Salt Life!

Well, I feel like I'm playing catch up.  I really want to blog about the girls' 1st birthday party, baptism, Easter and Mother's Day.  Seriously, I don't have enough time to sit here and blog my life away.  However, today was a pretty special day and I'm so eager to blog about it.  So all those other blogs will have to wait.  I have been dying to take the girls to beach.  I feel like they're growing up so fast that I don't want to rush and do everything at once.  I still want to have many "firsts" to look forward to.  So finally at 16 months old we decided to do it =)  We originally wanted to go on Mother's Day but ended up being too busy.  So today we got up, packed up our bags, packed lunch and we headed to the gym.  Hey....you can't skip leg day! Ha!  After the gym we went straight to the beach.  The girls took their nap in the car while on our way there.  The day was perfect.  It was sunny and warm and even better there wasn't a lot of people at the beach.  I was expecting my girls to cry or hate the sand....but seriously they LOVED it!!!! They had so much fun and we had a blast watching them enjoy it.  We even took them in the water with us and they didn't get scared at all.  They started splashing the water and giggling every time they felt a wave.   I can't wait to take them to the beach again.  I forgot to bring my camera so I was only able to use my phone.  Oh well, I didn't get to take that many pictures anyways because we were too busy in the water.  Enjoy!

Trying to walk on the sand

Taking in the beautiful view! Ruffle butt!!!

Safety first with the sun block =)

Juliana and I

My little family ♥

They were having a blast with the waves

Juju bean

Isa holding her hat...so cute!!!

Playing and eating lunch

They played with the sand for a while.

 

What an amazing day! These little angels make everything so much more fun! I can't wait to go back again. I couldn't have asked for anything better =)

I picked these sea shells to put in each of the girls box.  They will always have a memory of their first time at the beach ♥

What is this you speak of?

Ok let me first start by saying that this post is about MY experience during pregnancy and motherhood.  I don't want to be judged for anything that I felt or I'm feeling now.  These things were not written in a book, nobody told me about them....they just happened.  I'm aware that not everyone goes through the same things, but here is a few things that I wish someone had told me!

1.  Pregnancy- During my first trimester I had a really hard time with gaining weight.  It was exactly during the time that you're starting to get a bump, but don't look pregnant yet.  I was worried about what other people thought.  Please don't judge me.  This is how I felt.  I was so happy about my pregnancy, yet hated this stage.  That stage where you're too big for your regular clothes, yet too small for maternity clothes.  I felt really guilty for feeling this way.  I would cry to Brad saying I looked "fat."  I know a lot of it had to do with my hormones and part of it was the fact that I couldn't workout anymore.......and well, everything I had worked hard for was "changing."  Once my belly started to grow and I looked pregnant.......I absolutely loved it!!!! I never once cared about how much weight I gained or how "fat" I looked.  It was the beginning stage that was hard for me and realizing how much my body was going to change.  I have only talked to two people about it prior to this.  I hope not to offend anyone.

2. Damn you epidural for making me itch like a crazy woman.  I have never heard that this could be a possible side-affect.  Shame on me for not really looking into it either. 

3. Holy crap breastfeeding HURTS!!!  Ok, it only hurts at first.......then your nipples lose any sort of sensitivity lol.  There is nothing like two little mouths sucking on them to make them raw and bleed.  Pumping is just as bad.

4. Boobs!!! Yes, once you are producing milk your boobs look huge and amazing.  Unfortunately, I got engorged all the time!!!  That shit was PAINFUL!!!!  I pumped a lot to have enough supply for both of my girls and to freeze some of it too.  So I pumped every 3 hrs, sometimes 2.5, around the clock, yes even in the middle of the night.  It was the hardest job to do.  I felt like that's all I did all day...Brad called me his COW and would proudly show people our milk supply in the freezer lol. 

5. Since I got engorged a lot, my boobs felt so hard.  Touch your tile floor or the table next to you and that's how my boobs felt.  The only way that I was able to relieve the pain was to pump/breastfeed.  I literary felt like I was going to explode!!!  The first initial pumps did hurt because my boobs were so sensitive, but after that, it felt amazing to extract the milk. My boobs would start to feel normal again, if only for a short period of time.

6. The decision to stop pumping/breastfeeding was made for me.  I didn't get to choose.  I had to go back to work and there was no way I could pump every 3 hrs at work.  There was no way I could tell the students "hey kids, my boobs are leaking and hurting like a mofo, I'll be right back in about 15 mins.  Please continue to do what you're supposed to do and please, please don't talk,"  Yeahhh right. 
Although I was happy to be done with such a time-consuming "job" of pumping, it was really a hard decision for me to do physically and mentally.

• Mentally- I had a large amount of milk supply in the freezer.  All those weeks of hard work had paid off.  However, I knew with two babies to feed and the amount of milk they were increasingly taking in, that supply would quickly deplete.  I hated the fact that my babies would be drinking formula at almost 3 months old.  I wanted to continue to provide for my babies.  It was such an amazing, gratifying experience to know that you could provide everything they needed to grow healthy and strong.  I cried for many days about this.  I hated having to pump and would complain so much about it, but I hated MORE not giving my breast milk to my girls.  Till this day, I'm so jealous (in a good way) of mothers who can breastfeed/pump for many months.  I truly recommend it, although I know it is not for everyone either. 

• Physically- Ok I will say that trying to stop my milk supply was the most excruciating and painful thing I have ever felt.  I will go through labor again and have a c-section any time before I have to go through that again!!! I stopped "cold-turkey" because that's the fastest way to dry-up your milk supply.  The first day was the worst.  After 4 hours, I had to pump a little bit, otherwise I would have exploded lol.  I read a lot of ways to stop your milk production, but the most effective one was to just stop altogether.  I never want to feel that pain again...I don't even wish that upon my worst enemy.  I used cold cabbage leaves on my boobies and somehow it did help a lot!  Yup, I walked around smelling like a salad haha.  Not sure who thought of it, but damn she must have been a genius....thank you!!!!

7. Let's be honest. Being pregnant messes up your body....bad!!!  You gain weight in all the wrong places, and then you either push that sucker out of your vajayjay or even worse, have to have your stomach cut open.  Don't even get me started on stretch marks, cellulite and lose skin.  Blah!  Ok, I knew all those things could happen....specially carrying two little ones.  Then these precious bundles of joy arrive......and..........they continue to mess with your body.  I lost count of how many times I have been pinched, scratched, punched, hair pulled, bit...and the list goes on and on.  Either way, I would do it all again in a heartbeat =)

8. Sleep.  What a beautiful thing it is.  Even after your baby(ies) start to sleep through the night, sleep is no longer the same.  You can never sleep deeply.  In my case, there's that constant worrying.  Not to mention all the sounds they make throughout the night.  Say goodbye to naps too ;)~   Even if you have a babysitter at night so that you can go out with your hubs, you still have to get up early in the morning.  I rather stay at home and catch up on my sleep, than be miserable in the morning lol.  The memory of waking up at noon on the weekends is slowing fading away...

9. See my beautiful house, it is now designed by two toddlers =)  You know it has not been a successful day until you stepped on a TOY!!!  Most of my decorations have been put away, tables have been moved out of the way and a thousands of toys have taken over.  Even worse if you have a two-story house.....then everything multiplies.  You have to have enough toys in both areas and you need a changing table station downstairs too.  One day, I'll get my house back, until then, I'll enjoy all of it. I think know one day I will miss it.

10.  What is that smell and where did it come from?  Once you have a baby, you have seen it, smelled it and cleaned it all.  You will get poop on your hands, puke on your face and clean nasty boogers.  You don't realize how important poop will become to you once you have a kid. It ranges from diarrhea to constipation. 


There are many more things I would love to write about, but I just don't have the time ;)  For all of those pregnant or childless friends out there, please don't be scared.  None of this matters once you see your beautiful children smile, kiss you and hug you.  It is all WORTH it!

Look Who's ONE!!!!

 

Well, I can't believe it.  My little girls are ONE!!!  Seriously, where has time gone?  This year flew by wayyyy to fast.  It's amazing how much they have grown and learned.  This has been the happiest year of my life.  There's no greater feeling than seeing your children do things for the first time, not to mention their laughs, giggles, expressions, sounds and best of all, seeing them interact with one another! The month leading up to their first birthday, I was an emotional wreck.  Every time I thought about them turning one, I would cry!  Yes, motherhood has made me a wimp lol.  I'm very sensitive and emotional now.  Surprisingly, I wasn't that emotional on their actual birthday untill night time.
 
Brad and I started one of their birthday traditions by going in their bedroom in the morning and singing happy birthday loud and clear.  Ahhh, of course Brad gets up from our bed and rushed to their room yelling, "I'm going to see them first on their birthday" haha.  I usually sing a "Good Morning" song every morning, so it was very special to switch it up with a birthday song.  We brought the girls downstairs and I made them a special, birthday breakfast....pancakes!  Not just any pancakes, but STAR shaped pancakes.  It was funny watching them eat it.  They've never had it before.  They ate about half of it and played with the rest. 

We played with the girls for a while before heading to the park for their 1st birthday cupcake. We debated whether to do a smash cake photo session, but decided against it because we really wanted to wait until their 1st birthday for them to try a cake/cupcake for the first time. My sweet friend volunteered herself to take the pictures on the day of their birthday so it worked out perfectly. That morning was a bit cold and gloomy, but the pictures still turned out great! They LOVED the homemade frosting I made. 





 

 

After the big mess, we went back home and cleaned the girls up.  We put them down for their nap and got everything ready for the Aquarium. When the girls woke up from their nap, we fed them lunch and put them in their cute birthday outfits!  How cute are these little twinkies!

 

 

We met up with my sisters, nephews, and niece at the Aquarium.  We really enjoyed ourselves and the girls had a blast!  They were mesmerized by everything around them.  They even got to see a penguin up close.  My favorite part was watching them light up and smile at the fish. 

 

 

 

 



Well..............we decided to get an adult drink for ourselves lol.  Hey, it was a big accomplishment for us as too.  We survived the FIRST year as parents of twins.  It was well deserved and it felt good GREAT to know that I could drink and wasn't in any pain from the c-section, not breastfeeding, and knowing that I would get my beauty rest!!!!

 



 

 

After an amazing, unforgettable time at the Aquarium with the family we went back home to eat dinner.  Before bath time, I read the girls the letter I wrote to them (I plan to do this every year!).  Although they don't understand it now, one day, they will be old enough to really appreciate the meaning behind it.  They will realize how much I love them and how much I have given up to be with them ♥  I will not post my letter on this blog.  I feel like it's a little too personal.  After reading the letter, I showed them a picture of themselves when they were just born.  It was so sweet because Juju kissed the picture as though she knew it was herself. 

 

 

It was an amazing day.  We had so much fun with the girls and we had a great time reminiscing about the past year.  Oh how things have changed for us, but we absolutely love every minute of it.  We ended the night with cuddles and having a good night sleep.

 

 

Happy First Birthday My LOVES!!!!!!!!

 

 

 ***Birthday party blog coming soon***

***Baptism blog coming soon***

***Why did no one tell me this about motherhood? blog coming soon***



Twins' Playroom!

Well, this will be the last post of the year! I figured since the girls are napping I could write a quick blog about the girls' playroom.  It is not finished yet, but its almost there.  I have to give Pinterest a lot of credit for some of the ideas =)



This is the view of the playroom from the stairs.  It's actually the upstairs loft.  It's the perfect area because it's right next to the girls bedroom and bathroom. I apologize that the picture came out so dark.  I had to use my phone for the pictures since my camera is completely dead.

We decided that a love seat would be the perfect size for the playroom. I got the idea of the hanging pictures from Pinterest and also made the pictures using canvases, modge podge, ribbon and wrapping paper =)   I already had the curtain rod and most of the other material so it was very inexpensive!

 

 

Even before I had kids, I knew that I wanted to have a library for them (it's the teacher in me!).  This genius idea I also got from Pinterest.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to do it.  My main priority was to have a library with the books facing forward!!! I got the letters at Michael's and decorated them myself with ribbon and flowers.  I also wanted to display my girls' arts and crafts so I used the butterflies and ribbon to do so...this idea saved me $15 from Target lol.  I love the picture of the girls with their book.  Can you tell that I'm already installing the love for literacy??? =)

 I used the foam letters to spell out TWINS ♥

 

 

I LOVE Dr. Seuss!!!! This quote is definitely appropriate for the library! I didn't want to spend money on Etsy for this quote, so I did it myslef on Word and added the ribbon.  I already had the frame so all I had to do was spray pain it.

 

 

 

 

The "shelves" are actually spice racks from Ikea. They were only $4 each and all I had to do was spray paint them white. I change the books out every couple of weeks and also use books depending on the holiday =) 

 

The outside view from the window...so peaceful!

I eventually want to change the TV stand for a white one to match the rest of the furniture but this works for now. 

I love this quote........and it's so true hehe ;)

 

 

 

This is one of my favorite things in the playroom.  I absolutely adore this quote.  I had it made on Etsy! 

 



 

I love the storage space.  For weeks we looked at different places to buy the storage cubbies and could not bring myself to spend $50 on it with only 9 holes.  When my community had their annual garage sell, I went on a quest to find some........and I did!!!! Not only did I save money on these, but I love the unique shape. Wayyyy cuter than just the simple, boring square ones =)  total price of $25! However, I did spend a lot of money on the storage bins =( paid $7 for each to later find out that the dollar store has them for a dollar!!!  Oh well, these will last for a while and are of great quality.
The mirror came with the dresser in the twins bedroom.  I'm glad I can finally use it.  It gives the room a very princess-like look.  They built the loft with a closet just in case the owners would want to turn it into a 5th bedroom.  I love the storage space!!!

Well that's it for now.  I'm not going to add anything new for a while except for another Dr. Seuss quote.  The girls are enjoying this room already and love to play and "read" their books.