Falling Leaves, Falling Down...

10/31/2012 - Astral Defiance & Defy Aster 31 months

On the heels of Hurricane Sandy, a super storm that ravaged the Caribbean and basically shut down most of the east coast of the United States for a couple of days, we are lucky to have no damages and no loss of electricity.  Things got pretty intense a couple days ago but now seem to be getting back to normal around here. While waiting out the storm, I had a moment to get my thoughts together and write this overdue blog. 

One minor injury occurred during my blogging hiatus. Back in September the boys were roughhousing, as per custom in this house, when Astral fell on top of (or tackled) Defy.  As they fell to the ground Astral apparently hit his front tooth on the side of Defy’s head.  He informed us that his tooth hurt and we noticed a small drop of blood on his gum-line.  I immediately took him to the dentist which incidentally was his first visit ever.  I’ve always imagined that their first visit to the dentist would be one with all of us together as a family or at least one that was scheduled.

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this month the boys had a chance to visit their beloved animal friends at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary during their annual fundraiser/open house event. Despite being “a little bit scared”, Astral and Defy absolutely love being in the presence of all the animals. They talk about Malcolm the goat and Bobby the pig on almost a daily basis, and they’ve been quite excited about meeting newly rescued baby pig Isaac. They also had their first up close and personal interaction with a clown which went better than we imagined it would. The balloon animal offerings must have won DnA over because they really seemed to enjoy the whole experience. Some clowns are super creepy (even to adults), Apple Dumpling was anything but. There were tons of delicious vegan food to enjoy and a silent auction of some interesting miscellaneous items. All in all, it was a lot of fun! We also had the pleasure of meeting a sweet vegan family that recently moved to the area.  Hi to Julia, Ian and baby Leo!

These kids started talking and never skipped a beat.  They understand everything and we can pretty much have conversations with them.  It is pretty amazing to have two more people around for discussions. Their comprehension is impressive. Just now while typing this, I was talking to Lucas about needing a tissue and the next thing I knew Astral was holding up a piece of scrunched up toilet paper he had brought to me from the powder room. How cute is that? Also, they now have a stronger sense of time, which is really cool.  They get that Grandma is coming over tomorrow or yesterday we went to see Malcolm. They get before and after too. They are learning how to write their alphabet and really enjoy their daily lessons with Daddy, although they do sometimes get distracted by their silly brother.

 

When the boys officially turned the big 2-point-5 we retired the cloth diapers and switched to cloth training pants and “big boy” undies.  They have very few accidents now, a very important milestone, especially for those lucky parents that have been cleaning cloth diapers by hand for a couple of years. Yes, it is every bit as delightful as it sounds…

DnA are still eating really well and enjoying their green juices.  We all caught a flu-like virus over the course of a couple weeks, which was pretty disrupting. Thankfully the boys only showed symptoms for a couple of days before returning to somewhat normal, but with decreased appetites.  Since they’ve been better, it has been decided that they don’t like two staples in their diet for what seems like forever: peanut butter and their favorite multi-seed whole grain bread. Not a big deal, it happens.  Toddlers sometimes love something one day only to passionately hate it the next and fall back in love the following day, without missing a beat. They love granola, beans, salads, fresh fruits and have been obsessed with pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pancakes lately.  I think they enjoy helping to make the food almost as much as they enjoy eating it.

 

 

 

 

smashing plantain for patacones

what vegan 2.5 year olds eat: chickpea cutlet, spaghetti squash and salad

pierogies, lentils, salad

whole wheat pasta, sauce, nooch



Here’s to a Happy World Vegan Day (November 1^st)! I hope you find a special way to celebrate and promote veganism…

 

 

And We Have Teeth...

Astral and his two teeth!!

Defy and his one tooth!

25 weeks old

24 weeks

23 weeks old

22 weeks old

Yikes!! I have been seriously slacking on the posting, but as you can imagine life is pretty busy these days! Astral and Defy are becoming more and more mobile and require entertaining! The boys are the center of our universe and so much fun, especially compared to the eating, sleeping and pooping cycle of a newborn.

The boys are 25 weeks old and will be 6 months old in 4 days! Half of a year, it seems like just yesterday they entered our lives. DnA are barely recognizable from their former tiny selves. They are fully animated, strong and very vocal.

In the past 2 weeks they have come one step closer to being able to chew the yummy vegan food they'll be raised on! Little brother Defy sprouted his first tooth and then a few days later, not to be outdone, big brother Astral sprouted 2! They are the cutest little bottom teeth ever. At around 4 months they started drooling and chewing on their hands a lot so we knew it was coming, but we didn't realize how soon. Defy and Astral were both a little more fussy right before the teeth popped up and also the day they first appeared. It seemed to happen overnight. We give them cornstarch and frozen silicon teething rings and they also really love chewing on organic stuffed vegetables and fruits toys. We haven't given them unnecessary drugs and they are just fine. Astral really wanted to be held by me and no one else during this time, I was his all natural remedy! Thankfully we were on a trip visiting family so I was available 24/7. Fingers crossed that the rest of teething goes this well.

So we had our first road trip, the boys were awesome on the way there. It was a 12 hour trip each way, we rented a van to fit all of our stuff and so I could be comfortable in the back with them for entertaining and feeding along the way. On the way back they had one major freak out session, where they cried for a while. It was horrible, there was no place to pull over and I couldn't take them out of their car seats. It broke my heart to have them crying like that. I do not believe in the cry it out method at all. If my babies cry I comfort them. We have so much baby gear so flying would have been difficult as well, plus I am worried about them being trapped in a flying germ incubator at this young age. They will no doubt get on a plane, but I want to wait until they are at least 1.

The babies love their rice cereal now and will soon be transitioned to sweet potatoes/root veggies, we just want to wait until their 6 month appointment next week. They are so adorable eating their big boy cereal in their Bumbo seats or high chairs! Now that we've reached the 6 month mark, I am also going to slowly reintroduce soy back in my diet to see if they have a reaction to it.

They both love standing up while holding on to us and jumping up and down. They roll over both ways and army crawl or wiggle their way to whatever toy they want to get a hold of. It is so cute to watch them worm their way across our bed or the floor. They are well on the way to sitting up unassisted but balance has not been mastered. They do that tripod thing, where babies use their arms together in front of them to balance, but they are leaning so far forward I feel like I have to spot them very closely. Sitting up will lead to a whole new world for these guys and for mommy and daddy too. They're still sleeping through the night for the most part, they wake up on occasion, but usually a nice back rub or a cuddle will work to get them back to sleep.

The boys now steal toys from the one another, they interact all time. They stare at each other and laugh and baby babble. I think this is the beginning of their special twin language. They still enjoy exercising those vocal cords by screeching and screaming. At times I worry if they will hurt one another because they grab, bump, scrunch, pinch, poke and roll over the other. I guess this is only the beginning of having rambunctious little twin boys! Brothers...

We've been using the organic Boba baby carriers, as the boys get heavier and grab at anything and everything it is getting more difficult to hold them while doing things around the house. These carriers are really comfortable and help when they need to be soothed, but you need to make a bottle or do other things. If alone with the twinsies, we can strap one in and carry the other.

Astral has a hemangioma (red birthmark, collection of blood vessels under the skin) on the back of his neck, but it hasn't gotten any bigger in a while which is great. Hopefully it will start involuting soon. They go away on their own and are pretty much harmless depending on their location. They are really common in multiple births. Defy actually has one on the top of his head, but it is a pin point hemangioma and is super small and is being covered by his hair.

Their hair is growing so much!! It will be interesting to see how it turns out. We can't wait to find out their growth progression next week at the pediatrician. They are in 9 month clothing already and actually fit two pairs of 12 month old pajamas, though as you can see from the pics they are usually chilling around the house in cloth diapers only! They are happy healthy and have the most beautiful little spirits, we are thrilled to be their parents...