Top 10 “things”

We put together a list from our personal experiences with the twins over the last 3 months of “things” that are essential to daily life with these two cuties + Lucy!  Many of these things also were essential with just one baby too.  These are just things, but they have been lifesavers!  I am also hoping to post on (more importantly) the top 10 “non-things” you need when raising 3 under 2 at some time in the future.  Check it out and PLEASE leave your input/comments/advice/experiences in the comments!

1. Bottle warmer. We never got one of these with Lucy, but with two crying babies at once, time is definitely an issue.  Ours goes from cold to hot in about 1 min. or less and we got it at Target.

2. Large Nursing Pillow. This really only applies to if you are nursing them.  I had the little boppy pillow you find everywhere with Lucy and it was okay, but obviously designed to fit a woman about 12 inches around comfortably (not exactly me).  I still use it occasionally for one baby at a time, but seriously, the larger twin nursing pillows are so much more comfortable.  I have this one, but there are some others out there that have a foam top that is tilted in toward mom’s body, which I think would be good when they are as rolly polly as my babies!  Mine comes with a bonus lower back support pillow which is mostly used as a toddler sized pillow for Lucy and it has a belt that hooks the pillow onto you around your back.  I like this feature since it eliminates the pillow sliding around as you move babies around and they inevitably wiggle.  It also makes a funny costume when you parade around the house with the pillow hooked on your waist like a giant tu-tu!

NOTE: The little boppy pillows are GREAT for holding babies in a slightly upright comfortable position.  They like to see around a little and Stella often naps in the one I have.  She snuggles right into it.  I like them for this so much I am shopping around for another one maybe used.

3. Baby sling/carrier. Let me make this absolutely clear: DO NOT get a baby bjorn.  There are tons of better options!  I know its a safe “dude” style carrier, but seriously, ours cut the circulation off in Lucy’s legs so bad we never made it more than 1/2 a block away without having to carry her.  Also, with legs and arms dangling out of that thing it was impossible to keep her extremities warm on a cool fall day.  By the way, your baby has to be at least 8 lbs. to go in this carrier and if you have tiny babies like us, that could mean months.

My personal favorite is the Moby Wrap.  Its essentially a long, stretchy fabric that can wrap in many ways around your body and you slide the baby (or babies- yup! carried twins in it!) into the folds.  The baby stays super secure, you are hands free, its so comfortable and self adjusted, fits any body type, travels well and washes up great.  It can also double as a blanket in an emergency.  This saved us when Lucy had reflux for the first 3 months of life since she spent a lot time strapped onto me in it.  I have the Moby wrap D with a woven non-stretchy panel so that you can carry a child up to 35 lbs. on your back in a backpack fashion.  The only negative about this wrap, which only came about recently with the hectic life we have is that it takes a bit to put on and get situated.  When there is lots of crying babies this can be frustrating.

My friend also gave me a non-adjustable shoulder sling style wrap from New Native that I am loving since it takes 2 seconds to put on.  I am slowly being sold on the shoulder sling style lately because of this.  My friend also has a peanut shell wrap that works well, but if you have a larger baby, these kind can get snug fast since they don’t get bigger.  They come in certain sizes based on how big/tall the mom is.  I have a size small that fits great, but looks

4. Pack and Play/Portacrib/Bassinet. Living in a two story house is just not practical with twins and a 1 yr. old.  When you have to keep everyone together for safety and convenience and you only have two arms, a “station” for diapering, changing and sleeping is a must on each floor.  Upstairs we have 3 cribs and plenty of clothes, diapers, etc.  Downstairs, our huge family room was converted into a playroom and sleeping quarters for the baby.  The Graco pack and play we got with Lucy (and barely used until now) was a godsend.  We have the essentials stacked up around the crib, like diapers, wipes, vitamins, extra pacifiers, etc.  I also have a small bin with extra clothes, burp cloths, blankets for all the kids to eliminate running upstairs if I don’t need to during the day.  I also have my two baby slings and some extra small toys for entertainment in case there is a crying emergency.  I can change one baby and let another sleep in the pack and play.

5. LARGE swaddle blankets.  Okay, seriously, we have small babies.  AND most of the baby blankets (aka receiving blankets) out there are not big enough to get a good swaddle around them- even at 1 month old!  We use Lucy’s old receiving blankets for wrapping her baby dolls up!  For those of you that don’t know, swaddling is a way of wrapping a young baby up with arms and legs in that simulates the womb and I don’t care what anyone says, it helps to calm them more than anything else!  I would not settle for anything smaller than about 40″ x 30″ unless our kids are freakishly more wiggly than most- which I doubt they are.  Its very hard to find these, but Amazon.com has some and Old Navy sometimes has them too.  Better yet- make them!  Thanks to Marge we have a bunch she made the twins that get a lot of use.  Also, they sell these things called swaddle blankets with velcro (think baby straight jacket).  We tried these with Lucy and the velcro was so loud when we tried to readjust that it would wake her up every time.  Who designed those?

6. Rechargable batteries and charger- Most of the big toys, swings, etc. that the kids have require batteries and no where we’ve lived but Seattle actually recycled them and believe me, I am a recycling maniac.  We were going through 4 D batteries a week with the swing Zoey loves.  We got a bunch of AAA, AA, C and D batteries and a charger that charges them all on Amazon.  Best part- these batteries come already charged and ready to better the environment!

7. Digital Video Camera- When we had Lucy we invested in a good quality but very usable digital camera for still images but has video too.  After we found out we were expecting twins, we got the very portable (fits in your pocket and is the size of a cell phone) Flip video camera.  Its so easy to use that Lucy can tape herself!  These days go so fast and they will never be back.  We also took a few minutes of video of Lucy on each of her “month” birthdays.  Jason has been editing these together into a movie of her first year of life from infant to curious toddler.  What is more priceless than that?

8. Quality durable washer and dryer.  Oh my oh my the laundry mountains you have with 3 kids!  It pays to have a good washer and dryer that won’t quit on you.  We invested in a good, LG front loading washer that conserves energy and water when we bought our house.  Research told us to put the money there since dryers aren’t as different in the energy conserving department.  We got a standard quality Kenmore dryer.  I can’t say enough about the washer- it practically runs itself and since its a front loader, it gets good ratings for toddler entertainment when Lucy is “helping” me with the laundry during the day!

9. Versatile comfortable double stroller. The best sanity saver for me is a walk almost every day.  This entails a rugged, no quit, easy riding stroller.  Nothing cumbersome, hard to work or figure out.  I have to fit two in the stroller while one is in the baby sling on me!  The best stroller we got was the Baby Trend double jogger.  Its canvas, open style with fully reclining seats on both sides, a tray for drinks, etc. and baskets underneath for supplies.  Best thing was that my parents picked it up at a local thrift store for free!  It folds up in the middle and has bike tires so its easy as pie to push on grass, or if you live where we do- the sidewalks with all the tree roots.  The only downfall is that it can be too wide to fit through some doorways since the kids sit side by side.

We also have a Graco DuoGlider double stroller where the kids sit in front of one another.  This stroller is more cheaply made and only one seat reclines all the way to accommodate small babies.  However, both our infant car seats snap into it with little modification and there are shades to almost completely cover both babies.  There is a large basket underneath, but you can’t get to it easily with the back seat reclined.  Its relatively easy to fold up, but the thing is LONG!  Its a bit over the top looking and we affectionately call it the “limo”.

Now we just have to find a triple stroller….

10. Baby swing- With a fussy baby, this is a must!  We have the Fisher Price Nature’s Touch swing that swings front and back and side to side with a mobile/mirror and songs/sounds.  It sells for about $100 new but I got ours on craigslist for under $40.  It is AWESOME!

Honorable mentions:

Permanant marker to label everything from dishes to clothes.  With twins certain things have to be separate, like pacifiers so we label like mad with Z’s and S’s.

Cheap cloth diapers make awesome burp cloths.  The pads sold as burp cloths or “spit rags” are not nearly as big as you’d like them and they go through them like crazy!  We found that cheap cloth diapers do the trick are cheap and versatile.  They can double as light blankets on a sunny day, bibs you tie on, shade for a baby’s head, etc.  With twins, I think we have about 50 of them and I believe they are sold in packages of 10 or so at Target.

Play gym for infant with things that hang, sound, etc. can be a good diversion or at least a place to put a baby down while changing another and keep them busy.  We got the baby einstein one at a consignment sale for less than $20.

Dry bag for wet and dirty clothes, blankets, towels, etc.  We got a huge dry bag (keeps wet inside and is waterproof) when we used reusable AIO (all in one) diapers last year with Lucy.  I keep it by the pack and play station in our family room and just shovel dirty stuff in there for a couple of days, dump it all in the washer with the bag for some freshening up.  It will also double as a great wet bathing suit bag when they are older!

Crib Aquarium/Mobile is a must for soothing a tired baby to sleep.  The only thing is that Lucy learned how to turn the aquarium on and off when she got older so we had to take out the batteries or we’d wake up to twinkle, twinkle all night long in the baby monitor!  A friend also has a remote control mobile over her son’s crib which I would love to try out.

This is by no means a complete list, but its what was essential for us.  We are not the kind of parents that rush out and buy everything, thats for sure and we try to be smart about our purchases.  We shop craigslist and consignment sales all the time and always wait until we REALLY need something.