Thursday, March 31, 2011

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…

5 comments:

  1. Happy birthday to Defy & Astral! Those fruit face cakes are perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love reading your blog so much! Our little bugs were born on the exact same day, and it's so wonderful seeing other vegan kiddies grow and THRIVE. Isn't it amazing how much they change in just one year? It blows my mind.

    Your little ones are so dang cute. And I totally feel you about the b-day party conundrum. We had a similar situation with similar compromises. In the end I can't help but say - yay for celebrations, right? Why not embrace a reason to have a good time, and the first year of life sure is a good reason to have a little fun! =)

    Now the cake, I'm right there with you. I had a friend who was appalled that I wouldn't be giving Waits a cake, and for the same reason - the picture! I was like, "Um, he's never had sugar, never had wheat, and there's no way I'm going to get his system all jacked up for something he won't even remember!" I made AWESOME little desserts out of blended coconut cream (which is hard when cold) and raspberries. Poured into a mold to set and then dusted with coconut flakes to serve, it looked just like those pink "snowball" cakes you get at the gas station, haha. But it was super healthy and he loved it, AND it made a great picture!

    Love the blog. Happy Birthday to your boys and beautiful blessings into the second year!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your blog and their cakes looked totally cute and delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Leigh - Thanks for the birthday wishes! We are so happy that little Luka is now home where he belongs!

    Amanda - Thank you!!! The cakes were simple yet super fun and the boys loved them!

    Sayward - Seriously love your blog too!! It is awesome seeing another little vegan kiddie at the exact same age as our guys! Your coconut raspberry dessert sounds delish, we'll have to try it out. Happy first birthday to Waits(great name)!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey, there! What beautiful boys!

    I gave your blog some love in a recent post on Happy Healthy Belly about vegan pregnancy:

    http://happyhealthybelly.blogspot.com/2011/04/happy-healthy-pregnant-belly.html

    We'd love to hear your thoughts! --Sarah

    ReplyDelete