The ultimate dilemma

I was just enjoying the peace and quiet in my house on Tuesday evening.  A and E were fast asleep. Eldest daughter and boy in the middle were in bed early, following their fabulous two week vacation at Grandma N's in London.  I was checking the news when suddenly I heard a noise outside, which I thought was an ambulance siren or a motorbike.  Over the noise of my air conditioning, I opened the patio doors but sure enough it was an air raid siren which although we have unfortunately become accustomed to over the past couple of weeks I just wasn't expecting it.

I was home alone. Our safe room is on the ground floor which is actually boy in the middle's bedroom. Eldest daughter was sleeping in there too since Uncle J was with us on a flying visit for work to Israel. I dashed upstairs to A and E's room. I looked at them both sleeping in their beds.  The slight sweaty mop of curls from the summer heat in their room, the covers kicked off and the realisation that at age 4.5 they are actually very tall and long in their beds. As I ran up the stairs I planned to pick up one and take her down and come back for the second. However when I entered the room my motherly instincts kicked in and I couldn't do it. Deep down I knew the chance of any danger occurring to any of us from a rocket attack was minimal, and possibly the most danger could have come from falling down the stairs in a panic.  However looking down at my sleeping beauties I couldn't bring myself to choose who to take first, so with adrenelin coursing through my body I did what I think any twin Mummy would do - I picked up one in my left arm and then the other in my right arm and with them both still fast asleep I somehow managed to carry them both downstairs.

We arrived in somewhat of a heap into boy in the middle's room where I lay A down on his bed and E lucked out and carried on sleeping on top of me as I collapsed onto his bed.

They carried on sleeping, I checked facebook and whatsapp on my phone, we listened out for the distant booms of the iron dome, and then a few minutes later boy in the middle asked if we could all just get off his bed now and leave.  We only have to remain in the safe room for 10 minutes so I managed to get to a vertical position whilst still holding E and carried her upstairs. The difference with the return journey back to their room was, with no sign of danger, I gladly carried them back up one at a time.

It was a small moment of my evening but left my heart pounding, and an incident that I hope I won't have to repeat in the future. 

Twirly Girlies

I remember one day as a young girl of around 9 or 10 over-hearing a conversation between my Mum and my Sister who is 5 years older than me.  I can't remember the exact details of the conversation but I do know it was to do with clothes and it was certainly to do with the fact that my Mum didn't like or approve of whatever my sister was wearing. I remember being the annoying younger sister and claiming that I always wore what Mum picked out or suggested and I would never be bothered about my clothes.  Of course that didn't last long as I also turned into a teenager with an unusual dress sense.

Now I look at my own children and I thought all was going extremely well. Eldest daughter is extremely compliant - has a good dress sense and happily wears all manner of clothes according to occasion. Boy in the middle generally couldn't care less what he wears although he has a preference for red tops or sweatshirts. I think he is realising that boys clothes are just not as colourful as girls.

And then we get to the youngest members of our family. And that is where the ease of dressing ends.  The days of dressing A in pink and E in purple have long since gone and I now have to contend on a daily basis with dressing two of the girliest girls I have ever met.  The piles of jeans and trousers and leggings that were all worn by eldest daughter sit unloved and unworn in the wardrobe. In their place we have twirly skirts and dresses.  A is the most particular about her choice of clothes and whereas she used to wear either a skirt or a dress,  in the past few days she has declared that skirts too are no longer acceptable and it is only dresses for her.  E is a little less particular and can on occasion be persuaded into a pair of leggings under a dress or skirt.  

I think the last time I recall either of them wearing leggings with no frills or twirly skirts in sight was on a hike up Masada at the end of December.

And it makes one wonder where they get this from? It's certainly not from me as I tend to wear jeans or trousers every day for work. 

I know or I hope at some point it will pass and the large variety of clothes that we have for them will get worn.  I am a little concerned about the approaching summer and the gorgeous stacks of shorts I have for them in the cupboard but at least on my last trip to Primark I bought a variety of sundresses which thankfully have all been approved and some of them have been given a twirling rating.

Things that go bump in the night!

Some things just become a habit, like complaining when it's time to have their hair washed, or their daily fix of watching Peppa Pig, or their almost total refusal to allow Daddy to get them dressed. Some of these habits we can put up with, get over or ignore but then there are others that we really do not want to become habits yet we are increasingly unable to put a stop to.

And so it has become something of a routine that almost every morning when I wake up I find either A or E snuggled up in my bed next to me. On occasion there is a little girl on either side of me, leaving DH little room on his side of the bed! And each morning when I wake up and see a cute little face next to me, part of me is so happy to see her and part of me is increasingly annoyed that I had not noticed when she had arrived in the night and that I had not had the strength or ability to take her back to her bed.

It has become so much of an occurrence that if I do wake up without a small child in the bed, my first thought is usually to realise how well I slept with so much space. My thought process then hopes that they are both ok followed by a dash out of bed to check on them!

So in order to nip this habit in the bud we are consciously (or semi-consciously I should say for the middle of the night) trying to navigate the girls back to their room when they get up for a wander around usually at 2am. The only problem is that our own sleeping hours are very limited and once I am asleep I don't really hear very much. Which means that DH if he wakes up at all has also been trying to get up and take A or E back to bed.

We thought it was starting to work but then when I woke up this morning with one of them asleep next to me. DH was amazed. He commented
"But I took her back to bed at 4am - I wonder when she came back".
"Well I presume she is still in her bed; this is the other one"I pointed out to him!

It's a privilege and a pleasure to be the parents of twins and in the case of these frequent nocturnal visits we will continue in our quest to break the cycle and perhaps one time in the not too distant future we will all manage to sleep through the night!