Busy Month

In the picture Thane is one the left and Xander is on the right.
Okay. So it's been a little over a month since I last blogged. It's gotten so hard to blog now that the boys are finding themselves more mobile. They now know that they can get places quickly by pulling, scooting and rolling. And they are now pushing themselves up on all fours so I don't think it will be long before they figure out crawling. Both have now managed how to sit up from being on their bellies on the floor all on their own. I've also started to become a little more laid back when it comes to parenting the boys now that I see how big they're getting. (at least when it comes to food....) I finally just handed them some crackers to sit there and eat. (I've been to paranoid to give them things like crackers but they keep wanting to chew their food.) They now eat food like they have never had to have pureed food or bottles ever. I think it helps that they have 4 teeth and a fifth one coming in. (they are doing pretty good at tandem teething.) I am going to be moving soon. (In about a week) The boys and I will be moving in with my Fiance. I'm excited and nervous and it will be a big adjustment for the boys.
I've been rambling about things and not even staying to one topic here but I felt I had to fill in the blanks of the past month.
Over the past week in specific I took the boys to visit their father. It's going to be hard for him to adjust to the boys and I living with him but we have talked to each other and are going to work together on things. The boys both said Dada for the first time while we were there too!! I got three trips without the boys while I was there. (not happy about how they were taken care of during one of my trips...they weren't taken care of at all. On the bright side that trip was only a 30-45 minute trip to the store...and I now know who will never watch the boys again.) During the trip I also got a few new things for the boys. It was a long week but it was very eventful.
Thanks for reading.

Sorry for the wait

So I was all excited to write my blog the other day and got caught up in other things. I completely spaced the blog!! I'll have to save that blog for another day when I find all the things I collected for it. Instead I'm going to talk about the meaning of double trouble. People always say "I'm glad it's you who has twins and not me." Like twins are a bad thing. If someone has twin girls they get the "aww that's so sweet" comments. If someone has a boy and a girl they get the "aww that's great one of each!!" comments. But if someone has twin boys you get all the comments like "Good luck" or "Oh no." It's not the end of the world if you have twins. And it's still not the end of the world if they're both boys. In fact I enjoy taking care of my boys. They are laid back babies most of the time. So those comments are actually starting to hurt emotionally when I hear them. Just because I have twin boys doesn't mean that the result is chaos. True there are times when they want things at the same time but we manage. But all twins will want something at the same time at some point. Okay I think I've been rambling along with some nonsense so let me get to the point.

My sons (lately):
1. Laid back
2. Occupy each other
3. Sleep through the night
4. Seem pretty patient
5. Overall happy babies

They definitely do not fit the description of double the trouble at all. So why does everyone seem to think every set of twins is trouble? Especially if they're boys? Sure there is more to do than with just one child but honestly it's not that bad. I wish I could compare it to taking care of one child better but the boys are my first two so I can't really compare at all.

The boys and the party

I haven't blogged in a couple days and I don't have much time right now but I thought I'd write something anyways so here goes:
So my sister and I went to a surprise birthday party for a friend and of course we took Thane and Xander along. Once we got there Thane was asleep from the car ride and Xander was wide awake. Xander was quite fine just sitting in his car seat until he tasted the freedom of being out of it. Once I picked him up he did not want to be put back in the car seat. If I even started to put him down he would freak out and cry. So everyone played pass the baby around which quickly became pass the babies around once Thane woke up. The boys kept smiling so I didn't mind them being passed around. Towards the end of the party Xander started getting a little fussy and only wanted to be held by me and my sister so we passed him back and forth. It wasn't long before he was asleep in not my arms but his auntie's so she put him in the car seat while I kept Thane occupied and then he got passed around one more time before we put him in his car seat as well. That tired them out and so now I think parties are the trick to get the boys to sleep on time because once we got them home it took a lot of work to wake them up enough to have bottles. Then as soon as the bottles were finished and we laid them down they quietly babbled to each other for a minute or two and then were out. I wish I could get them to sleep that early every night.

I have an idea for my next blog entry so when I have time tomorrow I'll post it. Thank you for reading.

The fun of getting twins to sleep.

So lately my boys have had a hard time getting to sleep. At first it was because of their teething and they would wake up screaming in pain. Now that they each have two teeth in it's kind of let up on the pain but the night waking habits are still in full swing. Sometimes they'll wake up at 2 in the morning wanting to play other times it's to eat but the last few nights it's been both of them taking turns waking up. Take last night for example. I finally get the boys to bed at 11 pm and go to get myself something to eat before I go to bed myself. I am just finishing eating about 20 minutes later when Xander wakes up. I simply just let him lay there awake because he wants to play and it's not play time. After a few minutes he drifts back to sleep but Thane wakes up fussing. It was maybe one or two cries before he was back asleep but it was enough to wake up Xander again. This time he was awake for hours. I fed him and he started to look drowsy so I laid him down. I thought he was asleep for the night after a few minutes of him breathing deeply with his eyes closed. I went to the bathroom and when I came back he was awake again. He was playing with his feet and babbling and laughing. It took until 1 or 2 in the morning to get him to finally sleep. At which point Thane woke up to eat and fuss until 4 in the morning. After that it took awhile for me to get to sleep because I kept thinking the boys would wake up again every moment so when there was the slightest movement or cry my eyes snapped open to check on them. I miss their nice sleep schedule and hope they go back to it soon. So for now when I hear mothers of one baby complaining about their one baby that doesn't go to sleep until midnight or wakes up during the night I envy them. I still wouldn't trade my boys for one baby though. I couldn't picture my life without both of them here with me. Oh and if there is one thing I have learned about my boys through this whole thing it's that white noise does not work with them at all.
I remember there was a time when I wished they would wake up more because it seemed like they were sleeping 24/7 but now I'm finally getting to know a time where I wish they would sleep a little more because the get so cranky when they don't get enough sleep. I'll add more later but the boys just woke up again.

You're not a good parent if...

So now that I'm a mother I get a lot of unwanted advice on how to do things. Most people are so dead set in their own ways with their kids that they don't seem to realize that every situation, every mother, and every child is different. So here is the advice I've been given in a complete list. In parenthesis is the reason I was given by each person. They don't actually say I'm not a good parent but secretly if you have a set way of doing things and someone else does it differently you think they're weird or dare I say it bad. So I present to you the list that lets you know if you're a bad parent. If you do or have ever done any of these items you're not a good parent or other caregiver:

1. Formula fed a baby (because breast feeding is the only way you're supposed to feed a baby.)
2. Breast fed a baby but supplemented with formula. (because even the smallest bit of formula is poison when given to a baby)
3. Breast fed a baby (apparently it's just wrong to breast feed a baby because breasts are just for the media to use to sell alcohol and cigarettes. And to quote some famous person they're not called breasts but "fun bags")
4. Used disposable diapers (because it's bad for the environment. Not to mention they attract flies.)
5. Used cloth diapers (because they're hard to clean and it's not worth the time reusing them)
6. Let your baby fuss (because they always need something when they fuss)
7. Took care of your baby every time they fuss (because they'll become spoiled)
8. Used Orajel to help with teething. (because it numbs their gums. I kind of thought that was the point...)
9. Decided not to use orajel. (apparently it's now required for every teething baby but I missed the memo...)
10. Started out solids by feeding your baby fruit first. (They won't like veggies after they've had fruit)
11. Started out solids by feeding your baby veggies first. (You're baby will be more likely to try other solids if you start out with a fruit first.)

I could go on and on with this list but I'll just put one last one:

12. You're not a good parent if you do anything differently from other parents or what popular advice has told you to do.


Apparently everything you do makes you a bad parent! I think in today's society everyone thinks they know what's best for your child or children. But in actuality there are many ways to raise a child and I say just go for what works with you and your child. I'll tell you what type of parent I am:
I'm the type of parent who breast feeds and supplements with formula. The type who uses disposable diapers and started of feeding my sons solids before the suggested age. And guess what I started off with veggies but that's not stopping them from liking fruit more or trying new things. I sometimes let my babies fuss because it's what they need to do sometimes. I'm the type of parent who tried Orajel with my sons but found out they hate it more then they do the pain from teething and cry a lot longer when I put it on their gums then if I just rub only my finger on their gums for a little bit.

My conclusion forget being a bad parent and be a good one by finding out what works for you and your child/children.

Introduction

Let me start off introducing myself and my sons.

My name is Carissa, and I am currently 20 years old. I have brown hair and brown eyes and I'm pretty much your average quiet person if you're just looking at me. However if you got to know me you'd realize that I have a lot to say and so I've decided to start a blog.

I am the mother of 6 month old twin boys Nathaniel and Alexander. Their nicknames are not Nate and Alex. (So many people assume that that's what their nicknames are but those aren't their nicknames) Nathaniel's nickname is Thane and Alexander's nickname is Xander. They were born 6 weeks and 1 day premature but only had a 12 day NICU stay. They were small babies but have now caught up to other babies their age. They went from "they're so tiny" comments to "they're so big!!" in what seems like overnight. I love them and would not trade them for anything in the world.

Since this is my first post that's all I'm going to put for now about the boys and I. I will talk more about them in upcoming posts but I just want to add on notes about upcoming posts. I will be talking about my own opinions on things and if you don't like it then you don't have to agree but don't send me e-mails telling me I'm wrong. My blog is going to be about many different types of things. If you want me to answer any questions then e-mail them to me at:

ThatGoesDouble@writeme.com

That's about it for my first post. I'll post a few things later but for now my sons are calling.