getting out of the house

for those of you who stick to a schedule do you find it INCREDIBLY difficult to get out of the house with the twins or plan outings?? it seems like the only available times are when it's playtime and now that solids are in the picture (1pm) by the time we finish with that and their bath it's time for another bottle and nap...so playtimes are first thing in the am and an hour or so in the pm. if i go out of plan an outing during their nap times they get sooo cranky by the end of the day b/c they are overstimulated and outright refuse bottles.

and especially w/ther reflux it's not like i can pack a bottle and just feed them anywhere b/c sometimes it comes back up and they are at that stage where they have to look at EVERYHING and won't focus on eating. so it's a struggle to say th e least.

right now it's nap time and they aren't napping...going to make for an interesting day.

anyone else feel this way??

 

Yep, I'm with ya.

The window of opportunity is very very slim and if I do go out, it's just before one of their naps and "hope" they nap in the stroller...most of the time, they don't nap well so I give up on that idea unless I really really need to go out...then I'll suffer for it later.

Here's to hoping it gets better!

 

oh man i remember that feeling of constantly feeding from my last singleton...its gonna be absolutely crazy with the twins! we're not there yet but i sympathize with you for sure!!! hang in there chickie!

 

i have not taken my twins out by myself yet anywhere and they are 6 months old!! Im too scared something will go wrong like two screaming babies that people will stare at!! But i understand where you are coming from...if im not feeding one im feeding the other!!! I feel like all im doing is feeding lately now that they are on solids!

 

You're missing what I call the 'twin bump'. People are so fascinated with my twins that even if 1 or both are screaming, they are adorable to strangers. I've had people come running from a different part of a store b/c they hear both screaming. It's like being a very minor celebrity. :rotflmbo:

On the solids front- that's exactly why I'm waiting to start them. It looks like a ton of work!

 

Hopefully the kids will have fewer appts soon(they are already slowing down), then DW can actually go somewhere besides a Dr's Appt.

I agree about the people are facinated by twins...crying or not, so don't worry about that.

I do have to give a HUGE Kudos for DW though. The kids have about 3 appts a week....sometimes 4, but she takes them while I am at work. 2 kids, 2 car seats, diaper bag and 2 heart/lung monitors(only bout a week left on those) and carries it all herself...no stroller. She's a Champ...and it's a 45 min drive to hospitals...

 

i've taken them out of the house before and you are totally right, ppl are SOOOO fascinated with them it's ridiculous. i've developed the "no eye contact" rule so that ppl don't catch my glance and try and stop me if i'm going somewhere and have an appointment or just want to get the shopping over with!

ill take them where ever it just seems like now that we are on solids it seems IMPOSSIBLE to leave the house because if they aren't feeding they are supposed to be napping, i have 2 hour windows of would be play time to ventue out but really where can i go in 2 hours besides the doctors office??

i'll be glad when their are fewer bottles and more regular meals...HA! whenever that is!! LOL

 

We just went out as a family for the first time this weekend to the mall and my twins are going to be 8 months old on the first of the month. I also have a 3 year old. It is a lot of work to go out anywhere. I am not trying too hard with winter here. The only reason we went out this weekend was because we had a little bit of warmer weather and the twins are just now staying up a little bit more in between naps.

I hope to get out more this summer though I know it will be exhausting!
Awe, life with 3 little ones! :rotflmbo:

 

Yes...I love that one. Ha

 

I leave the house every day and have since they were 3 months, BUT during solid feeding times, I felt trapped. We'd just run to Walmart for 15 mins a day if I could manage it. It's only 5 mins from my house, so it's nice to go get a few things for dinner and come home. It also got the kids used to going out often.

 

I must just be the crazy one! My boys & I go somewhere almost daily... Commissary, Wal-Mart, Target, Babies R Us, the shopping outlets, etc. I usually only go to one place a day (unless we happen to make a trip to the mall where there's a bunch of stores ya know). If I NEED to get things from more than one place, then I will, but I prefer to only have to load and unload them once. Recently I started loading them up in their new Jeep stroller (opposed to their double snap & go so I can avoid the two step process of carseats, then stroller) and we will walk to the mini mart in our neighborhood just to get something like more rice cereal.

Luckily we hardly ever have doctors appointments anymore, but I have done basically all of those by myself. If my hubby isn't working, he's deployed, BLAH! At our hospital (where their doctor is) there's never any parking spots up top. There's two sections where you are close to the doors, then the rest are all "down below" and have no stroller access so I can't park there and I'm not carrying carseats, etc up literally 40 stairs. So most of the time I have to keep driving around hoping to find a spot, or I make my own Oh and half of the time that I find a parking spot it's on the "ocean side" so you have to go in the hospital, in elevator, up to 4th floor.. cross over the hospital to the "mountain side" take the elevator up from 4 OC side to 4 MT side. Then when you come back it's that all over again. If there was ever darn parking on MT side, it'd be walk in doors, turn right, you're there.

Oh and the staring thing. Can't stand it!!! Poor Wyatt has started SCREAMING at strangers that get up close to his face and they're still like "oh how cute." UGH NO stupid lady it's not cute when he's screaming cause you're ugly face was in his line of sight!!

 

Jo...you are a BRAVE woman!!!

The Commissary?!?!?!?! I hate that place here and I bet there are 1000 times more old people there in Hawaii than the one here. I tip my hat on that one. I almost die when I go just by myself.

Yeah...you just gotta go and get out there. Is it easy? Nope, but you gotta do it.

Nat will be so glad once Dr appts slow down, we are pretty much done with eye drs, neurologists and occupational therapy, so the list is getting smaller. Then she will be able to go places she wants to with them.

 

I HATE the commissary. With or without the babies!!!!! It's so overly crowded here. You can't even get into this one anymore unless you have a military ID. They no longer allow people to sponsor others, but it's still crazy!!! I can't turn down any aisle without being stopped. I hate it!

It definitely got easier for us once the appointments slowed down. They are done with their eye appts (they say the ROP is looking just fine) until they are 6 months adjusted when she will check if they need glasses :-/ So right now we only have well baby appointments. Their 6 month well baby is on the 1st.


Oh and for getting out... I booked us a trip to the Big Island. It's only a 45 minute flight, but I'm still really anxious as to how we are going to handle that one. We are going Feb 13th-16th. For Valentines day and our 1 year anniversary. I booked the flights, the cabin and the rental car. We plan to check their car seats with the other luggage (it was $10/day x 2 to rent and I didn't wanna chance the quality) and then push them through the airport with their jeep stroller (which only one car seat will attach to). Then we are also packing two back pack carriers since we are going to look at all the volcano stuff, astronomy stuff, hikes, waterfalls, etc. It'll be crazy, but my hubs has never been to any of the other islands and we are moving soon. (Well he does touch and gos for work on the other islands, but that doesnt count lol). While we are there we plan to sight see a lot. Like see the southern most part of the US (sooooo hot there lol). So we will have to accommodate feeding on the go and everything. It'll be crazy, but I'm sure it'll be fun and worth it!

I say you just gotta go for it! I stick to my boys' feeding "schedule" when I'm out and about, but everything else I'm extremely flexible on. If we are at a friends' house in the evening and it's around 10pm (their bedtime) then I will feed them just like at home and then lay them down on a blanket right next to each other and they go to bed just like they're at home. I don't worry about scheduled play times and naps.

 

Nice...have fun...I loved it there.

I can't remember, do they have a Military Resprt there to stay cheap?

 

Yep they do, that's where we are staying (Kilauea Military Camp) It's in the Volcanoes national park!

 

I try to get the girls out everyday. If I don't they get cranky! They like a change of environment. I have come to terms with the fact that no trip will ever be a quick one like it used to be. This mind set has helpped me tons! My girls love the grocery store! I carry one in the front carrier and one rides in the cart. They laugh at each other and play while I get what we need. When they are seperated like that, people tend to just assume it is two kids and not twins. I also do the no eye contact thing, and I also tune people out (always have done this though!). I also try to minimize everyting I have to bring. Since I live sort of close to things, I usually don't bring a diaper bag-crazy I know. Mostly because my girls are good in public and only remember they are hungry once we get in the door of home! When the weather was nice, I would run to the store during their nap time, so they get their nap, I get exercise and we get the shopping done too.

 

nope - not crazy, we go somewhere every day BUT!!!! i can totally understand where all the mums are coming from that don't go anywhere! If it weren't for my older three kids having activities, I'm not sure we'd go many places either. I remember being overwhelmed with just ONE baby trying to do things as a new parent. I think, as you get more kids, life goes on and changes. If I want my daughter to have her riding lessons, I have to 'change' the routine a bit to accommodate it. EVERYONE gets fed early supper - babies included. Granted we're not on solids yet, but I will just have to start 1/2hr earlier and if they have peas in their hair when we pack up to go - oh well....it will wash out before bed.

I do find too tho, that we are happier when we've been out and about. Since the duo are still in buckets I just put one in the buggy, and one across the top, then pull another buggy behind for groceries - or get my older kids to push it if they're not in school that day. We live in a small town, so I'm always getting stopped - even if it weren't for the Duo. And in the city - well, we just do the nod and keep walking technique....

 

It is hard to get out - even now at 10 mos there are new challenges because they don't want to sit in a stroller...or get back into the car seat, so we try to do a one stop deal when we do get out. Which is once every couple weeks. Naps are too precious to me right now and I hate packing. So being a mom has addressed one of my worst nightmares...packing a bag everytime we leave. I also hated the feeding logistics/nursing/etc. at that age. Now I just pop cheerios in my bag for emergencies and bring along a banana...it is pretty awesome...it does get better IMO. I have gotten VERY minimalistic. That being said, sometimes strangers seemed like friends because at least we were interacting...now I adopt the "avoiding eye contact" habit that PPs talked about. But then I needed a hug frequently and if I set my goal for the day to get out, even if for 1 hour, then I felt confident. Of course, the worst was getting home alone and dealing with that struggle. Still, we are lucky to live by a huge park and we do walk the park, even in the winter, 3 to 4 times a week...fresh air is great. Hugs to you, but also, GO FOR IT if you need it for yourself.

 

My girls are 5 months old and up until recently, I was only taking them out of the house for doctor's appointments, weekend trips to visit family, or walks (back in the fall) into town. But now that winter is here, I feel more trapped and needed to get out. So far I have taken them to the grocery store twice by myself and both trips went great! I try to just do it once a week, and sacrifice one of their "play times". I figure, if it is worth my sanity, they won't be scarred by not playing once! Plus, they get all kinds of stimulation at the store. The beauty of it now is that afterwards on the way home they usually fall asleep and will stay asleep when I transfer them into the house. Then I just leave them in their seats until they wake up.

I figure that if they start screaming at the store, I'll just leave. No biggie...it won't kill you OR them. I felt like a new person after accomplishing solo trips like these! Give it a shot!

 

Can't beat that...

We are going to West Maui next Feb. I like Hawaii, but from now on, I'm staying away from Waikiki...off to less crowded places

 

Hey there
(Sorry but i've not read the other posts so some may be repeated!!)
I find that it's so much easier out of the house than in! At 6 months they were on 5 feeds a day (starting at 7am) and they play in the pram with their toys whilst I walk around our local shopping centre (guess you guys would call it the mall!!). When it's feed time i'd stop in a starbucks find a seat where i could position the twins facing the wall and put the hoods up on their pram so they don't get distracted and just take my time feeding them - a side by side pram is fantastic for feeding them, but mines also quite narrow so I can still get it around the shops relatively easily. I'd then give them a big burp and then make sure they're sitting up in their prams for a bit in case they puked.
nap time - an amazing trick for my two is to put the hoods up, lay them flat, take the toys away, dummy in and wrap a blanket over the front of the pram so that they couldn't see anything and with the motion of the pram they'd fall asleep.
My two just love looking around at people shopping and they have their toys as well... I generally drop my husband at work for 9am and then go out until i have to pick him up at 5pm. This shopping centre is great as well for baby facilities, as they have change and breast feeding rooms everywhere, and family loo cubicles so i can take the pram in with me. and i seriously deserve a loyalty card for starbucks!
hope that helps