Toddling Twins & Trips Chat Thread Winter '12-3

[~Adorkable~]

I just felt like I wanted a chat thread to help get me thru my first full winter of toddlerhood, twin style.

There are often things that dont need their own thread but just some company, some BTDT and the camaraderie of other Parents of Multiples.

Come Join Us!

Our Toddlers in Training:

Parents Info	Babies Info	Zygosity	Birth Order	Birth Month & Year
Ziursrm	G/B?	DZ	3rd & 4th	1/12
JulyAugust	G/G	?	2nd & 3rd	1/12

Our One Year Olds:

Parents Info	Toddlers Info	Zygosity	Birth Order	Birth Month & Year
Emaya	B/B/G	MZ&DZ	2nd, 3rd & 4th	12/11
LeslieSara63	G/G/G	?	3rd, 4th & 5th	7/11
Rinap	G/G	MZ	1st & 2nd	6/11

Our Two Year Olds:

Parents Info	Toddlers Info	Zygosity	Birth Order	Birth Month & Year
~Adorkable~	G/B	DZ	1st & 2nd & done	12/10

Anyway here is a question to start the thread rolling:

What's one upcoming milestone in your toddlers' life that you are fretting about?

and/or

What's one recently experienced milestone that went better than you had fretted it would?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS JANUARY TO:

Ziursrm's Twins who turn One!

and

JulyAugust's Twins who turn Two!

Edited by ~Adorkable~ - 1/2/13 at 5:43pm

[~Adorkable~]

so mine turn two this month and its ben really fun and certainly getting harder in some ways.

i'm finding i cant parent "as i go" as much anymore, i dont really like i want to in the moment. So i am spending more of my calm down time reading and thinking about what kind of parent i want to be and working on being more prepared when crap comes up throughout the day with a calmer response.

What's one upcoming milestone in your toddlers' life that you are fretting about?

Potty training! i'm so intimidated about  the logistics with twins. Ive been re reading Oh Crap, Potty TRaining and really love her. so i feel like i understand the steps, its just figuring the when and dealing with the day to day of it.

What's one recently experienced milestone that went better than you had fretted it would?

Night weening, we aren't totally done yet, but for the most part it is going really well, not without its issues, but no hell breaking loose. I'm glad that i waited till they understood a bit more of what was happening. My twins have had a speech delay, so for us that meant waiting till just recently that i felt i could explain things and know that they got most of it.

[ziursrm]

Sounds like a fun thread. My twins will be 1 in January. I can't think of any milestones that I'm or was concerned about. I'm just not much of a fretter. We just roll with it all. I am a little disappointed we have been more consistent with the EC. It's just been hard to make it a priority.

[Emaya]

Thanks, Adorkable - I was just feeling a little stuck (tons of snow here in Sweden suddenly, and my triplet wagon doesn't roll so well anymore) and need some human -- even if it's digital -- interaction. Glad to hear night weaning went so well for you -- how did you explain to your two-year-olds about it? That seems like a big concept to get across to little I-want-what-I-want folks like 2-year-olds.

Ziursrm, my triplets will be 1 on December 20th. I tried to click on your spoiler, but I can't see anything. Are you expecting? I recognize your laid back attitude from other moms I know with plenty kids. I'm even way chiller this time around, even if it's more than one baby.

That said, the last 6 weeks have been absolutely the hardest in my whole life - 3 sick babies and a sick me, too. They've had this-that-and-the-other, maybe 2-5 days of health in between getting a new virus (my dd1 is at daycare and brings home all that gunk. Plus, the trips aren't breastfed  ). I think we're pulling through it now. I'm on antibiotics, and I'm waiting with them because they seem to be almost well on their own. My 4-year-old has never had to take antibiotics (though she was breastfed until she self-weaned), so I'm hoping to avoid them. Oh, and they're teething through it all. Poor little poppets. 

[13pumpkins]

Hi Ladies,

Do you mind if I join in?  My girls are not toddlers (though, I have done the toddler stage twice already!) but as Emaya said it is nice to have some human interaction!

[rinap]

Hello! My girls are 18 months old. We've just gone through three weeks of being sick here, too. I'm afraid we'll have a repeat of last year when we were sick August-March. But crossing fingers. I'm still getting used to walking, especially trying to let the girls be out of the stroller while we're out. But I only have two hands. So that's tricky sometimes.

We're doing some early potty-awareness here (sitting on it regularly, catching lots of pooping), but I'm letting that be just experimental for now. And I am so so so not ready to night wean. But also very ready to have more sleep in a row.
 

I'm finding toddlerhood pretty overwhelming. But also trying to figure out whether our family has all its members yet.

[julyaugust]

Great thread - thanks for posting!!!

So, my girls are 11 months old and I just can't get over how the time has flown! I remember being so terrified when I found out I was expecting twins, but it's just been so great.

The girls just recently started crawling - a milestone that everyone seemed to make such a big deal about: "Ooooh just wait til they're mobile, you'll be chasing them all over the place. They'll be heading in different directions all the time..."  But, in reality, they don't move so quickly yet, and are like their older brother was - pretty happy to sit and play with toys, wooden spoons, each others' feet!

Now everyone's starting to ask about walking: have they started? Am I worried? Do I realize that I'll be chasing them all over, won't be able to go out?.... But I'm feeling pretty relaxed about it. In fact, I'm feeling pretty relaxed about lots of stuff: sleep arrangements, introducing solids... I figure it's probably just because I've already experienced these milestones with my son. I think if we'd had the girls first, I'd be a wreck!

Love hearing about everyone elses experiences!!
 

[~Adorkable~]

so glad folks liek the thead, i figured i was not the only one feeling like i wanted to reach out.

would you gals like a mini roster with us listed by birthday month of our multiples?

[rinap]

A roster would probably be great. That way we don't have to keep looking back to figure out how old everyone is.

[~Adorkable~]

sure thing, im thinking a layout like :

2 Year Olds:

~Adorkable~  B/G     1st&2nd kids     Born 12/10

do we want more info included?

[lesliesara63]

I haven't been on MDC a whole lot since my GGG were born 18 mths ago. My biggest challenge right now is sleeping as usual. Getting them to sleep, staying asleep. Napping is ok right now. I thought once they were weaned it would be easier. It is in someways because it is faster to pass out bottles to them. But they still don't sleep all night & sometimes they are awake for extended periods of time. Between caring for my older two & my job the lack of sleep just might kill me!

[rinap]

Sleep. Yes. Sleep is hard.

[Emaya]

Adorkable, that looks good. I can't think of anything else at the moment, but then again, I can't think to straight in general lately. Babies were well for two days, and now Forest has a fever again.  It's times like these I'm kicking myself for being lazy in the breastfeeding department. Gosh, if they just could have had some of my anti-bodies this Fall, they would have suffered so much less. Or would they have had to have gotten those bugs eventually anyway? I don't understand the common virus, and I suspect doctors don't either. Like, why were they healthy all summer long, and then bam, cold weather, and they're constantly sick? I thought cold=catching a cold was an old wives tale. We're spending the same amount of time indoors now that we did last summer.

Adorkable, I assume you're ok with 13pumpkins joining? Though with LeslieSara, looks like us triplet moms have you twin moms outnumbered so far :) Hopefully some more folks would like to join in and chat a little bit.

Julyaugust, I'm feeling pretty chill about things too - I'm so glad I got to practice on my singleton first and get all the major freak-outs done before being thrown triplets!

Lesliesara, are they eating at night, too? If they're on a bottle, you can slowly start to water down what ever it is they're eating (milk? formula? pumped milk?), until they don't bother to wake up anymore. Worked with my bubs. Took about 3 weeks of slowly increasing the water content. I think their stomachs just got used to not getting calories at night and they made up for it during the day. Of course, if you feel they need the food for whatever reason, then you won't want to water it down. What does your routine look like around now? Naps - one or two?

rinap - It never occurred to me that it would be anything but crystal clear when our baby-making days were done. I'm with you, though; not quite sure I feel it in my bones that we're done. My dh is very, very sure, however, so I suppose that's that. 

I'm trying to get my 12-month-olds (birthday yesterday!) down to one major nap because they're starting daycare two days a week in January and they'll have to nap with all the other kids at 12 noon instead of 9 a.m. as they have been doing. That's my major challenge right now. It's a long, grumpy morning, is all I can report so far.

For the roster:

Emaya: One-year-old BBG, 4-year-old G

Edited by Emaya - 12/21/12 at 1:31am

[rinap]

I'm still breastfeeding my girls. They were sick from 2 months to 7, and were sick again the past three weeks. So while breastfeeding is supposed to help with immunities, no, it's not a magic condom that keeps all sickness away. Unfortunately. So don't blame yourself.

Cold isn't supposed to lead to viruses, but there's definitely a cold season, for whatever reason.

[~Adorkable~]

i'll wrok on formating the first post a bit better after the kids o to bed, can everyone look over the info and lat me know if yiours is not right, in some cases i just guesed based on things you have said.

[rinap]

Looks great. How do we edit? Mine are MZ, born 6/11, 1st and 2nd.

[Emelee]

Do you mind if I join even though my twins are 6 months? I don't know how often I'll have time to post but I'd love to hear what lies ahead in the raising twin department.

[~Adorkable~]

Rinap and others, just mention anything that needs editing and i will do it, sometimes it takes me a day or so to get to it, but since you al also have twins running underfoot, i doubt i need to explain that to you!

Emelee & 13pumpkins, toddlers in training are always welcome, im a big propionate of very open groups on mothering.com and the more the merrier.  as long as it doesn't seem rude or anything, iI'm going to hold off on putting you in the roster till the season twins turn will turn one, so im currently including anyone turning one before spring equinox, does that seem like a fair way to keep things streamline?  you are of course always welcome to read and comment even ask toddler related question at ANY TIME, we lov to have you here.

i do however incurage someone to stat a similar thread about "Twin & Trips Babe Chat" or the like to provide a similar group for folks in theroi first year. My hope is that we can keep all thru of the early stages (pregnancy, babe, toddler) going in groups and let families move thru them as their multiples grow. So i really hope that folks will step up to to the task of the ther groups. and hopefully we can get into the the habit of checking in on the groups younger than us and chiming in often with BTDT advice. I sure hope the twin moms that have survived todderhood already will be an active part of this one!

[rinap]

Wah. Just went through jet lag (eight hours) with two toddlers. Ow. Ow. Ow. Nearly killed us. And we get to do it again when we go back, and perhaps again in April (still deciding). 18 months is awesome, but while we have communication, we don't have very good communication, especially in the middle of the night. I keep thinking about night weaning, but I can't imagine how one would night wean two babies at the same time.

Advice would be welcome (on the night weaning or on the jet lag....) I have help for the jet lag and for bed time, but the rest of night weaning will be on my own.

[~Adorkable~]

what is their night routine right now, where do they sleep, how often and in what configuration do they nurse?