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…

Spring Bees and Scraped Knees...

Astral Defiance and Defy Aster @13 months old (nice undies daddy...)

Spring is officially upon us and the boys are enjoying the beautiful weather. Astral and Defy are leaving the stranger anxiety phase behind and for that we are totally grateful. They quickly become acclimated to their new surroundings and seem to enjoy interacting with others outside of our immediate little pack.

We are constantly running after these guys, they are attracted to anything and everything that could possibly hurt them or get them into trouble. Defy fell outside while playing and had his first scraped knee, he didn’t cry but I almost did. I know this is only the first of many scrapes. Keeping track of them is definitely a full time job! Baby proofing is a never ending when you have two toddlers.

With Spring now in full effect I hope DnA don’t inherit my pollen allergies. Thankfully Lucas doesn’t have allergies, so maybe they’ll luck out. I really just need to stop over-analyzing ever sporadic sneeze. They are enjoying their time outside and all the animals and insect friends they are meeting. They watch the squirrels play in the trees and have met some big buzzing bees for the first time. Our boys have such great attention spans for 1 year olds.

Astral and Defy just love when we sing I’m a Little Teapot; they do the motions with us. Their favorite part is the “tip me over and pour me out” motion. These little sprouts catch on so quickly and their comprehension is through the roof. They are constantly learning new things and pointing to objects they find interesting. They seem to be saying “wa dat” (“what’s that”) as they point to specific things. We aren’t sure if that is what they are saying, but we act like it is and engage them. They now say their own versions of dog, girl, baby and ball as well. Again, these guys are so in sync with one another and so are their milestones.

They might not look exactly alike, but every day we are still blown away by their actions and interactions. They still fight over toys sometimes, but they love one another so much. They hug and kiss and make the other laugh uncontrollably, which totally makes up for the fighting. It must be so awesome to have a permanent partner in crime to do everything with. Whenever I see a kid playing outside alone I am reminded that twins may be double the work of a singleton, but they have a built in playmate and soul mate.

Being parents to twins is extraordinary. The approach to parenting two children at the exact same age is very strategic. We are very laid back people, but we do live by scheduled naps, feeding times and bed time routines. We find peace in our schedule and I think the boys do too. It makes the day flow easier. Lucas stays home with the boys and has established a great routine with them. He takes DnA outside to play and on walks in the morning and then again in the late afternoon. It is perfect, because they all get to release some energy (super veggie power), get a bit of exercise and some good old vitamin D. He has them on a really nice nap schedule where they sleep around 2 hours (sometimes even 2.5 hours).

Astral and Defy’s molars are really coming in and they are also getting (the same ones of course) 2 new teeth each in the bottom front. With their new teeth they will be able to eat more coarse textured foods. More organic and vegan fun feeding adventures are ahead. Recent additions to their diet have been:

Raisins

Apricots

Peanut Butter

Walnuts

Collard Greens

Garlic

Onions

Pure Maple Syrup

Nori

Lima Beans

Navy Beans

Kidney Beans

Red Chili Beans

Barley Flour

One of their biggest and messiest new skills is spoon feeding. They are able to feed themselves with their baby spoons. Everything is happening so fast!

I love writing and I feel a sense of obligation to continue documenting the healthy existence of our vegan twins. All of the disinformation out there on vegan pregnancy and raising vegan children must be combated. When I peruse other “vegan” pregnancy blogs I am astonished by the number of people that think exploiting animals during their pregnancy is okay. Vegan pregnancy isn’t hard and neither is raising vegan children. Though I was hospitalized due to a shortening cervix, my pregnancy went extremely well especially for carrying identical twins that shared a placenta. Now our babies are almost 14 months old (next week) and are vibrantly healthy, happy and eat plants…yup PLANTS! Yes people babies can survive and thrive with no animal bodies, no animal secretions or other bodily functions (and no television either)!!!

I wish I had more time to blog and expand my subjects and posts, but as you know time is limited. It won’t always be this way, but it is for now and we’re cherishing every moment of them needing us and wanting us. Hopefully in the future I can expand my blog and express all of the great ideas I have floating around in my vegan mommy brain…

Hello World...

Our 4 Babies

Defy, Astral, Star and Sunny

Blueberry Snack Time

Astral Defiance - 1 Year Old

Defy Aster - 1 Year Old

12 month old photos

We have toddlers! Two toddlers!! Two healthy beautiful VEGAN toddlers!!! Their immense love of discovery and learning has rejuvenated our fascination with the world and life. Everything is new and amazing to them and getting down on the ground and viewing the world from their level is such a truly inspiring second chance at the most wonderful thing about childhood; ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES.

Astral and Defy turned 1 on March 3rd. We aren’t traditional people. We will never be traditional people. For some traditions like birthday and “holidays” we will do our own version of what we feel is important on those days. At other times will we just act like that “holiday” or whatever doesn’t exist, because honestly it doesn’t for us. But hey, birthdays are GREAT in many ways, they celebrate your birth and there is nothing wrong with that. We do find problems with the commercial aspect of birthdays and other holidays, but as the boys grow older we will teach them that on your birthday you should also spend time helping others and giving of yourself and that is the best gift!

We didn’t have a traditional birthday party for the boys on their actual birthday, but the following weekend my parents threw them a birthday celebration when Lucas’ parents flew in from IL. It was a double set of grandparents extravaganza! We wouldn’t have picked the gender specific decorations or any of the character specific balloons (sometimes grandmothers forget on purpose), but the boys won’t remember any of that stuff. The most important part was both sides of the family coming together to celebrate the birth of these two amazingly bright little boys.

We are abhorred by many because we did not let Astral and Defy tuck into neon frosted, artificially colored, sugar infested pieces of cake. That may have made a cute photo op, but we are not ruining the palate of our 1 year olds for the sake of a photo. These boys eat the best food and are so vibrant and healthy, so I just went with that and made these sweet little fruit face cakes. They were cakes made of all organic fruit: pineapple, mango, blueberries, kiwis, strawberries and raspberries. The boys each enthusiastically ate their entire fruit cake piece by piece (except the pineapple, because it wasn’t ripe enough). They didn’t know the difference and certainly didn’t feel like they were missing out on anything, BECAUSE they weren’t. Only the best for our guys…

The boys are little vegan eating machines. We’ve introduced a bunch of new vegan and organic foods that are listed below. The pediatrician still recommends spacing introductions and holding off on nuts and nut milks. Feeding them is super fun and we love making random mixtures of healthy foods for them. Watching them eat is so special, messy but special nonetheless. Each bite receives such great expression (sometimes good, sometimes bad), their eyes sometimes describe what their little taste buds must be experiencing. They’re still picky and for instance one day will love oven roasted seasoned potatoes with olive oil and then the next day they will chew them up and spit them out in disgust on the floor or try to feed them to the doggies. You just never know, so we just move on, but try again at a later date when they’ll most likely be into that particular food again.

New Foods:

Coconut Milk

Soy Milk

Tempeh

Raspberries

Kiwi

Sprouted Grain Bread

Whole Wheat Seed Bread

Whole Wheat Tortilla

Durum Wheat Semolina Pasta

Quinoa Pasta

Coconut Butter

Spinach

Seasonings/Spices

Kelp

Olive Oil

Orange Juice (only oranges)

Apple Juice (only apples)

Oat Milk

Blueberry Jam

I was reading about identical and fraternal twins and found out that identical twins usually follow right behind the other with milestones and progress at the same speed, while fraternal twins have similarities that are merely comparable to siblings born at different times and tend to have milestones at significantly different times. It is really interesting because from their teeth, to crawling, to walking and to talking these boys have done everything just days after the other. Even their hair grows at the same speed. They sometimes sleep in the same exact position and then move to adjust positions at the same exact time as well. While they don’t look exactly alike their mannerisms and physical characteristics are shockingly identical.

The boys are getting some of their back molars and their gums have been so swollen lately. Last week for this first time since they were born Defy was inconsolable one night because of the teething. I tried everything and nothing worked, he eventually cried himself to sleep in my arms, it was just awful. I hope not to experience this with Astral or Defy ever again. Talk about heart breaking…

At their 1 year well baby check up Astral weighed 24 lbs 4 oz and Defy weighed 23 lbs 12 oz. They are both in the 75th to 90th percentile for height and weight. Everything was perfect. Astral still has the hemangioma on the back of his neck, but it hasn’t gotten any bigger which hopefully means it will begin involution if it already hasn’t. Their next appointment isn’t until they are 15th months.

DnA are really intrigued with books right now. They destroy these board books we get them in no time, they are really rough on them and love breaking the bindings. Though most of their time is spent figuring out the quickest way to destroy these “toddler proof” books they do spend a lot of time looking and pointing at the pictures and "reading" them while they are turned upside down. They have also started coloring with these great non-toxic vegan friendly crayons we found and they are getting pretty good at it. At first they didn’t really get the concept of crayon to paper but now they’re becoming pros. We still have to remind them constantly that the crayons are for drawing and coloring and not for eating.

The boys have learned even more body parts and objects around the house. They are mimicking us and one another. Astral and Defy have watched Lucas every morning open up blinds around the house. As he opens them he looks out the window and animatedly greets the day with “HELLO WORLD”, the boys just love it, so now they both say it ("hehwo wohd")! Astral started saying it first and then a week later Defy started saying it. It is absolutely the sweetest and cutest thing ever! Just hearing the sound of their little voice is just heart melting. They are ready for major exploration this spring and to start making their mark on this wohd…

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…