Winter 2013

This is what it's all about!

X x 

One month to go

In exactly one months time the boys will be a whole year old! One freaking year old people! You could say that I have have condensed two years of child care into one year of you think about it. No wonder I look the mess I do! 

On a totally different note, here's some picture of my dad feeding the boys things they shouldn't have! (Grandparents can get away with it!)

Fin got the lolly, Sammy got the very messy chocolate thingy. Thanks Papa x

Look what we found at the pumpkin patch!

Its the boys first halloween tomorrow and mine and marks 8th anniversary. We visited the biggest pumpkin patch in our area - know as 'Pumpkins R us' well what else would you call it!

Fin found it quite funny.

Sam, not so much!

But they both liked the ride in the pumpkin trailer at the end!

Hold on a minute . . .

Those who regularly read my blog will notice that I'm making some changes here and there. I will be playing about a little bit so you will see a few different layouts and colours. Thanks so much for reading, I really appreciate your interest. In the

 mean time, here's Sam and Fin playing with balloons!

Are they twins?

So, I’m nearly 10 months in to this twin-mum thing and I don’t seem to be getting any more tolerant of the stupid questions. For those who don’t have multiples, you may not understand. Basically, when you have twins or more, complete strangers suddenly think it’s acceptable to come and chat to you about your personal life, your family history, your feeding methods and in a round about way - the twins' conception!

Most days I'm out shopping or walking, I get the usual 'are they twins?'. This is usually when they are wearing similar or the same clothes, are the same size and look pretty similar. For those of you who don't know, my boys are dizygotic diamniotic twins or DiDi, which simply means they had they own placentas and own amniotic sacs. In short - non identical.

I'm pretty sure that parents of single babies don't get stopped as much as we multiple mums do. It seems that as soon as the double pushchair is out, it's an invitation for random strangers to ask stupid questions or coo over the boys, whilst blocking my path so they can stop and stare. 

I know that to the lovely old lady who just wants a look, she probably hasn't seen twins for a while so whilst it's seemingly innocent to say the age old 'double trouble', for me it could be the 5th time that morning I've heard it. But when they were little, the attention was lovely, it still is most days but I swear, they see me coming. I'm at the bottom of the isle choosing yogurt and the lady at the top has spotted the bright red hood and the two angelic faces smiling out, I continue to stare at the shelves, desperately trying not to look up, she comes, closer, I stare harder. But then finally I can't help but look up from the fromage fraise with a smile that can only seem like an invitation to start the endless questioning as I have all the time in the world obviously and would like nothing more!

The other one is when we are walking down the street and the boys being started at from afar in a way I can only describe as if I'm carrying two bombs. They look at them, then up at me - I guess this is to confirm that I am in fact a terrorist. Another variation of this and one that I now have fun playing with, is the same bomb stare, then waiting until we have passed them (when the boys still faced us) to turn back and have a good gander and what I have tucked up in there.  I now follow their stare as they look back and stare directly back at them. Sometimes, they smile, sometimes they realise they were staring and apologise. Either way, I guess we have this for a while longer yet.

So, some of the stupid conversations I have most days.

'Are they twins?' Well obviously yes as they are. 'Are they boys or girls?' Do the blue hats and coats not give it away? 

'Do twins run in your family?'Depending on how I feel, I will answer honestly or just say no, or 'they do now!'

'Oh my god! My sister/cousin/colleague/neighbor/best friends dog has twins!' Wow . . . . Um good for them. 

Where they natural? Now this is a very personal one. Sometimes I would love to say, 'no they are made of plastic!' Or 'actually yes but we have had  two very toiling years of failed IVF, and heartache to get these twins'. This didn't happen, but people should think before they ask this one. 

Are they identical? No they are not. Really, are you sure? Yeah I'm pretty sure. How can you tell? Because I know they are not identical. But they look it to me. Are you sure they're not? Trust me lady, you ask one last time! I haven't just spent the last 8 and a half months reading everything there is to know about the genetics of fraternal twins to be doubted and quizzed by a total stranger! 

My boyfriend is a twin, so maybe we will have twins?' Um, nope, It doesnt work that way I'm afraid. Anyone that is the slightest bit clued up will realise that the male cannot determine if the woman releases two eggs or not.  It's all about the woman. 

Some of the others: do they wake each other up? Do they have different personalities? Did twins skip a generation? Did you have a c-section? Do you want any more kids? Are you breast feeding?

I get people suggesting that I'm mental, that I have my hands full, that I'm brave. The 'well done' from a gentleman really pissed me off the other week. It was like a 'well done' you managed to have sex and conceive twice at the same time. 

But not all of it is bad. Yes it could be the 10th time Ive heard 'you've got your hands full' but I try to be pleasant to everyone and I know people only mean well. But next time you see a bedraggled looking mother pushing her screaming twins around the supermarket, instead of stating the obvious, try something like, 'ahhh your twins look really happy, you must be doing a really great job'. Because we're not super women, but mums of multiples are pretty close!

A day in the life of 10 month old twin boys

Ok, this is how most of my days go. This will be a typical Monday

Anytime between 6am - 7.30 the boys will wake up. If it's before 7am we will leave them in their cots and maybe throw some toys in to hopefully keep them occupied whilst we get a final hours kip!

8am mark gets ready for work whilst the boys have a nappy change and a bit of a play. I also get ready. They are now chasing each other around the landing which is great fun.

9am we are down stairs, mark has left for the day. I prepare their breakfasts. We eat, have a play on the floor. I catch up on ipad with a tea!

9.30 ish, the boys are getting sleepy so I put them in their pushchair ready for their first nap. During this time I wash up the bottles, have a tidy up, finish getting ready and pack my bag for the day.

10.30 the boys normally have about 45 mins to an hour nap. Then they will get dressed for the day and we will head out to music class.

11.15 - 11.45 music class which the boys love! After we might pop to the shops.

12-12.30 lunch time for the boys and for me. Then we play for a few hours. I will wash up again! Get some bottles ready. At the moment they will either play in the living room on the mat or in their bouncers in he the kitchen with me.

2.30 is nap time. This can be adjusted by half and hour either side. But at the point the boys are getting a little grumpy and sleepy. So it's back in the pushchair for the longer nap of the day. On a great day I get two hours, one good day just over an hour. During this free time, I will wash up again, prepare bottles, tidy up and make sure the house is reasonable!

3.30-4pm, the boys are awake. This is when we would play for a bit. Prepare tea, go in the walkers whilst I'm in the kitchen again or go to the park.

5pm this can vary each day, the boys have their tea. Mark come home usually during this and would take over whilst I start dinner for us. 

6pm mark and the boys head out for a walk and I finish making dinner and wash up again for what seems like the 20th time!

6.30 once they are all back it's play time for a little longer until about 7 when......

7pm bath time! This is every other night otherwise it's becomes a proper mission! Once the the boys are out, dry (this takes a lot of wrestling to get them both dry with nappies and clothes on as they are more interested in trying to dive off the bed!)

7.30 bed time bottle for them and a cuddle, the both in their cots awake for them to fall asleep on their own. It mostly takes them about half an hour to get to sleep. On a great night we won't hear from me until about 11ish but at the moment this varies hugely. 

Anytime between 11pm -2pm they have another full bottle and back to sleep. (Although the getting back to sleep part it taking a long time right now!)

Anytime between 4am - 6am they used to have a full bottle but we are currently reducing the amount of milk in an attempt to wean them off this feed.

Then it's back to the beginning again! Along with all this, add in a dozen nappy changes, lots of 'no! leave that alone's. Lots of picking up and moving away from radiator, plug socket, phone charger, cats etc. There's also lots of fun, laughing, chasing, kisses and cuddles. Those bits just about get me through the day!

What do I do all day?

The question is a hard one to explain really as every day if different. I'm a stay at home mum (apart from Saturdays) and get to spend 6.5 days a week working to keep my children fulfilled, entertained, fed and happy. Doesn't sound too hard right?

Well it's not all hard work and it's not always a walk in the park - well, a few days mostly that's what I do, but  my job isn't 9-5 I don't get coffee breaks, I don't get paid, I don't get to call in sick if I'm not feeling too good. But I wouldn't trade it to go back to full time employment.

Since knowing we would be having to babies, there was always the question about going back to work and would I put my children into a nursery to return full time. The answer was always the same:

1. We couldn't afford to out two children into a nursery and come out with anything at the end of day.

2. Who could look after my children better than me?

3. I do not want to miss out on the most important time of their lives.

So that basically was a no. Here I am, 9 months on and every day gets better. They are learning to be independent little crawlers. I get to sing to them, introduce new foods. Show them different sights. Read them books. Chase the cats together and we can spin around and wrestle on the floor! Where else could you get that one-on-one (sorry, one-on-two) interation? I fully appreciate that for some, nursery is the only option and if that works for them that's great. But for us, as long as the boys need, I will be their teacher, their cook, their nurse, their entertainment, their fun and their comfort. I don't get paid but I bet I get more job satisfaction than most!

Oh, I also teach them to eat sand! They love it! X

Are we there yet?

It only seems like yesterday that mark and I were new parents to two pink wriggly things demanding 100% of our attention. 

8 and a half month on, those two wriggly things are now two crawling things ( well, kind of, dragging, pulling along the floor type in their own special way things )

I never thought we would reach the point were nap times would be established, they would be eating three meals a day and bed would be at 7.30. But here we are, nearly 9 months  old and sitting up like little boys.

The sleep thing is still a bit hit and miss. Yes they go to sleep on their own brilliantly. Gone are the days of rocking for an hour, but we are yet to have a block of 6+ hours. But really, we don't mind. They are getting lovelier every single day. Everything is exciting and new. Everything is funny. And unfortunately, everything is a potential play thing and choking hazard! 

They play together brilliantly now too!

And get very messy!

I notice changes in them everyday and I can't wait to see what they will be doing next. I think they are a long way off walking but you never know! Keep growing and learning my boys! X 

Body after baby

"9 months to out it on, 9 months to get it off" Um, can we rewind a bit please?

One of the things that always bothered me when I became pregnant was "what would my body look like after having twins?"

For any pregnant person this must be a huge deal, but when our housing two beings for 9 months, surely there's bound to be some slight damage right? too right!

Before getting pregnant, I was about 8st 6 ish. I was fairly happy with my belly. My bum and legs were causing me usual grief that I think we still cause me grief on many years to come but hey that's a separate issue. One thing I did know, there would be stretchmarks. They arrived at about 30 weeks and steadily pulled their way through to the world gradually.

By 38 weeks they were definitely here to stay. Even 9 months on, I still look a little pregnant. Still have stretchmarks, although they are now fading to match my skin tone. I think, "hey, I've had two children AT THE SAME TIME". That's going to cause even the most toned, stretchy, welcoming womb a wee bit of discomfort.

So I started off like this:

About 9 weeks I think.

Growing to this at about 20 weeks.

In the mid 20s to 30s I was about the size of an average full term mumma!

And grew to this! Okay this does look pretty abnormal but I can honestly say that I have never felt better about my body than when I was pregnant. I think there's a subtle message here - not yet nanna, give me a bit of recovery!

But that's one hell of a couple of buns in that oven. 

Now, the oven looks a bit like it needs a full service or at least a bit of a remodel. I've accepted that it will never ever look like it used to. But I'm not the first and certainly not the last women to have earned her stripes!

For those of you that knew, (and laughed) my tattoo still isn't quite lined up! Why the surgeon couldn't stop his scalpel about 1cm earlier I have no idea! Maybe it's a game they play with any tattooed mothers, "let's see how many tattoos we can sew back together incorrectly today, for a laugh"! But I'm not one to get my bits out in public anyway so it's no deal biggie. 

The things we give up for our children hey? X

Remembering the little things

It's been 7 and a half month since our lay ins were disturbed for ever. It's not a hugely long time but so much has happened in those 7 months, it's easy to forget the beginning.

Being small enough to fall asleep on our chests each night.

Sleeping together.

       

Baths in a trug!

Going back to sleep in the morning after milk!

Loved these suits!

Feeding two at once.

First smiles

So much you take for granted and its not until you sit back and think what you used to do, that it all comes flooding back and you wish you had made more of when they were tiny babies instead of wishing for the next phase. Each day is special and every step should be remembered x

Baby food attempt 2

Round two and I'm using something a bit sweeter.

Carrot, sweet potato and red pepper. This turns into a lovely shade of orange. Looks like its full of E numbers but I can assure you it's all natural.

Two and a half ice cube trays later and we are done. 

Also made mango and pear purée and just blended it without cooking first. Maybe I could stir it in with baby rice or porridge. I will see what it tastes like first!

I also made broccoli, pear, apple and parsnip purée but have no photos of that one. It was a bit like a pale green slop with darker green bits in. Tasted alright though! 

S at ten moment, once all the ice cube trays have frozen, I'm popping them out and putting them into freezer bags with labels on for future use. That way, I can keep cooking and keep bagging!