Mama Moments: That Hurt Mama More

When I decided to become a parent, nothing could have prepared me for just about everything that has to do with being a parent. If you think it stops at simply raising a child to be the best that they can be -- you're wrong! And what's more is that you'll never understand until you bring a tiny little life into the world.

Today it struck me a little hard that now, for the rest of my life, I will not just be worried about the potential harm coming my way, to my mind or to my body. I have two daughters to think about now, too. Every little bit of pain they feel, I feel too. It's almost overwhelming to even think about pain they have experienced or that they will experience in the future.

I accidentally clipped not one but two of Squishie's fingers this morning while I was trying to trim her nails. I have done this to Tiny before but even though it made her bleed a little she didn't mind at all. However this morning Squishie did cry out and had a few tears. It was unbearable to me! And then -- I accidentally did it AGAIN! After that I quit. I can't help but feel so guilty. Of course she only cried for a few seconds before reaching for a toy and forgetting it completely. But the sadness has stuck with me. I don't want my baby to hurt, ever. There is so much truth to the often-said phrase, "That hurt mama more than it hurt baby!"

We will never be able to protect our children from everything. It can be so easy to live in fear of the things that will hurt them far more than nail clippers. Even when I look back to my dating days, it enrages me to think that some day my daughters' hearts will be broken by boys! But such is life. I just need to make sure they know I will be there for them always.

Growing Green: SodaStream

I got this for Christmas... A SodaStream!



Now I can make all my own soda. As a soda addict I am enthusiastic about this because it's much better than store-bought soda for a couple of reasons:

It's green.
Reusable bottles and no electricity required. This means significantly less waste and I don't have another appliance that needs to be plugged in to operate.

It's healthier.
I can still get my fizzy fix without high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or aspartame. Many drinks on the shelves these days use HFCS as the sweetening agent. It's very damaging to tooth enamel and has been linked to various health issues. Granted, too much sugar period isn't a good thing, but you want to especially avoid HFCS and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (found in "diet" or "low/zero calorie" variations). SodaStream mixes do not contain either of these.

It's less expensive.
After the initial investment the only costs you'll have are soda syrup and carbonating cartriges. Based on how much we spend monthly on beverages, it won't take long before we start seeing a huge savings. Plus I'm already ahead since I received my SodaStream for Christmas and didn't have to buy it or a starter kit :)

It's fun and tastes great.
I love injecting bubbles into my drinks haha! All the flavors I've tried so far are very close to the taste of leading beverage brands. I'm rather excited about the "ENERGY" flavor - which is very comparible to Red Bull.

Read more about the SodaStream by visiting their website.

Growing Green: Switching to Eco-friendly Household Products

I have decided that I'm going to slowly transition as many items in the house as possible to healthier, eco-friendly and/or biodegradable products. These types of products are becoming much more readily available and at very decent prices too. Wal-Mart and Target carry plenty of eco-friendly products at reasonable prices.

First I must issue a fair warning. No matter what the big print says - "Organic", "Eco-friendly", "Natural", what have you - READ YOUR LABELS! I have a couple rules of thumb... first of all, I look for limited ingredient products. Simple and safe. Second, I review each ingredient thoroughly and try my hardest to steer clear of anything I can't pronouce. Avoid parabens, sulfates, additives, and preservatives.

If you are more concerned with environmental impact, obviously just stick to things made from recycled materials and/or can be recycled, and look for biodegradable products. Do your research on certain products or ingredients you may want to avoid. One ingredient I try my hardest to avoid is PALM OIL. They destroy rainforests to grow palm trees because there is a huge demand for palm oil. It is found in a lot of cosmetics and some food items such as pudding snacks. It's just an example of something I know has a negative impact on the world so I try not to support it by purchasing products that use it.

Here is an article regarding food additives and dyes that should probably be avoided: Which Food Additives Make Children Behave Badly.

That's helpful as far as food goes but I'm looking at the big picture too, to reduce our carbon footprint. Here are the items I've switched over to in recent weeks, as my supply of the previous products has run out:

1) Carefresh Healthy Pet Cracked Pine Litter
This kitty litter clumps and is flushable and biodegradable. At $12.99 for 15lb, it's not that much more expensive than the clumping clay litter I usually buy. It's also dust free and will be softer and healthier for my cat.

2) Earth Friendly Products Dishmate (Grapefruit)
Earth Friendly is quickly becoming my favorite line of affordable biodegradable products. A 2-pack of these is $7.40 and it is readily available in many grocery stores. They are limited ingredient too - Water, Coconut oil surfactants, and Grapefruit oil (for scent in this case). Can't get any better than that!

3) Earth Friendly Products Ecos Liquid Laundry Detergent
Another resonably priced biodegradable product by Earth Friendly. I use the free-and-clear version. To save even more, I have adopted the method of using about 1/3 the amount of soap that the manufacturers usually suggest. My laundry is still as fresh and clean as it ever was.

4) Full Circle Be Good Dish Brush
Made from bamboo and recycled plastic, I bought this brush for $4 to replace my dish brush that was getting old and dingy anyhow. Full Circle products are very reasonably priced and I will be looking into them from now on when I need a new cleaning tool.

5) Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap
These castile soap products have been a favorite of mine for a while now. I use them everywhere. I have Peppermint, Orange, and Lavender. Most recently I have discovered that 1 part castile soap and 3 parts water make a great refill for my foaming soap dispensers. The lavender will also make a great baby wash once I finish my California Baby. The best thing about Dr. Bronner's is it's cheap! A large bottle of the ultra-concentrated soap will last me months. If you have a cleaning need, whether it's face wash or scrubbing pots and pans or laundry... it's likely castile soap will be of use to you. You can google huge lists of ideas on how to use it.

6) Florida Crystals Organic Cane Sugar
I switched to organic natural cane sugar for about a buck more than I'd pay for regular sugar.

Basically, if I need to restock or replace something at home, I now always explore my eco-friendly options before automatically just grabbing what I used to use. It isn't always cost effective so I can't switch everything, but I'm doing my best with what I can. I have found that it's a lot easier to replace everything slowly as my old products run out. This way I'm not being unnecessarily wasteful and I can spread the (minor) extra cost out.

STTN Again

The babies (or Squishie, in particular) have been STTN (sleeping through the night) again. I think they went through a 4-month "phase" and a change in sleeping patterns caused them to rouse more often in the night.

Needless to say I'm very happy that one of them isn't waking up every 1.5 hours now!

A mama I respect and admire told me that she believes STTN has to do with good sleeping habits and not so much the fact that they're "ready" for solids. I got so desperate I began trying everything! I have been resorting to crying-it-out but I'll admit, I'm uncomfortable with that and I feel like a very un-nuturing mother when I let them cry. I'm not saying that parents who choose this method are not nuturing. I'm just admitting how it made me feel. I don't think it's going to work for me much longer, and I'll only use it when I absolutely need a break.

I've decided to take a more aggressive role in soothing them to sleep for naptime and at bedtime. So far all I can think to do (and the only thing that works) is nursing them until they're sleepy enough to go down.

The "Santa Issue"

It's so exciting to get in the spirit of the holiday season this year. Since it is the first for the twins, I feel like there's some kind of new magic in the air. Everything is a little more happy.

Papa and I were pondering last night about how we would handle the "Santa issue". We were both raised believing that Santa brought gifts to us if we behaved. When we were old enough to realize that Santa wasn't real, it wasn't traumatic at all. For me it was more like an "Oh. That makes sense" moment.

We talked and decided we'd still like the magic of Santa along with the Christmas season, but will put a little more emphasis on the Christian aspect of the holiday so that our girls understand that it is more than a day that you receive gifts. We also feel it is very important that they understand that the gifts they receive come not from someone imaginary, but from friends and family who love them, and who work hard to put those presents under the tree for them.

To us, Christmas isn't about being good so that you don't end up on Santa's naughty list. It's about time with family, being thankful for what we have, and enjoying Christmas spirit. There isn't anything like a snowy Christmas day, hot chocolate, apple cider, and peppermint mochas. Like sitting by the fireplace and Christmas tree just enjoying each other's company while listening to holiday music. I want my daughters to savor those moments like we do, and understand how blessed we are.

Blog Design: Thank you, Wintersmith Creative

So I have consulted the designers of Wintersmith Creative to help me out with a blog banner and logo. Depending on the traffic I receive over the next few months, I may just have them dazzle up the entire page.

Feel free to visit them:



They would be happy to assist you with your graphic design needs.

On The Menu: Sweet Potato Sticks

All you need to make Sweet Potato Sticks is one small-medium sweet potato, a cutting knife, a peeler, a small or medium saucepan and something to stir the cooking potato pieces with!



I started by peeling the sweet potato and chopping it into little sticks while waiting for some water to come to a boil on the stove.



Once the water came to a rolling boil I placed the pieces into the water and cooked them for approx 15-20 minutes. You want to keep an eye on them and stir frequently. We are looking for VERY soft potatoes that still keep the stick-shape. Tricky! To test them, I pulled out the thickest piece and would "bite" into it with my lips. If I could easily remove a chunk this way, I knew my babies wouldn't have trouble squishing it with their gums.



The finished product... that's a lot of sticks!



Storing it all. This stuff came in my Baby Bullet kit (except for the couple of leftover Beech Nut jars on the right). Each Baby Bullet "Happy Face" gets two sticks, one for each baby per feeding is quite enough for the time being. Each of the compartments in the yellow container holds 4-5 sticks for freezing. And I put the leftover, not-very-stick-like pieces in the Beech Nut jars as treats for my pets. I ate quite a few pieces myself while storing everything away... ha!

There you have it! Perfect for grasping and squishing to feel the texture and play a little... but soft enough that baby can mush it in her mouth and swallow a bit if she likes. Super tasty, highly nutritious!

Whoops! Maybe we aren't ready...

So after a week of feeding brown rice cereal to the girls, I have come to the conclusion that they aren't ready for solids. I felt that maybe since Squishie wasn't sleeping well at night any more, she was ready. But two things have made me reconsider... first of all, she seemed to be sleeping better for a couple of nights (and by better I mean still waking twice a night instead of 3-4 times, after they had been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks) but went right back to waking just as often. Secondly, I came across some research on baby sleeping patterns that has convinced me she's just going through a big change with that, and needs me more often because of it.

We've had our bad days and our good ones with the rice cereal, but I think overall they may benefit from waiting a bit longer. In the meantime, since I'm already on this food making kick (haha), I've decided it certainly can't hurt to install some baby-led weaning techniques and see where that takes us.

Instead of making sweet potato puree, I switched it up a bit and made sweet potato sticks instead. Soft enough for mashing between fingers and gums, but easy to grab and wave around. This way the babies can enjoy the texture of it in their hands and put it in their mouths when they want.

Since they are both just a tad behind in motor skills for their age, I'll still be using a spoon to help out here and there, or help place food in their hands rather than waiting for them to grab it all the time.

On The Menu: Sweet Potato Puree

We have been giving the babies their homemade brown rice cereal for the past week, usually once a day but sometimes twice! As expected, most of it comes right back out. They do have better sittings where I feel like a lot of it is going down the hatch.

It's important to remember: "FOOD IS FUN UNTIL THEY'RE ONE!"

I have received some pressure (mostly just "comments" really) that I need to feed the babies when they're hungry instead of right after breastfeeding... but my personal plan is NOT to wean them at this time. An infant's main nutrition needs to come from breastmilk or formula until they are approximately 1 year old. Anything else is considered extra. This is why I only feed them solids immediately after breastfeeding. This way, my supply isn't hurt, and there is no pressure to get in a "full meal" of solids. My kids are only almost 5 months old for crying out loud and don't even have teeth. How can I expect them to get any kind of proper nutrition from solids? I can't.

I am going to be "test-driving" new foods for an entire week before introducing a new one. This way their bellies have time to adjust and if any kind of allergic reaction happens, we'll know exactly what caused it.

This week I'll be making...

Sweet Potato Puree

1 sweet potato (I went with a smallish one) - will yield approx 20 oz of baby food
1 cup of water

Boil or steam the sweet potato until very soft. Blend the sweet potato with the water until desired consistency is achieved. You can always add more water to thin it out, whether to the blender or when serving.

I wanted to try bananas but I realized I had none... however I did have that sweet potato, haha! It's all about working with what you have sometimes. Bananas will probably come next week.

By the way, Squishie and Tiny are getting better at grasping stuff and bringing it to their mouths. I might just try some baby-led weaning techniques soon!

Reading up on "Baby Signs"

The kiddos are almost 5 months old and Papa and I have decided that we will attempt signing with them. We think this will be a good way to communicate with our babies until they can talk.

For those worried that signing with their young ones will hurt their development, take these points into consideration.

1) All babies sign naturally... we just don't always realize it.
2) When you wave goodbye or hello, or shake your head when saying yes or no... you're signing!
3) It is important to SPEAK to your child while signing.
4) To say you are afraid that your child will not speak after learning to sign is like saying you are afraid your child will not walk after learning to crawl. It is a natural transition.

The babies may not understand signs or begin to sign back until they are around 9-12 months old or so, but I have begun signing now because I need to develop the habit and learn the vocabulary.

Here are my resources:

1) The book "Baby Signs" by Linda Acredolo PhD and Susan Goodwyn PhD.
2) A set of flash cards called "Sign Language for Babies" from the publishers of Parenting Magazine.
2) An iPhone application called "My Smart Hands". Read more about it here: http://www.mysmarthands.com/Site/Baby_Sign_Language.html

I hope our journey with signing is both fun and rewarding.

On The Menu: Homemade Brown Rice Cereal (First Solid Food!)

It can be hard to figure out just where to start, so why not just jump right in and begin blogging about my experiences as we go. Today, Squishie and Tiny had their very first solid food.

Let me start by saying I was hoping we'd be able to make it to 6 months before solids for a couple of reasons.

1) I read that when breastfeeding (which I am doing exclusively), many mothers have a better success rate of meeting their breastfeeding goals of a year or longer when solids have not been introduced until 6 months of age.
2) I am afraid that it will affect my milk supply but I can throw in a couple pumps during the day to help support that.
3) I really, really like exclusively breast-fed cloth diaper laundry. No scraping before washing and less stinky poo.
4) I am nervous that their digestive systems aren't ready, especially being 5 weeks premature.

However both babies have been undoubtedly exhibiting signs that they are ready. I watch their body language like a hawk. I can plan things however I want, but it is Squishie and Tiny who ultimately decide what happens.

I hoped to baby-led wean, but they are slightly behind in motor skills for their age (again with the prematurity) and I did not want that to dictate whether or not they'd be able to eat. In a nutshell, baby-led weaning excludes the use of a spoon and relies solely on baby bringing food to his mouth on his own. This method makes perfect sense to me but I will have to tailor it to fit my babies' needs. I will not be excluding the use of a spoon but later on I will be letting them pick and choose a healthy selection of finger foods on their own.

I do still want the very best for them as far as first foods go (and beyond of course) so I chose brown rice cereal to start with. Brown rice is much more nutritional, and tasty in my personal opinion, than white rice. It is good to start with because it's bland and will be easy on their tummies. It's also very easy to make!

I bought a Magic Bullet Baby Bullet food processor with all the bells n' whistles to help me in my baby food making journey. I purchased it for 20% off at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Homemade Brown Rice Cereal

1/4 cup uncooked brown rice
2 cups water

Grind the rice into a fine powder. Add to the water in a small/medium pan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and let simmer for approx 20 minutes. Stir frequently to keep it from getting too chunky or boiling over. For me this yielded 12 "spoonful" servings (I froze 6 and put 6 in the fridge).

Remember, fresh food stored in the fridge is good for 3 days and in the freezer for 30, so you don't really want to make too much ahead of time. If the cereal servings thicken too much you can always add a bit of water or expressed breastmilk to thin it out right before feeding.

Squishie and Tiny did well. I don't think they actually ate much but it was a fun experience regardless, and of course they'll get the hang of it soon.

Welcome to Mama Papa Baby Baby!

Welcome to Mama Papa Baby Baby -- an outlet for my journey and trials as a first time mother of twins. I will be sharing information on simple and intuitive parenting, for all of our experiences are unique and fun to discuss.

My approach to parenting can be summed up to this: I love taking many different methods and making them "my own". Overall I am more keen to a "natural" type of parenting although I am not extreme by any means. I much prefer to use the word intuitive - I do not follow any particular set of rules and I go with the flow.

There are many labels out there that define how you raise your children. Breastfeeding, bottle feeding, cry it out, baby-led weaning, co-sleeping, attachment parenting, baby signing, cloth diapering... I could go on. However I like to see things as not all-or-nothing. I fall somewhere in between and I feel that a lot of parents do. I simply pick my favorite elements out of everything and form my own style. No pressure, no judgements... that is how I like it!

Furthermore, I love to read and absorb information through the experiences of others. That is why I have decided to take the time to form Mama Papa Baby Baby and share what I learn.

Meet the family -- I am Mama :) My dear husband is Papa. We were blessed with identical twin girls, Squishie and Tiny. As of the beginning of my blogging project, Squishie and Tiny are 4 1/2 months old. I am at but the very start of my parenting journey and have already learned very well that no matter how we plan things, Squishie and Tiny dictate the show. I'm following their lead!

I hope to cover many topics and blog for a very long time... and learn a few things in the process!