Bean Sprouts: 10 Months

Before I dive into the last month of the twins’ lives, I just want to give a big hug and thank you to you all for your sweet words of congratulations on the upcoming number three!  It’s such a joy to be surrounded by people who love life rather than those like the dude in Wal-Mart who, after seeing the twins and asking if they were in fact “twins?”, told me “You better not have anymore!”  I got the pleasure of telling him that we were in fact expecting our third around Christmas to which he mumbled something and gave me a raise of the eyebrow.  I just gave him a smug smile and went about my merry, hands-full way.  :)

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So, it’s been 10 months since the birth of the two we once thought was just one.  Actually, we’re coming up on 11 months and momma over here is a little late on her posts.  We’ll blame it on the lack ‘o motivation that is known in this household as first trimester laziness.

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[In case you didn’t notice, the only ham in this house resides in the fridge.]

Both girls are crawling, crawling, crawling and are now more interested in any room other than the room where all of their colorful toys live…the rooms that have bookcases, drawers, and lots of other things that really aren’t “child-proof” yet.  We really, really have to get on that.  Can anyone recommend some child-proofing gadgets for drawers and doors by the way?  We haven’t the faintest idea.

Seraphia:
Her new thing is to point or just throw out an arm with an open hand just for kicks.  She did it this morning circa 4:30 when she just needed to be out of her crib and she does it at other random points throughout the day.  We haven’t the faintest clue what she means by it but it sure is funny bordering weird.  She learned how to say “mama” two days before Mothers’ Day which melted my heart into a little red puddle but has since forgotten…  Compared to her courageous sister she’s, as Anthony says, a “little wuss”.  She’ll pull herself up on her knees but to her feet she wouldn’t dare.  She’s very careful to keep herself safe at all costs, which I guess is good for me.  She’s very sensitive and if she’s in any sort of foul mood, Cecilia just touching her will set her off into a fit of tears.  She listens when I tell her “no no” and immediately seeks out some other form of entertainment than the forbidden but only after letting me know her feelings were hurt.  She’s still the runt of the two, with my narrow profile and crazy long legs.
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Cecilia:
She celebrated her 10 month birthday by cutting her first tooth.  It’s still her only tooth to date.  She’s my little cuddler.  She loves to cuddle with mommy and she’s very much a momma’s girl.  She’s a wild child though with frequent outbursts of loud noises and a care-free attitude which leads her to crawl wherever she pleases.  It doesn’t matter how stable the object she’s holding to stand, she’s determined to pull herself up on it.  Once again, we really need to child-proof.  She sings/yells to the tune of Scuttle on The Little Mermaid.  Heard it?  It’s ear-wrenching but cute all at once.  We’re pretty sure baby tylenol has the same effect as a large dose of sugar on her because it sends her to the moon and back, giggling all the way.  She eats almost anything I try to put in her mouth except avocado.  Her and S have no taste for those healthy things.
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Both girls are now eating almost anything, which means that our lives are so much easier in the feeding department because they can eat minced versions of whatever we’re eating and on top of that, they’ve learned to pick up their own bits of food and feed themselves.  I’m still nursing them three times a day and we’ve starting supplementing with formula at night due to the depletion of milk the bean in the oven has brought on.  Cloth diapering has saved us roughly $900 to date (and that’s based on the price of Target generics)…holy wow…and I haven’t the faintest how much making our own baby food has saved us but it’s probably not quite that much.

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If you stopped by, this is what our living room would probably look like these days:
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and last week both girls wreaked havoc in our closet among my shoes, belts, and purging pile:
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I have yet to clean up from their little excursion.

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[Quick!  Look the other way and maybe she won’t know we did that.]

Speaking of things I still have to do, the dresser is going two-tone as soon as I can build up some energy and spend a nap time not napping with the tots.  Also on the list are the coffee table going ottoman, two gallery walls, and a ton of pillow covers that need to be sewn for the living room.  Here’s to hoping that “nesting” thing kicks in soonish.

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Surprise, Surprise…

…for you and us.

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We’re well on our way to owning a bus.

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With one in the womb, three it will be;

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a lady or gent for S and C.

 

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What will we do with three under two?  Racking our brains, we have not a clue.  It’s sure to be fun and maybe a little (or a lot) crazy but ready or not, in December we’ll have ourselves a new little bebe!

 

God is so good!  :)

What I Wore Sunday – Choosing Sides

   I bought this shirt from Goodwill many suns ago and finally got around to fitting it to me this past weekend, just in time to wear it to Mass yesterday.  I loved the colors, the fact that it was reversible, and the super-nice fabric.  I wasn’t in love with how beeeg it was:photo (8)

So, I took out one of my fave fitted tops, traced it onto my blue/green number, put a straight stitch along the dotted line and a zig zag next to that for extra stability, and cut off the extra fabric with a pinking shears.
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Unfortunately, I had to rob it of it’s reversible quality because I’m simply not good enough to know how to take it in to keep it that way.  So, since I already had the above green top, blue it was. 

Here’s how I wore it yesterday:
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[Just call me Squints Under Cloudy Sky]
My photographer told me I’m an awkward picture taker…touche.  He also batted away my idea to picture-take with the fence as the background suggesting our vehicles would be a much better backdrop (also meaning he had to take less steps to humor his crazy wife by taking her picture to put on the www)… 

Top:  Goodwill $2
Necklace:  Ebay $8!!!!! (search “statement necklace” and China will come to your beck ‘n call)
Skinnies:  Target $7
Peep Wedges:  Consignment Store $5
A whole outfit for $22…not bad, not bad at all.

Putting up my link over at Fine Linen and Purple.  Lots more over there!

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I’ll be back later this week with a 10 month update on two little crazies and a two-tone dresser…and maybe something else…you’ll just have to come see.  :)

Two-Tone or No-Tone

Hey everybody!  I need your opinion!  I’ve mentioned before that I’d really like to do something to the dresser/buffet in the girls’ room but that I couldn’t decide what – paint it?  sand and re-stain it? ? ? ?  Well, then one day a month ago I came across this Pinteresting picture of a two-tone dresser and a big light bulb went off upstairs:
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(Image originally from here.)

So my question is, should I or shouldn’t I?
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Anthony thinks it would be too much white (it’s a running theme with him) but I think if I whipped up a colorful changing pad cover and maybe added more color to the lampshade, it’d be just smashing.  I’m not a huge fan of the scroll work on the dresser doors anyway so I think it’d be a great way to disguise that a little too.  What do you think??!!  Take some white paint to the doors and drawers or trash the idea and think of something else? 

To help you decided, here’s a couple of pixlr-ed mock-ups:
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I know it’s not the best photomagic, but if you really squint, I think you’ll get the idea.  >:)

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So then while I was digitally outlining the drawers to be colored in, I accidentally ran into this idea – just painting a thin white stripe around the perimeter of the doors/drawers.  Adding another option to the list…
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Please!  I need your opinion!  Leave it in the comments below, on our Facebook page, or on the Instagram post (username:  beaninlove) that I’m posting this very second!!  The dresser’s fate is up to you!

Fill ‘Er Up

I got all of the frames in the nursery collage filled – out with the generics!  To see how I hung the collage, click here.

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It didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned…I feel like all of my projects have little hiccups these days.  The girls in the pea pod picture was supposed to be an 8 x 10 but when I saved it way back when, I saved the file smaller than I intended (so sad considering it’s the only copy I have) and the largest I could print without it being super-blurry was a 5 x 7.  I didn’t plan on having to mat it considering the size I wanted it so I simply placed it over a white piece of copy paper I cut to size. 

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The little square frames on both sides hold ultrasound pictures of both girls, the one on the left is a picture of the tops of their heads together and the one on the right is the first ultrasound we got that told us we were going to have our hands (and hearts) full with twins!  I used pixlr.com to put a pink filter over them and was planning on lightening them just a little but forgot.  The frame on the far left is the one I tried coffee staining and holds these foot-printed buttons we got from the hospital after the girls were born:nurserycollagedeets 003

I took out the frame glass, wrapped some leftover fabric around the backing, and used some washable tacky glue to glue the buttons to the fabric (I accidentally glued Cecilia’s feet on backwards…oops!  Good thing it’s washable glue!) wrapnglue

I used this free printable in the octagonal frame, another one of my hiccups.  Since we were out of ink, I printed all of the pictures out at Wal-Mart.  The word art downloaded as a .pdf file and so I had to use some online service to convert it to a .jpeg and after it’s conversion, the background color was a little more green and darker than it’s .pdf version…hmph.  Then I assumed that it’d fill the frame as an 8 x 10 but I was wrong (always check before you print…duh).  I had to extend the existing mat (which I spray painted white) with some more copy paper to make up for the size difference.  It’s not my fave.  I might swap it out for my own painted rendition one of these days.

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Even with the minor issues though, I do love it.  The best part is that the whole thing only cost me about $6 in picture printing and $3 for the octagonal frame (thrifted).  The other frames and cross were either gifts or hand-me-downs.  The collage is hung high enough that the girls can’t reach it while being changed and once potty-training has commenced and the changing pad goes away, I can always add to it.  For now, it’s one more thing checked off the nursery to-do list.

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This and the mint wall in the kitchen are the two out of four tasks I completed after last week’s coffee-induced motivation.  I’ll be back sometime this week to dish on the other two.  I’m going to need some input so please come back and give me yours!