Mold and mildrew in your water bottles and sippy cups.

One of the big pet peeves I have that involve water toys and water bottles is the potential for mold and mildew. There's nothing worse than a bathtub filled with moldy/mildewy toys. Thank goodness we live in a time where they sell rubber duckies without air holes. There is a tiny part of me that feels bad my kids are missing out on silly rubber squirt animals etc... and then I remember that they are all just a happy breeding ground for bad stuff that can make everyone sick. 

But this post is about water bottles and sippy cups, so lets get back on track. With multiple children using multiple drinking apparatuses it can be tricky to keep track of all of them including my own. Some get lost for days and are sometimes found by a kid first. I always wash them in the dishwasher assuming that this is the best way to sterilize them until I found this nonsense a few weeks ago:

This is the rubber bit that slows the water in the mouth piece. It JUST came out of the dishwasher and it is STILL speckled with mold/ mildew. Gross. I've been detailing these bits with q-tips:

But I'm not quite convinced that a dry cotton swab is going to do the trick. I'm currently soaking these bits in a small cup with hydrogen peroxide and water to make sure any bad bacteria is killed. 

I had a similar problem with my ceramic coated metal water bottle. I kept filling it up without cleaning in out and one morning while camping I caught a glimpse of the breeding ground I had created inside. It made me instantly nauseous to think that I had been drinking out of this gross water bottle for days. In fact it did make me sick ( lethargic & yeast infection tell tale signs of a mold/ candida overgrowth) I will post how to remedy this soon. 

I should mention that I only put water in our water bottles and sippy cups. 

Anyway, writing this post makes me realize how lazy I am that I do not wash these things more often. I now scrub my water bottles by hand with a scrub brush instead of depending on my dishwasher, which may not be using hot enough water to sterilize and properly clean the bottles. I hope I've encouraged you to do the same. 

Snacking on soup

Zeke and Xander love soup but it is a tedious mess to feed them. Here is the cleanest way I found to feed them smooth soups:

They are drinking carrot ginger cashew soup that I thinned out with some homemade chicken stock. I suppose I could get them some straw based sippy cups but I like to be in control of the straws as they tend to get chewed and used as swords when in the hands of the twins. 

Daredevils

They find new places to crawl into and climb up on everyday.

Resources via social media

Being a mother of twins I often find myself housebound minus the necessary trips to the grocery store etc... Making it to the MOM ( mothers of multiples) monthly meetings never makes it to even the top 10 things on my priority list. Honestly if I hadn't read in all those parenting books about how important it is to get out of the house everyday I would probably just make my husband do most of the errands before he came home from work. Getting errands done let alone socializing with other moms involves a lot of planning and quite frankly it's exhausting.

We are so lucky to be living during this time of super fast social media. Well there are ups and downs but today I'm all for the ups.

This post has taken a week to write due to Zeke and Xander's new fascination with climbing on the (non working) wood stove among other daredevil type feats. So...

Here are some helpful resources and groups:

Facebook pages:

Mothering Multiples: breastfeeding and caring for twins or more

Nonviolent Parenting ( you'll want posts from this page to show up in your news feed during rough moments)

Facebook group:

Naturally Parenting twins

Yahoo group:

AP multiples (attachment parenting)

Websites:

http://www.askdrsears.com/

These are only a few resources of the many that are out there. After spending sleepless nights between nursing babies with only my iPhone to entertain me, I was able to narrow it down for myself. I urge you to do the same. A sympathetic post from a fellow mom of twins can really be helpful when you are pulling your hair out and chasing after crazy babies.

Happy New Year

Wow. It has been 5 months since my last post. I associate this directly with Zeke and Xander who have become excellent runners, climbers, dancers, and recently toy throwers.

My two New Years resolutions are 1. Take a workshop about beekeeping and 2. Finish my gluten free cookbook project. I would like to add this blog as my third resolution. These babies are growing like weeds and constantly changing. Having twin boys and trying to maintain sanity is rough. Especially when they are learning about their bodies and self control ( we all have the bumps and bruises to prove it).

It is always an adventure here. I am looking forward to learning and sharing with you in 2013.

LLLI | Breastfeeding Multiples: Life in the Twin Zone

Here is a link to an article on breastfeeding and co sleeping with multiples from the Le Leche League site:

LLLI | Breastfeeding Multiples: Life in the Twin Zone

Side saddle babies

I've been using the Ergo on my hip a lot lately. It's been really helpful when I need to just run into a store quickly with both babies. I always wear the heavy baby on my right side and carry the lighter one in my ( stronger) left arm.

How do you wear your babies?