Wednesday 26 February 2014

A Household Where Everything Must be Equal


One of the questions I come across again and again with twins and multiples is whether you should dress your same sex twins the same or in different clothes. People seem to have some quite strong opinions on this, many of whom don’t have twins. It comes down to whether you will scar them mentally by dressing them the same and not letting them have their individuality. I can understand this but from my own personal experience I tend to do whatever makes my life easier!
Let me explain.
In a house with twins and twins all things must be fair and equal. If you buy a pack of t shirts they often come in a pack of three, much to my annoyance, and you usually find there is one very pretty top, one slightly less pretty and then one which is just plain and boring. When you get your twins dressed in the morning how do you choose who gets the prettiest top? Surely by giving one the pretty top with sequins on you are showing favouritism? The easiest solution to this is to buy two packs of t shirts and dress them in the same tops so no one gets preferential treatment. When they are old enough I will let them choose what they wear and if they happen to choose the same then so be it. They aren’t quite old enough to do that yet… I do let them choose to a certain degree but they often argue over a pair of stripy tights, socks with spots on or knickers with Peppa Pig on. I try and wash everything in pairs so that I can always give them a choice with two of the same things in the pile. At the moment they both fight over a tatty pair of faded black leggings which I only have one of.  I hear them discussing the black leggings over the baby monitor when they wake up; they have been the cause of some of the most ferocious arguments!
When my identical twins were born I applied the same rule. However I soon realised by dressing them the same I couldn’t actually tell them apart! Luckily one had a strawberry birth mark on her back so I could always check if very tired and confused! So even now when I can (mostly) tell them apart I do tend to dress them a little differently. That way I can also tell their big sisters that Molly has hearts on her tights and Nell has stripes etc. Big twins often ask “which one is that?”
 

So in conclusion to the big ‘should you dress same sex twins the same or differently?’ debate my opinion is it should be down to the Mum. She has gone through a twin pregnancy, given birth to 2 babies, given up sleep and sanity for good. Let her decide and do whatever she thinks is best for her twins.

Monday 17 February 2014

Magical Moments and a bit of gushing


Weekends are often tough in the Multi-tastic household. No playgroup or help from family and four children to entertain in the middle of winter. But yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and it was filled with magical moments that literally made me want to cry as all four sisters showed spontaneous genuine acts of love and kindness to one another properly for the first time.

Wee twins learnt how to kiss and were showering their big sisters with kisses on the lips. We tried to get a photo but failed! Lily turned to Daisy at the dinner table and told her she loved her and then Daisy told Lily she loved her and they shared a hug and none of it resulted in tears. They said please and thank you all day and Daddy was inundated with cuddles from all his girls.

It was a day to treasure and I wanted to record it in my blog as other days can be so tough. I sometimes end up wondering why having children seemed like such a good idea and spend all day being referee rather than Mummy collapsing in a heap on the sofa with a glass of wine fit for nothing at the end of the day!

Yesterday I got a glimpse of the future and what good friends the fabulous foursome will be and it made me feel so happy and proud to be Mummy to four such funny and spirited little girls.

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Fab 4 Take Over Soft Play


This week has felt like a week of mini milestones. Today wee twins turned 16 months, hard to believe that when big twins were this age I was only 8 weeks away from giving birth to twins again! This is also my last full week of being a stay at home Mum, as on Monday I will be entering the outside world and returning to work, albeit part time, but more of that in another blog post. And then thirdly today all 4 were let loose in soft play together for the first time and even with my wonderful helper, soon to be Nanny, I am flipping shattered!

I have been waiting for both wee twins to be properly walking before I took them to soft play and today I was having some work done in the house so it felt like a good time to try it. I think I had a vision in my head that big twins would be happy to amuse themselves and wee twins would happily stay in the under 5’s area. But that isn’t how it went at all. I had, of course, forgotten to add toilet trips in the equation for big twins, meltdowns as socks were taken off and ‘accidentally’ lost on the top floor and of course I was sent in to retrieve. You always realise quite how much weight you need to lose too when you try and squeeze yourself through child size openings! And I should have known better than to think wee twins would be happily contained anywhere! Wee twins mainly wanted to explore everything especially toilets, staff kitchen and over 5’s area and wailed if I took big twins to the loo. It also cost a fortune to gain entry and feed 4 children. I need to remember to ask for childminder discount next time!

 

All that being said, I am now supping a glass of Sauvignon feeling proud of myself for taking all 4 out on an adventure where they could play together. This doesn’t happen very often which I always think is a bit sad.  I am hoping by the summer beach trips for all 4 will be doable and a happy occasion. I am ever the optimist.