Twins everywhere

Hi all, I wake today to find yet another celebrity couple are expecting twins. Seems to be the thing now, pregnant, and wow we are having twins. True Blood stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer are expecting twins, not sure when, but I am sure they are excited, and in a bit of shock.  Having twins as your first children is a bit of a shock and an instant family if you never do it again. Perfect right, well it is also a lot of work. Congratulations to Anna and Stephen, it is great news. I am a fan of True Blood, and I hope all goes well. Not only is the True Blood stars expecting twins, my cousin is also as well, so congratulations to her as well.

As you might have guessed entertaining two children is a hard thing to do, and with two it is a big job. We made it to playgroup, although later than I had wanted to arrive. Kids did not want to do anything mummy told them too. The only threat that worked was, “If you are not going to get ready to go out, we will stay home”.

Some things that helped me when I first had the twins:

• One thing that I found was an enormous help was cooking and freezing meals for dinner while pregnant. This allowed me to not fuss and just reheat the food, and if we wanted we added veggies or a salad to the meal. With a husband working long hours and then looking after 2 babies I did not have time to fix meals and think about what to cook, let alone go shopping.
• Another thing that I did which helped was a self adhesive chalk board that lived on the fridge. This allowed me to log what amount of milk each child had and what time it was taken. This allowed me at a glance to know when I can go out and when I need to be back home.
• I always had the babies on a schedule/routine. If one woke, I would wake the other one up. I know sounds terrible, but I did not want to have one getting up and the other sleeping. If this was the case, I would be up all day and night. I managed to express my breast milk and both girls were mostly fed with breast milk until they were 5 months, after that, I did get a bit and it was put in their cereal for breakfast. My milk ran out the week before the girls turned 8 months.  In the evening I gave the girls formula as I found it hard to keep up with the production demands.
• If I did have a window of time, say 3 hours, I used this to nip to the shops, and get some much needed time away from the house. It could have been anything as long as it was doing something different. I would window shop, have a tea/hot chocolate at a cafe, eat lunch out if I had the money and so on, maybe even take the babies to the park for some sun and for the babies to get some sun and to look at other things than the house.
• I was a zombie for the first 3 months as every 2-3 hours they needed milk. Breast Milk seems to not sit in their belly as long as formula does so they need more of it, and with more frequency.  However, after the 3 months the girls slept for 12-14 hour nights and that was just bliss. We are very lucky our twins are good sleepers. I have heard stories of babies that were not. They are still good and barring sickness all is well. Even when they were babies, teething was not a major issue. They were a bit out of sorts, but we just helped them with some painkillers and all was right in the world.

It was easier when the kids were little, now they want to do so much that you are just so exhausted all the time. I wish I had help like celebrities have to care for kids, or at least offer support especially in school holidays. The girls have started their holidays, and I am busily counting down for when term 3 starts, bring on July 17th.

What made life easier for you when you had your first kids/kid? What would you suggest for a first time mother? Send in your comments.