For the Squish of It

Saw various “sensory bags” on Pinterest and thought we’d give it a go with some of our junk drawer “freebies” and a cold “no play outside” afternoon. Gathered some stray beads, googley eyes, small fake flowers, tissue paper, beads, foam stickers, buttons, bows, bells, leftover lotion, veggie oil, corn syrup, food coloring, shaving creme, paint, and various other little items to allow many, many choices.

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“Wait, let Mommy take a picture and try not to look like you hate your life…” – Mission failed. HA! –

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“Ok, now pick what you’d like to go in your bag.”

Then we added the gooshy choices to their hearts’ delights, squeezed the air out and sealed that puppy up. I added some duct tape to make myself feel a little easier about handing the bag to the preschoolers who would then run through my house with food colored, water balloon bag joys.

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The play got mighty creative.

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And some bags had to be double-bagged once *ahem* enjoyed.

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“AHHHH Attack-face!!!”

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I even made one for the babies. (Supervising at all times)

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Hannah approved (Little Man was asleep, but later approved).

So the bags were fun for a day. But after two days they turned all slimy. Maybe it was the veggie oil seeping into the freezer bag plastic. Eh, who knows. But we wished them goodbye and counted it a great “get rid of junk AND enjoy the afternoon” craft. =)

Baby Goop Cheers!

So with “twins” and especially “twins who eat” we could easily be drowning in a baby food bill. So instead of starving our children 😉 I decided to be a bit financially savvy and make a boatload of baby food. I could have been more financially savvy by actually buying stuff on sale or better yet… having children who will reach baby food eating age when fruit is in season. But since I’m not that good (or whatever). I spend $35 on fresh fruit/veggies and cooked/pureed those boogers. We’ve been eating baby food for weeks (well, the babes, not me) and I don’t even think we’ve made a dent into the overloaded basket of food in the freezer. I don’t think I’ll need to make any more baby food until they hit “table scraps” age.

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Various apple kinds

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Thanks again Mommy for the awesome handmixer thingy!

(Yay for awesome Christmas presents!!!)

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A “family size” jar.

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Sweet taters!

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Babyfied! (Hannah’s favorite)

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Mmm, pea glop!

I also made carrots, bought and fed Hannah avocados (fork squished), some green beans (ran out of freezer space to do them all) and accidentally forgot about a bag of pears in the bottom of the fridge that’s now living in Mr. Trashcan (can’t expect perfection here people. HA!).

I froze them in breastmilk storage bags by type so I knew how many ounces were in each bag (4 oz and 6 oz quantities). I just grab a baggie out and serve it straight or mix it with other stuff for variety.

The twins? Oh they give it two “helping, I promise” spoon-grabbing thumbs up! =D

– Baby goop cheers!

The Great Catch

There are all kinds of ways to learn and still have fun.

We delight in magnets over here. And we’ve been using magnets to fish for letters.

We fished for our names, the alphabet, and “sharks”.

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Amazing what a simple magnet tied to a pole can do to a child’s excitement level. =)

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– Adore them.

Blankey

I love the way she loves on her blanket; kneading at him, stroking the soft satin beside her face as she rubs her eyes.

It happens the same every time, a little rocking for a minute or two, a kiss on the forehead, laying her down, her turning to the left as she rubs her eyes and loves on that blanket.

Sometimes she reaches her hand out for me to pet her head a little, beckoning me to help her settle in for a few minutes. And when she’s done with the petting, after only a short time, she turns to the left, rubbing her face into her dear friend’s soft love.

She wasn’t always a blanket baby. Blankey came in after he came.

She had figured out how to put herself to sleep. And sleep hard. For seven to eight hours straight hard.

And then the phonecall. And then the addition of our little crier.

He’s gotten better now. He’s sleeping four hour chunks now.

And then she got worse.

Conditioned to wake up. Conditioned to need more. Conditioned to be overly tired.

And then came blankey. He was added in at first when snuggling Mommy. He had been a nice addition to the top of the diaper bag. You never know when the wind will pick up and you’ll need a shield. Or a room will be a bit too cold for Ms. “Running Cold” baby girl.

But he took on new meaning. Joining us during mealtimes. Snuggling in amidst the comfort. And then he joined in at play time. Peek-a-boo was so fun! And he started to taste good.

Then came his normalcy at night time. Until we find ourselves today with our beloved friend.

And while there are still many times of unworking the effects of her adjustment to Little Man’s sleep interruptions, blankey has become a constant. An expected. And a friend amidst the nightly changes and adjustments.

And I love the way she loves on him. Snuggling into her dear friend.

And I am thankful… so thankful.

She loves him.

And I love my little Linus.

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P.S. Don’t be worried, she has her pacifier in and plenty of air circulation in there. I check. 😉

Shooting Range

One of the first few days that we had Big Guy he was up while everyone was napping. Matt had returned from the hospital with Little Man and the house was silent as recovery was spreading among the masses. While Matt worked away at some school work, I took the opportunity to get a few chores done when I noticed my shadow. Big Guy followed me around with his new Nerf guns we got with a few t-shirts for his wardrobe. Taking the opportunity to get to know him, the laundry waited as we enjoyed the window-cling nativity animals shooting range. 😉

Then naturally this had to happen:

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Boom!

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Oh yeah… it was crazy fun.

 

We even did rolling-in stunts.

 

Who cares that I was in a skirt…. I can do swat-team in a skirt. 😉

 

– All for his laugh.

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