The 5 Most Horrible Things about Raising Twins

I know what you're thinking "But, all kids get injured. It's a part of childhood and growing up." Except that I'm not talking about their injuries, I'm talking about mine.

With all of the hopping, skipping, jumping, twisting, turning, running, that twins do together I'm bound to get caught in the middle of it. And I do. More often than I'd like.

That's the biggest secret about motherhood - it's dangerous. I've gone through practically my whole life without getting hurt and now it's a common occurance in my house.

I've gotten scratched, hit, bruised, smacked, pushed, punched, poked, my hair pulled, biten, screamed at in my ear, kicked, climbed on, gotten my toes stepped on, and been jumped on. Most of the time it's accidental because I've gotten in their way or we've been playing and horsing around, but it doesn't make it hurt any less. I've even slipped on ice and gave myself a concussion while turning around to tell my kids that it was slippery.

And, I haven't begun to mention the illnesses they've given me...

Update: After I published this (and twisted my neck putting the twins in the car), I was talking to bestselling twins book author, Cheryl Lage (author of the popular twins book Twinspiration and blogger at Twinsights and Twinfatuation), she actually came up for a name for these kinds of injuries "Twinjuries" - I thought it was just perfect!

I can hardly go longer than 5 minutes when the twins are around before I get interrupted. And I swear that these constant interruptions are affecting me mentally. My attention span has decreased, I easily forget what I was in the middle of doing when I was interrupted, and, in general, I joke that my memory is like early onset Alzheimers, but I'm really worried it is.

It probably doesn't help that I get interrupted sleep too because someone needs me in the middle of the night. I'm one of those crabby patties if someone wakes me up when I'm sleeping - it's never a pretty sight.

Turns out that constant interruptions aren't good for the brain. I knew I was onto something! I found this great study The Effects of Interruptions on Task Performance,
Annoyance, and Anxiety in the User Interface in other words "What Happens to Mommy When She is Getting Constantly Interrupted."

I love the part where the study talks about the "level of annoyance." But, I don't need a scientist to tell me that the level of annoyance rises with each interruption! I live it.

I've never filled out so much paperwork in my life before having twins... even my mortgage paperwork was less than what I have to fill out for them. School forms, camp forms, sports forms, medical forms, permission slips, letters all in duplicate.

I get hand cramps from filling out the same information over and over. And, I usually have to schedule a whole night to finish it all. "Sorry, Veronica, can't go out tonight with the girls. I have to complete my twins' paperwork!"

You've never heard two babies crying at the same time until you've heard two babies crying at the same time!

I'm used to quiet nature sounds so when I brought my two precious and loved children home from the hospital, it was quite the adjustment to be faced with so much noise.

It hasn't gotten any easier as they've gotten older either. It seems like their voices have gotten louder with each passing year. They're at the point now where they talk so loudly that I think they think everyone is hearing impaired. I can't believe how two small people can make so much noise, but if it's not them making the noise it's the TV or their latest toy.

I am sooooooooo sleep deprived. Hmmm, let's think back to the last time I went to bed at a decent hour and got a full 8 hours night sleep. Seriously, 2004. That was before the twins were conceived.

I'm the type of person who needs at least eight hours of sleep a night. Before twins, my husband and I would sleep the weekends away. Well no more!

Although with each passing year as the twins get older, I get more and more sleep overall, I will never be able to sleep to the extent that I did before they were born.

For one thing, I don't sleep as soundly as I did. Even when sleeping, I'm always listening for one of them to call me in the middle of the night. I'm like a leopard ready to pounce out of bed the very minute they call. I've heard them scream "mommy" so many times throughout the day that I sometimes think, including when I'm asleep, that I hear them even when they're not screaming my name. The sound is burned into my ears.

In the early days, I was on a 24 hour shift. On a 24/7 and 3 hour eating schedule, you don't get much time to sleep. I would feed one at a time and our newborn preemie twins would take about 45 minutes to eat. That left me with about an hour at a time to sleep. 1 hour x 8/day, but I had to do other things too during my waking hours so on average I got about 2 - 4 hours of sleep in the beginning. Luckily that phase doesn't last long and by the twins first birthday I would get about 4 - 5 hours in 1 whole chunk. Ah, the luxury!

Nowadays, the twins go to bed by 7:30 - 8:00, but I've been staying up later to get everything done at night that needs to get done. They are up by 6:30 so that leaves me with only 6 - 7 hours of sleep night which is sometimes interrupted by being woken up to someone screaming out "mama!" (both imaginary and real).