To All a Goodnight…

5/29 14 months old

Defy Aster

Astral Defiance

14 months old

Whew…This month has flown by. I struggled all month to get a post up, but I REFUSE to let a month go by without updating this blog at least once. There are so many reasons I strive to keep the blog going, but the most important reason for this blog is to combat all the misinformation out there about veganism. Vegans can easily have healthy pregnancies, healthy children and healthy lives. Astral and Defy are proof of this. They are the best examples, times two!

There are a lot of people who read this blog from all over the world and every time I check the stats I feel an ever-growing responsibility, even with limited time. Almost every time I find a new vegan parenting, family or pregnancy blog I am disappointed with what I read and see. I just want to find consistent vegan, no-compromise messages out there, but there are few and far in between when it comes to children, pregnancy and families.

As I write my eyes are red and itchy from being outside in the 100 degree, pollen filled air at lunch. As I have said before, I hope Astral and Defy DO NOT inherit mommy’s allergies. Maybe this can be my excuse for ranting a bit. I never usually use this blog as a platform for complaints, but sometimes you just have to let it out.

Breathe out…

Our little guys are now 14 months old, though they will be turning 15 months in 3 days. Astral and Defy continue to learn new things at record speeds. The amount of objects, animals, people, etc they can identify is amazing. In addition to constantly pointing out things and explaining what is going on around them, we use flash cards and books to teach them new items. I think there is a lot to say for the no television rule. These kids are always engaged and never pacified by the magical branding machine. For 14 month olds they have a great amount of patience and are very observant. The boys are still a little shy at first with new people, but they are warming up faster and faster as time goes by.

With the scorching temperatures comes pool season! The boys have been thoroughly enjoying outdoor water play. They love playing outside, going on long stroller adventures and walking around the neighborhood with daddy. Recently walking indoors and out has morphed into very fast, reckless running which has led to various minor injuries. In one week we had a busted lip and chin. For the lip debacle I totally panicked and almost drove to the ER, but Lucas always the voice of reason calmed me down and everything turned out fine. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the bumps, bruises or scrapes…

DnA continue to eat an amazing vegan diet and have added even more new foods. I’m sure I’m forgetting something on the yummy new foods list, but here goes:
Swiss Chard
Cantaloupe
Sugar Snap Peas
Watermelon
Cucumbers

Grapes
Tahini
Black Strap Molasses
Papaya
Tamari
Canola Oil
Romaine Lettuce

We are gearing up for the second plane trip with the boys in the next couple of weeks. NOT EXCITED. This time we don’t have business class seats with the extra room. The boys were just learning to walk the last plane trip so obviously now they are way more mobile. We will be bringing lots of snacks and distractions. Wish us luck!!!

Astral and Defy are obsessed with the children’s book we read to them before bed. We both read the book out loud to them in unison in silly singsong voices. The very last page reads “Goodnight!” so now of course every time we get to the last page the boys say, "GUH-NIE". They are so adorable greeting the mornings with "hehwo wohd" and ending the nights with "guh-nie". Little things like this make all the bathroom totally drenched after bath-time, oatmeal in your hair and on your clothes right before you walk out the door to the office, random cry fest in the middle of the store moments of parenting so worth it…

The Last Week of Infancy...

Astral

Defy

49 weeks

The boys have entered their last week of infancy! They are 51 weeks and in one week they will be one year olds! My sweet little munchkins…

They are rapidly progressing and doing so many new things and perfecting things they’ve been doing for a while. They are responding to simple requests very well and will point to many different body parts when asked. It seems like every day I come home from the office Luke has taught them a new body part to point to. They both say mama and dada but Astral is now saying “bye-bye” while waving!! When daddy counts from one to five and gets to four, Defy holds up four fingers. They also can open doors with great ease (ugh). I think my absolute favorite thing they do is blow kisses!!!!! Such smart little guys…

Astral and Defy love to climb and have us living in constant fear that they’ll fall and hit their heads. Watching them climb up on the couch is absolutely horrifying at times, but so far so good. At times I wish we had carpet downstairs instead of hardwood. We retired “the cage”, or the large play pen and the soft baby mat. This thing was a great while they learned to crawl and walk and were always falling. It also helped us keep both of them entertained in one safe place. Many parents of multiples have the same set up. Those carefree days are long gone. Defy started climbing over the gate and we knew it was time for it to go. He is the expert climber and if it can be climbed he will climb it. DANGER!!! We now use the “cage” as a “fence”…

These boys are VERY strong and will do pull ups on different pieces of furniture. We watch in awe as their feet dangle while they support all their body weight with their arms. I’m not sure if babies are supposed to have this kind of upper body strength, but Astral and Defy definitely do.

We are still co-sleeping in the family bed…all six of us.

DnA are feeding themselves quite well and eat a variety of organic, healthy foods. They love all the random mixtures we make for them. Daddy will throw lentils, strawberries, ground flax seed, kale and mushrooms into the blender with some amaranth and they’ll eat every bite. When they turn a year we’ll start using the juicer that grandma bought for them to make nutritious juices every morning. As they enter their 2nd year of life we know that they will be getting most of their nutrition from solids so we are very excited to come up with fun vegan meal plans for them. We will soon introduce plant milk, though I plan on nursing for at least 6 more months.

Astral and Defy’s most recent additions to their diet:

Puffed Kamut

Whole Wheat Pasta

Puffed Corn Cereal

Sunflower Seed Butter

Bok Choy

Edamame

Broccoli

The weather is getting nicer and daddy and the boys are getting to enjoy the outdoors a bit more. We all can’t wait until spring has settled in and they can enjoy outdoor playtime every day! They are two tiny walkers with a ton of energy.

This year has flown by and we are excited to enter a whole new realm of vegan parenting. I love that our little guys are growing up, but sometimes I’d like to keep them all little, sweet and perfect for myself. Right now I am the center of their universe and completely flawless in their eyes. (Lucas finds it amusing that I wrote that since he is the stay at home parent, but he doesn’t have boobies so I remain the center of their universe!) I know this will not be the case one day, but I’m cherishing it while I can. They will always be my beautiful babies that I carried for 37 weeks and three days, that I laid in the hospital on bed rest for nine weeks with and that I dreamt of my whole entire life.

Love had a new meaning once Astral and Defy entered our world! We hope that we will bring them as much joy as they bring us…

We've Come A Long Way...

DnA's lovely cribs that we hope they sleep in again!

Nice organic bedding, what baby wouldn't want to sleep here?? OURS!!

35 weeks

33 weeks

The boys are 37 weeks now (8 months old). They seem to be getting prepared to walk. Astral is standing unassisted for 30 seconds and has taken a step followed by falling! Defy can stand unassisted for about 10 seconds before falling!!! They both like holding on to their baby gate and cruising around. A & D love music and will dance to any beat.

The twinsies are also in love with our furry companions, Star and Sunny! They follow them around and love playing with and petting them. The relationship is beautiful. They are just amazing and joyful little guys!

They each have the same exact 8 teeth, 4 on top and 4 on bottom. They enjoy getting their teeth brushed with their tiny little baby toothbrushes. They are just too freaking cute!

Astral and Defy have eaten several more foods including; yams, peas, mangoes, peaches, pears, lentils and quinoa (all organic of course). I can’t say they all were a big hit, but you are supposed to keep trying. They both can drink out of their sippy cups now. I only put a small amount of water in them so that they can practice drinking without filling up and spoiling their appetites.

The boys love bath time and splash and play like crazy. We have tried giving them baths together, but that seems to still be a little too dangerous and chaotic. We will try again when they are a little bigger.

Since the weather has been getting colder, I've been shopping for warm, VEGAN and organic winter coats or bunting. I can't find anything that actually looks like it would keep them warm. They are in 12 month clothes already. Bundling up will probably work while they aren't walking, but I have a feeling they will walk this winter. If any one has any suggestions please let us know!

Last week Astral had Roseola, the exact same virus Defy had in October (fever with no other symptoms followed by a rash lasting 3 days). I guess we should just be thankful that it wasn’t anything more serious and 1 virus for each baby in 8 months isn’t nearly as bad as it could be. Once a child gets the virus they are usually immune and won’t get it again. Astral weighed 21 lbs 5 oz. when we took him to the pediatrician because of the fever. They are both so big for their age and so advanced in their milestones! WE love proving all the negative vegan myths WRONG! Can't wait to get both of their stats at their big 9 month check up in December.

About 2 months ago we brought the boys in our bed while they were teething and had stopped sleeping through the night. It was easier for me because they both wanted to comfort nurse and I wanted them to feel secure during their tough time. I originally wanted to follow the attachment parenting style and co-sleep before I found out we were having twins. Now that the boys are bigger we aren’t as scared to have them sleep with us. We really like having the family bed (dogs included), but now that the boys are waking less during the night we really want to try to get them back in their nursery in their own cribs. It is lovely to wake up to their smiling faces and have the comfort of feeling them breathing next to us, but honestly it is very hard to get sound sleep with them in bed. We plan on beginning the transition (yes…again) this weekend. Wish us luck…

It is so strange to think that last year around this time I was prepping to leave my office and go on full time bed rest at 24 weeks pregnant and now I have 2 healthy and rapidly growing baby boys. I practically missed all winter last year being hospitalized from December 28th until March 5th. The seasonal transition has brought back a lot of memories from our pregnancy. I would do it all again to get Astral Defiance and Defy Aster…

Our Big 20 Weekers...

19 weeks

18 weeks

17 weeks

16 weeks

15 weeks

Time has just flown by and our sweet little sprouts are 20 weeks old today! At their 4 month well baby check-up they both weighed in at 16 lbs 8 oz and both were the exact same height (26 inches) and even had the same head circumference. AMAZING!!! The pediatrician said that identical stats are very rare even for identical twins. They are in the 75th percentile for weight which means they are larger than 75% of babies. Those stats really mean nothing to us, but so much for the scrawny, malnourished vegan baby theory...

After their 4 month appointment we tried to start them on organic rice cereal, but they did not like it. They didn't want it from the spoon or a bottle with a y-cut nipple. Since they are doing so well the doctor said it wasn't necessary to add it to their diet, so we have given it a rest for now. After their 6 month appointment in September we will begin giving them solids, so that should be very interesting. At 6 months the doctor said I could slowly start introducing soy back to my diet. I could totally live without soy, but Lucas' delicious tofu scramble on a Sunday morning would be nice sometimes.

Astral can roll both back to tummy and tummy to back. The pediatrician said that he was advanced in the rolling from back to tummy department. He has been doing it for over a month now. Defy is rolling tummy to back and attempting to do back to tummy. It is a great new milestone for Astral, but this milestone has a scary aspect to it. As you may now, doctors recommend that babies sleep on their back. When I was a baby they told our parents to put us to sleep on our tummies, when my 14 year old brother and my 13 year old sister were babies they recommended that they sleep on their sides to reduce the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Since the boys were born they had been doing fine on their backs, but now that Astral can choose how he wants to sleep he has decided that his tummy is the most comfortable position. He seems to have total neck and head control and moves his head from side to side with ease, but we are still so paranoid and are constantly checking on him and staring at the video monitor during the night.

Astral and Defy are both laughing out loud now and exercising their vocal cords with coos and glorious screams of joy! We haven't felt any teeth coming up from their gums yet, but they are constantly gnawing on whatever they can get their hands on, including their actual hands. They hold hands and interact more than ever. They love their Exersaucers and standing up with our support. They don't really like their Bumbo seats and seem to be growing out of them already, thankfully they finally enjoy being in their bouncer seats while they watch us in the kitchen. They absolutely love their baths and are generally happy little guys.

Next month we are going to take the boys on their first real road trip. We still aren't comfortable taking them on an airplane, so we've decided to drive. This should be a great adventure. Sometimes they like the car, but most of the times they don't. They seem to be fine if we are moving, but if the car stops it is all over.

The weather has been atrocious, I can't wait for it to get cooler so the boys can stay out for longer periods of time. We went to our first vegan family meet-up last weekend. We had never been to a vegan bbq before so it was very nice to know that every thing to eat was vegan! The boys were able to meet other vegan kiddies. It is very important to us that as they grow up they are around other children who are being raised with the same values.

Our lives totally revolve around these children and we would have it no other way. They enrich our lives and we are excited to show them how to live a compassionate life...

From Newborn to Infant...

Astral and Defy 6/3/2010

Our Big Boys

D&A are now 3 months old, which is very exciting (14 weeks this Wednesday). They officially leave the newborn stage behind for the infant stage. Both Astral and Defy are growing into such animated and joyful little people. I'm on my third week back in the office and every morning I still get a little choked up. I just love those cute little sprouts so much that I can't help it. Thankfully, I can quickly snap out of it when I see them cooing and smiling at their papa. They truly love him and I know they are being well taken care of.

Everything is going well! They both have a little cradle cap, but we're treating it with olive oil and natural shea butter. Honestly, we needlessly worry about the boys, but we know that it is only natural and everything always turns out fine.

The pediatrician says that at 4 months they can start on rice cereal! They have such great head control, which is one of the signs that they are ready. Graduating to spoon feeding will be a super fun milestone. We cannot wait to make them awesome organic baby food. A few months ago we purchased the book "Feeding Your Vegan Infant with Confidence: a Practical Guide from Pre-conception Through Pre-school". It is such a great resource and we totally recommend it. It has a lot of nutritional information and awesome guides on when and how to introduce foods to your baby. Feeding the babies will be such a great topic to blog about. (It also has information on nutrition while breast feeding! )

Pumping at work has been pretty easy, though during the first week a man walked in to empty the trash. I didn't have time to stop him so I kind of just shrieked as he entered. He apologized and quickly left. It was kind of funny after the fact. Also, one day I lost about 3 oz of my liquid gold in transport, by not putting the top on the container properly.

I've been drinking Organic Mother's Milk tea in order to keep up my supply while away from the boys. It seems to be working so far! I cannot wait to walk in the door in the evening and nurse the boys. I never thought I would actually enjoy breast feeding, but the bonding experience is unparalleled. After my early college party years I have always been career focused and basically all my goals revolved around that, but these boys make me feel like I am fulfilling the actual purpose of my entire existence.

I still have about 16 lbs to lose. I haven't started exercising yet, but I plan on getting to that soon! At least the first half of the weight fell off immediately. I'll keep you posted on my progress.