06.29.09
Thoughts on caring for infant twins…
Random thoughts (in no particular order) after three weeks of parenting.
- There are times when it is way easier than I thought it would be… You know, when they’re sleeping.
- There are times when it’s every bit as hard as people try to warn… Like when they both just want to be held at the same time and there’s only one of you.
- Things that are cute at 3 in the afternoon aren’t nearly as cute at 3 in the morning.
- Twins go through a LOT of diapers! Thank goodness we got so many to start with!
- Twins also go through a LOT of formula. Time to go to Costco!
- It is inevitable that if one twin is asleep and the other is eating/getting attention/whatever, then the sleeping twin will wake and want the same.
- There is no comfortable position for feeding two infants at once. (at least, I have yet to find one. The quest continues.)
- Living in only one room of the house for a week makes a twin mommy very insane! (okay, this one is unique to me. Most others will never have to endure such torture.)
- Having one sided conversations all day long can become a bit tedious.
- At 3 in the morning, you can forget remembering who is who. Yes, even with boy/girl twins!
- Even when you think things are going great, there isa breaking point.
- Just when you get pretty good at anticipating their needs, they change.
- A Yaris is really not big enough for a family of four if two of them are infants.
- People seem to think it’s really funny to say they want to keep one or the other twin (after all, you’ve got two!). It’s not funny. It’s annoying.
- If people are wanting to come visit the twins, they have to speak up. The parents are not going to call you. They just don’t have that many brain cells left.
- While people may think it’s cool to carry both twins at once, all it does is send their mom into hyper-worry drive. Don’t do it. You can take turns.
- Jokes and teasing (particularly about the twins) are a lot less funny to the sleep-deprived parents than to the one joking/teasing.
- It’s amazing what one can do one-handed with another child screaming in the background.
- Using the restroom is a luxury a twin mommy (or any mommy?) can no longer afford.
- Watching a 60# dog leap over your kids (no matter how many times he misses) is downright scary!
- Sitting in the pink boppy or being wrapped in a pink blanket will not scar a boy for life! :/
- Emails, journal entries, message board posts… They all take 10x longer to write as a parent than they ever did before.
- Just when you think you can lay your head down, one of the babies will squeak.
- Babies do not pose. I don’t know how Ann Geddes does it!
- Just as you get one baby settled and think you might have a minute to go wash those bottles that have piled up throughout the day, the other will wake up wailing.
- Singing does the trick some of the time. Just enough to make you try it every time.
- This list will never end. So I’m ending it now.
Kristin said,
June 29, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Thanks for posting! It made me smile! Only a couple more weeks and I’ll be in the same boat as you! I get so nervous and anxious thinking about it all!
Chris said,
June 29, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Hang in there Nikki and Nathan. Before you know it those two cuties will be independent and asking you to drop them off a block away from Jr. High. They grow so fast. God Bless All Four of You.
Lori Shugart said,
June 29, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Wow! I like your list!! Hang in there!
Cathy Manor said,
June 29, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Your posting made me laugh, especially since itcomes from a sleep deprived parent. Is your AC fixed? I am not calling to come and visit until the AC is fixed. I am hoping to come next week, and I am VERY good at general chores. Remember to sleep when they sleep.
heartjourney said,
June 30, 2009 at 9:12 am
Yes, the A/C is fixed.
Thank God!
Jamie said,
June 29, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I did find your list funny, but, I also know personally how true it is!!! Don’t worry I does get “easier” well maybe not easier but the challenges are different, All will feel so much better after a few full nights sleep, trust me!
Agility Dog said,
June 30, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Boy, that list brings back memories from when my sister’s twins were born…then developed colic. May that never happen to yours! I also remember my sister being desperate to go back to work for adult conversation.
You left one item off: a new parent only gets a bath/shower when someone else is watching the kids, and rarely can get dressed before noon.
–Laurie
Christina Baglivi Tinglof said,
July 20, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Oh, yes, I remember it well sitting there at two in the morning, exhausted, and thinking, “this is never going to end.” P.S. My twins are now 13! Boy, does it go by fast.