on feeding twins: breast vs. bottle

Since most of the books I've read about twins are written by parents of one set of twins, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that I might be some kind of twins expert since I have two sets (something I still can't quite believe.) Being a twins expert could not be farther from the truth, most of the time I feel COMPLETELY lost. But something I've discovered that has been quite surprising to me is that exclusively breastfeeding twins (incl. the occasional expressed bottle) has been much easier than bottle feeding them.
Caleb and Julian bottle fed full-time, and I exclusively breast feed Jack and Christian so I have a good basis for comparison. I think the thing about breastfeeding is that it saves soooo much time. Not only can I just pop the guys on the breast without worrying about preparing formula, buying formula, washing bottles, clearing bottles, buying new bottles etc. (we haven't spent one dollar on formula so far) but I can also feed the babies at the same time with a special pillow, something I was never able to safely do with bottle feeding.
Not only is it easier for me, but it's way easier for Ian. He barely has to do anything when it comes to feeding, so he can help out in other ways.
I have to say, breastfeeding wasn't easier at first. We had to work through some latching kinks, and going out is a bit tricky. I always have to pump at some point if I leave, so that's a drag. Also, I was really worried that I wasn't making enough milk. But I took care not to give any formula bottles and my milk supply has kept up.
We're three months into this now and so far everything is going swimmingly. It's thanksgiving season, and while I realize this doesn't work for everybody, its works for me and this is something I am so grateful for.

Holidays are so much funner with little kids

In the intervening years between marriage and having kids, Ian and I often went through fun-lacking periods, especially around the holidays. When you're single it seems there are no shortage of amazing, fun & free activities and everyone is motivated to go because they're trying to get paired off. But once we graduated from that scene it's been a little more hard-y to party. Don't get me wrong, we still have enjoyed some rockin times, but too often find ourselves in the movies or dinners or movies or dinners cycle.


So... after 10 years of marriage, Ian and I found the answer to the best kind of fun around: having kids! Suddenly there are no shortage of super fun things to do: Pumpkin Patch, Dickens Christmas Faire, Children's Garden, etc. With kids, anything and everything is fun. Actually fun doesn't say it all, it's imbued with this sort of magical quality as well. Our kids got so excited for Hallowe'en, even Fall is way funner. Without kids they're just a pile of leaves I don't notice, with kids they're... a trampoline. We got out Grandma's old Christmas train, the one she used to put around the tree, and Caleb and Julian and their cousin Liam loved it. It's inspiring me to crack open all sorts of Christmas fun I wouldn't have thought about: advent calendars, Christmas baskets, Santa photos, cookies with Grandma's old ornaments, carols around the piano... goodies goodies goodies. I can't wait!!z

the Mouthes of Babes

Christian

Christian

Jack

Jack

A friend of mine told me that you can tell when your baby is really smiling (as opposed to those first drunken-looking gas smiles) when their eyes smile with their lips. Since this is our second time seeing our children through the 'baby phase' we've learned that we can expect certain delights. One of the best ones is having first conversations with our little ones as they coo and smile with us. It is such a delight- I can't believe how much joy we experience with our babies! Despite the exhaustion and mounds of diapers, this really is a very precious time.

Pumpkins Pumpkins Pumpkins

After I shopped the fun Hallowe'en deals at Party City, I decided it was time to dismantle 'Piggy Pumpkin' ie. Mr. Potato Head. Since we didn't cut the pumpkin open it didn't grow mould within 5 minutes the way that it usually does in these here parts, so we decided to cook it and eat it. After baking, scraping and pureeing it, boy was I ever underestimating how many gallons of pumpkin flesh we'd have to work with! I've already made a whole bunch of delicious pies from the Better Homes and Gardens October cover (they always taste better with fresh instead of canned pumpkin) with the help of the boys, and the other day they helped me wash seeds and make a monster batch of cookies that we were forced to bake as muffins because we have so stinking much of it. They are delicious, and much better as muffins. I was surprised at how fun it was to have the boys help me. Slow, messy with crazy sticky fingers, faces, and backs (don't ask me how that happened) but really fun and voila- a whole afternoon's worth of activities taken care of. They really dug it too, and it was fun to kiss all that batter off their faces!

It's the Great Pumpkin!

Halloween was SO MUCH FUN this year! Caleb and Julian proved old enough to get excited about the holiday, and as we indulged their interest we wound up having a great time too. We went out to Faulkner Farms with the whole gang. It was a long drive (about 1hr.10min) and as soon as we got there I was inwardly chastising us for being so ambitious with our outing choices. But as soon as Julian saw all the pumpkins his eyes lit up and he said 'Pumpkin Patch!' Just seeing how happy he was made everything worth it. They had a great time at the petting zoo and hay maze- we'll do the train ride and hay rides next year. It was the first time we took our quad stroller out in public and it felt like we couldn't go more than 2 ft. without getting stopped by somebody. Ian says that people are watching us more closely so we can use it as an excuse to behave ourselves ;) The boys went trick or treating at their school and our ward's trunk or treat and had a blast. Jack and Christian just went with the flow, I made sure that we got studio pictures of their costumes- I think little kids in Hallowe'en costumes are the BEST EVER! Hooray for Hallowe'en!