Twin Mum Diary:

Hi I am Susan Monk (also known as cbmum), I am 26 years old and a stay at home mum to my identical twin daughters Caitlin and Bethany who were born on 6th October 2003. I am married to Michael (29) who is a Leading CAD Design Draughtsman for an engineering company.

Saturday 1st May 2004.
This morning for the first time in weeks both Michael and I woke before the girls at half past six, however we were rumbled and our little darlings were chuntering on within minutes of us going downstairs. We got up and sorted out the girls for brekkie and then Michael went off to work, he does overtime most Saturday mornings from 8am - 12pm. I sat in awaiting the in-laws as today they are flying off to Kos for a fortnight (I am sooooo jealous, but holidays will have to wait till next year). Made them feel very guilty and wound them up telling them I would teach the girls to cry when they see them for leaving them all alone for so long! The sun began to get out beautifully this morning so after the 11am feed, I got out a few blankets and toys, put the girls sunhats on and went out onto the front lawn. Caitlin and Bethany seemed to enjoy being out in the fresh air, and the neighbours kept walking past and cooing at them. Michael finished work and was home by 12.10pm, we all sat outside together for another 20 minutes and then the girls got tired for their afternoon nap so we brought them in and let them go off. In an unusual show of hard work, Michael and I decided to mow and strim the front lawn so as to have a better sit out tomorrow if it is sunny.
The afternoon was pretty uneventful with Michael enjoying some daddy time with the girls while I enjoyed an hour upstairs relaxing on the sun bed that was just delivered for the next 4 weeks (well you didn't think I'd let the in-laws get a tan and not me did you?)
Right now I am about to go and get sorted for going out tonight. My mother is babysitting (if you can call it that when the girls will be in bed before she gets here) and we are off for a meal with our friends (the girls godparents) to Ponteland. They are also going on Holiday on Tuesday for nearly 3 weeks to Florida so we'll be missing them (another reason to get a good tan on the sun bed!).
Will report tomorrow on whether I stuck to my word and didn't have anything to drink.

Sunday 2nd May 2004.
Didn't have one alcoholic drink, but the food was very nice. Behaved with the diet too and had prawn cocktail for starter and chilled salmon salad for a main and politely refused a sweet (eh, aren't I the good little girl?).
Another glorious day in the making. Woke up at 6.20am and went to prepare breakfast for the girls and had a cup of tea in the garden. Brought the girls down at 7am, they had only been awake for 15 minutes and they'd been quite happy talking to each other in the nursery. As soon as breakfast was over it was time to check in with twinsclub, I am on most mornings before I feed the girls, and need broadband so I can be on all day and just check when I pass the pc!
Then it was get the girls ready and into the pram and off to the leisure centre. Sunday mornings are family swim time. I had been taking the girls from 8 weeks old on a Thursday with the girls god mum but then she couldn't make it one week and I finally persuaded Michael to come along, after attending once, Michael insisted that it become our new Sunday morning ritual. Caitlin had loads of fun, they both seem to swim very well, with just a little support under their chests, and they've just started trying to use their hands as well as kick their feet! Caitlin splashed away and squealed but Bethany wasn't really in the mood and just floated against my chest for most of the time. As we were getting ready to leave the pool a family arrived who had 5 year old identical twin girls in their matching pink costumes too. Although we didn't speak we all smiled that knowing smile that you save for others like yourselves bringing up multiples!
A nice long walk around Cramlington to get home and it was time for lunch. Afterwards 2 very sleepy little girls had a nice long nap and I took the opportunity to go on my sun bed (I know the sun is shining but I don't manage to tan that way!). We seem to have finally found a home for our dog, our next-door neighbour thinks they may want him so we passed all his stuff over and are now keeping our fingers crossed.
The girls settled nicely off to bed at 7pm and we sat and watched the film Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin about the family of 12 including 2 sets of twins, utter mayhem but left me feeling the need to have a dozen kids myself!

Monday 3rd May 2004.
Bank holiday so Michael is off today. Tried to sneakily feed the girls myself this morning but Michael caught me just as I'd finished the cereal and giving them their bottles. I like to try and give him a lie-in when I can as he goes to work on Saturdays mornings and we go swimming Sundays and I did get a lie-in last Monday morning when he was off.
The day looks like its going to be another scorcher so have the girls sundresses and hats ready as well as the factor 50 for their skin, think they caught the sun yesterday as forgot the lotion and now they have little brown cheeks and noses!
I disappeared for a driving lesson at 11am, which is the girls lunchtime feed so left the daddy to it and enjoyed driving round Cramlington terrorising the roads!
Introduced some more finger food today at the 3pm teatime feed, we tried Kiwi fruit, strawberries and cucumber which they liked all of! Quite messy but lots of fun!
The weather however got progressively colder until the rain began late afternoon so we had to settle for the blankets on the floor and lots of toys to play with. It seems at the moment no matter which toy Caitlin has, Bethany wants it! Even if she is playing with exactly the same toy, so in retaliation Caitlin now has taken to stealing Bethany's dummy, and she still has her own in her mouth she takes hers out and replaces it with Bethany's!! Oh, the joys of sibling rivalry, I'll worry when they tear chunks out of each other's faces, and start fights on the stairs like my sister and I did.
Our friends, who are also the girls' godparents, came by at teatime as they are off tomorrow on their Florida holiday (Not that bothered as couldn't bear that long a flight with the girls so young so we're off to Edinburgh in September, watch out Gabby here we come!). The girls had some great attention lavished on them from 4 doting adults instead of the usual 2!

Tuesday 4th May 2004.
Michael back off to work today so both of us were up at 6am, the girls just gurgled on for half an hour as we got ready and we all came downstairs at 6.45am. Breakfast is quite entertaining now, as I line up 4 bowls for weetabix, not that we get ours till Caitlin and Bethany have finished theirs. Michael went off to work and I got the girls ready and put them in their pram for a walk up to the shopping centre. It was pouring down with rain but the girls were all snug and fast asleep while mummy got soaked! Tried to navigate the mall as fast as I could with all the usual oohs and aahs and the occasional "Stupid size pram, oh, its twins, ah aren't they beautiful" comment! Still took me 2 hours to get 4 bags of shopping, and get weighed at Boots (Boo Hoo, no weight lost this week!), clever idea in the mall to block a good section of a ramp so I had to move 4 cones at least 3 times.
We got back home in time for the next feed and then the girls drifted off for their afternoon nap, whereupon I decided to have a manic hour ironing, making the beds, washing dishes and clothes. I also decided to lower the cot mattresses as my little girls are getting way bigger and am afraid they'll just pull themselves up one day soon! The girls woke up separately so had some nice one-on-one time with each of them and had a great squealing competition with Caitlin! Once they were both awake I let them roam the floor while I got their finger food ready for today (toast was rejected so tried eggy bread and they loved it!) Also carrot and they really chewed it to death! Have put the highchair trays on for this feed and the girls seem to like being able to reach for stuff without dropping it straight away.
The girls were in fine fettle so decided story time was in order so we escaped to the wonderful world of Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare and we guessed how much they loved each other. I love reading to them, I have done since I was pregnant and it does me as much good as them. The weather took a real turn for the worse and the girls looked a little shocked when the thunder and lightening began. The daddy walked in absolutely soaking even though he'd gotten a lift!
Off we popped for a lovely bath-time where Caitlin finally figured out that the pink boat is more fun if you use it to splash the water and soak everyone in site (first time she's ever splashed in the bath), we all howled with laughter and it was so sweet. Got the feeling this was what bath time was all about! The girls went off to bed at 6.45pm as they were very tired and I came onto twinsclub but didn't enter the chatroom (MY GOD, I hear you all say) but I am trying to spend some more time with Michael, so decided to watch a film and have a beer!

Wednesday 5th May 2004.
Was woken this morning by the most high-pitched screech I've heard yet at 5.30am! Bethany had decided she was up and that we had to be too! However, passing her a dummy and some toys and she settled down and fell back asleep at 6am. By this time though, Caitlin had woken up and without her sister to chat to she yelled and yelled until we came in and took her downstairs with us. Decided to try porridge for brekkie this morning mixed with some strawberry fromage frais, the girls ate the whole lot so was really pleased. Michael left for work and I got the girls ready and stuck the blanket down on the floor and put MTV on for them. They seem to shut up the second one of three songs comes on, Britney Spears Toxic, the Cha-cha slide or Will Young, Your game. It's eerie at times; they just turn their heads to the TV and won't look back till the song is over. While the girls were happily playing on the floor,
I got out my trusty steamer and made the girls some wonderful mixes of lamb and veggies. Am really enjoying this whole making food thing, I'm lucky enough to have children who prefer my food to jars as I know some people struggle to get their kiddies off jars. I also am really enjoying the introduction of finger food, I think its encouraging the girls to be independent with their food. Bethany got ratty at 10am; as she'd decided earlier not to have her morning nap, so fell asleep in her highchair while I rolled around the floor with Caitlin. It's a horrible day outside, so we're having a nice day in together.
Got out the Hop, Skip and Jump CD and had some fun teaching the girls the Hokey Cokey, we've done it before, and they just giggle at me like I'm some kind of lunatic! The girls' latest pictures from Olan Mills came through the mail and they are fabulous. I love the photos of the girls together on the chaise long!
After the teatime feed, my mum came over after she'd finished work. For the first time in months she actually got it wrong, which baby was which. She was really miffed by it. The girls got very tired by 4.50pm, but struggled to stay awake, they now know that 5pm is when Daddy gets in. Within seconds of Michael coming in and picking her up for a cuddle, Bethany had fallen asleep in his arms, so he had to pass her to me so he could cuddle Caitlin. The girls always need a short nap around 5-5.30pm or they're overtired at bedtime. We put the girls to bed at 7pm and then Michael mucked on with the pc while I did my wonderful exercise DVD again. My stomach muscles are killing me but can feel it working so must continue with it, don't want to be the fat mummy at playgroup.

Thursday 6th May 2004.
HOORAY, my little girls are 7 months old today, and bless them, they didn't wake till 6.30am! After Michael and I gave the girls their breakfast and he went to work, I got the girls ready, finally had them now in every outfit they received for their christening! I went on twinsclub and arranged with Kirsty (KC) to meet up in the afternoon. The girls were in fine form and wanted to do nothing but play and giggle so who was I to say no. Must get around to buying them some more imaginative toys, think they're getting sick of the ones they have. It's just so expensive when you have to buy 2 of everything.
After lunch, got the girls and myself sorted and off we trotted to the shopping centre to meet Kirsty, Scarlett and Tabby. It's both amusing and annoying to listen to the comments when they are 2 sets of twins together. After this I went back home to feed the girls only to have to trail back up to shops to meet Michael to do some shopping, but won't complain as he's taken over paying for my contact lenses, so we went to the opticians also. By the time we got back home it was pretty much time for bath, bottle, bed! Some nights I could just let the girls fall asleep on us and cuddle them all night but that is not a habit I want to get into so they always go into their cots awake. The football was on so the chat room it was for me. Read the forum first and got all excited, getting to meet up with Jane (G&T) next week, its nice to meet people from the site.

Friday 7th May 2004.
Bethany decided that 4.45am would be a good time to wake and play, quick rush in with the dummy and off she went, I slept till 6.30am but Michael apparently was woken up by Caitlin at 5.15am and she'd been playing ever since, feel a long morning nap coming on for both the girls today. After naptime we went to Tiny Tots, a local mother and toddler group that is only a five-minute walk away. The girls enjoyed being made a big fuss of by the staff and for the first time we went through for juice time and the girls both munched the living daylights out of the cucumber sticks! Also Caitlin picked up her juice cup and drank from it all by herself, she's never done that before.
I put the girls in their pram and walked back up home hoping for them to stay awake long enough for me to get back and put them in their cots but they couldn't manage it so I just parked the pram in the conservatory and left the door open so they didn't over heat and left them to it. I took a quick picky though and posted it on twinsclub for everyone to see why I love my pram so much. Then decided to have a picky posting frenzy and show off lots of piccies of my little girls. I am so damn proud of them.
The girls had a really long sleep for 2 and a half hours and woke up very happy and refreshed so I put them on the floor to play while I got their tea ready, chopping up finger food again, must try and find a way of doing this more easily! After their tea we put MTV on and had a dance about the room, the girls really enjoy being swung around and waltzing across the room.
Michael came in at 5pm and the girls always look so happy to see him, he walks in every night and says "Daddy's home" and they look up with such smiles on their faces. They started to hit the witching hour whinge time so we put them in the bath and they had fun splashing and playing with the rubber ducks (every bath should have yellow rubber ducks!). Once they went to bed I called Jane (G&T) for the first time as she is coming up North next week and is hopefully gonna attend my multiples group so she can meet those of us who frequent the site!
Then as much as I tried not to, I had to log on to twinsclub and ended up staying on an hour and really dragging myself to bed at 11pm!

Read about Helen's week

What was your week like ?

Email your diary here - Please include a photo of your darlings if you can.

All material contained within this website is Copyright © 2000-2005 , unless stated otherwise or implied. All rights reserved.
Page last updated: 29-Jan-2008

Email Spam/Virus Warning
As a general rule, never open email attachments that have originated from unknown sources or that were not expected.
Twinsclub will not send emails with attachments to you, unless you have requested them.