We moved from Pasadena to Vegas with 6 month old twin boys. This is our story.



Monday, August 30, 2010

It was a breezy 87 degrees

While we are not quickly acclimating to the climate in Vegas, we are learning to appreciate any temperature drops. This weekend it was only 87 degrees on Sunday. In our previous life of living in California we would have complained about how hot that was, but now we had to jump on the chance to enjoy it.

We packed the boys up and headed to the park. They had a great time swinging and climging on the monkey bars (OK- we held them up to the monkey bars) and husband even took them for a static filled ride on the slide.

All in all it was a fun trip.


Friday, August 27, 2010

Is the pooh bear belly a gift with purchase? Can I return it without a reciept?

Having twins and becoming a new mom is quite a shock both emotionally and physically. I tried to develop new hobbies early on to serve as outlets for my stress. My favorites so far are eating, snacking, noshing, grazing and nibbling.

I have a couple of twin mom friends. When we are out and about and meet another "new" twin mom, we quickly assess her. Does she seem cool, easy going, not too skinny. You know, the usual stuff anyone would look at. Even though I have done nothing to lose baby weight - and I mean nothing, no working out, dieting, not even pretend dieting- I am still bitter when I see another "new" mom skinnier than me.

I really thought that my stomach would disappear more on its own after giving birth. While I wasn't thin before getting pregnant, my one savings was that I did not have a stomach. I assumed that it was genetics and post baby genetics would take over. Not! I have two pairs of non-maternity pants that I can wear. Two. Can you imagine only have two pairs of pants in your wardrobe.

The funny thing is, I am still not a 100% motivated to lose weight. I have gotten used to dresses and skirts, and I still love my food. I know at some point I will have to get more serious, but there is too much going on already. New home, new city, new job, new babes.

Also, I do still secretly hope that one morning I will wake up and my stomach will be gone.

Monday, August 23, 2010

How green is my valley?

I don't mean to sound like a liberal tree hugging Californian, but where are the recycling bins? I know that in the residential areas recycling is available (I think it may even be an extra cost?), but in our apartment complex and every place of business we have been in, there are no recycling bins.

Come on, the world may someday come to an end and the least we can do is recycle all of the water bottles we have to drink here in the desert to stay alive! How easy would it be for restaurants, business and casinos to have recycling bins. Think of all the beer cans and water bottles being tossed, how easy it would be to toss them in a separate bin.

I am not perfect and have been known to let the water run a little bit while brushing my teeth- I am working on always turning it off- but one of the simplest things to do would be to put out bins. My husband did find a recycling center to drive to so I guess our patio will be filled with plastic water containers, wine and beer bottles and other items in between trips to the center. Please bugs- do not come and visit our empties while we store them- I have seen enough of you in our place.

Are all the houses so similar? A much nicer way to ask

Coming to Vegas has been a transition for us, as any move would be. We had a 1928 house in Pasadena. Full of charm, but no space, insulation, closets, working windows etc...

Where we live in Henderson is very pretty, but all of the houses look very similiar. While we were house hunting, we were shocked that the majority of the houses we saw all looked liked they had been built by the same company. 75% still had the same builder white paint, standard carpet, linoleum, cabinets and countertops. I want to be clear that we have seem some beautiful homes (including my in-laws), but with all the houses having been built in the last 15 years, it isn't the same eclectic mix we are used to in the Los Angeles area.

My husband has a dry sense of humor which doesn't always read well in emails. He made a posting on a Las Vegas message board asking why all the houses are so ugly. I realize that it was rude, and so does he, so I want to apologize. He really did mean that all the houses were so similar and lacking in the characther we are used to. We moved here, we will appreciate the style, thank you for having us, and again we apologize.

Thank god I don't cook!

We did a lot of research on items for the boys while putting together our baby registries. It was a bit overwhelming. One item we didn't realize we would need was a thermometer for the bath water. My mom kept telling me to put my elbow in the water and see if it was too hot for the boys. Somehow my elbow could not live up to the pressure of making such an important decision.

In a rare time of a few spare mintues in the boys early weeks we ran out to Babies R Us for supplies (and some minutes of freedom- who knew how much you could enjoy Babies R Us!) and purchased a ducky water thermometer. The ducky really helped to take the pressure of my elbow. Hot, perfect or too cold was now determined by an expert- the duck.

We relied on it a 100%, so one day when the screen started to fade we panicked, it quickly died. How could we give the boys a bath now? Luckily my husband is very resourceful and discovered we had another thermometer that we did not use- the meat thermomter. This was perfect, we gave the boys baths in the kitchen, so a kitchen theromemter should be ideal. While it looks dangerous with the sharp end, it tells the temperature acturately. Everyone laughs when they see it, but 5 months later it is still working. As long as you remember to keep it out of reach of your babes I highly recommend it.

We have a case of I want that-itis in the house


The boys are now 7 months old. They have such strong and separate personalities. They have had these personalities since the day of their birth, and they only get stronger every day.

Baby A has always been more into toys and things. While Baby B enjoys playing with toys, he also likes to look around and study. So no surprise that it is normally Baby A grabbing for a toy. As soon as he could, he started grabbing for as many toys as he could. I don't know who was going to steal from him, but just in case, he had a stash -sort of like my huband and I with sweets. Soon it became that when Baby B played with a toy, Baby A had his eyes on him, making sure that it was not a better toy.

In the past couple of months A has really started to make a play for the toys B is playing with. Doesn't matter if A just had that toy, dropped it, and B picked it up. If B is playing with it, A wants it. Luckily B is pretty easy going, because currently A is able to wrestle most things away from him, but there will come a day when B holds on a little tighter and gives him a fight. Every once in awhile B grabs a toy from A when he is preoccupied and we quietly cheer for him "Go B, you show A!".

Now we are starting to hit a critical point with A. While it is OK for him to steal toys from B, if B starts to reach for a toy A is playing with or heaven forbid touches it, A starts to cry. I can only imagine what this is going to look like over the next couple months and years. Mine! No Mine! I had it first! Mom, he took it!