9 Month

It's hard to believe that these two little peanuts are 9 months old already! When I got the news that I was pregnant 9 months seemed like forever to wait for these two and the closer it got the longer the days seemed. Nine months of being pregnant seemed like an eternity. Nine months of these babies being evicted from the womb by the doctor seems to have flown by.

When we first brought home Triston and Elliana I thought I would never survive... I wanted them to grow up quickly and more than anything sleep through the night! Jonathan only got one week off of work and after that it was all me all night long with two new born babies. There were days that I didn't know how I was going to survive. I'm so happy that my parents and grandmother live so close and they truly helped me get through those first three months. My mom would always say  "the first three months are the hardest part." 

Trying to get these two on the same (or as close to the same as possible) schedule was something that I thought would help me so that is what I did. When one wanted to eat, the other ate. When one wanted the sleep, the other slept (although I felt like I would never sleep again) A schedule was something I could (try to) control. I still spent from time to time wishing they would become mobile, wishing they would sleep through the night, but really I loved every hard second of it. I finally had my little blessings. As much as I wanted time to speed up then I wish it would sloe down now. T and E are crawling and laughing and playing and doing everything I wished they would have done.

Although I love to see them grow up, it is also hard. Those little newborns who were dependent on me at all times are now playing with each other instead of me. I just went thought their clothes and put up all the NB - 6 month sizes (well most 6 month sizes) Those tiny little clothes will never be worn again. My mom likes to buy them clothing when it's on sale for the future. She recently brought over some size 2T pajamas and I just remember thinking "I don't want them to be that big yet!!! Where is time going???" It made me remember the past 9 months, the good, the bad, the happy, the sad and I wouldn't change it for anything!!

Although I now want time to slow down, now that they are mobile we are able to take them to places and let them explore!!! Here are just a few pictures of adventures we have taken lately. (If they didn't take so long to upload I'd add more but I'm tired and it's back to work tomorrow)

First time on the swings at the park

Having fun at the Children's Museum

Weekly Meal Planning

Anyone who knows me knows that I just LOVE to plan things!! To me planning will make things run as smoothly as possible and you pretty much always know what is coming down the pipe line. Although sometimes the plans don't always work out due to unexpected hic-ups I still try and plan as much as possible. Around Thursday and Friday of every week I start menu planning for the upcoming week for both Jonathan and I as well as T and E.

I am a BIG fan of pinterest! Sometimes I take the recipes and follow them to a "T" and sometimes I don't, usually when I don't I omit the sugar and use less salt... or just leave out an ingredient that I'm not to fond of (although I have been trying new things recently) Most meals I make do come from pinterest these days but some I see at a restaurant and make my own version with out a recipe. I also try and make recipes with similar ingredients each week so if one calls for half an onion I will try and find another that calls for half an onion so I can use the whole onion and not waste half of it. You can follow me on pinterest if you want to... FOLLOW ME.

Something else we have been doing for a while now is trying to eat as clean as possible, all organic and natural foods (especially for T and E). This can be difficult as the grocery store doesn't carry a big variety of organic produce all the time :( so I will always buy organic for T and E (I make all of their food but that's for another post...) and as much organic for Jonathan and I as I can find.

I have a few staples that I make often but this is usually because I am in a time crunch between getting home, playing with my babies, making dinner and trying to eat and make it to a fitness class. Therefor I have to make meals that I know will not take 2 hours to make. I always try to ensure that i make at least 2 or more new meals a week to keep things new but sometimes that just doesn't fit into the weekly plan.

Every dinner meal I make will provide enough food for dinner that night and then lunch for Jonathan and I the next day so there is no need to spend additional money at the grocery store for lunch items.

The menu (if you are interested) for this week is:

• Chipolte Chicken Legs with garlic risotto
• Grilled Chicken Thighs with green beans
• Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup (This is a Tuesday staple because I work until 5p on Tuesdays and don't get home until about 6 so to fit in family time this is what we have pretty much every Tuesday)
• Chicken meatloaf with garlic potatoes
• Asian Edamame Fried Rice (this is new this week)
• Homemade pizza night, sausage pizza!

My menus typically start on Sundays and Go through Saturday leaving one day empty as we usually get chicken wings one night. We try our hardest not to eat out to much during the week because well having twins is expensive! And why spend the money at the grocery store and not eat the food you buy??

Those are just some of my tips on meal planning for the week, hope they help!

Becoming a Working Mom

Well, it took just about three years to get pregnant but on 11/1/2012 these two amazing little people were born and changed our lives forever. On 11/1/2012 Triston James and Elliana Mae Cooper blessed us in ways unimaginable to us. On 11/1/2012 I also became a working mom... At first I wasn't sure how I was going to do it with two newborns and working full time... Honestly, I didn't know how I was going to do it with just the two newborns, but with a lot of love and a lot of support from family and friends I have made it so far (8 months and counting...)

I used to blog about our journey on trying to conceive but now that that time has come and gone and we have our amazing twins I'm learning a lot about being a working mom. From infant/child care, to trying to fit in a work out here and there to getting some sleep and keeping the house clean and cooking healthy (clean), budget and much, much more. I have thought about starting this blog for a while but always thought "what the heck am I thinking??? Why add one more thing to my to do list...?" But this blog will be a virtual time capsule for our family full of the ups and downs, the goods and bad's, the lessons learned and the fun times had by all!

Since I am currently on a "stay-cation" I'm sure there will be more posts this week than normal but hey, when it's a normal day/week like I said above... This is one more thing on my to do list!