7 Quickety Quick Takes

Friday, May 24, 2013

Happy Friday!  Happy long weekend!  Happy Quick Takes!
 
--1--
 
I have a confession to make:
 
I still use Google Reader.
 
You know how everyone has been switching to Feedly or Bloglovin' or Ye Olde Something or Other?
 
I hate them all.  I just want my Google Reader to stay the same, because everything else just gives me STUPID PARTIAL FEEDS!  I DO NOT WANT TO CLICK OVER TO ANOTHER BLOG because half the blogs I read are too fancy with their formatting and it takes forever for me to scroll through them unless I read them in Google Reader.
 
So I'm hoping that Google changes their minds and lets us keep the reader?
 
--2--
 
I added social media buttons to my sidebar!  They're blue and very pretty and if you need realtime John Paul updates or just want to stalk me all over the internet, you can follow me all the places!!!

Am I supposed to make a facebook page now?  Because I feel really awkward every time I share my blog on facebook because I think people don't really want to know...  Thoughts?
 
--3--
 
I bought another swing for the babies (used).  We have one and it's pretty much the only place they'll sleep during the day, which means that if Elizabeth decides to take a 3-hour nap, I'm stuck trying desperately to nurse Mary Claire to sleep that whole time and end up just sticking her in the swing the moment Elizabeth wakes up.  Which means they almost never nap at the same time, which means we pretty much never leave the house because somebody is always asleep and NO WAY am I going to mess with that!
 
I have taken them a few places though, and I'm pretty proud of it - so far we've been on a walk around the block (.7 miles, so a LONG walk), to Trader Joe's, and to the Farmer's Market, just me and all 4 kids!  And ALL the trips were successful! 
 
But it's still a lot of work, so I'm gonna see if I can just host a trillion playdates at our house this summer so that I don't have to try to get all the kids out of the house all the time...
 
--4--
 
This article about yelling was really powerful for me - I try REALLY hard to be patient with the kids and to encourage Andrew to be patient when they do ridiculous things, and I think it's incredible how you can see the compassion this teaches our children when they get older. 
 
I'm not perfect - I certainly resort to yelling more than I'd like, but it's absolutely always just a quick fix, and I'd like to think about how a patient approach to parenting can mold my kids into such incredible individuals:
 
"And that’s when I started to cry – not so much about the three chapters, I knew they could be rewritten – my heartbreak was more of a release due to the exhaustion and frustration involved in writing and editing a book. I had been so close to the end. To have it suddenly ripped away was incredibly disappointing.
 
To my surprise, my child reached out and stroked my hair softly. She said reassuring words like, “Computers can be so frustrating,” and “I could take a look at the time machine to see if I can fix the backup.” And then finally, “Mama, you can do this. You’re the best writer I know,” and “I’ll help you however I can.”"
 
Yeah, I teared up.  Go read it!
 
--5--
 
 
A friend of mine just made us a beautiful mei tai and get this:  IT'S REVERSIBLE with STAR WARS on the other side!  I haven't let Andrew wear it yet though, because I love the girly blue flower side so much!
 
I need to work on how exactly to cross all the straps to make tandem wearing easier, but it's definitely less bulky than the ergo-mei tai combo here:
 
 
--6--
 
Selfies!
 
 
Once again, proof that the twins look nothing alike!
 
--7--
 
Elizabeth is getting perilously close to crawling. 

 
I think we'll still be safe for another week or two, but this is one major reason why my blogging is going to take a serious hit - the babies are rolling all over the place and want me on the floor playing with them, plus they don't nurse for the marathon sessions they used to have, so I don't have nearly as much "sitting on the couch not being able to do anything" time - I know my mom will be sad, but I'll try to take plenty of pictures to make up for it!

 Check out more Quick Takes at Jen's!
 

15 comments:

  1. Ah! Wait! I just read your entire post on my feedly!! Really and truly I did. I hate bloglovin and I tried the "old reader" too but it stunk. Feedly is awesomesauce for realzz.

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  2. Again, love the tandem babywearing!!! I know if I saw someone doing that in a store, etc. I would be sooo impressed.

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    1. Thankfully Elizabeth's stable enough to sit in the cart basket - glad we didn't give away our cover!!! Tandem wearing while grocery shopping would make it impossible to reach anything!

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  3. Love the new "follow me" gadgets! I'm with you on the facebook page, but I'm in the process of doing it. We'll see :)

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  4. Gahhhhh you added the social media buttons. No I really have to do it! Any tips before I throw my computer out the window in frustration!? Also I love how Elizabeth does not appear impressed with the tandem babywearing. Maybe she is just jealous she didnt get the star wars one...

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  5. I love Google reader too! I haven't checked out freely or others yet, I'm putting it off. I hate partial feeds too so I hope feedly shows the whole post like Ana said!

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  6. I don't like Bloglovin' either and Feedly is having an issue with installing on Safari so I can't even try it out until they fix that. I keep hoping Reader will just change its mind as well!
    I feel the same way about Facebook. I don't have a blog page because I feel like that's, I don't know, weird for me of little followers and a page is only for big name blogging. And I don't often share my posts on my personal page because I feel like it's annoying. But maybe I'm just too self-conscious!
    Love the baby wearing...God bless your back!

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    1. Yeah I still haven't found a good combination that doesn't hurt my back - there's a special twin carrier that just started production but I just don't know if I want to shell out for another carrier that I might not use... For now I just try to wear one at a time if possible!

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  7. I don't have a facebook page for my blog. I just started using Twitter, so Maybe I'm behind, but I just don't think I can handle another social medium! I post blog posts on my personal facebook account, so people I know in real life can read them. They are probably tired of them or have hidden me from their feeds already...

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    1. Yeah, I like following other blogs on facebook when I'm not friends with the person on facebook - but maybe it's just a sign that I'm addicted to social media?

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  8. I'm still attached to Google Reader and get irritated with Bloglovin' too. I haven't tried Feedly, though. Hmmm. Mayhaps I shall check it out.

    Also re: the twins, I think it's great they both have their own looks! :) My sisters-in-law HATE being mixed up, and it still happens all the time. On the down side, they probably wont be able to share a gym membership by pretending to be the same person. ;-)

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  9. I think you should make the facebook page. I love following blogs on facebook..but I use FB for everything. Of course, my facebook page for my blog has a whopping 49 followers, but I still always post on it. I find that most of my friends/family don't use blog readers or anything like that, so they only way they see if my blog updates is if I post it on FB.

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    1. Yeah I think I probably will - but it'll take a while to get around to making another button! Plus I like the symmetry of those 6... Maybe I'll just take one off and replace it with fb :P

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  10. 2. If the buttons hadn't been available in blue, you wouldn't have used them. Betcha.

    3. Remember how you asked me (with a tiny bit of ashamed face) if I thought you were silly to get another swing? I was surprised you would even ask. If one does not do whatever is needed to get a baby to sleep, one is crazy. Unless it involves alcohol, of course. Because we are not what your nana called "French peasants."

    4. SO hard not to yell. I'm sure Daddy still feels bad for every time he did it. Not that I didn't. It's just that it's been quite a long time since you four were kids, and I've forgiven myself by now.

    5. You look like a baby-wearing Rosie the Riveter! And you're even Rosie! Really Rosie!

    6. They don't act alike, they don't talk alike . . . you could lose your mind anyway. (Yeah, so it isn't exactly The Patty Duke Show theme song, but sort of.)

    7. It's the mammoth cloth diaper that is keeping her from pulling her stomach off the floor. Better wrap that kid up in more diapers to keep her from learning to crawl!

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  11. Okay, my first attempt at Feedly failed. I downloaded the app to my android, was trying to figure it out, and accidentally marked a bunch of posts as read that I have not actually read. Switched back to google reader to fix everything. I'll have to try again later!

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