Danae of Our Little Women
The featured blogger this week is Danae of Our Little Women. Danae is the proud MoM of 8 year old Emma, 6 year old Elizabeth and 3 year old twins, Annie and Maddie. I love her blog and I love the story behind the title even more.
What made you decide to start a blog?
About 4 years ago, we didn’t (and don’t now) live very close to any of our extended family and I was often being pestered for pictures of our girls. It seemed like “everyone” had a family blog, so I decided to start one too. As it turns out, the blog has been a great way to record our family adventures and the funny stories that pop up all the time with 4 small children. When I started the blog, we only had our two “singletons” so I was able to record my journey of being pregnant with twins. I’m not sure I really need to remember waking up at night feeling like I couldn’t breathe from the pressure from the twins, but it’s been recorded anyway!
Were you surprised to find out you were pregnant with twins?
That doesn’t begin to describe how I felt. I had some persistent “spotting” at 8 weeks, so I went in for an ultrasound. The technician snooped around for a while and then says, “There is a heartbeat right there…. and another heartbeat over here.” As this information sunk in, my husband Ryan started laughing hysterically and I think I went into panic and shock. I wasn’t sure I was necessarily ready for child #3 (I had just begun thinking I might be ready for another baby and voila!) and we were going to multiply that by 2.
How did Emma and Elizabeth adjust to having two new sisters?
Pretty well. They love their baby sisters very much. (Often we were worried about the twins receiving too much love… 3-year-olds are only so gentle.) Having Mom and Dad’s attention spread thinner than usual was harder to adjust to. Elizabeth started having accidents again, and Emma was a bit moody. There were days that Ryan would get home from work, and all 5 females would be in tears. It got a lot better when Annie and Maddie were sleeping more at night and I felt like I was able to give more attention to the older girls again. It’s amazing what sleep can do!
I love the story behind your blog title, can you share the meaning with everyone?
We have 4 daughters. This is something that strangers are kind enough to point out when we leave the house as a group. It’s touching how their sympathy reaches out to Ryan with words of encouragement like, “teenagers,” “boyfriends,” “hormones,” and “bathrooms.”
A few months ago I wanted to move our blog to a new address (something without our last name in it) so I had to think of a new name for my blog. Well, I love to read and the book, “Little Women” came to mind. In the book, the March family had 4 girls, and I have 4 girls…. It was perfect. This is the story of my own Little Women. However, our stories tend toward the humorous rather than the touching.
What are some of your favorite family activities?
We like to have fun and do silly things together like have crazy hair day (even Dad sometimes participates), or play card games (Uno, anyone?). We like to go to the park, go for walks and read books together. Right now my two eldest girls and I are reading book 1 of the Percy Jackson series. The kids love to help cook, so we will make cookies or cupcakes and leave them on the doorsteps of neighbors and friends.
What would you do with an extra hour in your day (no kids, no chores, no anything)?
Oh my goodness. So many choices! I would love to read a book, or talk uninterupted on the phone to a friend, exercise without someone climbing on me, or do one of the craft projects I’ve bookmarked to do “someday.” Although, those craft projects usually take more than an hour. 🙂
What question(s) do you have for the other families in the community?
Has anyone else ever noticed all the attention you get by having multiples? What is the most nosy question regarding your multiples you’ve received (from strangers or not)?
Be sure to leave your answer to Danae’s questions in the comment section and then head over to Our Little Women to leave some bloggy love!
I have almost 4 month old twin boys so we are still in the throws of twinfants! These are our first babies and I have noticed all the attention we get when we are out and about with the boys. Sometimes if the boys are having a bad day and I need to get in and out of somewhere quickly I will ignore people’s questions when possible. Isn’t that awful?!?! Most of the time I stop and chat letting strangers look at the boys (what mom doesn’t like showing off her adorable little ones?) but then there are times when that 2-3 min conversation could mean the difference between me actually getting what I can to the store for or having to leave empty handed with two screaming babies.
I think strangers often times can be very nosy and for some reason having twins opens the door for people to ask questions they wouldn’t normally ask someone. I once had a man ask “so are you infertal or something or did you actually have those two all on your own?” That is the most direct anyone has ever been! I often am asked the “are they natural” question to which I always respond “yes” to because all babies are natural, they’re babies!
Your girls are all beautiful! Thanks for sharing your story!
We have 4 kiddos. 10 yo boy, 7 yo girl, and 3 yo twin boys. I thought when my oldest was young we got a ridiculous amount of attention (he was very outgoing and had blonde spiky hair), then the twins came along and WOW! When I grocery shop it is like step, step, comment, step, step, comment…over and over. When I am in a hurry I just put my head down and push the cart. I can get much less comments if I avoid eye contact.
We get some very comical questions, “who is the naughty one, the nice one, are they natural… on and on. My go to response for most comments is “They are such a Blessing.” Especially when we get the number one comment, “looks like double trouble”