Multiples & More Question of the Week...Child Leashes?

The child harness... (or "leash" as some call it,) is a commonly debated topic among moms. As parents of multiples, our safety concerns just might make them a little more acceptable. What do you think?

This week's Question of the Week is:

• How do you feel about child harnesses?Do you use them? Why or why not?

Prior to having kids I remember feeling like child harnesses were horrible.  I could not believe people would put their kids on a leash...then I had twins.  It became very obvious right away when my twins would run in completely opposite directions and I had to determine which one was going to be in the most iminent danger first.  That's which one I would run after first.  I learned very quickly that the child harnesses were a GREAT idea. 

• How do your kids react to them?

My girls never used one but they did think they're neat because I have explained the purpose behind them.  I let them know that the mom of that child cares so much about her young one that she doesn't want that child to run off and doesn't want any stranger to pick them up.

• Do you think they are an example of laziness, or simply concern over your child's safety?

I don't actually believe that there is a parent that could use it as a form of laziness...to be quite honest with you it looks like it would be a lot of work.  Personally when my girls were little I told my husband that we were going to have them...#1 - because I am a mother bear and would not ever want my girls to wonder away from me in fear of someone grabbing them.   #2 - The thought of having them go in different directions at the same time...you could use a stroller but they start to gain their independence and then they want to walk.  Here is the reason that I didn't use them...because my girls are excellent listeners.  That's the ONLY reason that we didn't use them and it was because we didn't have to.

• If you are against them, do you think it's more acceptable for a parent of multiples to use them?

I find it WAY more appropriate for a mother of multiples to be using one.  Otherwise I guess a singleton mom could use one however that to me would be a little lack of discipline if she had only one child and that child was not staying in the stroller or holding the moms hand.  That would be a little concerning.

• Do you think negatively of other parents that use them?

Because I am such a freak when it comes to parenting...the ONLY time I think negatively is when I am watching the parent that has their child on a leash and is jerking them around.  They are not a dog.  Use your words and help this become a learning opportunity to your child to become more responsible.

Multiples & More Question of the Week...Twins Birth Order

My friends over at Multiples...and More! are having a Question of the Week for us mothers of multiples.

Describe your childrens' personalities, in birth order. Do you think your kids personalities are related to their birth order?

Baby A is a very sweet, loving, totally organized, just wants everyone to be happy, little girl.  Baby B is very strong willed, sweet, loving, wants to help with anything...very kind and giving, not organized at all.
I don't believe birth order has anything to do with the girls' personalities.  Also, they don't know who is older...they think they are the same age...CUZ THEY ARE!  2 minutes doesn't constitute "older" in my book.

Is your baby A any bolder or more dominant than B, C, D?

No...it actually the opposite.  Baby B is more strong willed which then makes her a little more dominant.  However there are times when Baby A is...it actually depends on the week. LOL

Does your last-born reach milestones last as well?

Well, she was the first to walk, the first to lose a tooth.  Baby B was the first to whistle, the first to learn to ride her bike (with her sister about 10 minutes behind her).

Are there any characteristics that you feel are somehow related to birth order?

Being that these are my only children, I don't really have anything to compare it to.  If the birth order has something to do with Baby A being more organized and more of a planner where Baby B is more fly by the seat of her pants then I guess so.  But I won't know until I read others' posts. :)

Do you find that a lot of people like to "classify" your kids? How do you feel about it?

The people that I find do it the most are the ones that don't have multples, aren't multiples and aren't parents to multiples.  The ones that do it the most basically have absolutely nothing to back up what they are saying.  They do like to find things that make them different, so they say...which one is older?  My girls will say neither.  It's so funny though, people just want so bad to find something different that they think that's a sure bet.  My girls are 2 minutes apart, in my book, that's not older.  So my girls don't know that one is older than the other.  Just another way to try to compare them. :)

Multiples & More Question of the Week...how did I name my girls?

My friends over at Multiples...and More! are having a Question of the Week for us mothers of multiples.

The question was...

How did you choose your multiples' names?

It's kind of a funny story...when we found out we were having identical twins we didn't know what their sex was.  So we had names for either boys or girls...for boys they were going to be Tanner and Tracyn and for girls they would have been Taylor and Tori.

After we got the ultrasound that told us we were having GIRLS...we were so excited.  When I got home from the doctor that day, there was a message on my answering machine that said, "Hi Taylor and Tori's mom." and it was at that moment that I realized I didn't like those names.  So we were on the search again...

We finally settled on Emilie and Erynn (of course they were spelled different because my name is Kandi and I like that my name is spelled different.) 

As for middle names...I really wanted them named after Adam and myself.  His middle name is Joseph and mine is Darlene so we were going to name them, Emilie Jo and Erynn Darlene.  But then I didn't like that fact that one would be after him and one after me...I wanted them both after both of us.

So I started to figure out how to make a name out of our first names...but with Adam and Kandi...there weren't a lot of options.  I then started playing with our middle names and got it...we took the "Jo" out of Joseph and the "lene" out of Darlene and named both of their middle names Jolene!

Emilie Jolene and Erynn Jolene!  And I am so satisfied with that!

As for how we were going to name them when they were born...the first one out was going to be Emilie...that's how she got her name.

To read about more multiples name combos...head on over to Multiples and More.

Multiples & More Question of the Week...

Every week Multiples and More posts a Question of the week...whether you are a multiple mom or not, you are welcome to join in on answering the question and then going on over to Multiples and More and linking up.  Below is the question...

 Welcome to our Multiples and More Question of the Week!

Time seems to fly when you have small children, doesn't it? In the midst of changing diapers, doing laundry, cooking, working, planning, etc, it's easy to overlook the special moments that we have with our kids on a daily basis. Today, we want to stop and take a minute to remember and appreciate some of these moments. So, this week's question is:

Describe in detail 5 of the most special moments you have shared with your children.

There have been so many special moments I don't know where to begin...

1)  I guess it would start with them before they have the ability to remember.  When Adam and I were in the hospital and we were told we were having twins...that was one of my most special moments not necessarily shared with them...but none the less, one of my favorites.

2)  Then I was blessed to be able to breast feed my girls.  I actually breastfed them for a year and a week and those moments were some of the most special moments you could ever spend with your babies.  I remember how they would look up at me and more often than not they would hold hands while they were eating.  I fed them "football hold" and decided that if I had to feed them one at a time because they were getting too big then I would not be able to continue breastfeeding because I would have to spend twice as much time feeding them.  As it worked out, they didn't get too big...I just kept scooting their bottoms back and they were able to feed like that for a long time.

3)  I was blessed to stay at home with my girls for the first 3 years of their lives and every single day we were doing something fun.  We never turned on the TV...we went on field trips, went to playgroups, etc.  I remember some of my favorite moments with my girls were on those car rides.  I would never turn on the radio unless they wanted it and I would just listen to them and talk to them the whole time.  It's funny how this time that we spend with our kids can be taken for granted yet it's the best time that we have with our kids.  We would laugh the whole time...they were so funny!

4)  Our vacations every year are the most memorable also!  The phone doesn't ring, there is no computer (keep in mind I work from home) and we have really good "us" time.  We have spent time in Southern CA for a week at San Juan Capistrano and were able to spend a day at Disneyland.  That was awesome and my girls were SO good...we cherish that trip.  Then we have a timeshare in Nevada that we go to when it's snowing and have so much fun just relaxing.  We also went to Kauai for a week and what I loved about that trip is that this island is not commercialized at all, so all of the time we spent together was at the beaches and sight seeing.  There are many more trips that we have spent together and I always look real forward to them every year because it's this time that we make the whole week about our kids.

5)  And this last one might seem really little but it is so big for us...there are many mornings that my girls climb in to bed with me and we just get to sit and talk about what they have been doing, anything that have happened that they need to discuss.  I like to find out what it is that we do that makes them happy and what makes them mad or upset.  It's interesting to find out what your kids perspectives are.  We are able to talk about things that you wouldn't talk about in the normal course of the day.  This is a real special time that I enjoy with my girls and hope that it never ends. :)

To see more answers to this question...head on over to Multiples and More

Multiples & More Question of the Week...

This post has nothing to do with being a Mother of Twins, but I am excited to share this family tradition as part of answering the Multiples and More question of the week.

What do you like to make with your Thanksgiving leftovers?

We love to have Turkey Sandwiches the next day.  I have always wanted to learn how to make Turkey soup out of the left over turkey but have never found a good recipe.  I hope to find a good recipe through this Question of the Week. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

To share your recipe and to view more answers to this question hop on over to Multiples and More.

Multiples & More Question of the Week...

The Multiples and More Question of the week...and you don't have to be a Mother of Multiples to participate...we encourage everyone to!

Name 5 small successes in your life from the past week. (and yes, laundry counts!)

This past week I was proud to have accomplished a few things...

1. We painted our bar in our house from a hideous purple to a beautiful tan...looks 150% better!!
2. I put all my girls' clothes away in their room...not just putting them away...organizing, color coordinating, sorting, getting rid of the stuff that doesn't fit, etc.  And we went through ALL of their books and put them in their book shelf.  This was a major accomplishment. :)
3. I started implementing job charts for my girls that really have worked well.  They are getting to add up all of their accomplishments for the last week and get paid for them tomorrow...then they will really LOVE their job charts.
4. I became an official "tweeter".  I have not ever been interested in getting a Twitter account and a really good friend of mine pushed me to the dark side.  I have enjoyed it so far and am really starting to figure things out with it, thanks to all who gave such good advice on my Aloha Friday questions.
5. For the first time in almost 8 years...my husband and I went to a marriage retreat through our church.  This was something that we knew we needed but didn't know how to do it.  It was definitely stepping out of our comfort zone but putting our relationship, the most important gift we can give our children, first!!  Praise God for all that we have learned and accomplished this weekend.  We vow to go every two years to a marriage retreat and recommend you all do so too! 

To read more about what other successes people have accomplished this week...please click here.

Multiples & More Question of the Week...

Multiples & More Question of the Week...

Here's how it works...go to Multiples & More and link it up to your blog by answering the question below...don't foget to comment while you're here answering the question. 
Thanks so much and Happy Sunday!

And now.. here is your question!

What is your policy on giving kids candy?
What age do you think it is appropriate?

And.. be honest.. do you eat your kids Halloween candy?:)

My policy on giving kids candy has really been limited since they are only 6 yrs old.  I believe candy should be a "treat" not a daily occurrence.  There are a couple of days a year though that I just let my girls eat until they are sick...Halloween is one of them.  So tomorrow will be the day.  Easter and Christmas we allow them to do the same thing.  You figure you are getting candy from the Easter Bunny and Santa, you can't be rude, you have to eat it.  The age we started giving our kids official "candy" is around 4 to 5 yrs old.  However we are very healthy eaters and we don't keep candy in the house.  It really is a treat in our family. 

And as much as I don't want to eat their Halloween candy...we have to make sure it's not poisoned...right? 

Will post pictures today of the girls' costume!

For more answers to the above question...click on the "Multiples & More" link above.

Welcome to The Multiples and More Question of the week:

What is your favorite thing about Halloween?

My favorite thing about Halloween is planning the costumes and the school parties.  I love party planning so much and try to be "creative" with my girls costumes so I start researching it months in advance.  This year the girls will be Thing 1 and Thing 2.  I know it's not the most creative costumes, but it was good for twins and the other ideas they would not go for.  For example, I wanted them to be one of those friendship necklaces, where one of them is half of the heart and the other is the other half...and when they stand together, it would say "Best Friends".  They weren't going for that this year.  I also thought it would be fun to be a pair of dice...but they really got excited about Thing 1 and Thing 2 because when they dress up asThing 1 and Thing 2, they also get to adopt the philosophy of Thing 1 and Thing 2 and that is that they do the exact opposite of what you say.  So the whole day that they are dressed up, we are going to have to be very choosy with how we ask them to do things.

Have a safe Halloween everyone! 

To hear about things that my girls have been in the past...click here.

To find out what others think about Halloween...click here.