Raising Twins - Two sister raising their own twins.

Ordered chaos while raising twin toddlers

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Callie

Life with a four year old and two two year old’s is all consuming. But it is more than just complete exhaustion and hard work; I absolutely believe that the scientists and mathemagicians that came up with the chaos theory were parents of toddlers: without a doubt!!!

Mira “helping” mommy cook

Lately, our twins vocabulary skills have catapulted them into the realm of “so cute that they can get away with almost everything”. Our little Mira has been walking around the house saying “My Daddy awesome!” thanks to a favorite shirt of hers. Whenever she is doing something naughty she is quick to spit out her, “Love you, Mamma,” as though all will be forgiven. And it is not always possible to repress a smile when you are correcting behavior. They really are SOOOO cute, except for when they are not, like when they are screaming their heads off for something their brother did to them. Usually it is always intentional, and usually he always knows better. I don’t know what it is about brothers, but I think they come out of the womb with the directive from God himself to be as annoying and irritating to their sisters as is humanly possible. Of course, Blake is Continue reading →

The first year…the end is in sight

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Miranda

As Callie posted last month, writing (or better yet, the time for writing) has been very hard to come by. I had hoped when I transitioned the twins from breast milk to formula in October, this would magically give me all the other time I had lost by devoting myself to breastfeeding. Somehow, our time just got eaten up some other way.

Since September, Marcus had a minor surgical procedure, but it required general anesthetic and was way more worrisome than I expected it to be. He did great, and even after the procedure he hardly was affected during the recovery period. We just got over some sick, croupy kids in the house and are now back to some semblance of normal.

Tristan

Tristan just turned 3 (going on 13 I swear) and we’re getting ready for the babies big #1 in two weeks. December will be rough, due to 4 birthdays in addition to Christmas, and its never going to change, ha. Tristan luckily is far enough to the front of the month that his birthday is less hectic, the twins on the 17th, lead into my step-daughter’s birthday on the 23rd, and Christmas for 4 kids on the 24th/25th. Lay-away, we are going to become great friends in the near, near future.

The boys have developed such individual personalities, its funny. Kieran is a stout, happy toddler. He’s been walking since September, and for the most part he goes to bed early, sleeps pretty much through the night, and wake late. He takes a “bappy” (Tristan’s word for a pacifier), we don’t mind, as long as he sleeps we are A-ok with it. He’s our “tank” and tends to be a little bully to his brother, but he’s too young to understand he’s too rough. Marcus is my sensitive little guy. He definitely looks to me for approval, recognition, acceptance. He’s a momma’s boy all the way, and he will do anything to have someone pick him up and hold him. Marcus and Kieran both have the cutest smiles, and ham it up all the time.

Marcus

Kieran

Well, I had hoped for more time to write, but Kieran has decided he’s finally tired and needs attending to. I will try to post again by their birthday, babies and their first cakes are always a great picture

Blogging while raising twins

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Callie

Between Miranda and I we have seriously been slacking on submitting posts, and for that we are very sorry. I’d like to think that it is the fact that we are each trying to keep up with our three very busy children all under five, my four year old and two two year old’s and my sister with her almost three year old and two almost one year old’s. But the reality of it is that life is running away with us barely keeping up with it. This year we have had a couple deaths in the family, travel to see family over the summer wrought with intense family drama, my three had their birthdays, three of our six children have had surgeries requiring anesthesia, Chris and I just moved to a new town in the last month, and Miranda’s three have birthday’s coming next month.Oh ya, and I recently started doing childcare in my home for a friend’s children. My spare time for writing has dwindled to almost nothing and my enthusiasm for this blog has diminished greatly. I understand the success of a blog has everything to do with the consistency of the writers submitting material to read. We fail miserably.

There is always hope that we can do better and perhaps our blog will take off. It is more likely that we will take this lesson as a hard knock and invest our time and energy into other endeavors. I for one am thinking about writing a personal blog about life and all its quirks, less parenting, more just me. However, I know that realistically there is no way I can post everyday and so I am working on building up some back stock posts so I can write and post without the stress of trying to keep up when life gets too busy or overwhelming, as it tends to do. We will keep you posted (pun intended) as to the status of our site and hopefully we will catch you all on the flip side. Laters.

~Cal

They’re almost 9 months

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Miranda

Well, its August 29th, the boys were 8 months old on the 17th. To be honest there have been many a day (or loooong night) that I didn’t think we’d make it this far. Part of me is extremely glad that my sister has already gone through this and I have her for support. I can see how they survived, pick their brains for what worked, what definitely didn’t and things that may be ok to try with my boys. Overall we are still having challenges finding alone time for our 2 1/2 year old, its even harder to find alone time for myself and my husband.

Continue reading →

Another set of Mono-Di twins!!

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Callie

So I just happened across this set of Mono-Di twin cucumbers in my garden this morning. Notice how the twin on bottom is so much smaller (the donor) and the top one is much bigger (the receiver). I felt that this was a dire situation and picked them as soon as I found them. If I had waited much longer, surely they both would have been in big trouble and possibly not fit into the pickling jar. Tragedy averted and two soon-to-be-pickles lives were saved today.

On a side note, our mono-di twins are doing great. They are quickly coming up on their 2nd birthday which is right after Blake’s 4th birthday! Hopefully I will have it together enough to do a birthday post. We just went to the coast yesterday. It was the first time that Alora and Mira got to play in the sand and splash in the water. The kids all loved it and it was such a treat to see them all having a blast. Chris and I have realized that we are now moving into the new stage of Toddlerdom (I may have made that word up) where we can actually go out and do lots of fun activities without having to deal with MMD, multiple meltdown disorder (I may have made that disorder up). I am very excited to get out and do more activities as a family, and even more excited that our toddlers are maturing enough to handle said activities!!

What stage are you at with your twins? Are you still taking turns watching the kids so the other can get the shopping done? Have you graduated to shopping by yourself with all the kids in tow? Or are you a pro at family activities and have advice to offer us? Let us know, we love feedback!

Reconnecting with yourself while raising twins

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Callie

Life as a parent can be all consuming, especially when you are a stay at home mom like I am. It has always been in the back of my mind that to be a great parent I have to be a good me first. Meaning that I have to take care of numero uno if I am going to be in good enough shape to take care of three busy, very demanding toddlers.

I have to admit, until now I have been pretty lackadaisical when it comes to taking care of myself. Maybe it is just the nature of parenting multiple young children, but their needs have always taken precedence over my own. I eat last, I get dressed last, I help out a child in distress dropping whatever I am doing in the instance, and on occasion I have gone days without a shower (no more than a couple) because I haven’t been able to escape the constant attention of my needy children. I love my children absolutely, unconditionally and they brighten my life more than anything ever could, but that does not take away from the fact that I am a woman that must have time to myself to nurture Continue reading →

Marital Strain While Raising Twins

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Callie

Hopefully, you like your spouse and hopefully you want to be together until death do you part or something of that sort. If so, then you have some work ahead of you. If you had a healthy marriage before children came along, chances are you can still maintain a healthy marriage after those little bundles of joy invade your home, suck your life force out of you, and wipe their snotty noses on your sleep deprived carcasses.

Since we are all human and we have several other influencing factors in life like careers, bills, health issues, and family and friend dramas that can cause us to become stressed, it can become like a reflex to lash out at our spouses or significant others when we are super stressed and exhausted by the demands of parenting. I don’t care if you have one child or twelve, parenting is a difficult job and it is the one job that is never ending.

Parents of multiples often feel overwhelmed with Continue reading →

Parent Pampering

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Chris

Sometimes the parents of twins need to pamper themselves. This pampering can be a night out on a date. It can be trading massages. Or, in our most recent case, it can be a very delicious, decadent dessert.
This recipe was shared with me about 10 years ago by a chef friend. He never really told me a name for it, so I have always called it a raspberry truffle. I typically make this once a year, when the raspberries are in season, although that didn’t happen when our girls were in their first year (last year), but we just finished eating this year’s round and it was delicious.
The recipe is below the picture of this bit of pure decadence.

Pure decadence in a wine glass.

Ingredients
High quality dark chocolate (2-3 oz. for every serving)
Heavy whipping cream (2-3 oz. for every serving plus enough to make a whipped cream topping)
Fresh raspberries (10-12 per serving)
Kahlua
Whole coffee beans
Powdered sugar
Vanilla

Directions
For every serving of truffle you wish to make, pour 2-3 oz. of heavy whipping cream into an appropriate sized sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until hot but do not boil. Using a cheese grater, shave an equal amount of your high quality dark chocolate. Once the whipping cream is hot, leave the heat on and whisk in the chocolate a little at a time until it is all smooth and melted. Allow this mixture to cool to the point where is still pourable but not hot.
Place 10-12 raspberries in the bottom of a wine glass and pour even amounts of the cooled chocolate/cream mixture over the top. Cover all of the glasses with saran wrap and cool in the refrigerator overnight.
When you are ready to eat the dessert, make homemade whip cream from your remaining heavy whipping cream, a little powdered sugar and a little vanilla to your taste. It works best to put your mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for 45-60 minutes before making whipped cream. When the whipped cream is very stiff, fold in a few tablespoons of Kahlua, to your own tastes.
Take the wine glasses from the refrigerator and remove the saran wrap. Using a spoon, top the chocolate mixture with the whipped cream you just folded Kahlua into. Next, place some whole coffee beans on a small plate or cutting board and crush them with the bottom of a glass (a mortar and pestle would work also). Do not use ground coffee beans. Sprinkle a topping of the crushed coffee beans on top of the whipped cream topping and enjoy. This dessert is best if eaten in a manner that you get all of the layers in each bit.
Enjoy!!

Raising Twins the Frugal Way Part II – Homemade Laundry Detergent

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Miranda

I can’t take the credit for this one, Callie told me about this detergent, which she found on a blog (http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2010/11/homemade-laundry-soap.html) but we love this soap.

To summarize what you need:

a 5 Gallon plastic bucket
(optional) plastic bag to line the bucket
Box of Borax (4lb12oz)
Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (4lb)
Box of Arm & Hammer Super Wash Soda (3lb7oz)
3 bars of soap (Callie and I use Dr. Bronners- its organic)
Oxyclean (3.5 lbs)

All you do is use a cheese shredder on the bar soap, dump all the ingredients in the plastic bucket, mix them up. Then simply use 1-2 Tbsp per load… (yes this is safe for HE washing machines)

We have a 2.6 qt (2.4L) container that I have refilled once since we made this detergent batch February 10th, 2012.

Continue reading →

Raising Twins the Frugal Way Part I – Homemade Baby Wipes

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Miranda

Now don’t get me wrong, commercially produced baby wipes still get the job done… but if you are concerned about the ingredients in any commercial baby wipes and/or concerned about the cost you will incur due to there being two (or more) babies… here is one way to help save money (if you don’t use cloth baby wipes)

Here’s what you will need:
2 c Water
1/2 roll of Paper Towels
1 Tbsp Baby Oil
2 Tbsp Baby Shampoo Continue reading →