Life with twins – 11 weeks in

Yep, the twinlets are 11 weeks old today, how time flies! Thommo has been back at work for nearly 4 weeks now so life is definitely settling into a new “normal”.

How is it all going? Well as of right now, it’s been a LOT easier than I expected. I think it has a LOT to do with Thommo having so much time off work, it allowed us to get through those rough first weeks, me looking after the babies and getting feeding established, Thommo looking after the big boys and me.

We’re very lucky that Jack and Lewis are so close, a lot of their day is spent happily playing together and they don’t require too much input from me. I’m the provider of food, the kisser of ouches and mediator of disputes. And I get to listen to their sweet conversations, giggles and squeals.

Feeding is now well established, the twins are getting quicker at feeding and Sebastian’s latch is much much better. It was hard going getting to this point and there have been soooooo many times I thought about giving up. I have to say a huge THANK YOU to all my friends who provided support, the advice, the words of sympathy, the encouragement, all really helped to get me through. This is where social networking has really really helped me, in the hard moments I could vent on Twitter or Facebook and have support almost instantly. Often just getting those feelings out and having them heard and validated was all I needed.

I am very (very very very very very!) lucky to have 2 babies who like to sleep. Most nights they will both do a 6 hour stretch (not always at the same time) and Oliver has even done a couple of 8 and 9 hour stretches! Co-sleeping is a huge help, when they do wake up they’re only an arm length away. I really don’t cope well with sleep deprivation (who does?) so getting decent sleep makes parenting the 4 of them much much much easier. We’ve also taken to have a lie down in the afternoons when Thommo is home, lovely to have some quiet time with the wee babes.

Watching the 4 boys interact with each other is magical. The bond they are forming will hopefully lead to a lifetime of friendship.