Forward Progress

Raise your hand if you're at work today…just me?...it feels like its just me. #privatesectorlife

I love this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. that Oshkosh Kids shared on instagram earlier. I've noticed over the last 16 months that not only has everything changed in day-to-day life since F&A were born, duhhhh, but that my mindset has changed.

This quote made me think of all of the times over the last year where I thought we weren't going to make it; where it was just too damn hard, and yet, we woke up the next day and tried again. I frequently tell our daycare director, "There's always tomorrow; we'll be better tomorrow," when I forget sippy cups or nap mats or that one time Mark dropped Fitz off with only one shoe on… We don't always fly, but we always move forward.

via Oshkosh kids insta

Mothering Without Noticing

Fitzgerald and Alexander will be one in six weeks. Six weeks. I've been a mother for nearly one full year. I don't think any of it has really hit me. I've just been moving—constantly moving—towards the next day. I don't spend every day thinking, oh how sweet is this milestone or that. I've just been doing, been mothering, without even noticing.

 

Sometimes I am acutely aware of the fact that I don't have these moments of being extremely grateful and happy to be a mom. I'm just too damn tired and too damn busy.

 

But then earlier this week it hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m their mom. Like, that's it. Me. I'm the one they got.

I normally am not the one to pick them up from school, so by the time we're all at home together, I'm unloading the dishwasher, getting their bath ready, trying to figure out something for Mark and I to eat for dinner…there's not a lot of play time. But it's been different this week, and one day I was the one that got them at 5:40.

Fitzy is cutting two teeth and has been extremely clingy. So when we got home from school, he just wouldn’t settle down. Of course this is happening at the same time Alex has an upset stomach and has been barfing all day. #twinlife 

So instead of dumping them in their exersaucers while I got laundry going or did the dishes or prepped for dinner, I sat on the floor with them. We all played with wooden blocks. I watched them play together and try to play with me. Fitzy took wobbly steps towards me, hands out stretched, shrieking. It hit me.

I'm their mother.

He wants me, because he's hurting and I'm his momma.

That night I did everything I used to make fun of "moms on social media" for doing. I felt #blessed, in the most non-ironic sense of the word. I completely ignored my emails, the piled to the sky laundry, the dirty dishes and the television. I read three BabyLit books aloud and threw a light up beach ball at my son to his peals of laughter.

It was a good feeling.

Surviving The First Year: Infant Toys We Love

Infant Toys We Love by jmjohnson4 on Polyvore

Infantino Pat Play Water Mat Infantino / Exersaucer Doorway Jumper Bumbly ExerSaucer / Little Tikes® Discover & Learn Activity Center™ | ToysRUs / Infantino Go GaGa 12-Piece Block Set / Infantino Go GaGa Textured Ball 10-Piece Set : Target

Full disclosure: I'm not a perfect mother—far from it in fact. Hard to believe, right? Someone on the internet admitting their faults? HA! Sometimes I really am on the ball and we are a well-oiled machine of love and grace and baby laughs. Sometimes we are just decidedly not. Like last week when I forgot to send food in the babies' bag for daycare and they had to eat back up baby food. Thank God in Heaven for their daycare director, she is my personal angel.

But, as we are about to enter into the 10th month of doing this life with twins thing, I think I have a pretty fair handle on what's worked for us and what hasn't, product-wise. After their first few months I posted the newborn products we couldn't live without, and if I am being totally honest, we still can't live without most of them. Long live the MamaRoos!! & the Baby Keurig, for realsies.

As Fitz and Alex have grown, changed and matured, I've noticed that a great deal of the "active infant" entertainment stuff hasn't really worked for us. What has? The old fashioned methods: Rubber balls, a few other baby toys and the middle of their room. They will entertain themselves for hours just broing out.

I wish I was kidding.

And then there's the Pat & Play Water Mat. It was one of the only toys I registered for and I ended up buying it for myself, months before the twins arrived. I absolutely love it and so do they. I swear, I've seen them almost fight over who gets to whack at it play with it, during tummy time. It makes me so happy to see a toy I loved in store bring them so much joy. 

We've got a set of door jumpers we love, the boys especially love jumping in them in the front door; as well as a set of activity centers, which if I'm being honest I don't totally love, but the boys seem to like them fine. Otherwise, we're not fancy.

I'm sure other folks like their high chairs with bells and whistles, but these IKEA chairs work great and are extremely easy to clean. When you're talking about dried baby food and mashed puffs and spilled juice and baby funk, hard plastic that can be hosed down with 409 really is the ticket.

The boys aren't crawling yet, though they certainly haven't let that stop themselves from being mobile, so I'm sure I'll have to invest in some walkers in the future. I honestly haven't even looked into them. What else do I need to keep my eye out for on Babies R Us?

Surviving The First Year: Newborn Products We Love

Products We Can't Live Without by jmjohnson4 on Polyvore

A lot of people ask me what my day looks like—how exactly we handle having two babies at once. And to be honest, I have no idea how we handle it. I'm not sure I've got it all figured out; in fact I know I don't have it all figured out. Some days it's like nothing has changed and we are a seamless unit. Other days, we're firmly on the struggle bus. Like last Wednesday for example.

The biggest thing I tell people that ask questions about this whole shebang called having newborn twins is that I don't know any different. Yes, it's hard for other mothers of singletons to relate, because you only know what it's like to feed one child in the middle of the night or maneuver one infant carrier through a doorframe. I've never done just one. Don't bless my heart when you see me rolling through a door with my double snap'n'go (lifesaver by the way). I don't need it. This is my normal.

But my normal is GREATLY aided by some key products. In fact, there are a few things that I believe 10000% are worth the larger price tag they carry. We are fortunate that I have a large family and two moms that threw me baby showers, so we got a large number of the things I registered for.

One notable thing we didn't get, and had to purchase ourselves was the Baby Brezza Bottle Maker. Y'all. This thing is a gamechanger. Think of it as a formula Keurig: place bottle in slot, push button, have prepared bottle in minutes. I used a coupon and purchased it when Target had a rebate available so that helped shave off some of the sting, but honestly, even if you can't get it on discount, purchase this item. Especially if you have twins. I make at least 12 bottles a day. 12. Mind you, that's with both sleeping through the night. Using the Baby Brezza, I can make all my bottles when I need them, no reheating, mixing or keeping track of anything.

Besides the Baby Keurig, the two other biggest keys to my sanity have been 4moms products: the infant tub and the MamaRoo. 4moms infant tub is more expensive than others, but it has a thermostat build in as well as two drains in the main basin, allowing water to flow out of the tub during the bath. No more sitting in dirty bath water. When you are bathing two babies back to back, that kind of feature is awesome. So worth the $50 price tag, in my opinion.

The MamaRoo is the top product in our home right now. Because, I could make it without the baby Keurig, not that I would want to but I could, and I could just use the sink. I could not survive without the MamaRoo. This spaceship looking contraption is a swing on steroids. It's got like five different patterns it moves in with adjustable speeds as well. Putting my kids in their MamaRoos is like giving me a glass bottle of wine and a box of fluffy puppies after a tough day. It's just incredibly soothing. Two babies means two MamaRoos, and at $250 a piece that's not exactly budget friendly. Luckily, we got ours as a gift from Grandpop Ditz and MarMar, but I have seen MamaRoos at consignment sales and listed on Craigslist, so there are other options. I can't stop gushing about this thing and have steered multiple well meaning grandparents at a metro Atlanta Babies R Us towards this as a gift for their daughter/daughter in law.

Even though my kids are strong and I am lazy, I fully believe in the healing power of a snug swaddle. Enter Summer Infant Velcro SwaddleMe Sack Thing. The three pack is what you need to buy every preggo you know that you are going to her shower and don't want to spend more than $30. The tabs are easy to use and the swaddle stays snug all night long, helping that angel babe of yours stay asleep longer.

We use Dr. Brown's bottles, and have no complaints. Pretty much everyone, including our pediatrician, recommended them to us and I have to say, I like them. They are a total pain in the ass to wash by hand SO.MANY.PIECES. But, we have, knock on wood, not battled colic and the gas seems to be under control.

Same goes for my bib of choice, Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature—recommended to us but more personal choice than anything. I think the rolled neck cuts down on a lot of the would be neck cheese, but otherwise, it's just a drool and spat up milk catcher.

I like the Carter's three-piece sets because boy clothes are surprisingly cuter than I thought they would be. Same goes for jammies, the zippers are so easy! I HATE buying the ones with snaps now.

So that's what I've found works for us nearly four months in. What do you think I missed? What do I need for the next three months?