Maryland Trip Part 1: Twins Visit Charm City

Many words have been written previously about the difficulties of flying with kids. I’ll spare you the sob story and simply acknowledge that it sucks.  The best piece of advice I can offer is when you fold up your stroller to put it through the X-ray machine make sure to place it wheels-up, this prevents jamming the machine and holding up the line.  If you need other advice make sure to think happy thoughts for about an hour before you google “fly with baby.”

When we were planning our trip to Maryland to visit family I couldn’t resist the opportunity to finally visit Charm City Cakes (the bakery around which “Ace Of Cakes” is based). I’ve edited on Ace Of Cakes for over two years out here in L.A. and have never had the chance.

Dominik and Scarlett got to spend a few quality moments with Mary Alice before they were treated to a tastes of fondant and bites of cake.

Duff and Geof were both out when we visited but we got to meet Anna, Ben, Elena, Erica, Katherine, Katie Rose, Lauren, Mark, Mary Smith, and Sofia.

Once loosed into the bakery Scarlett immediately walked into the kitchen and grabbed spice from a lower shelf and Dominik crawled onto a rolling rack. It became clear that everything in the busy bakery from a baby’s eye view everything was accessible and perfect for putting in their mouths.

Thanks everyone for letting us stop by with the babies. It was really nice to meet you all!

Out to Lunch, II

If the hours in my day were to be graphed in a pie chart, it might look something like this:

The good news is, look at all that sleep I’m getting.  We did some sleep training and the three nights of CIO (that’s Mom vernacular for cry-it-out) was well worth the 11 hour stretches the twins are now sleeping at night and the two hour naps they take twice a day. The sucky part is that I spend most of their nap time cleaning as well as some time after they go to bed.  Maybe I’m exaggerating when I claim that almost 1/3 of my pie is devoted to cleaning, but the pureed carrots (or oatmeal or apple sauce) have to be cleaned off the walls and floors after every meal and the bits of cheese and Cheerios have to be swept up, otherwise the twins find them several hours (or days) later and have them as a snack. And if there isn’t extra food on the floor, they have no problem eating other floor items.  Last week Dom ate a dust bunny.

I also find myself cleaning parts of our apartment that I never knew we had.  I mean, does anyone other than Martha Stewart or my friend June ever clean the supply tube and stop valve of their toilet? My stop valve is rust covered in corrosion covered in a two inch layer of dust. So naturally, it’s Dom’s favorite area of the house.  He loves to grab onto the supply tube and then put his fingers in his mouth. Mmmmmmm.

What does all of this have to do with going out to lunch? It means one less meal to clean up and more time to chase dust bunnies, which is well worth the overpriced Kid’s Entrees from the Olive Garden.

Out to Lunch

One of the best parts of being a temporary stay at home mom is planning new activities for the toddlers.  Since M.J. works so close to home, we’ve been able to meet up with him for lunch a couple times.  Here are some photos from a recent picnic.

Another Fun Weekend

We mostly had to lay low this weekend because of Dom’s pink eye, but we did manage to take a quick trip to lunch.  Before we had kids we were never fans of chain restaurants, but we are currently in love with Cheesecake Factory.  Not only do they bring appetizer plates for kids (sliced bread and bananas), the staff there know not to set hot plates, sharp utensils, or full glasses in front of the kids.  Plus, they do all the cleaning up!

Dinner Time

As the twins are nearing their first birthday, they’ve become less interested in drinking their bottles and much more interested in eating meals. Here are a couple shots of them having tofu, brocolli, and apple slices for dinner.  Dominik’s eye looks strange because he rubbed yogurt in it during breakfast.

Another Milestone

Dominik got his third tooth today.  I told him as soon as he has 4, we’re ordering pizza (because as you can see from the picture, he’s clearly not eating enough).

Happy Birthday, M.J.!

Spring Break #2

The week following my Spring Break Grandpa and Grandma came for a visit. I was a bit worried because Scarlett developed what the baby books call “stranger anxiety.”  She basically screams her head off if anyone but me or MJ holds her. Luckily, this didn’t happen.

Scarlett and my dad became fast friends.

And Annette and Dominik got along swimmingly.

The twins’ week was packed full of activities including long walks in the stroller, eating in restaurants, shopping for cute outfits, and their favorite: the bucket swings!

It was so nice having family in town – we look forward to the next visit!

Spring Break in San Francisco

San Francisco was a culinary adventure for these young palates. Up until this trip we’ve been exposing Dominik and Scarlett to foods regularly from our local farmers market. Their favorites have been: strained blueberries, avocado, sweet potato, cauliflower, carrots, steamed diced apples, Cheerios, Ritz Crackers, green beans with mint, and mashed potatoes with butter. On our trip we really pulled out the stops and let them try: pancakes, french fries, olives, mac n’ cheese, grilled asparagus, roasted potatoes, hummus, pita, tuna salad, split pea soup, mango juice and feta cheese crumbles.

When we checked into our hotel Dominik and Scarlett were really excited to crawl around the room and check out their new environment while we unpacked. They especially enjoyed the slippery bathroom floor which Dom could easily army crawl across.

The twins also got to meet their great -aunt Candace and great-uncle Pete (the reason for our trip) and second cousin Zach. They also got to meet and go out to eat with our friends Mike, Karin, and Lily, and Chaz, Rochelle, and Amanda. Candace and Pete very kindly volunteered to baby-sit one night so we could go see a movie which was awesome for us but more than a little nerve wracking for them since Dom n’ Scarlett wouldn’t go to sleep without yelling and crying for about 45 minutes.  But as the ol’ timers say, it’s good for their lungs. Thanks! (Sorry).

Really the trip was a smash hit. We have so many pictures that there’s too many to upload so check out the slide show on flickr.

Here’s a couple of our favorites if you don’t have time for the full show.

Spring Break Road Trip: Part 2

Driving from Los Angels to San Francisco usually takes about 6 hours.  With (almost) 9 month old twins in the back seat, we knew we’d need to take a lot of breaks, but didn’t know how they’d respond to being cooped up for so many hours. Luckily, they maintained their usual eating and napping schedule and we only had to listen to about 25 minutes of crying.  We also had several fun and exciting experiences along the way, including their favorite new restaurant, Andersen’s Pea Soup.

The twins loved the split pea soup so much they finished the entire bowl in record time.

And shortly after, we made our destination!