’m making more today since they polished off the last batch so quickly)

3. Chicken a la king and rice

4. Chicken, potatoes and veggies

5. Macaroni and cheese (my poor kids don’t know any different so they think mac and cheese normally has broccoli and cauliflower in the sauce J)

6. Tuna/ any fish with pasta or rice in a creamy sauce

7. Chicken strips (I stir-fry in a peanut butter sauce, no salt) with gem squash (they like this weird combo)

8. Cottage pie/ Shepherd’s pie

(My doctor told me I’m the only mother he knows whose kids eat lentils. My rule is they need to eat what I eat and I love lentils!)

Your turn.

What do you feed your kids for breakfast, lunch and supper?

P.S. Later today I finally have that appointment to get the mole on my back checked out. Wish me well...

P.P.S. I wanted to put a picture of food in this post but blogger is not co-operating so unfortunately you won't get to see the most expensive sandwich I've ever had! Can you guess where or how much?