To You, My Twins

On this day, ten years ago, my entire world changed. I went from being a woman with no kids to have two itty, bitty babies. I had a little boy that would cause me so much fear during his nine days in the NICU. I had a little girl that showed how strong and stubborn she was by only being in the NICU for seven days and beating jaundice.

It is bittersweet, sometimes, to think about the fact that my kids are growing up. I wonder what they will be like from year to year. As they near their teens, I find myself wondering how they will be. How  will Boy Child sound once his voice deepens? Will Girl Child still have her love for her Beary?

It seems so foreign to me to say "I have 10 year olds". The realization is setting in that, next year, I'll have 11 year olds, then 12, then 13 and so on. As much as I joke about my kids driving me nuts, my time with them as children is growing shorter and shorter every year.

Happy birthday, my sweet Boy Child and brilliant Girl Child. For a decade, we have been part of each other. I'm so incredibly proud of you both. My birthday wish for you two is that, as you prepare for your last year of elementary school, you find your voices in this big world. I love you both so very much.

Girl Child (l) and Boy Child (r) 3 months old

Girl Child and Boy Child age 5

Boy Child and Girl Child (with Lil Bit) age 9

The Challenge of Multiples

Boy and Girl Child are fraternal twins. They were born, via c-section, at 33 weeks. Boy Child is 30 seconds older than Girl Child. They were due September 8, I had them July 24. They were breech position, facing each other, fists up. They came out fighting. 

Boy and Girl Child and Lil Bit

Ask any mother of multiples and she will tell you that having multiples brings about certain challenges that most parents don't have to face. You have decisions to make that most parents don't and let's not even discuss the wish for a few extra sets of arms.

Some of the things parents of multiples have to deal with are:

*Same eating schedules. Basically, when you have multiples, you learn the art of bottle propping. Now, I know there are people out there that are absolutely against this, but those people don't realize that you can't feed two or more babies at the same time without some sort of help. I use to prop Boy and Girl Child up with pillows, then feed them. It worked and I did a little dance when they started holding their own bottles.

*NOT the same sleeping schedule. Imagine this: It's the middle of the night. Baby wakes up, you change him, then feed him and get him back to sleep. Then YOU go back to sleep, right? Not if you have multiples. As soon as you get baby to sleep, you have another that you need to change and feed. What most people do in 30 minutes or so, you are up half the night doing. And people wondered why I walked around with an IV of coffee.

*Birthday parties can be a bummer. This is especially true if you have boy/girl multiples, like I do. It's not that bad when they are younger, but as they grow up and gain their own friends and individuality, they start not wanting joint birthdays or they want their own theme or what have you. It's not fun, the constant arguing about how to celebrate and it become costly.

*School is really fun. A lot of parents of multiples have the challenge of not wanting their kiddos separated, but the school has a policy and......take if from me, I've been there. When Boy and Girl Child went to preschool, they were in the same class. Their teacher suggested, at the end of the year, that I separate them from then on out because Girl Child was mothering Boy Child and it was holding them both back. Every set of multiples has that dominate one. If you don't separate them, the dominant one will try to take over the care of the more laid back one and both can suffer from it. I recommend separating them immediately and letting them become their own people.

*The questions. In my case, Girl Child is about 2 inches or so taller than Boy Child and outweighs him by 20 pounds. She looks older than him (even though he is actually older). I get a lot of comments like "Well, you sure didn't wait long, did you?" or, when I give their birthday I get "There's no way they can share a birthday!!" When they were babies, people asked if they were twins. Obviously...........
The world has a fascination with multiples and this prompts so many questions that you get sick of answering them. They are almost like side show people....people literally fall over themselves to get a question in. It's ridiculous.

I could go on and on about how being a mom of multiples is different. There are 5 years between Boy and Girl Child and Lil Bit, so I kind of have experience on both fronts. Either way, I have awesome kids and I wouldn't change a whole lot about them.......

Well, maybe I'd have some wittier comebacks to the questions........

Sleeptastic ficticious and the unmotivated mommy monster.

Have I told you how much of a wonderful, euphoric inducing, loving and understanding  of a husband I have? As much as it irrates me that I can't gripe about him to friends without hearing, " Oh shut up Jen! You have noo right to complain! You have an amazing husband." And that I do. Did you all know my husband was a finalist in the "Twiniversity Super Dad contest." He is finalist B :) So, yeah- he's amazing. But here's yet, another example, of why I am not allowed to gripe and moan about him. (I am so going to kick myself in the face for this later.)

I suffer from anxiety. I have it pretty darn bad. The hypochondriac in me would also swear I have OCD as well. When i'm overwhelmed with a mess, and I cannot do it to my perfection (which isn't literally perfection.) I freeze up and nothing gets done. If it gets severe enough (at times it does) I don't even play with the kids, something I do everyday, for sometimes, all day affairs. Yesterday, was one of my bad days. I went anti social for the entire day, avoided phone calls, texts and any type of social contact. By the time Dale got home, I was curled up on the bed surrounded by a messy house and an empty stove. We'd spent the entire weekend (minus Calibug's birthday which was AWESOME! Happy birthday again baby girl!!) switching up rooms. So the girls are in one room and boys in a different. Our sick dog had peed in the floor 4 times, Maylon had spit chocolate milk all over carpets and himself. One room was finished- but trashed again. The other room a wreck equal with the rest of the house.

Super daddy/hubby made tacos (chopped fresh veggies and all.) Used the carpet cleaner to clean BOTH rooms, brushed all the kids teeth and put them all to bed, diaper changes and all....while I slept. I woke myself up to a spot of drool on my pillow, the kids tucked in bed and him cleaning the boys' carpet. I woke up, and immediately began helping. He'd motivated me to get my act together. So, I did just that. I got the kitchen cleaned, laundry finished, coffee prepped for the next day and this: I'd broken a nail. A gel nail. OWWWW.

Sooooo.....enough of that. That's too painful for me to look at.

As much as I tease myself for being a hypochondriac, I have actually been through some crud in my life. If I made a list of anything and everything i've been diagnosed with i'd be able to train a handful of medical professionals based on the health issues i've had alone. Add in what my children have gone through and I could probably put them through med school. I joke, I joke. I kid I kid. However, insomnia is most certainly on my long list of diagnoses. Well, fortunately-unfortunately I have been prescribed sleep in a bottle. This miracle drug that sends me enroute to Never-never land. But just as I am sick, I am also hard headed and stubborn. Which is why i'm running on fumes. AND by fumes, i'm talking 2 hours. All because I'd forgotten to take my miracle pill when I was all ghyped up and wanting to stay up all night.  My sleep register is on E and sleep is not in my near future. Well,at least until bedtime. So, there it is folks, haha! Take your meds and love your honey!!!

♥ Jen♥



My name is Jen.

Hi. My name is Jen.

"Hi Jen!"

I am going to be adding a section or two to The Mommy Chronicles. I am a 28 year old stay at home mom to 4 (Yeah, I know..) children ages 9,4 and 2 year old twins. (Yeah...I know!) Trinity is my 9 year old preteen drama queen. Kaden is the red fury. Maylon is our wailin' Maylon. Ava is the witch and our sweetie peatie. I have 2 dogs, a Boston terrier named Vixie and a pug/ yorkie mix named Buddy whom we've rescued from a meth lab. My husband is a Marine who makes me pretty darn happy :) We've been married for 4 years.  Sarah and I have been friends for about 2 yeas or so now. We met on a drama ridden site for "moms." I adore her and she is not only funny, smart, open minded and caring- but she's a great friend.

Now that I have the basics down. I want to share with you a blogger resume. Haha. Well at least to the best of my ability. I am so very new at this and am looking forward to growing with you all. Every week I deal with anaphylactic allergies, severe ezcema, allergy induced asthma, a sick pet, PTSD related anxiety/depression amongst other trials. I have left quite a path of experience in my days. My life can be pretty chaotic at times..and life is,at times,exhausting. But you have to look it in the eyes (with coffee in a mug of course!) and sieze the day. Spray  in some whip cream and drizzle a little caramel and face it with a sweet smile. Or Jack Nicholson Psycho. Tomato...tomatoe.

School Supply Shopping, Birthday Parties and Turning 7

Sunday, my big babies will be 7. Holy Crap! Where did time go?! It seems like yesterday, they were babies, now they are turning 7 and starting 2nd grade next month!
We finished up our birthday shopping for them yesterday. Sebastian is getting a Transformers watch, a big Optimus Prime (to go with his big Bumblebee and Megatron), and the 2nd Transformers movie (this is all from us) plus the first Transformers movie from my mom (she lives in FL and couldn't be here. It's the first birthday she's missed). Anastasia is getting a Hannah Montana watch, a Justin Bieber CD and the Justin Bieber movie "Never Say Never" (I told her that Walmart sold them all and wouldn't get anymore, so she will be really surprised!) from us and a Monster High doll from my mom. Should he remember, my husband is getting the money order so we can reserve the community room for their party on Saturday. I'll go and finish up the decoration shopping and stuff like that probably Friday. I can't WAIT to see how their cupcake cake turned out. We got them their own, in the shape of a 7. Sebastian's colors are red, blue and yellow (OP and BumbleBee colors, of course) and Anastasia's are pink, purple and yellow (her fave colors and yellow for Bumblebee). I'll post pics and stuff after we have the party.
As I mentioned at the beginning, school starts 8/10. I'm SOOO excited! We went school supply shopping last night. We got everything except tissues and looseleaf paper. They were sold out of those. We are going shopping for clothes and shoes this weekend (note to self, find Rack Room Shoes coupon). We are really doing good this year. We usually wait until the very last minute and miss out on everything. I'm excited to go to the open house and meet their teachers. I'm friends with Anastasia's 1st grade teacher and we attend the same church, so she's a big help too.
Time is flying by and I can hardly believe it......in a blink of an eye, they go from babies to big kids.....