MyTwintopia

If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll remember this post from May where I questioned the rationale behind jeans diapers. Well, shortly after that, the Babies R Us brand of jeans diapers were on sale for 15c per diaper (my cutoff) so I indulged in a little irrationality. It had it's cute moments, but I do think it was an overrated experience.

Last week I got an email from Babies R Us with an ad for the latest in diapers. The Santa diapers! I wish I could go on a cynical rant about this but, I LOVE Christmas too much for that. I'm the person that plays Christmas carols all year long. So where is this blog post going?
I wish to formally inform you that I'll be on the queue to buy some Santa diapers. I can't help myself. I intend to live in and fully enjoy those 5 minutes of insanity when I fork out 36c for each Santa diaper.

What can I say? This mama loves Christmas.

PS: In case you want to join me on my bandwagon, the diapers are currently available …

Thing about kids is they bring out the budding photographer in mama (sometimes NOT but most times they do). It is imperative that they have "good" pictures as a record of their baby life. 12 months is over so fast. Here's my list of ten photos every child should have before their first birthday The butt-naked, bun-fresh-from-the-oven hospital pictureThe face smeared with baby foodThe mummy-loves-me: cupping baby's head with open palm while said head is tenderly resting on mummy's head or shoulder (drool-free if you please)The tutu and pearls - may be shirtlessTaking first steps with arms outstretchedThe smile that shows off a mouthful of two teethDressed as Santa - Not really necessary but I love a baby in a Santa suitThe bathtub poseThe cute sleeping baby photoThe first birthday - preferably involving smashed cake clutched in tiny grubby hands I already missed the bus on a few of these, but I look forward to making up for lost opportunities. I've started build…

"What's yours is mine; what's mine you cannot have" seems to be Sugar's mantra these days. Its all been cute to watch - the little squabbles, the kidnapping of pacis etc. However, cute on a 7 month old is becoming concerning on a 10 month old.

In all these activities, Sugar has usually been the aggressor and apparently she's started doing that with the other babies in daycare. If she wants a toy, she goes for it. Even if it's in the hands of a 22lb baby (please note that said aggressor is currently 25th percentile for weight). I believe that it's time for some intervention.

First step is diversion of interest. Its fairly easy to know when Sugar has decided to go for something. Her gaze gets intense and she barrels towards it with stone-faced determination and laser focus. This is where the adults step in and redirect her attention to something else. It takes 3 or 4 interruptions to distract her and sometimes it ends with her playing happily and someti…

Devil's in the Details
So as a follow-up to yesterday's post, here's the special little details that make the brands stand out. I know today's not Wednesday but please bear with me :)  When possible, I tried to buy 2 of each bodysuit, one white and one colored and here's how it worked out

BabyGap
Weight range: 17-22lbs
Age rangeL: 6-12 months
Height range: 27-29 inches
Price range: $6-8 on the clearance aisle
Availability: There's plenty of Gap stores to go around
First impressions: Soft to touch. 
After first wash: The white looked a little shabby but it kept it's shape

Old Navy
Weight range: Not marked
Age rangeL: 6-12 months
Height range: Not marked
Price range: $4-8 on the clearance aisle(I don't see how Old Navy is the cheaper brother to Gap but almost as expensive at a lower quality)
Availability: Old Navy outlets are easier to locate in strip malls.
First impressions: Material felt thin on the packaged bodysuits.
After first wash: Good

The Children's Place
W…

A while back, I must have alluded to the fact that we'll be moving soon. I've been expecting this all year and figured that by now, we'll have relocated from Houston, Texas to Calgary, Alberta (I'll give you a quick moment to process the weather difference). Moving on... In anticipation of this move, I bought most of the 9-12month clothes for the girls at the end of winter sales earlier on in the year and ended up with a box full of long-sleeve tees, sweaters and even a very cute bunting and puffy jacket. Well guess which family is still in 101degF Houston with 10 month old twin girls? *Points at self sheepishly*

As the girls still wear only bodysuits to daycare due to the Texas heat, I had to rush out and buy a few in 12M size to tide us through till move date. I used that opportunity to once again investigate the different clothing brands. Since we'll be moving from changing clothe sizes every 3 months to every 6 months, I wanted to know which brands will stand up…

For the last 9 months, the girls have spent their nights in all shades of Carters sleepers and in the process, I've learnt a thing or two.

The sleepers come in 3 materials viz

Knit cotton sleepers - Made from 100% cotton and easily the lightest and most breathable of all the Carters sleepers. Colors fade easily. Shrinks the most. More often than not, it's my primary indication of when to move the not-so-baby-anymore babies to the next dress size. Available in flame-retarding

Microfleece sleepers - These are 100% polyester and also the softest and warmest of the 3 materials. They retain their color quite well and are great holiday clothing (We're already wearing our christmas and snowman sleeper thanks to mommy not realizing that the girls will be 13 months in December and not 12 months). The main negative that these sleepers have is that they seem to retain stains and smells. I just had 4 come out of the dryer smelling like a used overnight diaper. Also available in flame-ret…

10 month old babies = 2 month from first birthday  = PANIC!

I still don't have a plan for our birthday. In the interim, here are our stats


SpIce aka Twin A Weight: 18lbs (Either my scale is broken or this kid is actually losing weight) Dress size: 9 - 12months but can still fit comfortably into some of the 9m clothes
Diaper size: Size 3 

Sugar aka Twin B
Weight: 17lbs 5oz (gained 5oz) Dress size: 9 - 12 months
Diaper size: Size 3


Schedule
The girls have pushed their early morning bottle to around 6:30am. Breakfast is  still 4oz of solids at 8:30am in the daycare. Lunch is 7oz bottle of formula followed by 3 oz of solids around noon. Afternoon snack is a 7oz bottle at 3:30 PM and dinner is 7oz bottle plus 2 oz solids or finger foods at 6:30pm. Bedtime is 7:30pm

Yogurt has been causing copious amounts of spit-up lately. I don't know if it a milk-sensitivity issue or I just got a bad batch of yogurt. Either way, I can't afford for the girls to be spitting up the few calories they are …

Yesterday, I found myself in the position of revisiting my opinion on the daycare versus nanny issue. When I made the decision to choose daycare over a nanny, some of my considerations were It's safer to leave 2 babies with a group of adults rather than 1 adultI was planning on moving and wasn't in a position to offer anyone a long-term nanny contract The babies were young infants and required more attentive care In making my decision, I didn't have any insight to how a daycare can affect kids, but now I do. I still love the daycare we use but I now realise that no daycare can offer everyday stability to children. The staff turnover will not allow it.

Even though the head teachers in my babies' room has been with the center for 5 to 13 years, there are still a few temps working in the infant room. This creates an unstable environment; and I'm sad to say that from the babies' mood in the evenings when I pick them up, I can tell if there's been a major change t…

As a twin parent, shopping for the perfect diaper bag for twins is a requirement to having successful family outings. I have used a few different bags with my twins and believe that I found the best diaper bag to use with my twins and by best, I mean cute AND functional. 

I want to share some recommendations based on my experience. Most of these bags will work for parents of twins and triplets who'll find themselves needing to move around with a lot of stuff.


Designer Diaper Bags for Twins
Nowadays, (especially with the increase in celebrity twin parents) there are a lot of designer brands making spacious diaper bags for twins including Coach, Ju-Ju-Be and Petunia Pickle Bottom. Initially, I wanted a stylishly cool diaper bag that screamed "I'm not just a mommy" and I narrowed down to this pretty little Oioi number. It's deliciously stylish but a little small for all the junk important stuff you need to carry around with twins. 



Practical Twin Diaper BagsHowever, the…

I know it's not obvious from the list of toys that we have, but I actually prefer to buy toys that are not battery-operated. I also do not like toys with a strong plasticky, cheap feel. Since our daycare is a Montessori-based center, they seem to have a similar policy and I like most of the toys they have and so do the girls

Whenever I go to Babies R Us or Toys R Us to shop for toys, I leave the store fuming and having an internal rant with myself. I find there's a scarcity of infant toys on their shelves (Target and Walmart are also guilty of this) and the few toys there are either el cheapo plastic or lights-sounds-and-batteries galore. I do sometime buy them, but I find that the toys that most fit my criteria are easier to find online. 

The one online store that has stood out for me in the educational, non-flashy toy department is Kaplan Early Learning. I find that most of the daycare toys that I want to buy are available in their baby catalog. The catalog can be sorted by ag…

Well, actually it's our favorite toys at nine and a half months. Not in any particular order, the top ten faves are

Links - The oldie but goodieSkwish - so named because it makes a skwish sound I'm guessing. This is my toy of choice for when we're going out and I don't want a battery-powered noisemakerSpin Ball - This is a daycare toy that's on my to-buy list. Whenever I drop them in the mornings, Sugar makes a beeline for thisFish - This is Spice's favorite daycare toy. She just sits there and chomps away with her two gorgeous teethMini Orchestra - Another daycare toy that they liked so much, I purchased for home useLe Tambor - Our bilingual drum. More often than not, it's speaking spanish :). I've actually learnt 1,2,3 in spanish from this drum.Shaped blocks - They haven't figured out the whole fits-square-block-in-square-hole thing but they love chewing on these and banging them togetherMusical Table- I saw this in a picture Megan had on her blog …

On a lot of my google searches, BabyGizmo always showed up but I never clicked. All that changed when my sister told me about "unboxing" videos on youtube. These are videos of people open the box of some stuff for the first time and talking about what's in the box etc

Cue when it was time for me to buy my double stroller. I test drove it in the store and liked it. However, I was very pregnant then and not interested in seeing how it easy or difficult it was to fold. But I needed to know before making a purchase. So I searched youtube for a video review of the stroller and sure enough, a babygizmo video came up. By the end of the video, I was pretty sure I could accommodate the stroller.

BabyGizmo is owned and run by Hollie Schultz and their youtube channel is an invaluable resource. As I do majority of my shopping online, watching the video reviews help me get a good visual on what I'm buying.

I was in no way compensated for this post but I just want you to know that I…