Gadgets and Gizmos of Plenty

8 MONTHS!!! Wow, It's crazy that here they have been with us as long as I was pregnant. In some ways the pregnancy seemed to take so much longer and in other ways it seems like it has taken a lot longer to get to here with them along side of us. Either way, what an accomplishment for them and we couldn't be more thrilled!

So many new things are happening right now, they are getting their muscles and rocking and rolling all over the place and the race to crawl is on! They don't know they are in a race but Daddy and I have bets on who will be first. My bets are on Anders because he 'practices' more and is stronger but Jared says Joline because she's little and has less weight to move around and is flexible. We'll see. We need to come up with some terms for this bet...say dinner out for me or a new power tool for him?? ;)

This week we've been cleaning up and getting some things done around the house that have needed to be done for a long time. It feels so good to get things organized and put away that have been sitting in a corner since we moved in almost a year and a half ago. Its amazing how having 8 month olds who are a little more independent now is helpful for getting more done around the house. Soon they will be all over the place and we wanted to go through some of the house and 'baby proof' a few things too. We still have a lot to do in that area but I feel better already.

In addition to all that the babies are moving on to more sophisticated and 'big kid' stuff! Wow, how did that happen!? Last night we bought them a wagon. We went with the Radio Flyer Triple Play Deluxe.

First Wagon ride!! 

They absolutely loved it and thanks to all those who gave us Toys R Us gift cards way back when the babies were born we were able to get this snazzy thing for only $12.00! :) Thank you! This will last a long long time. it has 3 child seats, cup holders, the sun shade, and a huge storage basket in the back that snaps up when your not using it. It goes great in the grass and not too bad even in our sandy soil. I'm sure it wouldn't do well at a beach but parks and bumpy trails no problem!

We've also moved on to better bibs and trays vs. the high chair tray. So they now sit in the high chairs pulled up to the table so they can munch along with us and they are enjoying everything we enjoy only smaller. So far we have not found anything they don't like to eat! These kiddos are hungry hungry hippos! For bibs we went with the Baby Bjorn Soft Bib because of their easy clean up and adjustable neck so theses things will last as long as the kids will need them and I love that they have a pouch at the bottom that is always open to catch stuff. I had been using cloth bibs with pouches but the pouch was no good because it didn't stay open so we ended up with stuff all over their laps and most of the time I had to strip them down to a diaper to eat. When you have 2 babies to be changing all the time that is not a fun way to spend your time. :) We also decided to save our table a little and get wipeable trays that can also go with us when we go out to eat so we went with Summer Infant Tiny Diners. These trays are wipeable, with suction cups on the underside so it doesn't slide around on the table, and it also has a pouch to catch food at the end. We love them and the babies are happy to sit at the table with us. I don't have a picture of this uploaded yet. Maybe next time.

I know you're probably thinking...wow, this girl spends a lot of money on her kids! But actually I got really good deals through Amazon on all of the above and because I have these things now I will save myself money in doing laundry with regular bibs and hopefully this will keep our table nicer for longer. :) So my logic is spend a little on things that will save you money in the long run. Thankfully, the bibs come in a 2 pack so of course I got generic colors! ;)

SO proud of my little kiddos and how big they are getting. It is all going so fast. Can't wait to see what changes will happen by next month! I'm sure they will be huge!

God bless, Sleep well,
-CW

Memory Machine!

Ok ok.... Here's the post you've been waiting for. The Memory Machine is the 1984 Starcraft T1000 truck camper Jared and I bought a couple of weeks ago. I know what you're thinking...."Are you crazy!?, What are you going to do with something that old?!, is it disgusting!?." Well the answers to your questions are finally here. No we're not crazy, we're going to camp with our retro, cool camper, and no it's not disgusting! :) So here are a couple of snapshots of the Memory Machine (we've affectionately named it that. ;))

Welcome! Here are the curtains my Mother in-law made for us! Isn't that a fun fabric!?

The chaos of cleaning it out. It's a "pop-up" style so there is canvas on the top half with a hard top. 

The kitchen has a stove, sink, fridge, and handy cupboards for storage.  Here's a view of the sink and stove after clean up. 

This stuff worked wonders on the wood work throughout. The eventual plan is to paint the wood panels but until then I wanted to spruce it up with what I already had on hand. Old English Scratch Cover for Dark Woods worked great! 

This is what all the cabinets and cupboards looked like before. Chipped, scratched, ugly. 

Before. 

After. 

After. This is my spices & cans cupboard, it's awesome! I want one in my kitchen at home. Slides out and has just the right space for cans and spices.

I lined all the drawers with easy clean-up & pretty printed vinyl.  

Chest of drawers for clothes and storage. 

Now, The biggest question in this whole thing was how was I going to sleep 2, 7 month olds safely because it wasn't big enough to have 2 pack n' plays set up and the twins are not used to sleeping in the same crib so they had to be separated some how. They are used to sleeping in the same room so that wasn't an issue but separating them physically was a bit of a brain teaser.

This is what we came up with...

The Noodle Bed! 

Maybe you've seen the posts on Pinterest about using a pool noodle under a fitted sheet to keep a toddler from falling out of bed? Well, I thought how can we take these materials and make them baby safe and twin friendly? We decided to stack them 4 high on top of each other. Drilling holes into them, we stabilized them with wooden dowels and long bolts. Those bolts were then screwed into the table and bench seat under the cushions and the separators were secured to the wall via a bathroom curtain rod stuck into one of the noodles and then the connector was screwed into the wall just like it would be if it was being used for it's actual purpose. We had one pesky corner that stuck out funny so we cut one of the noodle pieces that we had left over and screwed that onto the wall to keep Anders from hitting his head on it. Voila! Baby bed via pool noodles! :) You know you want to sleep in that thing, look how much fun they're having! ;) Making memories for sure.

So that's the Memory Machine! I don't have more pictures right now because I forgot to get pics of the outside and our bed set up. But don't worry, I'm sure there will be more memories down the road documented.

In other news... WE HAVE EGGS!! Our chickens have laid 7 eggs today. This is our second round of chickens since Jared and I have been married (6 years this weekend!) The babies don't get it but Jared and I are pretty excited about having fresh eggs again. We've been without fresh eggs since last fall!

God bless, Sleep well,
-CW