tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-11-11:/Home of R and G, identical twin girls born in December 2007.MokoFeed2009-11-11T13:44:18+01:00tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-11-07:/2009/11/07/party-planning-7328303/Joanna792009-11-07T23:29:20+01:002009-11-07T23:29:20+01:00 <p>After an extremely low-key 1st birthday last year, we are really going for it with the girls’ 2nd birthdays in December. We’re having a big celebration at our house – we must be mad! We’ve sent out (actually e-mailed) invites to all and sundry and despite our poor planning in having pre-Christmas babies (thanks to my horrid ex-boss for that comment), quite a few people are coming. Yay! We’re having what is essentially an open house day on 12th December and have told everyone that they can arrive any time from 11am and we’ll keep a steady supply of party food and drinks flowing. The more the merrier, I say.</p> <p>We thought it might be nice to invite some of the girls’ friends from nursery along, perhaps a couple of close friends each. Dh asked their room leader for a shortlist and after careful deliberation, she came up with 14 names. 14! 8 boys and 6 girls. Apparently R and G are extremely popular (I bet she says that to all the parents) and play with almost everyone at nursery (including the preschoolers and the babies) but the named 14 are their ‘closest’ friends.</p> <p>Dh and I are deeply smug that the girls are apparently quite popular but equally quite baffled as to where they have acquired their outgoing natures from. I’m pretty vocal now, as an adult, and have a fair few friends but as a child I was pretty quiet and shy. Dh very much keeps to himself and has a small but close circle of friends. We aren’t the sort of people that light up a room. Maybe I do by leaving it... <img src="/img/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>The girls’ birthday is just the start of nearly a month of celebrations at the HoT. We’re hosting the family Christmas this year and both sets of parents (and extremely chuffed grandparents) and dh’s sister are coming along for the festivities. The notable absentees will be P, our niece (who is sadly visiting her dad) and my sister, who is in South Africa following the England cricket team as part of the Barmy Army.</p> <p>On the 27th I turn 30 but I’m in denial about that...</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/11/07/party-planning-7328303/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-11-07:/2009/11/07/taking-care-of-the-carers-7328240/Joanna792009-11-07T23:11:04+01:002009-11-07T23:11:04+01:00 <p>It’s a given that when you have children you are no longer the centre of your universe. Suddenly, your needs as a person are superseded your parental responsibilities. Dh and I are pretty good at looking after each other as well as the girls – we eat well, rest as much as we can (ha ha) and keep an eye on each other’s wellbeing.</p> <p>Sometimes though, your body fights back. Over the last couple of months I’ve been feeling quite tired (with twins, a full-time job and a – limited but important – social life to keep track of, this isn’t a massive surprise) and I have also fainted a couple of times. My concerned GP sent me for some blood tests and surprise surprise: I’m anaemic.</p> <p>I went back to see my GP on Thursday to talk through the results. My iron stores are extremely low (one grade lower and I’d have to have a blood transfusion) and so I’ve been put on iron tablets and told to eat lots of iron-rich foods – cereals, green leafy veg, fruit juices, etc. Oh and dark chocolate – hurrah! Generally my diet is pretty good. The only things I’ve not really been having are the fruit juices, so I need to remedy that.</p> <p>I was mildly anaemic when I was pregnant (hardly surprising with two little babies sucking the life out of me) and don’t exactly have fond memories of the effects that the iron tablets had, but you do what the medical professionals tell you do, don’t you? Plus the thought of a transfusion doesn’t exactly fill me with joy. I’m being chased by the blood donor service for a pint of my finest at the moment – I need all the red stuff I can get!</p> <p>I also got the usual lecture from my lovely (really actually lovely) GP about looking after myself and resting when I can. Bless her, I know she means well but when? How? I have a busy life but wouldn’t have it any other way. I need to keep ‘doing’ things. I’m probably the most uptight and least relaxed person on the planet. Aside from being felled by a stun-gun, I don’t see how I can slow down.</p> <p>Answers on a postcard.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/11/07/taking-care-of-the-carers-7328240/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-29:/2009/10/30/the-same-but-different-7271524/Joanna792009-10-30T00:02:16+01:002009-10-30T00:02:16+01:00 <p>As the girls approach their second birthdays, I’ve been thinking more and more about their personalities – in particular their differences and similarities. I’ve always tried to avoid overtly pigeonholing them (I’m sure I probably do subconsciously) in terms of ‘Oh G does this and R does that’ but as their carers’ at nursery have said, while they may look identical, their personalities are quite different.</p> <p>R really likes her gadgets and toys and is a deep thinker with a real mischievous streak and an evil cackle. She styles herself as the ringleader and consequently can be a bit of a bully at times. She’s also extremely bossy (can't think where she gets that from!) and dh is normally the target of her pointing and directing. R is quieter than her sister, unless really annoyed but is very determined and knows her own mind. Woe betide anyone that pushes her to her (very set) limits! She's very poised and graceful (the normal accidents that befall the average toddler seem to bypass her) and always seems to think about ten steps ahead. </p> <p>G is very kind - more of a people-person than R. She's very sensitive to the feelings of others and is extremely affectionate, with lots of cuddles and kisses for everyone. She can be quite clingy and whingy at times and is prone to exaggeration (one day we will invest in a fainting couch for her swooning moments) and loud tantrums. She loves singing, dancing and chatting and is generally the louder of the two. She's very accident-prone (another trait she shares with me) and always has bruises and cuts. She tends to launch herself at things and hopes for the best - not always with good results!</p> <p>They have things in common as well though: they adore all animals; they love doing puzzles and reading. They seem to bounce off each other - e.g. G will sing and R will act as her very appreciative audience, clapping and shouting ‘MORE MORE!’ at the end of every song. When one of them is scared of something the other one will lead them by the hand and help them out. G knows when R is in a really bad mood and stays out of her way, or tries to cheer her up with a favourite toy. When G has one of her wobblers, R acts like the older sister with a mildly indulgent ‘Oh dear, look at the toddler being silly’ expression on her face.</p> <p>It blows my tiny mind that two beings that look so ridiculously similar can approach life in such different ways. How can that possibly work? To try and understand it, I read back over some early blog entries to try and work out whether R and G were born with the personalities they have, or whether we have, to a greater or lesser degree, ‘imposed’ some elements of their personalities on them – nurture rather than nature.</p> <p>The following extracts are quite enlightening:<br> 27th February 2008 (10 weeks old)<br> “They are also developing different personalities. G is shaping up to be a little diva, as she kicks off about anything and everything and is a total daddies girl who wants to be cuddled all the time. She loves nothing more than lying on someone’s chest, preferably that of a large male. R is more laid-back and considered and only gets angry if she thinks she is being denied milk. She hates being a baby and wants to be with adults all the time. It will be fascinating to see how they grow and change over time.”</p> <p>15th March 2008 (3 months old)<br> “(G) has just come out of a ‘crusty’ phase... made worse by the fact that R looks completely immaculate and G looked like the poor relation in comparison... Someone told me that there are ‘Toy babies’ and ‘People babies’. G is definitely a people baby.... She is much chattier than R. The girls are noticing each other more and more now and G will beam at R and chat away for ages. R looks confused, smiles rather uncertainly occasionally and just stares at this noisy little creature.... I have a theory that while R is more like a singleton baby, G is more like one half of a twin pairing. When they are playing, G looks over at R to see what she is doing. R does her own thing”.</p> <p>“(R) also has what is known by our friends and family as ‘The Ruthie stare’, where she is so completely and utterly irritated that she fixes us with a cold stare for a few seconds, then looks away and refuses to look back. If she could say ‘WhatEVER’ or ‘Bovvered?’, she would. When she eventually gets what she wants (i.e. milk) we get a smug grin accompanied with a ‘If you listened to me I wouldn’t have to resort to such extreme measures’ look.... R will play with a toy for longer than G... I suspect that R is frustrated with being able to do so little physically... If she’s like this at 3 months, I dread to think what the 13 year old R will be like!”</p> <p>Scary. We didn’t ‘decide’ to make them how they are. I don’t think we have imposed personality traits on them. They were already there when the girls were born. Nature or nurture? I say nature. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/30/the-same-but-different-7271524/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-22:/2009/10/22/empathy-7225234/Joanna792009-10-22T20:48:41+02:002009-10-22T20:48:41+02:00 <p>Our new next door neighbours have a seven month old baby boy and since we moved in a month ago (a month! Where does the time go?), we have barely heard him. Occasionally we hear a little sample of his wailing at around 11pm but generally he sounds like a pretty quiet child. Goodness only knows what they make of our two loud marauding monsters...</p> <p>Anyway, last night he was NOT a happy chappy. Usually he whimpers for a few minutes and settles pretty quickly but this time he wasn’t having a bar of it. Dh and I lay in bed (after double-checking that it wasn’t one of ours making the noises – they are generally much louder) and unlike our old next door neighbour, resisted the urge to knock on the wall, wail like a child or start banging doors and shouting in a right old huff. By the by, since we moved G’s sleeping has improved considerably – coincidence??</p> <p>Instead we lay there and sent vibes of sympathy to our poor neighbours. In fact, I wanted to knock on their door, give them a big hug and tell them that it would be ok. If I could make the last sentence any less patronising than it sounded, I would. We’ve been there. </p> <p>When the girls were seven months old I wrote a number of despairing posts about their inability to settle at night. Dh and I reminisced (not exactly fondly) about going between the cots, attempting (and largely failing) to console and settle two incredibly overstimulated little girls. I remembered sitting on the (downstairs) toilet and sobbing uncontrollably after failing to settle them after an hour and a half one evening, during a long succession of bad nights and severely broken sleep. They were screaming upstairs. I was sobbing downstairs and dh was on the late shift. It felt like the end of the world.</p> <p>Dh and I tried to remember when the girls started sleeping through the night. I remembered the first night that R and G slept from midnight to 6am. I woke up and felt like I had new eyes. Dh remembered when the girls first started sleeping from 8am to 6pm – we used to feed them at 10.30pm and one night he suggested we experiment with not feeding them. I was terrified that we would be punished with a 2am wake-up call but to my complete surprise, they slept through. That was the beginning of the routine that has served us so well.<br> Nearly two years on - older, wiser, with many more hours of sleep deprivation under our belts and infinitely more smug – dh and I can look back on those days and (mostly) smile on them as distant memories, not to be repeated. Dh joked that it was like having ‘Nam flashbacks: “I LOVE the smell of Sudocrem in the morning”. </p> <p>We just send lots of empathy and hugs to our next door neighbours. They seem lovely and we’ll offer them help if they need it. Again, I sound desperately patronising but the sentiments are heartfelt.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/22/empathy-7225234/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-22:/2009/10/22/nursery-crimes-7225224/Joanna792009-10-22T20:46:07+02:002009-10-22T20:46:07+02:00 <p>The girls love nursery rhymes, especially those with actions: e.g ‘Wind the bobbin up, ‘Humpty Dumpty’ and ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’. One of my relatives bought them a CD of good old fashioned nursery rhymes, sung by a woman that sounds like Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins after a good lungful of helium accompanied by what I can only describe as a ‘thoughtful’ string accompaniment that twiddles about in the background.</p> <p>I had forgotten all about the CD until the Bob the Builder (sorry, Bah-Diddy) single incident at the weekend and decided to pop it on the stereo to see what the girls made of it.</p> <p>As helium Julie burst into life singing (with lots of over-enthusiastic enunciation) “JACK and JILL went UP the HILL to FETCH a PAIL OF WAAAAAAAAATEEEEERRRRR”, G looked up at the stereo with a confused look on her face, shrugged and sat down to do a puzzle. R, in dh’s arms looked EXTREMELY unimpressed in that way that 15 year old girls do at family weddings when their dad throws himself around the dance floor to Status Quo. R then emitted a loud and extremely fed-up sounding sigh and rolled her eyes so far round that I seriously thought for a moment that she might actually be able to view her own brain.</p> <p>I persevered for a few more songs in the hope that the girls would get used to it, but no chance. The CD has now been put back in its case and I may use it to torture/embarrass them as they need arises...</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/22/nursery-crimes-7225224/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-22:/2009/10/22/the-muse-strikes-7225216/Joanna792009-10-22T20:44:52+02:002009-10-22T20:44:52+02:00 <p>I can’t explain it. Sometimes I can write and write and write and other times I can barely bear to open up my laptop. I fear that I’ll never be able to write a single word ever again and that I should give it all up and go and do and do something else, like actually get on with the cross-stitch project I was hoping to finish in time for the girls’ 2nd birthday and now definitely won’t be completed in time. At the moment I definitely have verbal diarrhoea. I need to let it out somewhere, so my blog won’t be disappearing yet. </p> <p>Sorry if you’re disappointed by that!!<img src="/img/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/22/the-muse-strikes-7225216/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-21:/2009/10/21/disclaimer-7215082/Joanna792009-10-21T13:05:16+02:002009-10-21T13:05:16+02:00 <p>Due to the level of bile directed at me in the last couple of days, I have added a disclaimer to the 'How wide is your buggy' post. I have full moderation rights over the comments submitted to my blog and have chosen to publish them in full when I could have ignored or deleted them. </p> <p>I have found the personal attacks extremely hurtful. Yes, I put myself 'out there' by writing a blog and therefore open myself up to criticism but I'm always amazed that random people feel that it is their divine right to question and openly attack my parenting abilities and personality. It's not in my nature to go on to other people's blogs and be openly provocative. The post was meant to be both humorous and satirical. Some people 'got it' and others didn't. That's fine. If we all laughed at, or agreed with the same things, life would be very dull. In any case, I can make myself feel bad enough, thanks. I don't need random strangers doing it for me. </p> <p>I'd just like to remind anyone still reading that I don't get paid to write this. I write in my extremely limited spare time (i.e. when the girls are napping or in bed or when I'm travelling around for my job) and it is a 'release' from being a full-time working mum of twins. My blog is funny. It is sometimes sad and angry. It won't appeal to everyone and I wouldn't expect it to - it's a very niche thing. If you don't like it, go somewhere else.</p> <p>This morning I wondered whether I should just delete the whole bloody blog and go and do something less boring instead. I'm not going to do that. Instead, I want to draw a line under this and move on. I'm going to get back to writing about R and G. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/21/disclaimer-7215082/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-20:/2009/10/20/ouch-7207606/Joanna792009-10-20T12:57:23+02:002009-10-20T12:57:23+02:00 <p>So, I’ve had a couple of responses to my ‘How wide is your buggy’ post that I put up last night. I’ve published them, so feel free to read and enjoy my severe tellings-off in all their glory. One is from someone I’ve known in real life since we were nine years old. The other is from a ‘hit and run’ poster. </p> <p>Here’s my response.</p> <p>The whole entry was meant to be humorous. Yes, it was dripping with sarcasm but if you’ve ever read anything else I’ve written, you’ll know that’s my style. I loathe self-congratulating parents and have enough self-awareness to know that sometimes I overstep the smugness line. I try to self-edit, but sometimes it spills over. I shall try to wear my hair-shirt with pride more often in future.</p> <p>For the record, I don’t think that parents with single babies are any better or worse than parents of twins, triplets, quads or anything else. I was aiming my post at a VERY specific type of mum – the designer bag toting yummy mummy with perfectly blow-dried hair, and a very expensive lifestyle and attitude to match. They are the ones that do post-partum yoga in the park. The average, normal mum in the street with a buggy should not be offended by my post. If you were, I apologise.</p> <p>My self-reference to being ‘cleverer (yes, it is in the dictionary. Here’s a link: <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cleverer)">http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cleverer)</a> and more considerate’ was with tongue firmly in cheek. If you had ever read any of my blog entries about my struggles with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and my constant doubting that I can be a good mother, you would know that I’m probably one of the last people on earth to judge my own parenting abilities against those of others. </p> <p>I am thankful every single day that I was lucky to have a relatively straightforward pregnancy (extreme exhaustion and sickness for the first 20 weeks and a severe kidney infection that put me in hospital when I was 27 weeks pregnant aside) and I am also grateful that I have my health, my dh is healthy and so are my children. Actually, as I have PCOS and was told a couple of years before I became pregnant that I might not be able to have children at all, do try to forgive me for being a bit pleased about having twins. I would have also been pleased with one baby. Or three. Or more. </p> <p>I suggest you go back and read the other 293 blog entries to get a much clearer picture of who I am, the perspective I’m writing from and what this blog is actually about. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.</p> <p>I could carry on but the chip on my shoulder is starting to weigh my arm down, making it difficult to type. (see? That was an attempt at humour!) </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/ouch-7207606/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-19:/2009/10/19/directions-7203413/Joanna792009-10-19T20:53:31+02:002009-10-19T20:53:31+02:00 <p>Now, I’ve been writing this blog thing for a while now and as the girls approach their 2nd birthday, I’m not quite sure where it’s going. I started writing HoT as therapy when the girls were tiny and it has taken on a bit of a life of its own since.</p> <p>Due to a number of factors, I’m finding it increasingly hard to find the time to write blog entries. I read somewhere that a blog needs two new entries a week or it starts to feel unloved and I’m finding it hard to live up to that at the moment. I can only write when time and inspiration allows, which is why there may be a gap of two or three weeks between entries and suddenly two or three will appear in rapid succession.</p> <p>I could write about every cute little thing that the girls do but I’m not terribly comfortable with the ‘my x did the most adorable and funny thing the other day’ style of writing, especially when the anecdote turns out to the nauseating rather than amusing and would in fact only be funny to the parents and perhaps a doting grandparent. I’ve just read the Bah Diddy entry back and think it sails dangerously close to this particular wind but hopefully the stuff about dh will be amusing enough to allow it to stay. </p> <p>If you look to your left, you’ll see the House of Twins Twitter feed, which I set up to note down the little things that happen that I can’t conjure a blog entry out of. I’ll aim to update that regularly and anyone that reads this can follow that.</p> <p>There are some big things coming up – the girls’ birthday, Christmas, potty training and all the new things that the terrible twos will bring and the challenges that bringing up identical twins present and I’ll aim to record them all. I just can’t commit to writing thousands of words that about three people (and my Mum) read every month.</p> <p>Until the next crisis, anyway…</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/19/directions-7203413/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-19:/2009/10/19/how-wide-is-your-buggy-7203405/Joanna792009-10-19T20:52:39+02:002009-10-21T12:52:48+02:00 <p>NOTE: the following post is meant to be humorous and satirical. It does NOT reflect my actual feelings towards 98% of mums and only apples to a VERY specific type of 'Yummy Mummy'. Some people have taken it extremely personally when it was not aimed at them. If you are, or have been offended by it, I apologise and advise you not to read my blog in future. I'm not paid to write this, I do it in my extremely limited spare time. If it isn't your thing, go somewhere else...</p> <p>Dear mothers of tiny singletons,</p> <p>Well done on your ability to create life. You are only one of billions of woman that has managed this feat in history. Do have a little smile to yourself at how brilliant you are. When you were pregnant, I bet you really enjoyed wearing your burgeoning bump as a medal of your ability to have sex. Did you rub it tenderly every thirty seconds throughout the day? Did you thrust it out at every available opportunity to let the whole world know how clever you are? Did you play classical music to it and read to it? </p> <p>I bet you had great fun choosing your buggy. Did your partner treat it like buying a new car? Did you go to one of the big baby shows and try out hundreds of different models before selecting the one that best fitted your expensive lifestyle? Cream covers to match your carpets? Adult cup holder for your morning latte? Extra wide wheels for added comfort and manoevreability? Rear facing seat so that you can smile tenderly down at your cherished, protected and never allowed to get grubby or muddy, perfect, angelic baby as you mooch around town waiting for your new chums from the NCT group to join you at the local café?</p> <p>Well done you. Through the NCT group, you’ve made friends with people like you. You all have the same make of buggy (in different, yet complimentary colours, obviously), you all have the same parenting ideals and you hope you get little Amelie, Olivia, Freddie and Jay into the same school so that you can share school runs.</p> <p>Isn’t it annoying when, as you are trotting through town discussing the next coffee morning, two abreast, taking up 95% (47.5% each) of the pavement when someone (without a buggy, poor childless woman!) walks towards you in the opposite direction and looks to manoeuvre into the 5% of pavement you have generously donated to the rest of the world? Isn’t it annoying when the poor sad individual without a baby has to leap onto a small wall out of your way so that you don’t run over her foot with your lovely wide buggy? I bet that little tut and sigh you did felt really cathartic. </p> <p>Well, it may surprise you to learn that the woman that so kindly leapt onto the wall out of your way (because travelling in single file with your buggies would just be silly, wouldn’t it?) has children of her own. Twins, in fact. Her body very cleverly got one egg and divided it into two. Isn’t that amazing? She and her partner chose their buggy to be as practical as possible and chose the narrowest side-by-side on the market. That means that other people (even those with single buggies) can still use the pavement without difficulty. </p> <p>She may not have her children with her today because they are at nursery while she works but she carries them with her wherever she goes. On the outside, with her winter coat, her laptop bag, handbag and nice shoes she may look like a typical office worker (perhaps like you were once) but she is also a mother. Don’t look at her like she’s something you just scraped off your boots. Sometimes she’s like you – only a bit cleverer and slightly more considerate, of course…</p> <p>Those elderly ladies with those pesky shopping trollies that aren’t so good at steering? I bet they had babies too, once. The young girls who walk slowly along the pavement, texting and chatting to their gang of friends on their way home from school? They’ll be mums one day. That man in the suit probably wears a baby bjorn at weekends.</p> <p>Next time you’re having a mummy meet, have a great time and travel to your destination in single file. The rest of the world will thank you for it.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/19/how-wide-is-your-buggy-7203405/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-19:/2009/10/19/the-mystery-of-bah-diddy-7203395/Joanna792009-10-19T20:51:14+02:002009-10-19T20:51:14+02:00 <p>For a couple of weeks now, the girls have been shouting Bah Diddy at frequent intervals. We’re pretty up to speed with most of ‘their’ words for things – ‘Bubbies’ is their word for Teletubbies for example. Until very recently, Humpty Dumpty was ‘Huddy Duddy’. Sadly, ‘Orse is still horse (and ‘ouse = house and ‘at = hat, and so on…) – I spend my days at home shouting HORSE, HOUSE AND HAT, with special emphasis on the H.</p> <p>However, Bah Diddy baffled us both. It didn’t seem to refer to an object as such, wasn’t a name for someone and wasn’t a ‘doing’ word. </p> <p>A trip to the supermarket yesterday solved the mystery. As dh and the girls were leaving the shop, they started pointing and shouting BAH DIDDY! BAH DIDDY…</p> <p>…at a Bob the Builder ride-on machine. </p> <p>To test the theory, I dug out dh’s CD single of ‘Can we fix it?’ (which, to the uninitiated, is the dance version of the Bob the Builder theme tune) You may be wondering why a grown man, far to old to have enjoyed Bob and his adventures as a child owns the song. HE would tell you that he bought it to keep Westlife off the Christmas no. 1 slot. If I tell you that his Mum bought him a Bob the Builder soft toy for his 22nd (yes, not 2nd – 22nd) birthday, I think you’ll see that there is a slightly different slant on this story.</p> <p>Anyway, I popped the CD into the stereo (once I’d dusted it off) and pressed play. Cue two VERY excited little girls (and one man old enough to know better), leaping up and down and shouting BAH DIDDY!</p> <p>Now, the girls are very particular about the television programmes they watch. Teletubbies is a favourite. They will occasionally watch In the Night Garden (erk) and have been known to sit through an episode of Pingu. To my knowledge, they haven’t ever watched Bob the Builder, so how to they know a. What it’s called (sort of) and b. The theme tune? </p> <p>Dh remembered that when he dropped the girls of at nursery recently, they were dancing to CDs, so I’m guessing that they also have the single – that, or they wheel out the television when the parents aren’t looking (which, bad mummy that I am, wouldn’t blame them for doing for half an hour a day) and allow the children a bit of cbeebies time (I’m not actually suggesting for a second that they do this). Also, their bff at nursery had a Bob the Builder themed birthday party so if he talks about it, the girls will probably pick it up from him. </p> <p>The next step is to find some episodes on the BBC iplayer or Youtube and see if they’ll actually watch them.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/19/the-mystery-of-bah-diddy-7203395/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-04:/2009/10/04/amal-magic-7098623/Joanna792009-10-04T20:53:52+02:002009-10-04T20:53:52+02:00 <p>The girls go through phases of intense love and adoration of a particular object. </p> <p>They are both completely and utterly obsessed with 'My first animal book' and insist that we flick through it at bedtime. Every night. For the last month. We have a whole bookcase full of books to read to them and they always choose the 'AMAL' book.</p> <p>Although we're heartily sick of the book, their recognition of, and ability to name different animals is now excellent. They also love making the different noises. G is more 'into' this game than R and will happily launch into a session of ribbiting, baa-ing, moo-ing, hissing, roaring, squeaking, honking and buzzing. R amazes us by suddenly and without prompting pointing at and naming an animal we haven't even noticed before - goat is a recent example of this. </p> <p>They also like sounding out the names of the animals and placing emphasis on certain sections of the word: monKEY, tor-TOISE, etc. Most of the time their little voices sound very sweet and a little lispy. However, G insists on calling a horse an 'ORSE, in true South-East London, knees up mother brown, estuary fashion, no matter how many times I shout HORSE! HORSE!, with special emphasis on the 'aitch' of the H.</p> <p>It could be worse. At least they haven't started saying 'Innit' at the end of sentences. Yet...</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/04/amal-magic-7098623/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-04:/2009/10/04/a-message-to-all-of-those-squeamish-males-7098420/Joanna792009-10-04T20:27:37+02:002009-10-04T20:27:37+02:00 <p>...who refuse to have a vasectomy. </p> <p>Who stare in horror at their partners as they tell them that they are several days 'late'. Who breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of a negative pregnancy test. Who shudder at the thought of changing a pooey nappy or consoling a crying baby. Who walk out during their partners' pregnancy because it's 'too hard' and then go and get someone else pregnant. Who leave when their child is small because 'they want their life back'. Who cross their legs at the mere mention of the word 'vasectomy'. </p> <p>Grow up and take responsibility, you spineless bastards.</p> <p>Having a vasectomy does not make you less of a man. You can still perform just as well as you did before your ability to fertilise an egg was removed. You allow your partner to endure periods, pregnancy and birth. It's only fair that you do your share of the birth control once you decide you're over the baby-making. The pain of a vasectomy is temporary. The respect you'll get from your parter for doing it will be life-long. </p> <p>Think about it.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/04/a-message-to-all-of-those-squeamish-males-7098420/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-04:/2009/10/04/the-passing-on-of-the-procreation-torch-7098367/Joanna792009-10-04T20:19:03+02:002009-10-04T20:19:03+02:00 <p>Dh had his op on Friday and in doing so we passed the torch of procreation on to our friends. We've done our bit for the continuation of the human race and now it's over to the rest of you.</p> <p>He's recovering really well. Obviously he has experienced some discomfort over the last couple of days, he hasn't really fancied walking very far and he has to prevent the girls from leaping into his lap but otherwise he's fine. He stopped taking pain relief last night and is now using wine to numb the residual aches...</p> <p>He has been signed off work for a week (driving jolting trains isn't exactly the best type of recovery plan for sore bits and pieces) but has already got back into the swing of changing nappies and chasing the girls around. </p> <p>Neither of us experienced a last-minute panic attack. Personally, I feel extremely relieved that we've finished the baby-making part of our lives. We adore R and G and want to focus on them now. The deserve our full attention. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/04/the-passing-on-of-the-procreation-torch-7098367/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-10-04:/2009/10/04/the-secret-life-of-identical-twins-bbc-programme-7098298/Joanna792009-10-04T20:12:37+02:002009-10-04T20:12:37+02:00 <p>Though the fuzz of analogue television (once you've had digital, it's hard to go back, even temporarily), I watched the BBC programme 'The secret life of twins', shown over two nights last week.</p> <p>I don't know of anyone that watched the programme and didn't get choked up watching the two little Chinese girls, adopted by Western families and brought up in two completely different countries (America and Norway), briefly reunited at the age of six. Despite spending most of the lives apart, they had an instant bond, shared a number of mannerisms and even started dressing the same after a couple of days together. They didn't speak the same language, yet they soon understood each other. The Chinese authorities did a terrible thing, separating them when they were babies, but the adoptive parents and the girls themselves will clearly make sure that they stay in touch. </p> <p>I'm a Mum of identical twins and I'm only just getting my head around what it means. R and G are totally normal to us. It's only when I watch programmes such as this that I realise how special they actually are. Apparently, a half of one percent of the world's population is made up of identical twins. That blows my tiny mind. </p> <p>Other aspects of the programme irritated me though. Once again, the different types of identical twins were not explained. The differences between fraternal and identical twins were touched on briefly but hardly anyone knows or understands the categories of twins. I won't explain them here, but read this if you want to know more: <a href="http://community.babycentre.co.uk/journal/georgi22/308855/the_start_of_a_momo_twin_journey">http://community.babycentre.co.uk/journal/georgi22/308855/the_start_of_a_momo_twin_journey</a></p> <p>Also, the programme focused far too much on a set of male identical twins who were just the sort of blokes that I can't stand. If they had attended my school, they would have received the beatings they so richly deserved! Yes, aspects of their story were interesting: they were both doctors, both well-travelled and high-achievers. Yet the programme homed in on their ability to argue, mostly over their fitness and weight. They annoyed me almost as much as those dreadful twins on the X-Factor, urgh.</p> <p>I was pleased that the programme was given a prestigious slot on BB1 at prime time (9pm) and if you didn't see it, I would urge you to seek both parts out on the iplayer. At least the programme makers tried to base the programme on scientific facts - unlike the ITV programme on identical triplets last year ("Oh look! Identical triplets! Don't they look funny?!" ) and the sections on epigenetics were fascinating.</p> <p>Of course, R and G are fascinating to us because they are ours, and if we didn't find them amazing there would be something wrong with our relationship with them. Just occasionally though it's good to have a reminder of how interesting they must be to everyone else. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/10/04/the-secret-life-of-identical-twins-bbc-programme-7098298/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-28:/2009/09/28/sleep-update-again-7057745/Joanna792009-09-28T21:29:15+02:002009-09-28T21:29:15+02:00 <p>As I write this, I can hear G making a little wailing noise upstairs. She's started experiencing 'night terrors' - where she has a bad dream and starts crying, but is completely asleep throughout. Scary for us, but she's completely unaffected by it. </p> <p>We've shortened the girls' daytime nap to just under 1.5 hours and it seems (touch wood) to have helped a bit (only a bit) with G's night waking. R could probably still do with a decent 2 hour nap in the day and tends to get more grumpy, but I don't want their routines to be out of sync with each other.</p> <p>(just popped up to see the girls - G had lost her beloved doggy and managed to wake a slightly confused R up. Doggy found and now safely in G's arms. They both seem fine..for now...)</p> <p>Weirdly, the new environment seems to be wearing them out. They have so much more space to run around in now and although we're still taking the girls out and about every day they aren't at nursery, they seem to really want to nap and sleep. I wonder if G was disturbed by our old next door neighbour - she's such a light sleeper that I wouldn't be surprised. Their new room isn't joined on to another house so hopefully that will help as well.</p> <p>R is pretty much the perfect sleeper anyway and always has been. G is more of a challenge (to put it mildly), but we'll get there with her. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/28/sleep-update-again-7057745/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-28:/2009/09/28/routine-ch-ch-ch-changes-7057672/Joanna792009-09-28T21:17:58+02:002009-09-28T21:17:58+02:00 <p>The house move has had an impact on the girls' routine. In the old house, the bathroom was downstairs and we had R and G's day pretty much nailed. The new house, with an upstairs bathroom, has led to some small changes.</p> <p>Under the old regime, they went downstairs for their first nappy change of the day and were put in their highchairs for their morning milk. Now, they are changed in the upstairs bathroom before going downstairs for their milk. </p> <p>In the evening, they used to have a bath, then milk, then upstairs for pyjamas and story time. For the first few nights in the new house, we experimented with giving the girls their milk in the bedroom after their bath and before story time but found they couldn't focus on it and took ages to drink half the bottle. </p> <p>This evening G decided to implement a little alteration of her own and it seems to have worked. They now have their milk downstairs at 6pm, have a little play afterwards and go up for their bath and story at 6.30pm, so that they are in bed by 7pm. It's just the first night, but I think it might just work.</p> <p>On non-nursery days the girls sit at the dining table to have breakfast with dh and/or I - something that was difficult to do in the old house due to the space constraints. I'm also planning to do the same at lunch time so that's it's more of a fun, sociable occasion rather than a routine drag.</p> <p>As dh and I unpacked last week, we commented that there are going to be many more changes to the girls' routine over the next year. At some point after their 2nd birthday we'll have to look at dropping the morning milk entirely. This time next year they might be potty trained, although I'm in deep denial about the whole process. Their high chairs will (hopefully) be a distant memory. They may have given up the buggy. We <em>might</em> even be feeling brave enough to take down some of the stairgates and room divides.</p> <p>Although I'm still terrified about potty training, the other changes seem less radical somehow now. As G demonstrated tonight, the girls will let us know when they are ready to make changes. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/28/routine-ch-ch-ch-changes-7057672/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-28:/2009/09/28/our-house-in-the-middle-of-our-street-7057592/Joanna792009-09-28T21:04:53+02:002009-09-28T21:04:53+02:00 <p>Our new house. I think I'm in love. From the outside it looks like a fairly non-descript Victorian semi-detached house but inside it's just...well, I think it's amazing.</p> <p>The living room is so large (and long) that we've been able to divide it in two (dh has cunningly converted the girls' old playpen into a zig-zag room divide) so that the front half is our grown-up living room and the back half is a large playroom for the girls. Along the hallway, there is a downstairs toilet. At the end of the hallway, there are a couple of steps into the dining room, which opens out into a large kitchen at the back of the house. The plan is that we will put another room divide between the kitchen and dining room so that the girls will have a free run between the playroom and the dining room.</p> <p>Upstairs there are three bedrooms, all doubles. Dh and I have the largest room at the front of the house which has a plethora of built-in wardrobes and storage space. Our clothes and shoes have got completely lost in the many wardrobes! The girls share the second largest room. The third bedroom will be a guest room and study for me on my two working at home days each week. The bathroom is a little on the small size and lacks a bit for storage, but it's not really a problem. </p> <p>The l-shaped garden is completly paved, but is safe enough for the girls and is a little sun trap during the day. It's great to be able to put washing outside on bright days. I'm planning to buy a number of garden toys (and a little storage shed) for the girls when we've settled in.</p> <p>I also love all the little details in the house - the pulleys to open and close the curtains; the pretty wall and ceiling lights; the ice-cube maker in the massive fridge; the brekfast bar in the kitchen; the high ceilings; the light, bright and airy rooms; the patterned coving on the walls; the fancy oven with ceramic hob; and the wooden floors.</p> <p>I couldn't wait to get home from work this evening and pick the girls up from nursery so that we could play together before their bedtime. R and G have settled in really well. I think that all four of us will be extremely happy here. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/28/our-house-in-the-middle-of-our-street-7057592/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-28:/2009/09/28/moving-just-keep-moving-7057412/Joanna792009-09-28T20:36:42+02:002009-09-28T20:36:42+02:00 <p>Amazingly, Plan B turned out to be ok. It was blooming hard work doing everything in a much shorter space of time than we had originally planned, but we managed.</p> <p>On Wednesday afternoon we got the keys to our new house. We had been warned that the previous occupants (our landlords) hadn't exactly left the place in a 'ready to move in straight away' state. They weren't wrong. There was washing-up on the draining board, food in the kitchen cupboards, coat hangers in the built-in wardrobes and a collection of 'stuff' scattered around the house. The kitchen and bathroom were decidedly unclean. One look at my face as we went into the house to have a look and the woman doing the inventory was on the phone to a waste management and cleaning firm, who duly arrived an hour later. They cleared out all of the things we didn't want and spent over 5 hours making the house ready for us, cleaning, polishing and generally making everything sparkle. Best of all, we didn't have to pay a penny!</p> <p>On Thursday morning dh and I dropped the girls off at nursery at 8am. The two men and a large van arrived bang on time at 9am and proceeded to make extremely light work of moving our furniture and belongings out of the old house. They completed the job in just over three hours and dh and I were left with a mountain of things to move and unpack in the new house.</p> <p>We were discussing where to put the sofa when I collapsed. With brilliant timing, my 'lady trouble' arrived on Thursday morning and that, coupled with forgetting to have breakfast, contributed to a rather nasty white-out. After an hour of lying on the sofa (cushions hastily thrown on by dh as I toppled), some nurofen, a couple of sugary biscuits and a large glass of water, I felt ok again. Being a girl is rubbish sometimes.</p> <p>Anyway, once I had recovered we cracked on with the unpacking and furniture moving. Apart from a brief sojurn to the pub for a late lunch and a shandy, we spent the afternoon working on the house. Our primary aim was to get the girls' room ready before we collected them from nursery. Cue a 'Changing Rooms' style flurry of activity at 5pm as dh hastily rebuilt their cots and shelving unit and I put away their bedding and clothes.</p> <p>We collected the girls from nursery at 5.45pm and G had her now obligatory tantrum on the way home. When they were bathed, storied and in bed (without so much as a murmur) we carried on unpacking until 9.30pm when we collapsed into bed.</p> <p>On Friday, the girls went to nursery for a pre-arranged extra day so that we could carry on sorting the house out. We were just back at the old house to greet the cleaners who would sort the old house out when my Mum rang and offered her unpacking services for the day, bless her! The three of us did a sterling job and by the time we collected the girls from nursery (G tantrumming her way home again), the house was 80% finished.</p> <p>As I write, there are still a few boxes to unpack - Virgin Media is being installed at the weekend so we can't unpack certain things until they've been - and we need to hang the pictures and photos on the walls.</p> <p>Last week I sat surrounded by boxes in our old house and wondered how on earth we could possibly move it all in the time we had. A week on, I feel rather proud of what dh and I have achieved over the last week. We're a cracking team. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/28/moving-just-keep-moving-7057412/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-19:/2009/09/19/g-fought-the-floor-and-the-floor-won-6998408/Joanna792009-09-19T21:09:50+02:002009-09-19T21:11:17+02:00 <p>3 days since G took on the nursery floor and lost, the bruise on her nose is now probably at its worst. It is now black, brown, purple, yellow, grey and green. She doesn't seem to be in any pain and it isn't bothering her at all. She's still as much of a daredevil as ever and it still launching herself around in her usual fashion - she even managed to climb out of the bath on her own tonight, much to my surprise!</p> <p>We have attracted quite a few stares when we've been out for walks though. Passers-by see R toddling along and smile. The then see G and try to disguise mild horror when they see the bruise. A couple of people have even nudged and whispered to their companions. I've also received a few hard stares.</p> <p>I'm not hugely surprised by this. After various recent high-profile child abuse and neglect cases, the general public is more sensitive to child protection issues. However, I'd like to point out two things: 1. Abusive parents don't usually sock their children across the nose - they tend to go for the places that don't show. 2. They don't parade their poor battered child around the shops, a huge public park and popular tourist attraction. </p> <p>I can't even watch a fist fight on a soap without hiding behind a cushion. I'm a huge James Bond fan but always flinch at the fights. In short, I'm a complete wuss and can't bear violence in any form so the thought of doing anything harmful to my children is...well, unthinkable.</p> <p>Poor G. She's just as accident-prone as me. Hopefully the bruise will heal soon and she'll be back to her usual cute and lovely self.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/19/g-fought-the-floor-and-the-floor-won-6998408/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-18:/2009/09/18/g-s-bad-week-6992630/Joanna792009-09-18T20:17:07+02:002009-09-18T20:17:07+02:00 <p>This week, the following things have happened to her:</p> <p>Tuesday = conjunctivitis. Gunky, crusty eyes - drops obtained from GP.</p> <p>Wednesday = fell over whilst running and cut her lip at home). Bled a bit, cold compress applied.</p> <p>Thursday = fell over whilst running and banged her nose at nursery). Her nose immediately swelled up. Cold compress applied. She is now sporting a very attractive black and green bruise across the bridge on her nose. </p> <p>So, she looks like she's taken up boxing. Unsuccessfully. Poor G. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/18/g-s-bad-week-6992630/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-15:/2009/09/15/moving-house-plan-b-6971605/Joanna792009-09-15T20:11:36+02:002009-09-15T20:11:36+02:00 <p>Unfortunately, we're definitely doing Plan B. Instead of doing the house move in a leisurely 7 days with lots of help from friends and family, we now have to squeeze it into 3 days, with some hired help.</p> <p>Dh has the whole of next week off and I've taken Tuesday-Friday off. The girls are going into nursery for an extra day next Friday. Our landlord is definitely moving out of our new house next Wednesday and we should be getting the keys that afternoon - fingers crossed. The removal men (two men and a van) are booked for Thursday morning. The cleaners are booked to sort out our current/old house on Friday morning, ready for the checking-out inspection next Saturday. That gives us two days without the girls and one day (Saturday) with, to get both houses sorted before dh goes back to work next Sunday.</p> <p>It's doable but is going to be extremely stressful... </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/15/moving-house-plan-b-6971605/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-15:/2009/09/15/sleep-or-lack-of-yet-again-6971566/Joanna792009-09-15T20:05:39+02:002009-09-15T20:05:39+02:00 <p>So our no-nap day involving swimming, lunching and shopping didn't help the whole sleeping through thing. G woke at 4am on Monday morning and was so hysterical that she woke R, who was completely and utterly furious at being disturbed and expressed her displeasure to the whole street. When we tried to calm them down - dh dealt with R and I sorted G out - I noticed that G's feet were really cold. She had managed to kick her covers off. </p> <p>Last night we went back to grobags. R slept through beautifully (purring and snoring her little head off) but G started making noises at 3am. Argh! Luckily she went quiet fairly quickly and we all went back to sleep again. At 5am, we got another early alarm call from G. When dh went to check on her, she was completely asleep but wailing and howling. She didn't even notice that dh had entered the room.</p> <p>A 5am waking is fatal for me. I tossed and turned until the alarm went off at 6.30am and dh dozed on and off. I expected G to be feeling the after-effects of a disturbed night when we woke her up at 7.15 (dh and I were certainly pretty worried about it) but she was her usual herberty self. Night terrors? Dreams? We'll have to see. </p> <p>So, that's four consecutive sad faces on G's sleep chart (kept for our own reference, not to reward or punish her), which we (thankfully) haven't had since February? Teeth? Who knows. Will she go for number 5 tonight? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/15/sleep-or-lack-of-yet-again-6971566/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-13:/2009/09/13/how-not-to-sell-a-house-by-dickandom-6956850/Joanna792009-09-13T20:28:07+02:002009-09-13T20:28:07+02:00 <p>As the title suggests, the house we currently rent has not sold, despite the best(?) efforts of Dickandom (actually Richard, but dh gave him the nickname) the 12 year old estate agent and his colleagues. </p> <p>Over the last six weeks we've had a succession of viewings, none of which have resulted in a heathly bit of commission for Dickandom. Lots of lovely young couples, full of love, happiness and apparently with £335,000 to spend on a house come and go in a flash. </p> <p>R and G were initally quite unsettled by the ebb and flow of visitors (sometimes 3 or 4 viewings in a single day - how dare people come into the house and not immediately give them their undivided attention(?!) - but they have now developed the perfect technique for dealing with the situation. They shout HELLO HELLO at the people as they arrive, wait until they go upstairs and shout BYE BYE BYE BYE until they leave, usually in quite a hurry.</p> <p>We were trying to be co-operative to start with - tidying the house up, cleaning the bits that showed but now we barely acknowledge the procession of different faces as they come and go. </p> <p>Several other houses in this area of the same size and type have sold in the last few weeks but ours still has the 'For Sale' sign outside. Dickandom becomes more demoralised with every unsuccessful viewing. I can't think it's our decor and furniture that puts people off - we have basic but reasonable taste and prospective buyers should look at the bones of a house, not the furnishings. Several people have complained about the downstairs bathroom (annoying but you get used to it), the garden (a raised patio - unsuitable for children) and the inability to extend the house (it's in a conservation area so first floor extentions are banned and the lofts are too small to convert). I think it's the price that is putting people off.</p> <p>Our landlady desperately wants to sell the house, but only at the right price and frankly £335,000 for a two bed terraced house is ridiculous, even in this rather nice area of South-East London. It's a nice house and will sell but not unless she lowers the price. She'd better do it soon or Dickanddom might just have a nervous breakdown... </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/13/how-not-to-sell-a-house-by-dickandom-6956850/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-13:/2009/09/13/naps-sleep-tiredness-grumpiness-6956767/Joanna792009-09-13T20:13:37+02:002009-09-13T20:39:03+02:00 <p>Thanks to our swimming, lunching and shopping exploits today, we inadvertently conducted a little experiment = how long could the girls stay awake for with absolutely no daytime nap?</p> <p>G seems to have decided that 5am is the new 7am and we have been treated to a very early wake-up call for the last few mornings. Yesterday, despite a fairly busy morning in the park, G really was not happy about going up for her usual post-lunch snooze and let me, R and the whole street know exactly how she felt about it. They only nap for about 45 minutes to an hour at nursery, so they can cope with less sleep - well, G can.</p> <p>R has always needed more sleep than her sister. She quite happily sleeps for 12 hours at night and seems to need a 2 hour nap in the day as well. She only gave up the morning nap at 13 months when G decided on behalf of both of them that she didn't need it any more. </p> <p>The girls finally passed out in the car on the way back from Bluewater at 5.05pm and snoozed (loudly in R's case) for the 20 minute journey home. This power-nap seemed to be enough to tide them over until their normal 7pm bedtime. I'm not sure that I fancy trying to keep them awake every day though - R was extremely grumpy from about 2pm onwards, her displeasure becoming more vocal with every passing half-hour. G adopted a Blitz spirit attitude and sang and danced her way through her tiredness.</p> <p>As a result of this, we have decided to limit the daytime nap to an hour and a half for R (perhaps a bit less for G) and not let them sleep beyond 2pm. They are at nursery for the next couple of days so we'll put the new nap plan into action on Wednesday. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/13/naps-sleep-tiredness-grumpiness-6956767/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-13:/2009/09/13/the-little-mermaids-almost-6956680/Joanna792009-09-13T19:59:03+02:002009-09-13T19:59:03+02:00 <p>We took the girls swimming for the first time today. Friends of ours (D and C) live in a block of flats (as dh rather ungrandly calls it) that has a swimming pool in and we thought it would be a good way of introducing the girls to the water without having to deal with 67 other families jostling for space in the local public swimming pool.</p> <p>Pre-girls, in my honed 'n' toned gym days, I used to go swimming a couple of times a week and had forgotten three crucial things: 1. How much I enjoy going swimming 2. How ravenous I feel afterwards (I'm dealing with this by mainlining crisps and chocolate now the girls are in bed) and 3. How much my hair hates chlorine.</p> <p>No matter. The girls' first experience of swimming started off quite badly. We trapised down to the changing rooms adjacent to the pool and the first sight of the water produced some serious bottom lip trembling and quiet whimpering. The four of us (two for each girl) decided to press on and R and G were dressed in their swimming costumes and swim nappies for the first time. They looked very cute, if rather chunky (shot-putter thighs!) in their swimming togs. G had treated us to a 5am wake up call this morning so dh decided that as punishment, she should wear the costume with horizontal stripes on (only slightly unflattering - think George Dawes at the beach) R got to wear the pretty costume with flowers on.</p> <p>G barely made it to the side of the pool before breaking down into huge, heart-rending sobs of fear. We tried the softly-softly approach. The wails got louder. We tried the 'fling her in and hope for the best' approach. That didn't work either and led to several minutes of silent sobbing. For a little while I sat with G at the side of the pool (nowhere near the water of course), cuddling her and making soothing noises while she calmed down.</p> <p>Meanwhile, R, normally the more wary of the two was having a whale of a time in the pool with Daddy, D and C. She was slightly confused by it all to start with, but thanks to a couple of pool props - balls and floats - znd the calming presence of dh, she was soon splashing about and giggling her head off. I knew we'd cracked it when she shouted 'OUT', got out of the water (with some help), stood on the poolside steps and shouted 'READY, STEADY GO!', leapt into the pool with assistance from one of the adults and started kicking her legs.</p> <p>Dh and I swapped over and I played with R in the water while he coaxed G into edging a bit closer to the water. It was then that we saw one of the best things about having twins in action - healthy competition. G watched R getting in and out of the pool and decided she wanted a piece of the action. Gradually, with lots of cheerleading from all of us G did a little bit of light splashing at the poolside. Then she followed R on to the pool steps, gripped dh's hand and rather gingerly slipped in to the water, without tears or hysterics this time. </p> <p>G wasn't quite as brave as R but at least she was in the water. We let the girls decide how they wanted to do things and let them play by the poolside as much as they wanted, occasionally asking them if they wanted to go back into the water. We actually stayed in and around the pool for about an hour and a half and only the tiredness of the adults involved and hunger pangs drove us back into the changing rooms. D and I sorted G out and I knew dh and I had done the right thing when, as we walked back past the pool to leave, G looked at the water and giggled. </p> <p>So after a rather shaky start, another milestone reached, achieved and passed with flying colours by the girls. I hope they sleep well tonight. They certainly deserve to. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/13/the-little-mermaids-almost-6956680/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-07:/2009/09/07/disco-the-muppets-two-groovy-toddlers-6916277/Joanna792009-09-07T22:02:19+02:002009-09-07T22:04:17+02:00 <p>R and G love this song and video - I just hope they don't listen too closely to the words...</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/07/disco-the-muppets-two-groovy-toddlers-6916277/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-07:/2009/09/07/that-s-all-folks-6915801/Joanna792009-09-07T21:06:51+02:002009-09-07T21:06:51+02:00 <p>The decision has been made. Dh is booked in to have 'The' op at the beginning of October. No more babies for us.</p> <p>He's had to fight quite hard to have it done on the NHS. He first spoke to his GP about it last year and was refused on the grounds that both he and the girls were too young to contemplate such a final procedure. </p> <p>A year on, dh (and I) haven't had the change of heart that some people were perhaps expecting. At a time when several of our friends are contemplating having their first or even second (or third) babies we know that we're done with the whole baby-making thing.</p> <p>We only ever planned to have one child. After I had been told that I might have trouble conceiving, the arrival of R and G was an wonderful, unexpected bonus. We have been gifted a ready-made family. </p> <p>Although we both adore our girls, I don't feel a need to have any more babies. R and G may have been identical 'freaks of nature' (sorry Mum!) but genetics could still kick in (thanks to my Dad) and our next pregnancy might be twins of the (actual) non-identical variety. I don't think I could deal with another pregnancy on top of looking after the girls. </p> <p>Neither of us can contemplate going back to the newborn days again - I like the idea of cuddling a newborn baby but I love the idea of handing said baby back to its rightful owner again after a couple of minutes.</p> <p>We didn't have children to have babies. R and G are now reaching the age that we had children for and we want to focus on them. There's a whole world of possibilities out there and we'd like to get on with exploring them with the girls as they get older. </p> <p>My career is going really well now and I love my job. If we had another baby I'd probably have to stop working and I'm not prepared to do that. The four of us have a good work/life/nursery balance at the moment and we don't want to upset that.</p> <p>So, for all the reasons outlined above (and a million others), dh has volunteered to have the snip. He's made an incredibly brave decision, particularly as he has for some medical reason he has to have a general anaesthetic rather than the usual local procedure. </p> <p>There are no regrets, no 'what ifs' on my part. This is the right decison for all four of us. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/07/that-s-all-folks-6915801/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-07:/2009/09/07/the-stress-of-moving-house-6915519/Joanna792009-09-07T20:28:02+02:002009-09-07T20:38:08+02:00 <p>I <em>knew</em>it was all going too well. </p> <p>We had everything organised. Our new landlord and his family were moving out of the house on 14th September and we were due to pick up the keys on the 15th. Dh had booked a van for the weekend of the 19th and we had arranged for help from family and friends on the 20th. Dh had moved heaven and earth to get the week of the 20th off work and I had booked Monday 21st and 22nd off to get settled in the new house.</p> <p>Well, you know what they say about best laid plans...</p> <p>Our landlord has bought a house in Glasgow which has a sitting tenant living in it. Said sitting tenant (who, if I could get my hands on him would be nursing an extremely sore bottom as a result of me giving him a few swift kicks whilst wearing my pointiest shoes) is refusing to move out, even though he's been served notice. Lawyers are now involved and he's going to be evicted.</p> <p>This has a knock-on effect on our plans. Our new landlord is now trying to find a property to rent in Scotland short-term until he can get rid of the little (insert appropriate expletive here) and this means they may not be able to move out of our new house on 14th September as they need to find somehere suitable and go through the reference and credit check process.</p> <p>Plan A (the one outlined above) is looking quite unlikely at this stage. Allow me to introduce Plan B:</p> <p>We get the keys to our new house on Thursday 24th September. Dh and I, with the help of hired men and a large van move everything that afternoon (the girls will be at nursery). We're going to ask if nursery will take the girls on the 25th as a one-off so that we can get properly sorted out without two manic toddlers under our feet. We're going to hire a cleaner to clean our current/old house so that we don't have the stress of doing that whilst simultaneously unpacking the new house and taking care of the girls. </p> <p>Luckily, we don't have to be out of our current house until 27th September so we have a bit of leeway. However, Plan A is much less stressful all-round.</p> <p>Argh. Why is nothing ever simple? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/07/the-stress-of-moving-house-6915519/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:houseoftwins.blog.co.uk,2009-09-07:/2009/09/07/don-t-swim-so-close-to-me-6915479/Joanna792009-09-07T20:23:13+02:002009-09-07T20:23:13+02:00 <p>We took the girls to the London Aquarium on Saturday. It was not exactly a roaring success. Well, the trip in and out of Waterloo was by TRRRRAIN TRRRRRAIN. Walking along the South Bank was quite nice. The museum shop wasn't bad either.</p> <p>G HATED the fish, which was a pretty major problem. More precisely, she detested the manta rays. They were in a large open tank and kept floating over to the side and flapping in a rather odd manner. G coped with the smaller fish but was convinced that the rays would leap out and attack her in the manner of the bloodthirsty rabbits in the Life of Brian. </p> <p>She leapt into dh's arms and buried her head in his shoulder, sobbing. She started wailing MUMMY MUMMY as the tears rolled down her face. This wasn't her average diva strop. This was proper fear. </p> <p>We tried explaining that the fish couldn't escape and touched the glass to demonstrate that there was a barrier between us and the 'killer' fish but G was having none of it. In the end, dh and R strolled round (she was fine but preferred to keep a respectable distance away from the tanks) and I took G to the shop to create havoc with bouncy balls.</p> <p>G adores animals normally She loves ducks, edeputs (elephants), amals (camels), flammys (flamingos), dats (cats), doggies (self-explanatory), raffs (giraffes), lions, gooooose (geese) and tigers. However, sea-dwelling creatures are clearly not her thing. </p> <p>Still, the rest of us enjoyed our morning out. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://houseoftwins.blog.co.uk/2009/09/07/don-t-swim-so-close-to-me-6915479/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>