• About
  • Contact
  • FTC Disclosure

Busy in the Burbs

Busy in the Burbs

Category Archives: Twins

Flying with Kids

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Nora in Family, Travel, Twins

≈ Comments Off on Flying with Kids

This does not need to be feared.  But, how successful you are depends on the adults and kids, and really the kids age.  In our case by far the worst age for flying is around 1.  They want to move, but they don’t walk very well so they’re on the floor and generally into everything.  Airports are DIRTY places.

I’ve checked car seats loads of times. Bring your own bags, though. 2 car seats max per bag (really only an issue once you get to boosters). Mine ride in the airplane seat once they turn two. We’ve used GoGo’s with the kids in the seats and a luggage cart with both car seats attached. If the seats are necessary both of these work. But, they’re both a royal pain going through security and boarding. I have narrow car seats and I couldn’t roll mine down the aisle. Gate checking a double stroller is so much easier. We give a backpack to each adult and that’s it for carry-ons.

In general, I prefer to carry-on less stuff.  Its been a long time since I’ve taken a trip short enough to carry everything and if you’re checking anyway lighten your load.  I try to avoid all belts and other metal stuff that might have to be removed.  I also put all our phones, games, etc together in a clear ziplock bag; you can remove that from your carry on and send it through security as is.  Each child must also walk through security alone so send an adult first to catch the stuff and them and use the other adult as a sweeper. Their lovie will have to go through the machine so be prepared.

And, don’t buy drinks before security; they can’t come through.  I take trail mix and apple slices for the kids.  It takes them a while to eat that.  We just don’t worry about meal times; its something to do.  Make sure you bring enough food for all ages in case you’re delayed.  And, if you have little ones a change of clothing for them and you is probably warranted.  I bring a book per child, a new set of matchbox cars, and the electronic games for the older ones.  Other than that, hope all goes well!

Feeding Solid Foods to Infant Twins

15 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by Nora in Twins

≈ Comments Off on Feeding Solid Foods to Infant Twins

The question of how to get twins started on solids came up recently.  Here are my thoughts:

1) Just because you’ve been given the ok doesn’t mean they’re actually going to take to solids.  I’ve tried all of mine at the 4/5 month mark, but some didn’t get it until closer to 9m.  If they don’t get it just stop and try again in a few weeks.

2) I found high chairs (we have Fisher Price) to be much easier than bouncy seats.  You can start them slightly reclined and sit them up as they get a bit older.

3) Your friends with singletons will gasp, but use one spoon and jar/bowl and just go back and forth.  You may need to feed them one at a time at first.  But, once they get the hang of it it’s much easier to feed them at the same time.  And, you’ll never be fast enough for them if you try to have two spoons/bowls going.  I never had mine use the pouches as I didn’t really want to have to break that habit.

4) Buy the smallest box of rice cereal.  It’s very bland and you probably won’t use all of it even with twins.  For my younger two I just started with oatmeal and never did any other grains.

5)  Thicken it up quickly.  If you mix per the box, it’s barely above liquid.

6) I did all the veggies before fruits starting with sweet potato.

7) Pureed carrots stain horribly so I try to minimize how much of that they have, including meals with carrots.

8) What cereals/purees they eat bears little resemblance to what finger foods or table foods they eventually eat.  So, congratulate yourself if they’re great eaters, but don’t stress if they’re picky or just don’t want it at all.  You can switch to finger foods by 9 months so if they don’t take to the purees just try each for allergic reactions and move on.

How do You Manage?

24 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by Nora in Family, Twins

≈ Comments Off on How do You Manage?

I get asked this a lot.  Most often its folks with two kids who think they’re overwhelmed.  Sometimes its folks with three.; rarely they have one.

My response depends on the questioner’s situation.  I actually found 4 a bit easier than 3. And, we have one older than the twins so I never landed at 2.  There seems to be a huge psychological jump to go from two to three kids, but we never faced that issue.

The world is definitely set up for families of 4. From a “world” perspective the main difference for us was that we needed a minivan with 4 as we’d gotten away with 3 across the back seat previously. Most other things don’t care if you have 5 or 6. Typical hotel rooms can be an issue since they won’t give you 2 trundle beds, but we strongly prefer Embassy Suites so we don’t have to go to bed when the kids do and their standard room sleeps 6. We have 7 total and that just opens an entirely different can of worms as no place is set up for that.

The logistics of 4 do get to be a lot (see post from Sept 10, 2014). It’s similar to having 3 singletons since the twins do many things together. You have to be very organized about your time and do much more planning. And, I have had to lean on other parents more often when they have to be in different places simultaneously. I also sometimes wonder about the age gap (8y top to bottom for us) for family activities. But, when I had 3 preschoolers I found it nice to have another over for a playdate because they would pair off, regardless of who they actually came to play with. We had real 3rd wheel syndrome otherwise. As our 4th got older this became the standard dynamic and it gave me much more freedom to do my thing vs being on entertainment duty.

I do get weird looks when I have them all out myself. Nobody expects that many kids to go shopping anywhere, for example. And, I really got noticed when I took the older 4 to the carnival. But, I got lots of looks with the twins so I’m just used to it by now.

Crazy Weekends

10 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by Nora in Family, Sports, Twins

≈ Comments Off on Crazy Weekends

Tags

Large Family

It took me a while to get through all of my emails and organize my calendar after the summer.  It turns out our first weekends were just crazy.  Note, while we have 5 kids, this is a 3 kid schedule.  Our youngest has nothing while the twins go the same direction.  We’ve never had it this bad.  Apparently it all goes haywire in 3rd grade.

Saturday, Sept 13
10:30 – 12:00    B&C soccer
12:00 – 1:30      A soccer (different field)
2:30   – 4:30      D @ birthday party
5:00   – 7:00      A/B/C birthday party (different place)

Saturday, Sept 20
9:00   – 10:30     A soccer
10:30 – 12:00     B&C soccer (different field)
12:30 – 2:00       A baseball ratings (third field)
1:30   – 3:30       D @ birthday party
5:00   – 6:00       A/B/C golf lessons

Its always amazing how busy September and June are with things that could be done in the summer if only folks were around.  Throw in baseball ratings, which is a once a year activity related to a sport that doesn’t start until May, and it’s busy.

Newer posts →

Enter your email address to follow Busy in the Burbs and receive notifications of new posts by email.

About Me

Welcome! I’m Nora. We have 5 boys and 1 girl. I write about the practical stuff that we call life – managing school, sports, and all things suburban. I get everyone where they need to be, with their stuff, when they need to be there and write about how that all gets done.

Recent Posts

  • October 2019 Grocery Review November 25, 2019
  • September 2019 Grocery Review November 18, 2019
  • Grocery Update – Week 36, 2019 September 24, 2019
  • Grocery Update – Week 35, 2019 September 23, 2019
  • August 2019 Grocery Review September 17, 2019

Categories

  • Accomplishments
  • Books
  • Family
  • Groceries
  • Home
  • Menus
  • Product Reviews
  • Recipes
  • Sports
  • Travel
  • Twins
  • Uncategorized
  • Websites

Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • FTC Disclosure

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Busy in the Burbs
    • Join 60 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Busy in the Burbs
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar