Are your twins identical ?

Second only to  "buy one get one free" usually in a queue in a shop and always followed by hysterical laughter.  Like they are the first to say THAT!

I have twin boys Milo and Jarvis

We think it is clear to all around that they are not identical.  Doesn't stop people asking us.  What do you think ? 

I have to say the funniest one I ever heard was this one to my friend who has twins.

Are they Identical ?

(this is not a picture of my friends twins, but yes she does have a BOY and a GIRL )

Post written for Multiple Mayhem Carnival. Hosted by Rebecca from Here Come the Girls

Multiple Mayhem Carnival

Firstly, many apologies for the lateness of this carnival post.   I've been a bit busy with half term entertaining the twins and visitors, Halloween party, back to school and then catching up with the work I couldn't do when the twins were off school.  Anyway excuses over, here we go. 

This is my first time of hosting this wonderful carnival which celebrates everything that is good, bad and downright amazing about being parents to twins or dare I even say it ; Triplets or more !

My little darlings !

Reading through all the contributions below and probably being the mum to the oldest multiples in the group, my boys are seven next month (please accept my apologies if I am wrong) I can certainly relate to all of the posts, having gone through all of the situations at one time or another.

Karen from Tales of a twin mum tells us the classic bath time dance story and the very different reactions her twins have to bath time.  A lovely, funny story.  

Debbie from Johnson babies (love the blog name) has the age old dilemma of the feeding routine.  Still makes me wonder how on earth I coped mostly alone during that time. 

Marianne from Marisworld gives us a round robin of her 3&1/4 yr old twins including the "oh I remember it well" day they started pre-school and the worry of the will they come up to scratch in the assessments.

Rebecca from Here come the girls (another fab name for a blog) has the flashback to discovering she was pregnant with twins and the classic  comment "do twins run in your family? "  .  That moment I personally, will never forget.  We were in for an early scan due to bleeding, 3 months earlier I had miscarried a baby, only to find out that I was now pregnant with twins !  oh how we laughed !

Mich from Mummy from the heart tells us about co-sleeping and has the most adorable photographs of her twins.  We tried and sadly failed with this one.  My twins were kick boxing champions at the age of two weeks, no chance of peaceful co-sleeping for us.

Kerry from Multiple mummy gives us the potty training lowdown.  My view, don't panic, let them go at their own pace, after all very few children attend their first day at school still wearing a nappy. 

Heather from Young and Younger has the forever endearing tale of the special bond between twins.  In our case not always apparent until that is they are apart !  It never fails to touch me, however much my boys fight (and they do, a lot)  when they are apart there is almost puppy like pining for each other.

Finally the wonderfully funny Emily from More than just a mother raises a smile with her embarrassing behaviour Ron Weasley tale.  Please tell us Emily that you will put the poor boy out of his misery.....

So there we have this months Multiple Mayhem Carnival, Please do take a moment to follow the links to the posts for a wonderful read.  A great roundup of the tales of twin parenting.  If you have twins or more multiples we would love you to join in next time.

Boys' Autumn/Winter clothing Trends & John Lewis Giveaway

Many thanks to all who entered.  The winner picked at random by a spooktastic No1 son last night is :

DONNA @littlelillypadco

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED .  More giveaways coming soon ......



Boys’ autumn/winter clothing trends

Dressing your lads in the latest trends doesn’t have to mean spending a packet, using up the money they’d rather you spend on toys, or kitting them out in impractical outfits. Here, guest blogger Jo-ann Fortune highlights three affordable looks that will work with any little boy’s wardrobe.  

I am also really pleased to be able to offer you the chance to win a £50 gift voucher courtesy of John Lewis.   You can spend it online, in store at any John Lewis or Waitrose store !  Fantastic prize just in time for Christmas.

 To be in with a chance of winning please follow this blog and leave a comment in the comments at the bottom of the page telling me what you would spend the voucher on if you won.

Arctic explorer

Fur trims, ski wear and Alpine knits were championed on the catwalks as key design details for boys this winter. Parkas, worn over chunky knit jumpers and cardigans are season staples, and look great paired with checked lumberjack shirts and durable cords. Accessorise with fur-trimmed footwear – Ugg boots are still huge – trapper hats and mittens or cosy woollen toggle hats and scarves, but as with all kids’ accessories, don’t spend a fortune as they’re likely to be the first thing to get left behind on a day out…

Protective padding

Padding or ‘quilting’ is central to two of the biggest boys’ trends this season: heritage and urban. With the fashion focus on the English gentry look filtering down from the men’s clothing catwalks, smart country wear is a big hitter in kids’ clothing ranges: Barbour-style riding jackets adding statement style to any outfit. In the city, padding is just as cool, with bold bomber jackets and colour block quilted gilets clashed with stripes and prints for a fun yet functional look.

Urban layering

Many of the big name kids’ clothing designers have used checked shirts as a base for urban layering this season, creating a wide variety of easily achievable looks. Build up an outfit with a classic denim jacket and jeans, hoodie and Shemagh-style scarf for a cool street vibe, pair a chunky cardigan with knee-patch trousers and over-sized specs for a bit of geek chic or keep him warm with a waistcoat, long scarf, trapper hat and chunky boots for a look that works just as well in the country as it does the city.

What key pieces have you invested in to keep the little ones looking cool while wrapped up warm this season?

All images courtesy of MPDClick.com

This is a sponsored post - I received clothes for my children and the voucher to offer in a giveaway.  

Competition closes on  Monday 31st October at 8pm.  Winner  selected at random.  Open to UK entrants only.

Meccano Space Chaos & Turbo

We were recently thrilled to receive some Meccano Space Chaos and Turbo Models for the twins from Meccano.  The boys loved the sets, although they needed a little help from daddy to put them together.  They combine the traditional view of Meccano (metal pieces with holes in them ) with some plastic components and futuristic design.

The space Chaos ships come in two ranges Silver Force set (on the left above and the good guys) and the Dark Pirates (on the right and the bad guys).  Both ranges transform into two ships.   Also included is a trading card  .  As is often the case in our house  Jarvis chose to be a bad guy and Milo the goody, I can confirm the good versus bad battle was rigorously fought, with lots of bashing and crashing, sound effect and flying around the house !  The ships survived to fight another day !

 Children  can go online on the professional and easy to use website to read about the quest, download card games, secret codes and videos.

The third set was from the Turbo range a selection of racing cars.  One clever feature is part of the storage case is used to form part of the car.    Suitable for 7 yrs and over they boys had no trouble putting this one together.  Its sturdy and well made and again combines the traditional look of Meccano with uptodate features.

If you are looking for an alternative to expensive chocolate Eggs this Easter, these toys priced at around £12 represent good value for money. 

This is not a sponsored post, we received no money for our review.

Do we expect too much ?

This weekend we were really lucky to be guests of Vosene at London zoo (post to follow).  We had a wonderful time on Saturday and were even given overnight accomodation in a Marriot Hotel enabling us the opprtunity to take the boys to see some of the sights of London and visit the Natural History Museum on Sunday, a wonderful Mother's Day treat for me.

 As we live on a very limited budget, we didn't have much money for extras etc, but we made some cut backs in the months before the planned trip so that we would have some extra cash for food and travel around London etc.  We had a wonderful time travelling on the underground, the twins had a ride on their first double decker bus, we saw lots of London's top landmarks and finished our trip at the Natural History Museum.  I can remember visiting the museum over 35 years ago on a school trip and the wonder of the size and majesty of the place.  The twins too were blown away by it, although it has updated considerably since my last visit!  Sadly, by about 1.30pm they had had enough, My husband and I were hoping we could pop into the V & A next door, but the twins were just too tired.  Milo had been up in the night at the hotel crying and complaining of stomach pains, he was hot and over tired from all the excitement so we decided perhaps it was best if we headed home.

I checked our return tickets to discover that we did not have open returns but were booked on the 7pm train from Paddington to Exeter ! I accept all responsibility for this, I am sure that its is the train time that I requested from the PR company.  On previous occasions We have caught earlier trains than those stipulated on the ticket and the guards have never had a problem.  We arrived at Paddington and boarded a 2.pm fast train to Exeter.  Milo was crying and very hot, all of us were very tired.  We settled into unreserved seats and then the voice of the guard came over the speaker advising that if you were travelling with tickets for a later train you must disembark!  I began to panic, visions of being manhandled off the train by burly policemen at Reading, like you hear on the news.  So I went in search of the guard, explained that we had tickets for a later train but that we were really tired, had a poorly son and just wanted to get home could we please stay on the train! NO! she barked back, your tickets are for 7pm you must wait for that train.  I pleaded, NO ! You must get off, I have 6 yr old twins, its such a long time to wait, we will stand up in the corridor if you let us stay on.  NO! get off now, the train is about to leave or you risk being forceably removed from the train!  The guards name was KAREN ! I told her, her name was the only thing she had in common with me and ran off down the platform to get my family off the train. 

Left standing on the platform with one hysterical twin, one weeping twin and one embarrassed teenager.  I was furious!  Where did my honesty get me.  Off to the ticket office to see the ticket office supervisor, we were met with the same reply.  You can pay £100 and we can let you on the next train.  I don't have £100 I replied, well you will have to wait!

We tried two more times to get on the next two trains and were met with the same answer, one guard even admitted it was at his discretion whether he let us on the train and overlooked the time on the ticket, but still they would not let us on. 

The wonderful PR lady Holly from Vosene had seen my tweets and called me offering for the company to pay the money so that we could catch an earlier train, back to the ticket office I went and told them the story. NO! can't take a payment over the telephone !

By this time I was so exhausted with trying, I gave in.  We had 3 hours left to wait until our train at 7pm.  Holly called me again and offered to send pizza to the station ! Two wonderful London based twitter people offered to come down to the station to keep us company or for us to pop to their homes for an hour or so, How fab was that !  I have spent my life trying to be the best and kindest person I can be, I teach my children the same values, what examples of kindness they witnessed yesterday!  Some of the very best in human nature and some of the very worst!

My question though is, did I have a right to expect to get a train 5 hours earlier than I was booked on ?  even though there was space ?   Technically First Great Western, the train company wasn't doing anything wrong by insisting I stick to the train I was booked on.  Do we expect too much in these days of the ME! ME! ME! Society ?

One last thing, when we finally boarded our train at 7pm (which was a slow one to Exeter and was over an hour longer journey).  Our tickets were not checked at all by a guard and there were people sitting in every seat, most of them had not reserved their seats and they just got up and moved when the rightful owners came onto the train!

The Twins Room

It's taken a while, but the twins finally have a room to be proud of.  It combines my love of light and bright but is also still boyish enough to please them.  As this house only had three bedroom, we decided to give the twins the biggest room.  We knew as they grew they would inevitably need the extra room to have a sense of their own space.

These pictures show their room the day we moved in.

When I look at the above photo's I wonder how on earth we coped.  Every room was full to bursting with our stuff, we had six month old twins and a 10 yr old who sulked and hated the house not understanding why we had left our previous large, beautiful home for this filthy house !  My The White Approach  blog shows how we are slowly transforming our home.

This is how their room looks now :

The view through through the twins bedroom door into their room.  The blue cupboard is the one you see in the first photograph.  I will feature this room on the White approach blog at some point detailing how my husband did all the work.

On the wall where the fireplace was my husband build floor to ceiling storage shelves

My husband also made the wooden letters that spell out the twins names

The twins "reading Corner"  bookcase made by daddy and cushions an absolute steal from Primark. Blinds and chairs from IKEA

New white bunk beds from Ebay, wonderful luxury childrens red and white gingham bedding generously given to me by my sponsor Mel who owns babou and a makeover for an old chest of drawers, along with a fantastic vinyl sticker clock from the wonderful Etsy seller chocovenyl complete the look.

Educating boys

I have three sons.  The eldest has been educated at a wonderful private school since he was three years old. It is a traditional school with old fashioned values and an equal mix of male/female teachers.  When he first started there in the kindergarten I was a single mum, spending most days running myself ragged working in Marketing and  driving several times a month to Swindon and back for meetings, trying to earn a good living and provide the best I could for him.   

One day whilst motoring down the M5 after a meeting that had over run, trying to get back to school to pick him up, I was stopped for speeding.  I finally arrived at school distressed and teary about an hour late.  As I ran down a corridor the headmaster walked out of one of the classrooms.  "Miss DuBois, you are always rushing about, and why are you late again to collect your son?"  I explained to him what had happened.  "you need to get a job that puts your child first, come and work for me, I need a secretary" 

At first I was afronted ! Does this man not know what I do ! I'm not a secretary !  but that night when I gave it some though, it actually seemed like a really good solution.  I could work in an office, not having to drive all around the country to dealerships and also be in the same place as my son was being educated.  I could see him, at work and at play everyday.

I accepted the headmaster's offer and received a heafty discount off No1 Son's fees and a modest salary.  I worked for him for eight years. It was worth the change in lifestyle.  No 1 son has had a first class education and is in the process of taking his G.C.S.E's this year (twelve of them), he will stay on for A levels.

After meeting and marrying my OH the twins came along and life changed dramatically for us.  When they were 3 they started at the kindergarten of No1 son's school  but it soon became clear to us that we would not be able to afford to pay for three boys to stay there.  When they reached reception age we transferred them to the local state school.  We did our research and believed the school to be the best in the area.  I was concerned about the fact that there was only one male teacher but had my concerns airily dismissed by the headmistress. 

Always someone who relies heavily on my instincts I became increasingly worried that they wouldn't get a rounded education because of the lack of male teachers.  Seven hours a day five days a week, in the company of only female teachers is not ideal for little boys.

I have read several articles on the subject, and all seem to agree on one thing, that boys need positive male role models when at primary school in order to develop fully.  If you have boys please take a moment to read these articles  The Telegraph   Guardian   The Independent

The twins have had their fair share of "incidents" since starting school, initially described as "settling into school routine" and now rolling over into Year one.  My husband and I are really concerned that it is becoming a pattern of their daily school life, that if not checked will " label" them for all their school life.  Desperate not to overreact, but also tired of the almost daily "Mrs Jones, can I have a chat please"  with the teachers, we are now asking ourselves whether we need to look elsewhere to educate our sons.