Twin Confusion

Since the boys were tiny babies we have kind of color coded them.  I know some parents of multiples swear by color coding and really go all out.  It started when they were infants and the bottles we bought came in blue, green, and purple.  The boys came home from the NICU on two feedings a day of Neocate which provides extra nutrition for preemies.  At 2 months old our doctor said Oliver no longer needed it, but Owynn still did.  We decided to keep the 2 formula feedings a day for Oliver because 1-Owynn still was on it 2-we were all used to the 2 formula bottle schedule (I nursed the boys for their other feedings) and 3-I had no idea how long I would be able to nurse twins and we wanted a possible switch to only formula to go smoothly.  Oliver's new formula came in a blue container, so we decided that should be his color and Owynn had green.  It helped a lot when they drank out of bottles because we always knew whose bottle was whose.  The colors stuck and now if the boys get something similar but not identical we try to get one in green and one in blue.  Like the Easter bunny brought the boys Mickey Mouse hats, but where EB got them from they only had the hats in blue and red.  So Oliver got blue and Owynn ended up with red.  We still color code with their sippy cup lids.  The boys don't really care whose cup they drink out of, but it helps us keep track.

Anyways, Sunday we were in a hurry to get everyone ready and out the door to John's parents' house.  I grabbed the first couple of shirts I saw in the basket of clean laundry and they happened to be blue and green.  But the blue shirt was in Owynn's size and the green in Oliver's.  I didn't think much of it, because really we don't find the color coding absolutely necessary, it's more for our convenience at knowing whose things are whose.  But I was totally messed up all day.  Having their colors reversed totally threw me.  I kept mixing the two of them up all day and it really frustrated me.  Apparently I rely on this way more than I thought (even though like 85% of the time it's only for their sippy cups).  That or we've just been doing it for so long that I'm really used to it.  Either was I wasn't very happy with myself for repeatedly mistaking one kid for the other.           

Wordless Wednesday: Late nights

This was another tough night when the boys did not want to go to sleep.  I took these at almost midnight that night.  Which is better than they are doing today.  It's 12:30am and they are still fighting sleep.  The poor kiddos though, I think they may be coming down with yet another cold and don't feel very good.  

Owynn is asleep right up against the door, I couldn't even open it.  I had to stick my camera in and around the door to snap this.

Oliver, how sweet is this? He fell asleep reading his book.

Wordless Wednesday brought to you in part by:

 all photos are property of doubleotwins.com

Learning To Walk

I recently re-found a video we got of Oliver as he was learning to walk, just after he turned 1.  I can't get over how much they have changed!  We don't have a cute video of Owynn learning how to walk unfortunately.  He would practice walking in his room when he didn't think we were watching.  He actually started walking on our trip to NY last Easter.  One morning while we there I was changing his diaper and he just took off.  Owynn pulled himself up on the couch, turned, and slowly started toddling toward me.  He stopped just out of arms reach, gave me his mischievous smile, turned, then took off in the other direction!  And that was it, he decided he was ready to walk and hasn't stopped since.  We do have this video of Oliver though.  He took his first steps at their first birthday party.

Homemade BBQ Chicken

Last week I made some homemade BBQ Chicken and salad for dinner.  For the salad I just threw together some romaine lettuce, bacon bits, red onion, croutons, and a shredded white cheese blend.  I topped it with the special house dressing from Olive Garden which we found at Sam's Club (score!).  The Olive Garden salad at home has been a big hit.  Lately we have been giving the boys a small salad of their own and they actually ask for more!

I made my BBQ Chicken in the crock-pot and it was super easy.  I know for some this may be pretty self-explanatory, but I would have loved something like this when I first got married.  Our first year of marriage we ate a lot of potato puffs and chicken breasts cooked on the foreman (George Foreman Grill) because that was pretty much all I could cook.  Over the years I've been pretty much learning as I go, and calling my parents for recipes and help a lot.

Crock-pot BBQ Chicken:

Ingredients:
-2-3 lbs chicken
-1 Cup Water
-BBQ Sauce, enough to cover chicken


Place chicken in the crock pot, add water.  Cook on high about 4 hours or low for about 6 hours or until chicken is done at 165 degrees.  Half way through remove most of water and add BBQ sauce until it covers the chicken well.  Cook until chicken is done, then enjoy!


When I made this I didn't decide to make it until about 2:30pm that day.  I grabbed some drumsticks I had in the freezer that I had gotten on sale super cheap.  I put a liner in my crock pot, although not necessary, I love them, they make clean up such a breeze!  I tossed my chicken in frozen, added 1 cup water, and set the crock pot to high.  It only took about 4 hours to cook.  Although still wicked yummy, it could have benefited a bit from cooking on low for longer.  After 2 hours I took out as much of the liquid in the crock pot as I could leaving only a little left in there and added my favorite BBQ sauce.  I tried this once with some cheap sauce I found on sale and it wasn't very good, so make sure you use a sauce that you know you really like.  Our favorite is Sticky Stuff made by Fatboy's, it's even made right here in Nebraska!  I let it cook another 2 hours, and it was pretty much perfect.  I pulled the chicken out, removed the bones, and then using two forks I shredded the chicken.  After it was all shredded I put it back in the crock pot and mixed it in the with sauce well.  I kept the crock pot on warm and we had our shredded bbq chicken on sandwiches with salad and bbq beans.  It was a hit with everyone.     

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Easter

Owynn

Oliver, eating the ears off all his Peeps

Owynn, he put his hat on himself

Oliver, his mouth is full of Peeps

Peep massacre

Owynn found chocolate!

Oliver and Owynn

Owynn

Oliver

Owynn and Oliver

Oliver

Owynn

Owynn

Oliver and Owynn.  I love Oliver's face here, he looks just like John.

Wordless Wednesday brought to you in part by:

all photos are property of doubleotwins.com