Uncategorized – Page 49

Spring Strawberry Picking

April 18, 2016 by Rebecca Whitehead

Spring means strawberry picking! We’ve done Tanaka Farms in the past, but this year we decided to try out South Coast Farms along with the Smith family. It was crazy hot and windy in San Juan Capistrano, and we had four little red faces by the end of the afternoon– half from the sun and half from strawberries.

Jake stood back in the shade with Meredith in her wrap while I went out with Lucero, Ryan and the kids. Kennedy is always such a good friend to the twins and helped them find some of the juiciest strawberries out there.

Amelia and her pickings.

Samantha found a very small, green, unripe strawberry, which she picked and told me it was a “baby strawberry for baby Meredith.” She was very adamant about protecting her baby strawberry so that she could give it to Meredith later. Unfortunately, after filling her carton with her pickings, she tripped on the way back, with the strawberries flying everywhere. Many tears, scraped knees and wipes later, her main concern wasn’t refilling her carton, but finding the baby strawberry! Samantha is a sweetheart to her sister.

Rosy cheeks!

Watch out for Kennedy and her tractor.

Backseat driver.

I wonder what it will be like when the twins start learning to drive for real!

Next door at the Ecology Center, we got some refreshing strawberry basil lemonades and the kids learned all about gardening.

Watering the plants they arranged.

We need a water pump like this in our house– seems like the perfect multi-purpose way to get some energy out.

It was an incredibly hot and windy 86 degree day and I was paranoid about the less-than-cleanly environment (e.g. the porter potties were overflowing and there was no running water/soap for hand washing on site, unlike Tanaka Farms), so Meredith stayed safely in her stroller/wrap while we were out, while I guarded her from sun exposure, dirt-caked hands and prying well-wishers.

One thing we found so funny was the amount of people with babies, some as young as Meredith, in carriers, COMPLETELY exposed (no hat, blankie, cover) to the midday, sweltering sun. Compare them to me darting at lightning speed from tree to tree and constantly scanning the environment for the next shady location I could move with Meredith, and I probably looked like a basket case. I have a dermatologist friend, so maybe that’s made me paranoid! Either way, shade-finding was my major source of exercise that day.

The girls had a great time with the gardening and strawberry picking, but due to the fact that they had been running on only some snacks I brought, plus the lemonade and falafel for sale (they wouldn’t touch the other vegan options there), it was pretty much a scream fest all the way to the car when we were done. In the words of Jake, “This place is obviously run by hippies!” No complaints from Meredith though– she thought the whole experience and being out in the fresh air was great!

Granola baby!

We had a babysitter arranged for the evening, but because we were too exhausted from sanitizing the twins/running around in the heat all day to go out for a proper date, we left the twins (who had collapsed upon arriving home and were still napping at 5 p.m. when we left) with the sitter and grabbed a quick bite to eat after grocery shopping with Meredith for our “date night.” Good thing being out with just Meredith is always a treat– she’s a star!

While out, the stars aligned when we spotted some rhubarb and knew we were destined to make rhubarb strawberry pie for dessert. It was gone before I could take any pictures.

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Smith family, South Coast Farms, strawberry picking

Playdates and Butterflies

April 18, 2016 by Rebecca Whitehead

This week, Samantha, Amelia and Meredith were busy socializing with some buds we haven’t seen in a while. The twins were excited to see Grace, with whom they share the same birthday, and catch up on all that’s happened since they all turned three. All of a sudden, the three amigos seem so grown up, having conversations, playing games together and sharing.

The girls made “cupcakes” in the sand while Susan, Meredith and I hung out. Long gone are the days where all three would run in opposite directions without playing together at all on their “playdates.”

It was Grace’s first time racing the twins in their jumping bags, but she quickly caught on and won the race.

When we go to the neighborhood park, we are always bound to run into friends. Sometimes, Samantha and Amelia are feeling anti-social and as soon as they see tons of kids, they ask to head back home. Other times when they are feeling more sociable, they jump into the fray. Overall, I’d say they are on the shy side and prefer to play with each other, rather than lots of friends, but they are learning how to play better with others.

Amelia, in particular, has recently started approaching her friends and even random kids at the park, asking if they want to play hide and seek or tag. A few weeks ago, someone was having a birthday party at the park we were at, and Samantha asked if she could go over and sing happy birthday to the kid (I’m thinking she thought it would get her a cupcake!)

Quincy, Jadyn, London, Chelsea, Samantha, Amelia and Kennedy photobombing in the back.

Samantha and Amelia miss seeing Parker around the neighborhood, but had a blast letting Parker show them around his fabulous new house. Meredith and Maple were overstimulated from all the excitement, and Meredith ended up staying awake for much longer than usual that evening after we stopped by. The good news was that she slept from 9:00 pm to 5:30 a.m. without a dream feed two nights in a row (angels SING!)

For two weeks in a row, Samantha has refused to get in the pool for her swim lesson, and instead has sat out on the benches, watching with Daddy. Not sure what brought this on, other than she has had a really hard time parting with Daddy when he goes to work for the past few weeks… and by “hard time parting,” I mean screaming for twenty minutes once he gets in his car. Always makes for a pleasant start to my morning…

Amelia has jumped in the pool without her sis for the past two weeks and has completed her lesson with finesse. We start up lessons with the Swim Nazi from last summer in a few weeks, so get ready, girls!

We ordered one of those butterfly tents where you send away for live caterpillars and then watch the process of them forming chrysalides and emerging as butterflies. The twins kept commenting that the caterpillars must have eaten too much and had tummy aches, just like the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

This weekend, the butterflies finally came out and the girls were fascinated! We fed them pieces of watermelon and had a small cup of gatorade in their tent for them to drink, but one fell in, almost drowning in the blue sugar pool… oops. We let them free and have been looking for that blue butterfly out in the wild ever since.

Playdate with Mommy while the girls were out. What happened to all the noise?

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: butterflies, playdates

Daddy Daughter Legoland Date

April 14, 2016 by Rebecca Whitehead

I don’t know who was looking forward to a Daddy-Daughter Saturday at Legoland more… Samantha and Amelia, or myself! After an especially tiring week, Jake took the girls to Legoland a few weekends ago from sun-up to sun-down so that I could relax at home with Meredith– dad of the year!

I received regular updates from the girls throughout the day.

Amelia was proud of her license.

Remind me to stay off the roads when the twins turn 16.

Their motoring skills are slightly improved from last year. 2015:

2016:

The twins relished their day with Daddy. It’s nice that he’s good at the things I’m not– like having the patience to do construction projects with them.

Not surprisingly, the girls reported that their favorite “ride” was the playground.

Jake tortured them by going on the Splash Mountain-like ride that they hated last time we went. They apparently screamed for twenty minutes afterwards and people looked like they wanted to call CPS on Jake for bringing them on the ride, so they still may not be ready.

The lifeguards asked everyone to get out of the pool for a few minutes and the girls decided to put on a show.

Unfortunately, my peaceful day at home did not work out to be so peaceful. I’ve come to the conclusion that Meredith thrives on the chaos that occurs when the twins are in the house. She was freaked out about how silent everything was and didn’t sleep more than 20-30 minutes at a time the entire day. WHY?!

Her least fussy moments were when we were out and about at the grocery store. It was definitely a different experience shopping with one kid– best part of my day… and hers.

What a fuss budget!

I had planned on getting so much done while the twins were on their date, but with Meredith so fussy, it was probably one of my worst days with her to date! So much for my golden opportunity to feel productive. At least the twins were asleep by the time they got home and we all felt refreshed from a day out of the ordinary.

Meredith was so happy to have her sisters home after a whole day with boring mommy. Bring on the noise!

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Legoland

Picture every hour

April 9, 2016 by Rebecca Whitehead

One of the twin mom blogs I follow does a “picture every hour” post every once in a while and I thought I’d try it! I began once Meredith woke up for her early morning feed and I set the alarm on my phone to alert me to stop and snap a picture of whatever we were doing every hour for the rest of the day. Here’s our little slice of everyday life:

4:27 a.m. Milk coma after her early morning feed.

5:27 a.m. I had grand plans of getting up after Meredith’s early morning feed, but that didn’t happen. I chose sleep!

6:27 a.m.: Smoothie + pumpkin waffles = breakfast of champions

7:27 a.m. Snuggle time with Daddy before he leaves for work.

8:27 a.m. Samantha pretended the laundry basket was a boat and informed me she was going to Legoland and then Home Depot.

9:27 a.m. Up from nap and time for diaper change.

10:27 a.m. It was a hot and muggy day, so we donned our swimsuits and headed to the park and splash pad with Sheela and Gavin. Gavin was the only one loving the water– the girls chose to make cakes in the sand instead. A few minutes after this pic was taken, I was talking to Sheela when the girls ran off up the hill and emerged pants-less! Apparently, they had an accident and took it upon themselves to get undressed and run down the hill naked yelling, “We need new undies!”

11:27 a.m.: We recently inherited a box of random dress up clothes from our cousins. That and Magnatiles usually kill a few minutes before lunch time.

12:27 p.m. Story time before nap.

1:27 p.m. All three are miraculously napping at the same time so I eat lunch as quickly as possible and take a minute to write in my one line a day journal. Good thing it’s just one line because Meredith wakes up right then.

2:27 p.m. Meredith snoozes in the wrap.

3:27 p.m. Playtime for the happy girl.

4:27 p.m. The twins get some energy out playing freeze dance on the tramp. I found the greatest Let’s Move Playlist from some mom on YouTube that’s 26 minutes long! Perfect!

5:27 p.m. The twins love helping “cook” dinner. Tonight was crock pot barbecue chicken sandwiches and veggies (so gourmet!) The other day, Jake asked if they would rather go to the park or help me cook dinner, and they chose helping with dinner… I guess they enjoy feeling useful! Helping prepare and serve their own veggies usually gets them to eat more of them too, so even though it’s usually more hassle having them in the kitchen, it pays off later.