This post is sponsored by ©2023 Johnson & Johnson MedTech, but all opinions expressed are my own. Keeping a 1-year-old calm during their first comprehensive eye exam isn’t for the faint of heart–especially when you’re not prepared! I’ll never forget the massive crocodile tears that poured down my daughter’s face that day. Joules was red in the face, sobbing, and pulling her head away from the ophthalmologist. Even as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner myself, I wondered how in the world we would survive these visits on a regular basis.  At 12 months old, Joules was diagnosed with hyperopi ..read more

This post is sponsored by Sparkling Ice®. The content and opinions expressed here are my own.  After being struck by Cupid’s arrow—not once, but TWICE as a twin mom—I’ve become somewhat of an expert at making things out of L-O-V-E. And this Valentine’s Day, that’s just what I’m doing with my little mini me, Joules. The special ingredient that we invited to the party today? The one and only Sparkling Ice from H-E-B! With a little bit of Sparkling Ice and a LOTTA bit of love, we made a festive mocktail that Joules and I lovingly refer to as “Cupid’s Potion.” For those of you adults (21 ..read more

For those that have followed along on Instagram, you’ll know that Ames and Joules are officially separated into their own big kid bedrooms!! Last month, Rob and I worked VERY hard behind the scenes to “move” the kids, to build their new big kid beds, and to decorate their new rooms as a Christmas gift. New bedrooms and new beds – those are big changes for 4-year-old twins! Ames and Joules have always slept right next to each other in the same room—like so many twins like to do. So, we were nervous to see how they would respond! We turned their shared nursery into Joules’ own bedroom and their ..read more

As my twins have gotten older and can tell me what they like now, it’s getting so much easier to come up with gift ideas! A few of you asked if I would be willing to share some of the things my 4-year-old twins will be getting for Christmas this year, so I figured it would be easiest to share them here in a post for you with links. Because the twins just had their birthday (late October), I’m also including some of their recent birthday gifts on this list, too. If you have a 4- or 5-year-old to purchase a gift for, I hope you find some helpful inspiration here! Here are 15 gift ideas for 4-yea ..read more

This post is sponsored by Barilla®. The content and opinions expressed here are my own. Cooking is a family affair in our house. It’s one of those everyday activities in which I can find a plethora of learning opportunities for my twins. And my kids utterly love playing the part of sous chefs! My twins, Ames and Joules, are 4 years old now. So, whenever they see me heading to the pantry to collect ingredients to make something, they come running to stand at attention and wait for their “assignment.” One of our recent kitchen adventures was to make Tomato and Parmesan Crostini (which turned out ..read more

It seems there’s always a last-second curveball on our boy/girl twins’ birthdays. I’ll never forget when I planned for MONTHS to put together the most perfect first birthday party for Ames and Joules in 2018. And an hour before their party started, we had a torrential downpour of rain. I remember looking out the front window watching all of the rain flooding the streets and all of the cars parked out there. Birthdays are exciting, but they’re not supposed to be THAT kind of exciting! Right? Well, their 4th birthday party this year was full of more unwelcome surprises! I planned for quite some ..read more

So, we’ve finally made it through the FOG of potty-training twins—both day AND night. For those that recall, I shared a blog post in 2020 about how I daytime potty trained my twins together at 29 months old within 3 weeks. After that victory, there was still the other beast left to tackle: nighttime potty training. So, let’s dive in and I’ll tell you exactly how we mastered this with both twins. When is the best time to start nighttime potty training?  As a general reference, staying dry through the night can happen anywhere from several weeks to a couple of years after being trained duri ..read more

This post is sponsored by iwi, but the content and opinions expressed here are my own. Raising twins sure has done a number on me! ;) Of course, they’re the most precious gift I’ve ever received in life, but they’ve tested me in ways unlike any other—especially when it comes to putting myself last. When the busy life of juggling my twin toddlers was compounded with working at the hospital during the pandemic last year, I was exhausted and knew something had to change—because that was no way to go through life or twin parenthood. In order to be the best version of myself for my children, I kne ..read more

“One and done” has always been my motto when it comes to raising boy/girl twins—and potty training is no exception! They went into diapers at the same time and I wanted them out of diapers at the same time. As soon as Joules and Ames turned 2 in October 2019, I was ready to hit the ground running. So, I briefly tried twice shortly after their birthday (at 24 months and at 25 months). BUT, I had to abort both missions after just a couple of days due to colds taking down the house and then the holidays kept us busy. At 29 months old, though, when we were forced into a quarantine lifestyle and no ..read more

After our not even 3-year-old twin toddlers wore their face masks for roughly 5 hours straight while we flew cross-country recently, I knew our pandemic travel experience was successful. But we didn’t just slap the masks on their faces that same day without first figuring out how to make them follow the airport/airlines’ face mask-wearing rules. We were STRATEGIC! And our strategy led to two little kids complying with the rules from start to finish. As a pediatric pulmonary nurse practitioner, COVID-19 is the last thing I want to see spread around my own family. I know many families are starti ..read more