April Fools!

I posted this on Facebook and text to my parents (that aren't on FB!) and the response was great!  I haven't had so much fun in a long time!!

Gotta love the Niece and SILs comments:  "going all clown car" and "keeping up with the Duggar's!"

Twin Tip Tuesday-Tag Team Cleaning

Yay! The day is finally here and it's actually Tuesday!


For the last several weeks I have fought the girls tooth and nail about cleaning their playroom. The biggest thing I don't understand about it is, I really make it simple for them.

Last December in preparation for all the new Christmas toys we cleaned the playroom and made a place for everything. They have 2 toy boxes, one for loveys and one for baby dolls and their stuff. Then they have a toy bins for...Barbies, doctor stuff, animals and little people, dishes and food, and pretend jewelry and make-up. Then they also have a laundry basket for dress up clothes, shoes and hats. Last they have 2 long shelves, that they can reach, that have bigger items such as the puzzle rack, computers, magna-doodle and a box of Legos.

When I first organized their room, I watched the first few times they cleaned and made sure they understood where everything goes and what they were doing. That went well for a while. In the last month or so the problem arose that it wasn't they couldn't get it clean, but it took an entire day. If they didn't get distracted and start playing, they were fighting over who got to clean up what.

Here is where the twin tip comes in. I stared having them take turns. One sits on the stairs while the other chooses a category to clean up (barbies, babies, dress-up, etc.) Then when they are done cleaning their choice they tag the other and it's the other twins turn.

Okay, I know, I know. I've been absent again!!  It happens with 3 kiddos, plus 3 and a hubby and a dog and a cat!! 
Anyways.  I will soon be starting a ness weekly blog called Twin Tips (I have all intention of doing it on Tuesday so it will be Tuesday's Twin Tip, but since I can't even seem to write monthly then we will see if I can actually stick to Tuesdays!)
Okay it's not Tuesday and this really isn't a tip but...
I was doing one of my favorite things today, building memories.  My girls layed on a blanket outback and watched the clouds while I fixed dinner.

Then I played waitress and gave them dinner 3 courses at a time.  Twin Tip #1  give veggies as first course.  Broccolli was all gone before second course came out!!  Then there was chicken and noodles.  Then caramel delights for dessert!

Emily then put the girls to bed.  This would be Twin Tip #2, but I can't make having a ten year old a tip, but let me just tell you she rocks!  The ten minutes I had to myself while she put the girls to bed were priceless. 

It got even better, after the girls were in bed, Emily and I listened to music with dual headphones on my computer while she did research for her history project, all on her own!! (yep I didn't have to tell her twice!)  And I Facebooked about whether Chuck E Cheese was a rat or a mouse with my 2nd oldest stepdaughter.  My life is truely blessed with nights like this!  If I can offer any Tips it is to spend as much time with your family!

Wordless Wednesday October 19th

Best Friends

Wordless Wednesday-September 7, 2011



Allison, Ella, Emily, Abby acting like baby bears at the top of the Smokey Mountains :)



Toddler Beds

We put the girls down for a nap Saturday only to find out a little later that they had been out of their cribs and completely destroyed their bedroom. Abby crawled out and passed Ella  a laundry basket so she could stand on it and climb out. All I can keep thinking about is Wonder Pets: Team Work theme song!!

So needless to say no nap Saturday.

Sunday was my hubby's birthday so we had people over and could not take the girls' cribs apart and turn them into toddler beds, luckily by nap time they were so tired (from staying up late the night before and no nap yesterday) that they didn't bother to climb out. That night though Abby got out about 3 times.

We still didn't set up the toddler beds on Monday (to tired from all the festivities of the weekend) and yes Abby was out 2 or 3 times at nap and bedtime.

Which brings us to yesterdays nap time that she crawled out about 6 times!! So we assembled toddler beds before bedtime. I was so shocked, they did amazing!! I was not ready for toddler beds. I thought it was going to be a fight, but it wasn't. Abby got out of bed only once last night and today, not at all!!

Now if we can potty train this easily!

Bedrest

Mothers of Multiples have a higher likely hood of going on bedrest. I was on bedrest for 8 weeks with my twins. That the equivalent of about 168 nights!

Here is a list of must haves for being on bedrest:

Laptop: My laptop was my link to the outside world. It’s how I kept up on news, stayed in touch with friends and socialized with other moms of multiples. I joined Twinstuff.com and I am Pregnant.com, two wonderful websites where I got lots of information and made many friends.

TV/DVD player: Stock-up on all the movies you missed and the ones you want to watch again. It may be a while before you will have 3 hours of no interruptions to be able to watch one.

Essentials basket: Have a basket filled with everyday like fingernail files, nail polish, nail clippers, lotion, Chap Stick, baby wipes, pen, pencils and stationary.

Snacks and Drinks: My wonderful husband would make sure before he left for work in the morning that I had a pitcher of water on a table next to me. I also had plenty of snacks like fresh fruit, granola bars and other healthy foods with-in arms reach.

Books and Magazines:

Help: When anyone offers help, take it. If someone can come over and do laundry, take your other children out to do something, clean your house or cook, let them. It can be overwhelming for one spouse to take on the jobs of two.

Other Tips:

Sleep when you can but try to stay on somewhat of a schedule.
Research pediatricians while you have the time.
Organize things like photo albums, I loaded all of our home movies on to my computer and edited them.
Find a support group like Bay Area Moms of Multiples, Kingwood Area Moms of Multiples or North Houston Parents of Multiples
Shop, stock up on diapers, by clothes and get all the baby essentials on-line.
Try to keep things as close to the same as possible, but try to enjoy it. My whole family would have dinner together in the bedroom; we did story time in bed and watched many movies together. Remember it is for the health of your new babies and the longer you can keep them in the better!

Twin Birthdays

My twins turned two this past April. Several of my friends’ twins have been celebrating their birthdays as well. Each family had a different way of celebrating. I found all the ways you can handle having multiple guests of honor at these parties quite interesting.

The theme is the first decision to make. If you have same sex twins, it is usually easy to choose a theme. With multiples of different sexes however, it can require a little more thought. Some great ideas I have seen are Dora/Diego, cowboys/cowgirls and prince/princess and Mickey/ Minnie. I have girls so we decided on just Dora.


Next, is to decide one cake or two. We chose to have one cake for them to share, this year. With the amount of people that were invited, one cake was enough. Last year when they turned one, we had three cakes. There was one small smash cake each and then a sheet cake for the rest of the guests. For the future though, we have decided to go with cakes from Houston Sam’s Club. They have cakes that are about 6-inches in diameter with about eight cupcakes surrounding it. The cakes are small enough that each of my girls can have one. Yet having two cakes is not too much.

What about the birthday song? Some choose to sing the song once saying both, or all of the kid’s names at once. I have always wanted to make sure my twins are treated as individuals. So, when it comes to the birthday song, we sing it twice, once to each of them individually.
Lastly, what about presents? Do you give individual gifts or one to both? I think either is acceptable depending on what the present is. For my girls’ birthday they each got pillow pets, baby dolls, and backpacks that were the same or similar. Toys like these are not easily shared. On the other hand, last year, they got a Little Tykes climber for the yard. Obviously, they can share bigger gifts that are more expensive.

Whether you choose one cake or two, or sing the birthday song once or twice you will want to make this day special for your multiples.