Circus Themed 1st Birthday!

We had one heck of a Birthday Party!
 
(Shirts from here)

When I started brainstorming a theme for Cannon and Cruiz’s party, I couldn’t help but giggle when I came across “The Circus.” It fit too perfectly, because I feel like that is where we’ve been living this past year. I immediately went with it, and was surprised how easy it was to decorate (There was so much at the dollar store!)

We had a blast, the food was eaten right up, the kids played hard, and I’m still obsessing over their Birthday cake. Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated our boys, we sure do love you.

 

         
I was thrilled with their Birthday cake! I told Brittany at Too Sweet Cakes what the theme and colors were and I was blown away with the end results! It was better than anything I was hoping for! She sent two smash cupcakes for the twins, and snuck one in there for Ledger so he didn’t feel left out. The raspberry almond cake was the favorite, and I was thrilled because I had leftover chocolate :)

            

It was the perfecting ending to such an emotional week. I had been in tears the entire week, but that day, I was in tears because I couldn’t believe how blessed we’ve been.

We love you boys, and can’t wait to celebrate many more Birthday’s in the future! 

Feeding Favorites

I’m constantly being asked what our favorite baby items are. After having twins, when we found a product we loved, we depended on it. Here are a few of our favorite items that made feeding time easier.

 

1. Avent Bottles. We’ve used different bottles with all of our kids, but these Avent bottles were by far our favorite. They are wide, easy to clean, and have great reviews. We’ve made and used a lot of bottles over the past year, and they’ve held up great.

2.  Blendtec Twister Jar. This jar makes homemade baby food in seconds. While it blends, I twist the lid, which scrapes the sides and helps blend the puree evenly.

3.Tommee Tippee Bibs. These are by far the best bibs I’ve found. The pocket in the front is the perfect size and catches nearly everything the boys drop. The back attaches easily, and the material makes it incredibly easy to clean. (I rinse it under water and let it dry on the rack) and you can’t beat the price :)

4. Fisher-Price Deluxe Booster Seat. We have two of these and we love them. Our kitchen is small, which makes fitting two highchairs in difficult. The boys sit at the table, or on the floor when guests come, and the seats folds down to make traveling easy. We haul these boosters to every family dinner, which makes feeding three kids very easy.

5. Munchkin Drying Rack. After having the twins, Pat came home with one of these. At first glance I thought it was strange, but it has been used every single day. I love that I have a designated place for bottles and sippys, and I’m able to keep them separate from my other dishes.

6. Little Green Pouch. We received a box of these pouches for Christmas and I’ve been surprised how much I love them. It’s much easier to feed the twins with these rather than a spoon, and it makes storing baby food incredibly easy. I use them while feeding the babies outside the house and makes my life easier.

Identical of Fraternal?

The results are in.
 
 
(Cruiz, Cannon)
These adorable shirts were custom made by Stitcheroos, one of our sponsors {here}. I’ll probably dress the boys in them every time we leave the house, just so I don’t have to answer questions :)

They are identical!

Cannon and Cruiz are Di/Di twins, meaning the boys were in separate sacs and had separate placentas (easiest set of twins to carry). Being di/di and identical means the egg split during day one or two after being fertilized. I was probably the most excited about the results because being identical means I don’t have a higher chance of having twins again… which means I just might be able to talk Pat into another baby in the future! :)

How the test worked - For the twins 1st Birthday my parents paid to have the twins tested. My mom decided to go with this company {here}. The company sent us 10 cotton swabs and a tube to put them in for both boys. We swabbed the inside of their cheeks before bed with four cotton swabs, and the next morning used four more. They sent two extra in case something happened to the others. I placed the swabs in the separate tubes and sent them back to the company.

In the beginning I thought the boys were fraternal, at birth they looked very different and I had been told so many times that identical di/di twins were incredibly rare, so I didn’t think twice about it. After awhile, when they evened out in weight, they began looking much more similar and I noticed they had too many littlie similar characteristics that their siblings didn’t have – both allergic to milk protein, both had dimples, when I cut their hair it grows faster much faster on the left side than the right, and quirky personality traits. Then my SIL encouraged me to take a picture of both boys and put them together. When I couldn’t see Cannon’s different head shape I honestly couldn’t tell the difference. (Cannon on the left, Cruiz on the right).

   I began researching, and I found this.

“Additionally, some soft tissues of the head and face tend to be influenced by the limited space in the human uterus which was primarily designed for one fetus. Therefore, head shape can be quite different between infant identical twins although these differences may only be transitory.” – proactivegenetics.com

After I read that statement and few more things, my guess was they were identical. I was actually really surprised how happy I am that we tested. It is sooo nice to be able to answer people when they ask if they are identical or not. When I used to say, “We’re not quite sure.” most people didn’t understand. And like I said up above, Pat might be able to be talked in to trying for a girl way down the road :)

Here’s an interesting video on twins, which will explain a lot of question a lot of you might have.

Thanks mom and dad, it was definitely fun Birthday present!