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.

They're actually eating alright now, I think they may prefer finger foods so I'll give that more of a go.

I've made a list from Argos of Xmas pressies for them but what toys would you all recommend? They'll be 9 and a half months at Xmas (then I have to shop again for DD who's birthday is in Feb, then again for them for March!

Spaced soothing worked brilliantly for us.
I did a mixture of purees and finger foods which worked pretty well - one preferred one method and the other preferred the other so I sort of met in the middle so neither of them starved! They're just starting to get a bit more fussy now but always ate well in the early days.

ALL what the hell are you marking for woman - surely you've LEFT??!?! No sadly last week was half term... I find half term hols a bit cruel as there is so much work to be done (esp October) that there's no time to settle into the holidays before you're back into it. And this stretch now until Christmas is just horrendous on many levels. DOOM.

Lottie LOL at your MIL. I fear it was I who made the original offending 'obvious' remark hope it hasn't caused a family rift, I can just imagine your email response to her...

Mortifying

Uh oh Lottie.... I wondered if there'd been a defriending event as a result but I guess it's difficult if it's your MIL - and with previous too!!! Unbelievable. Sounds like your hotel would be my ILs dream destination - ardent line-dancers til v recently & have all the clobber. They do lots of caravanning & even have lots of blow-up cowboy accessories... oh yes....

I was thinking of your spaced soothing at stupid o'clock today during an awful night with ds1 while thinking uncontrolled crying was my best option. He slept from 7-midnight then wailed hysterically til 2am (including throwing up in both cots - dp is finally coming round to believing he's doing it on purpose.....). I took over & (naughtily!) fell asleep with him on the armchair we have in their room. Woke at 4am ish & he wailed & wimpered til 6am when dp got up with him. I've been reading about the 18month sleep regression. He is def going through big developmental leaps with communication so spose it could be that....

I know Tarti. I am truely nuts but I know same-old-same-old students are going to blame me for their lack of achievement cos they've not been arsed and that really bugs me so I'm giving them every opportunity. To be fair, I worked them hard so those who have kept up have done loads. Was seen in work by our site manager yesterday when I was in tho & she asked pretty much the same thing, slapped me (LOL) and agreed with me when I said I was planning on some of that relaxing malarky today. So I indulged in a little Lovefilm this afternoon. The Stoning of Soraya M - was v powerful and prob not (totally unsurprisingly, I know) the mindless stuff I should have watched.

First term is always especially busy & v hard work & know what you mean about half term. Pre-boys I did field trips during half terms (yup, again, nuts..) and since we go back by A-level results day, that's mid-Aug - Xmas with no break. Run in to summer looks doable from Jan tho!

Mumof1 we didn't really buy anything from us last Xmas (our boys are early April bday so almost same as your will be this year). We did ask for stuff from others who wanted to buy that they would grow into. Prob the best pressie was a Vtech grow & go ride-on thing which they still play with loads now. It's difficult though cos, as you say, bday isn't far after Xmas.

Hi ladies - sorry for prolonged absenteeism.. Been super-busy at work.
So - what have I missed? Lottie - I want to see this house - what's happenng, have you made an offer?
And Lavita are you moving out too?

Welcome kanna. My DD was 19 months to the day when my twins were born, so similar scenario. We also had to move house, buy a bigger car etc. Don't stress. You can cope with a 2-bed place whilst the DTs are little. Ours shared a cot until 4.5 months.

BLW we offered loads of finger foods and also casseroles with cous-cous which they scooped up with their fingers. mini-weetabix good too. Start off with stuff they can pick up easily with their hands, and progress to anything which they can scoop up (beans on toast, pasta, casseroles, roast dinners).

sorry this a rushed post, will start following thread properly now. Hello to all! xxx

ALL that sounds awful! Hope he stops that soon!
So this spaced soothing...maybe I should try it...
I can't get anything done with these two, they just want to sit on my lap all night! On the upside it means I don't have to tidy up, on the down side my place is never tidy! One of those 'don't know whether to laugh or cry moments'!

I am looking forward to buying cute Xmas outfits for them though (poor sods will hate me for it in 10years time!)

Well I better go sleep, hope you all have a good day tomorrow!

Oh no Lottie, so frustrating for them when they can't sleep for coughing - and for you cos there's nothing you can do for them! Ds2 has been like that a couple of times. Will be watching for the offer - double eek!!

Much better night here last night, tho I didn't hold out much hope initially. Decided I'd go to bed at 9.30pm in preparation & of course they both woke & needed attention before I managed to get there. Decided I'd try just taking ds1 to bed (ha... he who never comes into our bed...!) & he settled quickly. Woke at 11.30 though and started his histronics. I sat him on my knee & sternly kept telling him to calm down / don't need this noise etc. Seemed to do the trick & he slept til 3.30am when we had the same. & then slept til just after 6am - I felt almost human again today!

So... with the soothed spacing..... I get the leaving to cry for 1min, 2min etc but do you always leave them when they're calm? I've read some variations where you stay for only a minute then leave. I know he'd still be wailing then, & then there's the thing with making himself vomit. Do I leave him to sit in it til time's up to go in as long as he's still crying (& therefore breathing....) or go in & silently mop up? It would be nice to think we might have some semblance of normality before it all goes pear-shaped when baby arrives.... but it's looking increasingly unlikely !

Oh yes.... nonchalance in abundance !

Little bugger... slept 7pm-5.30am last night. There really is no fathoming. & good night for ds2 too. Dp must've gotten up to him cos he was in our bed but then only woke once briefly after that til 6am.

Had a lovely friend round this am with her dd. She brought me a giant toblerone so I planned a nice naptime session of chocolate & TV. Except the DVD I was going to watch won't play & can't think what I need to catch up with on TV & now won't have enough time for a film. Oh, the trauma . Will have to get some stuff recorded so I can just press play in my moments of need!

Spaced-soothing-wise, I didn't usually faff with them until they were calm - just went in, shushed and patted, replaced dummy if necessary and got the hell out again. I used to have the laptop at the top of the stairs and MN for the 2/3 minute intervals to keep myself from going back in! Not sure I could have waiting for (eg) 3 mins if I know they had been sick though, I guess that's a judgement call.

Lol @ ALL with your toblerone/TV issues - now these are real problems...

Hi musnetters im new to this but need advice. i have two biys who will be 6 months old next week. they are brilliant night sleepers thank god, but not so good in the day. Both tired/fed/clean etc but T particularly fights going to sleep and then wakes up frequently exhausted. i cant get anything done but know they need their sleep. they have done it and N is really good and can sleep for 3 hours but T is a little bugger. I know CC is the answer but not sure i can do it. i need a confidence boost and advice as its wearing me down. thanks x

Oh , it gets worse Tarti.... dp's face lit up when he saw the toblerone & asked if it was for us to share in preparation for the arrival of our baby. Err,no. My friend gave it to me as a lovely treat. Very nearly cost me the cuppa he was about to make me . So, have had to share and he's claimed the cola bottles nursery gave the boys for Halloween.

Hi Kittycat - ds2 was similar in that it'd take me as long to fight him to a much-needed sleep for naps as he'd actually spend sleeping (~20mins, 3 times a day). Ds1 just rarely bothered sleeping during the day but didn't seem to suffer for it... Once we got to 6months & I stopped bfeeding ds2 I gave in & used the buggy for naptimes & that was much easier, tho obviously not ideal. CC wasn't for me. Or I'd just take them out for a walk & they'd sleep. Not a solution for getting things done admittedly, but I think once they get past 6months that often comes anyway as they get more independent / able to play with toys while sitting up. Ours both nap happily in their cots now.

ALL wow things ARE bleak aren't they... well you've learned your lesson - eat all gifts upon receipt. And am glad to hear it's not just our nursery who have a somewhat shakey grasp of nutrition...

Kittycat - hi - if you have a bit of a read up the thread a few of us have done spaced soothing with success as a milder alternative to CC. Might be worth a try if the idea of CC is too much? Totally get that you need their nap times to catch up with jobs and generally get a breather - I dread the day mine drop that after lunch nap, fortunately not for a long while yet please god (mine are 17 months)

Evening all, things are pretty much the same here, boys eating little but they're playing happily so can't be all that bad?
Sorry to hear about that LL, hope it all works out!

Now with the boys about to start crawling any month now I need advice on playpens or whatever you use to keep them contained safe!
I have limited space at mine so not sure what to do...

Mumof1plus I had (in fact still have) a playpen - a Lindam one, they're quite big - none of my singleton mum friends have one and I think some are a bit about them but actually it's been great, and although I'm thinking about getting rid of it now to make way for a playtable, it's actually still useful for example when putting one in the car to make sure the other one doesn't lock the door behind me or run out into the road. Our place isn't massive either, we just rearranged things to make space for it.
A good tip though is to keep their favourite toys in there and not ever take them out, as an incentive to play in there happily. Someone else recommended doing this and it worked a treat, they have always been v happy in there, although at their happiest if they're in there alone so the other one can't steal their toys!

Been to soft play this morning. Girls not remotely interested in the soft play, but VERY interested in the Christmas craft that was going on for older children. Glue. Glitter. Felt pens. Oh dear.
I am now in a grump as have to go into work this afternoon for a meeting despite it being a non-work day. DH is having the little darlings. I hate that I have to be grateful for this! Have just ordered some clothes for him for Christmas and have thrown a couple of overpriced Reiss jumpers in the basket for me as a little pick me up

Oh thanks tartiflette, will speak to OH, see what he thinks. Which Lindem one did you get?

Feel broken today, too much milk does that to me, spose' it means they're drinking more though...or less

Eat something delicious to make up for it...

I don't know which one, think it is just their standard one (not sure they have much choice but I could be wrong) - it's white if that helps.

Hola! Feeling well chipper today - not a PEEP from either all night. Woke up when the radio came on at 7am, a rare and wonderful thing. That does always give us a moment of panic that something awful has happened in the night though, sigh.

Thought I'd say what we do re playpens... I've also got a Lindam, one of the big hexagonal ones, but we have it bolted to the kitchen wall so it forms a D shape (with the wall as the straight edge, if you see what I mean) for maximum space so they can both roll about a bit without killing each other - the twins adore it thank god, we call it the Baby Cage, got a special song we sing about it and everything... (I read this back and think oh lord, what has HAPPENED to me). Takes up quite a bit of room but we've got a big kitchen so it works for us. I know some people don't like playpens blah blah blah but it's a must with two of them, for convenience safety if nothing else... Also have a travel cot in the living room as a sort of temporary holding pen when we need it (call that the Micro Cage, obv).

I saw a couple of new people here with babies the same sort of age as mine (just gone 8 months). Don't you feel that things are finally getting better? They can play a bit, drink from a cup, just about hold and eat something. Speaking of eating, I succumbed to DH's begging and bought them little weaning biscuits - was reluctant to start bribing / comforting / distracting with sweet things but DH thinks it'll be lovely for them. Because he's a greedy sod. Thoughts??

Oh, and much respect to people buying houses, holding down jobs and getting out of the house on a regular basis. If the kitchen's vaguely clean and I'm wearing my jeans the right way round that counts as a good day here!

Haha Tarti, it amused me that nursery sent home my healthy, egg-free banana muffins I sent in for sharing a few months ago. Policy says no home-cooked stuff, but we can send in fat/sugar/additive-laden shop-bought cake, or they can have the rice krispy cakes made at nursery with the most disgusting cooking choclate & assorted glittery decorations. I do understand the reasoning but it smarts when I know my cakes are fine!

Grateful... for dh looking after the girls? Whyever......? Hope your meeting wasn't too long/painful. It's a wrench having to go in on your day off!

Have you tried playdough with the girls if they're showing interest in crafty things? I only just have with the boys but it was a big hit. Quick homemade recipe with lots of salt in it so the temptation to eat it was v quickly quashed! We haven't done soft play in a while but I got a good Groupon deal on one recently so have it lined up for when dp is on pat leave. Me & baby eating & relaxing while dp does the crowd control - result!

Woohoo Lottie, a decision! What's the timescale for giving notice to your tenants & moving back? I can imagine it's a weight off your mind (tho the beginning of a manic time too!). Did you manage to work any magic on dh with the house?

Mumof1 we were quite lucky in that we have one lazybum who showed no interest in moving under his own steam til he was about 14months or so and so didn't need containing. We still had the travel cot up when ds1 started crawling so I'd just stick him in there if I needed for a few mins (like Tarti, with fav toys that never came out). We don't really have much that needs protecting from them (or vice versa) so didn't bother with a proper playpen. I think the most danger was when ds2 was in the jumparoo, boinging as if his life depended on it and, of course, ds1 didn't understand the danger of going near. We didn't have any major incidents tho......

Awww Lottie, that is soooo sweet! & not surprised you're (ridonkulously lol) proud! Not sure about the toilet training. I think in your position I'd be tempted just to give in to your lazy arse side and leave it til you're all a bit more settled? Could be a while, I know, but if it happens on it's own before then, then result.

Eek, Jan isn't far off at all! The travelling must be trashing for dh. We did it within the UK for a number years pre-children & that was bad enough.

What does Maria say about tantrums.......????

For the playdough, I've got a set of plastic cookie cutters I bought a lifetime ago in the hope we'd get round to cookie-making with kiddies one day. Loads of different shapes (~50 I think) & some are animals so I got those out. They started off being more interested in stacking cookie cutters, but got into the spirit by copying me banging the cutters into the playdough. I think i spend more time cutting shapes out for them to pull legs etc off, but they do seem to enjoy it. They like rolling sausage shapes too. I know it's time to pack away when they start pulling little bits off & lobbing it on the floor. I'm planning on attempting some proper cookies with them soon....

Ahh, this relaxing thing is v dangerous for our finances....