Sunday, February 19, 2012

Twin Advice: Miscellaneous

Put the babies back to back in the bucket swings at the park/playground.
The babies will love it and there is nothing cuter.

For large gatherings, consider putting your twins in clothes with their names or initials.
This will save you from endlessly having to say who is who, and save your friends and family from the embarrassment of not knowing! 
 
Stock up your freezer.
Every time you make something that freezes well (soup, chili, spaghetti sauce, lasagna, enchiladas, pot pies, bread, muffins, etc.) make an extra portion or two for the freezer. Then on the days when you do not have time or energy to deal with cooking, you can just pull a nutritious, homemade meal out of the freezer. I started doing this while pregnant to have meals for those crazy first few months, but have continued to do it and find it invaluable for weekday meals. I have always just done this on my own, but many cities have services (such as Dream Dinners) that handle the shopping and prep work for you and allow you to prepare a bunch of meals at once.

Lanolin cream makes great lip balm.
I have terribly dry lips and have tried practically every lip balm on the market. The best, hands down, is the lanolin cream that they sell for sore/cracked nipples. And, even better, an $8 tube has lasted me 4 years.

Get a minivan.
I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I would be driving a minivan, but I haven't regretted it for a second. Being able to open/close the side doors simply by pushing a button, by itself, is worth driving a minivan to me. This is invaluable when struggling with 2 babies, a diaper bag, and whatever else you need to carry. The wonderful thing is that since minivans are specifically designed with kids and families in mind, they also have lots of other great features - built in DVD players, wireless headphones that allow the kids to listen to something different from the adults (sanity saving on long trips), flexible seating, built-in mirrors to see the kids in back, built-in window shades - I could go on and on...

Check out consignment sales.
Many communities have semi-annual consignment sales for kids clothes and gear.  If you are willing to sort through what is there, you can find some great deals on clothes and baby gear that look as good as new.  Submitting things to sell can be a bit of a hassle depending on the rules of the specific sale, but it is a good way to recoup a bit of the money that you spent purchasing the items.  Plus, consignors generally get to shop the sale before everyone else which allows you to avoid the crowds and get the best stuff.

Dreft stain remover can get out almost anything.  On rare occasion it will take a second treatment, but this consistently works miracles in our house as I was reminded this morning when my husband decided to feed my toddlers a blueberry smoothie in their pastel dresses without a bib (or evidently much supervision!)

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