The Adventures of the Twin Princesses

Experts say children learn to share at an early age when they are around other children, particularly siblings. My children apparently never got this memo. They have both become hoarders in their own ways.

Teaching sharing to tiny little thieves seems like an impossible, yet hilarious, task.

It’s your typical afternoon. Juls and Liv are playing quietly on the blanket, surrounded by toys. Juliana begins to whine a little so I go to give her a pacifier. I search all around her and can’t seem to locate it. I soon realize that it’s in Olivia’s mouth and Olivia has her ninja death grip on her own. I go to reach for Juliana’s out of Olivia’s mouth and Liv immediately grabs onto it with her free hand. She apparently needs two of them.

I see the word “MINE” in her near future.

It doesn’t end there. Olivia will even pull the pacifier out of Juliana’s mouth and hold on to it. After all, she may need it later on.

Olivia may be the “binky” thief, but Juliana is quite the toy hoarder. Same scenario, the girls are playing quietly on the floor, surrounded by toys. While Olivia is concentrating on picking up her pacifier off the mat and putting it correctly into her mouth, Juliana is slowly rounding up all the toys onto her lap while keeping an eye on her sister.

Take that binky thief!

Juliana has gone as far as removing a toy near Olivia and placing it as far away as possible. No, Juls didn’t want to play with it at that moment, it’s just so her sister can’t.

Olivia will continue the sibling rivalry for a toy. Even if she is done playing with something and moves onto something else, as soon as Juliana goes to grab it she all of a sudden wants it again.

There it is again, “MINE!” This just may become her first word.

We have recorded these shenanigans on several occasions. It’s hilarious. However, I still have tried to begin teaching them “no” and “let your sister play with it first.” Obviously this goes on deaf ear at the moment. I get the inquisitive look of “huh” and then they proceed to put whatever they have in their hands into their mouths and continue their thieving ways.

These so called “experts” with their “sharing knowledge” obviously never had fraternal twins, or twins, or children close in age.

Former Baltimore Ravens Todd Heap had donated enough money to the pediatric ER at Franklin Square to have it named after him. Neat. Wish I didn't have to know that first hand.

We learned the hard way just how quickly Olivia can roll. The split second it took for me to let go of her to tend to her sister was just enough time for Liv to roll right off the couch and right onto the very thin rug that covers the hard wood floor in the living room. The sound of her head hitting the floor is permanently implanted into my brain.

Those instant screams is something no parent ever wants to encounter  It's heartbreaking. I don't think I could have held her any tighter. Mommy is here. No need to worry baby girl. 

I guess there is no longer a need to practice that "Mother of the Year" speech.  June Cleaver would never have dropped her child. Carol Brady would have made sure her carpet was thicker, shag even. What would Claire Huxtable have done? Rosanne Conner's kids turned out ok...right?

Once Olivia calmed down, she seemed fine, relaxed, back to normal. I was no longer concerned until she started getting drowsy. It was during the evening hours but she never gets sleepy until later in the night. The minute we could no longer arouse her awake the panic set in. She wouldn't even wake up to a light slap on the cheek. We called Patient First since it was closer and they advised us to take her to the ER. Todd Heap, thank you for your support.

Thankfully Liv began to wake up on the ride over. I sat in the back with her to talk to her. She began to giggle and slowly was coming to and back to her normal giddy self.

The drive to the ER seemed like it took hours, in reality it only took minutes. I am truly thankful for how close we live to medical help. Fortunately the wonderful doctors were able to get to her quickly and confirmed she was ok and didn't need radiology. It was also nice to know that the doctors recommend rest for head trauma to allow the brain to rest. They no longer believe in the "you need to stay awake to avoid coma" phenom. 

We came home and continued our normal evening routine and got the girls into bed after their evening feed. I know we aren't the only parents to deal with a fall and I know we aren't the last. However, this information never makes it easy to handle. I don't think I've cried so much for even my own injuries. I love you Liv, Mommy is sorry. 

I don't think there is anything worse than a sick child. No, I take that back. There is nothing worse than a sick child when you are physically unable to take care of them. I was able to make it 5 months before I had to experience a sick child. Boy did it come hard. Yesterday the illness in my house spread like wild fire. The Plague of 2013, taking everything down in its path. I was at work. My girls were home, sick, defenseless, (hoping they were) missing their mommy.  I had all intention of coming home and carrying for my little ones but The Plague had other plans for me. The afternoon hit and I was no longer capable of taking care of myself, let alone two sick 5 1/2 month olds. 

I have a whole new respect for single parents.

I thank my lucky stars my inlaws were over and Eric came home with me. I carried my weak body to bed while the three of them tagged teamed two children that couldn't even keep a single sip of formula or a bite of food down. Eventually one by one Liv and Juls wore themselves out. Juliana finally went to bed a little after midnight and Olivia eventually fell asleep after 4 am (this is according to my husband, I on the other hand was dead to the world, curled up, under the covers, still freezing).  

As the morning approached, mommy and her little ladies began to feel a little better but not completely 100%. The girls were able to keep some formula down but are still completely lethargic. Juliana is a good sleeper, but I have never seen her sleep this much in her entire (short lived) tiny life. Mommy is afraid to eat still. We will see what the rest of the day brings. 

The Plague of 2013 will not defeat us. 

While I was pregnant I spent a lot of time talking to parents of twins, researching online about twins, and just overall soaking up as much knowledge about them. Now that I have 5-month-old twins of my own, I have learned that fraternal twins are different than identical twins.

Everyone has this preconceived notion that all twins are the same. The built in best friend. Inseparable since birth. "Two for the price of one." This may be the case for identical twins but not so much for fraternal (well at least my little ones). They rivaled in the womb. Juls was a little rough with Liv. She kicked her a few times. I guess being the smaller one; she tried to be tough lol. For the first few months they basically ignored each other. I guess I can't complain, after all they never woke each other up from their cries.

I can't say I wasn't a bit disappointed at first. I've heard stories about twins not wanting to be separated, sleeping in the same cribs, constantly holding hands. I thought, how cute!!! I want that. However, I did see the silver lining. I got two individuals with completely different personalities yet a lot of similarities. Like the way they will asleep with a blanket: swaddled, with their left arm out and head tilted to the right. I got to experience the moment when they first became aware that there was another baby in the room, someone similar to themselves, someone they were curious about. That curious look they had on their face before realizing they do have a built in best friend, someone exactly their age and related. That tiny smile began to form. 

Over the last few weeks, their interaction has increased. It has been soo much fun. Juliana would stare and Olivia would giggle. Liv would touch Juls with her hand and Juls would smile ear to ear. A few times, they even briefly held hands as they lay side by side on a blanket. 

The ultimate moment occurred in church this past weekend. As Eric and I each held one over our shoulder, I caught a glimpse of both of these precious sisters staring at each other. They moved towards one another and grabbed each other’s hand and smiled. They knew they were sisters, they knew they were twins. Moments like this are what it is all about. 

While my "fraternal" twins may want different toys at times, want to do things on their own at times, even hang out with different people at times, I know there will be moments where they will not want to leave each other alone. Fraternal twins are special because they have the obvious characteristics and mannerisms of being twins yet completely different looks, personalities and developmental levels as if they were just your average siblings. They are the whole package deal, and such a joy to be around. 

According to the girls' doctors they both have been showing signs of teething since they were 2 months old. Their gums have been rock hard for months. Ms. Olivia is all "I got this. Bring it on teeth." However, my baby girl Juliana has not been handling it very well. It breaks a mother's heart to see their child in so much pain. Over the last week Juls has been in absolute agony. Besides leaving a trail of drool and tears all over the house, she is nawing on everything she can get her tiny little hands on. Her hands, blanket, toys, my hands, my shirt, everything is going in her mouth. Teething rings help only for a few minutes. I've been giving her cold things and orajel once in a while. Nothing seems to help so far. It comes in waves. One minute she's completely elated the next minute "end of the world." Once that bottom lip comes out and starts to quiver, I know we are on the verge of a major World War III melt down.

As we play the waiting game, we try our best to soothe her. Lately all she has wanted is for her daddy to hold her and walk her around until she calms down (its very sweet). Hopefully some mommies out there can give me some suggestions (all are welcome) because it hasn't been a picnic in the Mueller household. Until then, all I can say is bring on the chompers, I'm waiting as patient as I can.