Category Archives: twins

Great Big Ants in Your Pants!

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After what can only be described as a horrible morning and early afternoon, our late afternoon was saved by reading books.

Part of my over tired, over emotional state led to me feeling a little jealous of my Mum. Stupid, I know! She is staying with us at the moment to help with the babies. Because she always gets a good night’s sleep she is so full of energy to play with Esther and William while I can barely speak out loud I am so shattered. I pathetically got to thinking that Esther and William might prefer being with her than with me! She is just so loud and so much fun!

Anyway, William was playing with my Mum when I sat down with Esther to read a book. As I started reading aloud William stopped playing and with the saddest face looked over to where we were and listened to the story too. That tiny moment, that one loving look just melted my heart. He continued to listen to the story, never not watching, from the other side of the room. When I finished reading to Esther I read to William too, the same story and one other. It was such a special time, reading with my son and daughter, that it totally made up for the rest of the day. It also made me realise that no matter what, only I will ever be their Mummy, and that counts for a LOT!!

I would like to share with you now, the books that made it all better.

Tell Me What It’s Like To Be Big by Joyce Dunbar
This is a lovely story about a little girl who wants to be bigger. When her brother tells her of all the things she might do when she is grown the little girl realises that perhaps she would rather stay small after all. A lovely tale about growing up with a subtle message of not growing up too fast. This was beautiful to read as a mother snuggled up to a son and daughter who are growing and changing every day.

Ants in Your Pants by Julia Jarman and Guy Parker-Rees
This is a fun book for reading out loud. It is written with great rhythm and rhyme. The characters are very funny and the pictures are bright and colourful. This is one that can be shared over and over again and every time you will notice something new. A great funny book full of knickers to make you giggle!

Jenny Craig – Day 4

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I am really tired today after a second terrible night with the teething twins. William is breastfeeding night and day at the moment because he is off solids because of his teeth. This is leaving me exhausted and I am worried that my allocated 1200 calories is not enough for a Mummy feeding 8 month old twins. I did tell Jenny Craig during my initial consultation that I was breastfeeding and so was sure this had been taken into account but now I feel uncertain.

It could just be that I am having a bad day. Esther and William are demanding and draining every ounce of energy that I can muster.

Must try to keep positive and keep my goal in mind, to lose weight for the wedding. Seems such a silly thing to focus on though when the babies do not seem to be doing so well.

It is taking me, my Mum and David to make things work today.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Teething Twins Update

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About a week ago I posted about amber anklets for teething. Amber Pumpkin kindly sent me an anklet for each of the twins to see if it would ease their teething troubles.

I have to say that I was keen to try them after a few terrible days and interrupted nights through two very unsettled babes.

I decided to try the anklet on William first and I have to say that after just one day his symptoms did seem to improve. He was much more settled and a generally happier baby but he was also dribbling less, not chewing so many fingers or so often. He seemed to be improved. Importantly he seems to be feeding much better and eating more solid food. I have not changed anything else, apart from the wearing of the anklet. Since this started I have used no calpol or powders on William, none at all. I cannot say for sure that any of this is down to the wearing of the amber but I can promise that it is the only thing that I changed.

Esther, who did not have an anklet on, continued to chew and dribble as before. I am going to put her anklet on tomorrow to see if it will have a similar positive effect for her.

Neither baby yet has any teeth so I think we still have many teething times ahead I am going to keep using the anklets and hope that they continue to work their magic.

For more information about the anklets you can visit the Amber Pumpkin website or read back through my previous post Twin Teethers.

We Wanna Be Together!!

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This weekend the Rewind asks us to think back to August and share a post from then.

August 2010 saw me spend every day in NICU/SCBU with Esther and William.

The post I have chosen to share reflects on a very special day when the twins were reunited for the first time outside of the womb.

Please read REUNITED

Our House in the Middle of Our Street

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Making Our House Our Home
For this week’s flashback I want to share some photos, in no particular order, of Willow House becoming our home.
We decided to move from our cute little cottage in Bodiam at the end of 2008, when we started IVF. Naively we just assumed that the treatment would work first time and that very soon we would be a family of 3, or even 4.
We found our current house online before it was properly on the market. There were no pictures, only a very brief description, but as it was in a good location for us we decided to go and take a look.
We found this house, our home, and we immediately fell in love with it.
It is a higgledy-piggledy lopsided 17th century cottage which has been sympathetically improved and extended creating a wonderful family home. It is softly lit through small windows and has a very warm feel inside though in reality the house is often freezing because of all the holes in the ancient walls!
On our first viewing we rushed from room to room gasping and exclaiming at how perfect it was for us. The beams, the original floors and doors, the little garden leading to stepping stones over a stream and on to the village green. It was perfect. We could see how we would fill and use each room. It excited and inspired us. We wanted the house to be ours. But we were not the only ones … another couple had viewed he property with as much excitement, energy and enthusiasm as us.
At the end of the viewing we had a chat with the owners who seemed to like us, a young, professional couple with no plans for children!! The owner did not want children living in their house. David and I assured them we were not planning any as they told us that we were not the only people interested in the house.
We went away excited but disappointed, we could not move into a house where we could not have children. Once home at our other house I decided to write to the owners and explain our story to see what could be done. I explained about the IVF and how we might fall pregnant within weeks or not for tears, it was impossible to know. I told them how much we loved the house and that if we were to have a baby there we would leave before they were mobile and able to cause any damage.
We sent the letter and we waited.
We waited.
Then we got a letter, a letter saying that the house was ours and in February 2009, the day of our first unsuccessful embryo transfer, we collected our keys. Later that month we moved in and vegan making our new house, Willow House, into our home.
During the two week wait of that first IVF cycle I had furnished our new house through EBAY. And on moving day David and his Dad drove all around London collecting the bits I had bought. It was a very tiring day particularly for David and his Dad.
There were some bits of furniture I had not bought that David made; our enormous dining table and our bookshelves. And later our television stand. He made them all from wood using no nails or screws. He used the Internet to teach himself how to do it and they are amazing. A real focal point of our house along with the fires.
This house is in a community that has become special to us, I was baptised in the church behind our house where later this year we will marry and next the twins will be christened. I taught in the village school, we had our engagement barn dance in the church barn and it is just a really lovely place to be. I will be sad when we leave to buy a house of our own.
This is a house that is at its best at Christmas. The beams and fires come alive when decorated with traditional Christmas trimmings and our magnificent table can host a wonderful festive feast.
It has become even more of a home since the babies arrived and we created their nursery and playroom. For a house that is not supposed to have children it has become all the better for having the here.
I love our house, our home.
I hope that you enjoy this peek inside.

For further Flashback Friday Fun hop on over to Cafe Bebe’s Blog and see what other people are sharing.
Perhaps you have a favourite flashback of your own?

Reasons to be Cheerful

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Reasons to be Cheerful at Mummy From the Heart

After a not so cheery week last week I am back this week and full of beans. Hurrah!

This week has been a good week and I am hopeful that next week is going to be a good one too and so we are full of cheer in the Nairn/Henley household. Here are the main reasons why …

We have a beautiful new addition to the family. Our beautiful niece Diya Isabella was born on the 21st February, a very special and healthy baby girl, weighing a little over 7lbs. We were lucky enough to go and meet her on Saturday and she is just so cute. She is all tiny and curled up and new to the world. She has the softest, darkest hair that curls round the nape of her neck. She has long crinkly fingers and such delicate little features. She is still all floppy and new and it is impossible not to love her. We are so pleased and proud to welcome her to the family and especially pleased that Esther has a little girl cousin who is so close to her in age, and will be even closer in development. Welcome to the world Diya Isabella, we look forward to watching you grow x

My Mum is staying with us at the moment meaning that David has more time to work and I am able to get out and about more with the twins. So far we have been to Ashford shopping, Leeds Castle for coffee and cake and today we are going into Maidstone for a walk around. All of this outing and abouting has been made even more special by the fact that the sun is shining and spring is definitely on its way. This also signals the end of cold and flu season and a slight relaxing of our self imposed isolation. The twins can come out of hiding and finally embrace the world!

Esther and William had some professional photographs taken with Paul Barsby in Ashford and the results are stunning. We had the session as part of the Cherubs programme but could not resist buying some extra prints of our own. The portraits are great, don’t you agree?

Have you had a week as cheery as mine, perhaps you need an extra slice of cheer this week, whichever, why not pop over to Mummy From The Heart‘s Linky and see what is making a smile this week.

Twin Teethers!

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Esther and William are now almost 8 months old!!  I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown.  They are growing bigger and stronger everyday and developing very distinct personalities.  This has become apparent recently as they have started teething. 

Parenting premature babies can be very confusing as you are always trying to provide for them to two ages, their actual age and their adjusted age and you are never sure which to apply to what, for example weaning, sleeping, routines and teething. 

I am now confident that I know that anything related to feeding and digestion, including teething, is marked against their actual age whereas anything that is developmental such as crawliing, rolling, talking etc is measured against their corrected age. 

And so at almost 8 months actual we are well into the zone of teething though have nothing to show in the way of teeth.  I am quite distressed to learn of some prem babies who started going through the motions of teething at 6 months, as ours have done, but not been rewarded with teeth until well into their first year!

The reason I find this idea so terrible is that our twins, and William in particular, are really struggling with growing their teeth.  They are very unsettled during the day, constantly chomping and chewing anything that they can get their mouth on apart from their food.  They often seem to find feeding painful particularly their solid food.  William has had an earache linked to his teething and repeatedly tugs at the infected ear.  Both babies have struggled to get to sleep and to stay asleep once finally gone.  It has been very tiring and emotional for all concerned and is still going on.

One of the problems I have foudn is finding anything that can be used to soothe Esther and William’s tiny mouths.  Though they are really now quite old babies they are still very tiny, Esther only weighs 11lbs.  Finding teething toys to ease their gums has been impossible.  I twitted about this a week or so ago and was very pleased to receive a helpful reply from @Amber_Pumpkin

Amber Pumpkin suggested that I might like to try an amber necklace for the twins to soothe their teething symptoms.  I naively asked if they would be able to fit the beads into their mouths as we had been struggling with other products.  Amber Pumpkin kindly pointed out that in fact amber necklaces are not chewed but worn so that the healing properties can work their magic.

Babies do NOT chew on the amber – it works by warming against the skin and releasing minute amounts of soothing oils which is absorbed into the bloodstream.

A natural analgesic, amber will help calm a baby without resorting to drugs.

Amber is a resin, not a stone. It is therefore warm to the touch, as well as very comfortable and light to wear.

Scientific investigation into the therapeutic effects of amber is ongoing.

Currently, there are two different theories that attempt to explain how wearing amber on the skin can have a soothing and calming effect on teething babies and toddlers.

One theory suggests that when amber is worn on the skin, the skin’s warmth releases minuscule amounts of healing oils from the amber which are then absorbed via the skin into the bloodstream.

Amber’s anti-inflammatory and therapeutic properties are also recognized by allopathic medicine. In Austria, Switzerland and Germany, you will find amber teething necklaces sold in local pharmacies. Pharmacists and doctors have long known about the healing properties of amber which include calmative, analgesic, antispasmodic, expectorant, and febrifuge (anti-fever) functions.

A second theory is based on scientific findings which have shown that amber is electromagnetically alive and therefore charged with a significant amount of organic energy. Its special attribute is the fact that it is electronegative. Wearing amber produces negative ionisation on the skin’s surface. This, in turn, has a positive influence on the human body. The negative ions assist in the in the prevention of illness. These health-promoting effects apply to babies, children and adults alike.

http://www.amberpumpkin.com/amber-teething-necklaces-do-they-work.html

David and I have tried Calpol and teething powders on Willim and Esther with very little effect and so we were, or I was, keen to try something new.  I asked Amber Pumpkin if I might trial one of their products and wrtie about our experiences on my blog.  They kindly agreed and sent me two tiny amber anklets for Esther and William to try.  They sent anklets rather than a necklace to ensure that the babies could not pull them off of themselves or each other as the anklets will be safely hidden in their baby gros. 

We are going to start wearing the anklets tomorrow and I am going to write on my blog each day about how we are getting on.

I have to admit to being a bit sceptical but also really hoping that they do work as I love the idea of them.

If anyone else has exprience of using amber jewellery to help with teething then I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to know more about Amber Pumpkin then you can visit their website at http://www.amberpumpkin.com/

Here’s hoping that an end is in sight for the terrible twin teething troubles!

The Gallery – Simple Pleasures

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Hmmmm ... Beer!

 

WONDER WEANER!

 

Life is full of simple pleasures

like good food and fine wine (or other such beverage!)

“Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”
Samuel Johnson

http://www.paradise-engineering.com/quotation/pleasure.html