MOM

Mom. Such a simple and small word, but with a huge significance. I find it wonderful how a word with only three letters can have so many different meanings and can cause so many different feelings, depending on who says, hears or reads it. If you ask people what “mom” means to them, you will most certainly get as many different answers as persons you asked the question to. Some people will talk about their own mom and what she means to them. Others will talk about themselves as a mom and how that is a blessing, a challenge, or both. Some will tell you what a wonderful mom their wife, sister or best friend is. Some will talk about that special person who is like a mom to them, even if she isn’t really their mother. Others will be sad as their mom is no longer with them, but will remember how wonderful she was in life.

TEN YEARS

April 18, 2005

My two suitcases are full to the brim with my most important belongings, as well as the things I will need first. Eight boxes full of other carefully selected things will be sent as cargo. Anything that doesn´t fit in these boxes and suitcases has been thrown out, given away or sold. Buying the airplane ticket is easy, but once your organizing, selecting and packing it turns out it’s actually quite an undertaking, packing all of your things when planning to emigrate. What do or don’t I need, what would I like to keep, what can go, what would be better to buy anew once I’m there? Rather difficult, all those choices. And once everything has been selected and packed, mixed feelings. Happy and relieved that it all worked out, but at the same time it becomes a lot more final once you see first all those boxes and then also the suitcases standing in the hallway.

Mirror Twins

Saturday, 28 March 2015. Tonight when I said it was time to brush teeth, A. was the first to run into the bathroom, like most evenings. She climbed up the step stool in front of the sink and looked at me in the mirror with a beautiful smile on her face. I looked back… and saw N. For a moment I felt confused, maybe I was wrong and it had been N. who had entered the bathroom just a moment earlier? I looked next to me and saw very clearly that it was definitely A. who was standing on the step stool beside me. Again I looked in the mirror, and again I saw N. there. Next to me, A. In the mirror, N. A really strange experience, which confirmed what I already had been thinking for some time. Our girls are mirror twins! I had read something about it a few months ago and I had already been almost sure that our girls were mirror image twins. Their hair naturally parts on opposite sides. We can’t be completely sure yet if our girls are right- or left-handed, but it’s getting more and more obvious that N. prefers to use her left hand to eat, draw, etc. while A. in most cases uses her right hand. And if I remember correctly, their first teeth came in on opposite sites, too! Enough reasons to think about mirror twins, but today it just suddenly got very clear. Pretty strange to see N. in the mirror so clearly while it was really A. who was standing in front of it. But also very special. Identical twins are not very common (about 1 in 285 pregnancies, or one third of all twin pregnancies) and mirror twins are even rarer: only around 25% of all identical twins are mirror twins. So really a lottery ticket, with the first prize: two beautiful and special girls. I’m so proud of them and happy that I’m allowed to be their mom! :)

Time for Big-Kid beds! – Part 2

It took some time, I know, but here’s finally the follow-up post to Time for Big-Kid beds? – Part 1. There are several reasons why it took me so long to write this (or any) post, including of course the Christmas and end of year activities, the two weeks of December "holidays" with no daycare, bad weather outside and two snotty and coughing toddlers at home (I should probably write a post about those two weeks at some point…), but also the transition to the Big-Kid beds – as my precious two hours of silence during afternoon naps are now gone, and apparently won’t come back anymore. But for those of you considering making the switch to toddler or Big-Kid beds soon: don’t worry, it’s not all bad news! Read on for our experience so far with the transition of our twin girls to toddler beds: the good and the bad, the successes and the disasters…

Time for Big-Kid beds? - Part 1

Last Saturday, the day started with a loud thud, followed by the crying of one of our daughters. Or at least, my husband’s day started like that; I’m glad I didn’t hear it as I went for a run in the early morning and came home just a few minutes after it happened. When my husband rushed into our daughters’ room, he found one of them sitting on the floor between the two cribs. We knew this would happen at some point, it was only a matter of time until they would find out how to get out of their cribs. But we had hoped to have a little bit more time… Fortunately our daughter was all right and the fall didn’t leave any bumps or bruises – it seems our choice to put carpet on the floors was a good one.

Common questions to parents of twins – Part 2: the uncomfortable/way too personal questions

After my previous post on common ‘odd/silly/way too obvious’ questions to parents of twins, today I’ll write about the most frequently asked uncomfortable or very personal questions that parents of multiples come across in their daily life. Mostly, these are questions you would probably never ask a mom of one child or children of different ages, but somehow people think it’s ok to ask a mother of multiples. Future parents of twins: as you will undoubtedly hear these questions in the years to come, I would recommend you read through them and try to prepare in advance, so that you can possibly avoid some uncomfortable situations while visiting a public place with your twins.

Common questions to parents of twins – Part 1: the odd/silly/way too obvious questions

As a parent of twins, you will come across many complete strangers finding you suddenly very interesting and trying to initiate a conversation by asking all kinds of silly, odd, stupid, uncomfortable or very personal questions that they would probably never ask to a singleton mom or dad, but somehow think it’s ok to ask to a parent of multiples. Just add to this that most of these questions are asked at the most uncomfortable moments (imagine you’re trying to comfort two crying babies at the same time, or attempting to get two toddler twins in their car seats as fast as possible to be home on time for their afternoon nap or dinner), and you’ll have the perfect combination for getting really stressed, upset or even angry with these strangers who are wasting your time or asking things that are not of their business. In the beginning, I found the best way to move on quickly was to just smile or nod or give a quick evasive answer, or sometimes even ignoring people if possible (I know, that’s not very nice… but many questions aren’t, either). However, with time you’ll get used to questions and you can choose depending on each situation if it’s best to give the nod/smile/quick answer reaction and move on or give a real answer/explanation (most of the times you’ll notice that people weren’t really expecting that much information or they even don’t really care and just wanted to start a conversation). Or if you would rather have some fun you can even use a joke or silly answer that will certainly stop people from asking any further.