Plans for round 2

   The lovely, Shelley, helped inspire today's blog post so I must first give her a shout out.
   I've already talked about how I'm not decorating a nursery this time around. Like I mentioned in that post I'm waiting for big brother to be ready to move to a new room and bed. My plan now that I know we are having more boys is to keep the décor in the nursery pretty much the same and have a crib and things ready to go and make the big switch in one weekend.
   As most moms quickly figure out we can make a lot of plans but they rarely go the way we want them to. It's crazy how little I've talked about this pregnancy on the blog! So let's talk labor first. With twins baby A has to be head down for you to even talk about a natural delivery. If baby A is breech c section time. I read a few chapters of a twin book and my mantra this pregnancy I got from that book. It is turn worries into goals. So I don't have plans, I have goals. My goal is to delivery both babies naturally with an epidural of course. If baby A is head down and baby B is breech I could face a painful turning or delivery of a breech baby but I talked to another twin mom and I won't give you the lovely phrase they shared with me but she made it sound like no biggie.
   Since a twin pregnancy has a higher risk for preterm labor I also have the goal of making it to 37 weeks or beyond. Also have the goal of avoiding gestational diabetes which I am at a higher risk for and preeclampsia.
   Another goal is to nurse them both until they are 1. I nursed Chase for 15 months and while it had its challenges I am mostly a fan of how much money we saved. I've got the ginormous twin brest friend already. I plan to get a pump from the hospital, need to talk to insurance about how all that works. Oh and the hands free pump bra. I know that its best to nurse them at the same time so you aren't constantly nursing. I've looked in to positions. I don't know when you are supposed to pump, gotta ask my twin mom friends that one. Is it still just after the first morning feeding or is it more often? I also need to do research on getting my milk to come in faster. I'll be turning to my love Nancy Holtzman and Isis parenting and breast feeding webinars for those questions. Chase got dehydrated waiting for my milk to come in and he had to drink a bottle of formula. My friend that nurses her 6 month old twins had to supplement with formula at first in the hospital.
   I remember around 6 months when Chase started to crawl and notice things around him I had to start nursing him when he was sleepy and in his room in the dark. I know that might not be an option since I now have a toddler so nursing until one is a goal but we understand there are a lot more challenges this time around.
   Like I said in the nursery post, the plan is to have the twins in a pack and play in our room at first. I think I will just swaddle for bedtime. Chase was swaddled all the live long day it seemed like because we thought it made it easier for people to hold him or something. I am hoping I can be relaxed about the twins nap schedule and just let them sleep when they sleep and not stress like I did with Chase. They will probably sleep in our room longer than the 3 weeks Chase did because we are waiting for big brother to be ready to move.
   We plan to keep their names secret. We are pretty sure the names are set. We've let them slip to a lot more people this time around but we would like some people to be surprised when they arrive. I think some people want to be surprised too.
   Since we are having two more boys I don't think anyone is throwing us a shower. No one has said anything to me about it at least.
   I think that's everything. Let me know if you have any more questions. You guys know I'll tell ya anything you want to know!

23 weeks!

Twin gender reveal party details

Check out yesterday's blog if you want to see our reaction to finding out we were having two more boys. Today I'm posting pictures of the details. I have to say again that my cousin and her friend took care of all the details. They get all the credit. Seriously, every single detail was color coordinated. Pink symbolized is we were having two girls, blue for two boys, and yellow for one of each.

Here is my cousin's staircase banner decorated pink, blue, and yellow.

Guests were asked to sign a onesie with their guess.

Blankets were wrapped for each baby to reveal the sex.

Even the drinks and straws were color coordinated! Pink lemonade, lemonade, and blue koolaid and mason jars with yarns in a bow.

Adorable hand made pink, blue, and yellow wreath on the front door.

The invitation and color coordinated flowers

The candles were wrapped in pink, blue, and yellow chevron.

Gender Reveal

Ok, I don't want to bombard you with too many pictures so today I will share pictures of us finding out we were having two boys and then tomorrow I will post pictures with details of the party.

I guess I need to explain the reveal first. So, in my family, my aunt makes all the babies blankets. So my cousin decided for the reveal we would open gifts that had blue or pink blankets inside.

I should also mention that I've thought all along we were having two boys and kind of wanted to wear blue to the party but thought I would wear pink to make the pics better. I think my ig friends picked the shirt too.

Ok, here we go. Opening the gift that would reveal the sex of baby A.

Blue!

Opening the gift to reveal the sex of baby B.

Baby B's blanket is blue and green. All I saw was green and I was confused what that meant.

Oh, it's blue!!!

I'm having two more boys!!!

Proud parents with both blue blankets.

Big brother wasn't so sure about two more boys.

Until he heard he could have a cupcake then he was fine.

My cousin and her friend planned the whole party and took care of all details. I literally showed up so they get all credit!

Passing out candy advice from an allergy mom

Chase is 2.5 years old and this was his first Halloween trick or treating. This was also the first year we knew about his allergy to peanuts. We talked about the rules for trick or treating before we left. You ring the doorbell once. You say trick or treat and thank you. You don't eat any candy. I brought the bendryl and epi pens with me.

Hubby went up to the door with Chase most of the time or he was with one of his aunts. We weren't too worried about what kind of candy he got because we didn't plan on giving him much, if any. Hubby said he mentioned that Chase was allergic to peanuts at one house when they asked what kind of candy Chase wanted. Let's be honest, Hubby and I love us some peanut candy and were totally ok with him getting it so we could eat it.

Most of the stuff Chase got was candy that we don't plan on giving him. There was a variety of suckers and non peanut items. I just don't like giving him sugar. He was so excited about a capri sun that he got at one house. We thought the capri sun was a good idea but it did make the buckets heavy. Besides candy he got fruit snacks, pretzels, and a cool mini coloring book and crayons.

As a mom of a 2.5 year old with peanut allergies I thought this was great. I'm guessing the high school kids probably wouldn't be excited about it. My cousin said some houses saw that Chase and his cousin were younger so they gave them fruit snacks instead of candy. So I guess you could get the little coloring book for younger kids and have candy for older kids.

There was a discussion on twitter today about kids asking for nut free candy. As a mom of a child with a peanut allergy I thought I could give my opinion on the topic. Personally, I don't think it is the job of the people passing out candy to provide nut free or gluten free choices. My plan as a passer outer is to usually get like the 150 pack at Costco and try to hand out the stuff I don't like first. I think as an allergy parent it is your job to educate your child on what they can and can't eat when they are old enough to go up to the door on their own. In the past, I would just grab a candy and put it in a kid's bag because letting them pick sometimes they take more than one or take forever to pick. Maybe now as an allergy parent I would let them pick.

I know a lot of allergy parents have candy or toys at home that their child can trade candy that they can't eat for. I also saw on twitter and heard on Ellen today about the switch witch. I just told Hubby about it and I think that's our plan for when Chase is old enough to care. Have you heard about the switch witch? Of course there is a cool poem on pinterest.

Isn't that a great idea? The kid trades their candy for a toy!

I hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!