Breakfast

I enjoy a bowl of cereal… especially Cheerios. However, the price for cereal keeps going up and the box keeps getting smaller. Has anyone else noticed this? So, I am banning cereal. However, a girl still needs to eat a good breakfast. Lately I have been making Baked Oatmeal. I found a few recipes online, but have changed it a bit to make it my own. The original recipe was calling for a whole cup of brown sugar and a ½ cup of melted butter (1 stick)… too sweet and too much butter. Here is what I have come up with:

Ingredients:

3 cups of rolled oats
1/3 cup of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of baking power
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of milk
½ cup of applesauce
2 teaspoons of vanilla
¾ cup of dried cranberries (or other dried fruit)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat the milk, eggs, applesauce and vanilla. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir in dried fruit. Spread into a greased 9x13 baking dish (or line the dish with parchment paper).
3. Bake for 40 minutes or until browned.
I eat mine warm with a glass of milk. It would also be good mixed with yogurt.
This keeps in a container for a few days (or until it’s gone).

On another note:
We are leaving the Midwest sometime today and making our way to Jamestown for the night so that Aunt Pattie can spend a bit of time with the twinkies. We will then leave for Olean from her house tomorrow morning. We will spend Christmas Eve at Dad & Wendy’s house – they usually have a holiday open house; Christmas morning at Kathleen’s and the rest of the day at the White’s house. Busy, busy. Not relaxing at all it seems. I am hoping we just stay home next year.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas photos

The twins do not like their Christmas outfits. Do you know how I know this? Because today was the second time I dressed them up in them to try and get a holiday photo... it's the second time that it bombed as well.
Here are a couple of really bad holiday photos....

Something New

I have off from work today, so I am going to do some shopping in actual stores rather than online. This is something that I cannot do much of anymore. I am pretty excited. The twinkies are going to the sitter's for a few hours. No worries.

Have a super Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Teeth

John is cutting a tooth. I put my finger in his mouth yesterday and felt the nubbin just breaking through the skin.
My little guy is getting teeth. My how time flies!

Elinor cannot be too far behind. She is eating her hands and drooling like crazy.

Twin Mommies

I read this on another's website... it's by author Elizabeth Lyons:

“Know that no matter what challenge a particular moment might bring, another moment will bring a solution. Moms who are blessed with two children at once receive that blessing because they are the perfect mother for both of those babies and even in the moments when the moms themselves aren’t so sure, the universe knows that they can do it. Some moments require more faith than others, but all moments leave you smiling — either because of the amazing love you have for your children or because a friend says something hilarious in the midst of your explaining to her that you don’t know if you’re going to make it!”

Sometimes I read things that hit the nail on the head at the very exact moment that it is needed....

The babies seem to have put themselves on some sort of night routine. They are usually falling asleep by 7 or 7:30. They wake up around 1am and then again at 5am. It seems to be working. This morning John would not go back to sleep after the 5am feeding. He was talking up a storm in his crib and cracking himself up. I went in before I left for the grocery store at 6am and I was laughing so hard. He is the silliest little guy.

4 months old

Today the twins had their 4 month check up. This was the first time I took the babies to an appointment on my own. I am exhausted. They did really well even with the 2nd round of shots. The doctor is a bit concerned about Elinor's fussiness.... by the way, her ear infection has healed well... he is also concerned about her bad exzema. So once we finish with the total dose of antibiotics we are going to try another formula and he wants to check her stool. I am almost sure that the formula is not the problem. But I'll do as the doctor suggests... since I did not graduate from med school.
Elinor weighs 12 lbs. 1 oz at 23.5 inches and John John is 14 lbs. 1 oz. at 24.5 inches long. The doctor is concerned about the size of John's head at 44 cm... it seems to be in the 95th percentile. But I am not too concerned because Daddy has a big head too.


We put up the Christmas tree on Sunday and added the lights. However, we haven't quite finished with the ornaments yet. The kids love it just the way it is.
Andy even decorated the back and the front of the house. This was a first for him.
I still have yet to get pictures done for Christmas cards. I hope to get to that this week.



One last photo of Elinor and me.

Still sick

Elinor is still sick. She has been up for hours the past few nights. I am home with her today and she will not take a nap. She won't lay down, she won't swing, she doesn't even like to be held. Poor baby. Right now she is crying it out in her crib.... I think it's working. Don't worry it's only been 1 minute and 24 seconds....

I ordered these for the twins. They will match the ones Mom, Dad & Lloydie have.

I am meeting up with Kirsten, Patty Rizzo and my sister Pattie in Lakewood this evening for Kirsten's fundraiser - Give a Little, Get a Lot. Andy will be home early (by 5pm) to be with the kids. I am really grateful that I can get out for a few hours.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Long night makes a long day

Elinor was sick all night long. She was so congested and having a hard time breathing. She kept crying and crying until she cried herself back to sleep. So I was up most of the night with her. We got in to see the pediatrician this morning. Of course by that time she was all smiles... .you could barely tell that she was sick. But she does have an ear infection in her right ear. Ouch! We have her on antibiotics and constant Tylenol. She was pretty good all day. We'll see how tonight goes.
John is John.... smiling about everything... as usual.