Homemade Frozen Dinners Are Da Bomb!

These days I'm all about saving time in the kitchen. I had Thanksgiving AND Christmas Eve dinner at my house last year and since then I have barely been in the kitchen. My husband can vouch for that. Having dinner at my house has become a tradition (three years running) and I love it. Everyone in comfortable here and I really don't mind all the cooking. But after it's all done, I don't want to set foot in the kitchen for a couple of months. Then I was hit with a great idea: Frozen Dinners. This was my thought process: I puree and freeze Sakura's food every week, I can do the same with our dinners! Logical, right? I don't think you can do this with all dinners, for example, frozen rice. I have tried a few things with great success.

Pesto is very easy to make!

I usually get the urge to cook every now and then and have the energy to cook two meals at a time. So while I'm in the mood, I make it count. I make a meal we'll eat that night and another meal to freeze. So one night I make rice, beans and chicken breast AND supper sloppy joes. When the rice and beans were done, out came the sloppy joes. I didn't cook the whole week. Next I tried a simple beef stew recipe and it tasted exactly the same as the day it went in the freezer. Just defrost and put it over white rice or mashed potatoes. The most recent meal I've done was basil pesto. Easiest recipe ever: fresh basil, garlic, salt, pepper, Parmesan or asiago cheese, oil and walnuts. Blend till creamy and done. I love pesto sauce because you can use it in many recipes; chicken and pasta, caprese salad, chicken enchiladas, on top of pizza, smear on bread and toast a little, in scrambled eggs, on steak, and in mash potatoes. I'm sure you can come up with a few more things.

Frozen pesto and beef stew

Bottom line is that dinner doesn't have to take hours to make. Find a few quick recipes that are freezable and once it's made just sit back and relax.

"How Do You Do It With Two!?"

Now that the girls are older, there are things that have gotten easier and things that have gotten harder. During parenthood you are constantly changing, you're always adapting to a new way of living as your children get older. I'm always asked "How do you do it with two?" I always answer "I make it happen", a motto my past supervisor, Dana, taught me. But I've learned that there are definitely things that are harder, even impossible, to do on my own with twins. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Going to the park: It is impossible for me to go to the park alone with the girls. I must have someone with me. Akira is walking now so she wants to be every where. She is super curious about her surroundings and wants to join the big kids. She has no fear. Sakura cannot walk yet, but that doesn't mean she isn't interested. She is just as curious as Akira and wants to have just as much fun with the same big kids. Both girls need to be constantly supervised, but they don't stay together. They want to do their own thing. I'm totally down for that, but I can't be in two places at once, hence the reason for a second person. For now the park is a rarity until the girls get bigger and can understand what I'm saying to them.

Keeping them on the same schedule: So far I have been able to keep the girls on the same feeding and sleeping schedule, but it doesn't come without its challenges. Akira is a beast when it comes to eating. I mean the girl can eat! She is always asking for food. Sakura isn't as big an eater. She eats well, but she doesn't continue to ask for more food right after she has eaten. So Akira is definitely up in her high chair more often than Sakura and I feel like I'm always feeding a child. Right when I want to just sit and chill or get a bite to eat myself, here comes the blog ready to consume whatever is in her path. The great thing is she's almost at her average weight for her age, yay! When it comes to sleeping they are also different. Akira doesn't need as much sleep as Sakura does. There are many times when one wakes up before the other (usually Akira and always screaming). So my time to get anything done in the house is cut short because I have to tend to the one that's awake and keep her quite so the other sleeps (which is very short lived since she's woken up anyway. Think it's that twin connection thing). It's also hard when we go out since Akira can stay up enjoying herself and Sakura gets cranky because she wants to sleep. For now I just deal with it day-by-day and thank God for a nice long nap.


Getting the girls to and from the car: We live in a condo on the third floor, no elevator. We didn't think we would have children in this condo, let alone twins. To get the girls from the house, to the the car, and back I use a baby carrier. I can't carry both at the same time and I don't trust myself to carry one down three flights without the carrier. I have the amazing ERGOBaby and use it every day. I strap one in, grab the diaper bag, walk down, strap her in her seat, lock the doors, and repeat with baby #2. I always make sure I have everything ready to go before we start to leave so that baby #1 isn't waiting too long in the car. I’m not a baby-wearer, but a baby carrier is essential to my life. I bet if I just had one baby I would be a babywearing mama. With one baby it's cake, but then again I'm burning some extra calories.

It's normal to have to change and adapt to things as your children get older. It gets more complicated when you have twins, or more, at different levels of physical abilities, and not enough money in the bank to hire some help. So how do I do it with two? I just go with the flow.

So, Where Have I Been?

Dear Readers,

I'm Baaaaaack LOL I've been dieing to say that! I apologize for my absence, but I have a good excuse: I'm a mom to twins. Need I say more? I'd like to take this time to let you know that there are going to be a few changes around here. In addition to telling you all about my amazing daughters, I will tell you about all things that amuse and interest me and any thoughts I wish to share because I can. To start things off I will update you on my little darlings.

Christmas 2011

Sakura and Akira are now 18 months, 2 weeks and 1 day old. No, I can't believe it can you? They are as different as apples and oranges. Akira is very independent and bossy. She has an opinion about everything and wants to control anything she can including her sister. She is walking, almost running, and loves to throw her ball (or any toy she can pick up) around. Akira is currently in speech therapy (for about a month and a half now) and is doing well. She knows how to say "Hi", "Whoa", "Uh-oh" and she signs "More", "Eat", "Bath", and "Milk". We're working on "Mommy" and "Daddy", both she can say, but doesn't use appropriately yet. If I could describe her in one word it would be FIRECRACKER. God has got some amazing plans for Akira with this strong personality He's given her.

Sakura's Pureed Dinners

My lovely Sakura is as delicate as the cherry blossoms she's named after. She is so happy, all the time, just an all around happy baby. She was born with the peace of God. She doesn't have to work at it like I do. She is all smiles. Her laugh is contagious! It makes my day when she laughs with pure joy like she does. Her hair is always a mess. I have no idea where this child's hair came from. It is ridiculously long and her sister still gets called a boy (even in pink clothes). Skaura is still in physical therapy and has been since she was nine months old. She is now crawling like she's always late to get somewhere. She's also starting to pull herself up on furniture and successfully cruises in her crib. Sakura started speech therapy as well because she could not tolerate eating solids. All she could eat were pureed foods. About a week ago she flat out refused to eat pureed foods, of course after I had just finished making a weeks worth of pureed food that is still sitting in my freezer. She is now enjoying the same foods Akira is eating, and it's about tine she did.

Both girls, although still delayed, are doing amazingly well. We did have a scare last October when I took Sakura to the hospital because she was working too hard to breathe. It turned out to be pneumonia. She was in for four days, had to be put back on oxygen (very heartbreaking for me), breathing treatments, and IV lines, but she was still smiling! Not the whole time, of course, because hospitals are no fun. Sakura is a fighter! Since then, both girls have been illness free, not even a sniffle, Praise God!!

I have to give a shout-out to my amazing husband. He leaned up right against me and helped me though my PPD, Sakura's hospital stay, and all the junk I've been dealing with recently. I was NOT the wife I was suppose to be to him, but he was and still is the husband God has called him to be. Thanks, Babe, for being so amazing. I admire your commitment and dedication to our family and your determination to help me though. I pray I can be the wife you most definitely deserve.

By the way, to follow up on my last post about Juan being away for two weeks: I survived! Barely. I went to my parents for a week, which was a huge help. The rest of the time was not easy at all. I started my two weeks of single parenting by taking my daughters to church by myself. Long story short, I lost my keys and nearly had a meltdown the second day after Juan left. A friend came over and found my keys on a shelf that was above my head (she's taller than me). I still don't know how they got there.

AHHHHHHHH I'm Alone with the Girls!!!!

My husband had to leave the country for his job for two weeks. For about a month leading up to it I was so nervous. I really didn't want to depend on my friends to help me because they all have their own lives. I thought of all the worst things that could happen, the exhaustion and the constant crying (from the girls and myself). I was going to stay with my parents for two weeks, but I didn't want Sakura to miss 2 sessions of therapy, so I decided to suck it up and make it happen.

I'm so happy I decided to stay.

Never have I seen people pull together to surround me with help and support. I haven't had a day alone since Juan left. It's truly God at work. I don't know what I would've done without the help of friends and family giving up their time to help me, giving up their familiar surroundings and cozy beds to sleep at my house. That's what I call love! Thank you so much, you know who you are. You have been a blessing to me and my family since the beginning and I'm honored to have you in my life. Never did I think I would have such a wonderful, caring and kind person to share life with. You're the best and I pray I can be a blessing in your life as well.

God works in the craziest ways. You never know how He's going to show up: a quiet whisper or roaring as loud as thunder. Praise God!