I ran out of cooking spray this week... which is a big problem when you make pancakes every.single.day. When I got to the bottom of my Costco-Sized Canister, the kitchen was filling with spray-fog and only tiny drops of the oil were spurting out. I started thinking, "Hey, I bet that stuff isn't great for breathing." Turns out I was right!  I found this article a nutritionist wrote for Fox News. Here is an excerpt on the ingredient list in a typical cooking spray: Dimemythlpolysiloxane: What a mouthful that word is! This is a chemical that’s a form of silicone that helps keep the ..read more

Many of us are starting to wake up to the fact that most of our household items are toxic death traps not made with the best ingredients. That was me!  I wanted to do something differently but it just seemed so overwhelming to start. I mean every single thing in my house was basically going to kill me right? Well, along came Ashleigh (hey girl) and she shared a super simple switch that sort of got the ball rolling (get it..ball rolling....haha you will) into other ones. I will start with her tip. 1. Replace Dryer Sheets with Wool Dryer Balls Photo Credit: Emily Anderson This was ..read more

Well the past month has been a little too exciting! I honestly don't feel like reliving it which is why I will just keep it short and sweet. "Can you believe we are 5 months old?!" In summary, Cullen and Everett did indeed have undiagnosed TAPS at birth (a form of twin to twin transfusion) which caused Cullen to become severely anemic. That's why Everett was red and Cullen was so pale. Cullen got a blood transfusion a few weeks ago and his hemoglobin levels have increased and are heading in the right direction. I will feel much better once everything is in the normal range. Now for ..read more

We celebrated having the twins in our lives for 4 months!! These two little hams are the light of my life. For real. It seems like somewhere after 15 weeks we just hit warp-speed. They are doing new things every day. They are both so happy and smiley. . . and the biggest thing is THEY FINALLY NOTICED EACH OTHER! (sister walked in) It seems like every time I write a blog post, things are going really well. And then the day after I hit "publish" it all starts crumbling around me. haha So I'm going to do my very best to go back and remember this entire last month- without my love-i ..read more

How has it been 3 months already? At the same time, I don't remember what it was like to wake up without these adorable faces smiling at me! They are definitely getting big! I don't have exact weights because I returned the baby scale and we don't have a doctor appt until their 4 month check-up but they are filling out their 3-6 month clothes quite nicely. They are in size 2 diapers but can wear a 3 for overnight. We are about to have to transition out of the SwaddleMe's as well (sad face). They wake themselves up at night and bust their arms out. Nightime is about the same. I do the ..read more

Disclaimer: All of these tips are only based on my limited experience of FOUR newborns. There are hundreds of y'all that read these posts and its unrealistic to think that what has worked for my family will work for all of you so just take what you like and dump the rest. :) Tip #1 - CUT DAIRY  Way to start off with the hard stuff right?! Well all four of my babies couldn't handle my breastmilk when I was eating dairy. They usually didn't notice it until they were around 3 weeks old but then colic started or purple crying. For the twins, I cut dairy as soon as they were born and they ..read more

I can't believe they are two months old already. I am busy busy busy these days so the days just all sort of blur together. I did a poll on my Instagram asking what y'all wanted me to talk about for this update and the answer was how I am doing it with two babies (and two bigs). So here goes! First off, I learned really fast that my attitude and outlook was going to determine how this goes. If I choose to be negative, then the day (and night) is going to be pretty rough for all of us. If I choose to be happy and embrace it, things go so much better. No matter what the night was like, when ..read more

I spent my entire pregnancy so scared to be left alone with all four kids. I didn't know if I could handle it or how I would handle it when Brandon went back to the ships. So far, it's been better than I expected. We definitely have had some very rough days but there have been more and more good days and fewer bad days as the weeks have gone on.  The number one thing I can do for my sanity is to get out of the house. This has been hard because our pediatrician prefers for me to not take the boys to indoor public places until they are 10 weeks old. Well, she said it was okay for me ..read more

*You'll have to excuse my grammar and spelling here because I have about 5 minutes to write this.* Today is my due date and the twins are 1 month old! This past month has flown by and dragged on at the same time. Let's see where I left off..oh yes..the twins were two weeks old. Since then they have just continued to eat and sleep. They have gradually started to spend more time awake during the day. I usually have them in the living room for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon. The rest of the time, they are nursing like crazy. I don't track who is eating or for how long so i ..read more

The twins are two weeks old! It definitely seems like they've been around longer than that. Here's what we've been up to. Twins Sleeping: The boys sleep most of the time right now. I just think of it as an extension of being in the womb. Since they were born over a month early, they just need to eat and sleep. I'm wondering when they will come out of that newborn stage. Most twin moms have said it's usually around 2-3 months after they are born; so we'll see! Breastfeeding: They are both great at nursing. Cullen seems to eat faster than his brother. He will nurse anywhere from 6-15 mins ..read more