We have a walker!

Oh my God, Kayla is walking!! 

About 3 weeks ago, she took her first steps.  I was at my sister-in-law’s house, in her newly finished basement and Kayla stood up on her own which she had been doing for a while.  Jaimie said, “Kayla, come to Aunt Jaimie.”  Kayla looked at her, looked at me and fully took 3 steps to her Aunt Jaimie!  It was amazing!  Ever since then, she would take a few steps here or there, but not really take off.  I went to this fabulous baby and kid shoe store and would ask every day if I should get her real walking shoes yet, but the answer was always, “No!”  I was told to wait until she was taking 7-10 steps consistently.  So I waited. And waited. And waited.

In the meantime, because my sister-in-law is my best friend, we do a lot of things together.  Since she was finishing her basement, I decided it was time to finish my basement.  Of course, we used the same company and as soon as they were ready they started my basement.  The only problem with that was that now I was pretty much stuck upstairs in the girls’ room with them any time we were home.  Their room is super nice, but kind of small, especially with 2 cribs in it.  So, this left little room for Kayla to really practice her walking.

But, finally, my basement was finished this weekend, and Kayla literally took off!  She walked across the whole room, multiple times, smiling and laughing the whole time!  She is so proud of herself!  And, she’s walked out in public too!  It’s ridiculously adorable!  And, it makes me feel like she’s not such a baby anymore!  She’s really getting to be a big girl!  And here, I remember being so nervous that as preemies; the girls would be delayed with everything.  But, at 13.5 months I fully have a walker! 

Zoey, on the other hand, is not there yet.  She’s been about a month behind Kayla with most developmental milestones.  And she did take her first few steps alone with me and her babysitter, who is like part of my family at this point.  Literally she is amazing!  She even bought the girls their first pairs of Uggs – Emma’s the best!  Anyway, now, Zoey won’t let go of my fingers when she walks.  She wants to walk constantly, especially when she sees Kayla walking.  But, she won’t let go again, at least not yet.  We’ll see when she gets brave enough….That should be a whole new adventure!    

The Diner

Most of what I’ve been blogging about has to do with being a mom of twins, but I hope anyone out there can relate!  My next story proves that while 2 babies seem impossible, things can be quite difficult with just 1 baby too!

I went out to lunch with one of my fabulous new mommy friends and we decided to go to a diner.  What I’ve noticed is that many diners have sassy seats instead of high chairs.  For those of you who don’t know, a sassy seat is a seat that literally attaches to the table.  It is actually pretty useful and takes up less space than a highchair I think.  When I first used them, I was impressed.  But, I waited until the girls were relatively big and could really sit up well in the highchair.

Anyway, my friend and I sat at a table and had 3 sassy seats, one for her son and 2 for my girls.  The meal was great, we had a fabulous time talking and all 3 kids were really very well behaved.  As we were getting ready to go, I took the girls out of their seats and I put Zoey on the floor and was holding Kayla.  My friend unbuckled her son, turned to her bag for a second, and by the time she turned back, noticed her son had slipped down the sassy seat and was basically dangling on the seat towards the floor underneath our table.  I threw Kayla on the floor and went under the table to grab him and pull him down to safety while my friend remained very calm above the table.  But, just when I thought I had him, his head got stuck between the table and the seat and he started crying.  My friend shouted, “Push him back up, push him back up!”  So, I started pushing his butt back up so that my friend could grab him that way.  Finally, a waiter came over and released the seat so that we pushed it back and got her son up.  He was a champ, cried a little and then was totally fine!  The two of us stared at each other and then started cracking up!  In the meantime my girls were both standing on her stroller, trying to climb their way into it.  Needless to say, it was quite an adventurous trip to the diner!  My friend kept saying she was the worst mom and I said, “Are you kidding?  You handled them beautifully!”  Besides, she read my last entry and knew I’ve done worse!  Like I said before, the point is 1 baby, 2 babies, 10 babies – something can always go wrong!  But, if you stay as calm as you can and know things will be fine, your baby or babies will hopefully stay calm too!

So, it feels like I’ve caught you guys up on the first year of life as a mom of twins.  Going forward, I’ll blog at least once a week, but mostly when something happens or I think of something to tell you!  Again, please don’t hesitate to contact me with any specific questions, concerns or comments.  I really appreciate all the support and look forward to see where twinsplicity will go next.  Stay tuned….

"Firsts"

So, in the last year there have been some amazing “firsts” and some not so amazing “firsts!”  Some of the best and worst moments have definitely been when one or both of my girls did something for the first time.  Let’s talk about the good ones first…

While I don’t remember the exact moment as well as I wish I did, the first time the girls smiled and I didn’t think it was gas was a heart melter for sure!  But, the 2 “firsts” that were the biggest life changers for me were the first time they both slept through the night and the first time they both sat up by themselves.  As for sleeping, I think it’s pretty obvious as to why that made a HUGE difference in my life (and my husband’s!).  When we woke up the next morning, we both looked at each other and asked if the other one had heard anything?  We just couldn’t believe they actually slept.  Of course, then all I could think about that day was if they would do it again that night!  And they did!  At about 5.5 months, I had 2 babies that slept 12 hours and continue to today (I’m knocking on wood as I type this because I don’t want to jinx anything.  I have 2 amazing sleepers and I don’t think I could handle it if that changed!).

Sitting up made a big difference for a few reasons.  First of all, once the girls sat up both of them seemed to be relieved of their reflux symptoms.  They were spitting up less, which meant not only were they happier, but I could actually wear some of my nice clothes I had been dying to fit back into without the worry of smelling like cheese!  And, the sitting up just made everything better!  The girls could be entertained for longer periods of time sitting up and playing with toys.  I think this is also when they kind of started interacting with each other a little bit.  Kayla would have a toy and Zoey would reach over for it.  It was amazing to see them together – 2 babies sitting up and playing is truly indicative of the saying “2 is better than 1!”  This is when I started believing that!!

Unfortunately, along with these wonderful moments, there were some scary “firsts” too.  As I mentioned in my last blog, my mommy friends have saved me over this last year.  They also helped give me the confidence that I can totally manage 2 babies.  Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that I definitely have my limitations as a mother of twins.   Let me explain, but please do not think I’m a bad mother!

During the summer, I had a playgroup on Fridays at my pool in my development.  A bunch of us got together with the babies to swim and eat lunch.  My pool has a baby pool which made it manageable for me to attend with the girls.  And of course, my friends were always ready to help if I needed it.  Anyway, 1 Friday only my friend Carrie and I could make it so we met at the pool as usual, played, had lunch and went back in the pool.  As we were getting ready to get out, I grabbed Kayla and then went to pick Zoey up at the same time to step out of the baby pool.  I must have stepped on something as I started getting up and Zoey literally fell out of my arms.  She flipped in the air and landed face down in the pool.  Carrie grabbed Kayla from me and I grabbed Zoey who cried (thank G-d that meant she was breathing) and I have to say, calmed down pretty quickly.  I, on the other hand, thought I had just killed my baby and started freaking out a little!  In the meantime, Carrie’s daughter Ava was playing and was totally fine.  Carrie was amazing – she kept me calm, helped me get both girls out of the pool and tried to make me laugh about it.  I wasn’t totally there yet, but everyone seemed okay.  I brought the girls home, called Dave to tell him what I did and watched Zoey like a hawk the rest of the day.  Of course Carrie checked in and everything seemed fine.  That night Zoey had a bath and seemed perfectly content in the water. (As a former lifeguard and swim instructor I was scared she would now be scared of the water.)  The next day Dave and I took the girls back to the pool and Zoey was amazing in the water!  She was splashing and laughing and actually stretching out her arms and legs to “swim.”  So, while the first time I thought I killed my kid was scary, if Zoey becomes an Olympic swimmer in her future, I would like a little credit for getting her used to the pool (in an unconventional way that I do not recommend)!!

Making Mommy Friends

If you can stay home with your baby or babies, I highly recommend making mommy friends!  Join classes or groups, do whatever you have to do, but find people you connect with that you can go on this journey with.  These friends should be people you can laugh with, cry to, complain to and have fun with!  I think besides getting yourself out of the house to stay sane, you also need some comrades going through similar situations with you to stay sane as well.  But, please, please, please, try not to compare your babies to each other.  You’ll do it anyway, no matter what I say, but try to understand that every baby is different and just because a friend’s baby sits up first, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with your baby.

Anyway, the year I was trying to get pregnant and going through fertility treatments, a bunch of my friends got pregnant.  Honestly, my first reaction was always that I was so happy for them and I made sure they knew it!  But, of course, in private with Dave, I would be a little sad for myself and for us and wonder when it would be our turn.  But, when it finally became our turn, the good news was that we already had a bunch of our closest friends who would have babies in the same school grade together!  In fact, 2 of my best friends and I had our babies within 2 weeks of each other and my oldest friend in the world had her baby a little more than a month later!  This all sounded fabulous except for the fact that all these girls were going back to work after 3 months or lived in Manhattan while I had moved out to Long Island.  So, I needed some new mommy friends!

Living in a development was the best thing for me because without even trying, I constantly met young moms with kids.  In fact, 3 of the friends I had already made in the development, pre-preggers, all had babies in the same grade.  They introduced me to some of their friends with babies the same age and once my girls were born, instant playgroup!  All of these friends were on their second or third child at this point and that was amazing for me – they definitely helped keep me more than sane through those first 4 months, have now seen me at my best and my worst, and still want to hang out with me!  While all of these moms have 1 baby at a time, they helped me to relax about a lot of things and pushed me to try things with the girls, like real food and high chairs, before I thought I was ready for it!  I cannot thank them enough for the friendships we now share and I know we will be friends for a long time to come!

I also joined a group on Long Island, called Mingling Moms.  Four luncheons were set up for us with guest speakers and there, I met some wonderful “first time mommy friends!”  These women were in the same boat as me, having their first baby and live close by to me, but no one had twins.  That was okay though, because we all still understood the sleepless nights together and again, they have seen me at my best and worst and I also have them to thank for my sanity!  We made playgroups together, have taken music classes together and are about to start our first Mommy and Me class this week, which I am so excited for!  With this amazing group of women, as well as my “second time mommy friends,” Dave and I have found a wonderful social life that has helped me make it through a year with twins (Dave likes their husbands so we have all gotten together as families and as couples many time and I love them!!).

However, I also would not have made it through without my twins mom friend!  I joined the Mother of Twins Club on Long Island and definitely felt supported through the online forums.  I attended a few functions, like the Annual Fashion Show, but the best thing to come out of the club is the friendship I made with another mom of twins!  While all my other mommy friends are phenomenal, this friend really understands what I went through and what I will continue to go through with 2 babies at the same time!  We have very similar stories and we both have fraternal girls that are 3 months apart.  We met on a blind internet date sort of that my other mommy friends thought I was crazy for doing!  In the twins club, I decided to organize a playgroup for twins around the same age and though it would be a good idea to invite total strangers with their twins into my house.  A few people said they would come, but cancelled last minute except for this mom.  Luckily, she was not a serial killer, and we have formed a wonderful friendship that I hope will continue in the years to come. 

I really do have to thank all of the amazing friends I have made over the last year.  Like I said, you have truly helped keep me sane and have proved to me that I can do it!  THANK YOU!!