Now it's double double trouble

One set of twins is hard enough to keep track off now that they toddle around, ususally in opposite directions just so they can keep me on my toes.

Now I am in the enviable position of having not just one but two sets of twins in my life. It's quite hard fitting all of them into the double pushchair and I often find that one of them falls out and I have to pick them up off the floor. At least I haven't lost any of them yet.

Here are the latest additions to our house:

Baby A and Baby E nearly launched themselves out of their stroller a couple of weeks ago when we walked past the toy aisle in a supermarket. They were so animated in their love for these small dolls that I felt we had room in our lives for them as well.

Thankfully Baby A and Baby E are only 17 months old and are happy with one doll each. I wonder how long it will be until they both decide that they actually need to have twins and I will be taking out 2 girls, 2 dolls twin pushchairs and 4 dolls!

Mini Me

I have often had the same discussion with friends who say that sometimes they leave the house wearing the same colours as their kids. It's true that when my eldest kids were pre-school age if I had pulled out jeans and a red top to wear, you could be sure that boy in the middle would be wearing blue tracksuit trousers and a red top. There is something about my subconscious that obviously chooses the same colours for everyone.

Now thankfully eldest daughter and boy in the middle wear school uniform and pull out their own clothes at the weekend but obviously I have to choose all the outfits for Baby A and Baby E.

On Saturday we were invited out for lunch. I got dressed and then I got the girls dressed in their matching dresses, Baby A in pink with a white t-shirt and Baby E in purple with a white t-shirt. Dear husband was already out so I put the girls in the pushchair and walked round to my friends house.  It was only as I was halfway there that I actually looked down to notice that I was wearing my long purple dress with a white T-shirt underneath. I couldn't believe that I had left the house dressed the same as one of my 16 month old daughters!

Needless to say various people pointed this out throughout the course of the day. I made a note to self to try and avoid such clashes in the future.

Sunday came and eldest daughter I completed in the Race for Life in Regents Park with lots of friends. We left the house early and left dear husband in charge of the youngest children. I left the girls clothes out for him. When I got to the park I called dear husband and asked him to bring my fleece sweatshirt down for after the run as it was rather cold.

I completed the 5k run in my own personal best time of 28mins12seconds and eldest daughter amazed me by running it in 42mins. We then met up with dear husband, the other kids and lots of friends for a picnic. I pulled my sweatshirt out of the bag to keep warm and then realised I had done it again. Baby A, Baby E, eldest daughter and I were all wearing our Gap sweatshirts in various colours.

2 days in a row.

This morning when I got up I consciously put on my favourite lime green sweater, as this colour doesn't feature at all in the babys' wardrobe.

As I sit here writing this a thought is crossing my mind. We are going to a family function in a couple of weeks time and I have a feeling that my 3 daughters and I are all wearing very similar floral dresses for the occasion. I have a feeling that perhaps I have done it again.

Customer Service at its best!

I am on the look out for a new double pushchair at the moment. I love the one (pictured at the top of this blog)  that friends lent us when Baby A and Baby E were born. We took it out with us before they were born in order to chose a car that would fit us and the pushchair in and amazingly several cars were rejected before we found our lovely second hand Renault.

Now however as I find that I can almost go to the park without taking the stroller (provided I park at the gate and go straight back to the car) I am thinking of something a little more compact and lightweight that they can climb in and out of easily.

Last week dear husband and I managed to leave the eldest two children with Grandma N and we escaped to do some research in Mothercare. Dear husband stayed with the girls in the car and I found a lovely sales assistant who was remarkably knowledgable about the double pushchairs and happily came out to the car 3 times with different options to check if they would fit in the back. The first was too big, the second too lumpy but the third was just right.

We got the girls out and took them into the shop to have a go at sitting in the pushchair and they were remarkably still and happy and quite annoyed when we took them out of it.

As I like nothing more than to get the best price for the best product I thought I would do a bit more research. Having seen adverts on TV for baby offers at Asda, the next day I drove up with the girls to have a look.

I found the double pushchair stored safely in it's box on the shelf. I asked a member of staff if I could have more information such as the price and she apologised that she was just the cleaner so I headed off to find someone who may be able to help. To cut a very long story short there was no one to help. They did call a manager down who read out the information to me on the box - I love it when shop assistants do that. Did she think I can't read?

I then clearly made a terrible mistake by asking if I could see the pushchair out of the box. The assistant said "No". I pointed out that I nor anyone else would spend £100 on a pushchair that can't be taken out of the box, loaded with a baby and test driven. She then explained that the pushchair was rather heavy and cumbersome anyway and suggested I go to Babies R Us or Mothercare.

I thanked her for her honesty and we left.

As I drove out of the Asda car park and saw their slogan - "Saving you money every day" it made me laugh.

I have now placed an online order complete with my twins discount on the Mothercare website!