A change is as good as a rest - travelling with twins (We rock Wednesdays)

We're just back from a few days away. It's true, a change can be as good as a rest (a rest being something that doesn't appear that often when you have 23m old twins!) We were visiting family in Sussex and as I'm still not confident driving (and it was the Bank Holiday) we planned our trip by public transport. Travelling by public transport, when you have twins and a buggy, means travelling light, planning your route, and packing well!

We had a fabulous time. One of the good things about going away for a few nights is that even though you have the general looking after the boys type jobs that go with toddlers (nappy changing, feeding etc), it meant that some of the jobs didn't need doing. We didn't need to tidy up. We didn't need to wash up or cook, as we were out (or what we did was minimal as we were with family so sharing jobs). It's surprising just those few small things add up to make it feel like a break.

And the boys were great. Our journey to Sussex included the bus (our local train station has steep steps and no lift), the train, the London Underground, the London Overground, and another train! We kept them entertained with books that we had taken with us, and telling stories and singing. Not sure what the other passengers thought! 

Tips

• Make a list of what you need to take.
• Consider what you can realistically carry with you. We were lucky this time because we were visiting family that we were able to send some nappies and wipes in advance which saved us some room packing.
• Take some snacks with you so that you have something to eat on the way.
• Take small things to entertain - we have found stickers and small books useful, and we also saw other parents travelling using their iPad's or similar.
• Look out for places where it is easier to get onto the train etc, our local service has started marking on the ground where the disabled carriage is on the train which means a little more space (obviously we would have needed to move if a wheelchair came on). 
• You can check your route through London for disabled access which also helps if you are taking a buggy, with Transport for London. 

I'm a member of a fab twin group on Facebook and I was able to ask what good places there were to visit locally (without a car). This helped us find a local park with recommendations of where to eat too. 

The hotel were really great (we stayed in a Premier Inn). We had booked 2 travel cots in advance and here are some of my tips from our stay:

• If you have booked cots, call in advance to the hotel and double check that they have the booking for 2 cots if you are travelling with twins. (We already knew we could get two travel cots as we had asked on a similar trip earlier this year, but you could play it safe and call before you book to check procedures where you are going)
• Move things out of the way that you know will be fascinating - things like the bin, cables etc.
• Consider booking your breakfast time the night before so you can get a highchair (or two in our case) reserved rather than finding out in the morning they are being used). 
• Check what is included - at Premier Inn we found up to 2 children of a certain age could eat per paying adult breakfast, which although breakfast wasn't cheap at just under £9, it worked out good value when you included the kids breakfasts.
• Consider taking your own cutlery/beakers etc - often they only have adult cutlery and crockery. We used their teaspoons and small dessert forks although we had our own forks as backup. 
• Our breakfast came on hot, adult sized plates - we asked for a spare cold side plate and cut the food up and decanted it onto that.

A teddy bears picnic

One of the things we wanted to do this summer was a teddy bears picnic. We were lucky enough to find one was being organised as part of our local carnival, at a beautiful park local to where we live. So our theme this week has been about picnics and the summer (a good job as it feels like the weather is starting to feel a little more Autumnal!).

This week we have been reading 

1. Skip through the seasons - a beautiful looking book by a company called Barefoot books, by Stella Blackstone and Maria Carluccio. We have a couple by them out from the library and they are very visually inspiring. I think this one in particular I am going to buy as a book to help the boys learn about seasons as they grow up - it is also great for them spotting things in the pictures.

2. We're going on a picnic - by Pat Hutchins. Although I loved some of the illustration, this hasn't been one of my favourite books - that's definitely the advantage of trying to find specific things through the library or second hand.

TIP - when you are buying books on Amazon you can often get new or used books slightly or considerably below the full price. Just remember to consider where they are being posted from, and postage costs.

We had a fabulous time at the teddy bears picnic! We took our teddy bears with us and there were lots of people there. We had a teddy bear themed picnic including this lovely recipe for cheese biscuits that I got from Pinterest.

Although the boys didn't go on anything they loved the music that was playing in the bandstand and seeing everything that was happening around them. I'd definitely go back next year, and hopefully take part in the teddy bear parade. Shortly after the picnic the boys were ready to be off and playing so we packed up and went to play instead.

The boys loved their teddy bear biscuits! And they even tried a bit of egg which they haven't been bothered about before. It was a good reminder to keep trying foods with them.

We haven't done so many crafts this week but we did manage to do some colouring at the end of the week and used a teddy bear as our shape to bring the theme to a close.

Making better use of our toys

Although we have had our zoo theme this week, because we have had family visiting we haven't had time to do any specific craft projects. The boys have been busy being entertained! One thing I have been doing is having a bit of a sort out and re-organise, which started after I got thinking a bit more about the themed projects and reading. Partly this was also because we got a couple of new toys out, which are quite bulky, and it's meant a bit of a change around to facilitate playing with them without all the toys taking over!

We are lucky because we had the room to have a big built in cupboard put in our living room. Currently most of the toys we aren't using right now are stored in there, with a bit of overspill into the dining room. I was finding that the state of my living room was stressing me out a bit, always feeling within two minutes of the boys arriving downstairs that there was stuff absolutely everywhere! 

The solution has been to get some storage in there and split out the toys by different types. For instance, all the finger puppets are now in together. We have boxes for musical instruments, the two sorts of building blocks we have, and farm and zoo toys. It's now easier to get one sort of toy out at a time. I believe this is also helping them to focus more on the toys we do have out, rather than constantly flitting from one toy to another. It also (touch wood!) seems to mean less toys are thrown behind the sofa, fireguard and door which is what was happening.

It does mean some work for me - rotating the toys so that they don't get bored of them. So far though, it seems to be working :) How do you have your toys organised?

I am enough.

One of the blogs that inspires me as a mama is Finding Joy. She is just running a challenge this month. Sometimes it's just the right moment that a post pops into your email inbox or Facebook news stream. I believe we see things when we need them.

Today I needed the reminder that I Am Enough. I am. I'd planned a day out for family to our local seaside fair and had the right wristbands for the boys to go on a range of rides. We were recommended by the person fitting the wristband two rides to go on. One was a small kiddy rollercoaster. We went on it....the boys would not recommend it! After that, pretty much all the rides we went on, they weren't happy about. That one big ride at the start had taken the shine off things. 

I had mummy guilt. I learnt a lot about myself today. 
I learnt when I plan things I want (expect) them to go well. I learnt today I can't always control that outcome.
I learnt a recommendation from an adult, isn't the same as trusting my Mummy intuition that even though it says the ride is OK, it may be best to start small. 

I was reminded what a great community of mama's I belong to around the world - people I know, people who are in the same situation, and people I know only because we have linked on social media through similar interests.

From this great community of women I learnt even more. I learnt:

• Instead of beating myself up about what didn't work, to celebrate the fact I am enough - I tried to plan a lovely, fun day out for my boys. 
• It's all trial and error - what they hated today, they may love in a year. Or even tomorrow.
• I learnt I'm not the only one to try this particular thing, and have it not work out. I guess somewhere, there will be someone in the same boat feeling the same feelings. Knowing that doesn't necessarily always help, but it adds to a feeling of relief and helps you to move on.

Finally with the wisdom of all this I was able to say, I am enough. I tried today. I will keep trying tomorrow. My day is more than this one moment that didn't go how I planned. I can let go of what didn't work and keep the memories that make me smile. Otherwise, I really haven't learnt anything at all.

Twice as nice (Twin Tuesday)

Here are 7 of my reasons it's twice as nice rather than double the trouble when you have twins:

1. They always have a playmate: When they go to nursery for the first time, they aren't on their own. They have a friend when you go to new places. They can wake up together and have an early morning chat. Plus the fact that they have a playfriend can sometimes give you a little break to get a cuppa/something to eat!
2. They can learn from each other: Whilst sometimes this be be a source of much mischief, they can also see one another learning. What one can do, the other is more likely to want to try. It can work for eating, walking, exploring new toys.
3. It's magical when they interact: When you stop, and slow down and watch your twins interact it can be amazing. I try to make some time every day just to sit and watch them together. Heads bent over a project, reaching out to one another.
4. You have twice the giggles: There is a LOT of laughter in our house. It's such a joyful sound. We hear them through the baby monitors laughing at each other. It's infectious. They egg each other on and play off the fact that each thinks they are hilarious.
5. They help each other: Yes, sometimes they don't like to share and can fall out. Even at 21m though they look out for each other. They shout each other when it's time for lunch. They pass the water. Sometimes they even feed each other snacks.
6. Your arms are full of love: It is wonderful when they both come and have hugs and fun at the same time. Yes, your hands are full but full of an abundance of love.
7. There is nothing like two little hands holding yours: Now that the boys are walking it is so lovely when we are walking along and they both hold your hand. Or stop and look up at you, to see what you think or to point something out to you.

What do you love about having twins?

Story time - crafts and fun with the Hare and the Tortoise.

Last week we did a few crafts all around one story, Hurry up and Slow down, a version of the well known story the Hare and the Tortoise. As I mentioned, I have been finding free time at home one of the times I can feel disengaged when the boys are throwing their toys around. One of the things I have done to be more connected and mindful with them is to focus on a theme for the week around one of the books we have been reading. 

This last week it was Hurry up and Slow down, and all the crafts were around the Hare and the Tortoise. I used Pinterest to get ideas of what crafts we could do together, aiming to:

• Keep it simple
• Remember to use craft ideas that seemed applicable to their stage of development so that we were set up for success.

I've found it really useful having some ideas ready to pull out when we are at home, especially on days where we didn't have any other activities planned. 

This week we have:

• Hare and the tortoise potato stamping: I simply cut a potato in half and used a felt tip to draw a very simple shape before cutting with a knife around the shape. Because I put the paint onto the potato it limited the amount of mess that was about but we all had fun.
• Hare and the Tortoise colouring pages: I found these on the internet,and when the boys got bored of the structured sheet we simply used a plain piece of paper.
• Hare and the Tortoise - being a tortoise: I sellotaped 4 pieces of card together, drew on some shell shapes and then put some rounds of parcel tape on the back and stuck them to the back of the clothes. Whilst this looked super cute, it was probably the least successful - N had a go but J just pulled his off and sat playing with the shape! It was still fun to try out!

I've started saving some of the ideas on a story time craft board on Pinterest- do feel free to follow :)

Would love to hear what stories you are reading and any crafts you do with your little ones.

This week we will be reading Peek a Boo Zoo (although most of the peekaboo bit doesn't work as the ears got pulled off!)

Noticing what went well (We rock Wednesday)

Sometimes it's easy to spend all your time thinking about things which didn't go quite so well. Or that you planned to do, or didn't. We Rock Wednesday is my reminder to myself to give myself a break and to celebrate the good. It's all about an opportunity to spot and remember what is going well. Where we made progress.

As a family it's about us catching each other doing things right. It's a habit I'd like to get into. Often looking back we forget the tiny steps of progress we made. The little everyday things where we said "Well done!". The first time something was achieved. How it was improved.

Just this week:

• I've tried out a few new recipes for the family - some have gone down well with the boys, some not so well - but if I didn't try I wouldn't know!
• N has been so helpful to his brother - passing him his water when it was hot, shouting him when it is time to go to breakfast.
• J has given N a hug when he was upset. These signs of affection between brothers are so beautiful to see.
• I've managed to get some painting and some blogging done, as well as some tidying up at home. It's all a balance!
• We got the lawn mowed at the weekend before it rained so we can spent time outdoors.
• We have been out to twin group and have caught up with friends.

What have you noticed you have done well this week? Tell someone today something great they have done.