How to keep your kids in the tub? YooKidoo!

Recently my boys started to try climbing out of the bath tub.  They are not yet big enough to accomplish it , but it was starting to stress me out.  My sister in law gave the boys the coolest bath tub toy for their birthday.  Not only does it keep them obsessed with staying in the tub, but I no longer have to run a trickle of water for their entertainment.  This is also a good thing because it keeps their attention away from the hot tap.  The toy is by Yookidoo and is called the Yookidoo Flow 'N' Fill Spout.  It uses a battery to recirculate water and comes with three different cups to play with.  I can not say enough about how great this toy with.  When bathing twins, anything that makes life easier is great!

Oh yeah, and my mother bought them the cutest robes recently.  I had received bath robes earlier as a gift, but found them useless to use on a baby that can't walk.  But, these robes have also made bath time easier for me now that they are walking.  This is because my husband and I used to have to both be present at the end of bath time to pull two babies out of the tub and into their towels safely.  Now, with these robes, only one of us needs to be there to pull one out at a time, and send them out the door knowing they are warm and dry.  Did I mention they are super cute too?

The Advantages of Twins

I recently made a list of advantages of having twins for a friend when she was pregnant.  (I wish I still had it because it would make this post a lot quicker to write!)  She had been a little down after all she heard were horror stories from other twin moms.   Why people do this do each other, I will never know.  There are numerous benefits to having twins.  This list probably isn't long enough!

1. Grandparents can't get jealous of each other because there is one baby for each to hold.
2. Double the snuggles.
3. When one baby isn't sure it wants to eat something, they often do when they see their twin eating it.
4. You become very efficient at everything.
5. You get to dress them alike.
6. They play with each other from a very early age.
7. They are more content to be left alone by you because they always have a companion.
8. They sleep better also because they do not feel alone.
9. It is easier to feed them solid food because you're not left with as many leftovers as when you try to feed just one baby.
10. The dad is a very involved parent.
11.  Did I mention double the snuggles?

My new addiction - finding a new brand of cloth diapers...

OK, so my new addiction is trying to find a new brand of cloth diapers to use.  Alas, the mountain of BumGenius diapers I bought have not worked out for me. (see earlier post)  Turns out microfiber and a super HE machine equals one stinky batch of diapers.  So, I am on a mission to find the perfect diaper.  Turns out, I need all natural fibers to prevent the stink. So far I have tried GroBaby, Soft Bums, and Bottom Bumpers.  I must admit the Bamboo Soft Bums are fantastic.  A bit pricey though... so I am still searching.  It turns out there are so many to choose from.

 As Thoroughly Modern Milly would say,
"Searching.  Searching.  Always Searching."

(image is from http://buckingthewave.wordpress.com/)

Pretend your twins are older then they really are.

Huh?  Who doesn't want to slow down time, stop their babies from aging, or prevent their infants from becoming toddlers? Ummmm.... me. 

Over the last two weeks my boys have started walking.  I have to admit that my joy is for mostly selfish reason.  I no longer have to make two trips to get the babies in the car.  I no longer have to make two trips to get the boys outside to play.  I no longer have to make two trips... oh, you get the picture.  I take each one by the hand and away we go.  Now, it may take us 5-10 minutes to actually make it across the yard to get to the van, but once we are there - we are gone! 

So, Carter was the only one who could actually walk when we made our first attempt at this.   Gerrit was held up by his hand as he stumbled along trying to keep up.  But, he made it to the van and was soooo proud of himself.  Now they are both walking.  Today they took my hands and tried to steer me towards the door to go outside.  They were most upset when I forced a detour to the living room.

To get outside you have to go out the back door and onto our concrete porch.  There are no railings and there are three large (well worn smooth) stone steps to climb down.  After one week of trying to keep them off the porch and carrying them down, I gave up.  Yesterday I opened the door and let them crawl across the porch and down the stairs all by themselves. They did this sort-of scraping ,slide down the steps, slither.  But, I figured if it hurt, they would complain.  Again, I got huge smiles of accomplishment when they got to the bottom, and my life was made a lot easier.

I sometimes wonder am I too lenient?  Is my mother reading this and having an internal heart attack?  Probably so.  But, I think that as a mother of twins you have to let your children grow up faster and be more independent then you ever imagined you would have allowed.  Maybe it also stems from the fact that I was not the first born child, and so was left to my own devices more.  Who knows?