Food From the Heart

I think that food has got to be the best gift to parents of a new baby, or in our case babies. We have received so many great food gifts since bringing the twins home. This has made our lives so much easier as there is so much to do that it is nice to have a healthy yummy ready to go meal. The food we have received is so much yummier than anything we can get delivered! Also it is so wonderful to try all these new dishes that we have never made for ourselves.

Our friends Dawn Weirs and Hayley Roberts (the Butler sisters) brought us two delicious Zucchini Casseroles and an American Lasagna. They also stayed overnight and gave us a night off, sleeping with the girls and handling all the night shifts. Seriously, girls, you can come back anytime!!!!!

Saul and Carolyn (my brother in law and his wife) gave us a gift certificate for Make Thyme for Dinner in South Portland, for 8 prepared meals. So far we have had a fantastic Tuscan Beef Stew, a Vegetarian Tamale Pie, and Cranberry Pomegranate Pork Medallions. We have 5 more delicious meals still in the freezer we cannot wait to try.

Our friends and neighbors, John and Elisha made us one of the best Sheppard's Pies I have ever had. I am not sure what their secret is but it was really good.

Our friends Amanda and Ed came to visit one night and brought dinner with them, a pot roast with carrots and potatoes. This is the best kind of dinner guests!

Our friends Lisa and Erik, who also have twin baby boys a bit older than our girls and a daughter the same age as our son, brought us a Chicken Tagine with Couscous and Green Salad with Carrots and Mushrooms. I loved this one so much, I just had to include the recipe. Thanks for providing me with it Lisa!

Chicken Tagine in a Slow Cooker (serves 4 over rice, pasta, or couscous)

4 boneless chicken breast (about 1.25 lbs)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 medium red onion thinly sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large garlic clove minced
1 cup chicken or veggie stock
2 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp of tomato paste
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1 tbsp of corn starch whisked into 2 tbsp of cold water

In slow cooker combine chicken, salt, spices, onion, carrots and garlic. In a small bowl whisk together broth, honey, lemon juice, and tomato paste then pour into slow cooker. Sprinkle with raisins and apricots. Cook for 5 hours on high or 8 hours on low. At the end of the time, whisk together the corn starch and water and add to the pot. Cook until the juices are thickened slightly. Pull chicken apart with a fork (optional). Stir and then Serve.

Garnish suggestions - chopped cilantro, almonds, sliced green olives.

I have no idea who this recipe originally belongs to, but it is delicious! I hope that you also enjoy it.

Thanks so much to everyone who has brought us food and if I have forgotten anyone in this note, I apologize, as you can imagine I am very tired! We are so appreciative.

All Bundled Up

Esme and Iris

Yesterday it was finally warm enough to take the girls outside for awhile. I got them all bundled up to go for a walk with myself, Jesse, and my mom. They looked so cute in their snowsuits! I put them in the suits and within minutes both girls were fast asleep. They slept through the whole walk.

"Minnie" and Esme

Mommy and Iris

Starting to Get the Hang of This

So being the mom of a three year old is pretty hard work. Add twin newborns to that and you have the equivalent of three full time jobs! But I am starting to get the hang of this. This past week, I have started to see some patterns develop and some routines begin to be established. This is very encouraging.

We have actually taken the whole family on two trips now, both about 1.5 - 2 hours from our house. Our first trip was to Etna to visit with my parents, sister, brother, and all of the cousins. It was a fun trip, but a mad house. Esme and Iris are grandchildren seven and eight. Four boys, four girls, the oldest being my niece Kaylee, age 5. It is so much fun to watch all of the older kids play together. Our second trip was yesterday to Candia, NH, to Jesse's parents house. Another success. The girls did great in the car and Eli sang us songs all the way down.


We have, of course, become a minivan family. There are very few vehicles out there that will fit three car seats. I never saw myself in a minivan, but I must tell you, I LOVE it! Nothing fancy, an old Dodge Caravan, but it has so much room. We have always driven small compact cars, so the minivan feels like traveling in first class.

Eli is really adjusting well to the additions to our family. He really seems to love his sisters, or at least the idea of them. Most of the time, he doesn't seem to notice them. But when he talks about them or asks about them, he lights right up. His eyes get wide and a smile comes across his face. He has only once asked for them to go back to the hospital, and, I think that was because he actually misses trips to the hospital. I guess Maine Med is a pretty exciting place to visit when you are three. Especially when dad lets you push all of the buttons in the elevator!

There have definitely been some bumps and unexpected curves in the road but we are definitely starting to function as a family again. This has been a long time in coming, given the length of separation we had during the pregnancy. It is so wonderful to wake up every morning and find myself surrounded by my husband and children. I feel so blessed.

A Quick and Easy Sweet Potato Sheppard's Pie

Jesse and I are always looking for new recipes to shake up the dinner routine. While I love to cook, most days I do not have the time to do much more than assemble dinner. This recipe is a spin on a sheppard's pie, assembles quickly, and uses very few dishes.

The Ingredients:
Sweet Potato (2 potatoes or 1 large can)
Sweet Corn
Ground Turkey

Brown the ground turkey and season to taste. I usually use some garlic or garlic powder, kosher salt, and ground black pepper, but you can use whatever seasonings you like.

Cook the sweet potatoes. I usually microwave them. Peel and mash. Or if you want to go really quick and easy, use a can of sweet potatoes. Then you just have to open the can, drain the liquid and mash the potatoes.

Place the ground turkey on the bottom of a casserole dish, place corn on top of the meat, then top with the mashed sweet potatoes.

Bake at 350 degrees until the top has started to brown and the casserole has heated through.

New Mommy Second Time Around

Bringing home my first baby was unmatched by any other experience. I have heard that this is true for other moms as well. There are not words to accurately describe how and what I felt when I first held Eli. When he was placed into my arms, I knew at that moment, I really truly understood what unconditional love is. I didn't notice, until months after it was over, how much work having a newborn baby was. Despite the fact that he never slept, he cried a lot, he always needed a diaper change approximately two minutes after changing the last one, I was in love with every moment we spent together.

My feelings for Esme and Iris are not different. Upon meeting each of them I felt a deep and unweilding love. In fact, I am truly surprised at the infinite amount of love the human heart has to offer. But it is different this time. I have to admit, I am not so "in love" with every moment, even though I am so in love with my daughters. I am noticing this time that having a newborn is work and having two newborns is A LOT of work. I am willing to admit that I miss my sleep...oh how I miss my sleep! I don't find myself staring at my babies for hours on end just amazed that they are my babies. I am willing to accept any offer from any person to change a diaper, give a bath, change an outfit. And I accept every single offer for Jesse and I to get out and get some time to ourselves never sure when the next opportunity to do so will come along. This is something I never did the first time. I think it was months before we left Eli home alone with another caregiver.

But, all that said, today, I had my first full day home with my girls by myself. It was wonderful. Today, I did not worry about dishes needing to be done or picking up the toys in the livingroom. I didn't think of the thank you cards that still need to be sent. Today, I sat and enjoyed my daughters. I tried to recapture that feeling that I had when Eli first came home and, for a good part of the day, I felt it. We spent the day nursing and cuddling and just getting to know each other. Today, I spent time staring at my babies amazed that they are my babies.

It is easier this second time around to get lost in the craziness of life and forget to take the time to marvel in being a new mommy. Today, I reminded myself how important it is to take this time.

A New Life

So, I have decided to join the ranks of on-line jounalers. My life has been so crazy over the last year, and the last few months especially, that it seemed like a good idea to write some of it down. I have tried keeping journals in the past and have never been very successful, but this time I think it will be different.

To catch you up on my life, just over 5 weeks ago, I gave birth to twin baby girls. While all children are a blessing, these girls are miracles. A normal full term pregnancy is 40 weeks. At just 20 weeks into this pregnancy I was placed on modified bed rest due to what is so artfully called an "incompetent" cervix. What a terrible diagnosis! If it was not enough that the pregnancy was at risk, it had to be at risk because some part of me was "incompetent." What this medical term translates to is essentially that my cervix began to shorten, thin, and dilate long before it was supposed to. As a result, early delivery was a constant concern.

I did 4 weeks of this modified bed rest at home. However, at 23 weeks and 6 days, after an ultrasound indicated that I had only 15 mm left of my cervix (normal is 3 or more cm) I was put on strict hospital bed rest. On the day I checked in, I had started dilating, a sign that labor was imminent. So there I lay in my hospital room in the Prenatal Care Unit at Maine Medical Center for 10 weeks until I finally could push my labor back no further and my twin baby girls were delivered at 34 weeks and 1 day.

Saving the pregnancy became my complete existence. My former life was completely on hold as I became a full time incubator. For weeks I remained mostly still. For weeks I was away from my home and my family. My husband, Jesse, and my then 2 year old son, Eli, came to visit me in my hospital room 4 or 5 times a week. I put my career on hold. I shifted my parenting duties to my husband. I missed my son's transition from a crib to a big boy bed. I missed Halloween. I was granted a furlough for Thanksgiving, my only trip outside the hospital during my entire stay. In fact, I missed an entire season. When I went into the hospital it was still fairly warm outside and when I came home there was snow on the ground. But my babies were saved. When I checked into Maine Med my pregnancy was barely viable. I now have two healthy happy baby girls. We beat the odds! This is nothing short of a miracle.

Now I am home but I have not returned to my previous life. A whole new life has begun. I am not at all sure what this life entails, except that I am pretty sure that I am not in the driver's seat anymore...in fact, as I am typing Iris has started to wake up..."come on mom, its time to feed me" I hear in her cries.