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Meal Planning Monday - 6th August

It was a very green veg box which arrived this morning.  Here's what was in it:

Broccoli

Carrots

Lettuce

Potatoes

Green onions

Baby courgettes

I also ordered a load of tomatoes to make tomato sauce, so I've just spent the last 45 minutes peeling and deseeding tomatoes!  

We had a little visitor in the box too - a baby slug.  It really gave me the heebeejeebees when I first saw it, but it's part and parcel of having organic veg, so I don't mind really.  Once last year I found a tiny caterpillar in an apricot, hiding behind the stone.  I'd already given the other half to one of the children!

Here's what we're eating this week:

Roast beef with jacket potatoes, carrots and green beans, and yorkshire puddings - ok, so this was last night's dinner.  The children loved it, and Little Man would actually eat yorkshire puddings and jacket potato skins until they came out of his ears...

Pasta with summer tomato sauce and courgettes - this is the reason for the gallons of tomato sauce, but at least I'll have plenty to freeze too.  This is a recipe from the fabulous River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook.

Toad in the Hole with carrots and peas - I haven't done Toad in the Hole before so this will be interesting...  The Daddy's older son is coming to stay for a couple of days so they will both eat this with the children; I'll be having omelette and salad because there are too many Weightwatchers points in Toad in the Hole!

Chilli con carne and rice - speaks for itself really!  I may do some green beans with this as there are some left over from Sunday.

Salmon with broccoli, sweetcorn and potatoes - I know we have this nearly every week, but the children love salmon and it is one of the few foods which contains vitamin D.

I'm heading to Mrs M's to see what everyone else is eating this week!

Just to clarify, I'm not sponsored by Abel and Cole or anything, we buy our own veg box each week and love it!  

Silent Sunday / 366

Is it twice as hard having twins?

I often wonder what it must be like to have babies one at a time.

When ours were small I used to say to The Daddy how easy it must be, just having one, and he would point out that I wouldn't think that, were I actually in that situation.  He was right, after all he should know; he has two older children who are now 17 and 20.  However, he always says that having twins is much harder than having one, and also than having two of different ages.

6 weeks old

I'm not sure if it is twice as hard.  That's too simplistic; there's more to it than that.  Yes, there are twice as many nappies to change, twice as many bottles to prepare, feed, wash and sterilise, and twice the laundry, but you can get most of that if you have two who are close in age.  What is hard is that you have two who are at the same stage of development, all the time.  So two who need help and support to learn to walk, two who need to listen to your speech so they can learn to talk too, and two who really don't understand that they have to share everything, including time with me.  These are the kinds of things which truly make me feel over-stretched and sometimes, just a little inadequate.

One thing I do find really hard is getting out and about.  The other week, for instance, I decided to let the children walk into the children's centre where we go to our twins' group, rather than getting the pushchair out for the 200 yards from the car.  Big mistake.  HUGE.  It wasn't too bad going in, as Little Miss decided she absolutely didn't want to walk, thank you very much.  So I carried her and Little Man wore his Little Life Backpack.  But when it was time to leave, Little Man wanted to walk very fast (aka toddler running/waddling, call it what you will) and Little Miss wanted to go  v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w-l-y.  So I'm walking along with my arms outstretched, trying to hold onto the reins.

They usually stay in the pushchair as much as possible, only getting out when they're in an enclosed area, like the park (fenced only, thank you) and the library (doors too heavy for them to push).  It does make me a little bit sad sometimes that I can't do things like taking them to feed the ducks - unless they're in the pushchair.  There is no way I could get two of them out near water like that, it makes me shudder just thinking about it!

The escape!

When they were little, there were a few times I tried to prove (mainly to myself) that I could do things all by myself.  There was the time I took them with me to have my hair cut, when they were about 5 months old.  It should have been fine, I booked the appointment to coincide with their morning nap and they would usually have about an hour.  But not this time.  Oh no.  They both decided to be awake and screaming, and I had to call in the cavalry (my dad, who luckily lives close by!).  One can not have one's hair cut and deal with two screamers at the same time...

A few weeks ago I read, with great amusement, a post by Jane at In a Different Voice.  She had received a rather nasty comment about twin mums thinking they are better than anyone else, and that we act like a 'twin mum mafia'.  Well first of all, how rude.  And secondly, I haven't come across many mums of singletons so far who haven't asked me how I do it, saying they can only just manage one at a time!  In her response, Jane has put together a list of 'The 10 Superior Skills of the Twin Parent'.  It is excellent, as are the comments!

Two at a time?  Piece of cake!!

But however hard it is, there are some things which are actually easier with twins, in my humble opinion.
- My babies have always slept brilliantly, even when we went on holiday for the first time a month ago, and I am convinced this is partly because they have each other right there all the time.
- My babies are quite happy to play without me, which means I can get on with things I need to!
- My babies are learning to share even though they are only 20 months old.  This is a hard lesson to learn and so, so difficult at this age when they haven't learned to empathise yet, but they are starting to do it and it's beautiful to watch.

It is a privilege to watch my twins' special bond blossom and grow.  I love being their mummy, however hard it is.

This is my post for the Multiple Mayhem Carnival, hosted by Heather at Young and Younger.

The Gallery: 'Delicate'

This is a picture of my baby girl, at 6 hours old.  She was delicate in so many ways: born at 34 weeks, she weighed just 4lb 7oz (although her twin brother was only 3lb 14oz) and she was very poorly for the first few days of her life.  The day after this photo was taken, she was dosed with morphine, put on a ventilator, and had a chest drain inserted to get rid of the fluid on her lung, caused by a tiny hole which we think was made when she was born.  She appeared just 12 minutes after her brother, and the shock of being born seems to have made her scream louder than her little body could stand!  She made a full recovery very quickly but it was a delicate balance for a few days.  

Meal Planning Monday - 30th July

In our veg box this week:
Carrots
Cauliflower
Plum Tomatoes
Potatoes
Spring Onions
White Mushrooms

This is the small veg box, so I also ordered some corn on the cob, baby courgettes and some extra tomatoes.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Lamb and mint burgers, hummus, potato wedges, cucumber and avocado - these are really nice burgers, and we have a healthy pot of mint in the garden at the moment, which is begging to be used!  I'll be using the spring onions from the box to make the burgers too.


Pan-fried hake, roast tomato sauce with rice and courgettes - I think rice always need something wet and tasty with it, especially when you're cooking with no salt as I do.  This roast tomato sauce fits the bill perfectly, and I'm looking forward to trying the different varieties of courgette with it.


Marinated chicken breasts, potatoes, garlicky mushrooms and corn on the cob - we've had some mushroom refusal in the recent past, however when I did some of these mushrooms for myself (I only had a few left), they were sampled, gobbled, and I didn't get to eat very many myself!  I think the trick is to saute them in a bit of spray oil so they dry out a little bit, and lose the slug-like texture...


Cauliflower and chickpea curry with rice - I love cauliflower in curry, and always order it as a side dish when we go out for a proper one.  I bought some fenugreek a couple of weeks ago so I'm going to have a play with that, and I'll be using fresh tomatoes.  


Baked hake with lemony couscous and chargrilled courgettes and peppers - this will be for me on Friday night, while The Daddy has a takeaway.

I'm off to Mrs M's to see what everyone else is eating this week.

Water, water everywhere!

Water play has been quite a feature in our garden this week.  It's been a wonderful way to cool down, and lots of fun too.

We finally managed to use the paddling pool we bought for our holiday.  Up to now we have had to use it inside with plastic balls in; it was nice to use it properly!  Little Miss wasn't sure what to make of it to begin with, but Little Man dived straight in (surprise, surprise).

They have also helped to water the tomatoes, and they were fascinated with the outside tap!

Our sand and water tray has sand in at the moment, so I bought a cat litter tray (£1.30 from Poundstretcher!) to use for some small-scale water play.  I put their sea creatures in it, and they really enjoyed exploring, and splashing in the water.  

I'm joining in with Country Kids at Coombe Mill.  Click on the badge below to see what everyone else has been up to outside this week.