Molly Piper

A couple months ago I met a mother of twins that has two sets of twins! And she was not insane, I’m happy to report.

She told me, “Molly, I have two words for you: Dry Shampoo.”

I had no idea what it was, but she eagerly explained it for me. So when your hair is greasy (which it will be if you’re the mother of multiples), you just spray this hairspray-like product onto the roots of the hair, let it dry a bit, and then comb it out.

It absorbs the oil and even volumizes the hair. Volume is such a luxury at this stage of the game, but it’s easy with dry shampoo!

I just went to Ulta and bought whatever one was on the shelf (about 8 bucks). But my friend who’s in the beauty industry told me that there are nicer dry shampoos out there. You can ask your hair stylist what brand they’d recommend if you’re into that.

Be aware that it comes out a little white-ish, so you need to comb it out, otherwise you look like you’ve gone gray in one day (which you might, if you have multiples). There are also colored ones out there, but the colored one I tried out seemed a little too dark for my hair color so I decided to just get the plain kind.

Do any of you use dry shampoo? What brands do you recommend?

Remember my post about my hot date on Friday? I told you that I got some winter boots.

In my world, for them to qualify as winter boots, they must be: (in this order)

1. Waterproof
2. Warm
3. Pull-on (I have too many kids to do any lacing or zipping)
4. Require no maintenance
5. Fit well
6. Be cute

In Minnesota, cute comes waaaay down the list.

By the end of last winter, water was pouring into the bottoms of my boots and having that awful wet and cold sloshy feeling for hours on end when you walk was just unacceptable.

This year I’ve decided to go full-force against the wetness and cold. I’ve gone with BOGS, people.

I’ve been going back and forth and back and forth about whether I like them or not. But at this point in my life, I really can’t care too much. Practicality must win. And since these were:

1. Waterproof
2. Warm (they claim to go to -40)
3. Pull-on (they even have handles!)
4. Require no maintenance (If I have to remember to spray leather boots once a month, I can pretty much guarantee that they’re going to be ruined)

they were the winners. I’m pretty sure they fit well. And the cuteness factor…well…

you can decide. But I already own them, so try to be nice, even if you don’t like them, okay? Thanks.

All I know is that they better keep my feet warm at the Fish House Parade this weekend in Aitkin, MN. It’s going to be in the single digits, people!

Hopefully I’ll be thanking God for whoever invented rubber boots! I know I’m going to be thanking God for whoever invented the Fish House Parade, you betcha!

When you have 4 children 6 and under, 2 of them infants, you take any chance you get to get out of the house. Most days I don’t leave the house except to do the afternoon kindergarten carpool pick-up.

Needless to say, by Friday Abraham and I are ready to be alone together and have a conversation.

That is, if we’re not too tired.

This past Friday, some gals volunteered to watch our kiddos for a few hours so we could go out! We were so happy for the opportunity.

Now, dating when you have twins sometimes becomes painfully practical. For example on this particular date, we were going winter boot shopping for me, since I have no time during the week to do anything of the sort.

We got the boot shopping done pretty quickly, and decided we’d try this pizza place our friend Jenna had told us about. As we were driving to the place, we passed this old theater that was playing nothing other than…Inception!

When the movie came out I was too pregnant to enjoy a theater experience, so we hadn’t seen the movie. Abraham got all excited when he saw the sign, and said, “C’mon! We’ve gotta go! It starts at 9:20.”

“9:20,” I said. “That’s awfully late. I better call the sitters and make sure they’re okay with us being out that late.”

We got the green light from the babysitters (the young college girls, full of life and vigor) so we were good to go, or so we thought.

We get to the theater, get our seats, and the movie starts. Since it was the cheap theater presentation, we even sprung for a popcorn.

After I’d had my fill of popcorn, we were about 30 minutes into the movie. Abraham looks over at me slumped down in my seat and asks, “Are you sleeping?”

“No. No,” I assure him, sitting up a little higher. “I think I’m going to go the bathroom, though.”

So I make my way out the bathroom, hoping that my trip there will wake me up enough to watch this movie.

Now, mind you, the movie is all about sleeping and dreaming. I should’ve known I had no hope. But anyway….

I get back to my seat and settle back in. About five minutes later, I’m slumped-over and slack-jawed yet again. Abraham pokes me, “Are you falling asleep?”

“Kinda,” I admitted.

“Me too,” he whispered back.

Hilarious!

“So what should we do?” he asks. “Should we go home?”

“Really?” I ask. “Do you want to???”

“There’s no way I’m going to be able to stay awake,” he replied.

So after a couple minutes of back and forth we decided that it would be better to just lose the $6 we spent on the movie and go sleep in our own bed.

We came in the house an hour and a half earlier than the babysitters were expecting. And of course we had to admit total defeat at the hand of dark room with comfy chairs.

So now I can say, “I totally walked out of Inception.”

If it can’t hold the attention of two sleep-deprived parents of infant twins, then it must not be any good, right? ;)

So I suppose now we’re waiting until it comes out on DVD, when we can watch it from the comfort of our cozy bed, with the computer between us, and whoever falls asleep last has to put the computer away.

I predict it’ll take at least 3 tries to get through it.

Last Sunday was Orison’s 6th birthday! I decided that we’d just have one marathon day and have Orison’s birthday party on the same day as the twins’ dedication, since it was his actual birthday anyway.

We do birthdays pretty simply. I don’t kill myself over a cake. I let the kid pick what they want to eat, and so it’s usually a simple menu (this year it was mac & cheese with hot dogs in it). I don’t do favor bags. I let my mother-in-law host it at her house (!). We invite a couple families we’re close with, and that’s it. Voila! Kid birthday party!

I didn’t grow up with a birthday “party” every year. We had one every few years, and that was good! I don’t personally think that kids should get used to a huge party every year. I know it’s their special day, but making it special with family is sufficient, in my opinion.

Anyway, off that soapbox. Back to Orison.

There was the birthday plate (of course):

It’s so crazy for me to say this: “I have a SIX-year-old!” I can’t believe I’ve been a mother for six years. I can’t believe he’s so grown up.

There was the birthday song with cake and candles:

He requested chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. It was delicious (and I can say that, because my mother-in-law made it, not me)!

There were presents:

Legos from Granny & Papa (my parents in Pennsylvania)! They shipped his present in a Milk Bone dog biscuit box, and we kept teasing him that he was getting dog biscuits for his birthday. But he knew better. He kept saying, “Papa’s just trying to tease me!” He knows you well, Papa!

There were friends and cousins:

What else does a kid need? He was so happy with his birthday.

One of the most special presents came from his Grandmama, who did a special skin graft for Orison’s very well-loved “Teddy.” I think that’ll have to be a post by itself, but suffice it to say, his teddy bear has new life, thanks to the skilled hands of teddy-bear-surgeon Noel.

As I put him to bed that night, we prayed together and I got choked up as I thanked God for six years with Orison. He was laying on his top bunk and peeked his head up over the rail with tears in his eyes to give me a kiss. He told me, “I almost started crying!” and I told him, “That’s okay.”

There are some things that are good to cry about. Tears of gratitude are a welcome sight in the eyes of the Lord.

We brought in year #7 with lots and lots of joy! Happy birthday Orison! We love you more than we could ever tell you with words.

(And of course, a very special thanks to my uber-talented friend Wendy Maybury for the photos. Love you, Wendy! Thanks for loving our family well!)

This past Sunday we had the twins dedicated!

It was so super crazy getting 4 kids (2 of them infants) and 2 adults out the door by 8:30am, but somehow we did it (without any fighting, I might add!). Abraham & I really have to work as a team to get out for church on any given Sunday, so we’re getting the hang of it. But for some reason this Sunday felt extra challenging (maybe it had something to do with Abraham having been up with the twins since 4:30am and not getting back to sleep).

Whit was first in line:

There was a little insert in the bulletin to introduce each child. This is what I wrote for Whit:

Whitsun (Whit) is a 3-month-old TWIN! He is a very happy baby, talking and cooing often. Whitsun is a English word that means “White Sunday,” used in the Catholic church to mark Pentecost. Robert is his middle name, after his maternal grandfather (“Papa”). It is our hope that Whit will be filled with the Holy Spirit from a young age & believe in the Lord Jesus for his salvation. We also hope that he gets along with his 3 older siblings–Orison, Morrow, & twin sister Cadence!

Followed by Cadence:

Cadence is a 3-month-old TWIN! She’s a very happy, chill baby who is very soft & squishy! Cadence is a musical term to explain the resolution of a musical phrase. Her middle name is Felicity to honor her older sister (Felicity Margaret) who was stillborn in 2007, and Felicity means “intense happiness.” So when you put her name together, it’s like a happy resolution to a very sad time in our lives. We’re so thankful that the Lord would give us this happy blessing of another little girl. And here’s hoping she can hang tough with 3 brothers: Orison, Morrow, and twin brother Whitsun!

I don’t know if you can tell, but she totally smiled at Pastor Steve when he talked to her. It was awesome!

And here’s our whole crazy crew afterward:

By the time the dedication portion of the service was over, Abraham and I were both ready to pass out! We were so exhausted!

Sorry this post is so short, but the twins are waking up and screaming to eat. Gotta run!

So maybe this is just a plain ole parenting tip, rather than having to do specifically with twins, but it happened to me yesterday (with one of the twins) and so it’s being grandfathered in with the twin tips.

Abraham writes:

If your baby is inconsolable and you’ve done everything for them that you can think of, check their fingers and toes to make sure there’s no hair twisted around any of them. (And on boys, check the penis, too.)

This is called a hair tourniquet. It cuts off circulation and is about as uncomfortable as it seems like it would be.

In my case yesterday I was able to remove the hair from Cadence’s finger pretty easily, though the indentation remained for a few minutes, making me check and double-check it multiple times to make sure I’d gotten it all. Scary!

Feel free to share your favorite hair tourniquet stories in the comments!

In my last post about surviving twins, I revealed a grave error: I put a kid down on a sheet without something underneath his head. That’s a rookie mistake, friends.

Now ordinarily, especially when I’ve had spitty babies, they don’t lay down ANYWHERE without something under the head to catch the nast. Which leads me to…

Twin Survival Tip #2: Have a ridiculous amount of burp cloths available.

You can choose what kind of burp cloths you want, but just know that you should have more than you think you’re going to need, and keep them in multiple convenient places throughout the house.

In my experience I buy the jumbo pack of white automotive towels from Costco. I think it comes in a pack of 60 or something insane like that. I paid about $20 for the whole pack. They aren’t the softest towels ever made, but they’re absorbent. They’re also plain white, so if they ever need a good bleaching, it’s no problem.

They’re also useful for a quick, on-the-fly changing pad. Because when you have twins you’re not going to haul the babies upstairs to their changing table every time they need a diaper.

They sell the white towels at Target in the automotive section as well, but they don’t come in massive quantities.

Keep this in mind for a baby shower gift for the expecting-twins mom. I got a huge tub of white automotive towels for my first baby (a singleton). They were rolled all cutely and neatly into a tub with a few other small gifts. Just be sure to wash them before you give them, because they will need it to fluff up a bit and look nicer.

You could also accomplish the same thing with cloth diapers. They’re definitely softer, but probably more expensive.

Chime in! What do you use for burp cloths? How many should you have (approximately)? What do you use them for?

Twin Tip Submissions: If you have a suggestion for surviving twins, contact me!

I know I’m totally late to the post-Halloween internet party (you know, the one where everyone posts their pictures and talks about how cute their kids are?) But you’ll have to bear with my tardiness and stomach just one more of those posts, okay? I’m definitely on my own timetable this year!

We carved pumpkins with the boys on Saturday evening after supper. I was really surprised that Morrow was eager to reach in and grab the pumpkin guts! I was so proud of him! When Orison was his age he just screamed and cried while Abraham and I did all the scooping. But I suppose if you have an older sibling to model the task, things that are unknown aren’t quite as scary.

One of our spectators got kinda cranky during the carving, but one was hanging tough with us–Cadence!

Sunday night we took the kids trick-or-treating with some friends. You have to excuse the hat on our Superman–it’s Minnesota, and when the sun goes down at night, things get cold really quickly!

And here was our whole crew:

We had Superman, the punk rocker, a Jedi, Batgirl (her mask is in her hand), Dino, and a sweet spider.

I have sooo many memories of trick-or-treating around my neighborhood as a kid. It was so much fun! I’m glad my kids get to enjoy this weird tradition with me now!