1st night in their big girl beds....

From this...

To this...

Only joking, to this really...

It's absolutely terrifying and nerve-wracking and completely unfair that our babies are now old enough for their cot beds to be turned into beds.

Tonight is their 1st night in their big girl beds and even though they're asleep right now (it took 1.5hrs and me having to get into bed with them because Miss A just wanted cuddled and I wouldn't hold her and this was a compromise though I actually think she won more than me compromising to be honest), I'm sure they won't spend the whole night in bed now they can get in and out as they please.

With me getting into their bed tonight I know I've started something that I really didn't want to and I'm sure there are some of you out there shouting at me for doing it, I completely deserve it I know, but we'll see how it goes for a wee bit and as long as they don't expect their Daddy to get into the beds with them it should be ok for a while.

I'll just have to get them used to going to sleep by themselves, I don't mind it taking some time, with everything with our twins it'll all happen when they're ready for it and not when we'd like it to happen.

Just to prepare myself though, how did or do you deal with the transition from cot to bed? Do you have any tips or tricks that might be of some use when dealing with our twins' bedtime?

Thank you, xXx

Survival

That was the name of the game the past week.

On holiday with my husband, twin toddlers, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law and her husband. This could be considered by some their worst nightmare and at times I would definitely have agreed!!

Saying that it wasn't all bad, mother-in-law kicked straight into granny-mode and took charge of the girls so hubbie and I could spend some time together and also so we could go out for the evening with hubbie's sister and her husband but at times it did feel like I didn't get to see my daughters at all.

Can't have it both ways I suppose.

I'm just thankful I survived the week as fun as it was at times I'm glad we're back home.

Being terrorised by a 4 year old...

...and she's not even family!

She lives in a couple of houses down and I've let her come in a couple of times to play with the girls, as long as her Mummy agrees 1st but today she's being a little nightmare!

To start with I had to chase her twice when our girls were going down for their nap because every time they heard her they woke up again and then after their naps she let herself into the house whilst I was in the bath and hubbie was on the phone in the kitchen and her Mummy didn't even know where she was.

Now, since 7pm I've chased her a few times, I've shouted through the window for her to stay away from the window because I was trying to get the girls into their jammies and start their wind down but she keeps coming over regardless of what I say to her.

There's just no telling her!

Her Mummy says to just tell her to go away if she's annoying me but it's not working and I don't want to have to get any sterner with her than I already have because she's only 4 and by the looks of it she's an only child so is just wanting the company but she's starting to bug the life out of me when I'm trying to keep our girls on schedule and routine is seriously important for our twins, if we veer off course then it's a nightmare trying to get back on.

Oh what to do!!

Hubbie lost his job today

Needless to say he's devastated and so am I though we knew it would be a possibility.

I only work 8 hours a week because we can't afford childcare for our twins and that's definitely not enough to get us by.

Haven't a clue what we're going to do but it looks like I'm searching for a full-time job and we'll just have to work out the childcare if I'm successful. As for Hubbie, I'm starting to search for him as well but he's in a terrible state right now.

Just hope I can be strong enough for the both of us.

Disney Channel - good or bad?

Special Agent Osu never listens and actually endangers himself during training - should we trust him to teach our children how to do things?

Mickey Mouse says 'Uh-huh, yeah' - do I really want my girls to grow up thinking that's the proper way to speak?

Curious George always gets into trouble and never gets reprimanded - is he teaching children it's ok to be naughty because you'll get away with it?

I know they're only cartoons and a bit of fun but the more I see of the Disney Channel the more I'm loving Cbeebies (nothing to do with the fact I've a bit of a crush on Mr Bloom and Justin Fletcher, it's all for the good of our twins, of course :D ).

2 year assessment

Just off the phone with our health visitor's assistant arranging appointments for our twins to have their 2 year assessments.

This will be an interesting 40 mins.

Unless any either of my parent's in law come down on the train the morning of the appointments I'll be taking the girls myself so that definitely means double trouble!!

Have to say I'm a little surprised because the last time I was talking to the health visitor she told me that they came out to the house to observe the toddlers in their own environment rather than their office so I was expecting her to ask when they could come out instead of us coming in to see them.

Oh well, where it happens doesn't matter as long as it happens.

5 Reasons I Know I'm a .........

Mother of Twins

Thanks to Kate Takes 5 for this week's suggestion.

1.

My handbag now resembles a small suitcase when I'm not taking the changing bag out with us, it must be big enough to fit a day's worth of nappies, baby wipes, at least two cuddly toys, and goodness knows how many stickers and note pads to keep the girls entertained.

2.

I can make tea whilst carrying both of my girls, okay well not so much now that they're two, but I was able to make a full meal, complete with a mug of tea each when our girls were smaller without needing to put them down in their bouncers.

3.

I have to drive a Vectra just to fit their pram into the car. I had to give up my beloved Corsa when our girls were a couple of months old because their pram was just far too big to fit into the car.

4.

People give me more pitying looks than they would a Mummy of a single child. The oh dear how on earth do you cope conversation is heard at least once a day when we're out and about and the amount of silly questions I get asked is beyond the joke, but I've learnt to smile, nod and agree and then walk away before they hear me laughing at them.

5.

I have 5 scars to prove it! Not only do I have a caesarean scar to show for carrying around my bundles of joy I also have 4 scars from needing to have my gall bladder out, according to the surgeon carrying twins gave me gall stones because of the build up of calcium floating around my body and I ended up having to have it removed as the stones just wouldn't stop getting stuck. Funny how no-one warned me about this during my pregnancy but after it they all talked about it like I should've been aware it was a possibility. 

1 flu, 2 colds and a sore throat

That about sums up my week.

Hubbie is down with a flu-like illness, our twins have a bad cold each, and I'm fighting a sore throat and hoping it won't turn into anything worse as we can't afford for me to get sick with Hubbie starting his new job on Monday.

It's been nothing but colds, chest infections and sniffles in our house since Christmas and I'm looking forward to the day when we all wake up and there's not a runny nose in sight, green is fast becoming a colour I hate.

Fingers crossed it's something that by the weekend it'll be easing up and all three of my monsters will be up and running again by next week.

Then they were 2!!!!

Tomorrow our twins turn 2!!!

Oh my goodness where on earth has the time gone?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Just thinking about the past two years makes my caesarean 'wound' (as the midwives kept referring to it) ache.

(Picture taken 27th February 2012 with their Great Nana & Great Nanda, it was Nana's 80th birthday)

Tomorrow is just for the four of us, though we will be doing the rounds visiting Grandparents and Great-Grandparents and I'm sure my sister, the self-proclaimed favourite Auntie (she really is the favourite Auntie and the girlies make sure everyone is aware of it) will be up after work to see her girlies. Inbetween visits we'll be taking them to Victoria Square to have a nosy round the Build-A-Bear Workshop and see if anything catches their eyes and then onto Frankie & Bennys for some nom noms.

Fingers crossed between all the visiting and dandering about we'll knacker the pair of them and they'll sleep through the night as they've a busy weekend coming up with a bouncy castle birthday party being held in our Church Hall for them both (courtesy of the favourite Auntie). 

Listography: Top 5 Things That Makes Me Happy

• kate takes 5 asks us this week for our Top 5 Things That Makes me Happy so here are mine...

• Our identical twin daughters. They may be little monsters but they're our little monsters and we wouldn't want them any other way.

• My kindle that Santa brought me Christmas past, I feel completely and utterly lost if I don't have it near me at all times.
• My husband. Despite being made redundant he hasn't let the dooms and glooms overtake him and he's turning his down time into something productive (like diy round the house) and focusing on what the next stage of his working life is going to be.
• My Mummy. Regardless of what age I am she'll always be called Mummy. She's had it really rough the last year or two but she's still standing and if it wasn't for her I don't think any of her children would be as strong as we are today, it's thanks to her that we turned out as well as we did and nothing we can do can ever show her how much she means to us, although according to her her twin granddaughters were a good start!
• Baking. There's nothing better than creating something you know everyone will enjoy and even better when your friends and family know you're planning on doing some baking at the weekend and they put in requests for their favourites. I love that feeling.

Monochorionic Diamniotic Twin Pregnancy

Monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) twins share a single placenta with a single outer membrane and two inner membranes. MCDA as described by the NHS 

 From the day we told everyone I was pregnant everyone joked that we would be having twins, my Mother being the biggest culprit and more than likely the ring leader of it all and when the Midwife told us she could see a second blimp on the screen and had to go get the Consultant we still thought she was joking, until the Consultant Mrs Scoffield confirmed that yes we were having twins. I started giggling, I couldn't help it. Hubbie just sat there with this weird look on his face. We were then taken to Mrs Scoffield's room and again I was covered in the horrible gel and our twins were examined then we were told that they were MCDA twins and as straightforward as possible we were told the facts, what my ante-natal care would be, what the worst case scenarios were and what actions would be put into place should the worst happen.

We left the clinic feeling completely and utterly drained we were on an emotional high after just finding out we have conceived identical twins naturally but we were also terrified about what may happen to them but that wasn't the end of our day cause we then had to go and get bombarded with all the healthy eating info etc from another Midwife (and I must admit I don't remember a word of what she said).

Our twins shared a placenta and even though there were two inner membranes the dividing wall between them was far too thin and we were at a risk of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome and our babies would need constant monitoring to ensure that if it did happen they caught it in time to act on it. Coupling TTTS with my history of high blood pressure I was going to be poked and prodded every chance they got.

That was the start of having an appointment every Wednesday fortnight until Christmas to make sure both our babies were growing at a rate they deemed acceptable, I was taken off my blood pressure tablets and it was watched constantly and I was put on aspirin and iron tablets earlier than I was expecting because of our twins (the 1st time I had a pee after taking those was quite a shock!!) and instead of being scanned by a Midwife I had another Consultant doing the honours and the only thing he really said to me was don't worry if I don't talk, that's a good thing cause it means everything is ok with your babies. Some talk would've been good as it would've put me at my ease a little more but he was doing his job and I can understand he couldn't be distracted.

We managed to get to Christmas without any fear of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome and for that we were grateful but as soon as I thought I'd be able to have a semi-normal pregnancy I was told I still had to have fortnightly appointments, but at least this time I was allowed to go to the normal ante-natal clinic and not the Specialist upstairs so I got to feel a little more normal at least.

We were really lucky in that our twins didn't suffer any problems, we were able to avoid TTTS and our girls were born healthy at 36 weeks, because they were MCDA twins I wasn't allowed to go over 36 weeks as it posed too great a risk for them. My caesarean was planned for 1st March 2010 and everything went smoothly with our girls as perfect as possible

Catherine (L) born 9.46am 6lb and Anna (R) born 9.48am 5lb 7oz

And now in a fortnight's time they'll be 2!!

The 'R' word

Redundancy.

It's a horrible word, almost as bad as a swear word but definitely more widely used.

It hasn't affected us until now, we were so thankful that we both still had jobs despite the recession and all the problems both our places of work were experiencing but now we've both been made redundant from both of our works, and our last days are coincidentally the same.

Dunno how I feel about my own redundancy just yet even though I was expecting it and it had plenty of time to sink in but I guess I was just trying to ignore it and hope that something would happen so that nothing would change.

My hubbie is dealing very well with his own redundancy, he's thrown himself into the job search and is enjoying the extra time he now has with his daughters as he feels like he's missed out on so much.

Maybe for me it'll mean a chance to rethink the stay-at-home-mummy plan for a wee while because we can't afford childcare for both our twins and I wouldn't be able to search for part-time work that would suit our situation as it was before the 'R' word interfered.

Something will come up, it always does and there's no point in dwelling on it. It just means for a little while that anything considered a luxury will be scaled down on but as long as our daughters bums are covered and their tummies are full that's all that matters.

Oh nap time, how I love you

There's nothing worse than our twins both overly excited and knackered at the same time refusing to give in to the sleepiness.

When they finally go down for their nap it's bliss.

Surveys, product trials, scanners etc

I must admit I devote a lot of time to completing surveys, taking part in product trials, testing certain products in blind trials and scanning my shopping each time I buy something. I also use coupons and money off vouchers quite a bit too.

My husband calls me the crazy coupon lady and makes comments like I'll be on that Extreme Couponing programme very soon.

I'm not that bad, well I hope I'm not that bad!

Each day I log onto certain survey sites and complete whatever surveys are available, and I also answer a few screening questions to see whether I'm suitable for other surveys that they have, sometimes I'm suitable sometimes I'm not but I always get entered into a prize draw for my time regardless (haven't won one of those yet but maybe someday).

From one of the survey sites I had gathered enough points to redeem them for a £15 Amazon e-voucher and with this I bought my brother-in-law's Christmas present. From two other survey sites I had enough points to redeem them for £4 each which went straight into my paypal account and I used them against my sister's Christmas present.

From doing product trials and blind testing I had received Boots vouchers which went towards gift sets for my in-laws.

From scanning my shopping I had redeemed enough points to 1st get a £10 love to shop voucher which also was used in Boots and just recently I had redeemed my points to get a £10 New Look voucher which I should receive next week, just in time to buy myself something nice to wear on Christmas day.

If you search in the right places you can get coupons and vouchers for money off various items and if there's a new product out sometimes that voucher is to try the product for free, Facebook is brilliant for things like that. I've got a great wee stock pile of Persil Non-Bio and Comfort Pure for very little money because of coupons and as we've got twins we do an awful lot of washing so this has helped save us a lot of money in the long run.

I maybe a crazy coupon lady but we've saved a lot of money this Christmas and I intend to hopefully save a whole load more for next Christmas so we're able to splurge a little more on other areas.

Little about me

My twin 8 month old daughters are my life, wherever I go they go with me mostly because during the day I don't have anyone to leave them with but I couldn't imagine going anywhere anymore without them. My maternity leave finishes next month and I'll be returning to work part-time, not through choice but because of the problems the building industry are experiencing right now which is the area I work in.

Though I'm not happy about my hours being cut especially after I've worked for the same person for 7 years I'm happy that my girls and me will still get to spend a whole lot of time together and that I will still have a major role in their developing years rather than letting a nursery worker, someone I don't know and someone who is just doing their job get to see how they will change and maybe hear their first proper words or their first proper steps.

I've been married for three years, sometimes it feels like forever and sometimes it feels like hardly anytime at all. My husband works every hour he can, as a result he doesn't get to spend all that much time with his daughters at night but it's something that must be done for a while yet because trying to keep twins fed and watered and clothed is quite expensive. He's the love of my life and if it wasn't for him doing the best he can we would have to rely a lot more on family which is something we try to avoid.

Our life isn't idyllic or easy-going but life rarely is and we cope with the many problems the best we can as we meet them.