A little closer now

Haven't blogged much lately - spending a lot of time during the days playing/interacting with my now smiling and gurgling little miracles.  What fun they are!  The winter may be forcing us to stay indoors (a fact that only SOMETIMES drives me batty), but there's lots of book reading, rattling, dancing, and bicycle legs happening instead.

As the girls approach the big three month mark (this Wednesday!), I snapped a few lovely shots of my little ladies - and got nice n close. 

Here is a sampling, alternating shots of each girl...know who is who? (hint: the first baby is Alex...)

Bin 790 - A Mommy Review

So let's talk about something other than the babies. Well, kinda.  Because the only reason I even tasted Bin 790 food is because we had babysitters for the night - our first night out without the babies - and we wanted a nearby restaurant to hit, which in fact was plan B, since I am still dying to see Harry Potter, but the damn thing isn't playing on the weekends anymore. Boo.

But I digress. Bin 790, from a Mommy's perspective?  Great get away night restaurant. Fabulous ambiance. Small intimate tables (not great for large groups - in fact, impossible with so few tables). Okay, well, this Mommy had a tough time finding room on her table for the requisite iPhone display area!

Some cool things about the restaurant are that it is a Spanish Tapas restaurant, it has a good wine list and even a selection of wine flights (although no Spanish flights - I would have liked to see that).  They had an excellent Spanish Tempranillo/Cab Sauv blend that I ordered by the glass, and they accomodated that even though it wasn't offered by the glass. And, they even had one of my fave desserts - sticky toffee pudding - on offer!

The service was excellent, the prices tolerable (not cheap or overly expensive) and this particular Mom managed to occasional talk about something other than her babies. 

However she did NOT succeed in keeping her photos of the babies to herself...the waiter we had has now seen quite a few of them...

So.  I give this restaurant 4.5 out of 5 soothers. They lost points only on the slightly uncomfortable seats, a bit of a draft from the door where we sat, and because their Spanish wine list was a little lacking.

For the record, we had the following dishes:
Zambuca shrimp - yummy, creamy, sweet. 5 large shrimp
Bacon wrapped beef tenderloin - sooo good. 4 little bites with a bit of salad on the side
Green curry mussels - good portion size, very buttery and garlicy sauce, but in my books, that's great
Pulled pork areta - one of the best items on the menu; excellent
Ham croquetas - two of them, and delish!
And of course, the 790 antipasto platter.  Very frustrated that I forgot to get the names of the cheeses and one of the meats they served us.  Wanted to be able to look for them for our own presentation some day. May still ask...

In writing this post, I found this blog...looks to be an awesome source of recipes and info about tapas...

Although we loved our meal, and even had dessert, we were home within 2 hours, and when I took my daughter Alex into my arms, she promptly fell alseep, all cuddly-like. Tapa-what?

Trippy Dippy Times

Day trips, date nights, and even intercontinental travel - it's all beginning to happen!

Aside from the fact that I try, as much as possible, to get the three of us out of the house regularly, it has to be said that it's an energy draining exercise!  Take today's expedition, for example.  A first trip out to the office. So proud to introduce my girls to my coworkers and that of my husband.  Such a proud poppa.  Such a proud momma. Such a peaceful, sedate and special time...

Yah, it was special alright!  Let's see.  Poop bombs, monumental spit-ups, leaky boobs (yes, really, I forgot the breast pads, and ended up with a very dark, wet circle over my right boob) and a special - there's that word again - trip to the store by my coworkers to buy (yes, buy) a new outfit for the second twin, since the first had soiled her original outfit so bad that she already took the backup clothes and left nothing for the Spitup Queen. And that was just at MY former office...

What have I learned?  That my diaper bag, although great, will not house all the supplies I need for a day trip.  Also...I need to take a look at myself before I leave the house and make sure, you know, that I won't have obvious and strange side-effects visibly prevalent to all around me at awkward times. Aaand...perhaps it was ambitious to try hit two offices on the same day when I still have issues with breastfeeding and satisfying my little sweethearts.

I also infered - quite correctly I'm sure - that travel of a more elaborate nature will require some HEAVY planning.  Such as the trip down to Arizona to visit Grandma and Grandpa this spring.  I'm going to start thinking about how to coordinate and plan for it all now! Got tips?  Know of websites that help? I know they exist...

Also of note...and speaking of getting out...tomorrow night is the first night I will be without either or both of my babies for any time - it's DATE NIGHT and we have a friend and her daughter coming over to babysit. A big moment.  Wonder what that will feel like? What did it feel like the first time you left your baby home with a sitter/family member?

Trippy, I bet!

Slaphappy quiches and more breastfeeding woes

I want breakfast options...savoury breakfast options, and so this morning I quickly slapped together what I think are quiches.  No, folks, I have never made a quiche before - it's not my first choice - and I didn't have time to be painstaking.  Thus, I looked up 'quick quiche crust' online, slapped that together.  I doubled the recipe, ripped it in half, dumped it into a pan, and instead of rolling, pressed it into the pans.  I don't think I have enough dough (barely went up the sides) and it looked awful, but whatever, right?  Babies were fussing already in the playpen and I wanted to get it done!  Then, I 'guessed' at what the egg mixture should be, what the milk ratio oughtta be, and dumped a bunch of other ingredients in it.  Ham, asparagus, cheese, onion, mushroom and red pepper.  A real mashup. 

They are in the oven. I have no idea if they will work out.  Should be interesting.

Also interesting (or not, if you are sick of hearing about it) is the ongoing breastfeeding struggles.  Some days I wish I was just bottle feeding them.  Some days I hate breastfeeding. Some days I wish my baby hadn't been stuck in CHEO, stuck with so many tubes in her mouth, stuck until released to try learn to breastfeed after almost a month. And then other days I love breastfeeding.  As I've said before, it's the hardest job I have ever done.

Yes, I continue to struggle in two big areas.  One, I continue to have flow issues.  I don't have enough milk to satisfy my very voracious Alex, and certainly don't have enough left over for Hailey, whose suck is very light, very ineffectual, and who delatches if the letdown is too heavy, leaving Mommy to scramble and sop up the flowing milk pouring all over my clothes, the couch, the babies.  It's good times, I tell you.

And now, as you know from my last post, I have a baby who loves to hate breastfeeding. There's no telling if she will latch and when and for how long, and if she will instead freak out, crying that wailing "I'm so angry" way and beating her little fists against my breast.  It's NOT COOL when your baby is that upset. 

But still I persevere. And eat quiche. And ask for, and get, help.  Thank god for the help.  You are all fantastic resources and cheerleaders.

This morning, we had lovely skin-to-skin time in the ongoing effort to make this not only work, but make it enjoyable for all. It was lovely...pix to come.