Snow, swaddling and sleeping!

With our two new girls at home everyone had to re-adjust in the family. Not only was there a stream of grandparents and visitors but we also had a nanny every morning and after school to look after the babies so that I could play and give attention to eldest daughter and boy in the middle.

Thick snow meant school was closed for a few days so whilst the babies slept silently swaddled together in their moses basket we all drank hot chocolate, played board games and built snowmen in the garden. Eldest daughter and boy in the middle were extremely proud of their two new sisters and the game began to guess which baby was which.

Baby A was always dressed in pink and baby E wore white babygrows.We became quite conditioned to seeing one pink girl with pink sheets and blankets and one white girl in white sheets and blankets. Both girls after the first few days developed similar patterns and were fed at the same time whilst lying on a giant v-shaped pillow so I could double breastfeed. They were pretty good girls at nightime, waking to be fed together and going back to sleep.

Looking back I can recall only 2 or 3 nights when I was downstairs pacing the living room floor with both girls and watching the rather dull tv that is on in the middle of the night.  It was on one of those occasions where I was so exhausted that I realised in an hour they would need to be fed again. There was no chance I would have enough milk, so I finally took out the carton of ready made Aptamil taunting me from the cupboard and gave them both a bottle! Once my guilt subsided we then introduced one bottle of formula a day at a time when dear husband was home so we could both feed one of the girls. Now at 10 months they still get breastfed in the morning and at night but also really enjoy their bottle of formula mid afternoon.

In those early weeks we didn't venture out of the house too far. It was bitterly cold and snowy and so there was little chance of taking them out in the pram. Dear husband did the school run every morning and each afternoon the grandparents shared the responsibility of collecting them.

Once we were able to go out I loved taking them for walks in the big single pram with them wrapped up next to each other. When people glanced into the pram expecting to see one baby the look of surprise on their faces was priceless. I soon took on the role of "proud mummy of twins" when out with them. Navigating through shops was easy with a single pram so I really enjoyed this time as I knew that it wouldn't be too long before the world would have to get used to me and my double stroller.

I recall my first trip to school to collect eldest daughter and boy in the middle. It was quite an excursion. Firstly getting two babies wrapped up in snowsuits and into their car seats. As new born babies don't move or roll it was easy to leave one lying on the sofa whilst putting the other in the car and then returning to get the next baby. Once I had driven to school the pram had to be assembled onto the wheels, the babies each removed from their car seats, laid into the pram , pram cover on and there we were ready. Simple.

Of course eldest daughter and boy in the middle were so excited to see their sisters in school that they had to bring all their teachers out to show off the babies. In the playground I became "proud mother of 4!"

Fortunately the girls were small and we managed a good couple of months before we had to finally put the pram up in the loft. Friends of ours had leant us a great double stroller which folded up to be very compact and fitted into the boot of our 7 seater car. In fact we took the stroller with us before we bought the car to check it would fit in.

As much as I loved the pram and the moses basket I realised that the girls were growing and so at about 3 months old we moved the girls into their own bedroom to share 1 cot and from now on they would each have their own seat in the stroller.