2 Year Old and 3 Mo Old Twins

I put together a 'nursing basket' for my son who was 2 years, 4 months when my daughter was born. I had some new toys in it and a couple little favorites that he could only play with when I was nursing her. Someone suggested it to me and said she put a Mr. Potato Head in hers. Puzzles, special books, anything to keep them busy for more than a couple minutes. I hope this is a help - I admire you for nursing twins... what a commitment! Your daughter sounds a lot like my very busy son who I am still trying to figure out how to keep busy some days!

I have an inhome preschool that is 3 days a week 9am to noon. It is located in turtle creeek. My website is www.brightlittlelambs.com Maybe 9 hours a week would solve the problem! Good luck!

Wow. You rock, that's about all I can say. My kids will both be 3 and 1 in about a month, so I do understand the baby with the 2 year old, but you have two babies...yipes! I don't have a lot of advice for you except that I can only imagine how hard it is and you will get through it...eventually! ;)

I also think letting her watch a little Dora each morning is not a big deal. Of course you want her to be more active, but honestly, Dora is pretty good and she can learn some stuff! In fact most of those Noggin shows are awesome and so is Sesame Street. I usually DVR them and then I can show one or two and turn it off so it doesn't just keep going and going. Give yourself a break and nurse in peace (which is awesome by the way that you're nursing two babies!).

Also try taking walks around the neighborhood or to the park. THat way you're active and it's okay if she's running around like a crazy person. My daughter loved to push her baby in the stroller while I pushed my baby...very cute. I also did the same thing as Victoria and did a nursing bag. I bought a cheap bag at Michael's and some puffy paints and she got to decorate it. Then I filled it with books and things she could do all by herself (stickers, magnadoodle, etc.) and only brought it out while I fed the baby. It worked pretty well.

The afternoon is the hardest regardless of babies or not. It's just a restless time. Maybe you could save Dora for the afternoon or maybe you could plan a late afternoon playdate with a friend in the same boat. I have a friend and both our husbands have a tendency to work late so every week or two we have late afternoon play time where we hang out until 5-5:30 and then come home and fix dinner. My daughter loves to help with the baby, putting away groceries and cooking/baking, so maybe get her involved ina little of that too.

The last thing I want to say is if you want to go out (like you mentioned the library, etc) just keep doing it. Obviously if it's too stressful right now, don't, but it's good for your oldest to see that you have expectations of her and expect her to do the right thing (within reason of course, being that she's 2) and take advantage of the time when the babies are immobile. I know those doubles can be bulky and hard to maneuver, but go to places that it's okay for a little noise or where people expect busy toddlers. Barnes and Noble does story hour too and I've never been to one where all the kids are sitting and listening intently! ;) In fact, any mall is pefect for a 2 year old to get some exercise and you can push the stroller! Also, make sure you have a couple good mom friends that you can rely on...that will make a world of difference! Hang in there, sounds like you're doing great!

Congrats on taking such great care and consideration for all your kids. I haven't been in your shoes, but I of course have had to find time to get things done and yes that cursed TV that all moms swear off isn't always soo bad.

I will sometimes take an old showercurtain, lay it on the ground and we will break out the playdough, stickers or water color paint. The showercurtian is nice because you don't have to worry too much about dirt and when you are done you can shake it out. The new ipod touches and iphones have really nice apps designed to start number recognition, and the ones for autism or ABA are nice for the young kids. Those apps have people, places and things. One is over fruits and has 30 something cards with different fruits and it will say the name and you then flip to the next card, and the concepts are from emotions, to travel. I don't know if you feed both babies at the same time or not, but if you could set up the baby on the side so your 2 year old could sit next to you-- then you 2 could read books together or just snuggle while watching TV so she feels more ivolved. You could set your 2 year old up with her own lunch, you could have your 2 year old "make" her own lunch. Give her cheese and crackers to stack, or strip her down and let her make her own mini cold pizza, or give her little cheerios to put on a necklace.

At two their attention span is pretty low and that means you might have to stop in between babies to redirect or bring out a new activity. If you do the first baby with an activity and the second with the tv it is half the time you were before and as the twins get older you can develop longer breaks between feedings and can line those feedings up with naps and other things to get your older child more one on one time. So don't stress yourself out over it, do what you need to and in three months when they start eating baby food then you can get your little one more involved. Or even now make it the Big Sibling job to be "mom" while you are busy and make it a fun game.

For your sanity I am sure you want a chance to get out of the house more. Maybe make it a routine to go to the store and get the fun carts where you can strap her into the car or rocket and put the twins in the maid section. Go to the deli so your 2 year old can get a slice of cheese or meat and since your cart will be packed only get a few items for dinner. Or the library will have reading times catered to little kids. Parents as teachers will often have play dates. Playgrounds, Monkey joes, the mall playgrounds, ect will be filled with moms either in your shoes or looking for a place for their kids to run and not be judged. Join a play group so you can have other moms to your house and not have to worry if your child is making a mess. Or invite a friend or your mom to the playground and you can feed one of the babies while your two year old is running around and if she falls or needs help have the other person with you jump to help and you keep to feeding the babies. Get a child backpack leash and take her to the zoo and let her run around. Get her an icecream to slow her while you feed one of the babies.

I am sure you are paraniod that people will see your child and judge you because she is running around, but most people see you with the babies and want to applaud you for making the time and effort to do something for your toddler (even if she is in that oh so common 'terrible 2s'.)

I like Victoria's response, but would like to add a little bit more: I use feeding time as "project time" for the older kids in my daycare. That's when they have the freedom to work without little hands grabbing at their art supplies!

The flip side of this is that when the babies are sleeping thru their a.m. nap, I use that time for constructive learning time. It all works out in the end. & I do limit tv viewing to one show each morning....sometimes it's Sesame St, sometimes it's Barney.....& very rarely is it anything else!

My son was 2 1/2 when our twins were born. Now, they are 4 and 22 months. In most ways, it gets a lot easier as they get older and you're not nursing as much (although there's a lot to be said for the immobility of infants!!). The Mom's have posted lots of great ideas for activities and scheduling here, so I'll just say that it does get easier. We did have our older one keep attending child care/preschool to keep him in a routine after the babies were born. I wonder if you could have him at school for 1/2 day every day, instead of 2-3 days a week so you have a more regular schedule?

About going out, its probably easier to get out now that it will be once they have more regular nap times and don't nap on the go quite so easily. Once we got into a regular nap schedule and made sure they napped in their beds, it was much hard to get out of the house. Two babies on 2 naps a day, with slightly different nap start and end times makes it hard to carve out a nice chunk of time to get out of the house. But, on the other side of the coin, if you can get the twins napping regularly and at the same time, that will free up more of your time to have individualized time with your older child. When you have that, you won't feel so bad about having TV time. Our oldest didn't watch TV at all until the end of my pregnancy on bed rest, and then when the babies came home.

And TV time can be a nice interaction time, too, if you're picking good shows. If you sit with your oldest while nursing the babies and watching a show or two together, you can talk about the story, the characters, etc. Then, it doesn't just feel like "lost" time and learning opportunities.