We are two weeks into 2012, and I’ve already finished 3 books this year and started a 4th.  My sometimes voracious reading habits seem to regularly beg the question, “How do you find the time to read?”  With a demanding job, a husband, two babies, and a host of other obligations, it’s not always easy.  I thought I’d share with you just how I manage to polish off as many books as I do.  Maybe it will inspire you to read more!

• I’m a fast reader.  I realize that this doesn’t help you much.  It’s not a tip on how to read more.  I thought it was good to be honest and up front from the get go, though.  I’m a fast reader.  Always have been.
• I read a lot of juvenile and young adult literature.  The fact of the matter is these types of books just read faster than most adult literature.  They also happen to be better written and more interesting than most adult literature, so don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
• I read (almost) every day.  Even if it’s just for 10 minutes at bed time or a few pages while I dry my hair, I make an effort to read every day.  It seems so simple, but it’s incredibly easy to fall out of the reading habit…even when you love reading.  Making time for it every day means that it’s just part of my routine.
• I always have a book and a next book.  I’m always reading something, and I make sure to always have a book lined up.  I don’t necessarily know what my next book might be, but I have a stack of to-read books on my bookshelf, a lengthy holds list for e-books from the library, and if all else fails I’ll read Harry Potter.
• I start a new book within 24 hours of finishing the previous book.  This kind of goes hand in hand with always having a next book, but I don’t let a day go by without diving into a new book.
• I have an e-reader.  It’s a Kobo touch, and I love it.  I never thought I’d be an e-reader kind of girl because I adore paper books, but having an e-reader has been a lifesaver while trying to be a reader and a mother.  Having an e-reader means I can easily read while drying my hair.  It also means that I can check out and return books to the library without ever having to leave the house.
• I read what I like.  I used to have this thing where I felt like I had to finish every book I started.  I got over it.  I read what I want to read.  This doesn’t mean that I never read anything I don’t like, but if I’m reading a book and I dread picking it up?  I simply start reading something else.  There are too many wonderful books out there to waste my time on something I don’t actually want to read.
• My house is a mess.  Like anything, I make time for reading because I enjoy it.  I make it a priority.  This means that cleaning the kitchen is often not a priority, or that I don’t spend as much time blogging as I used to.  Instead, I get to read a lot of fantastic books and hope that people ignore my messy kitchen.

So, that’s how I manage to read as many books as I do.  Do you have reading goals for 2012?  How do you plan to meet them?

Believe it or not, I read 30 books in 2011.  Yes, thirty.  To be fair, I re-read the 7 Harry Potter books, but I still managed to find the time to read 23 new books.  Not too shabby for a working mom of twins!

I haven’t posted any books reviews since August, so I won’t post about everything I’ve read since then, but I do want to share some of my favorites…

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood — Five stars.  I can’t believe that this was my first Margaret Atwood book.  Given that I’m a huge fan of dystopian fiction, it’s no surprise that I adored this book.  It’s dense, but beautifully written and left me with a million questions.  Definitely a book that I will be visiting again.  Recommended if you’ve been enjoying all of that YA dystopia and are in the mood for something a little more heady.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver — 4.5 stars. Speaking of YA dystopia, here’s another rock star piece of fiction.  Obviously, I’m a fan of YA dystopia in general, but this was one of those books that stood out from the crowd for me.  I found the idea of love as a disease completely fascinating.  It made me think a lot about how we are so often trying to fix things in people that we perceive to be wrong somehow, but maybe they are just another side of humanity.  Anyhow, the only reason this book was 4.5 stars instead of 5 was because I found it a tab predictable, though the story was completely compelling.  I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.  Recommended if you love YA dystopia or if you’re looking to try this genre for the first time.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender — 3 stars.  Never in my life have so many people commented on a book I was reading.  Every time I tweeted about my progress with this book, someone jumped in with something to say.  It’s seems this is a love it or hate it book with most people.  It’s a hard book to describe, but I found it very sad, very strange, and beautifully written.  I can see why people don’t like the book, and I can see why people love it.  Recommended if you want to read some different modern fiction.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain — 4 stars.  I very much enjoyed this book, though it didn’t go over all that well at my work book club. I enjoyed learning about Hadley and Hemingway’s relationship and just hearing about their years in Paris in general.  It was a fascinating piece of historical fiction.  Recommended if you’re a fan of Hemingway (or not) or a fan of the literary world in general.

That’s just a bit of what I’ve been up to reading wise.  I hope to continue my reading trend this year as well.  So far in 2012, I’ve finished one book and am more than halfway through another.  I think I’m off to a good start!

What’s on your reading list this year?

Living with two toddlers means…

….reading “The Monster at the End of this Book” 417 times a day.

….making room on your lap for two squirmy kids…and their baby dolls too!

…watching the dogs get fatter every day as the clean up the giant mess made at dinner.

….listening to your kids chant, “Bo! Bo! Bo!” until you lift up your shirt to show them your belly button.

…thinking up blog posts but never getting around to writing them.

…breaking up fights over the most random toys they decide to latch on to.

….taking thousands of pictures with your phone.

….saying, “No no!” non-stop.

…straw cups and snack cups instead of bottles.

…feeling so glad that the girls sign so that we can differentiate between “b” words — book, boat, ball, belly button.

….writing blog posts in list form.

….marveling at how quickly they learn new words and skills.

…getting soaked during bath time from all the splashing.

…doing your best to style the toddler mullet.

…having daughters that look and act less like babies and more like little girls each day.

…twice the smiles, double the giggles, and tons of laughter.

…a house that is always messy and hearts that are always full.

…desperately trying to savor every moment because it is going so fast.

It occurred to me a while back that, while I generally feel that I write as if I’m having a conversation with you, I don’t often use a lot of the phrases that I would when I’m speaking.  If you were suddenly to have a conversation with me, you might be surprised to hear me say the following things…

• Seriously. — I think this is probably something I tweet fairly regularly, but I’m not sure that I blog it.  For a while, on Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith was always saying, “Seriously?”, and it made me bonkers because I use it as a declarative.
• Really?  Really??? — This is my, “Are you kidding me?” incredulous statement.  I almost always say it twice, and I say it with three question marks the second time.
• Lord love a duck. — I don’t say this super often, but it does pop out occasionally.  I have no idea where I picked it up.
• That really burns my cookies. — I say this when, well, something burns my cookies.
• That’s a sad story. — I feel like this often comes off as me being facetious, but I don’t mean it that way.  You might tell me about how your car broke down or how you are out of Dr. Pepper.  I’d tell you that it was a sad story.

I feel like I had some more of these, but I lost them in the depths of my twin mama brain.  What about you?  Do you have certain phrases you use regularly while speaking but not blogging/tweeting?  If you know me in real life, are there things I say frequently that stick out to you?

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p.s.  So, in all my spare time, I decided to open an etsy shop.  I’ll do a full post on it soon.  It kind of got cleaned out over the weekend, but there are still a few cute things to take a peek at…and more coming soon!

I stole the idea from this post from my awesome friend Ginger.  You should be friends with her too!

Can we still be friends…

…if I don’t think Nutella is all that fabulous?

…if I don’t like honey crisp apples?

…if I think Friday Night Lights is a good show, but I don’t think it’s AMAZING?

…if I have all of the Harry Potter movies on DVD and still plan to buy the boxed set?

…if I just don’t get Jodi Piccoult?

…if I think Uggs are ugly?

…if I think you are odd if you don’t like cheese?

…if I don’t care if my twins are identical or fraternal?

…if I love those trashy Real Housewives shows?

…if I quote Gilmore Girls on a daily basis?

…if I’d rather stand around eating dips than a real meal?

…if I have an unhealthy obsession with apple cider?

Can we still be friends?

Yes, I realize that Halloween is over.  Yes, I realize you have plenty of time to think about your kid’s costume for next year.  As a working mama of twins, though, I can only be so organized, and I wanted to get this post up before it got lost in the depths of my find forever.  So, bookmark it, pin it, or file it away in the depths of your mind until next year.

It’s no surprise that I decided that my girls would be owls for Halloween this year.  We have kind of an owl obsession going on in this household.  I did surprise myself, however, by deciding to make the girls’ costumes, and I’m so happy I did.  I could not be more pleased with how they turned out!  The best part?  SUPER EASY.  Seriously, you could make these costumes in a day…especially if you only have to make one!

I found my costume making inspiration here and here.  I used the template on the second link for the feathers, but you really don’t need a template.  I just wanted a consistent size.

What you will need:

• Felt in two colors – I was able to get about 16 feathers from a sheet of felt, and used about 70 feathers to make the shirts.
• Long-sleeved t-shirt in color of your choice
• Felt glue
• Decent scissors
• A piece of cardboard that will fit inside the shirt
• Toilet paper roll
• Rubber band or hair tie

Start by cutting out a bunch of feathers.  This is where the decent scissors will come in handy.

Next, put your piece of cardboard inside the shirt.  This will keep the glue from seeping through to the back of the shirt.  Place some feathers in a row on your shirt to determine how many feathers will go across.  On a 12M boys shirt, I used six feathers with a slight overlap.  Once you’ve decided how many feathers in a row, take your base color and glue across the top of the feathers.  I found adding the glue to a row all at once helped with the hand cramping from squeezing the glue!

Then, simply press your first row of feathers onto the bottom of the shirt.

Add one more row of your base color, and then you will begin adding the belly color in the next row.  Since I had six feathers across, my first belly row was 2 brown, 2 tan, and then 2 brown.

Your next row of feathers will include more of the belly color.  For me it worked out to be 1 brown, 4 tan, and then 1 brown.

Continue gluing in this pattern until you reach the armpit of the shirt.

At this point, I recommend doing a practice run with feather placement for the rest of the shirt.  I ended up doing three more rows.  The first row was five feathers that were 1 brown, 3 tan, and 1 brown.  The next two rows were all brown.  For the final row, I lined the feathers up around the collar of the shirt.

Finally, I added some feather details to the wrists of the shirts.  Insert the toilet paper roll into the sleeve, glue the feathers on, and secure with a rubber band while the glue dries.

And that’s it!  Simple right?

To complete the costume, I added brown leggings and some adorable owl hats that my mom crocheted.  Don’t have a mom to make hats for you?  There are a ton on etsy, or you could simply make a mask like the one shown here.

I know you are dying to see the finished product, so…voila!

It happens at least once a day.

There is a moment.

The Beatles play on the radio.

My red paper cup from Starbucks reminds me that Christmas is coming.

The girls do something new and you aren’t here to see it.

Someone mentions their dad, a dad, says the word “dad”.

There is a moment every day.

My breath catches in my throat.

My heart stops.

There is a moment every day when I realize that you are gone, and my heart breaks all over again.

I don’t know how to talk about it.

When someone asks me how I am, I tell them I’m fine.

What else am I supposed to say?

How do I talk about the wound in my soul?

How do I express how deeply I miss you without breaking down completely?

It’s impossible.

In those moments.

When I realize I will never see you again.

The grief feels insurmountable.

It happens at least once a day.

There is a moment.

Just a moment when the world stops turning, and all I can do is miss you.

After watching accent vlogs on Lisa and Ginger‘s blogs, I decided it looked like fun and wanted to play along.  Apparently the theme of my blog this week is vlogging…and yes, I’m wearing the same clothes in this video as I did in the signing video.

Say the following words:
Aunt, route, wash, oil, theatre, iron, salmon, caramel, fire, water, sure, data, ruin, crayon, toilet, New Orleans, pecan, both, again, probably, spitting image, Alabama, lawyer, coupon, mayonnaise, syrup, pajamas, caught

Answer these questions:
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that curls into a ball when you touch it?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you use to change the TV channel?

So, what do you think?  Do I have an accent?

Since I have gotten quite a few questions about signing with babies, I thought I’d get around to blogging about it.  We have been exposing the girls to sign language since they were about six months old, but we really began signing consistently with them around 9 months.  Sign language is now just a natural part of our daily communication, and we love it!  Currently, at 13 months old,  the girls are able to use signs for milk, water, more, hat, baby, and dog.

So, why do we sign?

As someone who has known how to finger spell since third grade and who now uses sign language regularly at work, I was excited to have the chance to enhance my daughter’s language development with sign language.  A big part of the reason we sign is because I’m a child development geek, and I was eager to see how pairing sign language with verbal language would enhance Charlotte and Evelyn’s overall language development.

I often hear people wondering if teaching their child to sign will impede verbal language development.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, there is absolutely no research that shows that using sign impedes verbal language development in any way.  In fact, research has shown time and again that using sign language with your child actually enhances their language development. Children who use sign language are able to use words to communicate before they can speak.  This can greatly reduce your baby’s frustration level.  We have definitely noticed a decrease in frustration when the girls can sign for what they want.

On top of all of the great language benefits, signing with your baby is just fun.  It’s amazing to watch my girls use sign language to express themselves.

Interested in signing with your baby?  Here are some tips to get you going:

• Start small. Pick a few simple signs that you can use every day.  I recommend starting with words like milk, more, all done, mom, and dad.  See the video below for a demonstration.
• Sign every day. Just like your baby would never learn to talk if you never spoke to her, she will never learn to sign if you don’t sign to her.
• Be consistent. Try to sign the word every time you say it.  Obviously, you’ll probably miss a few opportunities, but make every effort to get those signs in there.  Don’t worry…it will soon become so natural that you won’t even realize you are signing!
• Encourage everyone to sign! Mom, dad, grandparents, babysitters, siblings…the more people who sign with your baby, the more likely he will pick up on it.
• Don’t expect immediate results. It takes time for your baby to pick up on signs.  Just keep signing, and you’ll be amazed at what your baby will pick up.  Many babies begin signing around 9 months.
• Don’t worry if she doesn’t sign it “right”. Babies don’t have the same motor dexterity that we do, so it’s only natural that their signs will be approximations.  Evelyn’s sign for water doesn’t look much like the sign for water at all…but it’s consistent and I know what she means.
• It’s never too early or too late to start! You can start signing with your baby from the second she is born, but you can also start signing with your toddler.  Just remember, most babies won’t actually sign back to you until around 9 months.  Some sign earlier, and some sign later.

Ready to sign?  The video below has some beginning signs (milk, more, all done, mom, dad) to help you get started:

 
Other great resources for signing:

• Baby Signing Time — I cannot express enough how much we love these videos!  The girls go crazy for them, and they are a great way to introduce yourself to sign language.  The books and CDs are a huge hit too.  Charlotte and Evelyn actually sign along in the car while we listen to the music.  There is a Baby Signing Time iPhone app.  It’s has a small dictionary and some videos.  It’s cute, but I’m not sure it’s worth the price.
• Wee Hands — This site has a decent video dictionary.  I haven’t used any of their products before.
• My Smart Hands — This site has a great online video dictionary, and I also love their iPhone app!

I’ll be making additional signing videos in the future, so please let me know if there are signs you are ready to learn.  Happy Signing!

Even though it’s been nearly a month since the girls’ birthday party, I thought I’d still share a bit about some of the crafty and fun things I did to make the day so special.  Once I knew I was going with an owl theme for their party, I started collecting ideas on a pinterest board and things took off from there!

Before you can have a party, you have to invite people, right?  I decided to go with hand-made invitations based off of a template I found here.  If you use this yourself, print the file at 95%, or it won’t fit into a 5×7 envelope.  I used a variety of neutral colored cardstock to make the owls and variety of colored scrapbook paper for the wings.  Basically, no two owl invites looked the same.  I also added a cute picture of the girls on the back because people like pictures of babies.  Here’s how the invites turned out:

I used the same owl template to make a photo wall of the girls’ first year:

To make the birthday banner, I cut out pennants from the same scrapbook paper I used for the owls.  I printed the letters I needed onto white cardstock and punched them out with a circle punch.  I glued the letters on and ran ribbon through holes I punched in the pennants.  Super easy and super cute!

For the adult favors, I made oreo pops and tied them up with an owl scrabble tile pendant.  I made bubble labels to go on the kids’ favors.  I found a ton of super cute owl clip art in this etsy shop, and that’s what I used to make the pendants, tags, and labels.

I made a lot of cupcakes for the party, including some cute owl cupcakes that I saw here.

My friend Stef designed these adorable candy wrappers for me.  I just printed them out on address labels.

I baked up itty-bitty owl smash cakes for the girls using these adorable mini owl pans I found.  My good friend Stephanie helped me decorate them!  The plates were handmade by a woman I work with.

The girls wore owl shirts and tutus.  I bought the owl shirts here, but I wouldn’t recommend the site.  The shirts were adorable, but the customer service was terrible.  Stephanie made the tutus for the girls using this tutorial.  If you make the tutus, you can just use regular elastic…it worked just fine!

It was a warm day, so we just wore diapers with our tutus!

I think that’s about it.  I had so much fun planning and crafting for this party.  I really hope that some of these ideas will inspire other owl-themed birthdays!