A Day in the Life… …of a Mother of 9 month old twin boys
by Sarah Seaman, mum to Benjamin and James

7am - Get up, get showered, get dressed (leave hair wet so as not to wake slumbering babes).

7.15am - Go downstairs. Put bottles in warmer. Hang washing out from overnight wash. Eat breakfast. Remove bottles from warmer.

7.30am - Go upstairs. Dry hair. Put some slap on (you may think this an extravagance, however I can perform this task in 2 minutes or less and it certainly makes me feel better.) Brush teeth. You are now ready to face the day!

7.45am - Babies awaken. Hopefully this has been a gentle action, although occasionally it will entail heads accidentally banging against cot sides, or bad dreams or a coughing fit causing much crying and general grumpiness. Leave babies to play and chatter in their cots while you get their clothes and nappies together. Lay rug on your bedroom floor (has to be the floor at this age as they will crawl, creep or shuffle in all directions). Place clothes, nappies, wipes and changing mat on rug.

8.00am - Pick up a baby. Remove him from his cot to your bedroom floor. Give him a toy to play with. Close bedroom door behind you. Remove second baby from his cot. Place him on your bedroom floor. Give him a toy to play with. Close bedroom door. Watch as one baby steals toy from other baby. Undress first baby. Change his nappy. (This will involve a great struggle as baby wishes to crawl away to anywhere but the changing mat, as you try not to break any limbs while gently keeping him in a horizontal position. Although sometimes, you give in as you have mastered the art of putting a nappy on a moving child.) Dress him. (Bear in mind that all of this is done with the other baby attempting to crawl all over the one you're changing and/or crying because he wants his breakfast.) Undress second baby. Follow remainder of above paragraph.

8.15/8.30am - Pick one baby up. Close bedroom door behind you. Take baby downstairs and put him in high chair. (Avoiding kitchen if possible as this is where the bottles are and if either baby should view his bottle a moment before he's given it, much screaming will ensue.) Give him a toy to play with. Go back upstairs. Open bedroom door very carefully as baby may be directly behind it.

Pick second baby up and take him downstairs. Put him in highchair. Give him a toy to play with, even though he's just about to get his bottle because he will see his sibling playing with a toy and you can't show favouritism. Put bibs on babies. Give bottles to babies. Any chattering, crying or playing noise immediately abated. Prepare breakfast for babies. This will usually involve toast or cereal. Sit in front of babies and spoon feed them cereal or let them feed themselves toast. If latter (preferable when you're alone), make yourself a cup of tea and drink it!

8.45am - Clean babies' faces, hands, necks and highchair trays. Lift first baby out of highchair and check bottom for smelliness. Place child on floor in playroom (we had the garage converted and have installed a room divider so that babies can amuse themselves for the inevitable times that you are away from the room picking up the second baby.) Leave playroom after closing gate on room divider. Go back to collect second baby from highchair. Check bottom for smelliness. Place child on floor in playroom. Remember which, if any/both, baby has a soiled nappy and attempt to change with as little fuss as possible.

8.45 to 9.30am - Spend 45 minutes or so with babies in playroom. Usually one baby playing happily with one toy at a time whilst other baby rockets around the area trying to play with all toys at once, while crawling over both you and his sibling. Occasionally pick up a baby after he has fallen/ crawled into the wall/chomped too hard on a toy etc.

9.30am - Crankiness begins. It is still approximately 30 minutes from nap time but a sort of weary boredom has crept in. The next half and hour requires more participation from yourself. Usually involves sitting on floor with both babies climbing all over you and both demanding kisses/cuddles at the same time. Or you acting a complete fool in an attempt to keep both babies smiling.

10am - Weariness is now overbearing (is that for the babies or me??). Pick up first crying baby, leave room after closing gate behind you. Go upstairs. Put baby in cot. Go downstairs, pick up second crying baby. Leave room. Go upstairs. Put baby in cot. Close curtains. Switch monitor on. Say 'Sleep tight. Love you'. Babies are still crying. Go downstairs, pick up clean dummies and take these upstairs. Place a dummy in each crying baby's mouth (if child is already asleep, dummy is not required). This is where your next steps are dictated by the previous night's sleep.

Sequence A follows a night where between both you and your husband have only been disturbed between 2 and 4 times by crying, coughing, vomiting baby(ies). Sequence B follows a night where you've been disturbed between 5 and 15 times. Sequence A - Go downstairs with monitor. Tidy up. Clean the kitchen. Clean the oven. Polish. Clean hard floors. (Vacuuming may disturb slumber.) Stack/unstack dishwasher. Clean dishes that cannot go in the dishwasher. Put washing on. Bring washing in. Iron. One or all of the above depending on how much there is to do, and how long nap time takes.

Sequence B - Go to bed.

11.00 - Babies will usually awaken around the same time (as any multiples group or book will tell you, routine is paramount). Sometimes there's crying, sometimes there's chattering, sometimes (joy) there's playing happily. Pick up first baby. Take him downstairs to playroom. Close gate behind you. Go upstairs. Pick up second baby. Take him downstairs to playroom. Attempt to change nappies with minimum bother. Pick up first baby and place him in door bouncer (near enough to kitchen for you to see them, far away enough to avoid incidents). Pick up second baby and place him in door bouncer.

You now have approximately 20 minutes to prepare lunch for babies and you. If you're feeling awake and adventurous you might prepare something fresh such as pasta with sauce. If not, then remove previously bulk baked and frozen meals and defrost. Cook yourself something relatively quick and easy and try to time it so that it's ready when they have finished the spoon feeding part of their meal. (Invariably timing is incredibly bad so you eat rather burnt fish fingers.)

11.30 - Babies will by now be hungry. Remove first baby from door bouncer and place him in highchair. Give him a toy to play with and possibly a beaker of water. Remove second baby from door bouncer and place him in highchair. Give him a toy to play with etc. Feed babies. At this age there will be some finger food as well as spoon feeding. The more finger food there is, the more time it will take. Eat own lunch whilst babies are chewing on rusks or banana. Once all baby food has gone, give them toys to play with.

12.00/12.15pm to 1pm - Lunch time is finished. Clean babies' faces, hands, necks and highchair trays. Lift first baby out of highchair. Place child on floor in playroom. Go back to collect second baby from highchair. Place child on floor in playroom. You now have until around 1pm to both watch babies playing and play with them. Please see 8.45 to 9.30 am for details of what will take place during this time.

1pm - You now have a choice. Do you put babies into cots for nap time or do you go out for a walk/drive? Note: this is not the time to go to the supermarket! If you choose the former and place babies in cots for nap time, please follow the notes above for 10am. Bear in mind that if the night before was particularly bad, you will need another nap yourself. If not, then utilise this time to complete any of the aforementioned chores. Or as this nap is usually longer, take the time to bulk bake more meals for freezing. If you choose the latter, you get the benefit of fresh air if you go walking, or the benefit of quiet driving time if you go out in the car.

By 2.15pm nap time will be over. If this is not supermarket day, you will do as follows. Pick up first baby. Take him downstairs to playroom. Close gate behind you. Go upstairs. Pick up second baby. Take him downstairs to playroom. Attempt to change nappies with minimum bother. If this is supermarket day, unless there is a smell emanating from single or multiple nappies, you will place babies in car for a shopping trip. It is always wise to do this after a nap and not too close to feeding time for optimum baby happiness in the trolley. Pick up first baby. Take him downstairs. Put him in car. Lock car. Debate whether it's safer to close front door to avoid strangers entering house, or leaving it open for easier access to baby in car. Usually leave door half open.

Go upstairs. Pick up second baby. Take him downstairs. Attempt to put him in car. Doors are locked, so go back in house and press remote locking button on key. (It is rather difficult to carry a baby and keys at the same time as either baby will attempt to place keys in mouth if in your opposite hand; keys will dig into your hand and his bottom if in hand underneath baby; or keys will fall out of pocket whilst you're negotiating stairs.) Put baby in car. Lock car while you grab baby bag (already loaded with nappies, wipes, coats/cardigans, spare clothes, small toys, dummies, snack food and drinks.) Also remember to pick up purse and mobile. Drive to supermarket.

2.30pm - Hope to find a 'Parent and Child' space that hasn't been taken up by lazy staff or members of the public without children who would be the first to pick a fight with you if you opened a car door onto their car because you'd been forced to park in a too small space. (Could this be a pet hate of mine?) Lock the car. Try to find trolley with either double baby seats or double toddler seats. Baby seats are easier to find as they contain two large pieces of grey plastic protruding from the top. Double toddler seats are rather tricky to find. After (hopefully) finding a suitable trolley (and after much head turning to constantly check on car containing babies), return to car.

Remove first baby from car and place him in trolley. Remove second baby from car and place him in trolley. Start shopping. This often involves a lot of staring at the babies by other people. Some of whom simply mutter 'twins' as they walk past, many of whom stop to talk to the babies, and sometimes you too! I love the attention the boys get because I have to agree with the public in that they are in fact, beautiful, but this must be factored into the time it takes to get the groceries. You should have completed the circuit in around 45 minutes. This of course is affected by the amount of times you get stopped; the amount of times you get blocked in or cornered by people with dirty looks insinuating that you're an inconsiderate person for even considering going to supermarket with two babies (what are you meant to do, stay at home until they're old enough to vote whilst all the housework and other chores are miraculously completed by the child-free fairy godmother??!)

3.15pm - Unpack the trolley and pack the car. Drive home. Once home, remove first baby from car. Lock car. Put him in highchair. Unlock car. Remove second baby and put him in highchair. Give them both toys to play with. Defrost meal from freezer. Unpack car by removing bags from boot and placing them on floor in kitchen whilst occasionally checking defrosting food.

3.30pm to 4.00pm - Feed babies. Clean babies' faces, hands, necks and highchair trays. Lift first baby out of highchair. Place child on floor in playroom. Go back to collect second baby from highchair. Place child on floor in playroom. Change nappies. You now have until around 5pm to both watch babies playing and play with them. Please see 8.45 to 9.30 am for details of what will take place during this time.

5.00pm - Babies will be getting crotchety. Although they will have had around 2-2 ½ hours sleep so far today, they will still need either a light nap or just some down time. The best way to do this is to go for a walk.

5.30pm - Back home from walk at approximately the same time as husband returns from work. Husband will then take over parenting duties while you cook dinner; prepare a light supper for babies such as banana custard or fruit pudding; warm up bottles; wash and sterilise bottles and teats etc for tomorrow. You then swap baby minding with husband as he changes from work clothes.

6.30pm - This time, there is no need to leave one baby on the floor while you carry his sibling to the highchairs as husband is available for carrying too. What simple things bring a smile! At this mealtime, because there are two adults in attendance as well as a bottle feed, it is possible to eat your own dinner whilst children hold own bottles and then you take it in turns to spoon feed each baby.

7.00pm - Remember which baby it is your turn to bathe. (We take it in turns each night so that neither parent/child has the opportunity to become too attached to either parent/child and as each baby enjoys bathtime in a different way, you get to enjoy each baby's reactions in turn.) Before taking babies upstairs, one parent fills kettle and switches it on. Thus allowing enough time for water to cool sufficiently to make bottle feeds with bottles already in steriliser. Place rug on floor in bedroom and undress babies. Allow them some clothes-free or nappy-free playtime. This playtime usually involves babies terrifying the trapped cat (door is closed to stop any horrible stair incidents); attempting to open drawers; attempting to pull bedcovers from bed and so on.

Either self or husband then leaves room to collect nappies, sleepsuits and sleeping bags from nursery. Also to check that cot bedding does not need to be changed, and change it if necessary. Then run bath and collect towels.

7.15pm - Pick up a baby each and place them in their bath seats. (Very useful with multiples as once able to sit, a baby is somewhat supported by the seat and yet not at risk of falling into water - although you can never leave them alone in the bath.) Bathtime is fun. Lots of giggling. Lots of splashing. Some stealing of each other's toys. Wash faces. Splash bodies with water. Wash hair.

7.30pm - Babies have tired themselves out. Eye rubbing begins. Take babies out of bath, into towels and back into your bedroom. Put nappies and sleepwear on babies. This is generally the most difficult time for dressing for some reason, probably tiredness. So after much kafuffle, babies are almost ready for bed.

7.45pm - Tooth brushing time. Our babies have 8 teeth each (early I know, but what can you do?) and we have been brushing their teeth since only one had erupted. However, with each new tooth comes a new dislike of tooth cleaning. Pretend to brush own teeth in order to get baby to want to copy. This may or may not work. But at least you know that some fluoride has touched the teeth as each baby wants not to have his teeth brushed, but to chew on the toothbrush…

7.50pm - Put babies into bed. Close curtains. Switch heater on (this is to avoid leaving the central heating on all night. And as heater has a thermostat, there is little risk of overheating.) Switch light on in one cot. Switch light and music show on in other cot. Place hand on 'your' child and sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'. Say 'Nigh-night, love you' and kiss each child. Leave room. Usually, both babies go to sleep quite easily at bed time. So after picking up the monitor and clearing up the toothbrushes, toothpaste, dirty nappies, towels and rug from your bedroom floor, as well as selecting the next round of dirty laundry, you and husband go downstairs.

8.00pm - Husband usually makes the bottle feeds while you pour a glass of wine or cup of tea and open some biscuits.

8.05pm - Sit down (possibly for the first time today) in front of TV and talk to husband whilst watching the programme you recorded from 2 nights ago that's on from

9pm to 10pm, which is too late as you need to be in bed well before 10pm to allow for the disruptions to your sleep. Alternatively, this may be the time to discuss your financial situation. Which goes something like this - we're going to need new car seats/clothes/shoes etc for the babies; the joint account's overdrawn again; the washing machine/car/toilet is broken - how are we going to pay to get it fixed? But often, we save these interesting conversations for weekends during baby nap time.

9.30pm - clear up glasses etc from living room and try to make sure that downstairs is not excessively messy. Check cat is in. Close and lock all relevant doors. Set house alarm. Go upstairs. Get washed. Get changed. Brush teeth. Go into nursery to check on babies and give them another little kiss. Hope that babies will sleep well tonight.

10pm - Lights will most definitely be off and snoring will have begun. Overnight - get up between 2 and 15 times to settle babies and await the start of a new day (almost exactly like the one you've just put to bed!)

Author's Note: This is by no means meant to scare anyone or cause them to think that life with twins is unbearably difficult. Difficult it may be, and at times you may wish that you could go back in time to your pre-baby life. But nothing, absolutely nothing, can compare to the utter happiness you will feel in your heart from the moment your children come into your world.

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Page last updated: 29-Jan-2008

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