Nursing Twins

Lately, I've been doing more one-on-one nursings with Grant and Graham. And you know what? I had almost forgotten how calming it can be, to nurse your baby. Trying to tandem-nurse all the time was becoming a pain in the neck (literally). They nurse four times a day, and I try to do tandem twice and one-on-one twice. It helps me not have to balance them both on a pillow, and I have really enjoyed seeing them individually. Splitting their cribs has helped - I can get one out of bed without the other noticing, then come back 20 minutes later for the other baby, and since they only nurse for about 10 minutes now, it really doesn't take much more time that what was devoted to nursing them together, a few months ago.

Cuddle time

After everyone else went to bed last night (Jack was tired and crashed early), Graham was fussing in bed. The combination of his six-month shots and teething just left him feeling "bleh," I think. So I got him out of bed and had some cuddle time with him in the rocking chair, while a dose of acetaminophen kicked in. I'm pretty certain I haven't rocked Grant or Graham since they were about six weeks old. It was awesome.
Shh, don't tell the other kids. ;-)

Wordless Wednesday

Try-It Tuesday: Homemade Nutella

Oh, heavens. Last week, I made homemade Nutella. (For trademark purposes, I should probably say that I made homemade chocolate hazelnut spread.) I will include the full recipe at the bottom, as I concocted my own variation of some I found online.

It's wonderful. I can't decide if I like the underlying salt flavor or not ... I might try it next time without the salt, or with only half the amount, and see if I like it better. I also will try substituting additional cocoa powder and oil in place of some of the processed chocolate ... and I may try other oils besides generic vegetable oil (Nutella uses palm oil; there are lots of other exotic options, too).

But I made it in the food processor, and it has just a tiny bit of texture from the ground nuts. I like the texture, though. I like the additional hazelnut flavor compared to the jarred version. And I think this one has a fuller palate of flavor.

The hazelnuts cost me $2 (Farmer's Market). The chocolate chips cost no more than $2 (I usually get them on sale - and buy in bulk from Sam's regularly). The remaining ingredients are marginal ... bringing the recipe grand total to about $4.50. The yield is 2 cups, which is roughly the volume of the large Nutella jar ($7 on sale at the grocery store, or $6 at the Farmer's Market). Considering that Nutella spread on graham crackers has become a recent family-favorite snack around here, this recipe may just be worthwhile. Though we are going to have to pace ourselves a little better (and by "we" I mean "I" ... because I ate at least 3/4 of the batch). The first batch was gone within 24 hours. Oops.

Heavenly Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

1 cup raw hazelnuts
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup milk chocolate (or use 2 cups any combination of milk, semi-sweet or bitter-sweet ... to your personal preference)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar
1 heaping tablespoon unsweetened powdered cocoa
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Roast hazelnuts: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet (so they don't roll off). Bake for 10 minutes, stirring mid-way. Skins should be blistered and nuts should be slightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Rub nuts with a dish towel to remove skins (or use fingers to remove them individually). It's okay if some skins remain on the nuts. Allow nuts to finish cooling.
2. Using a double boiler or microwave, melt the chocolate. Stir until smooth, then let cool slightly.
3. Load nuts into a food processor (or high-powered blender, like a Vitamix) and grind until pasty. Add the oil, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and salt. Blend until the mixture is well combined and is taking on a creamy texture. Add the melted chocolate and blend some more, until smooth (or nearly smooth). 

Mixture was relatively runny at first, and gradually thickened. Somewhere around 12 hours after blending, the spread had taken on what I assume would be its final texture (but it was all gone after about 18 hours). At that point, it was similar in texture, to spreadable margarine.

Eat. Pray. Love.

I have been wanting to write a post called "Why We Are Never On Time" but I can't find the time lately. Even this post has been drafted on my phone, one sentence at a time.

People often ask me how I do it. Raising four so close in age. The truth? Constant prayer. All I do is make sure they're fed; pray for the strength and patience to make it ... through this feeding ... until Jack gets home ... through (yes, THROUGH because it is a lot of work) bedtime ... etc; and pray that God grants me the love and patience they need, and the perspective I need.

I should write a book. I'd call it "Eat. Pray. Love." Except I think someone stole my title. Back to the drawing board ...

Six Months

Growth: Grant has started busting out of some of his 6M clothes. They both are in mostly cloth diapers (now that E is out of them), but wear a size 2 diaper when they wear disposables.

Grant (aka Chubbs)

Weight: 15 lb, 9.5 oz (15%)
Length: 25" (5%)
Head: 41.25 cm (5%)

Food: Nursing four times per day. No formula. Bottles are reserved for babysitters. (Rumor has it, he can hold his own bottle now. The boy likes to eat!) One feeding of mashed table foods at our dinner time.

Sleep: Sleeps in his own crib (yes, they've been split) flat on his back, or rolled onto his side, sucking his thumb. He takes two-hour naps in the morning and afternoon, and sleeps 12 hours overnight. Bedtime nursing has been moved up from 7:45/8:00 to 7:00/7:15, which means G&G are in bed at 7:30 now. This works much better for all four kids. They are all still in bed by 8; we've just flip-flopped who is in bed at 7:30, and who is in bed at 8. Grant was crying beginning around 7:00 every night, and would fall asleep while C&E were getting ready for bed. So I'd actually end up waking him up, to do his bedtime routine.

Development: Teething is in full swing. Grant is doing great with sitting unassisted. He will actually sit there for upwards of 10 minutes or more. Yay! He still isn't fond of tummy time, but now that he sees what Graham is doing, he has started flapping his arms and trying to "swim" like his brother. Also, he smiles all the time, and he makes the "mm, me, mu, ma" and "he, hu, ha" sounds. He is our little flirt.

Graham (aka Gram-a-ram)

Weight: 14lb, 15.5 oz (8-10%)
Length: 25.5" (8-10%)
Head: 40.5 cm (<2%)

Food: Nursing four times per day. No formula. Bottles are reserved for babysitters. One feeding of mashed table foods at our dinner time.

Sleep: Sleeps in his own crib, on his belly, face-planted into his mattress (though he has started moving his head to the side a little, which makes me feel better), sucking on his third and fourth fingers. He takes two-hour naps in the morning and afternoon, and sleeps 12 hours overnight. Bedtime nursing has been moved up from 7:45/8:00 to 7:00/7:15, which means G&G are in bed at 7:30 now.

Development: He's working on getting some teeth, too. Graham is reluctant to sit. Period. He wants to stand. Now that Grant is sitting all by himself, though, he has started to do it a little, and will sit for short periods of time, as long as I keep a hand on his hips. I'm sure within a week or two, he'll be a pro at sitting. He just didn't want to give it a chance. Tummy time? That's a different story. The kid loves it. For a few weeks now, he has been flapping his arms and legs, trying to "swim". He's been pushing himself up on all fours (belly off the floor now, too!) ... and this past week, he has really started to practice the backwards army crawl. Pretty much every tummy time. On Thursday, he and Grant were doing tummy time in the family room while I did laundry. I left the room for two or three minutes, came back, and found Graham about 5-6 feet from where I'd left him. And I know where I left him - not just because he was on a blanket but also because Grant was still lying right next to where Graham had been, screaming to be picked up. ;-) If I were a gambling woman, I'd bet that he is legitimately crawling within the next month. Could be wrong, but that's my guess. Graham loves trying to talk to people. He wants your undivided attention first, though. But once he has it, his whole face will light up in a smile and he will coo as long as you're willing to listen.

What's that? You left me next to Grant? Well, I didn't want to be there. Don't worry, though. I can move myself.

Got Spit-up?

Wordless Wednesday

Try-It Tuesday: Bread Machine Italian Breadsticks

Two new recipes this week! Actually there were more, but I won't post every variation of bread I bake.

These are supposed to mimick Olive Garden bread sticks. I wouldn't go that far. The bread sticks at Olive Garden definitely have a coating of ... garlic salt, is my best guess ... that these bread sticks lack. But for that reason, they're probably a smidge healthier. I made them with unbleached flour - no whole wheat flour - and everyone seemed to like them pretty well. We used a jarred pizza sauce for dipping, since our dinner had creamy pesto instead of a tomato sauce.

I'll have to work on rolling them more evenly, though. :) And I have no idea why the closer ones look brown instead of gold. They were all that golden color in person.

I haven't gotten all fancy with my food photos. Sorry. This is Carter's actual plate for dinner. He ate all of it, plus a second bread stick.

Try-It Tuesday: Slow-Cooker Oatmeal

Here's the recipe I used for slow-cooker oatmeal.

I made no modifications to the recipe, except I used 2% milk instead of skim. We used to be a skim milk household. After reading some articles about skim milk actually being less nutritious and less wholesome - and therefore, arguably less healthy, we made the switch to 2%. (This was a welcome switch for Jack and the kids. I, however, remembered that I don't like milk. I just had forgotten that skim milk doesn't taste like milk. Haha!)

Also, I have a 7-qt. slow cooker. I set it for six hours, but realized at 4.5 hours that it was fully cooked (and the edges were starting to burn a little). I probably would set it for only four hours next time (if there were to be a next time). Which means that, in order to eat it for breakfast, I'd have to plug my crock pot into a timer, to automatically turn on in the wee hours of the morning. So I'm not sure how convenient this recipe would be for breakfast ...

The verdict? I don't think I'll make it again. The "crackled edges" that the other blogger raves about were burnt on mine. And since I don't care for burnt flavor, I had to scrape around it. I also ended up adding brown sugar and walnuts to the individual servings, because I found the recipe mushy and bland (and burnt). The kids didn't like it ... and they normally eat plain steel-cut oats when I make them on the stove.

Word(s) of the Week: Be Right Back

Ellyson has started telling us she will "beh-eh back" ... be right back ... when she walks away. At first, I thought she was saying "ba-ah back" which is how she tells us she wants to "pat back" or burp Graham (never Grant, always Graham). But now, at least 10 times a day, I hear "beh-eh back!" as she runs to another room.

Toilet Mopping

Today, while I was nursing the little two, the big two mopped the bathroom floor with toilet water. Oh, yes they did. (Thankfully, Carter flushed the toilet before Ellyson stuck her pants into it, so the water was at least fresh.)

Wordless Wednesday

Try-It Tuesday: Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

Last Friday, I attempted bread machine cinnamon rolls again. The first time I made them, they were great. The second time I tried ... not so much. First, I poured 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten into the batter, instead of high-gluten unbleached flour. Oops. Thankfully, I noticed after 1/2 cup instead of the four cups of flour required by the recipe ... So I dumped that batch (Throwing out 10 ounces of organic milk, along with the eggs and gluten, was almost enough to choke me.) I wiped out the bread pan and began again. With four cups of flour, not gluten.

I have decided that all these people posting their wonderful bread machine recipes ... live in the heartland of America. And apparently it is a lot less humid there. Because I have to feed my doughs way more flour than any of them list in their recipes.

So my second attempt for that night finished the dough cycle, and I poured it onto a floured surface. It was soup. I kid you not. I swear, that batter needed double the flour I'd put in. I had to dump it. Another 10 ounces of organic milk, eggs ... and four cups of organic farmer's market flour. Ugh. It was time for bed.

The next morning, Carter asked if we could have "those cinnamon rolls" again sometime. Gee, son, thanks.

So attempt #4 came this weekend. And I think it came out okay. I reduced the liquids a little and had to add another cup or so of flour after the mixing cycle, and even then, the dough was still really messy to work with. But it worked. I fudged through it. And they still tasted great.

Ingredients in the bread machine

The really sticky dough that came out of the machine

With added flour but still sticking to the wax paper as I roll and slice it

Finished product, complete with glaze - enough for us to have our fill and have plenty left over

Pee Finger

Yes, what it sounds like.

I've been getting some grief about not posting this story. I just keep forgetting.

One day during Christmas break, Jack and I were both in Ellyson's room, getting her up from her nap (or maybe overnight, so it would've been first thing in the morning). Her diaper was saturated with pee. I took it off her, turned behind me to grab a wipe, and turned my head back. In that time, E had pushed her finger into the squishy diaper, then in slow motion, pointed it at my mouth and, as I turned back to her, stuck it between my lips. Her finger, doused in the pee from her diaper. Jack dubbed it the "pee finger" incident. I have a feeling it will be one of those stories that he never lets me forget.

Little mommy with baby Minnie in her front carrier

Oh, fudge

Carter's school has a weekly bake sale during lunch. Each month, a class is assigned to provide the items for the sale. January is his class's month. I asked Carter what he wanted me to make last week. He's pretty involved in the kitchen at home, and has a good idea of things we make. He requested chocolate fudge. He and Ellyson love homemade fudge. I hesitated because I don't think it's a very common treat on the preschool circuit. But after a few days, he repeated that he wanted me to send fudge. So I made a double batch the day before, then cut and individually bagged portions of it.

Bake sale day arrived and Carter said he couldn't wait to get fudge at lunch.

I picked him up from school and asked (as I always do on Thursdays) if he got bake sale. He said yes. I asked what he got. He lit up.

"An Oatmeal Cream Pie!!"

"Not the fudge we sent?"

"No! Bradley brought Oatmeal Cream Pies!"

Thanks, son. Glad I made it ...

World's largest marshmallow

Potty Training Miss E

Well, I believe ... (wait for it ... ) potty training Miss Ellyson is now complete. She has some accidents, but usually they aren't enough to make it past her pants. Kind of like she's holding it (or it sneaks up on her), and then a little slips out, but then she catches herself and tells us she has to go, and the rest of it ends up in the toilet.

Ellyson has been in underwear for three weeks now. (She is wearing a Pull-Up to school and the church nursery, and wears a diaper for her naps/overnight ... but she has yet to wet at school and usually stays dry for her naps and church, too. In fact, we've only used three Pull-Ups because she treats them like underwear, and I've been able to re-use them.) Soooo ... I have handed down the cloth diapers to G&G. Which is awesome. So they're now about 75% cloth (disposables in nap/bed), and Ellyson is almost entirely underwear, so that should save us about $50-60/month on diapers. Hooray!

Funny side story. It's been a couple years. I had forgotten the humor of having a toddler jump up and down, clap, and scream "yay, Mommy! Pee-pee!" after I've used the bathroom. Everyone should have a bathroom cheerleader, to remind us of the little things we take for granted. :)

Curly Girly

She's finally getting some hair!!

Word of the Week: Read

This girl loves her books. Loves, loves, loves to sit and read with us. As in:

"Dah, read ... read ... read!!! Me!"

"Anudduh book? Read? Dah? Moe book?"

Wordless Wednesday

Try-it Tuesday: Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread and Broccoli-Cheese Soup

I think I'm going to try implementing a new series on my blog. I usually try to post a picture on Wordless Wednesday. Well, now that I've been doing so much kitchen experimentation, I think I'm going to start posting a "Try-it Tuesday." I'll highlight something I tried in the kitchen - though I won't be doing it on Tuesdays, that's when I'll write about it.

First up: My homemade whole wheat sourdough bread and broccoli-cheese soup. (AKA last night's dinner.)

I think this meal went over well. Ellyson didn't even try the bread because she was too busy eating 2.5 bowls of the soup. Carter ate a small piece of the bread, which left him full after only 1.5 bowls of soup. I made the recipe with portions as listed, and it was just enough to feed the four of us. There were no leftovers of the soup.

Here's the soup recipe. I made a few changes - I stripped the ingredients down to Velveeta, cream of chicken soup, milk and (fresh, chopped and steamed) broccoli. I then heated it on the stove, stirring frequently, until the cheese was melted and it was starting to bubble. The flavor was really rich, and a little sweet. I'm planning to make some modifications to the recipe ... like making my cream of chicken soup from scratch instead of using a can ... but I'd also like to tone down the flavor a little. Maybe add more milk? Not sure yet. But it was very good as written.

For the sourdough bread, I made my starter last week. I then followed the recipe to allow the dough to proof overnight (in the morning, I turned my warming drawer to the "low/proof" setting for the remainder of the 18 hours). Then I veered from the recipe. After proofing, I did add whole wheat flour until the dough was no longer sticky (probably a good cup of it ... I didn't measure), but then I formed a rounded mound with it, placed it on a baking stone, and baked at 450 degrees for 25 minutes. I didn't have the Corningware as called for in the recipe, but the baking stone worked just fine.

Baking Bread

I think I mentioned in an earlier post, that I got a bread machine last month. (And I know I mentioned making bread in my farmer's market post.) Well, I've been making all our bread since Christmas. I think I've learned some things along the way, and haven't completely ruined a loaf of bread since I got the machine (I have ruined two batches of cinnamon roll dough in the machine ... and I failed horribly at baking my first two loaves, prior to the machine).

In fact, I'm learning not only to follow a bread recipe, but also how the ingredients work together - which is allowing me to branch off from the basic recipes a little. So far in my bread machine, I've made:
Honey wheat bread (a few loaves)
100% whole wheat bread (a few loaves)
Homemade bagels (twice)
Homemade cinnamon rolls (once successfully)
Homemade dinner rolls (on a whim, using the bagel recipe as a foundation)

Honey wheat bread

Plus I am now making sourdough bread, which is not made in the bread machine.

Day 4: Bubbles emerging in the starter

Best of all, my family is actually eating all of the above. :)


If you're curious, I bought the Cuisinart CBK-100. I'm really liking it. It's a middle-of-the-road machine. I bought it on a pre-Christmas lightning deal through Amazon.

Farmer's Market

On Thursday, with the big two back in school, I made my first post-twins trip to the farmer's market. Man, I love that place. In beginning to bake our breads, I'm realizing all the ingredients that are hard to come by at the grocery store (wheat gluten, flax seed, etc) - or are just really expensive (all the spices ... especially the sesame seeds, for which we paid almost $5 for a one-ounce jar of them at Publix. Farmer's market? $2 per pound!) I love buying my spices there! And I have really missed my farmer's market organic oats for $1/pound.

The flour ended up costing more per pound than what I pay at the grocery store, but it's organic and freshly milled. Short of buying a grain mill (ahem - I hear that pushes me onto the "crazy" side of the line - and is a big investment), I won't get better quality flour. They also have close to a dozen different types of flour, so I may start experimenting with other grains when I get more comfortable. (They have barley flour, rye flour, spelt wheat flour, oat flour, rice flour, you name it ...)

5.25 pounds organic high-gluten flour
1.3 pounds organic unbleached flour
1.3 pounds organic vital wheat gluten
2 pounds organic rolled oats
3 pounds organic steel-cut oats
1/2 pound organic wheat bran
1 pound flax meal (ground flax seed)
1/2 pound ground cinnamon (for $.95, BTW!)
5/8 pound sesame seeds
1/4 pound pumpkin pie spice
1/3 pound dried minced onion
1/4 pound fennel seed
1/3 pound poppy seeds

Organic pure maple syrup (far cheaper than what Jack has been bringing back from Canada - though this is from Vermont ...)
Local wildflower honey

Family-sized jar of Nutella (cheaper than what we pay at the grocery store)

Not pictured:
2 pounds roasted salted sunflower seeds, and assorted produce.

If only I had a bigger pantry (for anyone who hasn't been in my kitchen, my pantry is big enough for me to stand inside it) ...

BTW - I also bought some avocado and sweet potatoes for G&G. They're starting to grab at our foods, so we think they're ready to start eating. But another symptom of having many small children is a reluctance to start solids. I was so eager with Carter. With Ellyson, I waited patiently for six months. Now I'm like "do we really have to?" 1 - When am I going to carve out time to feed them? I can't even sit down for my own meals. Carter and Ellyson basically get a drive-by at breakfast: I get breakfast on the table for them, then go wake G&G. I grab breakfast on the way out the door, and we're still usually pulling into preschool on two wheels, as carpool is about to close. 2 - We are savoring the last days of breastmilk poop. If you've changed a breastmilk poop diaper and then changed a solid foods diaper, you know what I'm talking about. There's something almost sweet - and definitely innocent - about a breastmilk poop (and they don't stink!). 3 - I am totally okay with the fact that their feedings just fall into place. They get everything they need from me. I don't have to schedule, cook or feed anything extra. They'll still be nursing for the next six months, so it's not like introducing solids is going to remove anything from our already over-scheduled day ...

So for now, we continue to delay the introduction of solids.

Braden's Birthday

New Year's Day brought cousin Braden's first birthday and party. It's funny how, in Carter's mind, that birthday - taking him from "zero years old" to "one year old" changed him from "Grant and Graham's age" to "Ellyson's age."

Grant and Graham arrived in style. Aunt Alecia and Uncle Travis gave them these outfits for Christmas, and I thought they were just too adorable.

Carter and Ellyson were happy to play with the birthday boy.

Word of the Week: Peanut Butter Cup

Which somehow contains no fewer than 12 syllables when pronounced by Ellyson. She is doing great using the potty, but is regularly negotiating her reward for doing so. She requires a peanut butter cup each time. And not one of the new, unwrapped ones that's like 1/4" in diameter. No, it must be one of the individually wrapped bite-sized cups. Thankfully, she holds her bladder pretty well and only pees every 1.5-2 hours ... as opposed to Carter post-boot camp, when he peed every 30-60 minutes.

BTW - a close "second" on my pick for word of the week, is Batman. Every time Ellyson sees Batman, she squeals "Mat-man! Mat-man!" I think he might be overtaking the Hulk as her favorite super hero.

2013 New Year's Resolutions

I'm going to call these "goals." I don't really believe in resolutions. I think that if you need or want to make a change, it's silly to wait for January 1. Just do it. But I do have a number of goals for this year, and I'm hoping posting them in public will keep me accountable. (I had started trying to make this an even 10, two goals in five categories. But then I realized that is entirely contrary to my unbelief in making resolutions simply because it's January 1. Likewise, I'm not going to think of things to do just to make it an even number. So here are my seven goals for the year.)

1. Fitness: Run a 10K this summer. (My last race was four months after E was born. I think I pushed myself too quickly for breastfeeding comfort (spending hours in a sports bra did nothing to help prevent my three bouts of mastitis), so this time, I'm taking it more gradually. I want to be back on a 10K course by the boys' first birthday, though.)
2. Fitness: Run a half-marathon this fall. I'm setting my sights on the Silver Comet in October, or the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day. I was beginning to train for another half at the end of 2011, when I found out I was pregnant again. Looking beyond 2013, I am planning to make 2014 a big year for fitness: either my second full marathon, or my first triathlon.
3. Nutrition: Continue our journey to a more whole-foods-based diet. Less of the processed junk. This one isn't really measurable, but some of my "tasks" that would fall under this goal, are measurable. Making our bread, rolls, biscuits, bagels, muffins, cakes, cookies, etc. from scratch. This one is a work in process. I already make most of our cookies, cakes, brownies and muffins from scratch. Now that I have the bread machine, I'm working on the rest of them. Another task is to continue aiming to cook (really cook - not just heat-and-serve) meals at least twice a week. That doesn't sound like a lot. Especially since we don't eat out or get takeout very often. But twice a week, we have salad for dinner. Three or four nights a week, Jack eats later than the rest of us. We had a lot of nights of frozen chicken fingers, (turkey) hot dogs, frozen skillet-type meals, etc. I hope that by the end of 2013, I can be looking at 3-4 nights a week of really cooking (plus two of salad and one of an "easy" dinner). But baby steps. Besides, I will soon be feeding G&G, and the more "scratch" cooking I'm doing for us, the easier it is to just puree our foods for them - instead of cooking separate batches.
4. Nutrition: Get back to freezer cooking. This will help me with the "cooking" task. But I'm going to wait until August before I begin freezer cooking again. Currently, our freezers are still full - mostly with breast milk. And I think freezing breast milk is higher priority than freezing dinners, at least until next July when the twins turn one.
5. Motherhood: Nurse the boys until they turn one, without using formula. I've done it with the first two. So far, it's looking promising for these two. I also am continuing to donate my frozen milk to the National Milk Bank. I've sent more than 1500 ounces in the month since my re-qualification went through.
6. Motherhood: Spend one-on-one time each day, with each of the kids. Even if it's only five minutes. And bedtime stories don't count. This one is hard. Because if I'm giving undivided attention to Graham, that means Grant, Ellyson and Carter are basically unsupervised ...
7. Me: Get rid of the rest of the baby weight. I'm still carrying nine pounds of baby weight. Seven from G&G, and two from Ellyson that I hadn't quite lost yet when I got pregnant with the boys. Most of my pants fit ... and the reason my shirts don't is because I'm nursing twins (that's a lot of milk pumping through me: about 12 ounces every four hours). And my belly is still kinda loose. The belly may never go back. But hopefully by this time next year, we can at least take care of everything else.

My mini-me :)

Wordless Wednesday

Asgard

Carter's request this morning:

Mommy, when me and Ellyson and Grant and Graham get bigger, can we go on a long, long trip to Asgard, to see Thor?

How can I deny that request?

Yes, that is a doll bath tub, and he is using it as an intercom. We blend "boy toys" and "girl toys" pretty easily around here.