Life has been soooooo busy lately, and I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. So I decided today I would more or less recycle a post I wrote on my private family blog when the twins were about 6 weeks old. Enjoy!
Counting
When I was about 10, I started working on my first novel. Yes, it was a novel, clocking in at over 170 typed pages. Anyway, the novel was your typical, completely unimaginative conversion story–super hot and popular high school girl meets sweet and caring LDS guy. She gets converted, they get married, they have kids. Or, in this case, 14 children.
You heard right. 14 children. To my 10-year-old brain, that was an ideal life.
Now that I am actually married and a mother, I am a little more reasonable in my demands. 6 kids would be great. Because despite the fact that last night at about 1 a.m. I was whining and begging my babies, “Please, go to sleep!” I seriously love motherhood.
But being a mom of twins is extra-special, I think. Having never been mom to a singleton I can’t say for sure, but I have the sneaking suspicious mothering twins is a whole new ball game. It means twice the love, twice the cuddling, twice the fun. And twice a lot of other things. So, for the sake of posterity (and so I can remind the boys of all I’ve done for them in about 15 years when they’re difficult teenagers), here are some average daily totals to consider. Each day (on average), we go through…
20 diapers
50 wipes
4 outfits (each baby typically spits up and/or pees on their outfit each day, necessitating a change)
3 sleepers (at least one of them usually pees on it during the night)
4 burp clothes
2 receiving blankets
7 feedings
5 1/2 hours spent just nursing
2 wash cloths
2 bath towels (every other day)
5 cotton balls
6 hours sleep (for me…and definitely NOT in one stretch, usually in 2-3 stretches)
15 hours sleep (for each baby)
2 bouncer chairs
2 baths (every other day)
Totally worth it? Absolutely. I can’t imagine my life any other way. 🙂 I don’t want my life any other way. When I was pregnant, sometime I worried that once the babies were here I’d be disappointed. I had wanted a baby for so long…what if it wasn’t all I had hoped for and more? I shouldn’t have worried. Being a stay-at-home mom ROCKS! I already think my boys are growing up WAY too fast. Even though the days blur together and sometimes I can’t believe we’re still on such-and-such a day, time is flying by.
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In the last two weeks I’ve had two nieces born, and it’s made me think a lot about those early days with the twins. I miss them in a lot of ways, but in other ways I’m so glad we’re past the 2 a.m. feedings bit. Every day with Thing 1 and Thing 2 is a blessing. I love being their mom.
TWIN MOM TIP: Sometimes it’s hard to enjoy life with newborn twins. Try to remember “this too shall pass” and live in the moment. Believe it or not, one day you’ll miss it.
How do you other parents feel when you see a new baby? Does it make you miss the baby phase, or does it make you glad you’re past it?
