Featured M.O.M Annette Carbonell 2/17/11

• Name: Annette Carbonell
• Age: 23
• Marital Status: married
• Blog: www.tripletsmommy.blogspot.com
• Multiples names and age: Delilah Marie, Hector Manuel, and Melody Grace (15 months)
• additional children: none
• About you: I'm a stay-at-home mommy to wonderful 24 weeker miracle triplets. I'm busy as can be but I always make time to update friends and family about how we're doing. 
• About your Multiples: They were born at 24 weeks and weighed under 1 pound and a half. They have had a long and bumpy road but are now overall healthy and catching up developmentally. They are great babies and oh so strong! 
• About your family: My husband and I have been married for 4 years and have been together for 6. We always knew we wanted children but never expected to have TRIPLETS! 
• favorite items for multiples: Choo-choo wagons and their playpens!!!
• favorite toys for multiples: Any toy that lights up and has music.
• advice for other moms of multiples: Take it one day at a time and make sure you take time for yourself. It's important to have your own time to maintain your own sanity. 
• links: Facebook.com/annecita

 Thank you for sharing, Annette!  They are super cute!!

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Just for Orlando Moms and Orlando area Moms

Calling all Orlando Moms and Moms of Multiples,
If you are a Mom of babies, toddlers, or preschoolers and you live in the Orlando area, specifically North Orlando cities. Check out North Orlando Sunshine Moms Playgroup!
http://www.meetup.com/NorthOrlandoSunshineMoms/

Sunshine Moms is a active playgroup is for Stay At Home Moms of babies,toddlers,& preschoolers who are not yet in pre-school to meet each other for Park playdates, walks, indoor play centers, stroller/wagon walks, shopping, lunch, dinner, family outings, pool parties, library storytime, park storytime, splash parks, science center, art & crafts, sign language, learning, Theme Parks, Moms Night Out, and much more!!

All the moms in our group are very friendly. We are a very Twins, Triplets, & Higher order Multiples friendly group also! The organizer has twins as well as 12 other members to date with Twins and Triplets.

We also have a home preschooling group, within the group.

We hold most of our playdates in North Orlando area... Winter Park, Maitland, Casselberry, & Fern Park, as well as some in Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, Oviedo, & Sanford. We also hold occasional playdates in Orlando & Downtown Orlando, and beyond.


Check it out!

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Mommy, I see dead people!!!

 So last night was like any other night. I put Graham and Parker to bed for the night, Parker fell asleep first. Graham was playing with some stickers in his crib but was not yet asleep, when suddenly he stood up in his crib and was VERY UPSET.

He said MOMMY THERES A LADY-MAN!!

A lady man, is a woman.  Graham calls men a man but he calls women a lady-man. He has been doing this for a year now.

Just a side note, my twins are 2.5 years old. They turn 3 in April.

So anyhow I said no Graham there is no one there, go to sleep. However, He was very persistant and was becoming more and more afraid. So I went over and unzipped the crib tent and took him out. He was grabbing onto me like crazy and was very upset. I asked him what lady-man and he kept pointing RIGHT THERE RIGHT THERE. I turned on some lights and told him everything was fine. I asked him, once the lights were on and if he felt better. He said NO, THERES A LADY-MAN! I sat with him for a few minutes and told him to just tell the lady-man to leave and go away. He said GO AWAY LADY-MAN GO AWAY LEAVE. So then I said to him, ok so is the lady-man gone and can you go back to bed? He said no. but...................

I started walking to his crib I went to put him in it and he went BERSERK!!  He started screaming and his eyes got all big and he looked so frightened. He screamed and screamed no no theres a lady-man. He would not let me put him in his crib. Imagine trying to put a resistant cat into a cat carrier so you can take the cat to the vet. 

By this point I was feeling the heebeejeebes. If ya know what I mean. So I played along some more and said ok Graham where is the lady-man. He said shes in the kitchen. Well I walked in there and immediately felt really strange. Like the hairs on the back of my neck must have been standing on end. I had this weird chilly-ish feeling.

OK so I took him to the master bedroom, woke up Daddy and told him to just lay there with Daddy.

So wow that was pretty freaky!

One of my friends suggested on facebook that it if there was a ghost. saying they exist.....that maybe it was my Aunt Verna who died on Friday morning.

So whatcha think, shall I call in the Ghost Whisperer?  hehe

OK yes I know that Jennifer Love Hewitt does not really see people into the light for a living.

P.S. WHO HATES THE NEW LAYOUT AT MEETUP.COM BESIDES ME AND EVERYONE IN MY PLAYGROUP OF 100 MOMS?


ON that note, I will remind you of BlogHopPalooza.  Be there or be square.

INTRODUCING The Star of the Blog World for January 2011!!!!!!
You will see this on the 5 hosts blogs and hopefully more blogs all throughout January!!! It is a month long mega blog HOP!!!!  Want more followers, get on board NOW!!!!




<a href="http://lifewithtwinsandmultiples.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/peekab00o/th_2010out-1.jpg" /></a>


BlogHopPalooza

Your 5 Blog Hostesses

1. Mommying On The Fly
2. Life With Twins and Multiples
3. Family Organic
4. The Thompson Twins
5. TwinHappy

The Rules

1. follow the first 5 blogs..

2.leave a comment that they have followed so we may follow back.
optional BUT a GOOD idea for all

3.add the badge

4.feel free to blog about it and add linky

5.follow others and have a blast

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diaper bag woes

I have tried several diaper bags out since my Twins were born in 2008. One was just a simple little black diaper bag with a long shoulder strap. It really was not very helpful. Then I tried out the larger version of that same diaper bag, I found it to be just as useless. Instead of it being an important thing that I always brought with me, it just sat in my mini-van. I have a few re-usable shopping bags that I end up throwing all of the essentials I will need for the day into.

The shopping bags are pretty easy to carry along but tend to be quite bulky, and make it quite hard to locate something you need in a pinch. I always end up digging and digging through the bag trying to find what I need. There are no compartments to keep anything in, so I always tried to turn back to one of my various diaper bags.

I finally ended up with the Skip Hop Duo Double Deluxe. I loved it, I really did. Well, really I just wanted to love it. Now don't get me wrong, it is a really nice diaper bag. It has a lot of great compartments. It is nice, stylish, easy to carry, and has these great shuttle clips that clip it to your double stroller. However if you pack the diaper bag 75% full of stuff you will need for your Twins(or more)......It will tip your stroller over, seriously.

Picture this, Sicily 1912  your hometown, a nice sunny morning around 9:30 am. You just parked your car in the parking lot at the local park. You get out, go to the back of your minivan and get out your double stroller. You get it all opened up, get it ready to put your Twins into and then you attach your fantastic Skip Hop Duo Double Deluxe diaper bag, with those awesome shuttle clips....right to your double stroller. It looks great, right? YES!! It does! The best thing about it is that you do not have to try and carry it while pushing your Twins in the double stroller! WooHOO You are SET, right? No! not so much because all of the sudden when you are walking away from your double stroller, diaper bag masterpiece you suddenly hear a BAM! Uhhhhhh, your diaper bag just pulled the whole freaking stroller down. nice.  *shakes fist at diaper bag and stroller* So, you pick it up, put in your Twins, lock up the minivan and push that HEAVY loaded down stroller across the parking lot, down the long sidewalk, to the playground.

WOW are you winded!
So when you get home, later on you decide to re-pack that diaper bag. You pull out a few things you do need but can sort of live without. Then next time, you think it will be fine but it PULLS THE STROLLER DOWN AGAIN, WTF!!

This obviously will never work, so you go back to keeping the diaper bag in the van and just carrying a few mega essentials with you in a re-usable shopping bag. boo.

Diaper bags  yarrrrrrrrr!

I really just want to stop this re-usable shopping bag madness, I normally have 2-3 with me full of stuff. Yikes! It never works out well. Plus now that my Twins are almost 3 years old, they often just walk with me holding my hand. This poses to be an issue if you are lugging a re-usable shopping bag too. I recently asked my FaceBook Mommy friends if they knew of a decent backpack that has a cooler compartment in it. I am always carrying the cooler bag with us too!! I carry a lot of bags with us!! I was shown the link to this Picnic Time Zuma Insulated Cooler Backpack.

It looked good, so I ordered it. I do like it, it is nice. I just hope it works out for me. I do have some pretty major back problems. It really does eliminate the need to carry a cooler bag and a diaper bag though. I love it so far. I really do feel I will continue to keep my Skip Hop duo double in the van though. It is a really nice bag. I just do not wish to carry it along with me. It is really bulky and, well it pulls my stroller down if packed 75% full. It does have it's place in my life though.

So, I ordered the Picnic Time Zuma Insulated Cooler Backpack in black but before I chose that color, I looked at the other colors. I could not help but to laugh at this fluorescent lime green one. I was joking with my friend Lisa from Mommying on the Fly about how if I had the fluorescent lime green one, low flying planes could spot me at night. hahahhahahha  Ok I guess ya had to be there. :)

It is NOT TOO LATE  to get yourself added to BlogHopPalooza, spread the word please...it is for ALL Mommy Bloggers!!


INTRODUCING The Star of the Blog World for January 2011!!!!!!

You will see this on the 5 hosts blogs and hopefully more blogs all throughout January!!! It is a month long mega blog HOP!!!!  Want more followers, get on board NOW!!!!






<a href="http://lifewithtwinsandmultiples.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/peekab00o/th_2010out-1.jpg" /></a>


BlogHopPalooza

Your 5 Blog Hostesses

1. Mommying On The Fly
2. Life With Twins and Multiples
3. Family Organic
4. The Thompson Twins
5. TwinHappy

The Rules
1. follow the first 5 blogs..
2.leave a comment that they have followed so we may follow back.

optional BUT a GOOD idea for all
3.add the badge
4.feel free to blog about it and add linky
5.follow others and have a blast

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Mom Bloggers

If you are a Mom with a blog, please get your blog added to

BlogHopPalooza

It is not just for Moms of Multiples!!

We have a facebook fan page for it now too!!

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Featured M.O.M Lona Pangia 1/20/11

Name: Lona Pangia

Age 31

Marital Status married

Blog www.pangiajones.com

Multiples names and age Lucia, Veronica & Carey Jones - turned 2 on January 2nd.

About you - I am a stay at home mom. I hold a license to close real estate mortgages. Prior to having children I was the scheduling secretary for a state senator and 2 state assemblyman. I not only was in charge of having their schedules in line for the day, but I also had to schedule, plan and create big events for the legislators.

About your Multiples - I have triplet fraternal girls through IVF. Its amazing to se them grow into 3 very different people. My oldest Veronica is very adventurous. She loves climbing, tumbling and throwing balls. Carey is the middle child, she is very shy and quiet. She loves flipping through books and playing with playdough. Lucia, my youngest, is a girly girl, very into hats and bows and loves mothering her stuffed toys and dolls.

About your family - My husband and I were married on January 1, 2005 and 4 years later we welcomes the triplets on Janaury 2, 2009. We live in Delran, NJ which is part of Burlington County, approximately 15 minutes from Philadelphia. My husband is a lobbyist in Trenton. Now as a family we enjoy day trips to the zoo or aquarium. This past December we brought the girls on a big vacation to Disney World and they were fabulous little angels on the flight and trip. We enjoyed it so much that I am secretly planning another trip (shhh dont tell Chris).

favorite items for multiples - Baby Items, I loved the Podee bottles. They were convenient for taking to the mall and feeding all the kids when I was by myself at home. It took a bit of time to get them use to using, but they were a must have in our household. - Strollers - I was a stroller fanatic, at one point I owned 14 strollers. My favorite by far was the Foundations quad. I was able to use the 4th seat for my handbag for quick and easy access to all babies needs. Second it had PLENTY of storage which was great to go get $100 worth of groceries at the store. With the canopies on top I could load a box of diapers and be ready to keep moving. We now tend to use the Step 2 Choo Choo wagon alot more. but wish I had bought the 4th cart for storage. And for Christmas we bought the Kettler trike with 2 tandems, so we are patiently waiting for spring so we can take it out for a spin.

favorite toys for multiples - The ball popper from Playskool. Because we never knew where the balls were going to roll to it became a great project for all 3 to keep them all busy.

advice for other moms of multiples - Have your list of go to excuses and comments for the multiple questions you will receive. I have an army list of excuses as to why I have triplets or why they aren't identical. Some of them can be cruel, but if you ask me a stupid question, expect a stupid reply.

Thank you for sharing, Lona! Your girls are so adorable!!

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The Shining, TMMB Closing, & other stuff

It has been an interesting week.

I am in a ton of pain still from my stroller workout on Tuesday with Sunshine Moms.
WOWSA!!!

Twins Magazine is closing their magazine, website, and message boards after 27 years of service.....so I asked them tonight if I can buy the message boards. I have a lot of friends that post there and they are all very sad about this.

The messages the many many many members are leaving on the message boards about it closing, are sad and overwhelming.  I really hope they have the heart to sell it to me *cheap*  I have made a little message board here on my blog for them all but it is not the same. In time it could be nice but why throw away a bag of apples if they are not ROTTEN yet??  I owned and operated a-mommys-world.com for nearly 12 years and I know how to operate a vbulletin. Heck I know how to install a vbulletin and it's database as well as tweak them when they need, repair them when they need, etc.

It would be inconsiderate of them not to sell it, the members want it, so why delete it?

Anyways, on to other things.

Graham and Parker have been very very active this week...and having lots of fun. Parker has become attached to this toy called a weazel ball. He is in love with it and calls it squishy. Seriously, squishy.  *lol*

He carries it everywhere, even to playdates. Graham always wants to play with it. He says "share a minute, ok" but Parker says  "No, my squishy". I will have to get Graham one next week. I never thought I would need two weazel balls.

Honestly I bought it to torment my cats. Parker was frightened of it for the first week we had it. Now it is his best friend.

  Weasel ball, a face only a mother could love  *giggle*

Last night they dressed me up in Mr Potato head's hat and eye glasses. I am pretty sure I looked ridiculous. They tackled me though so,. I had no choice but to be their own Mrs Potato Head. They kind of do that a lot lately. They gang up on their older brother and sisters and sometimes can tackle them down to the ground.  all in good fun though.

They have been eerily saying the same things at the precise same times this week. It's weird. They are fraternal and look nothing alike.

We had to visit the pediatrician today because we thought Graham had pink eye, it turns out he does not and it was just something irritated his eye and caused it to get pinkish and swollen up some. It turns out he has some allergy issues and has to take some OTC allergy stuff for a few days. Poor guy.  He has some allergy issues also with our Christmas Tree so I had to give our Christmas Tree the boot today...it was time for it to go anyways.

So when we were leaving the Pediatricians office, I ask them to say Thank you...

They both said it in sync. The doctor was a little spooked and said...Oh.... in stereo wow.

hahahah

Oh and this week they have been oddly appearing in the photos I take...like those twins in The Shining.  Seriously...

Notice how they just sort of appear oddly in each pic... almost like they are observing everyone..  hahahahahah  :P

I love having Twins, what a trip!

                                                    The Shining Twins

AGGHHHHH

                                       doo doo do doo doo do doo dooo

                                See them standing there over on the right, lmao

Here is a cute one of them playing at the park!

It was a really lovely day so we had some choo choo wagon fun :)

and to wrap it up..... I made chicken pot pies again!! So easy! YUMYUM!!

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NEW Free Moms of Twins and Multiples Message Board!!

Since Twins Magazine Message Boards is closing on Jan. 31st and Most all of us Moms of Twins, Triplets, or more are very busy...  I found a way to give us a free message board that costs nothing to me or anyone else... and seems VERY easy to manage.

I can even add forum hosts/moderators!!

I can add as many message board forums as requested.

It seems like a decent free forum.

http://lifewithtwinsandmultiples.blogspot.com/p/message-boards.html

mi casa es su casa, all TMMB Members welcome as well as any Moms with Twins, Triplets, or More!!

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a Mom of Multiples clothing dream come true??

I just happened to come across this website about 10 minutes ago.

WOW!! Cute coordinating clothes!!!!

bookmarking this place!

http://www.kellyskids.com/kkids/spring_11/wmbrowse.pgm?node=2

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The double stroller of doom

Today, several of the Moms from my playgroup and I tried something new......
A Stroller Workout...and wow was it a WORKOUT!! It wore me and my legs out!!

I have really not made it a habit to exercise regularly since my twins were born other than some walking, and lately I have not walked as much as usual.

I have seen advertisements for all of the stroller fitness groups that you can join around town and they seem nice.

 However, they have a slightly high fee and the days/times they offer here did not work out for me. Not to mention, they meet too far away.

I have done many stroller fitness walks with my playgroup but I ended up not really loosing any weight, or toning up very much.  fail.

So I had this wild idea last week, what if I started my own Stroller Fitness group, within my playgroup....and I did!!

I went on youtube and started searching for instructional videos on how to do a stroller workout, oddly there are tons!

I also looked around at some stroller workout books on amazon.com. I did not buy any yet though.

I looked around online for any sort of stroller workout guideline but never found one.  I was looking in the wrong places though because a Mom in my group found one today and sent me the link!!  yay!!

I posted this Stroller Workout "playdate" on my playgroup calendar, and several of the Moms were quite keen on the idea!! So today we had our first Stroller Workout!  It went REALLY well!! We had to work out a few bugs and go back to review the youtube videos on an iPhone, but it worked!! We did it and WOW did we FEEL THE BURN!! Stroller workouts are pretty darn intense!!!

A local fitness instructor happened to be walking at the location we did our workout at, and she was really excited to see us doing a Stroller Workout. She praised us all for getting out there and making an effort to get in better shape. She was really impressed with what we were doing. It was nice to hear. She asked if we would contact her and let her feature us in a book she is writing currently. The Moms are all for it, so I will be emailing her here shortly.

I highly recommend trying your own Stroller Workout, even if you do not have a playgroup that you are in. Find a friend or neighbor!  If your children are too old for a stroller, get out your children's old stroller, throw a blanket over that sucker and get out there and DO IT!!

Here are a few of the videos we used!!

Do NOT underestimate the worth of these Stroller Workout videos. They provide one HECK of a MEGA-Workout! We did 3 sets of 15 reps each. My legs are still jello and worn out!!! I heard the same thing from other Moms who did the workout with us this morning! We plan to do this twice per week before a playdate.

 

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Linking up with other Blogs written by Moms of all types

The best way to find awesome blogs and show others your blog seems to be using BlogHops and adding yourself on a linky.  Interesting stuff I have learned lately about the blogging world.

So as many may know, I recently teamed up with a few other awesome bloggers and started a month long BlogHop.

HOWEVER, what you may not know is that...... This bloghop is NOT limited to
Mothers with Multiples!!  It is for ALL Moms of all types!!

So please do let others know to come link up and get themselves added to

BLOGHOPPALOOZA!

INTRODUCING The Star of the Blog World for January 2011!!!!!!

You will see this on the 5 hosts blogs and hopefully more blogs all throughout January!!! It is a month long mega blog HOP!!!!  Want more followers, get on board NOW!!!!




<a href="http://lifewithtwinsandmultiples.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll269/peekab00o/th_2010out-1.jpg" /></a>


BlogHopPalooza

Your 5 Blog Hostesses

1. Mommying On The Fly
2. Life With Twins and Multiples
3. Family Organic
4. The Thompson Twins
5. TwinHappy

The Rules
1. follow the first 5 blogs..
2.leave a comment that they have followed so we may follow back.

optional BUT a GOOD idea for all
3.add the badge
4.feel free to blog about it and add linky
5.follow others and have a blast

Read more

Fun fun fun at the Science Center!

Today we had a playdate at the Science Center, it was a lot of fun! They have something called Otronicon right now at The Orlando Science Center. They had tons of flat screen T.V.'s and video game systems on every single floor! So while we were there wr gamed!

Why not right?  When in Rome?  :)

We did all of the usual fun Science Center Stuff and played with the game systems in between. We had a few last minute cancellations with Playgroup members who were supposed to come today so it was just us and a friend with her 3 year old son.

Overall we had a great day except for a moment when I was a little annoyed when I ran into a local mom with Twins who snubbed me because I am not a member of gomott, the local Twins & Triplets club of Orlando. I had never met her before and she seemed half way friendly until she asked me if I was in gomott and I said no. Oh well, I can not be a member of that group because of this situation. It's not my fault so get over it people! Geesh!!

Maybe I should start snubbing Twin Moms who I meet in public who are not in my playgroup.  Nah.....I will just let them do all of the snubbing since they are so skilled at it. I happen to live in a state that is made up of mostly very unfriendly Moms of Multiples. It's unfortunate but there are a few very nice ones to make up for all of ther unfriendly snobby ones.

Anyway, we had a blast trying to figure out XBOX kinect and a few other cool game systems  they had there.

They had a lot of fun playing in the water table too... It is a good thing I took off their sweaters and let them play in their Tee Shirts, They got their Tee shirts super wet!!

All in good fun though. It is tough to play with water and not get wet, ya know?

Poor guys ended up with a slight red rash on their faces from some oil and vinegar on a subway sub. It seems like all of my kids have had issues over the years, especially in the toddler-preschooler years with condiments. Ketchup, salad dressings, mustard. They have no allergies to it but what of it gets on their faces causes a slight splotchy red rash. The good thing is that the rash normally clears within 2-3 hours and seems to cause them no discomfort. They must just have very sensitive skin.

We always have to play with the fossil dig...lots of fun! They love the Dinosaurs! The Dinosaur exhibit is their favorite part of the Orlando Science Center.

They have a blast at the Science Center, there is so much to play with!!

 Very serious gamer faces!!  haha!

We ended the day with some more fun back at one of the kids play areas!

Nap time was nearing so we received a few sarcastic faces and a bit of whining.

Unfortunately my friend bonked her head on the Train.. oww!

I accidentally took a pic right as she bonked her head! eek!

We <3 you Tera & Dylan!!

 

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