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.

Thanks Cerubina. I don't think we've seen the end of it yet unfortunately but hopefully before too long they will start to behave like the regimented young ladies with neat hair and impeccable manners that I envisaged when they were but a twinkle in their father's eye

Lavita agree the Le Toy Van stuff is lovely.

Let us know how you get on on Friday GG. Hopefully the doctor can set your mind at ease once and for all.

Have just taken delivery of the play kitchen which has come with a job lot of crap pretend food etc. It is very plastic quite big. Am hiding it in the garage until my blood pressure goes down.

btw as much I love wooden toys I only have the tea set which was a gift, my house is plastic fantastic all the way

Hello Ladies, thought we were over the worst of this cold but alas the boys still have it and keep coughing and being sick, took A to Dr because he seemed worse than his brother and have been given amoxicillin! But A hates it :(
I missed your post LL because it was withdrawn but judging from the responses were you having trouble administering meds?

Hope everyone is good, boys have dropped off so will try sort myself out (been up most the night, them being sick and upset) its been a tough week.

Ugh, terrible night here, E with a fever and up EVERY 90 MINUTES crying, coughing, etc. Yes Mumof1plus - I really do struggle with it. My bloody ear thermometer has broken and E absolutely FREAKED to see the normal one go anywhere near her. I'm okay if she'll take milk because I can put some Ibuprofen/etc in there, and otherwise I try to give Paracetamol suppositories - they're the normal mode of medicine for children here in Switzerland - but she makes that hard too. No nursery for us this morning, TV on the sofa methinks...

All hotting up a bit with the house situation, could all come to nothing but who knows...

Oh LL my OH is moaning and complaining that he's not been able to "do what he needed to on his day off" well sorry we've inconvenienced you with the boys illness
Trying to entertain DD who didn't go to school today and trying to keep 2 sick babies happy, not easy!

And OH is now doing what he needed too...fixing the car? Men have it so easy

Sounds dire Mumof1. Hope all poorliness clears up double quick.

And Lottie hope the Cbeebies fest has done the trick today.

Snap! House of icky here too. Poor ds2 has thrown up twice already since we put him to bed. Poor thing just wants to be asleep. Think he may have picked something up from softplay the other day.

Second lot of grandparents gone now. It's been lovely seeing them, but there's only so many times one's tongue can be bitten . DD feeds too often . Comment nicely seen off by a midwife visit - dd has gained nearly 6oz this week. She doesn't like being put down but Mum was determined she just needed a bit of swaddling or rocking of the cot. Like we haven't tried that. Surprise... it didn't work for Mum either. So then she declared that DD is going to be spoiled just like the twins. Ouch, that smarted! Dp was furious when I told him later. ILs are returning this weekend on an outlandish excuse of playing Santa to some family who live vaguely in this direction . So lovely that they're smitten!

Bit late on the seat issue, but ours didn't like the bumbo much either. I managed to borrow a pink one from the Surestart toy library. Ds1 tolerated it but never looked v comfy & always seemed to end up slumped in it. Ds2 would instantly straighten/tense his body when we put him in it. We had newborn to toddler rockers rather than bouncers & we're still using them now.

Been browsing girlie clothes - sooo exciting! I will be watching your expert recommendations with even more interest now! Have to get MIL on the case & hopefully stop her from buying the mountains of pink plastic castles/kitchens/dolls/domestic godess supplies that she's already drooling over for next xmas....

Hope all the illness is passing, though I suspect from lack of posts that many of you are still stuck in the hell that is ill, miserable children. Much sympathy.

Didn't take J to the doctors on Friday as he has started taking some steps on Wed and Thurs last week and then H developed impetigo so I used the appt to get her some ointment before it spread to the rest of the family. J, the bugger, has now given up again and not walked at all today. I despair!

Diet wise I haven't managed my 1lb a week every week until christmas, but have dropped into the next stone down (psychologically good) so getting there. Still about 2 stone to go though.

Well done on the weight loss GG. I have been RUBBISH, well - not bad during the week but indulgent at the weekends and for me that doesn't get me very far.

We're still the house of illness, E has barely eaten anything for the past three days and still has a bit of a fever and bad bad cough. J developed a fever last night (39.6!) so am sure is now going to be following in her sister's footsteps. Poor loves, every night we've had at least one bout of both of them being up, sticking Peppa or Ben & Holly on, and the whole family sat up for an hour. Also still struggling to get any medicine into E, she's not even interested in milk at the moment and her being sick a couple of times has been enough to stop me offering it at every opportunity.

Also GG congrats on J's steps! I think we were the same with J, it took her a while to get going with it, despite taking her first few steps a good couple of weeks before replicating it.

Our house is now under offer, and it looks like the house we love is going to accept our revised offer this morning subject to us wanting them to leave absolutely everything a few conditions. So excited, but also terrified!

Great news about J and the first few steps GG! Rose also did it in fits and starts, it was about a week between her first few and the next little session if I recall. And well done on the weight loss... I have gained about three pounds since all my loss. Not exactly on target. You've inspired me to shift it up a gear this week though

Lottie WOW re. the house situation. Am excited for you (in lieu of any hope of moving myself in the near future!) Really hope your girls make a speedy recovery. Damn the winter.

ALL hope you've had a nice weekend with your doting PILs.

We have had a good weekend for once with DH taking one girl out for a solo trip to the science museum yesterday while I spent the afternoon having coffee with a friend playing with the other one. I was amazed how long she can play nicely for when uninterrupted by a sister snatching away toys etc... Was lovely to see. Then today we all went to the Baltic where they are showing the Turner prize exhibits - not my cup of tea but killed the morning and there is a great cafe and good views of the river and bridges. R rather embarrassingly shouted MESS! as we entered one of the exhibits which was a sort of big pile of craft paper with what looked like a load of tied up nappy bags hanging from the ceiling...

Have just made a Christmas wish-list (at Mum and DH's request I should add) - most fun I have had in weeks

haha Tarti! Just read that to dp & he said top marks to R'!! I think we relate to that as mess' is the boys' word of the moment. Closely followed by `better' once they've cleared up the mess. Now that wouldn't have gone down so well at the Baltic!

What have you got on your Xmas list? I'm almost giving in to a nice shiny coffee machine....

Oooh Lottie - did you get your good news this morning ... how exciting!!

I hope J has graced you with more steps since your post GG. Glad you were able to use your dr appt tho , tis neverending this illness stuff.

I think we're on the mend here. Ds2 threw up spectacularly over me & dd on Friday evening. We were all cuddled up post-bath with milk & ITNG before bed & it took us all by surprise. Somehow we managed to save the sofa thanks to my super-absorbant clothing, including my knickers & bra,...... So, having been left clothless due to a series of vomfests, I've lived in my pjs all weekend . Ds1 was a bit icky yesterday too, but hopefully that's it. Last week of full-time nursery Mon-Wed this week & I need them to go so no more vomming allowed before tomorrow am!

We've had a good weekend. I've not done a lot other than slob on the sofa feed dd & cook. I had dp cleaning all the windows, inside & out on Friday & he finally got round to doing some other jobs he was sposed to have done ages ago. PILs did a great job of entertaining the boys and cuddling dd. FIL even had lots of cuddles and was vocal in his adoration of his `magic princess' I think we're going to have to give in to all things pink and girlie. MIL was most unimpressed that I put a blue cardigan on dd....

Just a quickie - still have ill children, E hasn't eaten for 3 days now. Going to take her to the docs tomorrow. :( In more positive news, have had the offer accepted - am completely shellshocked. It's been a rollercoaster 4 weeks, at certain points thought there was no way we could do it, and now feel overwhelmed and daunted by what lies ahead......

Hope everyone else had good weekends (sounds like you did :) ) and yes, BEGONE to all illness!!!

Wow. go Lottie, that's fab news!! Scary, and a way to go, but wow! I hope the girls are better soon, poor babes .

So true ALL - a long way to go yet. But that doesn't seem to have stopped me from being browsing curtain fabrics at 5am this morning when the girls were awake.. - bad night here, have been awake since 4am. Both girls sleeping so fitfully that every time I went in to see to one of them, the other would wake. J now in the thick of it, am a bit reassured by the fact E has had a few bites of bread this morning. Most importantly I am out of MILK and can't make any bloody coffee to prop these eyelids open! Got very depressed this morning, shuffling round at 5am, DH up and about ready to get his flight back, and contemplating the week ahead of dealing with the girls on my own. (Poor poor poor poor me, etc etc...) Must get a grip and look after them as best I can.

Whatever it takes to get through that night time shift though Lottie. Don't blame you for getting depressed about it. It's bad enough expecting a hellish week with help, let alone on your own and it seems worse again when contemplating it at some ungodly hour. I did my first proper night get-up last night since dp is back to work today after his pat leave . Boys gone off to nursery, but not without a ginormous tantrum from ds1. He wouldn't sit in his high chair for breakfast so we put him in the hallway on the other side of the stairgate where he screamed, wailed & rolled around on the floor. While we had An Incredibly Jolly Time at the table with ds2 and dd. We had a lovely cuddly/kissy time before he left - phew. Having a calm cuppa / surf and feed before starting my day proper...

Hello! Hope everyone's better, especially little ones that have lost their appetites. We're feeling very chipper here, babies enormous fun, DD giggles if we look at her like we might do something funny, we don't actually have to do anything funny. DH says she's the cleverest baby in the world, and I'm sure he's right of course... That means DS has to be the best at something as well, and it's got to be sleeping or cuddling, really (he's a snuggler, that one).

BUT... my Mum has got me a little bit anxious - she says they're "falling behind" because neither of them can really sit up by themselves / balance yet. They're 9 months this week (6 weeks prem) and they're getting there, but DS is a lazy lump - he can just about do it but he prefers a lie down - and DD enjoys flinging herself backwards too much. We practice every day but it's well difficult with two of them on my own and everything else to do. As you know. Anyway, Mum says must try harder...

And that's all from house of Foxtail. Better get some milk warming - if there's one thing we are good at round here it's mealtimes!

Aaargh, aren't mothers just the best for boosting your confidence Foxtail? I'd say they will get there in their own time, particularly if they are showing signs. Although my boys were sitting at 6months, ds2 stalled for ages at that point & never really made any attempt at moving (including rolling...) until he started bum-shuffling at ~14months. Ds1 was perfectly average. I took ds2 took the dr because he spent so long sitting that I was worried about the curvature of his spine. It was good to have the reassurance that she thought all was well - and to be able to pass that on to people who commented. Have yours had their 8month check yet or is that delayed when babies are prem? Maybe it would be good for you to be able to tell your Mum `officially' that there's nothing to worry about?

Another awful night here. Finally rolled into bed at 12.30 after 2 hours of wailing & an attempted early night. Turns out ds2 was hungry (wolfed down a slice of toast and milk) as well as just wanting cuddles. It's so hard to resist cuddling him cos he's so cuddly but once he was fed he gave in to sleep. Then, sometime around 3am, dp was up with them both until I got up with all 3 at 5am. God knows how they get through a day in nursery. Luckily I was able to go back to bed with dd this am. Missed my opportunity to nip round to the shops tho - it's absolutely tipping it down & blowing a gale & I'm really not sure I can keep dd dry in the sling.

How is your week going so far Lottie? I hope it's been a pleasant surprise or at least that you've found loads of lovely things for your new house.

I'm back from a weekend in hospital, boys have bronchilitus! Went in on Friday morning and came home Sunday evening. A is chirpier than his brother, who was sick this morning so am hoping he'll be happier tomorrow? I got 3 hours sleep over the weekend and DD has missed school because I've been so tired but she has a school trip tomorrow and I'm determined to get her to school!
OH is busy working and his darling sister has not even bothered to call to see how her nephews are so I'm running this ship alone as per usual.
Well hope you're all ok, boys are sleeping on me ATM so can't do the housework

Oh poor you. I really hope your boys improve in the next day or so, you must be done in

Foxtail my two aren't sitting yet either and are exactly the same age as yours. R can do maybe 2 mins on her own when she's in the mood but most of the time is rolling around like a sailor when I try to prop her up. S is only capable of slumping forward. Remind your mum (again!) that skills like this are on a spectrum where some kids get them early and some later, let alone the prematurity question. I'm sure yours will do something spectacularly early somewhere down the line.

Poor you mumofone. That sounds like an awful weekend. Sod the housework, frankly. Get yourself a bar of chocolate and I hope the little ones are feeling much better by now.

Hope your girls are doing better too lottie. You do so well managing them on your own all week, it must be exhausting even when not afflicted with hideous illness.

Poll question for you - if you had a child who was pouring snot and had a hacking cough, would you take them out to socialise? I certainly wouldn't and a friend of mine did just that yesterday, but not sure if I am being precious about it. I just think it was quite unacceptable to bring an obviously ill and almost certainly infectious baby out as we can all do without more colds. So now watching them like a hawk for signs of illness...

Oh, and the nappy rash here is worse than ever. R is over hers now pineapple is a thing of the past, but S has it severely and it's seemingly not caused by anything in particular apart from pooing all the time. I'm changing at least 10 nappies a day for him at the moment, all dirty, and so his poor bum doesn't get a chance to heal. Have tried all known creams, lots of time off nappies, to no avail. Doc has now given an anti fungal/steroid cream which I hope works. It was even bleeding a little bit the other day - makes me feel like I'm on a par with Baby Peter's mum in terms of efficacy of care.

J had bronchiolitis at 9mo mumofone - we were in hospital for 5 days and it was hideous. Poor you, and poor boys... I hope they're feeling better. So horrible when they can't breathe properly.

Cerubina - I'm sure we've all been through at least one phase of that kind of dreadful nappy rash - we've had bleeding bums here too on occasion. Poor loves... :( That many dirty nappies sounds like a bit of a stomach infection - and when it's like that, as you say so hard for it to get better. We ended up getting something stronger from the doc and it did help.

I can't believe we are gearing up to move back home. Seriously excited (albeit tentatively) about the new house, although a 'slight error' in the numbers meant our mortgage is going to be 50k higher than we thought, which puts us into a different bracket of loan to value and therefore a slightly worse rate. AIBU not to tell DH? Had my first phone call with the mortgage broker yesterday to go through all the information needed and my god had I lost the will to live by the end of it.

Oh no Mumof1! I hope they are feeling better soon & that you get a bit of help! Did you manage to get dd to her trip today?

uh oh Cerubina. I'm afraid I am that nightmare mum who takes snotty (but otherwise well) children out to socialise. Nursery have a policy of accepting children with streaming colds if they are otherwise well in themself on the basis that we all have to endure minor illness otherwise everything would come to a standstill so I follow that day-to-day too. Ds2 has had a horrible cough for months (& that is no exaggeration) & after being hassled by everyone, I eventually got the dr to check it. He said it would clear on its own eventually - which is what I had figured. We would have been housebound forever if I was still waiting for it to go.

Ug Lottie - that boring stuff seriously counters all the exciting planning! I think you should communicate the financial oversight with dh through the powers of fb

I have a fancy dress confession: Santa tabards for the boys from Home Bargains (not sure how widespread they are) for £1 each today! Will do a treat for the Grandparents' christmas card shot / nursery xmas party. Held back from getting dd a Mrs Santa dress on the basis she's been given a cute red dress that will do if it fits

First day alone with all 3 kiddies tomorrow . The boys are being v hard work at the moment but can deal with them fine on my own. Dd is a doddle when it's just her.... but put them all together & everyone needs me to do different stuff at the same time. Luckily I'm seeing a friend in the afternoon & have plans to try taking them out or doing salt dough tree decs in the morning. I might be reaching for the by bed time

ALL I found looking after my twin boys was a doddle compared to my FB! They're doing abit better, mostly A though.
And no she couldnt go to her school trip- she's ill too!!! Up five times last night with nightmares and sick. She hasn't eaten all day and only had one glass of juice :(
But I'm still hoping she'll be better tomorrow!

I don't know how I do all this alone...and I don't smoke or drink! Someone pass me.... Hmm cuppa tea?

Oh no scratch all that, just got back from cleaning up her sick, so now she's had nothing. I don't know whether to scream or cry!

Sorry for yet another self post - hope everyone else is better?

Haha Mumof1 I don't drink either - maybe we should start! You and ALL with three of them to wrangle deserve some sort of medal (or perhaps a free holiday).

Thanks for the reassurance about sitting - DS getting there, but both much more interested in rolling around the place, as Cerubina says! And that in itself is a skill, no??

Now, NAPPY RASH I might be able to help you with... when mine were in hospital, DS suffered badly from the cheap horrible nappies they put them in, and the nurses used a mouth ulcer paste on it called Orabase mixed 50/50 with Vaseline. It forms a sort of sticky barrier so the skin can heal and it works wonderfully. Don't need a prescription for it. And now we use the Nature Babycare eco (ha!) disposables and they've been far and away the best for their bottoms.

We have joined you all in the illness stakes. D is the worst (temp ~40, then a night of throwing up, and now a horrible cold), but the other 2 are not far behind, and DH has the runs. And I think I have fractured in my foot. . But at least we are all at home, sorry to hear about your 2, Mumof1 Hope they are better soon.

Re. Nappy rash, my kids have all had awful nappy rash whilst teething. Whenever their bums are sore and the poo almost seems to smell of sick (TMI) they seem to get a tooth a couple of days later. Weird!

Off to see the parents at the weekend for a pre-christmas thingy. (not seeing my family 'til new year). Unfortunately I have bits of presents missing, nothing wrapped, and all the packing to do in the 30 minutes I have between getting home from work and leaving for the 3 hr journey north. DH is ill, kids are ill (see above) Mum has a sore back- to the point she can barely move, Dad had sore ankle and limps, Sis and niece and nephew have all had sickness and runs this week. Think the weekend might not be a success

Have just reread and this is possibly moany-est post EVER! Honestly I actually like Christmas, but maybe just not this week