Friday, December 31, 2010

Graham and Parker in 2010



I saw this cool idea on a few blogs and loved it!!

So here it is...

A year in pictures

 

January
at the park playing with older sister Mackenna

February
picking strawberries at Pappy's Patch

March
playing at the park during a playdate

April
They turned TWO!

May
we took a stroll and fed the ducks

June
enjoying some watermelon and other snacks

July
having fun at the Zoo splash pad

August
having fun at the Science Center 

September
playing in the yard in their pool

October
Choosing Pumpkins with older sister Haley

November
a fun choo choo wagon ride with friends

December
seeing Christmas lights in the evening



and since none of the pics had theit older brother Cameron,
here is one from the Pumpkin Patch with all three of their older siblings!




 Hope 2011 is FUN and FANTASTIC!!  Happy New Year!!!





it's early

I had to go back and make a couple of corrections in the last post.
I re-read it and realized some may take things I said the wrong way.
I certainly would not want that to happen!!

OK so since I had to make another blog post... I should make the best of it huh!

How about some youtube videos of multiples!!

Two sets of Twins being funny


Triplets pregnant with singletons


Quads arguing over who is the oldest and youngest

MORE UNDER THE CUT!!  -click read more-
Read more »

Do you ever think about the comments

Sometimes the comments people make in public when they discover that you have multiples.... are pretty hardcore.

I really wonder about people sometimes, like what is really in their head? I have heard many atrocious comments and have read many online that were said to others. Some of them make you think that the people making the comments, either hate children or maybe have some jealousy issues.

I think many of us have heard the few common ones like:
  • Better you than me
  • Wow, I am glad I don't have twins
  • OH my word are they (insert amount of multiples you have here)
  • how do you do it
  • how do you handle them
  • you have your hands full

But what about the REALLY intense comments. Those are what disturbs me.
Recently I have read several blogs that all stated one common thing that was said to them at least once.

I'd kill myself if I had twins

WOAH, what the heck is that???  Seriously? People go around saying this to random mothers of twins out in public?  It's like asking for yourself to be randomly baker acted  because you saw a person with twins and went temporarily insane.

Why on earth would you say you would take your own life if you had twins?
That is intense, hardcore, over-the-top CRAZY!

Think about it, when we go out in public and see a Mothers with a really outrageously misbehaving child do you go up to her and say....

"Hey is your kid having a FIT?  (stressed mother says YES) Oh well I'd kill myself if my kid did that".

Do you ever go up to a random mother that either:
  • obviously looks like she is broke, dirty, lives on welfare in a trailer
  • has a lot of kids (not multiples)
  • has a misbehaving child
  • wears non-matching clothes on her kid
  • buys too much junk food
  • drives a gas guzzler
  • has a disabled child
  • is wearing white after labor day (hehe)
  • shops (a huge shopping trip) with her kid at midnight in wal-mart
  • has any random appalling (TO YOU)  quality
(not stating that these are bad or appalling qualities or facts, just that they could be to any random person)

and say:  I'd kill myself if.... (insert any of above statements here)

HECK NO!!!  Who does that?????  That would be terrible!!  Not to mention rude, insensitive, unnecessary, and in some cases quite cruel!

Why do they make that statement and other statements though?
Do they hate children, even their own secretly? Do they really think multiples are such a bad thing? Are they secretly jealous? Are they batsh*t crazy?

What on earth makes people think they can just walk up to or past a mother of multiples and say such an outlandish statement to them?

Do we have a quality that makes them feel really comfortable around us?
Are we one of those people you can just say anything to?
Are we makeshift psychologists?

I know that when people see a set of multiples, they get excited in one way or another and want to let you know that they are indeed excited. I get that.

It's like seeing a random woman in the store with a great pair of earrings or a really amazing sweater, you just have to let her know how you feel about her earrings or sweater!

However, why all the negativity about multiples? What makes people think that it is not only appropriate, but a good idea as well to make random negative comments to mothers of multiples? What happens when those multiples are of age to understand or at least partially understand those negative statements?

It happens! I have recently read on a few different blogs that mothers with multiples ages 3-12 have had comments made to them right in front of their children. Their children, who are multiples and quite capable or understanding those statements.

It hurts their feelings! It confuses them! It upsets them!!

It has to stop!!! 

People really need to shut their mouths and look the other way, if they feel strongly compelled to make a negative statement about multiples they see in public.

You never know whose feelings you are going to hurt.

I hope that one day in the near future through the magic of books, magazines, newspapers, television, and the internet, people wise up!

What happened to treating strangers with respect and kindness?

Maybe someday.  :)

OK well enough of that.....here is an opportunity for YOU to make a difference and get involved through blogging. Join in the fun that is January BlogHopPalooza and be informed!!


INTRODUCING The Star of the Blog World for January 2011!!!!!!

You will see this on the 5 hosts blogs and hopefully more blogs all throughout January!!! It is a month long mega blog HOP!!!!  Want more followers, get on board NOW!!!!
yah I am excited so I posted it early... besides many of you all will be hung over on January 1st anyhow.






Photobucket

BlogHopPalooza


Your 5 Blog Hostesses
  1. Mommying On The Fly
  2. Life With Twins and Multiples
  3. Family Organic
  4. The Thompson Twins
  5. TwinHappy

The Rules
1. follow the first 5 blogs..
2.leave a comment that they have followed so we may follow back.

optional BUT a GOOD idea for all
3.add the badge
4.feel free to blog about it and add linky
5.follow others and have a blast

Thursday, December 30, 2010

January BlogHopPalooza

INTRODUCING The Star of the Blog World for January 2011!!!!!!

You will see this on the 5 hosts blogs and hopefully more blogs all throughout January!!! It is a month long mega blog HOP!!!!  Want more followers, get on board NOW!!!!
yah I am excited so I posted it early... besides many of you all will be hung over on January 1st anyhow.






Photobucket



BlogHopPalooza


Your 5 Blog Hostesses
  1. Mommying On The Fly
  2. Life With Twins and Multiples
  3. Family Organic
  4. The Thompson Twins
  5. TwinHappy

The Rules
1. follow the first 5 blogs..
2.leave a comment that they have followed so we may follow back.

optional BUT a GOOD idea for all
3.add the badge
4.feel free to blog about it and add linky
5.follow others and have a blast

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Big in Japan?? Nope bigger in Moldova...

OK so this is pretty cool, when you have a blog on blogger.com you can check your stats. They have a built in system that records all stats related to blog traffic.

One part of the stats tells you what countries you get the most traffic from. This blog is based in the United States, Florida to be precise. Our blog team comes from all over though.  ;)

So our blog traffic by country currently is as follows:

United States 4,728
Canada 263
Australia 118
Netherlands 115
United Kingdom 111
Russia 90
France 27
Luxembourg 22
Moldova 21
Japan 20


WOW, so we have attracted readers from some pretty cool countries. Awesome!!


Moldova intrigues me the most.  I am pretty darn surprised that we have some regular readers from Moldova.  I check out stats here and there and when I do, I often see Moldova on the list of readers by country.

Do you know where Moldova is?

Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova (Moldovan/Romanian: Republica Moldova) is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldovan SSR in 1991, as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A strip of Moldova's internationally recognized territory on the east bank of the river Dniester has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990.


We actually have a Mom and baby in our playgroup from Moldova. We also have 2 from Hungary.

I hope our Mommy readers in other countries are enjoying this blog!!  Thanks everyone for reading!!



Thank you.....   United States, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Russia, France, Luxembourg, Moldova, and Japan   for reading!!

HOLY SCHNIKES

I HAD A LONG DAY!
I really feel like today was played out three times at once. Wowsers!

I felt like I had three full time jobs that were mega demanding all at one time all day today.

My 10 year old had her friend over, my 12 year old was sick, my 14 year old was really annoyed by my 10 year old and her friend. One of my twins is sick and the other is annoyed that his twin is sick and not as playful.  I had a full day of kids, housekeeping, playdate organizing, home pre-school organizing,  a billion phone calls, a lot of typing, vacuuming, swiffering, cooking, wiping, entertaining, nurturing, etc etc etc etc.
Everyone and everything was 50x more demanding than usual today!

I can say I am very happy things are calm and it is bed time. Thank goodness.
Later on I will have to amuse myself by watching the new episode of the monstrosity that is Toddlers & Tiaras. what a trainwreck!!

So I bet you might be wondering about the home preschool, right?
A few friends and I that are in a playgroup together have started a home preschool group. We have 19 of us in the group and have spit the groups into a couple of groups.
We are doing a more natural learning type of preschooling. Lots of fun, no pressure or drilling with flash cards, and most of all...great mini projects and field trips!
We have chosen several books, each of us bought one and we are creating 2-weeks-at-a-time lesson plans. We actually start next week! We will do our "schooling" one day per week in a big community room at one of the local libraries. It is free!! We just had to reserve in advance. Then on another day each week we will be going to a local library storytime and craft hour. The other days will be play dates and field trips, depending on the week..with one day per week being a big group day where we meet with the other half of our home preschool group. We want to go with learning through play. Not pressure and drilling and crazy expectations. We wish not to rob our toddlers of toddlerhood....children of childhood etc.

The philosophy........
Children pursue life, and in doing so, pursue knowledge



All of the children in the group were born in 2008 or 2009.

Our first 2 weeks theme is blue. All of our lessons those 2 weeks will revolve around the color blue in some way. Including the snacks, They will be BLUE!

We plan to let them go at their own pace, not to pressure or make them feel like they are in school but to add some smart structure to their daily playdates. We usually hold playdates 5 days a week.



The books we purchased and are working from are:
  1.  The Encyclopedia of Infant and Toddler Activities: Written by Teachers for Teachers
  2. Gymboree - The Parent's Guide to Play (Gymboree Play & Music)
  3. The Preschool Calendar
  4. The Complete Resource Book for Preschoolers: An Early Childhood Curriculum With Over 2000 Activities and Ideas
  5. The Complete Daily Curriculum for Early Childhood: Over 1200 Easy Activities to Support Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles
  6. Montessori Play And Learn: A Parent's Guide to Purposeful Play from Two to Six



     
  7. Field Trip ideas so far:  Zoo, art museum, feeding ducks, pumpkin patch, strawberry patch, grocery store. Have them find 3 items each and add to cart, cupcake decorating at one of our houses, splash pad, park to collect leaves, stones, sticks, etc...make a nature day, park to play but add some light learning with the play wish us luck!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

WOW Me Wednesday (one day early)

Since this is new I am posting it a day early....
NEW! Be WOW'd by other blogs and WOW them with your Blog!!
Get New Blog Followers!!

It's WOW Me Wednesday!!

How It works:
  1. Post the Wow Me Wednesday button on your blog in a visable Spot.
  2. Follow the First Four Blogs in The Hop & leave them a comment (on any post)
  3. Add your Blog to the Hop
  4. Come back to check for new Blogs to be added, add them and leave a comment.
  5. Make a Blog post about your participation in WOW Me Wednesday
  6. with the blog hop code in the post
  7.  Receive Lots of New Blog Followers!
WOW Me Wednesday Button Code

copy and paste this code

and The LINKY Blog Hop Code
copy and paste this code


You need Tag Back Tuesday!

I just wanted to let everyone know they need to get themselves promptly over to my new blog pal's blog. Mommying on the Fly for TAG BACK TUESDAY.  Unless you don't like your blog having more awesome followers.

I know I like my blog having awesome new followers!!

Be sure to let her know you are visiting from here and how cool her blog is. It really is a cool blog. I am so glad that I discovered it!

Tag Back Tuesday is where IT is at!!!!


Saturday, December 25, 2010

Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays, Merry December

Graham and Parker (2.5 years) had a pretty good Christmas, they received a whole bunch of the people and animal pop on pals, lacing beads, fisher price laptops, new puzzles, shopping cart, bead rollercoaster, books, clothes, a ball spiral,  giant woody, buzz, & mickey wall mural stickers & some alphabet / numbers big wall sticker mural, a new pool for summer, a bubble machine, a shapes toy, a pop up animals toy, little people toys, a new ball pit, and they received a few gifts early this year too :)

They love everything but the shopping cart is the biggest hit!

What did your multiples like the most out of their Holiday Gifts?

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Girl, exposed.

I was contacted recently by a fellow blogger friend, Kristi. She is an awesome twin Mom with beautiful twin girls. Well, Kristi was contacted recently by a random girl living in London. The girl was sending her a warning message, her photos had been stolen by This girl, The girl from London had suspected some belly shot photos were fake. So she googled the alleged names of the daughters to be that this girl had claimed to be pregnant with; Alex Christine & Avery Celeste.

When the girl from London googled the names, she found Kristi's Blog. So that is when she contacted Kristi. Like any Mom would be, Kristi was pretty alarmed when she was told of the girl from London's findings. A 16 year old CT. highschool Student who calls herself Kayla Nichole has been faking a Twin pregnancy and using a lot of Kristi's photos to accomplish such a feat.

Kristi had contacted me to ask for help, she asked me to add Kayla Nichole as a friend on facebook and examine her photos, comparing them to her own that were clearly posted to her blog over 1 year ago.

I added Kayla Nichole as a friend.

Shockingly, the girl from London who had contacted Kristi with the alarming news was absolutely correct. Kayla Nichole had been indeed stealing Kristi's Twin daughters' photos, nursery photos, ultrasounds, & even bathroom photos.

I had to break the unfortunate news to Kristi, which I hated doing.

I then took screen shots as evidence, lots of them. Then I blocked her and reported her to facebook abuse.

However, before I blocked her I did a little bit of research and found out that this girl has a blog on tumblr.  http://gagaisgodx.tumblr.com/

She has her tumblr account linked right there in plain view on her facebook profile.
Nice work, nimrod. :)

On her FB friends list, nearly everyone on it goes to the highschool she goes to or the one nearby. She has managed to fool a lot of people though. She has an army of Mothers on her facebook friends list as well as some local Mothers in my area, one of which is a local children and baby photographer.

This girl claims to be a photographer and has networked with other children and baby photographers around the country.

It gets worse....

She claims to have another child who was born in spring of 2009. I have no idea if that child is hers or who the child belongs to but I viewed an entire album on her facebook that has 25 or so NICU pics of this alleged daughter. I then found an album of recent photos. There was really no evidence to say whether or not that child is hers though.

I have handed as much info as I could find to Kristi. She plans to call the girls' highschool and local police dept. 1st thing in the morning.
For your viewing DIS-pleasure, here is the hard and unfortunate evidence.

This is sad, sad and scary, and sick.

Click the "Exhibit" to view.

Exhibit A:  Kristi's Baby Shower blog post from 1/8/09. The post shows a slide show of her photos which include her twin girls nursery and their bathroom. You can click the slideshow and be taken to her photobucket album to view the pictures. They are identical to Kayla Nichole's nursery and bathroom photos. Clearly Kayla Nichole, the 16 year old girl from CT. removed these photos from Kristi's blog and is currently using them as her own. She is even receiving compliments on the photos. YIKES!

Exhibit B: Kristi's Ultrasound photo post from 12/ 19/08. The post shows Kristi's Ultrasound photos from back in 2008. They are identical to Kayla Nichole's alleged Ultrasound photos from this year. AGAIN.... Clearly Kayla Nichole, the 16 year old girl from CT. removed these photos from Kristi's blog and is currently using them as her own. She is even receiving compliments on these photos too. DOUBLE YIKES!


Exhibit C:  The screen shots I took from Kayla Nichole's facebook photo gallery.
I uploaded them to photobucket and made them into clickable thumbnails. Click on them to compare them to Kristi's blog photos. (click on read more to view them)
Read more »

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Featured Twins in their Wagon

Twins: Dylan and Ashton

Thanks so much for sharing with us Tina!!!  So cute!!

If you would like to send us photos of your Twins, Triplets, Quads, Quints, or Sextuplets in their wagon or stroller please email your photos to TwinsandMultiples@cfl.rr.com
Be sure to include your name, their names and age, and your location (location optional)


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - at the park


            BLOGROLL

Want to be on our BlogRoll?
Email  TwinsandMultiples@cfl.rr.com  to be added!!

Just email us a link and title to your blog!!



We just do not see enough of our button on other blogs....
will you add it to yours?
Let me know if you add it!! I would love to say
a special thanks to you in a future post!


copy and paste this code




THANK YOU!!

Blog Button

We just do not see enough of our button on other blogs, will you add it to yours?


Let me know if you add it!! I would love to say a special thanks to you in a future post!


copy and paste this code



     THANK YOU!!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Featured M.O.M. Tami Wiersma 12/20/10

Name: Tami Wiersma


Age: 38

Marital Status: Married

Blog: www.tamitwinfactory.blogspot.com

Multiples names and age: Avery, Allyson (the "Twincesses" age 4); Sierra, Jenna (the Twinados, age 2 1/2)

About you: I'm busy! I'm a part time HR consultant, a mostly full time mommy, and i'm on a mission to lose 200 pounds in 2 years (36 pounds down in 3 months!)

About your Multiples: Both sets are frat g/g, LOVE princesses and are the "Twin"kles in my eye

favorite items for multiples: disney princess dresses and tea sets made for "4"

favorite toys for multiples: anything i have 4 of

advice for other moms of multiples: just breathe... as long as they are alive at the end of the day, you did good.






Thanks so much for sharing this with us Tami, adorable photos!



Saturday, December 18, 2010

WINNERS Announced!!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this contest!!  I had my twins draw one Twin Moms name from a bag and one Triplet Moms name from another bag.

If you had any bonus entries your name was in the bag more than once.

The prizes are:  1 smiley design Triplets bumper sticker and 1 smiley face Twins bumper sticker

The Winners are..........

Lisa *Triplet Mom*    *click to view user profile*

Melissa *Twin Mom*   *click to view user profile*




CONGRATS!!!!!


To claim your prize please email your mailing address to
TwinsandMultiples@cfl.rr.com

Thursday, December 16, 2010

My story...

I have the wonderful opportunity to be a mother of twins, but before that I was a mom to one child, here in the twin world referred to as a "singleton".  Crazy how life can take such a twist, and a mother of one is instantly transferred into a mother of three boys, and a mother of multiples.  Hard to explain the emotions behind it, I am so proud and happy to be a twin mama, but there are times I feel my oldest gets lost in the chaos of it all.  For nine years he was a single child with all the perks, now he shares the spotlight with two little brothers who are quite demanding and time consuming.  So as I have had my struggles through the first year, then through the toddler stages with multiples, I have to remember so has he.  He has had to sacrifice many of the fun things we used to enjoy as a small family of three, his mom was always there on time and well prepared, now he has a frazzled mother who is rarely on time and not near as prepared as she once was for him.  Sadly this is a reality of our family now, no matter how hard I try to keep this family on track and running full force, there are things I can't do, I can't be there for, and I can't get that one on one time that we once had.  So here is my latest "failure", My oldest had his Winter program for school, I dropped him off a half hour early to get prepared as he was supposed to, then came home to finish getting the rest of the troops ready, just to arrive  seven minutes late, yes just seven minutes.  In that seven minutes I had missed the entire percussion band performance, I still can't believe it, the very first time I wasn't there for him, the sadness and guilt that I felt was horrible.  So once again here I am trying not to lay blame on the twins, but dang they just wouldn't cooperate and for that a price was paid, my poor 11-year-old played his drum for a gym full of people thinking his mom and dad were out there somewhere watching, just to find out in the end they had missed it all.  I can't imagine how he felt, he played it off like no biggy mom, but I know it hurt, I know he felt let down, just as he does when dad can no longer go to soccer games because he is watching the twins while mama coaches.  I tell my self this will end, there will be a day the twins are not so difficult, the will gladly stand by mama  and dad to watch big brother do all his events, I just hope it comes soon.  I swear I told myself I wouldn't let this happen, but try as I might they just won't work with me, they are toddlers, they are demanding, want it their way and on their own time, they are not what you would call "easy" by any means.  So here I am with tremendous guilt weighing down on me once again, how on earth do I cope, how do I be there for all of them, and how on earth do I get these twins to behave, listen, and cooperate with me, ugh I suppose the time will come.  I love them all, and I will continue to push on and try to be the best mom I can be for all three of them, I will try to be that wonderful there for everything mom I used to be once again, I just hope and pray that my oldest understand how I try, and how much I love him.  Having twins is a wonderful experience, but there are struggles I am still trying to master, going from a mom of one to a mom of three, and being there for all of them when they need me.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Six steps to the perfect CHEESE!

Graham was the first one up from nap today and asked to "cheese" in front of the tree. I would say ok Smile Graham and I would get a different attempt to his perfect smile each time. He had me laughing pretty hard! :)

He was trying to "work" the camera..eventually he got it! :P

 Step 1:  thinking about it.


 Step 2.   ooh good try Graham, not quite there yet though


     


 Step 3:   oopsie


 Step 4: So sweet


 Step 5:  ROFL!!!


 Step 6:  CHEESE!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

What is this new coupon craze?

I will admit that with five children it would be nice to save some money with coupons but I rarely can find coupons for what I am buying and I just don't have time to sit and clip coupons for hours.

So I keep hearing that there is this new coupon craze and no one is clipping coupons anymore, they are taking classes??

This sounds so strange to me. Why would anyone need to take a class to learn how to use coupons.

How do you save money on groceries and such?

Monday, December 13, 2010

Holiday FUN! - send us your pics!

I thought it would be cute to have a Holiday blog entry with our readers multiples in a Holiday setting and/or Holiday chlothes!!

So send us a pic!!  TwinsandMultiples@cfl.rr.com

HURRY!!  deadline is Thursday (12/16/10) !! I plan to post all of the pics together on Friday (12/17/10) !!

In the meantime,
 here are my twins (Graham and Parker) having some Holiday fun!