UPDATE:
I
apparently never wrote about my second set of twin’s birth! Oh my
goodness. Time surely does fly. It really is true what they say, “The
days are long but the years are short.” So to update you all: the
girls were both born at 38weeks and 3days without complications. They
both weighed 6lbs 10oz each! Neither one spent any time in the NICU.
I once again had trouble breastfeeding; I ended up pumping and
formula feeding. I was really sad to once again miss out on
breastfeeding. But I was happy that they were alive, thriving and
healthy.
The
crazy thing is that Baby A from the first set and Baby A from the
second are so similar! And viceversa; Baby B from both sets are
boy/girl but almost identical in so many ways! The embryos are frozen
in tubes at random; it is as if our A’s and B’s were supposed to
be “twins” in my womb at the same time, but they got mixed up.
And the Baby A and Baby B in both sets are polar opposites. So I have
2 type A and two type B personalities. Life here is stressful, busy,
trying, humbling, beautiful and blessed.
Yes,
it has been a while
since I wrote. But I really am still here. Life with 2 sets of twins
can be crazy, hard, and beautiful all at the same time. It is hard to
believe that my big kids are 3 now, and that my "babies"
are almost 2! I vacillate between expecting the babies to act like
the big kids and treating them like 5 month olds. It is really
strange to have so many kids so close in age; they are close enough
that it tricks your brain into thinking they all share the same
capabilities, yet far enough apart that they are in totally different
stages of development.
The 3 year olds are now almost 100% potty trained. We have a few accidents once in a while, and sometimes they still pee while sleeping, but for the most part we only have 2 in diapers now. Woohoo! The babies think they should be potty training now too though, and they are insistent. Almost every time the big kids go potty the babies are whining to go also. They insist on sitting on the potty, and then proceeding to get up and down 100 times and run around the house naked, often peeing on the carpet. Ugh. Cute, but also frustrating. I do think they are close to being ready. They tell me 1/2 the time when they need to poop or have pooped, and they certainly want to use the potty like big girls.
Potty training 4 kids is stressful and time consuming. I feel like I spend a majority of my day cleaning poop from butts or pottys. The rest of the day is spent preparing food, serving food, cleaning up children and said food, and then cleaning the surrounding areas. I often find myself feeling like I am doing the same thing over and over again. We have breakfast for 5 people, snack for 5 people, lunch for 5 people and dinner for 6! It can be hard to not feel like my days are monotonous; filled with the same routine over and over again. That kind of life could literally drive you crazy. So I try to find ways to make it a little different each day.
Now, any mom of multiples will tell you that schedules are a must; that her family lives and dies by a schedule lol! However, I have found that we can survive just fine with a schedule that has some flexibility to it; it may just be the thing that keeps us sane.
I am so thankful that the weather is starting to get a little nicer. Now we can slip some outdoor play into our day. Someday soon we may even be able to go for a "walk" in our quad stroller (now if only someone would just come push me in it too...) and maybe go to story time at the library, yes, with all 4 kids. No, I am not certifiably insane. Yet. I even went so far as to set up an outdoor play/climbing cube in our basement and a large play kitchen in the hopes of providing some indoor entertainment.
My
house officially looks like a daycare center. If you have any great
ideas or tips for indoor toddler entertainment or energy burning
please comment below or shoot me an email.
