Featured M.O.M. Cheryl Ringen 12/1/10

Name: Cheryl Ringen


Age: 36

Marital Status: Married

Blog: cherylnlee.blogspot.com

Multiples names and age: Anastasia and Lillian (Anna and Lily) age 2.5

About you: former Teacher and Admin Assistant

About your Multiples: Anna and Lily were born at 39w 5d gestation 20 minutes apart on May 12 2008

advice for other moms of multiples: Go with the flow.. they are only little once.. embrace it all

additional info about you and your multiples: I love to knit and scrapbook, spend time with my girls, currently working at a toystore that just opened in my hometown. Anna and Lily love to play, watch Elmo and Caillou and being cute.


Pictures: Lily in plaid dress, Anna in dotted dress, Anna and Mommy at a Halloween Party, Lily and Daddy on a Hayride

Thank you Cheryl, wonderful photos!

Featured M.O.M. Erika Borden 11-30-10

Name:  Brook and Erika Borden

Age:  36 today:)    (Happy Birthday!!)

Marital Status:  Happily Married 

Blog:  http://socal-family.blogspot.com/

Multiples names and age: Jacob and Spencer - 21 mo, Hayden - 6 yrs 

About you:  From Texas originally, I have been in the US Navy for 15 years.  I plan to retire and be a SAHM!!! It just can't come soon enough.

About your Multiples : J & S are very different boys. Jacob loves to read, flirts alot, very outgoing, will go to anyone, loves to get into trouble, smiles a ton, and loves to help out.  Spencer is not as outgoing, does LOVE to scream, an explorer, more reserve to go to strangers, loves to jump and dance, enjoys reading in your lap - same book over and over.  They both love to sing Little Bunny Foo Foo.  They could listen to that all day I think.

favorite items for multiples: Double Strollers. 2 cribs! Bibs with catch trays.

favorite toys for multiples: I don't know if I could name one...most items were double purchases.  2 lovies different colors! 

Thank you Brook and Erika, fantastic photos!!
advice for other moms of multiples:  It is hard in the beginning.  But as they become more independent it really gets easier.  With our first - Hayden - I felt all the instant connection with him...smothered and covered in oozy love.  There were 2 of us and 1 of him.  It was different.  With twins, it seem to take longer.  I felt a bond to them - sort of unrealistic that "OMG I have 2 more boys" feeling.  I felt guilty for a long time that it wasn't the same as with Hayden.  But I know now that my life would never be the same nor could I imagine my life without all my boys.  There are some challenges but if I didn't have all my TMMB Twin Mamas - I don't think I could have survived.  Find other moms that you can relate with, vent to, share with...It makes all the difference.  When all the twinarrazi rears its ugly head, you will find the network to be a sanity check.   Oh and one last piece of advice - when it gets tough - take them outside.  For a walk, play, whatever....kiddos do soooooooo much better outside.  It is crazy but it works. 

Posterboards, so useful!

I remember back when I was a teen that anytime there was a school project or presentation, it involved buying a posterboard. I am actually happy now that I had all of that posterboard experience! I have out it all to good use in the present day!

I kept getting annoyed with how children's coloring books rip so easily and bend up very easily. When you have toddler twins(or more) it really seems like coloring books to not stand a fighting chance. The ones in our house don't.

So one day we were going to have a finger painting playdate with our playgroup, I thought about how that would go with paper. It would be really messy and the paper they finger painted on would be torn and crumpled after all was said and done.  So I bought posterboards! They are usually around $1 each and are sold in most places like Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, etc. They are big so they provide lots of room for creativity. They are strong, so your multiples can go nuts with finger painting and not tear them (usually)....and the best thing about them is they are PERFECT for coloring on!!

My twins, age two LOVE to color on them. I just keep one handy and when they fill it up, we pull out a new one. One usually lasts a week or so. We still use coloring books to but I prefer they use posterboards. They are way more durable than coloring books, you can use stencils or stamps on them, you can save them and even frame them if you wanted to.

They are a nice blank slate for maximum creativity and they sit so well on the floor..not like paper or coloring books. Coloring books and paper or coloring pages do not mesh well with carpet. They bend up and fold. Making it hard to color on and avoid ripping.

Just wanted to share 2 of their posterboards, hope you and your multiples have fun with coloring or finger painting on a posterboard sometime soon too!

Him Not Nice Mama

About 2 yrs ago I went into Apples to Zinnias with my friend, Wendy and the LGs. The LGs were still in a stroller. When we walked the man working there looked like he was going to blow a gasket. He followed us around and made us feel really unwelcome. I called the next day and talked to the owner. The owner was as nice as could be and apologize profusely. A week later I went in and bought the wallet I had been trying to look at when I was in there the first time.

Today I had A LOT of time to kill in Orlando so I met Wendy at Borders. After that we went to lunch, then I asked her if she wanted to go to A to Z with us. She said sure.

As we walked into the store I saw the employee behind the counter bristle as if he had just seen something that really makes him angry. I told the girls they could touch things with 2 fingers but could not pick them up. As we rounded a corner Avery came face to face with her first Christmas tree of the season. She was touch, touch, touching it. I repeated my touch but dont pick-up rule a few times. I noticed that the employee (who was still behind the counter talking to another patron) was visibly upset everytime one of the girls touched or even looked at something. He would lurch forward and make an audible noise, like he wanted to yell "STOP!!!!"

I saw that Avery was bending my rule a bit. She was taking two ornaments and "tinking" them together. Not pulling them off the tree but making them touch so that they made a pretty noise. I told her a few times to stop. She wasn't listening. In my head I thought, 'I could make her stop. then she would move on to something more expensive or I could take my chances with the $12 ornaments. ok, I would rather pay for those then something $100 that I dont want.' So I kept walking and the clerk was getting more and more upset. I was about 3 feet away from Avery with Emerson in between the two of us and the clerk yelled, "Hey, They are not listening to you!" I of course was already on edge due to the way he was acting so I turned around and realized he was the same guy from 2 yrs ago. Here is a paraphrased version of the conversation(yelling match) that happened next. I am not proud of my self for loosing my temper. I am trying to be a better role model for the girls...I do believe though that I did a lot less yelling then he did.

"Your the guy who was nasty to me the last time I was in here!"
"Probably, if you had them with you."
"Let me talk to your manager."
"Im the owner."
"I dont think so."
"I'll bet you $50, 000 I am!"
"whatever, If they break something I will pay for it."
"YES, YOU WILL PAY FOR SOMETHING IF THEY BREAK IT!"
as if the fates were listening my gentle little Emerson who was standing right in front of me picked up the ugliest ceramic reindeer ever and dropped it.
"OK, YOUR GONNA BUY THAT!"
"IT'S NOT BROKEN!!!" and it wasn't

"Emerson Avery, come on we are leaving."
"Good. (something I dont remember, but it wasn't nice)"
Avery looked at me and I said, "Come on we are not welcome here." and she started to cry (like a fit cause she did not want to leave) "No, Avery we are leaving...Wait actually cry, cry like you you've never cried before." She just looked at me like, 'what? you've never asked me to cry before...'

Im thinking I need to plan a playdate with all my Mothers of Multiples friends.

When we left I had to go sit to calm myself down and Wendy then told me he was talking about me and the girls to the other customer. Avery said, "Him not nice, Mama." I agree Avery, him not nice.

For those of you who own a business...here's a little customer service advice: If you are worried about a child breaking something all you have to do is engage the child. Talk to them about the things they are looking at. Show them other "shiny" stuff. It does two very important things. 1. It lets you keep tally of what the kid has it's grubby little hands on. 2. It gives the parent time to SHOP!!! SPEND MONEY!!!

I was in retail for over 10 yrs... I should know...

Featured Multiples in their Strollers!

                      Featured Multiples in their Strollers!

Triplets: Sarah, Jacob, & Lucas ages 10 months
Mommy: Kelly Koenig
Location: Atlanta, Georgia


Mom, Kelly says: We have 2 strollers- we have one that is 3 front to back stadium seating style and a triple jogger which is 3 side by side.

Super cute!!!  Wonderful photos!

Thanks so much for sharing with us Kelly!!

If you would like to send us photos of your Twins, Triplets, Quads, Quints, or Sextuplets in their wagon or stroller please email your photos to [email protected]

Be sure to include your name, their names and age, and your location (location optional)

Christmas 2010

Noir Stars Christmas

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Send us your cute VIDEOS!!!!

Do you have any cute videos of your multiples on youtube??? Send us the link and we will feature your video!!

email your name, location(general), and Multiples names and ages now and in the video. Email this and the link to your video on youtube to
[email protected]

Choo Choo Wagon ride

Send us a photo of your multiples in their wagon or stroller!!! They will be featured on this blog!!

email your name, location(general), and Multiples names and ages [email protected]

be featured on Life with Twins and Multiples

If you would like to be featured on Life with Twins and Multiples

Submit the following info to [email protected] 

• Name:
• Age
• Marital Status
• Blog
• Multiples names and age
• About you
• About your Multiples
• favorite items for multiples
• favorite toys for multiples
• advice for other moms of multiples
• 2-4 nice clear crisp photos (close, not far far back in the pics)
• additional info about you and your multiples

Twinter Fun...

Many things await us the next few months, the twins' second Thanksgiving, Christmas, and winter!!! The first are always so exciting but the seconds that are soon to come will be so much more fun. Another year older and way more skills are under their belt, this mama awaits all the fun times that we will soon have. So much so that we have had our winter gear since it was still 80 degrees out *laugh*. Thanksgiving only three days away, and we decided to put the the Christmas tree early this year, so we could do it is stages and see just how it would stand up to the twinvasion of this crazy household. It is official it has survived the first 24 hours, but mama added these really pretty tiny lights that make it a bit more irresistible (think mama will wait a week or so for the ornaments) than it was last night, and dad seems to think that it will take a small miracle to keep that 10 foot tree covered with irresistibly shiny ornaments standing for the next months. I have faith they will eventually leave it alone, okay maybe not faith....but a whole lot of HOPE! Turkey dinner planned, tree up, now we just await the wonder of snow, and off sledding we will go!!!

Moms of multiples funny

YOU can blog with us too!!!!

Moms of Twins, Triplets, or more......There are still a few openings left to be a contributing blogger for the Life with Twins and Multiples Blog. This blog is a group blog for mothers of twins, triplets, or more. Once you become one of the contributing blogger moms, you will gain acess to post on the blog anytime you want. We as that our contributers try and blog at least once a month. You can blog about your day, some challenges you have had, or anything related to being a Mother of Twins, triplets, or more.


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fun in the yard

choo choo wagon update with shade!!

More about the Step2 choo choo wagon

We have SHADE!!! I promised an update on the choo choo wagon from

my first choo choo wagon blog entry, so here it is!

                                        Well......................................

We love it!! The choo choo wagon is a big hit and wonderful investment, every set of multiples should have one! We have a 4 cart choo choo wagon so when we go out we can either have 1 or 2 toddler friends ride along or store the items we take with us in the extra cars. The shade is so great and so worth buying! We found out about the shade first from our friends at the Cox Quads blog. Big thanks!!

The shade is made by radio flyer but is a perfect fir on the choo choo wagon. It is a red umbrella that clamps on and can be purchased here on amazon.com. This shade can be placed on any of the sides on the choo choo wagon carts. Right now we only have 3 shades but will be getting a 4th one soon.

The choo choo wagon is so great. It can be used at the mall, at the park, around the neighborhood, at the zoo, at the pumpkin patch, at a theme park, to go trick or treating, at an animal petting zoo/farm, at an aquarium, in a parade, in the winter, summer, spring, and fall, or anywhere you can think of, and I guess technically even in a grocery store if you are not getting too much and are shopping during a time of day that there are not many other shoppers in there. I used mine with 3 carts at the science center and even fit it into the elevator. I would suggest a weekday morning during the school year when not too many people are visiting the science center.

My twins ask for a choo choo ride every day! They enjoy it so much. In fact when we have friends over for playdates, we start our playdates off with a choo choo ride around the neighborhood. They enjoy it so much!!


Here is the choo choo on Halloween.....

On a playdate in our neighborhood..............

and even on a cold day, just add blanket for keeping warm!!

Gymboree = Joy

I decided to try out Gymboree with my twins. We had taken the free class when they were between 12 and 15 months...they did not like it all that much. They love it now though at 2 1/2!!

They ask about Gym-a-ree all the time. They love going there so much!

 There are really not too many children in our class though. Each week it is one boy and then a different girl. The one boy, we will call him VJ, comes weekly. He is a bit older than my twins. Then so far we have met two little girls. Neither of which seem to come weekly. I was told there are more children and a set of fraternal girl twins in that class too. We mostly see younger babies at open gym, but a few my twins age.

It's Birthday Week Again!

That's right, it's that crazy time of year again: Birthday Week in the Hunt house! It's crazy! We have six birthdays in 5 days, including the triplets and their brother Liam. The triplets actually started out as quadruplets, and when Liam came along he was due on their birthday. He was just late to the party.

This year, I found myself reflecting on their birth more than I usually do. I mean, birthdays are about the kids, right? But the triplets birth was my birth as a mother, and something about the number 11 (hey, that's 3 in binary!) just got me looking back over what seems like both a really long time AND just yesterday.

The triplets' birth was not a good one. The fact that I was carrying multiples at all was due to a mess-up with the fertility treatments. When I went into labor at 26 weeks, the doctor on call sent me home on a sedative without even coming into the hospital. So needless to say, having them at that point was a scary shock, not an expected thing at all. Add the anesthesia problems on top of that, and the whole thing was a nightmare. How sad to look back and have those memories as my first ones of being a mother! And yet, maybe it was like being birthed in fire. We started out with the worst first, so it could only get better, right?

It sure would have been hard to imagine today from that vantage point 11 years ago, watching my too-small babies get wheeled away to be poked, prodded, and hooked up for three months. Today, I watched them run, play, blow candles, bob for apples. They're getting so big and mature! They helped plan the party, from choosing the theme to selecting and planning games and picking out and putting up decorations. They're old enough to babysit for short periods, to stay home alone, to cook meals, to help clean house. They've outgrown the kids menus at virtually every restaurant. They've started joking about boyfriends and girlfriends and playing with makeup and cologne. Am I ready for this? Puberty and dating times three? I guess I'd better be! What a far cry from the helpless, sick, tiny babies I first saw come into the world eleven years ago!

Cute video, when my twins were 9 months old

Sarcastic Twin, Sleepy Twin

*older post from my personal blog* -- Great Bath tub

They finally had their 1st bath together!




So....Finally we have a baby bath tub I LOVE and they do too! I had the Fisher Price aquarium tub for them but hated how the design was. They never have fit into it right and every bath was awkward. I was so frustrated with that tub. I finally said forget it after many months of trying to make it work and hoped that when they got bigger they would fit in it better. Well there is no way around the fact that it was hard, uncomfortable, and the seat part was really awful. When they were out of the NICU at a month old and I have them their first baths at home they would slide over the hump and their little backs would end up leaning on the hump so I was constantly sliding them back up which made their heads sit in a weird and very uncomfortable looking position.Ugh I hate that bath tub and I really should have just said forget it a long time ago.

Anyways this is what I just bought and I am so so so happy with it and so are they. Bath time is fun and stress free for me now.

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=442787&cmSource=Search

I bought them these toys to play with in there too, although they really just like to splash right now still.

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=395776&cmSource=Search

Right now for us bath time is more associated with some splashing, getting cleaned and getting out of there. They do not spend too much time in the tub. I was always afraid they would get too cold.

I might start keeping them in a lil longer from now on though. I can not even tell you how happy it makes me every time I go into our bathroom and see the tub sitting in our shower. I prop it up against the wall and it has suction cups on the little flap at the top to keep it secure on a wall or on the bottom of the tub or shower.