1. D3 and D4 are really very, very easy, healthy babies. One baby with colic or reflux would be far more challenging. And they do both sleep fairly well. It's just that there are two of them and they aren't quite synchronized in when their longest stretch of sleep is. Now that the six-week growth spurt seems to be over, that is getting better, too.
2. Grandma takes D1 and D2 for two nights and a day every week. I realize it sounds ridiculous to think of only having two month old twins as being a break, but at least I can read what I want to read and rest when the babies do. And no one asks me a surreal question even once, let alone fifteen times. DOB also takes one or both of the older two out with him at various points during the week.
3. Nursing hormones are amazing things, as I discovered when I weaned D2 and had to face motherhood without them for the first time. A few minutes of nursing can transform me from "Who are these kids and why are they calling me Mom?" to "Awww, aren't you the cutest widdle fings." I may be delusional and goofy, but I'm happy. (And I'm very grateful to be able to exclusively breastfeed the babies without any complications. I just have to eat a lot. Not a great hardship.)
4. That great big twin nursing pillow allows me to feed the babies hands-free. This means books! Books! And lots of them. (Not very profound books, I'll admit, as those hormones don't do that much for sleep deprivation.) Still, I can be quite happy as long as I have plenty of books. Of course, D1 and D2 have discovered this, too. So the books are not always those of my choice.
5. Although Wondergirl is gone, Cicero is still here a few nights a week, which means help with dinner and dishes and an extra pair of hands to hold babies, much to the relief of our shoulders.
6. Why are we having an easier time with four kids than with one or two? The answer is, we have given up doing everything else. The world at large will have to wait to benefit from our presence for a few years.
7. D2 has potty-trained with amazing ease, and that means only two in diapers. And breastfed babies' diapers are really not so bad, as long as everything stays inside.
Not that a little sympathy--especially if accompanied by chocolate--is unappreciated. But I just wanted to give both sides.
Besides, if there is anything cuter than two sleeping babies, I certainly haven't seen
it:And D1 and D2 are quite a bit of fun to be around, too.
7 comments:
glad it's going well - enjoy the little ones while they're still little! :)
I said to my literalist son (without thinking): "Look at the baby ducklings!"
This, he thought, was very funny.
If I had one of those "Next-to-infinite Wisdom" award thingies, I'd give you one. Sympathy plus chocolate is a definite winning combination.
Nobody thought you were fishing for sympathy, but everyone recognizes you need it. :) I'm so glad you've got people to help you out so much. I think that's why the idea of twins terrifies me: I'd have to import a mother or mother-in-law to survive.
-- SJ
Hey! Devona just told me about you--I have twins, too. If there's any advice that I can give, let me know. It's so fun, but awfully challenging, too, especially in the beginning when you have two babies that are so needy. One thing I did was to wake up whichever baby didn't wake up in the middle of the night for a feeding (I know, it violates the "never wake a sleeping baby" rule). That way, eventually, we got them to take their longest stretch at the same time.
Anyways, your babies are adorable (!), and I told her to give you my e-mail, if there's anything I can help with.
Awww... I hope you didn't think my comment was implying that I thought you were fishing for sympathy! Rather, it evoked sympathy at the feeling that your hands must always be tied. Sorry if I was misunderstood.
So, is it easier having two babies the same age, rather than two eighteen months apart?
And yes... your little ducklings are very cute!
Well, it depends. It's easier for me right now, but that may be partly because DOB didn't quit his job the day after the twins were born (like he did with D2), we're not moving, I have my household routines better figured out, and I have somebody in the house who can at least carry on a conversation, even if it's not always a scintillating one.
Even straight across, though, I think I have an easier time with two infants than with an infant and a toddler. But I don't know that I'll find two toddlers easier. That stage where they can walk but not talk is pretty rough.
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