Mad About Multiples!

Those Three Little Words

Yes, I know what you're thinking and it's not those three words. While my heart melted the first time my kids said "I love you", I'm talking about three different words....read on and you'll find out. We have done a fair amount of traveling with our 3 1/2 year old boys. They have logged over 70,000 air miles in 3 1/2 short years! We started them out early with our first trip to Tahoe at 8 weeks. This was to be our "test run" for our trip to Maui at 10 weeks. Test run did not go so well! High altitude, different beds and a strange setting resulted in an early departure! Maui actually turned out to be a piece of cake, but that's a different story all together.

Since Benjamin could speak, he has been very vocal about his love dislike for travel. On each trip we have taken since he could verbally express himself, it never fails that he blurts out my least favorite four-letter phrase: "I wanna go home!" This occurs without fail just as the plane is landing or if we are on our way to Tahoe right about Donner Lake. Not quite music to the ears of two very tired parents who have just lugged two kids and all their crap on a five hour plane trip or spent four plus hours in the car.

Topic Week Recap: Confessions From Never Say Neverland

Wow - that did feel good! We aired our dirty laundry on a crowded line and nobody told us to take it down. That's how it goes in Never Say Neverland where the dirty laundry never ends and the population keeps climbing. Whether you have singletons or multiples or both, parenting is hard work. There is no perfect parent. There is no perfect parenting style. Parenting is a learning process, one that goes through changes and backtracks and baffling turns. We've learned to be flexible, we've learned not to judge, we've learned to laugh at ourselves and we've learned that what we said we'd do (or not do) before we had kids was totally insane a wee bit idealistic.

A recap of this week's posts:

Akemi/svtwinmom from Chalk and Cheese Chronicles worries her kids are now the bullies in Keeping My Inner Sanctimommy at Bay

Susan from Thoughts from the Delirious Mind tries not to scream at her kids in Never Say Never

Amy T. from Audren and Nathan reassures herself that she was born to be a mom (right?)

Lisa George from The Curious Georges reexamines her views on parenting in My Life, Examined

Mari B. tries to control her kids...and her past judgments in Please Control Yourself

Polly F. from Fox Tales isn't a bad mom, just a flexible one in I'll Never Do That

Linda D/MommyTwinGirls from Solheim Photography admits to Backpedaling on the TV-thing

On behalf of Mad About Multiples, thank you for reading along. Now go and air your dirty laundry. We won't judge you.

Original post to Mad About Multiples.

I'll Never Do That

"I'll never do that when I have kids". How many times did I tell myself that before I became a mom? How many times have I, since I’ve become a mom, done those things I said I wouldn’t do? In my case, my pre-mommy thoughts centered around FOOD; I swore I would not be a short order cook, I would not take my kids to fast food, and  I would not give my kids candy. Ha! I have now done all three!

I watched my sister and friends as short order cooks for their kids, making anything their child demanded, just to get them to eat. I vowed not to do that. I thought if I insisted hard enough, I could make dinner and my kids would eat whatever I made. It makes me laugh now as I prepare several variations of dinner for my picky eater Ben! What I didn't understand at the time was when babies & kids don't eat, they don't sleep. Sleep as we all know is precious, especially to a tired mommy at the end of the day, so I chose to try to have well fed kids that will sleep.

I loved fast food as a youngster and could eat it all the time. But I avoid it now and try to keep healthy. I am so into healthy eating that I once told my nephew when he was six that California did not have McDonald’s! He discovered one eventually. I was not going to take my kids to fast food, but then I discovered how “fast” and “easy” it is. I think my nanny actually took them the first time, and I was mortified! I guess I had never discussed that McDonalds was off limits. Naturally, my picky eater Ben loved it. Now we visit McDonalds twice a month on the way home from swim class. My kids actually eat better in the car and if I drive slow enough they have finished off the chicken nuggets and the fries, and are onto their favorites, the apple dippers by the time we arrive home. It’s really fantastic!

I Love To Travel

It's that simple. I found out I was pregnant shortly after my husband qualified for his company's President's Club trip. I was bound and determined that we'd be going. The boys would be 10 weeks old. Sure enough, we made the trip and it was awesome! We joked that we thought we went on lots of vacations. Nine days in Maui, add a nanny and our two new additions and that was our first vacation for two sleep-deprived parents! We haven't stopped either.

My family lives on the east coast. So, not traveling to see familiy and friends is out of the question. I always feel like I can do anything once I return from a trip. I will take the boys anywhere because my confidence level is so high. In 2 1/2 short years the boys have been on 20 airplane rides, all but two were more than five hours and they have done great. They think vacation = plane so much that when we were getting ready for our trip to Tahoe (we are on vacation now), Ben was practicing getting on the plane. I explained that it was a roadtrip.