Breastfeeding Week

In honour of breastfeeding week I thought I should post a little something about my experience breastfeeding.
Just as soon as I can put this BFing/wiggly baby down and type with two hands.

[next day]

It all began with Abi.  She latched on straight away at home.  Even when we were in the NICU (she had fluid in her lungs) and she had tubes in her nose, she nursed.  And nursed.

We'd nurse on the go in the sling. We'd nurse at the cafe. We'd nurse in bed (co-sleeping).  We'd nurse upside down - the little monkey.  Here she was, above, being a goof at a year and some months old.  We did a lot of diaper free time that summer as she was very good at walking herself over to the potty and we'd been practicing Elimination Communication since she was three months old.  (Doing it with the twins too.)

Abi nursed for three and half years. She told me she'd be done at three, and then all of a sudden she didn't want to be three anymore... I love nursing and we were mostly cuddle-nursing once a day by that point. However, when the babies (or, as I thought at the time, baby - singular) were conceived, I jumped on the opportunity/excuse.  One morning I told Abi she couldn't nurse anymore because mommy needed that energy to grow a baby.  She accepted that reason and that was the end of that. I think she asked twice more if she might nurse but didn't fight it.  She did have the idea that she could nurse again after the baby was born - when the baby nurses.  I figured we'd cross that bridge when we got to it because I was quite certain that after nine months she wouldn't be asking again so there wasn't much point in arguing with her. Having twins made that argument mute. Two babies and two breasts = no room for Abi.

Simulation of TAAT nursing - while knitting. They were nursing until they fell asleep.

And then there were twins.  They latched on right away as well.  I did, however, have cracked and bleeding nipples at first - but we persevered.  In retrospect I realized I had not been giving enough attention to their latch, which was further complicated by the babies being tongue-tied.  I'd forgotten what it was like to nurse a newborn after three years of nursing a kiddo. I took it for granted that babies can get a good latch and wasn't watching positioning very well. Mea culpa.  (It certainly would have been more useful if the hospital's lactation consultant visited moms on the first day rather than minutes before they leave the hospital - we even had to wait on her. If I'd been able to have a midwife again, it would not have been an issue.  But I digress.)  We also had to do some bottle feeding of Lucy (with formula, so she'd gain weight/ get her blood sugar up so we could leave the hospital) and a little with Claire as my milk was coming in and the piglet was hungry and in need of a top up after nursing.

After the frenectomy things went much more smoothly, latch was corrected, nipples healed. We're still going strong with nursing. Sometimes two at a time. More often each in turn.  They don't like bottles any more; Abi never took a bottle, neither.

Yes I spend a lot of time nursing, but it's not more time consuming than bottle-feeding (which would involve extra steps of bottle preparation). Breastfeeding is so much more portable too.

It needs to be said, in addition, that Robin makes this much easier.  He feeds me. He changes a diaper while I'm nursing. He brings babies over. He burps a baby.  He keeps Abi occupied.  He feeds us. (Did I mention that already? Well it's vitally important.)  My parents are a great help right now too!

I'm so immersed in breastfeeding again that I can't imagine an end. Oh, I know it will come and that when it does that will be it. No more future babies [knock on wood] to nurse. It will be sad.

As a final note, I've known friends who breastfed large babies and I wondered how the babies got so huge. Abi was always so petite.  Then I had Claire!  She's up in the 80th percentile while her identical twin is down in the 10th percentile - all on the same breastmilk.

Babies are fun

Despite the teething and the colds, babies are still fun.  Abi agrees.

(and now for some kiddo pics to tide folks over)

Lucy posing with knitting and showing off some of her usual crazy hair.

Claire posing with start of a crochet hat.

Crazy Claire face. Blue eyed cutee.

Lucy noming on Taggies blanket.

Abi rides a dear while geocaching on a bike ride with Robin.

Abi and Lucy pose during a round of Bumbo-car driving. (see video below)

Claire hangs out on the Island while Lucy is off cruising with Abi.

And now for some recent videos. Nothing too terribly exciting, but better than no videos - right?

Still to come - photos from the wedding. Or see what we've been tagged in on FB.

Geocaching

Do you know what Geocaching is? If you're a friend of Robin's I assume you know about it by now. It's his favourite past-time. (Don't tell his XBox friends that...) No matter where we go, there is always a geocache nearby. Always.
(Note, geocaches are also located near yarn stores.  But I think we may have exhausted the local ones. Could some one please hide some more around Wolseley Wools and Ram Wools CoOp. K, thx.)
(PS If you actually want to know what geocaching is, I've linked to the main site. Don't ask me to explain the treasure hunt. Talk to Robin.)

This is a familiar sight for me.
Almost as familiar as these:

 (Just a little kiddo goodness for your day. I know I'm overdue for sharing pictures.)

 This guy is rather familiar too and looking might comfy. (Had to share.)

But as I was saying, we do a lot of geocaching. And by "we" I mean Robin. Often Abi is with him. Sometimes the babies and I tag along.  Sometimes we "tag along" by waiting in the car. I knit. There are a lot of roadside geocaches.

Last weekend we attended our first geocachers event hosted by long time family friends, who also happen to be avid geocachers (or, at least the male half of the couple is avid; I suspect the other half tags along as I do).
There were a lot of geocachers - young and old, families and couples and so forth. Plenty of kids for Abi to run around with.  There was also a live band, who played a couple of kickass sets in the evening.
And there was the Jenga fire.
Robin took a picture with Abi as a reference.

Then the tower grew...

And then it was a tower of fire.  Everyone waited in anticipation for the tower to crumble. It was quite exciting. There are a couple dozen videos of it I'm sure, since everyone had cameras out. We have videos.

Abi and Pa-pere

A great event all around.   Abi even met a girl her own own age (whose parents are 'cachers) who actually happens to live a few blocks away.

Lastly, we're ready for the big wedding tomorrow. Abi demonstrated her readiness at the rehearsal last night. Sunday I hope to get up the real pictures. Stay tuned.

Happy Giggles

There's not much that's better than laughing, smiling, playful babies in the day and sleeping babies at night.  Makes it easy to 'forget' all the crying in between (and the endless diaper changes).
I've been terribly lax about sharing photos, but that's primarily because I've not really taken many decent ones lately.  Babies are at that stage where they stop the cute thing they were doing and just stare at the strange metallic device.  It's no good for photos. Or videos.  I did manage to get this cute video the other day. (Already shared on FB).

As for what we've been up to this summer... aside from 2 weeks of Folklorama... there has been a lot of geocaching. A bit of knitting on my part (especially during long drives - thank goodness for long drives!).  Plenty of fun with family (Abi went to Thunder Rapids twice in one week with her papere).  Weekly library trips.  Geocaching - wait, I think I mentioned that already.  You know, stuff, "the days are just packed" kind of things.
And while everyone else is heading back to school (many of Abi's friends, my dad to teach, etc), summer continues for us.  I've been trying to find fun daytime programs for Abi. Alas, the Winnipeg leisure guide and community centres nearby don't seem to have much in the day for kids - not like in KW.  I was hoping for a daytime dance class like she had before at Victoria Hills CC.  I don't understand why all the preschool-age dance classes are offered at or after dinner.
So far we're going to put her in a Saturday dance group at the Scandinavian Center because Abi thought it looked like fun during Folklorama and the hostess at the pavilion sold us all on the program.  (Can't beat the price, non-competitive, fun, could be in Folklorama next year, etc.).  We're also going to do story time at the library during weekdays.  We're hesitant to commit her to other (expensive) programs when we're not sure where we'll be living half-way through the term.  (Note for my Ontario friends, there is no JK here. Not that it would matter at the moment because contrary to her previous insistence that she has to go to a real school, she now insists that she's going to stay home and mommy's going to be her teacher.  So we're back to the homeschooling plan.)

Folklorama

I don't think I've ever attended as many Folklorama pavilions in one week as I have this year. And that's only been week 1 of the world tour event.  So far we've attended Africa-Caribbean, Brazilian, Russian, Poland-Warsaw, and Ireland. Next week: Scotland, Argentina-Tango... and more for certain.

Abi has loved the dancing and music.  She's learned to ask if we're attending Folklorama on any given evening. 

Viva Brazil

not so enthusiastic about soccer/football

Irish face painting

Caribbean ice cream treat

taking a break from pavilions at the English Gardens

Family photo opportunity thanks to a passerby

Claire and Lucy enjoying the Russian performance

One of Each?

Often people inquire if I have "one of each" when they see the twins.  It seems an odd assumption, but upon reflection I realized it's the safe question.  It saves the curious person from guessing the sex of the babies. You know, if they don't see the pink hand-me-down outfits with frills.  That's my assumption at least.

The other assumption I encounter often, that lacks any logic, is that Claire must have been born first (i.e., is the "eldest") because she is larger.  If one stops to consider twin births, there's no reason to assume this.  Whichever baby is closest to the birth canal will emerge first, regardless of size.  Or, in the case of a caesarian, whichever baby is grabbed first by order of convenience or necessity (in case of fetal distress) is first born regardless of size.  I'm pretty sure those extra 17 minutes (in the twins' birth) would not make a difference in size even had Claire been first to emerge.

I'd heard about the funny assumptions parents of twins encounter before.  It really is quite entertaining to encounter them.  I do wonder why so many folks make so many silly assumptions - the same silly assumptions.  I wonder if any psychologists or sociologists have studied this... what is it about twins that evokes these responses?

The other difficulty I face with our twins is trying to explain that the twins are identical - when they currently look so dissimilar in size.  It inevitably requires that I explain how "identical" and "fraternal" (technically, monozygotic and dizygotic) twins develop.

8 years ago

8 years ago today

Not So Brave; Not a Choice

As a mom to (newborn) twins I have frequently encountered a common sentiment that sounds something like this: "You're brave! I don't think I could do it." (That's a direct quote from the other day.) Or simply "whoa, twins... how do you do it?"
My response is that I'm not so brave and we do what we must.
It wasn't a choice we made to have twins.
It's not so difficult.  Or at least, I don't think it's overly taxing.  Sure, it can be cumbersome to care for two babies in need. Plus the 4yo's needs.  But it's not really any more taxing than parents who choose to have multiple young children.  Personally, I think I'd rather have two newborns than babies 11 months apart.  Maybe that's because I'm a babywearing, long-term breastfeeding, co-sleeping kinda mom.  Not sure I'd want to be chasing down an 11 month baby (such as my niece) while also needing to nurse a newborn, for example.  I'd rather nurse two newborns at the same time than a newborn and wiggly 11 month old baby (but yes, I'd be tandem nursing).  And of course I'm fortunate that much of the time the twins nurse at the same time, thus halving the amount of time I spend nursing.  Granted, there are other days when I think all I do is nurse. (I hand them over to Robin for diaper changes.)
As parents we figure it out though. I'm sure I'd figure out how to care for multiple babies not of the same age.
I'm really not so brave.
And as I've said, it wasn't as if we made a choice in this.  I'm more inclined to think those parents who have babies 11 to18 months apart are the "brave" (or, crazy) ones.  They made a choice* that resulted in two young babies several months apart.  Aside from a pregnancy termination, we didn't have a choice in the matter.  I suppose there are situations where parents of twins made a choice that resulted in twins - parents undergoing fertility treatments in which the odds of multiples are knowingly increased.  That wasn't us.

When folks make comments that imply our situation is "special", they evidently haven't considered that we didn't choose to have multiples.  We're not brave; we're just caring for two babies.

That being said, newborns are pretty easy to care for.  Ask me in 8 months how we do it - chasing two little ones who have just learned to walk. In opposite directions.  Actually, I can already tell you how we'll do it (at which point Robin will be back at work):  I have an Abi! She already chooses to calm the babies. She tries to change diapers.  And she loves to bottle-feed if given the chance.  Mostly, however, she likes to play with her sisters.


*I'm excluding situations where a woman has a pregnancy forced upon her, which I would consider to be a very different situation.

Knitting with babies

For folks who've wondered how I manage to knit with twins, here's my response:

Note, I am not actually nursing here.

 A proper twins nursing pillow is essential to effective knitting. I've knit an entire large project this way... which I will share later. Thanks to Kat for the pillow!

Pete's Sweater

 Abi asked me to use this yarn to make Pete a sweater. So I did.  No, it was not fun to knit with.
Then Abi turns around and days later has a new favourite toy: Horsey.
Horsey is NOT getting a sweater.

Spinning

I've even managed to do some spinning in the past couple of days.  I've also made progress on the finger holes for Robin's riding gloves.  Only the thumbs remain to be finished.

Last month (June) I finished a few other projects:

Balls were a fun quick knit. One was a gift; 2 for twins.

Tweet gift

Poor photo of shawl (pre-blocking)

Shawl blocking photo to show the lace and shape. There are beads in the middle section.

My favourite is the Butterfly Forest shawl knit with some delightful Briar Rose yarn and some bead embellishments (plus nupps!).  I haven't had a chance to get a better photo yet.

Camping Adventure

We took our first camping trip this past weekend.  Yes, with newborn twins (6 weeks old).  No, we're not crazy.  We were going with a large group of friends and other kids (to keep Abi busy).  Plus, babies sleep (well, newborns are pretty sleepy much of the time).

Tentin' it

Sleepy Claire with cute pouty/smooshed mouth

Fishing/boating

Staying hydrated in the heat

Marshmallow goodness

More marshmallow goodness

Geocaching / hike

New BFF

This was actually the first time we've camped as a family. In all our years in Ontario, the only adult who had time to camp was me.  Robin always used up his vacation time for trips to Winnipeg.  Abi and I would attend witch camp and Spirits of the Earth Festival (which we are missing this upcoming weekend.  We're also missing Folk Fest).