Brittany of From Two to Four
The featured blogger this week is Brittany of From Two to Four! Brittany is the proud MoM of 1 year old twins Ava and Landon. Brittany’s journey to motherhood was a rough one, but one that definitely needs to be shared. I hope you lover her blog as much as I do!
What made you decide to start a blog?
I thought it would be a good idea to pass time while I was on bedrest with the twins as well as keep family and friends updated without making dozens of phone calls. I also liked the idea of connecting with other moms in the same stage of life as I was since most of my friends were finishing up college and no where near the family stage of life. I also wanted to find other moms of multiples so I could look to them for ideas and advice when it comes to raising twins.
You battled infertility at a young age, which helps dispel the rumor that infertility is only a problem for older moms, what was your journey to motherhood like?
When my husband and I decided to start trying for a family in 2006 when I was 20 we had no reason to think it wouldn’t happen quickly, his parents had 6 children and mine had me at the age of 35 and my sister at 37. When the days turned into months and the months into years, we started to worry. I had had stomach issues that resulted in me losing weight and even having a doctor tell me it was all anxiety related and put me on anti-depressants thinking that would solve my problems. Doctor after doctor told us “you’re young, it will happen, don’t worry”. Finally in 2009, I was fed up with trip after trip to the doctor and month after month of me not being able to get through a day without getting sick or being in pain I went to a larger clinic in a bigger city where we met the doctor who made us parents. He diagnosed me with endometriosis based on ultrasound results at my 1st visit and my husband with male factor infertility. I had surgery to treat the endometriosis, which I had never heard of until that day, it had been causing all of my problems for 3 years. Finally we started IVF in September of 2009 when I was 22 and on my 23rd birthday in October I had a positive pregnancy test!
Were you surprised when you found out you were having twins, or were you prepared for that?
Because of IVF we had prepared ourselves for the possibility of having twins. Our doctor had recommended transferring two embryos back on the day of our transfer which we agreed to based on the quality of the embryos. When I went in for my blood test my HCG was high, the nurses immediately placed bets on twins. Low and behold at our first ultrasound there were two beautiful heartbeats, we were ecstatic!
Your twins just celebrated their first birthday,what have been some of your favorite moments in this past year?
The day they came home from the NICU was a big moment because they were finally our babies, no longer hospital residents. We loved introducing them to family in July at my husband’s family reunion. Our first family vacation to Whistler was so much fun because the previous year I had to teeny tiny babies in my belly and now they were here with us, it was quite surreal. I have a hard time choosing any favorite moment because I have so many. I even miss the 4 am feedings when they were so tiny since that was the time I got to just quietly stare at them while I was all alone with them. I treasure every moment with them.
What do you wish you knew a year ago?
How busy you get after you have kids, I always thought my husband and I were so busy going place to place and working. I would love to go tell the 20 year old me to shut up about how busy I thought I was. Sometimes we don’t even go anywhere all day but I am still running around like crazy all day, between meals and playtime and naps there isn’t much time left at the end of the day. The days when we are both working everything is just a mad dash to bedtime.
What question(s) do you have for the other families in the community?
I really would love to get some ideas on how to discipline twins. We are entering a phase of major reaction when one takes a toy from the other. One will bite the other and one will then hit. I am having a hard time figuring out how to handle discipline when they both are the same age and developmental level. How did you handle discipline when your twins hit 1+.
Be sure to leave your answers to Brittany’s questions in the comment section and then head over to From Two to Four to leave some bloggy love!
Thank you for sharing your story. We are currently 34 weeks along with twin boys! I have been on modified bed rest since 30 weeks (which is such a blessing I didn’t have to be on bed rest before then), my biggest fear/concern is the babies having to go to the NICU. I just want so badly to bring them both home with us from the hospital. It is always encouraging to get to know other twin moms and hear their story!
Great post Brittany!!
LOVE this post! What CUTIES you have!!!
My twin girls will be 13 months on the 17th. Going to add you to my reader to see what other people say about the dicipline thing. One of my girls bit the other one this morning and I was shocked!
what a great post! 🙂 that picture of your kids…in the dress up clothes…i can’t stand how adorable it is!
i know with my two girls, we started time outs around that age. when they were around a year, we would do a time out in their crib. Basically put them in there by themselves for about 1 or 2 minutes. then we moved up to “naughty corner” time outs. Both have been very effective at changing negative behaviors…i was shocked at how well both my girls responded to time outs, especially since i thought they were too young.
anyways, love you blog…i’m a follower now 🙂
I can’t get the link to your blog to work 🙁 Your twins are so cute. I love the picture of them in the dress up clothes. I have 9 month old boy girl twins through IVF also. I have been worrying about discipline already too because my little girl is really feisty and always takes all my little boys toys away. If you find something that works I would love to know! Best of luck!
I am in love with your photo in the dress up clothes. My boy/girl twins turn one in a month and I would love to know where you got these clothes/props from?
My girls are 20 months old and I’ve begun putting them in time out for being mean to each other. It’s been having amazing results and they are learning that being mean is not ok. A lot of people think they are too young but I believe that if you show them what is acceptable at a young age, they will grow up knowing the rules. I highly recommend timeout at age 1. They understand it, and we hug and kiss and snuggle when they come out of time out. I only make them sit for a very short time since they are only 1. Hope this helps.