Life with twins 3

[GibberingGinger]

Like some sort of film sequel, or a royal dynasty, welcome to Life with twins III, a thread for general discussions and sharing experiences of having (or expecting) twins.

Hello everyone. Um, am I the only one to sometimes buy clothes (jeans, dungarees etc) second-hand from Ebay? Unsurprisingly, my Mum's horrified that I do that, but they're growing so fast they're not in stuff for 5 minutes... Vests and sleepsuits and things from Tesco, the occasional I must be mental soft cardi from Boden in the sale... Vertbaudet have some nice, unusual stuff although their various and random offers drive me nuts...

Mumof1 mine have three solid meals a day, spoonfed by me, plus finger food mainly at tea time - toast, eggy bread, thick omelette, biscuits (bad mummy), things like that. Gearing up to really get the self-feeding going... no way they can manage their own spoons yet (except to chew on), but psyching myself up to give them bowls of food to shovel in / throw about / wipe in each other's hair. They're always super-interested in watching me eat, but never seem to want to actually nibble at my food.

If I could have anything in the world, I'd have a daughter that sleeps well. 5 or 6 wake-ups a night on average, at 10 months old. That can't be right.

fox mine wake constantly, both of them!

I'm about to give up, my dd (5) enters ww3 if I mention it's time to learn her spellings
And without asking her dads just let her play computer games and she's supposed to be doing homework!
Can I give up please!?!

Fox - my 2 year old still doesn't sleep through either - I'm (possibly) going away this weekend with dh and I'm sooooo looking forward to sleep!

Oh and mum don't get me started on dh! He constantly picks up the girls and lets them fall asleep in his arms (and then promptly falls asleep with them ) then trots off to work and I have two babies that will not be put down!

fox we're still the same as you regarding sleep... it's so hard isn't it I really believe things would be so much easier after a hard day knowing I was going to get some decent sleep. Everyone else with babies a similar age to mine (8 months) seem to get this and have babies that practically sleep through from 3 months or something

I was helpfully told by a woman in Specsavers today how her twins slept through from day one because apparently I should just 'let them cry and learn' she spent a good 30 minutes telling me what to do (including completely leaving the house) before I managed to escape. Needless to say I'll be having my eyes tested in vision express!

I conduct most of my shopping research online.... very, very thoroughly and that's about as far as it usually goes as I don't buy much clothing for any of us. I don't have a problem with buying from ebay Foxtail, other than when there are high reserve/postage costs & then I get fed up with it. I have bought a few pieces from our Barnardos shop - that's where I discovered Pumpkin Patch. You've reminded me of ebay now tho so I'm watching a few bits....

Anything seems normal for sleep. It does feel good to finally have sleeping through here tho. It only took us 20months or so....

Oh BB3 how annoying can strangers be!

I can't recall if you said already but are you breast or bottle feeding yours?
I just co sleep with mine kicked OH out it means I get woken but I quickly fall asleep because I just have to turn and feed

Just had a mum at the school declare she is now a 'full time housewife like me...' and can't believe how much cleaning there is to do? Which was when another mum piped in saying 'well think how much she has to do with twins! And shes doing such a good job!'
I never know whether to feel patronised or pleased! Usually a mixture of both or just the latter which is usually followed by annoyance!
Seriously are they patronising me? I am younger than them, by like...20 years!

mumof1plustwins how do you co-sleep with yours? We've had to start bringing DS in with us as he is really upset with teething at the moment (DD is in her cot next to bed though!) He sleeps so much better in bed with us (although I ache abit from sleeping in the one position!) I wondered about co-sleeping with both, although DD doesn't see too bothered and rolls around an awful lot so was worried about that?

BB3 don't you just love all the 'helpful' comments from the general public... and the stares and silly questions. Best bit about having twins

I have a king size bed so there's room (just!) and they're not movers yet so with one on either side of me (the cot is on one side as a barrier and I roll the blanket on the other side to make a 'guard') but it's all temporary because as soon as boys actually crawl they'll have to go into their cot because I'm scared they'll jump out my bed!

Just seen the attendance officer because dds attendance is 'poor' so much for them offering help and what not, she just threatened to take me to court and gave me more appointments to see her, no understanding of the fact I have twins under one and expects me to take dd to dr for a note when she's ill, well sometimes kids are too ill to take out and make them walk to the drs just for a note for the school!
And I mentioned the boys and she pipes up saying her concern is dd...and she actually got her name wrong! yeah real concerned.
Guess I'll just have to make sure we're not late or absent

Oooh Mumof1 that's rough. And getting the name wrong really gets my back up too - our health visitor does it with DS all the time, with the paperwork right in front of her as well.

BB3 I LOVE the advice from that woman in Specsavers - problem baby? Just go out! Genius. Can't believe more of us don't do that. DD not sleeping? Don't care, I'm in the garden drinking. Oh dear oh dear.

Would you handle things differently if you didn't have twins / other little children to think about as well? Sometimes I wonder if we'd either be a lot more indulgent of DD (eg sleeping our bed) or a lot tougher (leaving her to cry). Neither of those seems fair on DS, you see.

fox I know I can just imagine me saying to the hv when she pops in next and asks how the girls sleep and I respond by saying 'great, I just pop out and leave them to cry it out!'. I generally don't mind people chatting to me but it got to the point where 25 minutes in she was still giving me advice and I got so cross...

mum I'm bfing at the moment, although they do have one bottle of ebf or ff for their last bottle before sleep so I can be free to do ds' bed time.

I didn't think you needed a drs note for time off school! After all, they won't write notes for a bad cold will they? And you wouldn't send them in coughing and spluttering!

polka what is with the staring?!?! And all the questions! It's lovely really but it does take me about an hour to get from one side of John Lewis to the other talking to everyone that stops me . I'll always try and not have the twins in town if I can help it and give them to someone else to push and I walk behind giggling at everyone's comments. The funniest person is my dad who gets accosted by flocks of women asking questions and he looks petrified! My mum loves it though walking around lording it up with the big pram .

BB3 my mum is exactly the same- she always has to push the pram, bless her. It was particulary crazy in the early days with the amount of attention, especially in supermarkets. The best is when I'm out with my friend who also has twins the same age- lots of 'double double trouble' or asking if they're quads!

polka - my mum has even worked out she gets more attention if the girls are in their car seats on the pram rather than their actual carry cot parts! So surprisingly we seem to be using the car seat adaptor more frequently when we go out with her!!!

It is funny all the attention, my friend took the boys and dd for 20 mins while I was in the hair dressers (first time in about 2/3yrs!) and she said she was stopped a few times!
Once a man went past me and said he had twins......twice! And as he walked on he said 'oh my' as if reliving it!

I have realised how much free time I used to have before twins with DD, it would be a lot easier with one or just twins but then I wouldn't have the previous experience - and I think that really helps. But I have my 3 and I'm very happy, just wish the school weren't making it hard!

Off to scoff more (chocolate) Roses now

Oh and BB3 I used to give one ff to dd when she was small because it helped her sleep through but it never worked with these two! It does help to be able to put the twins down for the night so you can do the bedtime routine of a story etc with FB, unfortunately mine don't budge without me so bedtime is a little hectic!

Yeah it is nice - I give the girls to dh or if he is late home from work, my sister (our nanny) to feed, I'll settle ds then dh/ sister and I will settle a girl each. Edith-May seems to have benefitted from the bottle and goes through the night (although has also been waking up with freezing cold hands despite sleeping bag and blankets so I've been bringing her in with us) but Ayse-Rose still wakes twice for food x

I miss free time! I wouldn't swap the kids for anything but I miss lazy breakfasts with dh, pottering, planning and making nice dinners and watching tv on the sofa! I'm most looking forward to getting evenings back when the kids are a bit older!

We've entered the wriggling stage, shuffling down chairs and laps and round in circles on the floor and attempts to roll over! I'm petrified of the crawling stage! What would you all say is the hardest part of the first year?

BB3 your free days with DH sound great! I remember the days (and nights) DH and I used to have all to ourselves. Those were the days!
Your daughters names are lovely too!

Baby A is (gently) smacking his own ear...

Ah thanks mum - we were lucky they were girls really as we can never ever agree on boys names - took us a week with ds!!!

Haha, we had many years of being `just us'.... and lived them like we had young babies. But with slightly more alcohol. Much lovlier now tho

I've never slept with both boys at the same time as I wasn't comfortable with having a baby behind me, but I have had 1 baby in with us most nights, depending on who was least settled. Mostly ds2 & I did feel that ds1 might be missing out but he was mainly happy in his own bed and a nightmare in ours once he got mobile. Dd has slept with us every night since she was a week old not that I'd ever admit that to the health professionals. I was slightly worried about the `rod for own back' thing with the boys, but they are both now in their own cots & sleeping through so I'm not going to worry about dd. We'll cross that bridge if it becomes an issue later. For now, we're all getting plenty sleep.

Good luck with the school stuff Mumof1. Schools are under such pressure to improve attendance. I work in FE & it's the same with us. We have to insist on appt cards / letters from drs. Things that don't happen in the real world....

I miss going to bed late at the weekend and knowing I could just sleep and not need to get up! We are up and down with ours a silly amount of times during the night, and I find this really hard. We do the nights together though- DH is much better with the first half and I with the second, which helps when they're not as bad as they are at the moment. They are really disturbing each other now (never really used to when younger) We're thinking of giving them their own rooms, which we really didn't want to do- may sound silly but it just makes me feel upset?!

mum DH and I were talking about this the other day, and concluded that we would have found it easier with the twins if they hadn't been our first children, with regards to sleeping, feeding problems etc. I already know now what I would do differently, and think we are very much partly to blame for sleep issues to be honest... I would be 'Gina Fording' if we had anymore, that's for sure!!

I hope you manage to get things sorted with school- I do think that they should have been more understanding of your circumstances, but like ALL said there is this pressure to meet targets and tick boxes improve attendance in general (My experience is Secondary Ed though) Stress you really don't need, isn't it?! ((hugs))

Thanks ladies, I posted in education to see if anyone else had similar experience but got a bit of an ear bashing instead
I did get a bit stressed this morning when I feared we'd be late! We ended up being 45mins early!
Only 3 more weeks before another half term anyway!

The boys are stealing toys and trying to climb up the sofa and general bum shuffling around the carpet atm! So anytime they'll master crawling and getting into things they shouldn't!
They're actually sitting too close to eachother and are fighting

Well better separate them

How is everyone else?

Hello all - hope everyone's ok.

Mum - at being 45 mins early! Bet they don't monitor that though hey!

I have a quick question - I'm looking for a second double buggy to have for two things - 1. taking ds (2) and dn (8months) out in the uk rather than using two separate buggies and 2. For taking abroad to use with the girls (4 months) - so needs to be suitable from birth but hard wearing for 3-5 trips abroad each year to visit dh's family; cope with the heat and be practical for lugging stuff around and on/off planes.

The girls have the bugaboo donkey here but I don't really want to take it away with us. I don't really want to spend more than £300-£400. Any ideas? I've been looking at the baby jogger 360 but it doesn't look like it folds down very easily...

Blimey it was bad enough choosing the first time round!!

Polka - dh and I have decided that the twins would have been easier if they were our first as we wouldn't know any better and wouldn't be used to handling just one child. However I have concluded that regardless of when they come, twins are just HARD!!

Lol BB3 twins are hard work either way! but so damn cute too!

Re double buggy, I fully recommend my buggy; Cosatto You 2 Me twin pram, I got it off just-baby.com (I think!) for only £179.99!
They had other variations in the range but the price did range around £179 - £210 ish
It's been to Europe and back, fits through my front door, folds easy, suitable from birth etc.
Wish my boys were walking, I'm already hating lugging the double pram around, maybe I'm mad but I'd much prefer two boys on reins!