Mad About Multiples!

8 flights, 6 countries, 4 weeks, 2 speeding tickets and no babysitters!

Yes, you read right - 8 flights to visit 6 countries, in 4 long short weeks with our almost 4 year old twins and we survived!  It all started innocently enough - my husband's cousin is currently teaching in Zurich, Switzerland for two years, we had some frequent flier miles and thus we decided to take a European vacation.  We are a strange close-knit family and frequently travel with our mothers (and therefore mother-in-laws) and so we booked our tickets.  I have family in Scotland and we decided to hop on over to the island to visit them as well. 

My husband and I did a similar trip 10 years ago with one small BIG difference - NO KIDS!  No big deal, said we.  All was going well until 2 weeks before the trip.  My mum developed a small rash on her side, and after a few days she visited the doctor.  I got a call from my mum - "Are you pregnant?"  "No, why?"  "I have shingles!"  (Pregnant people are advised to stay away from people with chicken pox or shingles.)  The pain from the shingles would keep her from joining us on the trip. Strike one!

We were due to leave on Tuesday October 6th, and the Saturday beforehand my mother-in-law was over at our house.  I was talking with my next door neighbor when I heard my husband yell my name in a voice that I have never heard before.  I ran back to our garage to find my mother-in-law on the ground.  "I'm fine, I'm fine" she kept insisting, until she tried to stand.  My husband and I looked at her knee cap, and we could tell it was split in half.  Hubby and mom went off to the hospital and she had surgery the following day.  Strike two!

Both moms insisted that we still go on vacation, but we were doubtful.  Who would take care of the moms, and was some higher power trying to give us a not-so-subtle message?  Plus, now we would be half a world away from our two very best babysitters!!

BACK TO SCHOOL? BACK TO THE MUSEUMS!!!

I think I was one of the last moms to join our playgroup - so my kids are just a couple months younger than most of the other kids.  I thought we would all be on similar school schedules, but turns out those few months made a big difference, as we have January birthdays.  This Fall we looked on wistfully as most of our playmates started Kindergarten, while we still had one more year of preschool.  We sighed, and then started planning some Fall outings.

I don't like summer crowds (maybe because we have lost our kids so many times??)  But, in general, I stay away from any place where I may have to smell be with lots of other people - museums, zoos, amusement parks.  (We are the family that visited Disneyland in January during a rainstorm!)  I haven't made the pilgrimage to the SF Academy of Sciences, and I have even avoided the new Seahorse exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

But with almost everyone back in school, I decided to venture out into the world again.  I really wanted to camp with the boys at New Brighton Beach, but getting reservations there is like trying to get into French Laundry.  But lo and behold, we were suddenly able to get a premium site on the bluffs overlooking the ocean on a late August Sunday night.  I booked the site, and we enjoyed a huge campsite on the bluffs with no neighbors on either side of us for the bargain price of $35.   "Wow!" my husband and I thought.  "This is really great."

Navigating Disneyland: On Foot or by Stroller?

We thought we'd republish this post from July 12, 2008 because we know some of you are heading for Disneyland soon!

It was the night before my twin boys' first trip to Disneyland and I was in the final stages of packing up the car. Amazingly, our mini-van was still looking roomy inside. Now that our twins are heading towards their 4th birthday (this fall), we no longer have to haul so much gear along with us. No more diapers, no more Pack n Plays, no more strollers. Woo hoo! Goodbye, mini-van; hello, Prius!

But a tiny voice inside my head put the brake on that idea, whispering, "Bring the stroller."

Bring the stroller? Really?

Ok, I must confess that I still occasionally put my kids in a stroller. It doesn't happen often, but I like to think of my stroller as a sort of safety net. Basically, it's there in the event my kids grow very, VERY tired. My thoughts drifted to the worst case scenario of two tired and cranky boys refusing to walk and hurling themselves to the pavement in a full on tantrum. Did we really want to carry two sleepy and/or uncooperative 40 pounders in 90 plus degree heat while wearing backpacks and carrying a souvenir or two?

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.

A Twins Convention…At Disneyland?

Five years ago, when we first started telling people we were going to have twins, one father of twins half jokingly told us that there would be no economy of scale with twins. As if we didn’t know already but hey, his twins were grown and he had certainly shelled out his share of double the living expenses over a couple decades or so. On the other hand, at times, we get to experience double the savings, not just the standard sibling discount of 10% off for preschool tuition, clothing and the like. When we save, we get to save big! Sounds kinda like that old glass is half empty, half full saying, eh.

So last year, when Disneyland announced that everyone would have free admission on their birthday in 2009, you can bet that every family with multiples considered a visit quite seriously…like us. I mean, saving over $100 at Disneyland is nothing to sneeze at…especially if you’re planning to go anyway. This year was our girls' 5th birthday, a milestone of sorts, at least in my opinion. A trip to Disneyland was certainly in keeping with a special number like 5. It would be their second trip to the land of a million dreams.

I knew several families in Gemini Crickets that were also considering a trip south, motivated by the free birthday admission offer. I didn’t think about it much more than that until after passing through the main gates into the park, I really looked around. Twins. Were. Everywhere. Wow! The way my head was constantly swiveling around, you would never have thought that I was a mother of twins, accustomed to seeing look-alikes on a daily basis. Hahaha

Join Us for our New & Expectant Parents Meeting on Traveling with Multiples on Wednesday, March 11th

Michelle O., one of Gemini Crickets' New & Expectant Parent Liaisons, tells us a little bit about traveling with her twins in preparation for our upcoming meeting next Wednesday, March 11th at 6:15pm on Traveling With Multiples.

When I sat down to think about what to write about traveling with multiples, two funny stories came to mind.  By funny, I mean the kind of situations twin parents have learned to laugh about, because if we didn’t laugh we’d drown in the pool of our tears or scream like maniacs.  But I digress…

Someone sent me a You Tube video of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and their family walking into an airport in Japan.  A whole slew of people come darting out first. I saw two guys carrying a car seat each, someone with a stroller, and someone pushing a cart of luggage.  Then Brad and Angie come strolling out, each with a child in a baby bjorn, their other kids in tow.  I thought to myself, “how nice to travel with an entourage…lucky %#@^#$!”

Mad About Multiples GIVEAWAYS for Back to School

Very soon we are headed back to school and we have some great giveaways for you parents of multples!

For the babies and toddlers (age baby-3), we are giving away a book called "Peek-a-Zoo" from Little Scholastic. You might remember Scholastic from your own days at elementary school, where you got the monthly ordering form you took home to your parents and they would let you choose a few great books. THEN when the books came in, your teacher would call your name to come get your new books on horses or Benji movies or scratch n' sniffs (yummy eggnog... toxic?) or whatever it was you were into that particular month...ah, those were the days...Anyway, Scholastic has a new member of their family called “LITTLE SCHOLASTIC” which is a line of books for children newborn – age 3. These whimsical, colorful and playful books introduce the littlest of children to the world of reading. Each book offers bright and wonderful pictures for children, and gives parents tips on how to read this book with your child, to maximum the learning benefits from every page. You can visit Scholastic to learn more about these and other great books: www.scholastic.com/parents.

And we have something for the parents of school-aged multiples too. Are you driven insane with trying to keep track of your twins (and maybe other kids) activities, not to mention those of yourself, your spouse or other members of your family? BusyBodyBook has a solution for you. BusyBodyBook family calendars provide each family member with their own column to organize and track their schedules and activities while coordinating with each other side by side.

Each winner will also receive a gift card for 50 free prints from Snapfish. Print some of your favorite summer vacation photos (you can read about some of our travel adventures here) or some cute back to school shots or your newborn bundles or joy or whatever you wish.    

To enter to win...read on...

Heard on Big Tent

Want to know what's going on in Gemini Crickets Parents of Multiples of Silicon Valley's online community (housed on Big Tent)? Here's a little sampling from this week - some juicy stuff!

• Another movie night "The Women" - some of the ladies have been getting together once a month to go for a drink and a movie. We've seen "Sex in the City" and "Mama Mia." I've gone to both and I KNOW I'll be making the next one. It is a fun getaway and new moms join us all the time.
• Getting toddlers to sleep in other places - two of our triplet moms are trading advice on this, with twin mommies chiming in too. Personally, my twins are now 4.5 yrs and I have a 2 yr old too. I find sleep is always changing for my three, so it is nice to have the group to ask "What do I do now???"
• For sale: Peg Perego Aria Twin Stroller - wow, this looks like it is in great condition...not like my strollers, which are pretty trashed at this point. I have 6 strollers, count them 6, strollers  (a double jogger, a double regular stroller, a single jogger, a single street, and 2 umbrella strollers), so I have been banned from stroller purchases... :(

Other discussions that are going on include:

• Nanny available
• Help! My twins keep biting each other
• Babysitter recommendations?
• Airplane travel suggestions
• Formula shopping tips
• Bouncing tips for new moms

Join us in the discussion!

Original Mad About Multiples post. When Linsey isn't reading and discussing on Big Tent, she's chasing her three kids 4 years and under at Me Too You.

On A Bicycle Built For...3?!

It's just one of those things. Once my husband, "T", gets an idea in his brain, he just can't let go. Hence, one of his most recent acquisitions - a tandem tagalong seemingly custom built for our 4-year-old twin girls - has already provided us with hours of entertainment. He saw this "double tagalong" on a Los Gatos street once and he just had to have it. So he searched...and searched...and searched and found it - online, of course. On eBay...surprise surprise....

He learned that these were built by a Canadian company years ago who stopped making them (probably not a huge market for them unless you live in Northern California where there seems to be a higher incidence of twins than elsewhere). You can't find them in stores. And he had to have one. I agreed it would be quite practical for our family of four. The girls are learning to ride bikes yes, but they've still got their training wheels on...which means we can't go very far and (if I have anything to say about it) we won't venture onto busy streets. We do have a great bike trailer but even that's getting a bit cramped for our taller-than-average twins.

Travel With Multiples? Well, Yes and No...

Our contributors had lots to share this week about their experiences in the world of travel with multiples:

• After a first taste of travel with her twins, Amy T. and crew decided to keep their visits closer to home but look forward to future longer trips when her kids get older;
• Lisa G. and her husband instituted a moratorium on travelling with twins until futher notice (e.g., when twins are older);
• MommyTwinGirls got used to very long trips with her twins from infancy and believes that's the key to travelling with her now 4-year-old girls;
• Just when Linsey K. and her husband returned to their travelling ways with their twins, they had another one. Twins plus one - now what?! A little break and a bit more planning and they're venturing out once again;
• Akemi pondered the pros and cons of bringing a stroller on her boys' first visit to Disneyland anticipating weary, sleepy boys at the end of an exciting, exhausting day and;
• Polly F. was bound and determined to keep travelling, even with the arrival of her twin boys.

It's a daunting prospect but we've all tried it...and survived to tell our tales. We've all learned a lot about what we would do next time. Fortunately, in the meantime, our twins will be a little older and a little easier to tow along on our adventures.

Original Mad About Multiples blog post.

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.

Traveling with Twins + One: Finally Taking Adventures

I remember when I first found out I was pregnant with twins. We had recently gotten back from biking around France, visiting my twin sister in  St. John's, Newfoundland, running a marathon in Victoria, BC. We were adventurers. But I was duanted. I asked my husband: "How will I go to the grocery stores?" I couldn't imagine going anywhere, much less traveling. Then they were born - premies, plus my daughter had refux and cried for the first 7 months of her life. I simply got used to being at home. Really, at home. It was just so much easier. A wedding in Portland when the kids were about 6 months old? No can do. Vacation? Nope. Eventually, we became forced to travel to visit family. To L.A., where my in-laws live, for the babies' first Christmas, proved fairly successful actually. We found there were benefits to traveling - for instance, my son, 11 months old at the time (9 months adjusted) had just figured out how to sit up in bed, but couldn't lay back down (remember that?!) - anyway, sleeping in a pack-n-play instead of a crib helped him because the sides were soft. So we just let him cry a bit and figure it out. Who know how long that process would have taken if we had been home?

Soon after this and slowly, we started having some fun...

Travelling With Twins? Start ‘Em Young, I Say!

Travel. With twins. An overwhelming thought if you sit down to think about it…especially at an early age. Think of all that gear you have to bring with you now in your car. Now imagine lugging all that stuff onto an airplane. It’s downright exhausting just thinking about it. But you know what? It’s not that bad. And it’s not all that different. We’ve been travelling long distances with our twin girls since they were 2 ½ months old. Their first trip was to San Diego. Yes, we drove (gas wasn’t as much of a hindrance 4 years ago as it is now). Caveat – our kids *loved* sleeping in the car…in fact, they still do (luckily)…a big, big advantage…and a major requirement for a relatively peaceful drive for 9 to 10 hours from the Bay Area…oh yea, and toys. We realized that the immobile phase was great for travelling. We did it again a few months later…and a few months later after that.

Our big trip was to the homeland (Norway) to visit my husband’s side of the family. It would be the girls’ first introduction to their aunts, uncles and cousins (grandparents visited on their first birthday). The girls were 17 months old. And toddling. Everywhere. Sitting down was not an option…unless it was on the floor where they could examine seat legs, airplane magazines and their toes. Ugh! I don’t have to tell you how dirty the airplane carpets were are. We walked around the plane once with them wearing socks…the bottoms of those socks turned an ugly gray after a single lap. I finally placed an airplane blanket on the floor for them to sit on and play. I didn’t want to think too hard about the carpet…I just needed a little peace.

Have Twins, Won’t Travel

When our fearless blog leader told us that the topic of the week would be travelling with twins, I practically experienced the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.  Based on my experience, the best advice I have on travelling with twins is DON’T!  Okay, here’s another don’t:  Don’t take me too literally.  Everyone’s kids are different and this is only the story of one hapless mom of twins plus one.

When the boys were about five months old, I decided to drive them from San Jose to Orange County to visit friends and family.  My husband and I had done this same journey with our singleton when she was about the same age, which had been relatively easy.  She slept most of the time in the car and was happy in new surroundings.  Not so with the twins.  I won’t go into all the gory details but let’s just say that what should have been a 6-hour journey ended up taking 10 hours and that 8 of those 10 hours were fraught with hysterical crying (mostly on the twins’ part).  Dane was miserable because he couldn’t sleep in an upright position.  Being the compliant brother, Logan figured he’d go on crying duty as soon as Dane took a break. Logan just sort of picked up the slack where Dane left off.  God forbid we have a moment of peace.  Part of the reason the trip took so long is that we had to keep stopping to try and soothe the twins. 

Traveling with Multiples? What's That?!

For a stay-at-home-mom, I sure don’t stay at home very often. Since my twins were only a few months old, I would take them out for walks every day. I couldn’t wait to join a playgroup. When the kids were 5 months old I was meeting other moms for coffee, strolls through the mall, parks and play dates at other peoples’ homes. Now that the kids are 2 years old, we are usually out the door after breakfast and don’t come home until 1 p.m. for naps. I think I’ve been to every gated park in the area and we have been busy checking out different library story times. We’ve done My Gym and a Together Time Class through a parent-participation preschool. On the weekends we often go to Children's Discovery Museum, Happy Hollow, Oakland Zoo, San Francisco Zoo and anything else that sounds fun and interesting for our toddlers. But the thought of taking a trip that involves a plane ride or even a long car ride – yikes! 

I love the idea of taking a trip with the kids. In fact, we have attempted a trip or two. We drove to the San Diego area when the kids had just turned one. Our plan was to leave at 6 p.m. hoping they would sleep the entire 7 hour drive and they did! However, when we arrived at the hotel at 1 a.m., they were wide awake and not very happy. My husband set up the pack n plays and after about an hour of crying on and off, we finally put them in bed with us, trying not to wake up all the other hotel guests. None of us slept well that night, therefore it was a very LONG next day where we had plans to visit friends, go out to lunch and maybe play on the beach. The kids were still taking two naps and trying to get them to nap in the pack n plays at someone else’s house was just proving to be more work than what it was worth. Quick naps in the car and another night of them in bed with us and I was ready to go home. The kids were tired and cranky and so were we. I was stressed and could not enjoy our visit.

It's Travelling With Multiples Topic Week!

Summer is upon us and the biggest subject of worry for many of us families of multiples? Travelling with our kids! How do you do it? Can you do it without losing your sanity?

There was a previous post on Travelling With Twins - a recap of the New & Expectant Parents meeting where a panel of members offered advice from their own travel experiences with multiples. All panelists had made several long trips with their twins at different ages and had plenty to say.

This week, all contributors have stories to share about taking their multiples on trips - short or long. So, check in everyday this week for a new multiples travelling tale.

Safe travels!