Time for Big-Kid beds? - Part 1

Last Saturday, the day started with a loud thud, followed by the crying of one of our daughters. Or at least, my husband’s day started like that; I’m glad I didn’t hear it as I went for a run in the early morning and came home just a few minutes after it happened. When my husband rushed into our daughters’ room, he found one of them sitting on the floor between the two cribs. We knew this would happen at some point, it was only a matter of time until they would find out how to get out of their cribs. But we had hoped to have a little bit more time… Fortunately our daughter was all right and the fall didn’t leave any bumps or bruises – it seems our choice to put carpet on the floors was a good one.

Common questions to parents of twins – Part 2: the uncomfortable/way too personal questions

After my previous post on common ‘odd/silly/way too obvious’ questions to parents of twins, today I’ll write about the most frequently asked uncomfortable or very personal questions that parents of multiples come across in their daily life. Mostly, these are questions you would probably never ask a mom of one child or children of different ages, but somehow people think it’s ok to ask a mother of multiples. Future parents of twins: as you will undoubtedly hear these questions in the years to come, I would recommend you read through them and try to prepare in advance, so that you can possibly avoid some uncomfortable situations while visiting a public place with your twins.

Common questions to parents of twins – Part 1: the odd/silly/way too obvious questions

As a parent of twins, you will come across many complete strangers finding you suddenly very interesting and trying to initiate a conversation by asking all kinds of silly, odd, stupid, uncomfortable or very personal questions that they would probably never ask to a singleton mom or dad, but somehow think it’s ok to ask to a parent of multiples. Just add to this that most of these questions are asked at the most uncomfortable moments (imagine you’re trying to comfort two crying babies at the same time, or attempting to get two toddler twins in their car seats as fast as possible to be home on time for their afternoon nap or dinner), and you’ll have the perfect combination for getting really stressed, upset or even angry with these strangers who are wasting your time or asking things that are not of their business. In the beginning, I found the best way to move on quickly was to just smile or nod or give a quick evasive answer, or sometimes even ignoring people if possible (I know, that’s not very nice… but many questions aren’t, either). However, with time you’ll get used to questions and you can choose depending on each situation if it’s best to give the nod/smile/quick answer reaction and move on or give a real answer/explanation (most of the times you’ll notice that people weren’t really expecting that much information or they even don’t really care and just wanted to start a conversation). Or if you would rather have some fun you can even use a joke or silly answer that will certainly stop people from asking any further. 

Pumpkin bread with seeds

I usually have a pumpkin (or two) at home. In Costa Rica you can buy these the whole year and I think it's one of the most convenient vegetables on earth: while still in their skin you can easily store them for several weeks until you need them, you can make a delicious puree out of it in no time, it's very healthy and what's more, my daughters love it! Last weekend I decided to make something else out of it besides the usual portion of puree for our girls. So I took part of the puree and made a pumpkinbread, and with this I also found a good use for the seeds (due to lack of time and inspiration these used to disappear in the trash can, but that will really change from now on because they're delicious if you bake/roast them quickly with some olive oil, salt and pepper!) 


Here's the recipe and some pictures. This recipe is good for 1 large or 2 small breads - you can of course adjust the quantities depending on how many breads you would like to bake.

Running in early morning paradise

5:20 am, Friday morning. I open the front door of our house and step into this almost surreal but oh so wonderful world around me. It’s still quite dark but the first shy daylight has just made its presence. The many tones of green that can usually be seen around here during the day are now still one single tone of dark, very dark green, while the sky is slowly changing from black to dark grey to dark blue. Thousands of little lights are far below me, lights that will still be illuminating the dark streets and neighborhoods of the city for another 20 minutes or so before day really starts and they can be turned off.